Relfection on Ethics in "Lean on Me" (original) (raw)
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The representation of black school teachers in popular movies
In this study, I searched for representations of 'black teachers' through popular media stories. Teachers and students‟ representations in popular culture have long been the subject of different scholars and disciplines showing a distinctive interest in the central character of the school teacher in the world of film. This character has often been analysed in terms of gender, rarely class, race and ethnicity and there are even fewer accounts on sexuality. The limited research with regard to „race‟, education and popular culture indicates that Hollywood cinema and TV portray the white as saviour hero and the African American or Black British characters as representative of the „other‟ teacher. Within the framework of cultural studies and critical race theory, movies on black teachers are the focus of my consideration. As an outcome of content analysis and critical viewing of more than twenty movies, a sample of six features and TV movies were selected based on their racial significance inscribed on the central role of teacher. The teaching narratives of four black and two white teachers were addressed historically and intertextually by deriving evidence from diverse scholars, film critiques, box office covers and the comparative study of the popular texts themselves. The entire stories take place in secondary schools and are the classics The Blackboard Jungle (1955, USA) and To Sir with Love (1967, UK), Lean on me (1989, USA), Sarafina! (1992, USA & South Africa), Shoot the Messenger (2006, UK) and Freedom Writers (2007, USA). In this interdisciplinary approach, these movies unveil racist stereotypes and ideological trends that are enforced and duplicated by popular media, very often at crucial historical and political times of racial relations and educational debates. A great number of them are based on real events and personal accounts of teachers, often crossing national boundaries and going to the past in order to narrate the experiences of black teachers and to talk about racial inequalities. This study found also that black teachers are more frequently depicted in film from the mid-1980s onwards and popular images of black school teachers are predominantly male and middle class. Black school teachers are very rarely portrayed as educated in the teaching profession, positioned in same-gender schools or belonging to the upper class. He/she more often appears working in urban schools, outside the classroom, and consistently resilient and dedicated to saving black and minority students in the „jungle‟ of inner cities or poor neighbourhoods.
This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of six secondary English teachers in the Southeastern United States as they facilitated racial dialogues relative to the instruction of literary texts bearing racially and culturally sensitive themes, language, and events. This study was important, as racialized discourse has been recognized as becoming more difficult in work settings and classrooms in past years. Research conducted in universities revealed that faculty lack training and racial selfawareness to feel comfortable addressing issues of race in the classroom. Further, the issue of difficult racial dialogues is not just a problem affecting university faculty and students; it exists in the public K-12 school settings as well. The findings of this study show secondary literature teachers who facilitate class discussions in which race is the topic face discomforts due to personal conflicts relative to their own level of racial awareness, as well as an awareness of their students’ race and/or culture. Teachers realized they must teach literature that engages and meets the needs of students of color; however, they have concerns over ensuing discussions of topics often considered taboo. Additionally, teachers often experience discomfort regarding forces outside their classrooms that influence the nature of classroom discussions, and are frequently unsure as how to address these due to ambiguous district and school rulings on controversial topics. Finally, teachers need the support of one another through collaboration, and the support of their administration when parental and student concerns are raised. This study met its goal to expand research of difficult racial dialogues into the secondary English classroom setting in order to gain a better understanding of what teachers of minor students experience in these environments relative to the instruction of racially and culturally sensitive literature. Research supports the need for further expansion of critical race and critical race pedagogy into public schools. These studies should be conducted from the perspective of elementary through secondary school teachers and students in both literature as well as social studies classrooms where difficult dialogues are likely to evolve from topics of instruction.
On the pathway to building cultural relevant bridges and closing achievement gaps in communities of color, we must be cognizant that those bridges often pass through communities that have families and leaders who possess essential knowledge that is key to their children’s academic success. These mentors are often over-looked because we are trying to achieve academic success with students of color the easiest way possible. Often, culturally relevant teaching is a course requirement of many university teacher colleges and serves as a course to promote diversity of learners. These courses are an antiquated pedagogical approach that lacks a genuine understanding of how to educate students of color. These diversity courses often neglect to use the resources that lie within reach of many universities. Across the United States, universities fail to acknowledge communities of color as an essential source of wisdom, knowledge and information. They neglect to use communities of color as a resource, when doing so may provide the information needed for future educators to have an essential understanding of how to develop an authentic, culturally relevant approach to teaching. This study examines a pre-service program that challenges the status quo by immersing their students within a community of color. It looks at how the wisdom and knowledge of the community aides the pre-service teachers in order to maximize student achievements and close gaps, by truly understanding the community and children who live there. This approach can perhaps provide a new pathway for pre-service teachers to move from a knowledge-based approach to an authentic understanding of how to efficiently work with students of color. A way to ensure that students of color see themselves reflected in their learning and combat the Eurocentric curriculum that omits the narratives of their communities. Leading learning within the context of community looks at the impact of community-based immersion program on White pre-service teachers and their development. It changes their attitude, beliefs, and dispositions about working in communities of color, into a new understanding of a bicultural lens that allows them to have the ability to acknowledge the values and assets of communities of color-- Communities that have been neglected by teacher preparation programs across the nation.
