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"What is the goal of classroom management? Is it to achieve compliance or control or to provide all students with equitable opportunities for learning?" (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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"What is the goal of classroom management? Is it to achieve compliance or control or to provide all students with equitable opportunities for learning?" (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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This section really struck a chord with me. While I have spent a lot of time thinking about different ways to incorporate classroom management, I have not spent much time considering it's goal. This quote particularly summed up my approach, implicitly, to classroom management as well. I have always tended toward a chaotic classroom environment, with little emphasis on control or discipline. I do this in an attempt to spark enthusiasm and bring life into a subject many see as dull. I am concerned though, that approaching a classroom in this way may alienate some students who do prefer a more austere learning environment. While I think that compliance is to be avoided, I worry that no organization will be achieved without control of some sort. I also worry that the classroom environment that may benefit some students will be to the detriment of others, and that the goal here of "all students having equitable access" will be undermined.

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"Shall we all take our seats?"(Pinto, 2006, p.20)

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"Shall we all take our seats?"(Pinto, 2006, p.20)

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When I first read this I tried to think back on the first time I heard the phrase. Because there have been clear times when I recall my teachers using this phrase and students responding just as the passage says with a literal response to a seemingly indirect question. I have also used this phrase and gotten a very similar response to "No, let's not sit down" as mentioned in the passage. What I found interesting in one teacher's response was to use more direct and clear language so students understand what one means. What I find problematic in this was that teachers demand of students their actions rather than posing more thoughtful questions and giving students options. I hadn't considered it before reading this, but there is an aspect of conforming to "middle-class, European ways" by nudging students in the direction of what works for one, instead of all. I am definitely trying to be more conscious of the language of expression.

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"Classroom management often equates order with centralized control in the form of minimalized disturbance (Doll, 2000). Losing control of the class is a fear of many new and not so new teachers. Labree (2000) argues that this fear is rooted in the teacher isolation-the sense that the teacher is outnumbered by students, sometimes cut off by professional support." (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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"Classroom management often equates order with centralized control in the form of minimalized disturbance (Doll, 2000). Losing control of the class is a fear of many new and not so new teachers. Labree (2000) argues that this fear is rooted in the teacher isolation-the sense that the teacher is outnumbered by students, sometimes cut off by professional support." (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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This thought process is very obvious but has never been worded in such a way that made so much sense. And I think it's part of the reason some teachers fail with classroom management: they see themselves as the prison guards and the students as the prisoners. What if there is a riot? I guess this one largely depends on the age but I have only had positive experiences based on 1) not being entirely outnumbered (TAs, Push-ins, etc) 2) Many students inherently want to make their teachers happy and in turn make their parents happy. Especially in early education. So, in the times where I the only adult in the classroom, I never felt isolated. With a system of reinforcement, the students will largely monitor themselves and peers. My cooperating teacher once said "unless your dying and your hair is on fire, you shouldn't be speaking right now" to a group of 2nd graders. I was a bit shocked when she said it but it was effective and funny. Building that kind of report with your students, really never makes you feel like you are alone and in and turn rarely does a student need to be sent to the office.

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“Cultural Responsiveness is an approach to education that crosses disciplines and cultures to engage learners by incorporating their ways of being, knowing, and doing … Cultural responsiveness is a set of professional, political, cultural, and ethical dispositions that extend beyond the act of “teaching”... The ultimate goal of cultural responsiveness is to help students succeed. (Pinto 13)”I chose this passage because, to me, it provides a clear call to action in that it spells out what a teacher must do for their culturally diverse students (gain an understanding of their ways of being, knowing, and doing), what they need to develop within themselves to deliver for these students (cultivate the proper disposition outside of spouting content), and a reminder that it is their duty to help all students succeed. Within this call to action, I feel most passionately about gaining knowledge of students’ “ways of being, knowing, and doing” and developing the set of dispositions listed here by Pinto in my practice and within myself, respectively. During my first year as an SDEP student teacher in both in SPED and gen ed classes, I witnessed first hand the profound impact teachers who understood aspects of their students both as learners in their classrooms and as individuals outside of it have had on their students’ outcomes. There was a palpable sense of comfort and functionality present in the classrooms containing students and teachers who existed in a classroom with a shared sense of knowing and respect for each other. It literally just felt different those rooms than those of teachers who abide by the assimilation approach to teaching. Especially during times of high stress, like SBAC or finals week. This passage’s assertion that teachers must understand their students’ ways of “being, knowing, and doing,” aside from being in alignment with what I have seen in schools, has been echoed both in the writings of Christopher Emdin (For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the rest of Y’all, too) and Zaretta Hammond (Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain), two of my favorite people to follow and read. These authors contend that culturally and linguistically diverse students learn and exist comfortably in very different ways than the majority of their (white middle class) teachers do and that in order to help them tap into their potential for success as students we need to understand their strengths within the context of THEIR cultures. Emdin and Hammond also contend, as Pinto does on page 22, that the first step to developing a culturally responsive teaching practice is to survey your own culture and check your own biases, followed by systematically researching the cultures and ethnicities represented in your classroom (values, behavior patterns, practices, preferences), and head out into the larger community outside the classroom to observe and interact with those who exist in the worlds of your students. I appreciate how the tables, figures, and reflection prompts within the chapter serve to push us in the right direction to answer the call to action posed in the passage above. 

