Our Views on Gender Roles and a Baby Called “X”

After enduring a long quarter of multiple education classes and reading tons of, essays, studies and stories pertaining to me as a future educator, I could not help but think back to my senior year of high school’s psychology class. Within the class we did an extensive unit on child psychology and sociology which involved a number of articles and stories on many aspects of children and child rearing. One particular reading and class session was about gender roles and how parents and other adults act around boys and girls, how these actions are part of the sociological conditioning that children face when maturing into adults themselves. Our teacher had us read a paper, The Story of X, by Lois Gould. At first the paper reads like a story but by the end you obviously know there is something up. The paper was first seen in a Ms. Magazine in 1975 and has been making people question the significance of sociological conditioning and gender roles. After reading the paper I found myself very interested in how gender plays into the maturation of children and societies inherent drive to label children under gender. Here is the pdf for the paper: http://www3.delta.edu/cmurbano/bio199/AIDS_Sexuality/BabyX.pdf

image: http://www.blogher.com/inspired-childrens-book-parents-keep-childs-gender-secret-0

H5 – Honor student potential for roles in the greater society.

The Three Little Pigs

While I have I been working with second graders at B.F. Day Elementary I have come across a number of students within the class who speak a different language at apart from English, one spoke Somalian, another Dutch and another Spanish. All being very diverse and all facing similar problems in their academics. Some students have problems with their reading and therefore need more help in understanding the books they read with me while others are struggling but excelling with some help on my part. I helped the Somalian boy with his reading a lot by having him tell me the story in a different way since he had memorized the story and wasn’t actually reading to me. He had some problems with understanding what the story was actually about. We were reading the Three Little Pigs, one of his favorites and clearly he had read the book many times since he would just say most of the words without looking down to read them and fly through the pages. I then had him close the book and tell me what the story was about and what he thought it meant. He had some difficulty recounting the story and so I had him go through the book only looking at the picture and tell me what he thought was going on based on the pictures. This went a little better and he seemed to enjoy reading the book even more. I then had him tell me why the last pig succeeded and he told it was because he was the smartest pig. I was so excited to have this young boy finally understand what this book meant and to actually slow down when reading, to actually look at the words and pictures to understand what was going on in the storyline. And so we continued our reading with a similar routine. I hope he has improved and I think he will, though English is not his first language, he can use different tools to help him in his reading, these same tools, stopping and looking at what is actually there and using whatever is present for context will help in other situations. On the playground when someone is playing a game he does not fully understand, instructions his teacher gives that he does not completely follow, etc. I think he will be able to use these same tools from reading a story about three pigs and translate it over into the rest of his life.

image: http://www.acidfreegallery.com/the-three-little-pigs-by-jerrod-maruyama/

H1: Honor Student diversity and development

Ouvre ta porte, Ouvre ton couer

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Sf7sEOVqiOhCVqsRdgJMpxRDW1AB5jpvS9CU342uSdw/present#slide=id.p

english translation: http://learnspeak.blogspot.com/2006/09/lhomme-qui-te-ressemble-english.html

This poem by Rene Philombe is a great example of what diversity means to me and is a great way to show students that even in the literature that questions about diversity come up. The poem is about a man who questions another man, calling him brother, why he cares about his skin color, how long his nose is, how thick his lips are or what are the names of his gods. I truly love this poem and have found that when I was taught french through this poem I came to understand how important pointing out differences are and why they were important. This poem brings up these shallow questions that we ask openly or internally when facing some with culturally different backgrounds, the poem has made me catch myself when facing people of different backgrounds, how some of these questions can be perceived as racists and distasteful. Yet after studying the poem and understanding the term diversity more I have come to view these questions as just questions. I do not question someone with these in order to label that person but instead to understand their culture better. I ask about language, about customs, about anything that I find different but also interesting. I have learned that putting these questions aside and hiding from them does not help the problem we face with confronting diversity, instead people shy away from confrontation in expressing others differences. I want to know these differences and to celebrate them, I want to understand my students better and allow them safety in knowing that yes they are different but these little differences do not make up the whole person. Experiences, hopes, dreams, fears, culture, all of these attribute to each person. I want to acknowledge my students differences but also show them that they are still my brother and that there is more to their person than just differences in appearance and beliefs.

image: http://www.laramedia.com/how-to-embrace-diversity-in-the-workplace/

Standards and how to make sense of them in teaching

When looking at the world language standards, specifically,

Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.

