Disabilities in Higher Education

In last weeks class Julian informed us on how to write a paper in APA style. He explained to us the common mistakes students make when they write their paper this way we would be aware for when we have to write our papers. I thought this was very helpful because this is the first time I will be using APA. In one of my other classes our teacher gave us a crash course in APA which was also helpful because now I feel a little bit more confident when I write. After we talked about the difference and similarities in the Hurtado and Torres articles. Then we numbered off and got into small groups to talk about our experiences in relation to the questions. In my group all of us were Latino so many of our experiences were similar. It made me very happy to have people understand the experiences I’ve been through and to hear the experiences they’ve been through.

In the GAO Report  article it talked about what they found which was that disability students were represented as the 11%  of all post secondary students in 2008. They later talked about the challenges of having students with disabilities who are unaware of their rights. There are accommodations that are provided for them that students need to know about that way they know there are resources that can help them. Different support systems were shared in the article as well as a lot of background of students with disabilities and how it was handled before. A lot of the information I read about in the article was a refresher because I took a special education course in my community college. This article I felt went very in depth with the information which I enjoyed because it gave me more of insight on the problem.

The Ableism article I found very interesting especially the Disability Oppression Theory. When I first read the title ableism I was not exactly sure what it meant but when I read that ableism derives from a set of rigid cultural norms that promote specific and narrow standards of beauty, rules of logic, and conceptions of value it really helped me understand the article better. The Disability Oppression Theory advocate for people with disabilities and are opposed to “fixing” or “correcting” people. I absolutely agree that there is no need to “fix” people because there is nothing wrong with them they can do everything everyone else can do they just need special assistance.

The McCune and Bryan and Myers article I thought were similar because they talked more about different scenarios of students with disabilities and tied it back to diversity. I was talking to a friend about this article and he told me that even though his diabetes is not a disability he sometimes feels isolated from others because he is treated differently. I have two roommates who have disabilities and you would never know that they have disabilities if you did not know them well because on the outside they look perfectly fine but there are things they struggle with.  I think there needs to be more awareness of the different types of disabilities that way we can educate ourselves and make policies to help others that need it.

The reason I chose this image is because its true IT STILL WORKS just because it works differently does not mean we throw it away. As the fork seen above it still functions its just missing a part.

Just because…

1376419_570841619648027_684142154_n

Technology in Education

For me, technology is a double-edged sword. It contributes a great deal to society and has opened so many doors, but in many ways detracts from society as well. I try to have minimal screen time every day, but want to be knowledgable in technological practices as well because technology enhances our lives and technological skills are vital to function in society. So, I think there’s a balance and I’m sure I’ll be continuing to try to maintain that balance for the rest of my life as technology continues to rapidly progress. As an educator, I want to learn and practice a smart and effective use of technology.

This blog is the result of an EdTech class I’m currently enrolled in at Cal State Channel Islands. In this course, we are exploring the role technology plays in education. What have I learned so far?

  • Twitter is not useless.
    • I never thought I would be a tweeter. I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts a while back for several reasons, but mostly because I found social media to be a time zapper. Most of what I encountered on social media was trivial and I figured Twitter would expose me to the same junk. I was pleased to discover, through this course, that Twitter can actually be used as a powerful educational tool. I started tweeting about a month ago and am slowly building my PLN (“Professional Learning Network” -new term for me). I love reading about the latest news in education and being able to hear from educators across the country, especially as we are undergoing a major shift with implementing Common Core.
  • There are endless possibilities for effectively using technology in education.
  • Technology has the potential to enrich my classroom and connect my students with the outside world.
  • I know far less about technology than I thought.
  • How to effectively use Twitter as an educator:
    • I found this video by Alec Couros helpful. He discusses how to use Twitter effectively in education and argues that as an educator, you will become irrelevant if you are not engaged in Twitter because it connects you to the best and most recent practices.
    • Develop a PLN over a long period of time: find ppl to follow: leaders, administrative people, subject area specialists, and fellow teachers!
    • Although tweets can only contain up to 140 characters, they can lead us to articles, diagrams, videos and more!
    • Join chats (i.e. #edchat #kinderchat)