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“Cultural Responsiveness is an approach to education that crosses disciplines and cultures to engage learners by incorporating their ways of being, knowing, and doing … Cultural responsiveness is a set of professional, political, cultural, and ethical dispositions that extend beyond the act of “teaching”... The ultimate goal of cultural responsiveness is to help students succeed. (Pinto 13)”I chose this passage because, to me, it provides a clear call to action in that it spells out what a teacher must do for their culturally diverse students (gain an understanding of their ways of being, knowing, and doing), what they need to develop within themselves to deliver for these students (cultivate the proper disposition outside of spouting content), and a reminder that it is their duty to help all students succeed. Within this call to action, I feel most passionately about gaining knowledge of students’ “ways of being, knowing, and doing” and developing the set of dispositions listed here by Pinto in my practice and within myself, respectively. During my first year as an SDEP student teacher in both in SPED and gen ed classes, I witnessed first hand the profound impact teachers who understood aspects of their students both as learners in their classrooms and as individuals outside of it have had on their students’ outcomes. There was a palpable sense of comfort and functionality present in the classrooms containing students and teachers who existed in a classroom with a shared sense of knowing and respect for each other. It literally just felt different those rooms than those of teachers who abide by the assimilation approach to teaching. Especially during times of high stress, like SBAC or finals week. This passage’s assertion that teachers must understand their students’ ways of “being, knowing, and doing,” aside from being in alignment with what I have seen in schools, has been echoed both in the writings of Christopher Emdin (For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the rest of Y’all, too) and Zaretta Hammond (Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain), two of my favorite people to follow and read. These authors contend that culturally and linguistically diverse students learn and exist comfortably in very different ways than the majority of their (white middle class) teachers do and that in order to help them tap into their potential for success as students we need to understand their strengths within the context of THEIR cultures. Emdin and Hammond also contend, as Pinto does on page 22, that the first step to developing a culturally responsive teaching practice is to survey your own culture and check your own biases, followed by systematically researching the cultures and ethnicities represented in your classroom (values, behavior patterns, practices, preferences), and head out into the larger community outside the classroom to observe and interact with those who exist in the worlds of your students. I appreciate how the tables, figures, and reflection prompts within the chapter serve to push us in the right direction to answer the call to action posed in the passage above. 

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****My apologies for the length and the continuous bold print! I copied and pasted this writing and Padlet won't let me change the formatting on it. ****

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“The teacher refuses to acknowledge difference with statements such as, we do not discriminate in this school; everyone is treated equally.” Pg. 21 Table 2.4

This example of cultural blindness made me think of the last week survey. I disagree with this statement because this way of thinking ignores completely student’s cultures. No one is treated equal when culture is being negotiated.

“Identifying your membership in cultural groups or with various social positions and the advantages and disadvantages you have experienced as a result” Pg. 23 I chose this quote because I think developing cultural proficiency is a “must do” for educators however I disagree to a certain degree with the author when she states that when people are confronted with having to unpack their own culture, think about things that have taken for granted as truths, privileges they received without noticing them, and change aspects of their classroom work, they experience discomfort. I think it depends from your own experience and from what culture group you come from. As a Latino immigrant woman, reflecting on my advantages and disadvantages doesn’t make me uncomfortable. On the contrary, it makes me more empathetic with a certain cultural group. When it comes to social-economic class, I agree. From a personal experience and as the example cited in pg. 25, this year I also had the opportunity to participate in home visits to students and that experience opened up my eyes of the needs that students within my own culture might have at home.

