Sarah Kennedy's FNED 246 Blog

The first activity that stuck with me was the SCWAAMP posters. It was one of the first big activities we did as a class that let us talk and work together. I really enjoyed this activity because I hadn't thought about what aspects were really valued in our society before. The world is constantly changing but there are some things that have stayed constant. This activity made me think about our society in new ways. It was also interesting to hear what my classmates thought about our society. SCWAAMP Slide The second activity that was meaningful to me was the Wheel of Privilege. I think this was a good introduction to intersectionality. No two people will have the same experiences and it was interesting to physically see that on a wheel, on paper. Although I know the wheel doesn’t cover every single part of someone’s identity, I liked seeing some of them covered. I also liked the hands-on aspect of this activity, actually getting to color the wheels and think about myself through dif

 Ms. Akiea or Ki from the Woke Kindergarten channel argues that kids should know what pronouns are so they can feel good about how they identify themselves. Ki chose to read the book They He She Easy as ABC because it’s about many different children and what pronouns they use. Ki makes the point multiple times in the video, that pronouns should make you feel good about yourself. Throughout the book they show the different children being confident in themselves and doing fun things. I think their way of showing that pronouns are not a scary thing, but an exciting thing is really important for an age group like kindergarten. Because in kindergarten, students are still learning who they are and what they like, lessons like this are important. It’s even more important that they know that pronouns are an exciting thing. That they should make you feel good and comfortable.  While watching this video I saw many different lessons that are important for kindergarten students to know. One that s

 The first quote I have comes from Eliminating Ableism in Education by Thomas Heir. “Don’t assume he has the same educational rights as every other child. You’re going to have to fight for that.” The quote comes from a conversation Penny, a mother of a disabled son, had with another person. This quote really stuck out to me when I read Heir’s writing. It’s honestly sad that a child may not be given the same opportunities as other children because of something they’re born with or can’t control.  My second quote also comes from Eliminating Ableism. “This image implies that a disabled person is presumed deserving of pity - instead of respect - until the person proves capable of overcoming disability through extraordinary feats.” I feel like this quote is an example of our society today. A lot of exposure disabled people get is through viral media. I feel like the only stories we really hear about are, like the quote says, them overcoming something though impossible for them. While I agre

     Aria by Richard Rodriguez is about his personal experience of growing up speaking Spanish in an English-speaking school. He says that when he was young, speaking Spanish was something special to him and his family. He described it as “private individuality” and gave them a sense of separateness when in public. Having to learn English for school was hard, but by the end of the reading, he says it gave him a sense of success. He felt confident in his public identity, even if it meant forgetting or leaving behind part of his private identity. In Teaching Bilinguals episodes, the teachers advocate for their bilingual students. They encourage students to use the language they know to express themselves in class. I noticed that there was a big contrast between Teaching Bilinguals and Aria . Rodriguez talked about his experience when teachers denied him the opportunity to speak in Spanish. In the videos the teachers are doing the opposite, they are encouraging students to become biling

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  While reading Literacy With an Attitude, I realized that the themes in Finn’s writing relate to Amazing Grace by Kozol. Finn discussed four different social classes and how different schools at these levels operate. One of the big themes was how the schools are preparing students to work and stay in their social class. I felt like this was similar to Amazing Grace, specifically the quote “What is it like for children to grow up here? What do they think the world has done to them?” I wonder if the schools in the Bronx follow the same patterns Finn described and are designed to keep kids stuck in impoverished communities. In Amazing Grace, Kozol interviews Cliffe, from the interview you can see that Cliffe has a community that cares about him. I can only hope that that community extends into his school and some teachers try and help students succeed. I also want to connect Finn to Bell Hooks. Bell Hooks talks about how race affects different social classes. In her writing, Bell Hoo

  In How Structural Racism Works Tricia Rose argues that research alone is not going to fix structural racism. She says that because there is so much research on this topic if research was a one-time fix-all, it would have happened already. I want to take this a step further and say that she is arguing that not enough people pay attention to the research that has been done. In this class, we’re actively learning about social justice issues and the different experiences they come with. But what about the average person? They probably know about issues like racism, sexism, and classism, but it isn’t always an active thought in their mind. As Rose says in her video, there has been so much research done on social justice issues. But how many people are actually reading and understanding that research?      I fully believe that we as a society are capable of taking steps to fix these issues. By watching videos, and reading articles we’re becoming more educated. We are exposing ourselves