The articles and discussions last week certainly opened my eyes to the issue of priviledge that I receive. I never thought much about how being a male, especially a white, middle-class male, opened up numerous opportunities for me. I had never thought much about not having to worry about being watched closely in a convenient store because of my skin color, or being treated differently at a car lot because of my gender or even for being given professional freedoms because of a college degree I had obtained.
I have mentioned before that I grew up in a very poor home environment and I do remember the lack of respect I received as a child because of my upbringing and poverty. Poverty didn't determine who I was inside. As I have been fortunate enough to grow professionally, and have been blessed to earn a living far beyond any I deserve, I do know that with prosperity comes priviledge. Those who can afford it most receive the most perks. As a white, heterosexual, middle-class, Christian, male, I am rarely discriminated against or devalued.
This weekend for example, I had my taxes done at a reputable tax office. I had an appointment and waited for my agent to become available. My wait lasted over an hour. As she approached me, she appologized profusely, even though I made no mention of the wait. After completing my taxes, the agent knocked off a significant fee from my bill for the wait. Would I have received that same perk had I been a man of color? What about if I had been unemployed for part of the previous year? Would I have received this same discount 10 years earlier when my income was significantly less?
Too often we are judged by our skin color, gender, educational attainment and wealth.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Marginalization
When I was an undergraduate student at UNCC, I was usually the only male in most of my Elementary Methods courses. Many, many times, professors treated myself and other males who were interested in teaching elementary school with skepticism. One such case was an Early Childhood Literacy course I took.
As was normally the case, I was the only male in this course of 30+ students. Our professor was extremely outspoken about her feelings regarding males not having the ability to be nurturing enough to teach below 3rd grade. I took much offense to this blanket assertion, but worked extremely hard to prove that I could be an effective primary grades teacher. I worked with classmates on our assignments, always getting input to make sure I wasn't putting too "male" of a perspective on them. Regardlesss, I ALWAYS received lower grades on projects. It was a running joke that any of them could put THEIR name on MY assignment and receive a higher score.
This professor used a points system for grades. Points were given for projects, presentations, participation, etc. For homework assignments my points (Ex 8 out of 10 or 12 out of 15) always were lower than my peers, even though they would give me feedback constantly. We had assignments such as doing a book talk, creating a book and binding it ourselves, using puppets and skits to act out literature, etc. I tried to go over and beyond to prove I had the ability to reach primary students. Never were "participation" grades or "presentation" grades shared. The only grades we were told were our projects and homework.
At the end of the semester the professor gave me a C-. I was SHOCKED. I went to her and asked for a breakdown of my points and grades. She willingly shared them with me. With her there I divided the total points by the possible total points to get an average of 83.8. This was FAR lower than I felt I deserved, but still not a C- by normal grade scales. She expressed that she did not follow the traditional grade scales. I went to the department chair with the information and he agreed and spoke to the professor. They agreed that I could do a culminating activity, of her choosing, and it would be factored in to my grade. This final grade, using her grading system would be the grade I received.
Eager to prove the discrimination and her bias, I went over and beyond, even going as far as having the department chair preview my work before turning it in. I turned the assignment in, and the grade she gave me was.... an 80. She left my grade as a C- and told me, "I don't think any 83% student should be working with students.
I felt discriminated against solely because I was a male trying to get into a largely female dominated field. When I became a teacher, I purposefully taught 2nd grade to prove to myself and others that gender wasn't a hinderence to good teaching. How many other males may have never entered the field because of being marginalized in a similar manner by biased professors or colleagues?
As was normally the case, I was the only male in this course of 30+ students. Our professor was extremely outspoken about her feelings regarding males not having the ability to be nurturing enough to teach below 3rd grade. I took much offense to this blanket assertion, but worked extremely hard to prove that I could be an effective primary grades teacher. I worked with classmates on our assignments, always getting input to make sure I wasn't putting too "male" of a perspective on them. Regardlesss, I ALWAYS received lower grades on projects. It was a running joke that any of them could put THEIR name on MY assignment and receive a higher score.