Another quote that I found interesting was“Control can subvert learning-too much emphasis on control is a leash that restricts curiosity, creativity, and active learning through experimentation.” (Boostrom, 1991). I have to admit that I used to think that control was the most traditional sense that teachers need to have in order to prevent a disruptive behavior in class when in reality distributing control is not a synonym of losing your ability for discipline them.

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The example given on pages 16-19 about the teacher whose students were avoiding eye contact with her stuck out to me. The teacher later found out that it was culturally a sign of disrespect to make eye contact. This is a great example of how important it is to understand where your students are coming from as best you can. Some cultural norms can be misinterpreted and cause problems that inhibit students’ abilities to connect with the learning experience simply because of the teacher’s ignorance. Teachers are best in their roles if they are cultural ‘edge-walkers.’ Being able to pick up on the root of things like the eye contact example before they become a problem is very important and ties into the idea of cultural responsiveness which according to Pinto, “recognizes…how people approach the learning process differs across cultural groups, but it does so without sweeping generalizations” (Pinto, 19). I think this could be applied to students with disabilities as well. If there is a student with a certain mental or physical disability, it could be easy for a teacher to misinterpret certain behavior from that student if they do not educate themselves on said disability. It’s so important to meet each student where they are at and adapt accordingly. Along similar lines, Pinto wrote on pages 24-25 about teachers visiting students’ homes and learning from the families and one teacher stating that they were surprised about this learning experience. I believe that teachers should always be approaching their classes as fellow learners and in doing so, the idea of meeting each kid where they are at and giving the students agency in their own learning experiences seems more of a natural occurrence. One question I did have was that I wonder how practical meeting students and their families at their homes is. This is something I have never heard of and seems like it would be more of a rarity than a normal occurrence. I can’t recall much learning like I have described, where the teacher is less doctoral in my secondary education experience, I really have little experience with these ideas and in classrooms of adolescents. It seemed to be either the teacher had ultimate say and power in what was happening, or the the class was complete chaos and students ran all over the teacher. I’m thinking there has to be some sort of balance of authority and fellow learner mentality from the teacher. I wonder what you all think about that?

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“Some teachers fall into the trap of trying to ‘rescue’ students by ‘helping’ them operate in middle-class European ways, when in fact those students do not need to be rescued. They have their own culture, values, and rich life and family experience that might be different from the dominant groups, but these differences need to be valued, not changed” (Pinto, 2013, p. 20).

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“Some teachers fall into the trap of trying to ‘rescue’ students by ‘helping’ them operate in middle-class European ways, when in fact those students do not need to be rescued. They have their own culture, values, and rich life and family experience that might be different from the dominant groups, but these differences need to be valued, not changed” (Pinto, 2013, p. 20).

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This excerpt connected me on a professional and personal level. While I volunteered for Benson Polytechnic High School, I noticed a disconnect between a teacher I observed and the students of color in her class. As soon as I shared a small conversation with a few students in the class, it was clear that they had an appreciation for the education they are receiving, but the school culture conflicted with their lives at home because they felt pressured to behave and talk a specific way that fits with the school’s norms and expectations. I addressed this with the teacher, and she started to understand how her teaching approaches implicitly ordered students to comply and conform to a culture that is different from the students’ backgrounds.

It also reminds me of my learning experiences in elementary school and the pressure to conform to a different set of rules, expectations, and routines. Over time, my family noticed that I was leaning towards “American” values that it was conflicting with my Mexican culture. I did lose a bit of my Spanish as a result of catching up on English, and I feared that I would lose a part of my family and our background while reaching for academic success. To this day, it shocks me that my teachers’ preferred to put the dominant culture and language over me and many students of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the name of classroom management and performance.

The excerpt and my experiences also connect to Kohn (2006) and the three universal human needs (p. 9). It is important for teachers to understand how to include students without having to adjust or shift the students’ social and personal identities, and I believe that the first step is to cultivate a classroom environment in which they feel that they belong in the class. Having the belief that students need help to adjust in class for the sole purpose of perpetuating a dominant culture only sets the class up for disconnection and dissatisfaction with themselves, the teacher, and the classroom.

