Link to Promising Practices Keynote

Here is a link to the keynote address from the conference in November 2014.  Feel free to review it as you write up your Blog Post on the event.

Dispositions Form for your SL Teacher

Please email your teacher with this link and ask them to fill out this form for you…. you should absolutely go look at it yourself before sending it in order to understand more about this assessment.


Here is a sample email you could send to your teacher asking him/her to fill this out.

Dear XXX,

Thank you so much for hosting me in your classroom this semester.  I learned a lot and enjoyed the opportunity to work with xxxx.  

As a requirement for my education program at RIC, I am asking you to please submit this very short form assessing me and my dispositions.  

http://faculty.ric.edu/ptiskus/
 
It is just 8 questions, and should take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete.  You will need the following information about me in order to fill it out:

Name:  Jane Doe
ID #: xxxxxxx
Program/Major:  History/Secondary (go look at the list to find your correct one - YDEV should select OTHER)

Thank you for submitting this on my behalf.  It needs to be posted no later than Dec. 20, 2014 in order for me to complete my FNED 346 course, so please submit this as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact me at the numbers below.

Sincerely, 

Jane Doe
Email@email.com
Cell phone

Google Doc on Brown v. Board

In class today, we will be working on building our collective knowledge of Brown vs. Board of Education.  In class, I will ask you to click on this link and work collaboratively.

"Reading" for Brown v. Board of Education

Hope you had a fun Halloween, and enjoyed the Promising Practices conference in spite of the early morning!! Looking forward to hearing how it went for you...

The readings for this week are not exactly readings, but things to check out online. This week marks a shift in the syllabus. Up until this point, we have been reading about broad theories about diversity and difference including the Culture of Power and issues of White Privilege. Now we are going to start to look at historical moments where these topics came into view in our schools.

Our topic this week is about Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the historical supreme court decision that made the segregation of public schools unconstitutional.


You have FOUR tasks for this week:

1) I want you to explore this website to give you some background on Brown v. Board of Education. We will be using this in class to build a Google Doc reference sheet together, so take a lot of notes so that you feel well prepared to teach others about this court case.

2) Then I want you to watch these two videos that highlight the work of Tim Wise, author of "Between Barack and a Hard Place." Take notes while you watch so that you can refer to specific quote in your blog post and in class. What does Wise have to do with Brown v. Board of Education?






3) Read this very short article from March 2011 New York Times.
How do the issues that Bob Herbert raises shape how you think about Brown v. Board of Education?

4) Now blog about it.
What is the relationship between the historical issues you see in the website on Brown v. Board of Education and the contemporary issues of race that Bob Herbert and Tim Wise raise here?

Leave comments if you have any questions...
LB :)

SL Project Groups

DELPIT
Mike (Johnson)
Anthony (Collier)
Cindy (Collier)
Branden (Collier)

JOHNSON
Essence (Johnson)
Erika (August)
Nathali (Delpit)
Emily (Collier)
CHRISTENSEN
Chanel (Kahne and Westheimer)

COLLIER
Megan (Johnson)
Lindsey L (Delpit)
Jessica (Rodriguez)
Karissa (Delpit) 
Lindsey D (Delpit)

RODRIGUEZ
Alyssa (Collier)
Gianna (Delpit)

SAFE SPACES
Shannon (Delpit)
Dennis (Johnson)
Ashley (August?)

Tweet me!

Leave a comment below with your tweet!!

Homework for Tuesday, October 28

There is no new reading for Tuesday, 10/28. Instead, I am asking you to review one of the text we have already read, and be prepared to TEACH us in class. You will be the expert in the room as we continue to build our knowledge maps of theory and practice.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

1) Reread the text you are assigned below.

2) Pull 5 quotes that you think are significant to the main idea(s) of the article.

3) Review other people's blogs from that text, and pull 5 quotes/pics/videos from different blogs that help you explain the main ideas. (If your text wasn't a blog assignment, do a little google search on the text/author and see what you can find!)

4) Review class notes from that text.

5) Create a blog post on your blog that summarize the main idea, and includes the 5 quotes and 5 blog connections.