This standard is not so easily tied to a Latin lesson but in my 7 minute mini-lesson I plan to relate how Latin conjugations are similar to French and Spanish conjugations. These similarities being specific endings and how the verb is changed for a person and number (singular/plural). Another similarity is how a verb acts syntactically in both Latin and respectively in French or Spanish. For example, the uses of pronouns derived from the specific endings in the conjugation. Latin, most notably, has the pronoun built into the verb when conjugated. Therefore, referring back to this standard, one can see how comparing Spanish or French verb conjugations would help in learning Latin conjugations.

For this lesson, I wouldn’t focus on a comparison between these languages, but make sure to note the similarities in order for my students to have context. The focus of this lesson would be on Latin verbs and how to conjugate said verbs. Yet throughout the lesson, I will make sure my students gain understanding of the language through prior knowledge of Spanish or French.

H4: Honor family/community involvement in the learning process

The Going to college event was a definitely a memorable day for all those involved. I am an aspiring high school teacher and do not see myself teaching a grade school age children in the future yet this day was a wonderful experience on my part. I don’t often get to work this age group and I was pleasantly surprised by how smart and passionate these kids were. I was fortunate to be able to partner up with two fifth grade boys, Dante and Philip, both very different but equally excited to be at SPU for the “Going to College” event.

The event allowed students to experience the excitement and fun involved with college, much of the same feelings a future student going to SPU experiences before starting attendance at the school. The excitement and interest the kids expressed while working with us was similar to how I felt right before I started attending SPU. The experience for these fifth graders was a great opportunity to inform not only them but also their families about the possibilities for each of them, the sort of world they could be a part of. The “Going to College” event was a way to start introducing this idea of college to the fifth graders and their respective families, giving them an insight into the infinite paths they could take in the future after high school. Encouraging them to look to further education and exploration, experiencing those same feelings any prospective freshman experiences.

These kids did not just come curiosity and excitement but also many questions that only proved how determined they were to know as much about the college experience as possible. Philip for one asked me a lot about the library and how helpful it was in the homework I had to do, he also asked about all the different buildings and how each focus was broken up in different schools of interest, School of Ed., School of Business, etc. Dante was very much interested in how the dorms were constructed and how student life was. I was very surprised and happy to answer their questions, they even asked a little about my own studies and what I enjoyed about school. They very much enjoyed the fact that a student could go to one class for a day and be done for the day instead of spending an entirety of 6 hours in school everyday. Both of these fifth graders posed very good and though provoking questions on my part, asking about my first impressions of college. I was reminded of those first couple of months of school and the ones leading up to my freshman year. I know that both of these kids would go home and tell their families about their experiences, they were starting to plant those seeds of future plans in order to achieve success in their futures.

image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7_Wls_CEAEX45L.jpg:large

H2: Honor student access to content material

It was interesting when I came across a problem that would be directly applicable to this particular HOPE principle, H2. I have been working with second graders at B.F. Day Elementary in reading one-on-one with each child. B.F. Day is well notable for its diverse student population and therefore have many students who are learning English as a second language apart from a home language which tends to be their primary tongue.

In regards to this fact with B.F. Day and my past experience with the school itself I was aware that I would be encountering students who were learning English as a second language, primarily within school. And so when such a situation presented itself to me, I was not surprised but definitely intrigued and somewhat excited about helping the child with his English. Being a future language teacher, I always get excited whenever a situation leads into language acquisition.

