SED_445

It was nice to have a change of medium to analyze and think about this week- and I started off our assignment by watching the YouTube video from MTV's Decoded series on Microaggressions. I've seen some snippets of this series before and have also noticed that MTV's made a push to get issues like racism, sexism, and privilege in front of its viewers. I think the way this particular topic was approached was quite smart. Its use of comedy deftly showed the very unfunny realities of everyday racist comments and observations made by people of privilege. Moreover, because it's only a 2-minute snippet, you can imagine that this barely scratches the surface of what oppressed people experience due to their race, gender, orientation or religion. While I personally am not a fan of MTV (The Dead Kennedys predicted that they would produce swill  and sugarcoated musicians back in the 80s) as don't forget, this is coming from the same network that spawned shows like The Jersey S...

The importance of learning how to read and write well has been established as a vital part of surviving in America today. If you aren't determined to be literate "enough," you're likely to be cast aside as a less-than-functional member of society. Besides its function as a way communicate, literacy is tied up in advocacy, wealth and class structure. As Cadeiro-Kaplan points out, this is a kind of cultural capital that's inextricably linked to a predetermined privilege. Comparing this with the Radical Eyes for Equity piece, it further validates that grit is a bunk concept.  I felt almost stupefied when I read about the deficit ideology. Our brains (or at least mine) have been so programmed to think that we're operating from the ideal "100," A+ starting point. By illustrating the material that was missed by writing something on a paper like, "100-30 = 70" the teacher really does devalue the work that may have taken hours for some students ...

Since embarking on my path towards becoming an English teacher, I've both read and heard an unsettling amount of talk around the daunting standards, testing mandates, and overall bureaucracy now involved with teaching. I've seen the disillusionment and jadedness it's created, especially with more seasoned teachers. It's even been suggested by some teachers not to pursue the profession because of how much it's changed. To address this issue, the writer in "To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers)" stressed that "our planning and practice must start with our students’ literacy being sacred—seeking ways to foster eager readers and writers who still must often demonstrate literacy proficiency in the worst possible settings. This is not a call to be negligent, but to be dedicated to the power of literacy first and bureaucracy second." That statement serves as a good reminder to call ourselves back to the reason why we're teaching ...