Educating the Children of Katrina

I was in New Orleans in July of 2005. I still remember the daunting heat as I traveled from to and from the convention center and around the city with the Beta Club members. I never imagined that I would have students from that city in my own classroom in the near future.
My school received several Katrina victims. One particular young lady was assigned to my homeroom, and to my second period class. While it was a touchy situation, and she had lost her home, her belongings, and had to relocate to another state, she still shared her story with us. My class, myself too, was surprised at the stories that she shared with us. It helped develop a comfort level and a sense of belonging. Not only had it affected her, but numerous family members as well. This young lady was very brave to share her plight with the rest of her classmates. She hoped to go back to New Orleans, but remained with us throughout the rest of her eighth grade year. She made the best of her year there in spite of what she had been through. She became a teacher herself; a teacher of overcoming tragedy.

Multiculturalism in School Curriculum

While reading the artilcle Multiculturalism in School Curriculum, there were a few articles quotes that stuck out. First of all, the article stated that teachers should include all the cultures that make up our history, but "we must not do so in a way that we are forced to pull out each culture and teach it as a separate entity such as Black History Month or Women’s History Month. This is not multicultural education, but rather what I call "intellectual segregation" and it is wrong." They go on to further state that, "having separate months for different cultures is exactly opposite of what a true multicultural education should be trying to achieve."
We have many months that recognize specific groups or cultures, and perhaps that is just to acknowledge certain triumphs or achievements over time. It did cause me to reflect on my students and comments they have made before, such as "why do we celebrate this day, or why is this acknowledged?"
The article went on to discuss that various perspectives should be presented to the students and they should be allowed to draw their own conclusions. To simply single out a culture is not the answer. I found the idea about developing respect for each other at the elementary age to be very relevant. I think that trying to understand others ideas, thoughts, and cultures helps children gain a respect for diversity. This will be beneficial to them as they mature and go through life. I do agree with them that, "whatever the curriculum, children need to have basic foundations and share common points of reference that will enable further learning."

https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=1028647&contentURL=/lms/email/frame.d2l

The Struggle with Multiculturalism and Education

Multiculturalism becomes an intriguing issue because many minority groups still want to maintain their independence and own cultural beliefs. It is difficult to mesh people from so many countries and cultural groups into one culture and expect everyone to be happy. When learning about history, some of the various cultural groups do not appreciate the American history and want to be included. However, history is just that...it's history. We cannot change the fact that slavery is a part of the American history, but we need to recognize that it happened. Our history will change in the years to come and should include the attempt at a multiculural America that is going on now. However, we should not fail to include such events in the history books because some people feel left out or do not like to remember such events. Textbook manufactors should take a balanced approach to writing textbooks. For example, when writing about slavery, only information from a white Americans perspective should not the end all be all, but instead, a group of White and Black Americans should come together to discuss the pros and cons and various ways to look at the issues. Is everyone going to agree? No. We are not puppets and are free to interpret history as we wish and develop our own beliefs. However, I believe that history should be presented as it happened, and we should not worry that we're going to offend this group if it's protrayed this way, or another group if we portray it that way. It should not be censored to make it like a story book.



In the classroom, you run into the potential problem of offending students when they do not feel that their beliefs and culture is recognized. It should be a shared experience and not looked at individually. Perhaps one day the development of a multicultural class will give the children a chance to share their cultures and plan for a way to try to incorporate all cultures into the American culture. I think that all children who are attending US schools should become familiar with American culture, but should be comfortable with continuing to observe their own culture if they are not American

Whose right of freedom of speech are we observing?

The issue of freedom of speech in the school system is not a new issue. When students refuse to participate in observing a moment of silence by observing their right to freedom of speech , raises the issue of infringement upon other student's freedom of speech to observe the moment of silence. However, when students refuse to participate in reciting the pledge and saluting the flag by exercising their right to freedom of speech, does this infringe upon other individuals rights? I believe that children who want to recite the pledge and salute the flag should be allowed to do so because it is their right as Americans. I also believe that children should be allowed to observe the moment of silence because all children should be allowed to exercise their right to freedeom of speech. The sticky issue comes about when one person is exercising their right to freedom of speech and it infringes upon another person's right to exercise their right to freedom of speech. Therefore, should the pledge be recited by all students in all systems? I believe yes, it should. If you are an American citizen and attend an American school, then it should be required. However, if a child is not an American citizen and does not feel comfortable about saluting the flag and reciting the pledge, that should be allowed as well, as long as the children who are not participating are not being disrespectful, then it should not be an issue. If they do not want to hear the pledge, they should be allowed to step into the hallway until it is over. This same principle should be applied to observing a moment of silence. Students who want to observe the moment of silence should be allowed to; otherwise, why do the ones who are in disagreement with an issue always win and force others to agree with their beliefs although they are infringing upon the rights of other students.

Innovators and Makers of American Education

Innovators and Makers
There have been many who have been innovators in the educational realm over time. As I read the PBS website on Educational Innovators, I read about a few people with whom I was not familiar. It opened my eyes and made me realize that education has come a long way over time. The issues we have today have changed tremendously from the fight that some of our ancestors had. After I read about the Innovators, I began reading Gratto’s Makers website. I can say I was rather shocked and the contrast between the two.
The innovators introduced new ideas, new thoughts and change for the educational system. They seemed to have a common goal, educate all the children. There were some who fought for women’s rights, some for desegregation, some for higher education; but all in all, they still were introducing ideas to all citizens that in order to have a more productive society, education was the path to take. Did they have all the answers, absolutely not; however, they were acknowledged as innovators because they didn’t just go with the flow, they offered up new ideas and fought for them.
When I viewed the Gatto website, they focused more on schooling as a business. It stated that traditional schooling had three purposes: 1. To make good people, 2. To make good citizens, and 3. To make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum. To me, it appears that would be the reasons the innovators introduced any and all ideas in order for those purposes to become fact for all of our citizens.
The contrast, Gratto mentioned a fourth purpose. He stated the fourth purpose was to make them a servant of corporate and political management. For the ‘business of schooling,’ children were viewed as a human resource. “Human resource children are to be shaped and molded for something called “The WorkPlace,” even though for most of American history American children were reared to expect to create their own workplaces.”
Deborah Meier is deemed an innovator in American education. Her name was not one with which I was familiar. I found her quote interesting: “What I wanted was to create thoughtful citizens — people who believed they could live interesting lives and be productive and socially useful. So I tried to create a community of children and adults where the adults shared and respected the children’s lives.” As educators, shouldn’t this be a common goal that we are after?
Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan were all referred to on Gratto’s site as the makers of modern education. Since Gratto took the business realm in looking at education, it makes sense that he would refer to businessmen. However, were these men just born with the inclination and know-how of becoming industrialist greats? Were there companies, fortunes, lives, not built on a new idea…so essentially they were innovative in “social efficiency”?
I think that all in all, education is important in any realm. We learn by doing, by examples, and by interacting with others. Being in a public school setting, one learns many things… you learn tolerance, people skills, how to think for yourself. Every job that exists, at the heart of it all is education… if they cannot read and write and do arithmetic, can their ideas be fruitful? I think we must be able to communicate with others and have some common ground in order to continue on with a quest for working and succeeding in life.

MFB~My First Blog :-)

Hello! My name is Lisa. I teach 8th grade Language Arts at Central Middle in Rutherford County. I just completed my fourth year teaching there, and I love it! I never thought I would end up teaching eighth graders, but to my surprise, I feel I may have found my niche. I am the proud mother of a thirteen-year-old (and a Golden Retriever :-)). I am now an official blogger, so let the fun begin!