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Blog #6

 Lisa Delpit The Silenced Dialogue — ARGUMENT 

    Lisa states two systems of thought that echo through all educational institutions, the silenced dialogue and the rules of power. When these ideologies are understood and challenged by educators, their students gain more autonomy and knowledge. The students then go forward equipped with tools to beat a system that wasn't designed with them in mind.

The silenced dialogue is explained as non white voices being ignored or underrepresented in the educational sphere. While white voices are being heard and understood, POC find frustration in the lack of support and are made fiercely aware of their non-whiteness. This shows up in the amplification of white history, in the suppression of non western conquests and rewriting of that history. Delpit says that when a white person makes a mistake it only reflects on them as an individual however when POC are operating in mainly white systems they take on the responsibility of their whole ethnicity due to white centered confirmation bias on stereotypes. 

Another structure that exists in education is the rules of power. These rules are dominated by the culture who retains the most power and influence. Delpits main argument for educations is not to change the system on some grand scale, rather to implicitly demonstrate the rules. Delpit notes that educators from different walks of life use a vastly opposed turns of phrase. Mainly white teachers using leading questions i.e “Is that what we are supposed to be doing right now” and black teachers use more clean directions “stop doing that, we are doing this” Although seemingly similar for a child who grew up only hearing directions from one culture this disparity could be increasing frustrating. This is why as educators its extremely important to understand the rules and conduct of power and how you play a role in its felicitation.  

    While reflecting back on this reading I felt the raw emotions of a child who didn’t understand, or felt entirely misunderstood. It is isolating having no power or say in major part of your life. That is why as teachers we work hard to be the shepherds to our learning populations. We need to bestow our best upon them and give the students the benefit of the doubt. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8tc52dISV8

Blog #7

 Alfie Kohn's What to Look Out for in a Classroom and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by the Learning for Justice youtube channel -- CONNECTIONS

These two pieces of media drew upon many of the previous topics we've read about in this corse. Kohn's website had described what a classroom ought to look like, with ideas being shared among students, their art, class work, community and culture. The Culturally Relevant Pedagogy urges the message that educators are the bridge between cultures and they usher in a generation of enriched students that explored themselves and those around them artfully. Both of the assigned contents made sure to highlight that the children's lived experiences should be at the forefront of their education. This concept would be wholeheartedly backed up by both Sleeter's writings on ethnic studies as well as Shifting the Paradigm an academic research paper. Sleeter argues the more connected a child is to the content they are learning the more beneficial the educational outcome. When the students become the focus that falls in line with the Asset based thinking model introduced in  Shifting the Paradigm. When each student is recognized for who they are and where they come from, their assets are valued and in turn the student values themselves and see their self as a learner. 

    This reading really helped me look back onto my educational experience where one culture dominated the way lessons were prepared and taught. As a future music educator I want to expand music for my students. Ideas come to mind like open song suggestions or even as a joint effort, being able to write music with my future students. Exploring music through a non western lens could help connect students who were possibly drifting away from the content due to a lack of interest  

In these two images you can see one teacher at the front of the class displaying her writing with the students siting quietly listening to her, in the other photo you have a teacher speaking at the same level as her student wrapped in a discussion rather than a lecture and they are working on a collaborative assignment.

I had read a book called Flight and it detailed the life of a native American foster teen who only knew his culture through old western movies till his dreams started to morph with his past lives. The book explores what trauma the body and mind go through when you've lost your sense of identity. 

https://groveatlantic.com/book/flight/

Blog #4

Renkly, Bertolini--Shifting the Paradigm -- Quotes


Through the text I discovered that Asset learning really relies on the teacher getting to know the students, and on a larger scale and a community that is familiar with the student populations. Isolation causes despair and a fear of failure. One change in an educator's perspective can change the performance of a student. Asset learning means setting up an environment where a child’s skill sets can be drawn upon and supported rather than forcing a student to meet an arbitrary expectation. The writers of Shifting the Paradigm lay out some ways to highlight asset building in the classroom "These include having high expectations for your students, convincing them that these expectations are attainable, helping them remove their fear of failure by encouraging them to fail forward, setting small and attainable goals, and celebrating successes when those goals are met before moving forward further." These are the steps to bring asset based learning into a classroom. Renkly and Bertolini believe that children who are instilled with confidence and when they are allowed to fail freely gain more from their educational experience. They go on to site a study from 2013 "According to Albert (2013), personalized instruction in the classroom can build students’ assets even further. This can be done by first identifying each child’s jewels (skills, talents, and interests) and using these to help the student grow from where they are currently academically, socially, and emotionally." This evidence supports asset based learning on a student driven bases. When the students personal jewels show up in an educational environment further down their educational journey they find more fulfillment and build assets.

When reading this article I felt for all the students who have been reprimanded by their mentors and educators, leading to the disillusionment with learning and education. The current education system tears down children who walk to the beat of their own drum and forces them to tow the line of conformity. the only outlet children may have access to could be after school programs with a fee to join, or not within the caregivers schedule this boxes out under privileged learners and isolates them from expansive learning, meaning the school must compensate with the way they approach the "deficit" in education. 

https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2025/educating-ourselves-about-childhood-arts-experiences-and-why-they-matter

 

Blog #2

 Sal Khan-- The Broken Model ARGUMENT

Throughout the selected reading Sal Khan draws a lot of similarities between the current education system and subjugation through suppressing intellectual freedom, woah lotta big words right? Lets break that down! 

    In order for a system with power isolated at the top to remain, it must maintain control of the working and lower classes, known as the proletariat. In America a huge amount of control is in the education system. Although revolutionary at its inception with a goal of sharing knowledge to all growing humans, the American education system has now worked against it main goal and is stuck in this stagnated state. Khan argues school don't teach for expansive thought and growth, rather they teach for route memorization and testing well. In this system no room was made for outlier students, or difference in opinion or interpretation. All learners who cant fit a certain mold are seen as problem children, or they are marked lower than their peers. There is absolutely no room for the individual in the current state of educational policy. IF students were treated and cared for on a case by case bases their personal skills would shine through, however it is so that many learners are told to suppress themselves and deny their intrinsic being. This issue is only exasperated by class, for those wealthy family who can buy out of the the homogeny of the US educational system get their children's needs get meet, and they can churn out free minds unbounded by the current broken model of public schooling. 

    I can really relate to Khans thoughts on oppression through educational policy. It is ultimately out of the educators hand on what the government is telling them to teach, however I have encountered some great policy and expectations as a learner in public schooling. For example at my high school they changed the graduate requirements from a portfolio containing grades, essays, feedback from past classes and morphed the final grad requirement to be a project of your choosing. As a senior you could do anything like learn how to cook a 5 corse meal, plant a fruit tree or produce a song. This allowed the individual to look inwards and inspire passion for topics that layed outside the binary of the current educational system. 

https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-private-schools-vs-public-schools/2013/10?utm_source=goog&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ew+performance+max+subscription&ccag=subscription&cckw=&cccv=subscription+ad&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23338998931&gbraid=0AAAAADfp2x31gBAkSby1oWiMPCZVBcbY2&gclid=CjwKCAiAxc_JBhA2EiwAFVs7XEfgcII8z0eSP4R_45_ybbtBziLv5P-QJrIQnxsK7aLxL8rWO66J7BoCc-QQAvD_BwE