Kim’s Blog

Freire (2005) testifies that as a teacher, I must dare to
fight for intellectual justice, he states that “the teaching task
also requires the capacity to fight for freedom, without which
the teaching task becomes meaningless”
I really enjoyed the class discussion and loved the sense of empowerment I felt that together we could have to [...]

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I really liked the section entitled “Find Satisfaction in the Everyday”.  Wow, what an awesome philosophy for life and our everyday job of teaching.  In the past, I have talked with teachers that truly seem to ‘hate’ their job.  I have overheard teachers complain, raise their voice, talk down to their students, and/or seem to have [...]

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As a former HeadStart (pre-kindergarten) teacher, I truly feel that there is a large need for quality education for young children. I feel that this is a critical area of education that is too often overlooked. I am thrilled that Obama’s “Zero to Five” eduction plan places key emphasis on early care and education for infants, [...]

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I really enjoyed the lecture on language from last Thursday. Prior to this class and discussion, I would have definitely thought of Ebonics as a dialect derived from the English language.  However, I have learned that Ebonics or Black English has its roots in the language of West Africa.  I was also unaware of the [...]

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As I reflect over the class readings and discussions I am reminded of the question that Rhina asked, “What is intelligence? How would I define it?  How can it be measured? As I begin to ponder on the definition of intelligence I begin to feel that intelligence is too extensive which makes it impossible to [...]

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Wow!  I found this article to be an ‘eye’ opener.  I have heard of Ruby Payne and my last school actually gave each staff member her book, A Framework of  Understanding Poverty. We also had staff development devoted to Ruby Payne’s advise on teaching children from lower socioeconomic status. I have not thoroughly read A Framework [...]

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When thinking about different topics and readings in class that perturbed me an article from this summer came to mind, “Preparing Teachers for Culturally Diverse Schools: Research And The Overwhelming Presence Of Whiteness.”  This article focused on the disadvantages that white teachers bestow onto minority students because of their attitudes and lack of knowledge of [...]

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           I enjoyed the readings for this week.  One article that stood out to me and I felt that I connected with was Beyond Pink and Blue.  This article focused on the need to teach students all about the cycle of oppression that creates and reinforces stereotypes. In the article students are taught about stereotypes [...]

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I feel that behavior management is not only managed with a behavior chart but also with the classroom environment and student/teacher and student/student relationships. This way of thinking fits with the sections from Oakes and Lipton: “Open” Classrooms,…if schools treated students humanely and respectfully, these qualities would prevail in classrooms”  (pg. 265) and “Making Classrooms Communities” [...]

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The class discussion about Freire’s quote of how our identity is formed through, “the dynamic relationship between what we inherit and what we acquire” really got me thinking (p.124). This quote caused me to reflect about how our true identity is always being modified and personalized by our daily interactions with others and the world. When [...]

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