or partner for education (Pease-Alvarez and Schecter, 2005). Schools educate communities; they do 

not, as a rule, learn from them. But neither, of course, do universities."

This quote was not a learning point but a statement that angered? me as I view the community as a very important aspect of the school and university, and to read schools viewed the communities as a obstacle rather than partners to co-exist and grow together was disheartening and disappointing.
3. "Among other things, community-based practicum experiences ought to help students develop ‘an 

awareness of the range of cultures within a school and its geographical areas’; a deeper knowledge and 

understanding of ‘a child’s, adolescent’s, or adult’s everyday life in a community’; and a sensitivity ‘to 

cultural and community perspectives in terms of history and present preoccupations’ (ibid.)."

This statement stood out to me as teaching is more than 8-3 in a classroom but understanding my students and developing a personal relationship with them. By know their everyday life in a community, I can gain more insight and understanding of the students as well as their culture and community.
4. "Through such encounters and engagements our students will learn how to become advocates both for children and for schools; they will also learn how 

and why it is important to participate more effectively in public discourse around issues such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, violence, and AIDS—to name only a few and what Kozol (1991) has described as the ‘Savage Inequalities’ that characterize life in many North American cities. "
By engaging in different communities, we are able to see and expose ourselves to different communities that exists in our city. By learning of different communities and ridding ourselves of negatives discourses, we are able to further our perspectives on different groups and teach students not only on how to advocate for different communities but how to care and love our city as well.

5. Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching—only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning. 

As we did not start our community placement yet, there is much anxiety about what is to come but reading this provided me with relief and to go in with an open mind and to expect the unexpected.

 

Our job as a teacher never sleeps. We are constantly in the loop of learning how to better ourselves in order to benefit the well-being of the students.

 

2.       “The point is for our teacher candidates to learn how to listen, to make sense of local community knowledge, to engage with people outside education and to contribute to public discussion and debate—abilities that they could not develop within the self-referential (and ‘professional’) confines of the school or the university.” 

 

There are many layers that define our make-up as teachers. By learning how to listen and engage with individuals outside of education, it will better our abilities within the classroom environment.

 

3.       “If ‘experience must be brought into discourse’, then community placements are only as educative as the pedagogical structures, discussions, literatures, and conflicts brought to bear on them”

 

Reinforces the idea that what we put in is what we get out of our practicum experiences. Learning from our mistakes and challenging ourselves is part of the process.

 

 4.  “Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching—only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning.”

 

Teaching practicum goes much deeper than what meets the eye. As we await to begin working alongside our community practicum partners, there is much to think about when considering what makes a good teacher candidate.

 

5.       “Our initial goal in forming new kinds of relationships with community organizations was to address concerns that teacher education and schools were increasingly isolated from and irrelevant to their communities.”

 

I am very happy that community practicum is a part of our learning journey in the Bachelor of Education program! I am eager to apply my academic knowledge outside of the classroom, form lasting relationships with my community partners, as well as engage in a community practicum that will challenge myself like never before. 

Reiterating the change from a teacher knows all to a more collaborative form of teaching where students’ thoughts and ideas are incorporated into the teaching/learning process. I agree that we should be less concerned with the problem of how to teach and be more concerned with the problem of how to learn (and unlearn). 

I have already begun to see the value of having a community placement; it truly allows me to become a stronger advocate for children as well as schools. For example, seeing students who are coming from families that cannot put food on the table and my placement allows students to spend part of the time to learn about cooking nutritional food on a budget and not feel that they are going home on an empty stomach.

This was an interesting term used to sum up some of the issues that students and their families may face, including but not limited to hunger, homelessness, poverty, violence, and AIDs. Moving away from the bubble of the classroom my placement has opened my eyes to many of the harsh realities some students in my program face, and the importance of speaking with them about these issues and work towards building a solution.

It has been interesting to see the difference between learning about different scenarios within communities in theory and comparing to actually having encounters in the community and observe the similarities and differences.

Being a part of a community and aware of the wide range of cultures and history surrounding us, can be an asset when being a part of a community practicum. Supplementing your knowledge and combining it into the experiences can enrich your ideas surrounding education and how you can approach learning with those you work with. Whether students or families, having that knowledge can change how you can initiate conversations on topics or re-frame education as a whole to make it relevant for them. 