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Table 2.3 Perceived Behaviors and Possible Culture Source list (Pinto, 2006 p.18) ..... Richard Rodriguez describes how teachers convinced his parents to only speak English at home...his Spanish speaking home was a noisy, playful, warm, emotionally charged environment, his English speaking household was quiet and restrained. Despite academic and professional success, the integration led to profound alienation (Pinto 2006, p.32). 

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Table 2.3 Perceived Behaviors and Possible Culture Source list (Pinto, 2006 p.18) ..... Richard Rodriguez describes how teachers convinced his parents to only speak English at home...his Spanish speaking home was a noisy, playful, warm, emotionally charged environment, his English speaking household was quiet and restrained. Despite academic and professional success, the integration led to profound alienation (Pinto 2006, p.32). 

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I believe the tables of Perceived Behaviors and possible Cultural Sources helps to understand the cultural differences that are affecting students behaviors. As educators it is important that where their behaviors originated and how to adjust the class and  to create balanced, well supported the classroom environment. Both side, the majority group and teacher would learn something new and minority group dive into the new culture and (for the most part) the minority group would merge into the environment(than the majority of students). In the reality, it is difficult to ignore or not get used to the majority of group's norms and not merge into the culture. It is always minority group work towards it. However, like professor Richard Rodrigues's experience that if you focus on the academic success, has a big sacrifice behind. What is our goal? Only academic success that makes educators and school happy? or Both academic success and keep their culture? How do you do it? All students of color should do switch and act like a white kid for their success and sacrifice where their race, culture, and ethnicity?

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"[C]ulturally responsive view [is] that the classroom is a community in which teacher and students are in the process of education together, not as rivals." (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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"[C]ulturally responsive view [is] that the classroom is a community in which teacher and students are in the process of education together, not as rivals." (Pinto, 2006, p. 27)

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I know that this is the answer just I as I know that one should be kind to others. If this were an option on a multiple-choice exam I know it’d be the correct answer because the other options declare the teacher to be the sole authoritative figure and are just worded, well, poorly. So in other words I feel like this idea is obvious. So obvious in fact that I didn’t pay it special attention. But this section of the chapter really had me questioning my role in the classroom. What if I approached my position not as the-one-who-holds-all-the-knowledge but instead as a co-learner? I acknowledge that the extent of what I don’t know is limitless and I feel that when presented with a classroom situation where I don’t know an answer I will temporarily feel a loss of control if my only role is as an educator. What if I never had sole ownership of this control? Pinto quotes McInerney’s 2009 research later in the chapter on the idea that the alienation of students can be somewhat attributed to the students’ loss of control over their education and thus diminish their desire to engage in the curriculum (Pinto, 2006, pg. 33). This coincides with Kohn’s reference to Deci and Ryan’s 1990 research that explored the idea of children’s sense of autonomy being one important key in their ability to fully function (Kohn, 2006, pg. 9). So putting control into the hands of one person sounds like it benefits neither the teacher nor the students in the long run, but I just don’t know what a classroom would look like if the control was equally distributed. I mean, I have some pretty negative scenarios in mind of what it would look like, but I don’t yet know how to set up a classroom where the balance between teacher and student is not so unequal while also fitting into the schools' standards.

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“in most cases, alienation from school increases during adolescence and is affected by instructional quality, teacher-student relationships, and student-student relationships, as well as feelings of powerlessness and a disconnect between the curriculum and students values, cultures, and lives (p.33).” This particular section stuck out to me because it was what I found most relatable in terms of classroom management. The expository narrative of Richard Rodriguez is very similar to my own as I grew up in a Spanish only speaking household, but the majority of my experience was in an English speaking context and I do not feel comfortable using my Spanish now and feel the sense of cultural incongruence that the section focuses on. The concept of “acting white” is one that I have begun to realize and have never realized the impact that it has had on my own academic career. I decided that I wanted to be a middle school teacher because it is often associated with the prime developmental years of children and can help shape what future students will have. It states in this section that alienation is prevalent among boys and low achieving students which is well documented in academic research. Boys are more likely to experience alienation because they may be seen as more disruptive and it can negatively impact the various relationships mentioned. If a teacher finds a particular student disruptive and feels the need to constantly discipline them, it will be unlikely to be a positive relationship and can further disenfranchise the student leading to more disruptions. Being labelled as a disruptive or bad student can also make building relationships with other students difficult because very few people would want to be friends with someone who is disliked because of the fear that they may also become disliked by association. I feel like it is my responsibility as a teacher to recognize that the way I was taught and the traditional environment of a classroom is the cause of alienation and I need to find ways to shift away from broad philosophies to more individualized approaches because not every student experiences things the same way. I know I tend to work on building solid teacher student relationships because that can help foster the legitimacy I need to be a classroom leader and hopefully work to engage students over an extended period by providing them a sense of belonging and be willing to adapt to what they need from me as a teacher.

