Eliminating Ableism in Education by Thomas Hehir (Extended Comments)

     

    While reading Hehir and watching Examined Life, I was reminded how much social status plays a huge role in physical and social status. I am aware of people with disabilities, but since I do not have someone close to me, I often forget their daily struggles. I loved how in examined life they explained what it meant to take a walk and not have certain words and meanings taken away from her. Judith Butler and Sunauna Taylor discussed how there might be some discomfort in using body parts differently to their advantage when it is not seen as the norm. They reminded me how this is something they will always deal with until things change like limited housing options, career opportunities etc. 

    When reading Eliminating Ableism in Education by Thomas Hehir and while reading Vanessa's blog post, I saw how hard it is for students with disabilities in a school setting. How important it is to be an advocate for disability and how teachers should try their best to accommodate those who need it. I loved how Vanessa discussed a part of her life and a personal blog post about disability in her family and life. I enjoyed how blunt she was in her post and did not beat around the bush about her sister's struggles in the school system. I do have hope for our generation and am thankful for special educators in the world. Although every student is different and learns differently a basic special ed course for teachers would be most beneficial. 

Changing The Way We Talk About Disability

Teaching Bilinguals and Aria (Argument)

     Both videos, Teaching Billinguals episodes 1,2, and 5, and Aria by Richard Rodriguez discuss similar concepts and have identical arguments that are made. In Aria, Rodriguez talks about his experiences in school during his younger years and how speaking Spanish affected him. Rodriguez felt that there was a disadvantage when he was not being taught his family's language. When he was young, he left that teachers addressing him in English were more intimidating since the English language was new to him and had so many different tones of voice being used. He wished that teachers could address him in his own language and be able to speak in Spanish. Rodriguez’s family was asked to speak English at home to get him used to English in the school setting. If I was Richard’s parents I would have been very offended and would not have made that commitment but I do understand why Rodriguez’s parents obliged and thought it was best for him. I would argue that under no circumstance should a school community force students and families to do anything outside of school and especially in their own homes.

        The Teaching bilinguals videos showed me the importance of speaking different languages in the classroom especially reading the end of Aria, I saw how it affected Rodriguez when he did not speak Spanish and how sad it was because of the changes he had to face. Rodriguez described it as a “painful reminder of the change in his life” and saw how comfortable his father was speaking Spanish and was able to express his ideas and feelings more comfortably. He felt that giving up Spanish was “losing his individuality” and I would never want to do that to my future students or students anywhere. I saw how important it is to learn about others and not force them to speak a different language. 

The revolutionary power of bilingualism

Video Analysis

Teach Us All handout

Precious Knowledge

Classroom Tour Observation: 

Literacy with an Attitude (Connections)

    While reading Literacy with an Attitude, I found some main points that resonated with me while reading this article but also some connections with some of the other texts we have read. Finn talked about how “slower” students get more attention because of the smaller classroom environment. The teachers who have difficulty with misbehaved students want to get rid of them and send them to different classes because they do not feel like helping them find a solution, but to just send them away. Finn also talked about how working-class students obey authority more likely and understand the social cues of the school setting. We discussed this in class about how some students did not grow up where they were questioned but in fact, were told what to do and needed that structure. Lisa Delcpit also discussed the ideas of differences in language and tone of voice in The Silenced Dialogue. 

   The article also made me realize that some teachers are overworked and do not put as much of a choice in the students. There is very much a controlled environment going on and this may be the problem why students have no interest to learn, they have no choices or opinions. Some teachers want things their way and want to get things done and look good on paper but are not giving students the choice to create and learn in ways that are best for them. There also seems to be social segregation in the article and is clearly shown that students of the same class and the same opportunities or the same situations test and perform the same. Social segregation was a big part of Beverly Daniel Tatum’s article Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria and can be seen in Finn’s article. 

How America's public schools keep kids in poverty