Johnson:  We must learn to say the words

Erika,

Delpit:  Rules and Codes of Power

Mike, Ashley, Anthony, Emily, Branden, Cindy,

Kozol:  Racism and poverty are systemic problems, not individual ones

Shannon,

McIntosh:  Whiteness as an invisible privilege

Essence,

Rodriguez:  Sacrificing private identity for public identity

Gianna, Alyssa

Collier:  Honor students’ first language skills

Lindsey, Karissa, Nathali, Megan, Jessica

Christensen:  Students need to find real ways to “talk back” and take action against oppression

Chanel,

Safe Spaces:  How is difference "expected, explored and embraced?"

Dennis

Kahne and Westheimer: SL as charity or change

Media Literacy...

I am so disappointed that we don't have class on Thursday.  I was looking forward to discussing Christensen with you!!

In lieu of our class time, think about this, and leave me a comment below...

CHRISTENSEN:

“I ask students to watch for who plays the lead.  Who plays the baffoon? Who plays the servant? I encourage them to look at the race, station in life, body type of each character.  What motivates the character? What do they want out of life?  What’s their mission?  If there are people of color (in the cartoon), what do they look like? How are they portrayed? How does the film portray overweight people? What about women other than the main character? What jobs do you see them doing? What do they talk about? What are their main concerns? What would young children learn about women’s roles in society if they watched this film and believed it?  What roles do money, possessions, and power play in the film? What has it? Who wants it? How important is it to the story? What would children learn about what’s important in society?” (129-130).

Watch one (or more if you want!) of these, and think about what it TEACHES us.  What "secret education" does it offer?  Use the Christensen quote above to guide you as you think about all the questions she poses above...

Or if you would rather take on a more complex text to read... think about the secret education in this one.  What is the main message that Madonna (and director Guy Ritchie) is getting at here?  How do the words and images tell a story about their major argument?  What does it "mean?"

Dr. Annie Russell, Director of LGBTQ Center at URI

Rhode Island College context: What have we been doing at RIC for LGBTQ?

2009: RIC Equity Action Grant to fund LGBTQ programming
2011: Campus Pride Index (3.5/5) for LGBT friendly campus

Gender neutral housing and bathrooms on campus
Records office now has a process for name changes for trans student

2013: Pride index went up (4.0/5)
2014:  LGBT Faculty Allies group

Dr. Annie Russell (URI)
BA in Communication
MA in Education
Phd in Higher Ed Administration
Research interest in social justice and intersectionality
Director of LGBTQ Center at URI, faculty in Gender and women's studies

HISTORY: how people fight for their rights

Safety was the greatest motivator for LGBT activism.
Issues of activism and safety are usually first.  Many people don't come out early due to these issues.
Today, many students have come out BEFORE they come to college

Laws existed that required people to stay in the closet, meet privately, and use code words when organizing.

SILENCE was the key issue for LGBT life.

Soon, students started organizing.  Faculty and staff soon followed.

1969 - STONEWALL RIOTS in NYC
This set of events was the fire that lit the public fight for LGBTQ Rights

1971 - University of Michigan was first in country to open a LGBT Center on campus

On many college campuses, Women's Centers became an important place to fight for LGBT rights when campuses wouldn't acknowledge LGBT people explicitly

LAWS start to change: students' right to organize, funding sources, anti-sodomy laws, civil rights legislation.

Local churches opened their doors to many LGBTQ groups when students didn't feel safe on campus.
Building alliances between church and LGBT

Anti-discrimination Civil Rights Legislation: at the federal level, no protection for secual orientation and gender identity

TODAY:
30 out of 50 states allow gay people to marry
About 400 campuses have taken the Pride Index from Campus Pride
About 250 LGBT Centers across the country

What is Campus Climate?

• Policy: Do we say the words?
• Procedures and Practice: Is it more than words? Do we really think through the experience of LGBT people?
• Resources:  Centers, support and leadership (comfort with the language)
• Visibility: 

Assessment:  How do we figure out if things are working?
CAS --> National Organization that creates assessment tools (semester long process of assessment)
Campus Pride Index --> RIC uses this, more extensive survey is coming this year
Princeton Review/US News and World Report --> not as reputable to figure out inclusiveness, but lots of people look at this measure when they are looking at where to go to college

How do we DO Climate Change?