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“Routinely shares verbal reactions while others are speaking, which is perceived as disruptive or rudely interrupting a speaker.” (Pinto, 2006, Chapter 2, page 18 )

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“Routinely shares verbal reactions while others are speaking, which is perceived as disruptive or rudely interrupting a speaker.” (Pinto, 2006, Chapter 2, page 18 )

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What should be educators’ reactions toward diverse students’ unexpected behaviors?

I am new to this field of cultural responsiveness since I have not had any experience working with diverse students from different social, ethnic, racial, cultural backgrounds. Surprisingly, I realize how common teacher educators misunderstand their students’ behaviors due to the distinct differences among cultures. Especially when I read the quotation above, I was in shock. That is my habit of showing verbal reactions frequently while talking with people. It is viewed as a polite way to interact with others in my culture. All of a sudden, I figured out why people frown at me and seem like feeling stuck or annoyed by something when we were in a conversation. The thing in the heart of this situation is my constantly verbal reactions. Such things can happen between daily communication. Thus, there is no wonder that teachers misunderstand it. And it also brings up a requirement for teachers to get to know the possible cultural differences hidden in students’ behaviors. (As mentioned in the book that “Teachers become researchers and learners whose main job is to understand their students rather than authorities on predetermined knowledge.”)

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"The flip side of alienation is student engagement. An engaged student is one who feels a sense of belongingness and community. Engaged students participate fully in learning in the classroom without necessarily experiencing painful alienation" (Pinto, 2006, p. 33)

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"The flip side of alienation is student engagement. An engaged student is one who feels a sense of belongingness and community. Engaged students participate fully in learning in the classroom without necessarily experiencing painful alienation" (Pinto, 2006, p. 33)

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This section of the reading kind of floored me, because I had never considered engagement in this way. I had always understood an "engaged student" to be a momentary thing, specific to a specific day or lesson. "Oh, so-and-so was super engaged in the assignment." I imagined this engagement was the direct result of whatever specific lesson/assignment was being dealt with at the time. It had never occurred to me that engagement might be a broader concept that incorporates a student's feelings about their relationship to the classroom community.

This then naturally leads into the idea of who is to blame for alienation or who gets the credit for engagement. As Pinto says, this depends on where you center it. "Is it an issue of students' personal shortcomings, or is it a problem with the system itself?" A student's engagement with or alienation from a particular assignment, topic, or lesson might have very little to do with the content, and everything to do with whether or not the classroom environment itself is culturally responsive. This classroom culture in turn informs the nature or form of the content the student is engaging with and the student's attitude towards it.

This makes me think that the act of engaging students might be less a trick of creating the perfect lesson or framing content in the most exciting way, and more about building a strong community and classroom culture. It also crystallizes the fact that the consequences of alienation can be very severe. If a student feels alienated from their classroom and school environment, that will necessarily cause them to become alienated from specific lessons, activities, and assignments. Failing to understand this is quite likely to cause a teacher to misidentify the students' lack of engagement with the material to be the result of the material itself and not the result of the culturally destructive classroom environment that teacher has built. That teacher might then go about trying to fix the "problem" of the material while paying no attention to the ways their biases and assumptions have created an alienating environment. It's also very possible that a teacher might decide to blame the student or believe they are being purposefully obstinate. Kohn (2006) mentions the mainstream belief that "children are not innately motivated to be in school" (p. 12) and even shares an anecdote about a teacher who assumes a student who can't focus on schoolwork must be "a powerful manipulator!" (p.12)

This is a pattern I could easily see myself falling into, and is something I specifically need to be on the lookout for as a teacher. Reflecting on this, I wonder how many times I have seen a student who was disinterested or disengaged and have decided the problem was the student and not the environment. This is a very damaging assumption to make, and is a very effective way to avoid taking any responsibility for student engagement. Building a culturally responsive classroom will mean pushing back on this assumption and instead investigating the real cause of students' alienation.