Why have NCLB and High-stakes Reforms Failed?: Reframing the Discourse with a Post-Colonial Lens
Handbook of Urban Education, 2013
Considering the promise with which NCLB came to prominence as a panacea to improve education as systemic reform, it is an important exercise to contextualize the impact of the reform on urban education over the past decade. We then use postcolonial theory to conceptualize why NCLB failed to close the achievement gaps in urban schools due to its hegemonic approach to educational policy. Approaches to reform that find their origins in postcolonial educational apparatuses were never meant to serve vanquished, marginalized populations, rather only to exploit them. As alternative to NCLB for urban education, we then revisit structural issues that have been largely ignored during the NCLB era and also pose a new community-based direction for accountability that is counterhegemonic. (We believe this is the first place in print where the idea for community-based, multiple-measure local accountability was discussed— which became the LCAPs in California)
2012
For over 30 years we have been in the midst of a paradox. Following a questionable logic that sees education as a means to economic ends, efforts to reform education have focused on keeping the US from slipping in international economic competition. Relying on testing as a standard, in the end we may have decreased our human potential and become less competitive. Our system has gotten worse at its core, in its philosophical tenets and in its ultimate effects, by placing unwonted pressure on our youth and in stifling their creativity. While this goes back decades, Respect for Teachers takes its title from a phrase --perhaps a codeword-- in President's 2011 State of the Union address and sits down to consider its implications. Connecting attacks on teachers, unions and schools and the misrepresentation of research to the promotion of new economic models in education, it suggests that the Obama administration may be, without quite realizing it, setting the stage for rapid privatization of the public system. As this endangers the egalitarian basis of democracy, it also reminds us that schooling is big business – many trillions of dollars world-wide. Joseph Schumpeter once said, “No bourgeoisie ever disliked war profits.” Respect operates under the premise that no bourgeoisie ever disliked the spoils of school reform, either. REVIEWS: Brian Ford’s brilliant new book does two important things: It debunks the Neoliberal attack on public schools and provides an avenue for rethinking education based on trust and the needs of children. Respect for Teachers is compelling and completely convincing. At a time when our national education conversation is confused and confusing, this new book is sorely needed. Don’t wait — start reading Respect for Teachers now if you want to reclaim the democratic vision of education. — Peter W. Cookson Brian Ford counters the negative and destructive, ideological attack on teachers and schools by constructing an alternative perspective [which has] powerful implications for creating a dynamic and productive educational system. — Henry M. Levin, director, National Center for the Study for Privatization in Education and William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University A new voice, authoritative and convincing, informing us that when our leaders demean the competency of our educators and ignore their remarkable achievements in the face of the rapid expansion of childhood poverty, they both diminish a noble profession and harm the public system of education that is part of the ongoing American experiment in democracy. Highly provocative and recommended. — David Berliner, Regents' Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University
At a time when state standards and assessments drive educational policy and literacy is defined as print-based, students who don’t meet external benchmarks for developing skills along what is considered to be a “normal trajectory” are often seen as “at-risk” or diagnosed with learning disabilities. While there may be real variations in the ways that individuals learn, schools have a responsibility to offer a variety of pedagogical approaches in order to meet the needs of all children within an inclusive setting. This practitioner research dissertation seeks to better understand the ways that students identified as having learning disabilities create and communicate using a variety of modes including narrative writing, dance, and digital composition. Using qualitative data collected over the course of a school year while teaching full-time at an urban school with a folk arts focus, the author looks closely at the multimodal writing practices of four Black middle school girls identified as having learning disabilities. Drawing upon a theoretical framework rooted in Disability Studies/ Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) and New Literacy Studies, this study investigates the ways that students use multimodal composition to construct identities as able learners, thereby challenging deficit orientations at the intersection of race, gender and ability. By examining the artifacts that these students created over the course of an academic year as well as their reflections, and by extending a definition of literacy to include multimodal representations of knowledge, the relationships between curriculum and identity are explored. Findings reveal a complex interplay between multimodal composition and collaboration, and suggest that curriculum embedded with multiple modes for representing knowledge can create pathways to culturally relevant and inclusive pedagogy, and contribute to the construction of powerful writing identities.
DEVELOPING QUICKSMART ONLINE TO ENGAGE LEARNERS
Literacy and numeracy are identified as necessary skills for employment. QuickSmart Online (QSO) was developed with the aim of closing the gap in numeracy skills to enable the unemployed to break the cycle of long-term unemployment. QSO focuses on the learner developing fast and accurate basic skills, which in turn develops their neural pathways, allowing the learner’s working memory to be freed up to enable further learning. This paper focuses on researching facilitator stories based on feedback from learners and teachers, and on observations of QSO usage. These stories reported on the learner experience during the initial development of QSO. The program was informally trialed for a period of twelve months with learners, ranging in age from eight to the late fifties, from a variety of learning institutions. There was some evidence of engagement with the program. The five main aspects of the program that impacted on this engagement: learner confidence, learner support, learner e-literacy, online environment style, and context of learning are described. Key recommendations to increase learner engagement for the next iteration of QSO are outlined.