• Critical Mass: Need people who are willing to work for change, need United Communities (bringing together people who feel marginalized across different categories)
• Assessment: (need to create reports, and publicize!!)
• Making the Invisible, Visible: (telling stories, give voice to things that no one wants to talk about)
• Proposing Change: (formal and document, submitted in a public way, in a timely way with a bottom line)

Examples from Bowling Green State University and URI

Strategic Planning for Centers

Start by identifying what we do well and what we don't
Name INTERSECTIONALITY as a goal
Setting goals to figure out priorities
Use communications and marketing to make the work public (in process and annual report)
Continuous Improvement Model

*Sharing Stories

• What LGBT experiences have you had on this campus?
• How have those experiences shaped where institution is today?
• What are the barriers?

Consortium LGBTQ Professionals in Higher Education offers models for funding and resources
Strength in proof and numbers -- we need data to show who is here and what they need

*Draw from the counseling center for data on how many folks are coming in with LGBTQ related issues and concerns

** The moment we make things public issue the administrative roadblocks

NEXT STEPS:
- Which entities should be involved in creating a plan?
- How will you appoint inclusive leadership surrounding LGBT issues?
- How do you sustain resistance and overcome burnout?
- What are your non-negotiables?

Class on TUESDAY 10/7

Don't forget that we are meeting in ALGER 110 on Tuesday for the presentation by Annie Russell, director of the URI LGBT Center. 

"Making College Campuses LGBT Friendly"

I hope that your reading this week will make you feel smart and well prepared to participate in the discussion with Annie Russell.

See you there!!

Rodriguez, Aria

Rodriguez, Collier and Delpit all touch on similar issues but how do their central ARGUMENTS differ?

Giving up his Spanish took away some of his personal identity (PRIVATE IDENTITY).

Is this a cautionary tale?
The stories he tells show something is lost:  can't speak in depth with parents, doesn't have names for his parents anymore, misses the sound of spanish, loss of "conveniently private sounds", intimacy

In the end, he says the loss is NECESSARY.
"makes possible" --

Rodriguez wrote Hunger of Memory in 1982
R says you HAVE TO LEARN the rules and codes of power in order tobe successful.
D also says that you have to learn the rules and codes of power to be successful
vs.
Collier (2004) says 3. Don't teach in a way that seeks to eliminate the first language...

Class Notes on Kozol

Class Discussion on Kozol

What is Kozol's argument in this piece??

The culture of power provides temporary fixes to the problems of poverty  in Mott Haven which keep the cycle of power in its place, and put a "bandaid' on the "broken leg" which never really fixes the problems.

Kozol blames INSTITUTIONS not INDIVIDUALS.

Kozol disagrees with Mead who says,  "If poor people behaved rationally they would seldom be poor for long in the first place" (21).  

People with LESS PRIVILEGE have FEWER CHOICES.
Power offers people choice and freedom to make decisions for long term success rather than short term survival.









AGREES:
"Evil exists...  I believe that what the rich have done to the poor in this city..."(23)
Kozol tells us this to show us that RICH PEOPLE have power but don't use it. 

How do we know that Kozol agrees?

DISAGREES:
Mead: "If poor people behaved rationally they would seldom be poor for long in the first place" (21)

EVIDENCE:
cockroaches
hand out blankets instead of heat
all about fixing the problem temporarily...
incinerator
dumping trash
putting so many poor people in one place with "nothing to grow on"

Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace

About 5 or so years ago, Jonathan Kozol came to speak at RIC.  I was honored to be asked to participate in a small group session with him and some students from ALLIED, the mentoring group I run every Wednesday. I was so excited to meet him that I became ridiculous in my anticipation.  Every day I would remind my classes that he was coming and every day that would laugh at my giddiness and glee.

