Oppressed

I've always been interested in the history of oppression in general, so I really enjoyed reading Friere's work for today. I think he had a really good point when he talked about considering the history of oppression and its impact on our teaching practices today. Throughout history, there has always been a group in power and a group oppressed by those in that power, and this includes in the realm of education as well.

I would even go so far as to say that as TESOL educators, the issue of oppression is more relevant to us than other educators. Every teacher will encounter some instances in his or her classroom that they will have to cope with, but as TESOL educators, we have chosen to specialize in cultural relations, which is inherently tied to the issue of oppression. Members of different cultures constantly separate the world into "us" and "them," which is the root of all oppression, and it is our job as educators to overcome that xenophobic separation and build functioning, cooperative communities in our classrooms.

Observing has been a part of my training as a teacher for a couple of years now, but I never bothered to think about why it is considered to be so beneficial. It just seemed like the only way to get a peek at at what practicing teachers are doing in their classrooms and thereby learning by or against their examples. I never thought that it could also be beneficial to the practicing teacher. It does make sense after our readings though. I pay far more attention to what I'm doing every day when I know I'm being watched, so it makes sense that teachers would too. I also know that when I'm being watched, I tend to consider how what I'm doing looks to whoever is watching me, which functions as a sort of self-observation.

Lesson plan

Melissa Riddle and I will be coteaching a mini lesson together. We have decided to do an introduction to a lesson on personal narratives, featuring "The House on Mango Street" as a companion text.

Cultural Consciousness

I was really glad that cultural consciousness was addressed in this week's readings. I have always thought that it should be featured much more in ISU's ESL education program than it is. A person's culture is going to define a lot of their beliefs and behaviors, and it is absolutely critical to have a thorough understanding of a student's culture in order to successfully interact with him or her. Without understanding that in Japan, it is considered impolite to ask questions during a lecture, a teacher or classmate may be led to believe that the student in question has a complete understanding of the material, when the opposite may be true. Or on the other hand, a teacher may believe a non-participating student to be lazy, when that student is following the social politeness rules dictated by his or her culture. I really wish that ISU would require some sort of "Multicultural Issues in the Classroom" class so that we would be a bit more prepared to take on the challenge of understanding and accommodating students of all cultural backgrounds in our classrooms.

Progress report

I am very pleased with how my website is coming along. I have claimed a domain name, and been building the website to fit the vision that I have formed for it. It now features a user forum and has a form which visitors can use to send the page author (yours truly!) feedback. Since I want my page to be beneficial to all English language learners, regardless of their educational situation, there is a sign-up button so that visitors can sign up in order to participate in the website's social aspects. I am currently working on embedding helpful applications into the website to improve the aesthetics of my homepage and also to help language learners to navigate the site successfully. My next step will be to add content such as games, media, and links to the site.

Superman?

I really enjoyed seeing Waiting for Superman. I thought it was an important insight into the life of practicing teachers and students' parents in less-than-privileged life situations. I particularly liked how the issue of tenure was addressed in the movie. I do not believe that teachers, or anybody for that matter, should be protected from job loss when they are not qualified to do their job. Tenure exists so that teachers and professors can't get fired for addressing controversial issues in their classrooms, or being on an unpopular side of an argument, not so that teachers can do their jobs for a couple years, then not do them until they retire. This issue really burns my biscuits. I do think that it is important for teachers to have job security, as they are absolutely vital to every child's development, but I do not think that that security should be granted if it is unearned, or continually granted if the situation changes.

The only criticisms that I had for this film would be its minimal coverage of NCLB, which is a huge part of the education system today, and its focus on charter schools as the answer to failing educational systems. Charter schools are great in most cases, but they are not available to every student in need, as clearly demonstrated in the film. The main problem, I think, is getting rid of incompetent or uncaring teachers. It is up to each and every one of us as educators to assume our role as Superman in our students' lives. The actions that we take or do not take can have a huge impact on them, and therefore it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to assure that it is a positive impact.

poetry

I am not usually a big fan of poetry, but I'd never been to a live poetry reading before, and I must say, I really enjoyed it. Listening to people pouring out their hearts and identity struggles was a unique experience, and one that I am so glad that I got to have. My favorite poem that I got to hear was one of the first, and featured the line "Who is you, but who is not me." Unfortunately, I failed to record the title or the presenters name, because I would really have loved to see more from her. Her use of language was so masterful and evocative of the emotions that she was trying to convey that I found myself sucked into her world. When she used the term "chink," too, I found myself shocked and slightly offended, but without that term in her poem, it would not have had half of the impact on me that it did. I applaud her courage and artistic ability, and I would love to know her name, if any of my classmates happened to write it down.