2.     Community experience is to put our students into contact with non-academic public/organic intellectuals working in community organizations to talk broadly about teaching and learning, theory and knowledge, equity and social justice, and to consider what thoughtful people outside of the field of education might imagine are the appropriate aims and purposes of schooling in relation to community life (pg 7)

Seeing other perspectives and optics surrounding education can be beneficial. I found that many of those who are not in the education sector are also advocates to providing a space to support at-risk students to re-frame their ideas on education and learning. Giving families a space to ask questions and look for support outside an educational institution can be a community goal for many advocates to ensure at-risk families do not faulter through our system. 

3.     Education draws on a range of academic disciplines and employs a variety of methodological approaches to produce what counts as knowledge of, and knowledge in, education… (pg 3)

I think through these experiences (school and community practicum) you value any and all ways of approaching education and learning. You take all of these different perspectives together and think about what can be applied, what challenges you, what can be improved upon, and what can be relevant in the context you are working in. I think that the ranges are so vast, that these opportunities give you tools and resources to ensure that you can adapt and learn as you go during those blocks. 

4.     Part of our challenge then, in faculties of education, is to think about how we might use this ‘public knowledge’ to energize our thinking and find ways, through research, projects, and programs, for it to energize schools’ relations with neighbouring communities as well (pg 5)

Reaching out and using all available resources can be a benefit to yourself as an educator and the students you are teaching. It enriches not only your experiences but also their own as they become more aware and understand the support, they have around them. Utilizing these resources can further support students’ ability to become and grow into members of their community, culture, and heritage. 

5.     Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching – only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning. (pg 13)

I think that this is crucial in understanding not only being the teacher, but also the learner. In every community we can work in, we can utilize what is around us to benefit the children in a way that can be significant to them and their learning. We can also extend their home community into the classroom so that these two environments do not clash and take away any opportunities for learning. 

 

2. "we need to do more to help teacher candidates use their 

experiences for their own growth and development"

 

3. "One student described a ‘good placement’  as ‘one where you interact with people."

 

4. "teachers form themselves and are “born” into the profession’"

 

5. "Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching- only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning."

I found this to be interesting because no matter where in the world you are, there will always be divisions and distinctions between communities that exist outside of legal boundaries. 

2.       He urges contemporary academics not to work so hard at keeping the life of the city at bay, for ‘it is a source of energy, of wonderfully complex intellectual problems, and of non-academic intellectuals who have much to offer’ (1998: 22).

 

Communities have so much to offer and it is a shame that out-of-classroom learning such as field trips are limited. I understand that there will always be issues about cost but I think that schools need to find the time to outreach and find opportunities for their students to engage with various programs and activities to do in and around their communities.

3.       Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching- only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning.

I found this to be true about my community placement. There is no structured teaching and I have had trouble adjusting to the work and motivation that goes into learning. At an afterschool program, students are over typical and structed forms of learning. 

4.       In particular, students need to see how their own experiences, rather than being a source of knowledge, can prevent them from seeing other realities.

Our own experiences no matter how diverse will always be limited due to the realities exhibited by different communities. Two schools just blocks away from each other can be vastly different and you would never know and only generalize the community based on your experience at one of the schools.

5.       Our initial goal in forming new kinds of relationships with community organizations was to address concerns that teacher education and schools were increasingly isolated from and irrelevant to their communities.

My experiences with working in childcare settings vs a school setting is telling about the disconnect between student educators. For the most part, as a TC I noticed that parents don’t care about your presence, and it is hard to find time to introduce yourself and be engaged with the community. The only opportunity I saw so far was at curriculum night. Certainly, community practicum was able to somewhat target this issue.