On the day he spoke, I collected all of my Kozol books from my office...  Amazing Grace, Savage Inequalities, Shame of the Nation, Letters to a New Teacher, Death at an Early Age.  Probably others.  A colleague of mine saw me heading to the talk with a heavy bag in tow.

"What are you doing with all those books?" she asked.

"I just really want him to sign them!" I exclaimed.  I wanted him to know that I was his Number One Fan and somehow I had decided that the armload of books would be evidence to my loyalities.

"Maybe you should just bring one," she said.  "You know.  Just one to sign."

"Oh no!" I declared. "I really want to bring them all!"

Being told explicitly the rules and codes of power makes acquiring power easier.  Delpit was shaking her head somewhere out there in the universe.

The talk was great.  I took notes and smiled and nodded emphatically.  I brought all of the books. After the talk, Kozol signed them all.  Begrudgingly.  Apparently it is bad form to ask an author to sign ALL of your books.  As if one special autographed copy is cheapened by sitting next to many others on one person's bookshelf.  Instead of impressing Kozol, I kinda irritated him.  Ooops.  Another place where Delpit and Kozol have collided for me!

Welcome to our blogosphere!

Welcome to this FNED 346 blogging adventure!

Sometime before September 14, you will set up your own blog to use this semester for all of your Talking Points assignments, and to keep track of your thoughts about any of the issues we cover.

A blog is your very own, personal online journal. It is public, in that I and your classmates can read it and comment on it, but it is your space and you can control most everything about it. (If you want to make it private so that *only* members of this class can read it, I can show you how to do so).

In the context of this course, your blog has two purposes:

1) Your blog will provide a space for you to keep all of your assignments over the course of our semester together. You will not hand in written assignments to me each week; rather you will post them on your blog. In this sense, your blog is merely your assignment notebook that you will use as you read and prepare for class each week. You will also be posting any additional thoughts you have: responses to class discussion, after thoughts, things you forgot to say in class, relevant experiences you have, etc.

But importantly, your blog is a public space and as you post (and comment on others'), you will gain a much richer understanding of everything we read and discuss in class. I want you to think of it as interactive and intertextual in that way.

2) Creating your own blog will also introduce you to the blogisphere if you don't know this place already. I hope that you will discover creative educational uses for this online medium. You will see how easy it is to use blogger.com, and perhaps it will inspire you to bring blogs into your own classroom someday.

To start your own blog, you will go to:

www.blogger.com

SET UP AN ACCOUNT:

If you do not already have a Google account, you will need to create one.  If you do have a Google account, sign in in the box at the right. 
  

Click the button that says NEW BLOG (you will see this even if you have blogged before) and follow the instructions to get started.  Don't forget your Username and Password!! You will need them to login everytime. Please write them down on the top of your syllabus so you don't forget!  

NAME YOUR BLOG:

As you fill in the info, you will be asked to name your blog. This title will appear at the top of your blog. (Mine is called "FNED 346 Fall 2014")

CHOOSE AN ADDRESS:

Every blog has its own URL, or web address.

http://_______.blogspot.com

This will be the web address associated with your site. you can call it anything you like. Be clever or simple (or both) -- it is up to you.

CHOOSE A TEMPLATE:

You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. Look through the options listed and see what appeals to you. You can change this later so don't worry too much about it initially... 

START POSTING:

Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. A “post” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many posts). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button that says Publish. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.

Your First Post:

Your first post should be a short introduction to you: who are you, what you did over the summer, why you are taking this class, what do you do when you are not in class, etc. (Just a short paragraph — no big deal).

POST A COMMENT WITH YOUR ADDRESS:

When you are done creating your site and posting your first entry, please come back to this blog and post a comment at the end of our first post (scroll down) that includes your blog address so that we can post it in the blog list to the right.

Some Tips and Helpful Hints:

• Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word DESIGN, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc. (You can only do this if you are logged in to your blog.)
• Once you are in the DESIGN screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the left side of the screen for all kinds of options.
• Poke around online and make a list of websites related to gender, social justice, feminism or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your LAYOUT screen.
• Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am happy to help you anytime as you work on getting this started. And remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!

Good luck!!

LB :)