https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw Made with a wink and a smile en-us 2019-01-13 02:32:06 UTC 2019-04-18 01:23:18 UTC hello@padlet.com mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/320002471 I believe students learn best when they know and believe they have support behind them as well as respect from those teaching them. I think respect in this sense looks like teachers being allies to their students. "...you must find yourself at war with your society. It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person" (Baldwin, 1998, p685).  If students do not feel they are respected or have true allies behind the people trying to teach them they won't have respect for the teacher or the material being taught. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiyPXQDlG7s&feature=youtu.be
Although, I struggle with the being a missionary or savior and am still differentiating between that and an ally. ]]> 2019-01-13 02:40:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/320002471 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/321363613 2. I believe that learning is different for everyone.
3. I believe that teaching needs to be student centered and modified to fit every student and who they are individually.
4. I believe that the purpose of schooling is to better our futures by educating generations of students.
5. I believe all my future students are capable.
6. i believe students learn best when they are respected and welcomed in the classroom.
7. I believe my students will learn best when I create a community for them to feel comfortable to grow in.
8. I believe community/family is what makes up a lot of who my students will be which makes it important for me to know them as well.
9. I believe collaboration is important in allowing minds to work together and for everyone to learn from one another.
10. I believe being a teacher- activist is hearing my students out and acting with them or for them.  ]]> 2019-01-16 17:58:20 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/321363613 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/324204330 I believe that the purpose of schooling is so that all students have a support system. By support system I mean a place that is going to make them feel treated equitably among all others and be a place to provide chances and opportunities to all at life. This means making sure the students are taken care of and being provided with resources, medically, emotionally, academically, physically, etc.. despite what that looks like per student. "He wrote, “The spread of education, by enlarging the cultivated class or caste, will open a wider area over which the social feelings will expand; and, if this education should be universal and complete, it would do more than all things else to obliterate factitious distinctions in society.” (Spring, 2018, p.36) Every student is different and comes from differentiated home lives, this means what they are provided or not provided to succeed in all areas of life look different whether it be based on race, class, gender, etc.. This reiterates that it is the schools responsibility to create equity for the students so that they all have the fair chances to succeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjrFnmeGtL8 Equity is not equal, but is fair. ]]> 2019-01-25 01:40:11 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/324204330 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/327365645 Everyone has different experiences and outlooks which means understanding and perceiving everything differently. As teachers we need to be mindful of the way our students think and do things, especially when they are different than the way we do it our self or the "normal" way. We need to embrace all the ways our students go about doing things including learning. They all have their own positionalities and we shouldn't ask them or expect them to conform to how we want them to act or to whatever the norm is. "Traditionally, the curriculum of public schools has been based on European American traditions. In this sense, European American culture is the dominant culture of public schools." (Spring, 2018, p.186) With this being true, many students from other cultural backgrounds that challenge the norm maybe be perceived as "weird, odd, different" when in fact, their methods or ideas may work better or at the least work for them. With every student going about how they learn differently we should encourage all learning styles so that those who do so differently are not pushed to the bottom or put on the track to not succeed because of how they learn when it works for them. ]]> 2019-02-04 15:55:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/327365645 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/330881237 "Restorative questions cannot be adequately answered with out the involvement of those who have not been most affected. Involving those affected is a cornerstone of Restorative Justice" (Center for Healthy Schools and Communities, 2015, pg.7) Someone cannot act on an issue she/he believes another person is having or assume how they would want it fixed. This continues leaving voices unheard and results in making the overall issue of those unheard, left ignored. Therefore, listening to students and hearing what they have to say is important. Especially when the group of students is a minority group where the lack of positive acknowledgment goes beyond simply being looked over. It is important to make their voices heard in their own problems and then working with them towards an efficient solution. Being there to guide their ideas and offer advice, simply being a resource for the issue they are looking to fix or make better is what being a teacher activist is. It's not saying "okay I will take care of this." It's hearing your students and speaking with them, not for them. ]]> 2019-02-13 16:15:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/330881237 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/335708862 Creating a solid relationship with my students to build a trusting environment is not only important to me, but as it important for me to have connections with their families as well. Having connections with both with solidify my role in being apart of their education and getting to know them as individuals, helping them in all ways possible. However, I believe creating this relationship will be easier said than done. Not as much with the children on my part, but with the parents/families. Creating relationships with the students will be something I will (hopefully) naturally do given my personality with children and simply being with them everyday. My only worry with creating a relationship with the students is that I will struggle to go about cultural relevant pedagogy in a meaningful way to them and will be viewed as "the white lady trying to teach them useless stuff." Creating a relationship with the parents to build a good community in my classroom is something I fear having to make the efforts to do. I speak to children in a much more natural way than I do adults. Even more so when my unconscious biases may come into play and make me feel as though I do not know how to approach them to learn more about them and their cultures to better know their children. "...a White faculty member argued that just as White teachers are asked to be culturally responsive to urban students of color, so, too, should faculty members of color be culturally responsive to our White teacher candidates. The insinuation that cultural responsiveness to the teacher candidates (most of whom are privileged White women) was needed in the same manner that cultural responsiveness is needed to urban students of color revealed an obvious racial micro aggression, one where Whiteness positioned itself as the victim yet also the benefactor." When reading this section of this article it made me reflect a lot on where I stand regarding asking for the same cultural responsiveness. However, I disagree with the article. As a white woman I will and do have struggles facing my own racial tendencies and biases that I am not even aware that I have until they occur. This is not my fault and is the way I have been taught through norms and society as I have learned and grown. As I work on these realizations I need compassion and respect so that I can get through them and retrain my thinking. This complies with creating relationships with families of different cultures because just as white people have biases, other races do as well. Many parents may simply view me as some white woman coming in not knowing how to teach their hispanic or African American student or whatever else. That may just be my own bias thinking on their possible thoughts, however it would restrict being able to form a relationship to better the student's education. ]]> 2019-02-27 01:26:25 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/335708862 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/344632613 Adding to this statement, I believe all of my future students are capable of success. This will not be alone, but with all of their teacher's help and sense of belief in them. Teachers have many, many roles including pushing their students to their full capabilities and always personalizing their individual highly set expectations for each student so that they are still challenged but capable of reaching them. "In the nineteenth century, the development of professional teacher training paralleled the changing image of teachers from laughable weakling to the protector of American morality and character" (Spring, 2018, 273). This quote really bring to sight just how important the role of a teacher is, especially in forming our students. I see this overall as not only us believing in our students and their own idea of success, but making sure we believe it and support them enough that they believe it and act on it as wel]]> 2019-03-24 23:36:55 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/344632613 mcjeffri https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/347357112 Students need to feel accepted and valued in their classroom. A classroom should be considered a safe place where students can grow from and accept themselves and others even when they are not at their bests. "there were points where i could see that the hyper focus on writing tasks with out context would get the students frustrated, where it was obvious the langUage was too complex to make the points and would confuse or bore the students" (Emdin, 2016, 47). Here this teacher made no initial efforts to get to know his students or to build a relationship among and with them. That being said, the bored and confused students weren't compelled to speak up about their feelings on the words that were too big or that they did not understand. If students do not feel comfortable enough to tell us when we they are getting something, how do we expect them to learn to the best of their abilities. This i why community and relationships are so important in the classroom. ]]> 2019-04-01 19:06:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mcjeffri/hkgq4lxgcdjw/wish/347357112