“Teacher candidates to learn how to listen, to make sense of a logical community knowledge, to engage with people outside education and to contribute to public discussion and debate,” 

“ conceptual tools to make relevance from their experience,” 

“The meaning of each student’s experience will shift again when it is brought into conversation with more traditional practice teaching,” 

“The myth that experience makes the teacher,” 

These 5 lines from the reading resonated with me as it discusses the benefits of having a community practicum for teacher candidates as they learn many skills and behaviours that can be beneficial to them later in their teaching career. As teacher candidates, these community practicum allows students to grow as individuals and to see the impact that they can have on a community as you can see that these events are much bigger than just attending. But experience is not just important, having formal training is important too as it helps teacher candidates know what they should be teaching and is still a vital part of what makes them great teachers. 

Cultural education enables children to discover ways of learning and communicating which are respectful to themselves and others. It promotes historical awareness, contributes to understanding individual identities and encourages creative, inquisitive attitudes that can benefit throughout their lives.

2.     The assumption follows that People of Color ‘lack’ the social and cultural capital required for social mobility. As a result, schools most often work from this assumption in structuring ways to help ‘disadvantaged’ students whose race and class background has left them lacking necessary knowledge, social skills, abilities and cultural capital (see Valenzuela, 1999).

If you are always assuming you know how others think and feel, you stop listening and communicating and leave them feeling trapped or misunderstood. We can get things wrong by applying assumptions in inappropriate circumstances, basing expectations on bad data, or making assumptions based on wrong thinking.

3.     CRT draws explicitly on the lived experiences of People of Color by including such methods as storytelling, family histories, biographies, scenarios, parables, cuentos, testimonios, chronicles and narratives.

This is rather significant as the CRT is specifically drawing on “lived experiences”. This can imply that the gathered information/data is factual. The ability to learn from and relate respectfully to people of your own culture as well as others' is known as "cultural responsivity." Being culturally responsive requires openness to the viewpoints, thoughts, and experiences of others. 

4.     ‘Change requires more than words on a page—it takes perseverance, creative ingenuity and acts of love’.

If one wishes to see change then one must be willing to advocate. Advocacy seeks to ensure that all people in society are able to: have their voice heard on issues that are important to them, protect and promote their rights, and have their views and wishes genuinely considered when decisions are being made about their lives.

 

5.     These experiences expose the racism underlying cultural deficit theorizing and reveal the need to restructure US social institutions around those knowledges, skills, abilities and networks—the community cultural wealth— possessed and utilized by People of Color.

This is a topic that I foresee needing constant/ongoing restructuring. There are several contributing factors/elements connected to culture that should be respected and not overlooked if we want to see a more holistic environment/outcome.

need might be to reconsider the relation between academic knowledge and public knowledge". 
2- "to think about how we might use this ‘public knowledge’ to energize our thinking 

and find ways, through our research, projects, and programs, for it to energize schools’ relations with neighbouring communities as well".
3- "teacher candidates to learn how to listen and engage with people outside education and contribute in public discussion and debate"
4- "we need to do more to help teacher candidates use their experiences for their own growth and development"
5- "initial goal in forming new kinds of relationships with community organizations to address concerns". 
these five statements from the reading resonates with me because it discusses about the benefit of community placement. As a teacher candidates I need to build community knowledge as well as academic knowledge to build competence where I can understand the cultural differences and avoid the biases about it which can create barriers for me when working with parents and students in my carrier.

“The assumption follows that People of Color ‘lack’ the social and cultural capital required for social mobility. As a result, schools most often work from this assumption in structuring ways to help ‘disadvantaged’ students whose race and class background has left them lacking necessary knowledge, social skills, abilities and cultural capital”. This quote highlights the elements of racism that still goes on in society even today. We often see that Black students are often sent to detention or the office for minor things such as class disruption whereas a White student who would do the same things would get less punishment. There are zero-tolerance policies in some spaces and schools that predominantly affects People of Colour. And we can sometimes see People of Colour being identified as needing anger management classes or being identified with a learning disability more than other races. 

“CRT starts from the premise that race and racism are central, endemic, permanent and a fundamental part of defining and explaining how US society functions”. This quote is very important because we can actually see that even very young children understand race (from how they interact with other children and adults). As educators, it is important to communicate about race and have a meaningful conversation about race relations and what we can do to celebrate our differences and identities.  