This professor used a points system for grades. Points were given for projects, presentations, participation, etc. For homework assignments my points (Ex 8 out of 10 or 12 out of 15) always were lower than my peers, even though they would give me feedback constantly. We had assignments such as doing a book talk, creating a book and binding it ourselves, using puppets and skits to act out literature, etc. I tried to go over and beyond to prove I had the ability to reach primary students. Never were "participation" grades or "presentation" grades shared. The only grades we were told were our projects and homework.
At the end of the semester the professor gave me a C-. I was SHOCKED. I went to her and asked for a breakdown of my points and grades. She willingly shared them with me. With her there I divided the total points by the possible total points to get an average of 83.8. This was FAR lower than I felt I deserved, but still not a C- by normal grade scales. She expressed that she did not follow the traditional grade scales. I went to the department chair with the information and he agreed and spoke to the professor. They agreed that I could do a culminating activity, of her choosing, and it would be factored in to my grade. This final grade, using her grading system would be the grade I received.
Eager to prove the discrimination and her bias, I went over and beyond, even going as far as having the department chair preview my work before turning it in. I turned the assignment in, and the grade she gave me was.... an 80. She left my grade as a C- and told me, "I don't think any 83% student should be working with students.
I felt discriminated against solely because I was a male trying to get into a largely female dominated field. When I became a teacher, I purposefully taught 2nd grade to prove to myself and others that gender wasn't a hinderence to good teaching. How many other males may have never entered the field because of being marginalized in a similar manner by biased professors or colleagues?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Flattening of the educational world
Reading Friedman's book, I've come to see many of the flatteners making their way into the K-12 educational realm. Our public schools are using wikis, blogs, skype, and other knowledge sharing resources to broaden the classroom. We have schools who communicate with scientists working at Duke University in a collaborative program called TASC (Teachers and Scientists Collaborating) Our students are learning science through inquiry based science kits that were co-developed by teachers and scientists. Students carry on online discussions with these practicing scientists as they work through the scientific process.
Another example of flattening happening at the K-12 level is by job alike meetings through Skype or virtual classrooms. We have itinerate teachers knowledge sharing with other itinerates that are stationed in other areas of the district. This knowledge sharing helps broaden each person's resources and ideas while providing a support group.
The educational process is flattening with the options of virtual field trips, collaborative online discussions, etc but the face to face interaction is not something that can be automated, simulated or replicated with the same results using technology. Technology serves as a supplement.
At present, our district has moved to real time feedback software such as Senteos. These are handheld devises that each student has which interface with interactive whiteboards in the classrooms. Teachers can ask students questions and they can answer on their Senteos. The results are immediately posted on the whiteboard for instant feedback. Graphs and charts can be quickly generated to give the teacher info on which students need further help. The students don't know who is answering what so their is no threat to them. The feedback is associated to a number in the handhelds that the teacher can correlate to the students.
We are also utilizing handheld palm devices to do K-2 literacy and math assessments. This move has allowed us to move from a paper assessment to a digital one which again provides instant data sorting capabilities and helps generate possible strategies to use with individual students based upon their performance.
Options abound as schools begin to understand the possibilities of a flat world, but the teacher is not a commodity that can be outsourced, insourced, offshored, or supply chained.
Another example of flattening happening at the K-12 level is by job alike meetings through Skype or virtual classrooms. We have itinerate teachers knowledge sharing with other itinerates that are stationed in other areas of the district. This knowledge sharing helps broaden each person's resources and ideas while providing a support group.
The educational process is flattening with the options of virtual field trips, collaborative online discussions, etc but the face to face interaction is not something that can be automated, simulated or replicated with the same results using technology. Technology serves as a supplement.
At present, our district has moved to real time feedback software such as Senteos. These are handheld devises that each student has which interface with interactive whiteboards in the classrooms. Teachers can ask students questions and they can answer on their Senteos. The results are immediately posted on the whiteboard for instant feedback. Graphs and charts can be quickly generated to give the teacher info on which students need further help. The students don't know who is answering what so their is no threat to them. The feedback is associated to a number in the handhelds that the teacher can correlate to the students.
We are also utilizing handheld palm devices to do K-2 literacy and math assessments. This move has allowed us to move from a paper assessment to a digital one which again provides instant data sorting capabilities and helps generate possible strategies to use with individual students based upon their performance.
Options abound as schools begin to understand the possibilities of a flat world, but the teacher is not a commodity that can be outsourced, insourced, offshored, or supply chained.
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