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Incorporating other cultures in the classroom

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Incorporating other cultures in the classroom

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Pinto writes about the importance of learning about other cultures that exist within one's community in order to learn from them and to support students who identify with that culture in the classroom. Pinto describes a program that involves teachers visiting students and their families at home and how those teachers benefited from the interactions. She writes, "This example illustrates how we can understand ourselves better when contrasting individual experience and history while also gaining a more accurate picture of our students and how they experience the world." (25) Personally, I am still in the process of realizing how narrow my world view has been for most of my life. As a person who  belongs to the dominant group in almost every social situation, it is vitally important that I develop ways to create space for other cultures in the classroom. Christopher Emdin, in a 2012 TED Talk, proposes incorporating student input into the curriculum and using names and examples that are relevant to the community whenever possible as ways to acknowledge community cultures in the classroom (www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y9tVf_8fqo). Students should feel like they are at the center of their own education, and that they are responsible for their own learning.

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“[H]er own mistrustful posture elicited precisely the kind of untrustworthy behavior she predicted.” (p.18)

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“[H]er own mistrustful posture elicited precisely the kind of untrustworthy behavior she predicted.” (p.18)

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This idea that teacher expectations are a self-fulfilling prophecy has come up again and again in my readings over the past few months. I first came across this idea in an article called The Opportunity Myth (https://opportunitymyth.tntp.org/). This article discussed the achievement gap and demonstrated how teacher expectations can greatly impact students’ academic success. As high school graduation and college enrollment rates demonstrate, students of color are most severely impacted. This correlation between teacher expectations and student outcomes came up again in my research about the school-to-prison pipeline in the EESJ class- teachers and school districts expect certain behaviors from black male students, which can actually elicit those very behaviors. Additionally, these students are punished more harshly for even minor offenses. As Pinto points out “the U.S.achievement gap is a mirror image to the punishment gap.” (p.41)

As I was reading, I also began to reflect on my personal experiences both as a student and as an educator. When I look back on my favorite teachers, I realize that even though they had very different personalities and teaching styles, these star teachers had several characteristics in common: a palpable passion for their content area, timely and detailed feedback, and high expectations. Pinto states that “caring is central to cultural responsiveness” (p. 53) and that it is “critical that teachers demonstrate that caring in ways that their students can understand.” So, I wonder, how did I know that my teachers had high expectations of me? And, how can I convey my high expectations to my students in ways that they can understand? One of the ways in which my teachers made their expectations visible to me was through their feedback. Instead of saying “well done,” they would suggest topics for further exploration or pose questions that would make me think more deeply and critically about the issue at hand. Another way in which they expressed these high expectations at the group or class level was through a rigorous and well-developed curriculum.

Turning back now to teacher expectations with regards to behavior, I recall my short stint as a substitute a couple of years ago. When I was in school, students would constantly challenge and disrespect substitutes. So, when I stepped into that role, I would enter the classroom already on the defensive, trying to pick out the troublemakers from the get-go. I can specifically recall three exhausting days at a preschool. Within 10 seconds of entering the room, I knew exactly which student was going to make the next few days miserable. I immediately began using a more serious tone with that student, was more impatient with him than with other students, and did not trust him to do any activity on his own. I had definitely bought into the philosophy of “give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a mile” (Kohn, p. 9). I tried both reward and punishment in an attempt to achieve even temporary compliance, but in the hours and days that followed, his behavior only got worse. After completing this reading, I now understand that I was partially responsible for this child’s increasingly bad behavior. I was clearly not prepared to work with small children and did not take into account their developing capacity of impulse control. I assumed he was making fully informed choices about becoming the classroom menace. Additionally, I found out on my third, and last, day at the preschool, that this child was in foster care and had already been in several different placements. His instability at home was certainly a contributing factor to his acting out in class. Even though I was only with this group of students for a short amount of time, I am sorry to have missed the opportunity to work with this child and to find more productive ways of engaging with him.

