Blog #7-Language

I enjoyed both presentations this evening. The language talk made me look at how people communicate in a whole different way. We discussed the issues of Ebonics, body language, incorrect symbols, and dialect. I liked the recommendations that the group made about dealing with kids speaking incorrectly with Ebonics. They suggested to correct the children by saying, “I would like you to speak academically” as opposed to “Stop talking that Ghetto Talk!” Also, most think that it's African Americans that use Ebonics, but a point was made tonight that those that people that struggle economically, also speak Ebonics. Another controversial issue that was brought up was do we let bilingual students take tests in their first language or do we test them in English?

I found this cartoon and thought it related to what we talked about tonight:

Blog #6-Book

I read the book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It’s about three ordinary women who risk their lives and gain friendship.

The three main characters in this story are all women, but they do not have much in common. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. Her mother isn't going to be happy until Skeeter has a ring on her finger, but she has bigger dreams of becoming an author. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise woman raising her seventeenth white child. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and the sassiest woman in Mississippi. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. As different from one another as can be, these women will come together for a project that will put their lives at risk. They are all struggling with the boundaries of racism and want the lines in their town erased.

Obviously this book deals with issues of race and gender at a very sensitive time in history. But, I think that it shows how progressive women could be even back then. The main character, Skeeter fights for something she believes in, even though she crosses the line of working with African American women. It's in inspiration for all of us to look at the world colorblind.

Blog #5-Exceptionality

I thought the presentation on Exceptional Students was really well thought out and nicely stated. I enjoyed the activities and the questions that we were given for us to discuss. There are two different types of children with Exceptional skills. Those that are gifted and talented and then those who have learning disabilities. We got to debate the issue of being for or against inclusion in the classroom.

Some of the reasons we were against inclusion:
-singling out students
-low self esteem
-a lot of work and time for the teacher
-social problems

Reasons stated for inclusion:
-equality
-not singling out students
-showing children not everyone is perfect

I loved the video of Amy Mullins speaking about "disabilities." She made some great points, especially about the official definition that is in the dictionary. It is a wake up call that we don't even realize it, but we automatically think of those with disabilities as weak, but that isn't the case at all!