“CRT draws explicitly on the lived experiences of People of Color by including such methods as storytelling, family histories, biographies, scenarios, parables, cuentos, testimonios, chronicles and narratives”. I cannot stress how important this is given that the identities and stories of People of Colour have been suppressed throughout history. As an educator, one thing I could do to tackle this issue is to include diverse stories, books, and resources from People of Colour and invite speakers to the classroom to tell their stories. 

“Deficit thinking takes the position that minority students and families are at fault for poor academic performance”. This is actually an important issue within the school system. Black parents often find themselves accused of being less involved or over-involved in the lives of their children. Teachers blame parents for students’ poor performance instead of taking the time to understand the many layers that impact students’ learning. And for example, when parents are not able to make it to parent-teacher interviews, teachers need to recognize that Black parents are not neglecting their children’s education but may experience many issues that get in their way of being involved with the school (e.g., work, communication barriers, travel, etc.). 

 

I think such a goal allows teacher candidates to understand the importance of building relationship with their community and reinforces the nature of experience in education and learning.

 

 

2.     “Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching – only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning”

 

I can agree with this because I am placed at pathways to education, an organization that provides service to high school students. At first, I was confused as to what high school students have to do with my program that is focused on the primary/junior division. However, my community placement taught me that as teachers, sometimes we find ourselves having to re-learn the concept before we can teach it to our students, whether it be high school students or students in the P/J division.

 

3.     “The point is for our teacher candidates to learn how to listen, to make sense of local community knowledge, to engage with people outside education and to contribute to public discussion and debate—abilities that they could not develop within the self-referential (and ‘professional’) confines of the school or the university.” 

 

Teaching is a profession that is not limited to the four walls of a classroom. Interacting with people outside of education will only help teacher candidates develop skills and knowledge that they can implement in their teaching profession.

 

4.     “Through such encounters and engagements our students will learn how to become advocates both for children and for schools; they will also learn how and why it is important to participate more effectively in public discourse around issues such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, violence, andAIDS—to name only a few”

 

Community practicums allow us to develop interests and passions outside of teaching that we can then use to advocate for children and for schools. It helps us learn what issues we are passionate about and how to tackle those issues outside of the teacher education program.

 

5.     “By contrast, placements that were not so clearly related to the classroom required that students make them relevant by finding connections between their experiences and their implicit theories of teaching and learning”

 

As mentioned in the reading, something must be actively made of those community experiences if they are to become pedagogically meaningful. So, although, my placement does not directly correlate to the teaching division I am enrolled in, I must find connections between my placement and what I have learned at school if I want to gain something meaningful from this experience. 

 

I have found this related to my community placement as it is an after-school program, and its structure is not transparently associated with teaching. I initially thought it would provide more opportunities for students to extend their learning. However, although we somewhat have structured programs and activities, I feel my roles and responsibilities as a TC there compared to my school practicum are very different.

 

2. “…the university, the school, and the communities in which both live in order to consider how faculties of education might come to think of teacher education as an engagement with communities and the city, and so begin to see the city as a rich resource for learning and, ultimately, teaching.” (p. 1)

 

Community involvement and engagement do matter in education and are core teacher resources. Teachers can improve their skills and professional development as they build cultural competency with the community members and the city, which also can be beneficial when teaching students.  
 

3. “The point is for our teacher candidates to learn how to listen, to make sense of local community knowledge, to engage with people outside education and to contribute to public discussion and debate—abilities that they could not develop within the self-referential (and ‘professional’) confines of the school or the university” (p. 8)

In my community placement, I work with two adults. One is the site-coordinator who's studying early childhood studies, and the other has not been involved in teaching at all since he facilitates the recreation session in this program. He has shown some difficulties interacting with young students, and it’s been interesting to see how he designs, facilitates, and approaches the program differently.

 

4. “Part of our challenge then, in faculties of education, is to think about how we might use this ‘public knowledge’ to energize our thinking and find ways, through our research, projects, and programs, for it to energize schools’ relations with neighbouring communities as well.” (p. 5)

I believe public knowledge can enhance students’ learning and understanding but also benefit teachers’ professional capacity. With the broader research and programming strategies with the community, teachers will be able to shift to a shared structure and promote school improvement too. 