Blog Post #5

In  last week’s class Julian went over common mistakes made when writing APA and MLA formats and how sometimes little mistakes can really affect the overall of our papers. I think this was very refreshing because even though we are college students i feel that i tend to forget the difference sometimes because we don’t always focus on writing, so when we do i have to look back at my notes to remind myself. Also when it comes to our reference page mistakes a commonly made like not tabbing the last 2 parts of a reference which by the way i did last week before the Friday class in one of my other classes. After we finished last weeks discussion which i learned about and really made me think differently about African american men in particular, for example by apartment their is a Halloween store that just opened and  i current help to notice that they hired black men to advertise in the street with those giant signs making me think differently then before they really are not lazy they are just discriminated till this day. Next we continued with the readings that focused on Latinos which i also thought was interesting how in a way both African american and Latino articles were similar even though both ethnicity’s see each other very differently and don’t like to be compared to each other. When we eventually got into random groups to discuss our experiences as Latino students and life i was placed in a interesting scenario myself, Sydney and Beth had a good vibe overall but somehow we found it a little difficult to connect because i was the only latina in the group that was capable of relating to the articles. I personally didn’t want to be egocentric  and make them feel uncomfortable by just talking about myself and my culture, so i found myself small talking at times to avoid the actual conversation.

This weeks readings were really fascinating i never thought about disabled people as a minority ever. The articles really made me realize that they are part of a minority group not only are they challenged on a everyday basis like Latinos. African Americans and Asians but they also at times choose to change who they to fit in at points choosing to hide their disability. I really enjoyed the article What do disabilities have to do with diversity? it thought me a lot and also made me change how i act towards disabled individuals. I never realized that they are like everyone else and don’t want to be treated differently because of their disability. but like everyone else i stereotyped even disabled individuals and treated them differently. I never did it intentionally but i guess maybe that the reason me and a disabled fall in the same category as a minority because others just assume without even knowing the history or what really is a fact.Another article had a statistic i thought was surprising was Students with disabilities doing what’s right, pointed out that students with disabilities represent only 9 percent of students making it clear to me that not only my people need to be pushed to follow a higher education but also the ones we don’t really pay attention to that actually need extra help the disabled.

 

I choose this image because i think that we need to really come together with others that have disabilities in order to help each other out because they are part of the minority as well.

Survivor Blog Post #2

On this show of survivor, episode 2, things between the tribes started to get more intense.  Things got emotional after Nadya’s sister found out she was kicked off the island, she was left feeling alone. Her tribe supported her and made her feel better, and as a group thats what you do, you support eachother. But as the challenge continued, athlete John was put to battle against  his girlfriend. The battle was a bit complicated but his girlfriend end up wining, and he got sent to exile island. Jeremy was sent to exile island with John. Them two made a deal since they were both in the opposing team with each others wife. Jeremy offered to protect Johns wife if John agrees to protect Jeremy’s wife Val in return.   After coming back from exile islands, both tribes were faced to compete with eachother and some with their love ones. Things got emotional when Baylor battles against her own mother. I feel that her own mother felt bad for hurting her daughter so she lost on purpose. I noticed that when i comes to battling, they put aside their feelings and fight for their tribe, in this situation Baylor’s mother lost for her daughter and for her tribe.  At the end Val and Baylor are both in a tough situation off getting voted of the tribe, Val for not having a immunity piece and Baylor for pretending to  alliance with the girls. At the end Val was the one sent home. Referring back to this week chapter, Baylor was just trying to be liked in her tribe, she tried becoming the favorite when in reality she just wanted to be in the safe side with everyone.

Blog Post: sweet success

I am choosing to analyze the Coca Cola company’s vision statement.

Our Vision

Our vision serves as the framework for our Roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth.

  • People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.
  • Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy people’s desires and needs.
  • Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value.
  • Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities.
  • Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities.
  • Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization.

Overall, I think that Coca Cola has done a good job with their vision statement. It is simple and gets to the point. It also details who they are, and what they want to do. This vision statement addresses all of the categories listed in the text of what a vision should include. It paints a picture of who they are and what they want. Just like how the text describes, their list does not have to be extremely detailed in order to serve its purpose. It is concise and gives a general direction as to what they hope to do. The second characteristic the text refers to in a vision is change. In coke’s vision, they refer often to growth which in this case can be synonymous with change. By continually growing and expanding, they are perpetually changing for the better. Values is where I believe coke did an excellent job addressing. They do this here in a few different instances. First they list people and wanting to create a desirable work place for individuals who can grow within the company. They also reference their partners and maintaining a positive relationship with them. Finally, the vision statement lists their goal to help sustain the planet. These all show that this company has some sense of value which is pleasing to see. The text also mentions visions needing to have a blueprint or map in order to help achieve the vision. This is another area in which coke’s vision statement succeeds. The whole statement is a framework for what they want to do moving into the future. It plans out what they want to achieve and by building upon this they can figure out exactly how to achieve their goals. Lastly, the last area of visions is that it needs to present a challenge. Coke also provides a few challenges as well. For instance, they state they are trying to be a responsible company with environmental concerns, trying to satisfy customers and maintaing their mutual relationships with people. All in all, Coca Cola’s vision statement is simple, efficient, and solid. It addresses the main points that it needs to address and I think it is a good statement that others can learn from as well.