I was sitting in the hallway, waiting for the next child to come out to read with me and along came a young boy who was definitely excited to read to me, or at least excited to leave the classroom during an instructional time. I prefer to think it was the former versus the latter. This young boy proceeded to take out “The Three Little Pigs” and began to read out loud to me. I could tell that the boy had read the story before and loved it since many of the phrases he read sounded recited and not read from the book. He would skip over certain words and say another. So after reading through the first two pages and I had figured out what the boy was doing I asked him to start over and slow down. He did, doing the exact same thing over again until I stopped him on the second word having him sound out the letters and reread the whole sentence. After struggling through the first page we continued reading the book as I had him stop and sound out the words and reread. A few words he had me explain since he had never heard of them before, particularly “puff” which I demonstrated by “puffing” so whenever we came across the word “puff” further along the book he and I would both start puffing. The boy was very much enjoying the story by the end and could tell me what happened in the story with each character, his most favorite being the wolf and his puffing. As I recorded his progress in a notebook I asked him if English was his second language, which he didn’t quite understand so I asked what language he spoke of at home. He told me he spoke Somalian. It was definitely an interesting day and I was excited to get to use some language techniques.

image: http://www.savethestudent.org/extra-guides/guide-to-learning-a-second-language-at-university.html

Brief History on Education and Reflection

Another aspect of the education system apart from the theories used would be that of how the education system has changed in the past 200 years. Largely changing in how a classroom looks and how the schooling process goes. Children 150 years ago would go to school in a large building with one room, all ages in on room learning the same things and progressing together instead of what a school looks like today. In these one room classrooms children would get some education but for many it usually stopped at literacy and basic arithmetic, this was because children would need to be home to take care of the home or farms. After the industrial boom society saw how efficient industrialization had made everything and decided this same concept should be translated over into the classroom, hence why now there are grades with specific age groups. There are standards for how much information each age and grade level has accumulated over a certain period of time. These changes have been around for a long time and did help bring children out of the very limited one room classrooms but now it seems this same concept is outdated, especially with the “.com” boom. Technology is not used as much in the classroom as it could be; education has remained this same model for over a century and may need to be revised.

image: http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&prodId=UHIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|CX2587100013&mode=view&userGroupName=longbeach&jsid=0922e4473ed4e7dfd7187e327c261748#asrm_0001_0001_0_img0037

Piaget and Education

Theorists like Piaget held learning in high regard, it was how children learned and through what they learned that determined much knowledge they gained. Piaget stated in his theory of cognitive development that childhood was vital in the growth of intelligence and children learned through “doing and actively exploring” within the environment they are brought up in. Piaget viewed that environment was one key aspect to the maturation of children; he also saw that language was to follow after these things. Basically children needed a context to place language in, an environment where their language was useful and therefore needed. I agree with a lot of Piaget’s theory, especially to the openness of how children in learn. Exploring and being in the world is definitely going to help teach a child and encourage growth in intelligence; language being an example of this outcome in intelligence. If someone is learning a new language then it is always encouraged for said person to create an environment where this language is primary, this would in coherence with Piaget’s theory. This is partially why many parents, younger grades and institutions use the theory for child development. Yet Piaget’s theory also has some drawbacks, like how child development is not as smooth or does not strictly follow his model, and that is just what it is, a general model. There will always be a special case that does not fall under this theory and therefore there will be a need to use a different type of theory or understanding development.

image: http://childgrowthspring.weebly.com/piaget-in-the-classroom.html

Child Abuse and Literature: A response to the grayer areas in abuse

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The book, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, by Ann Fadiman is novel about a Hmong child, Lia Lee, her family, and western medicine. This book explores the very different lives of the Hmong culture in contrast to the western culture, specifically the Hmong shaman medicine and the western medicine. It is also a window into the grayer area of child abuse. The book is written in such a way that the reader is able to view the problems from every point of view and empathize with each character.