 

5. “Among other things, community-based practicum experiences ought to help students develop ‘an awareness of the range of cultures within a school and its geographical areas’” (p. 7)

It is important to know that community-based experience contributes to students’ cultural awareness, and teachers also should know and understand diverse learners. This practicum experience will allow learners and teacher candidates to expand their knowledge about diverse groups. I wish it links students living and learning as well.

The reason this spoke to me was because it emphasized everyone’s learning and not one individual. While we can work one on one with students, it is also important to use every child for this context. It is one classroom that we will be working in and in these classrooms, there are many individuals!

This struck me because it shows that students are very capable! They too can see how learning takes place. They understand we do not get from point A to Z. We must go through the different phases and this takes time.

3. "Observing and reflecting on experience in formal school settings (both inside and outside the publicly funded systems) helps students develop an appreciation and analysis of what counts as knowledge and learning in schools."

This moved me because it shows the power of reflection! I want to help my students to be able to self reflect so that they would come to a deeper understanding of knowledge and what is important. 

This showed me that we as future teachers can still make an impact and help students become advocates themselves! I think this is fantastic because it promotes the idea of student voice which I believe to be very important. Growing up, I also advocated for myself and wrote a letter to the school board when my French Teacher was not teaching and only giving crosswords. The next year he was transferred to a different school. Students can make a difference!

This one struck me because I saw that we can show students something they might not have seen. We can be the guiding person to make relevance. We can show them that they too are equipped to view these same things. Connecting back to the ‘learning takes time’ point, this is what we can show them!

need might be to reconsider the relation between academic knowledge and public knowledge and the relation of the university to the organizations where public knowledge is produced."
Understanding the influence of the community in correlation with the academics can help produce knowledge and additional questions to continue the growth collectively as opposed to something seperate. 

3. "Observing and reflecting on experience in formal school settings (both inside and outside the publicly funded systems) helps students develop an appreciation and analysis of what counts as knowledge and learning in schools"
Being exposed to different communities, demographics and environments create a well-rounded educator. Both personally and professionally this is crucial to be within a classroom setting in order to provide realistic teachings. 

4. "Thus the community practicum has less to do with specific activities than with the knowledge, commitments, and understandings of those who initiate, organize, coordinate, and work in such programs."
As was noted in the reading, in order for those community experiences to have pedagogically useful value, something must be actively produced of them. Therefore, even if my placement does not directly relate to the teaching division I am enrolled in, if I want to truly benefit from this experience, I must make connections between my placement and what I have learned in the classroom and how I may in some way I may be one day one of the facilitators. 

5. "Most students expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching – only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning."
Every community where we operate has resources that we can use to benefit the kids in a way that will matter to them and their education. In order to prevent a conflict between these two contexts and the loss of any learning possibilities, we can also bring elements of their home community into the classroom.

The community plays an important role in the development and upbringing of a student. Sometimes the community can be viewed as a negative factor which can alter the perspective of the educator modifying the curriculum  in order to benefit the student. 

Through my many placement sites, I have gained awareness and continue to appreciate the divergent learning abilities that I encounter everyday. As a teacher it is my responsibility to be attentive to all those unique learning abilities and support students to the best of my ability.

This quote resonates with me as I can find it difficult at times to relate and connect to communities that I am not familiar with. 

As teachers we are on an endless journey of learning every day. We learn from our students, other educators, parents, etc. I believe that as teachers we are on a forever journey to better ourselves and the effectiveness of our teaching. We are constantly questioning our practices and always finding ways to better execute the curriculum to our students. 

This notion confirms that our practicum experience is the reflection of the effort that we put in. Being able to make mistakes and learn from them - is the best way to learn. Our practicum experiences allow us to become vulnerable and indulge into an environment that embraces mistakes. 

Goals as such highlight the importance of not only building connections with outlets students but with the community as a whole. Reaching out to the community creates a welcoming and resourceful learning environment for all. 

I find this statement to be extremely relevant as my community placement position is as a tutoring supervisor. Initially, I was under the impression that I would be tutoring/teaching, however my role focuses on collecting effective teaching resources for the tutor and reporting on the students weekly progress during the sessions. This has exposed me to a whole new side of teaching and learning.  