Celebrating one more birthday

“As the largest voluntary health organization in the United States, the American Cancer Society is passionately committed to saving lives from cancer. We’re working to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays – a world where cancer never steals another year from anyone’s life. We combine our relentless passion with the wisdom of nearly a century of experience to make this vision a reality, and we get results. We save lives by helping people stay well, helping people get well, by finding cures, and fighting back. Thanks in part to this work, more than 14 million cancer survivors – and countless others who have avoided the disease – will celebrate another birthday this year.”
The American Cancer Associations is there to find support and resources for those affected by cancer. They help fight back.
Their vision statement helps establish an image in which through the help of the volunteers they help fund their research to fight back. They also help establish a mental image in which someone gets to celebrate one more year. They value the importance of everyone who is a part of the organization. Their statement also makes it very clear what they are fighting for. It allows those that are involved to see that their involvement in the organization will hopefully allow someone who is fighting against cancer to celebrate one more birthday. The challenge behind this is that the fight is not easy. It is not easy to find a cure or raise money to fund the research. But the organization establishes it as a possibility and not as something that is impossible. 

Our value

I seek first to understand as opposed to being understood. It is all about making sure that others don’t simply copy you or repeat what you are doing because you did it first, but because they find the importance behind it.

Finally I seek to educate others on the value of being unique, no two people are the same which means that no two people are going to act or react to the same thing in the same way.  With multiple teaching styles there are multiple learning styles.

Blog Post: A Better Future

Personal vision statement:

I want to become a respected and successful police office. I want to use my platform to benefit and influence other people. I also would like to achieve self actualization and become the best person that I can become. I want to have many meaningful relationships in my life. Ideally, I would like to live in close proximity to my family. I am physically fit. I envision making a lasting positive impact in my community. Lastly I want to live a happy, fulfilling, and peaceful life.

 

 

 

 

lotus-white-dc-cc-angels-lens-200.

Blog #5

In last week’s class Julian started off by giving a power point on how to write and cite a paper in APA format. I found his power point very helpful, especially because I have a couple of papers that are coming up due. The rest of the class we focused on finishing up the presentations covering the challenges surrounding African Americans. After concluding the presentations Jaimie conducted an activity which had to do with the readings by Hurtado and Torres. We were asked to write on three note cards and put them on a Venn diagram which compared Hurtado and Torres’ readings, that activity showed how although both Torres and Hurtado were speaking on the same subject, they both had different perspectives and viewpoints which they stressed in the readings. After that we were put into groups and worked away around the room answering a variety of questions that had to do with being a Latina/o in higher education. My group consisted of myself, Scott and Shahdad, it was quite interesting to see that although we were all of different ethnicity we in a way understood what it was like to be minority like Latinos are. Even if I was the only Latina in the group, Shahdad, being of a different culture also understood barriers that I had to undergo like struggling with the language. I really like being put in a group with very different ethnicities it felt like I got an understanding from various points of views, which is always something great to experience.

 

This week’s readings were somewhat surprising to me, it is crazy to see that although people may have any type of disability they don’t give up on trying to live their lives as normal as possible. Sure there are things that are physically impossible for them to do, but in a way I feel like they find that as a motivation to find a way to accomplish that and say that they never gave up. These articles really opened my eyes to see that disabled people are not given the attention they deserve. I feel like there can be more done in order to provide disabled people with a more welcoming attitude. Whether it be simple things like getting them involved in things that they would normally would not be a part of or providing them with essential needs to help them feel like they are equal to any other person. Although I have a lot of experience with working with disabled people as a caregiver/ life coach, these articles made me open up my eyes and seeing what real struggles and differences people with disabilities have. I think that people with any type of disabilities deserve to be treated and have the same rights as any other person and I feel like this is not the case today, so some sort of action needs to be taken in order to make that happen.

 

equal-opps