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Pinto pp. 16 “Well, culture is dynamic. Cultural Characteristics evolve over time, and people’s identification with culture can be multiple and varied. That is to say, a person’s cultural affiliations can change throughout his or her life based on any number of factors ranging from where the person lives to his or her personal relationships. Moreover which aspects of a particular culture a person adopts or rejects vary”

This passage shot out to me like Escanor’s Cruel Sun vanquishing Estarossa (Type in “Escanor vs. Estarossa” in youtube or also on netflix, thank me later). The countless times I’ve got up and left to another state or another country. I’ve moved so many times I’ve lost count though, I always remembered the first few days and weeks in the new lands I settled in. Leaving Houston was a huge deal for me. I spent pretty much of my formative childhood years in Texas and leaving the bayous and my diverse group of friends was devastating. Oregon is where my parents decided to settle down and create a different life for my sister and I. It wasn’t that Houston was dangerous or anything, it was just time for my father to move on to something better. As soon as we got to Oregon I entered 6th grade. Man oh man was it a shocker for me. I don’t think I saw one hispanic or black kid in all my classes. All white kids. Of course I blended in because of my skin color (I’m predominantly Mexican and very proud) but it took a long time to realize how I accepted I was from the very beginning. After a few months went by, I adapted to the situation fairly well and most of my friends were white. Only futbol was similar to my past Houstonian life because my father brought latinos and black players into the new club I was playing in. It was awesome to see someone whose coached for over 40 years never forget where he came from. To the barrios to the burbs and still brings a diverse ethnic group of people together no matter the white demographic of Oregon. To sum it up, my family didn’t adapt to moving to a new place. The new place adapted to us and as a teacher and as a leader, I want my students to adapt not to my ruling but to the environment I will create for them.

Pp. 22 “However, content integration on its own fails to address pertinent issues of students’ critical abilities, culture, and empowerment strategies that involve students in deeply considering issues of equity and becoming agents of change.”

Life is full of mysteries and switch-ups, kids need to learn how to not back down to adversity or cultural differences if that. They need to believe in what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how come they are here. This is called human transformation or in the author's words evolving. I want the future generations to evolve into leaders, fighters, winners so they can make the world a better place for them, their families, and the rest of their human counterparts. Do you believe in evolution or do you believe in creation? Reality or Religion? I want my peers to think carefully when they answer this question. I am questioning you because I want you to think about who you will be for the children. A healer? a leader? Or just another teacher on the market? Know where you stand...

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There are couple of passages that resonated because of my personal experience. One section in particular was Power and Alienation: Disengagement and “Cultural Incongruence” (pp.32-34). The section explored integration, assimilation, racial identity and race switch. The first portion of the discussion made me remember of when I was learning English and how I mimicked or imitated native English speakers to sound more like my peers; in a certain manner I was trying to integrate and possibly assimilate my accent to the dominant culture. The scenario that occurred to Richard Rodriguez was the exact opposite of what occurred to me. An elementary school counsellor suggested to my parents that they would speak minimally to me in Spanish at home; they did the opposite and maintained the language and cultural aspects at home, they knew that it was important to maintain my roots and identity. Acting white or you are becoming white (racial identity) are comments that I’ve heard, and it has been related to education, music, food or even recreational activities. After thinking about this, I am left intrigued because I remember that in the previous class “Second Language Acquisition and Development” we learned about code switching (switching between two or more languages), and how it is portrayed as something positive. Thus, is race switching something similar? Additionally, is this only applicable for individuals that are from a non-dominant culture versus dominant culture? Nevertheless, I do believe that it is important for students to be connected to their community and culture, as well as learn characteristics and approaches of interacting in other communities. If we have a multicultural class, it will be essential that everyone in the classroom has some understanding of other cultures, communities, ways of interacting, to have a classroom full of integration, respect and value for each other.Another passage that stood out for me was in Authority Versus Power in Culturally Diverse Settings (pp.30-31). Specifically, “teachers and students are constantly negotiating authority in the classroom.” After thinking about this, I conclude that it will be important to develop a mutual or collaborative approach with the students in relation to classroom management, and if possible, including parents and guardians. in the conversation to have a legitimate leadership. I think that integrating students, parents and guardians in the classroom management, I can start conversations and try to humanize relationships. Additionally, I am left pondering if it important to include parents and guardians in the development of classroom management?