This quote is practical and highlights the reality of community involvement and engagement in teaching. It can be difficult to build meaningful connections with communities due to a lack of knowledge or time. Incorporating community into students day to day learning is extremely important, however, curriculum guidelines and time constraints can make this quite difficult. 

This was one of my favourite quotes from the reading. I see great importance in representing all students through curriculum and within the school community. When students see themselves reflected in classroom content it reassures them that their lived and learned experiences are valued. I strive to foster a classroom environment where students feel acknowledged and represented. 

This quote holds great power. I have had a few placements in marginalized communities and these experiences have encouraged me to challenge my implicit biases. Every educator holds biases, however, it is important to shift this thinking and view students from an asset-based lens. Viewing students through this lens ultimately sets them up for success - which all educators should strive to do. 

“Part of our challenge then, in faculties of education, is to think about how we might use this ‘public knowledge’ to energize our thinking and find ways, through our research, projects, and programs, for it to energize schools’ relations with neighbouring communities as well”.

- As a further educator, I want to strive to make all my students, of every culture or community, feel welcomed. This quote, reminded me of how passionate I am of ensuring all my students feel a sense of belonging in my classroom. 

“They are more likely to think of the community as an obstacle to learning than as a resource or partner for education”.

- This quote made me think of the importance of learning as a community. As an educator, is it critical to admit we are learning alongside both students and caregivers. As it is important to remember we are all human. 

“..the program focuses on helping students learn about the communities they are working in….”

- I liked this quote as it reminded me of how students need to learn from experiences. For example, children can learn about different occupations by going into a fire station and talking with the fire fighters. Is is critical to pair learning with a real world example, as this causes for better memory. 

“Students do have an implicit sense that learning takes time.”

- This was surprising to read, as I always assumed children wanted to rush and quickly get from point A to point B. It is interesting to learn that students understand the process of learning takes time. 

“… we need to do more to help teacher candidates use their experiences for their won growth and development”. 

- As a teacher candidates, I am so afraid of implementing lessons due to being wrong or making a mistake. However, I am still trying to take this expericne as a learning opportunity and to not be so hard on my self. 

When we think about whose knowledge has capital in our education system, it has historically (and still currently) been the ones of White able men. Historically, our students have been taught through the lens of the experiences of White males which is not only problematic on a variety of levels but, as Canada welcomes more and more immigrants from a variety of different parts of the world, a lot of our students do not identify as white males and will not experience the world or our education system in the same way. As a new teacher, it is important to re-learn the curriculum through different lenses that empower other identities and ways of knowing. 

Indeed, racism and its intersections with other forms  of subordination shape the experiences of People of Color very differently than Whites (pg.73)

As mentioned previously, every student will have a different schooling experience which is usually due to factors related to their racial identity. Historically, students who have non-White backgrounds usually report a more negative and unpleasant school experience. This is mainly due to our education system privileging those of White backgrounds and in turn, not being culturally responsive to communities that are predominantly not white. 

Indeed, the main goals of identifying and documenting cultural wealth are to transform education and empower People of Color to utilize assets already abundant in their communities (pg.82)

As discussed, our education system has predominantly privileged the knowledge of those who identify as white males. As a result of our growing multicultural society, many of our communities consist of students who do not identify as such. As a result, the education system is not only suppressing the knowledge and experiences of other identities but also, creating a negative learning environment as the children who do not identify as a white male are not seeing their identities and experiences represented in the curriculum. It is critical that as a future teacher I am learning about the community I am teaching in and what identities are present in my classroom and in the school community. This will ensure that my teaching is culturally responsive to the students in my class and that they are all learning through a variety of perspectives which will build their cultural competence. 

CRT  centers the research,  pedagogy,  and policy lens CRT centers the research,  pedagogy,  and policy lens on  Communities of  Color and calls into question  White middle-class communities as the standard by which all others are judged. (Pg.82) 

As discussed, the dominant discourse in our education system privileges the knowledge of white, able bodied males. As a result, this has created a standard for what is deemed smart or not smart or appropriate and inappropriate. Many of our communities have different definitions and understandings of certain topics which need to be included in classroom teaching. This is not only because it helps children feel like they belong in the classroom but, it shows the students that there are multiple ways of thinking and that they should all be valued and respected in the same manner. 

