Rebecca Prieto Blog #3

On Friday we started class with an activity that Julian provided for us. The activity consisted of us writing down our short term, midterm, and long term goals. I have done this activity before in multiple occasions but I think this was the first time I enjoyed it because we got to share it with others.  It was interesting to see that many of us had common goals some in a different order, others in the same, and other goals we just wanted to achieve in our lives some day .  We then sealed our envelopes and kept them to open them when we decide we are ready. I decide to open my envelope in a couple of years because I wanted to discover if my goals changed, stayed the same, or if I completed any of them. After we finished Dr. Hoffman directed us to the grades option in Blackboard where she corrected and graded our Who Am I papers. She also gave us feedback on what we need to work on for next time. I found this very helpful and look forward to trying the strategies she suggested.

Later we participated in a “Corners Activity” where we had to answer questions about the No Child Left Behind Act. I enjoyed the group I was placed in because we talked a lot about how it affected us when we were in school. I remember that there was a time period when all we did was practice for the STAR test we were going to take and I would always be very nervous because teachers and staff made it such a big deal that I always felt unprepared. After each group went around to answer the questions Dr. Hoffman read each of our answers and all of our answers were pretty similar. She went into more detail about what the NCLB Act was and I thought it was great to learn more about its actual purpose and not what we saw and experienced in the classroom.  It is sad that instead of helping the students like it was meant to it actually encouraged drop outs and children that were already struggling just continued to struggle as the pace in the class sped up. I hope Common Core works better and maybe be flexible to the needs of the students if it seems like it is not working out.

In this weeks readings about African Americans I was truly shocked about all the statistics I read about. I was truly saddened when I read that slave holders would separate mothers from their infants so they do not grow attached to each other and the mother will focus on her labor duties. I thought that was really heartbreaking that they were not allowed to be with their children.  Another aspect of the article I thought was sad but not surprising is that they are labeled as deficient, disadvantaged, dysfunctional, and in many cases just different and because of this they are given an inferior educational service. I always wondered if others thought that African Americans were “inferior” and “ignorant” then why would they always stop them from trying to learn and better themselves? In the article they answered this, it was because they wanted to be submissive while enslaved and if they were educated they would not be. Also revolts frightened the plantation owners that is why they limited information and schooling. It is horrible how African Americans were treated and are still treated in the school system because race has nothing to do with their intelligence. Even though the statistics always seem to be against African Americans and other races it makes me extremely happy how resilient they are and never give up. One of the reasons why I want to become a teacher is to give everyone their best chance no matter what race they are because that is what a teacher is supposed to do support and help their students.