Lia was the first child in her family to be born outside of Laos, she is the thirteenth child and at the beginning of the book she is the youngest. Her birth was very different from the type of births her other siblings experienced, for example her mother didn’t deliver her by herself, she was assisted in the MCMC hospital by the staff and doctors. The placenta was not kept and buried like it traditionaly was done in Laos but instead the hospital burned it. To the Lee’s Lia was a beautiful and perfect child. She was spoiled from the very beginning, showered with affection like most Hmong children are; yet when her older sister Yer slammed a door in their apartment three months after Lia’s birth all the more did Lia become the center of her parents’ attentions. Lia started having seizures that very day, diagnosed by her parents as a soul disease, but later diagnosed by Doctor Neil as epilepsy. The Hmong viewed such diseases with pride and concern, they revered it in its spiritual qualities, as given to their shamans.

This contrasting view in Lia’s diseases would lead both the medical staff at MCMC and her family down a very rough and unnecessary road. The Hmong usually distrust western medicine due to how it is perceived by the people. They don’t understand the idea of giving blood or surgery; all they embrace from western medicine usually are the needle and prescription drugs. The Lee’s are no different, when Lia was first taken into the ER she was administered drugs for pneumonia and not the epilepsy she had fallen into, the second time allowed doctors to see that she indeed had a form of epilepsy and they began her on a therapy drug. Over the course of 3 years Lia was administered a cocktail of drugs that were essentially being properly handled by her parents. The doctors began to see a decline in her developmental capabilities and came to the conclusion it was because her parents were not giving her the right dosage or drug for ailment. Other factors played into this as well, the fact that the Lee’s liked their child to be obese as a sign of health in their culture but detrimental to her according to her doctors.

Doctor Neil and his wife finally came to the conclusion that they needed to fix this problem that they needed to report the Lee’s to child services. Though Neil could not shake the thought that his lack of care in the beginning could have been what brought Lia to the state she was headed. The husband and wife team still went through and reported the Lee’s, resulting in the placement of Lia in the Korda’s care, which given the circumstances and the parties involved may have been the best for Lia. The Korda’s took genuine interest in the care for Lia and even took interest in her family, allowing weekly visits and befriending the family. The Korda’s took extra care to educate her parents on her drug regimen and to try and understand them. Both families found a common ground in the care for Lia.

The author was also introduced to the family and gained much information on the situation with Lia but also about Hmong culture. Foua, Lia’s mother, wanted to explain what Hmong culture was and how different it was from America, she did so in hopes that Fidamen’s book would reach the medical professionals and others involved with immigrants of Hmong background.

I can understand the doctor’s frustrations but also the frustrations on the family’s part. I don’t know all that much about the Hmong culture besides what is presented in this book, but from what I have gained it is a culture that is firmly centered on the relationship between the spirit and the body and how the two work together. The Hmong are so intent on the medical practices here in America because of central medicine plays in their daily lives in their own culture.

If I had one of Lia’s siblings in my classroom and they talked about the problems they were facing at home I would probably report it, due to how little the children would be able to tell me about the situation and how accurate the accounts were. To some extent the situation would be distorted and only lead to me think that the abuse was caused by something else. Yet the parents are not typical abusers and this situation like many others in this scene are not black and white cases of abuse. One could argue neglect but the neglect was due ignorance and non-compliance, as well incompetency on the medical staffs part. But I think that by giving this situation over to the Korda’s care that Lia’s life was given a better outcome than the one she was inevitably headed. She was given a better chance at life and also able to retain a relationship with her parents. Her parents were also able to gain friends in this terrible situation and better understand Lia’s needs. This whole case could have been avoided in certain aspects and yet Lia was saved to an extent. Both her loving parents and people who knew about her condition and how to appropriately care for her.

This sort of problem will always have a lot of “what if’s” and unresolved tensions on all parties. These situations of abuse are harder to label as abuse because of how much gray area is present. I don’t think there is an easy answer, but I think there is a better response from every person involved.