Blog Post #11 3 things that stuck.

Johnathan Kozol explores dispirates and equalities in the American education system, focusing on poorer areas often populated by Black and Hispanic Students. In his findings and research he conducted an intestine study over five years, visiting over sixty schools. What stood out to me and felt morally wrong was the consistent pattern  schools with predominantly Black or Hispanic student populations were significantly underfunded. These students were not being given the same access to enrichment opportunities as those in more predominantly white districts. Which creates an inequality in education. These schools didn’t have programs like art and music. Despite their frustrations and complaints, nothing changed, largely because of the neglect in the school system. Kozol didn’t just write about these issues he visited classrooms, listened to students, and used his platform to speak out about what he witnessed.

It said in Sleeter’s passage that Black history was rarely discussed in class and students felt like teachers avoided the discussions of race and racism out of fear Black students would react out of anger and get violent and feared these students. I thought this was crazy from a future educator's standpoint who is supposed to be the role model  for every student in the classroom. I know it was a different time period but still these teachers who are supposed to be guides to their students through life and education can’t even acknowledge their students' culture without having to be fearsome of how they would react when brung up.

In shalaby’s troublemakers kids who don’t follow the expected rules or routines of the traditional school system whether that’s sitting still for long periods, learning in a specific way, or staying quiet and obedient are often labeled as “troublemakers.” I thought this  label can be unfair, because it doesn’t always mean the student is misbehaving on purpose. Sometimes, they just learn differently, need more support, or express themselves in nontraditional ways. Unfortunately the school system isn’t always designed to recognize or support different learning styles, especially for students from marginalized backgrounds. As a result these kids are often misunderstood, disciplined more and excluded from positive opportunities, which can affect their confidence, motivation to keep going to school with this environment, and future success

Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education+ The Trevor Project's guide, Being an Ally to Transgender

Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education main point and argument is that All students need a safe and supportive school environment to progress academically and developmentally. Their main keys of tackling this problem and strategies include. Fostering inclusion and safety for all students in schools. Teachers and administrators need to create a safe discrimination-free environment for all students including: Sex,Sexual Orientation, Gender identity, Gender expression. The Rhode Island Department realizes they need to follow state and federal  laws relating to bullying,harassment,discrimination behaviors. Legal framework and guidelines they use to ensure this is referring to the Federal civil rights of 1964 which prohibited not only race but sex,religion,national origin,  In 2016 Federal Guidance U.S. Departments of Justice & Education Issued to support transgender students' rights in schools:  Schools are required and  must respond promptly to sex-based harassment, including harassment based on Gender identity Transgender status Gender transition Schools need to treat students in accordance with their gender identity, even if school records show a different sex. With this need low enacted teachers now need to allow access to sex-segregated activities and facilities (e.g., bathrooms, sports) based on gender identity. To protect the privacy and safety of the students, If a student has legally changed their name, school records must reflect the legal name. If not, schools should use the student’s preferred even without legal documentation. Now with Confidentiality of Information, such as: transgender status legal name Gender assigned at birth, may be considered confidential medical information. It’s also imperative that staff and other administration doesn’t disclose this important information to parents,other staff,other students. In Fact disclosure without consent may violate laws like FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

 The Trevor Project's guide, Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth, offers comprehensive insights into understanding and supporting transgender and nonbinary young people. The guide emphasizes that allyship involves continuous learning, respect, to foster safe and non discriminative environments.​ The guide’s purpose is to get staff and educators to do better and be more accepting and supportive  to learning about it even if you make mistakes. It talks about how gender identity can change over time, and is not necessarily tied to sex. It also touches on respectful communication, including the use of correct names, pronouns, to those students who identify differently. It mentions the right way to avoid personal questions and space about such topics such as transgender or nonbinary person's body, medical history. The guide’s purpose is to teach students that educating themselves and others, allies can create environments where these individuals feel seen, respected, and valued. It’s a problem in schools and outside with transgenders and nonbinary youth feeling oppressed and not included.  By posting this guide it proves that we need to recognize that gender identity is personal and can evolve over time and handle this dilemma with care because educators don’t want to negatively affect students.

Link to learn how to support more 

Tips to Make classroom more gender inclusive 

Questions for Dr. Sidorkin

 Questions about AI

What role do you think AI can play in supporting school staff members in administrative tasks (like grading, course planning, etc and will this impact the quality of education

What role do you see for AI in fostering collaboration among students, particularly homeschooled or hybrid learning environments?

How do faculty and students feel about the increasing presence of AI in educational environments? Is there resistance or excitement?

How can Colleges balance the use of AI tools with the need to preserve true academic success and prevent potential misuse, such as cheating or plagiarism?

Literacy with an Attitude by Finn

Argument 

Across the preface Finn asks what powerful literacy is and why and why it's beneficial for all human beings. He then continues and states that if the wealthy get powerful literacy nothing will be different but if the poor people receive the powerful literacy they can make a change if they choose to soak it up. He states that to exist in a higher quality and  world with social justice, the poor and wealthy are empowered through powerful literacy and empowering education. He ensures that the citizens who belong to the working class that have been provided with powerful literacy and quality education can produce change through their perfectiveness in order to face struggle with inequality and injustice. He is prone to compare the situation against injustice and inequality to the past like colonial times in the case of democracy or communist organizers after world war 2. He feels that in the United states,education is structured and along social class and economic lines among the working class and the upper class or high earners. He says and doesn’t deny the truth that schools are trying to provide equal opportunities and not reaching out to their students in significant ways that will break the mold. He describes the disparity between yearning literacy to the upper class will not be effective or this literacy is oftentimes taught in school to match the higher class's values. While the worth and experiences of working-class children are devalued and  irrelevant. He also makes remarks on how literacy is usually taught in a manner that does not put any respect on the experienced or cultural knowledge that the working-class children already have to contribute to school. If the teachers  teach powerful literacy to the working class, things will be different. Which means that if the working class are provided with this empowering literacy they will have the knowledge and motivation to achieve high-level jobs and positions in professions and employment. Finnis central argument: that working-class children are often taught a "working-class" form of literacy which keeps them in positions of subordination in society. They never achieve their potential and think out of the box to bring about change and chase hard working high places careers, if they don't receive a powerful education. Without this “powerful literacy” change of the system will never occur and things will remain the same,Finn explains that education can give children the power to change the world around them. Finn is demanding a change of thought in relation to literacy in education. He argues that schools should not merely look to deliver a normative model of literacy, but should ensure that all students, and particularly those from the working-clas