Change requires more than words on a page—it takes perseverance, creative ingenuity  and  acts of  love’ (pg.82)

I really liked this quote because it discusses the process behind making change. Change can be a quick fix but not in the case of changing or shifting the education system. This issue calls for change on multiple levels by multiple different parties which makes the process quite lengthy. I think sometimes individual teachers think that their ability to make a difference is close to none in the grand scheme of things however, this is not the case. Change happens at all levels of the education system and needs to start in individual classrooms. 

- This stood out to me because I view the community as the exact opposite. A child’s community forms them in so many ways, it helps children become who they are. As educators, we should recognize this and use it as a tool in our teaching.

- This is something that surprised me. I thought schools and their communities worked together. I am glad there has since been a shift in the right direction.

- This quote stood out to me because I believe this is a good objective to have. I believe challenging schools helps them ‘keep up’ with the needs of the community. To be stuck in old ways does not benefit the current situations of the school and I believe it is essential that we have a focus what we need now instead of hoping that something we started 10-15 years ago is suffice.

- This stood out to me because when I chose this program, I was hoping to gain tools to use in my practice. That was one of the criteria that helped me accept my offer into this program after researching it. 

This quote resonates with me because we get to see the different variations of schools and how the students are so different and unique in each one. I think it is important to do this in order to get examples so we are ready. 

“Among other things, community-based practicum experiences ought to help students develop ‘an awareness of the range of cultures within a school and its geographical areas’; a deeper knowledge and understanding of ‘a child’s adolescent’s, or adult’s everyday life in a community’; and a sensitivity ‘to cultural and community perspectives in therms of history and present preoccupations’” (p. 7)

These are all true in my community because I have always lived in the same area and this experience made me realize how important it is to be aware of others culture. 

This statement resonated with me as I feel it is one that is harmful however, true. In my experience, I have seen a separation between the community and schools. That is, some educators are not connecting to the communities in which they are teaching in. As such, there is a gap within the partnership. If we are unwilling to learn and use the community as a resource, it will be seen as an obstacle as we are unaware as to how it can help us. The community in which students are in can be extremely useful in terms of seeking resources and understanding the backgrounds of our students.

2. “Schools have not always enjoyed mutually collaborative and sustaining relationships with the communities they serve.” 

As previously mentioned above, I feel that I have noticed this in some of my practicums. There is a divide been ‘us’ and ‘them’ when in fact, the partnership can be extremely beneficial for both parties. That is, with a partnership between schools and its communities students can be better supported when the two are on the same page. As such, the learning environments and contents can better relate to one another and make learning more meaningful.

3. “Most expect their community placement experiences to be transparently related to teaching — only to find that instead of learning to teach, they are asked to consider the work of learning”. 

This statement resonated with me as it was an expectation that I personally had with my community practicum. When first attending community practicum, I thought it was going to be similar to the school practicum in the sense that I would be planning and teaching children. Though there are activities implemented, I find that I am more so learning about the children and the community in which I am working in. From what I have learned from the children and their communities, I can better plan and relate the activities to their personal lives. In this way, learning is occurring in many ways. From myself to the children as well as the children teaching me.

4. "Our conceptual and practical shift requires us to be attentive to everyones learning.” 

I enjoyed this statement as I have learned this through my community and school practicum. Though I am working with similar age groups in both practicums, the communities are entirely different. As such, the children’s needs and learning styles are completely different. These different learning styles and needs can vary from community to community. It is important for us as educators to see children as individuals and realize that what may work for one child may not for another.

5. Change requires more than words on a page—it takes perseverance, creative ingenuity  and  acts of  love.”

This statement resonated with me as I feel that it challenges anyone and everyone in a position to make a difference. That is, policies and curriculum can be changed on paper however, that is only the easy part. For there to be real change, it is going to take perseverance and determination. Change will not happen quickly or just because it is written on a page. It will take time and extraneous efforts to do so.