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There are couple of passages that resonated because of my personal experience. One section in particular was Power and Alienation: Disengagement and “Cultural Incongruence” (pp.32-34). The section explored integration, assimilation, racial identity and race switch. The first portion of the discussion made me remember of when I was learning English and how I mimicked or imitated native English speakers to sound more like my peers; in a certain manner I was trying to integrate and possibly assimilate my accent to the dominant culture. The scenario that occurred to Richard Rodriguez was the exact opposite of what occurred to me. An elementary school counsellor suggested to my parents that they would speak minimally to me in Spanish at home; they did the opposite and maintained the language and cultural aspects at home, they knew that it was important to maintain my roots and identity. Acting white or you are becoming white (racial identity) are comments that I’ve heard, and it has been related to education, music, food or even recreational activities. After thinking about this, I am left intrigued because I remember that in the previous class “Second Language Acquisition and Development” we learned about code switching (switching between two or more languages), and how it is portrayed as something positive. Thus, is race switching something similar? Additionally, is this only applicable for individuals that are from a non-dominant culture versus dominant culture? Nevertheless, I do believe that it is important for students to be connected to their community and culture, as well as learn characteristics and approaches of interacting in other communities. If we have a multicultural class, it will be essential that everyone in the classroom has some understanding of other cultures, communities, ways of interacting, to have a classroom full of integration, respect and value for each other.Another passage that stood out for me was in Authority Versus Power in Culturally Diverse Settings (pp.30-31). Specifically, “teachers and students are constantly negotiating authority in the classroom.” After thinking about this, I conclude that it will be important to develop a mutual or collaborative approach with the students in relation to classroom management, and if possible, including parents and guardians. in the conversation to have a legitimate leadership. I think that integrating students, parents and guardians in the classroom management, I can start conversations and try to humanize relationships. Additionally, I am left pondering if it important to include parents and guardians in the development of classroom management?

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Can Dyadic Relationships lead to better Communities?

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Can Dyadic Relationships lead to better Communities?

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From Pinto, page 30-31, "... teachers and students are constantly negotiating authority in the classroom. This negotiation often takes the form of a challenge, since (unlike other authority situations), teacher-student relationships are involuntary, collective rather, than dyadic, and not based on the exchange of services and fees." This idea of a dyadic relationship reminded me of a seventh grade student who I worked with recently. At the beginning of the school year, he spent his days roaming the halls cursing "subscribe to M$#@$%(*^F#$@!^ Puddie Pie" (which many of you probably know is/was a youtube gamer). For many reasons, this behavior was not creating many admirers in our school building. Numerous administrators and teachers wrote referrals and suspended him, but there was no change to his attitude, behavior or mantra. Not out of any wisdom (truly out of desperation to stop hearing this phrase), I asked him to explain the appeal of Puddie Pie to me, which lead to a conversation of Minecraft. Full admission, I am terrible at all video games, so awful that my family bans me from playing and my Minecraft knowledge and skill is nonexistent. I told him this and he made it his mission to educate me. He and I formed a relationship based on an exchange of information and knowledge (so not exactly services and fees as mentioned in the quote) but each of us was the "authority" in something (him =video games, me=school work). A few other teachers, paras and TICS took a similar approach and we all allowed him to share his knowledge with us, and we worked to include his interest in the curriculum where applicable (so Minecraft drawings in art, graphic novels in language arts and history, etc.)(this relates to the discussion of "What's the Task?" in Kohn page 18-21) because his behavioral problems decreased as we tailored his learning to his interests. With that shift, a few other notable changes took place. A child who fit the description of "alienation" on Pinto, pages 32-33, changed, as he no longer hid under a hoodie and slept through every class. He became a well-liked and accepted member of the school community. But, it was only when a large group of us moved past discipline and "logical consequences" (Kohn, page 7) that the transformation occurred. And, maybe this supports the importance of at least two of the three human needs listed on Kohn, page 9, that are required for "optimal functioning" - relatedness and competence. And, maybe this supports the benefits of an "engagement focus" rather than a "discipline focus" as discussed in Pinto, Chapter 3. And, maybe, if each individual forms many strong dyadic relationships a sense of a bigger community can also form for that individual. But, there are also a few other factors at play here. One, this student was open to sharing and willing to engage with so many adults. I do not believe that all middle school students feel the same or experience the same focus, passion or obsession towards a topic. Two, many adults spent a lot of time and energy on this one student, and while I may wish that to always happen, that is not a reality for many students, teachers, schools, etc. So, that personal experience causes me to agree with the following from Pinto, page 21 - "This could include student and teacher sharing their own cultural norms and perceptions as a way of creating understanding. By sharing and exchanging information about themselves, students can learn without facing feelings of inadequacy ..." But, I am also acknowledging and concerned by the challenges of creating an environment where every student feels so heard and understood. Although I want that for every student, I find that goal and task daunting.