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Showing posts from October, 2016

"This American Life", Hebert, and Brown vs. Board of Education

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After listening, reading, reviewing these three pieces I've come to realize they all have the same argument that they are trying to get across. They argue that even though we are considered an integrated country, we clearly aren't completely one. While listening to "This American Life" and hearing about how the parents were talking about the student who were coming from Normandy at the town meeting in Missouri I would have never thought that the things that were being said would have been from when I was alive. Then to even hear one of the parents say that it wasn't a race issue. Of course it's a race issue when 1,000 students from a lower class school are now coming to a school that is 85% white. The Normandy schools were still open, but the students who were looking to get an education from an accredited school could go to a different school, so obviously the children who are looking to better their education are going to travel the 30 miles to the "wh

"In The Service of What?" By: Kahne and Westheimer Reflection

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While reading this piece I had a hard time staying focused. I had to read some pages even 3 or 4 times before I understood what I was reading. What I got from this article was the importance of doing some kind of service learning in a community. They give examples of two different age groups in school who do some kind of service learning. The older group, which are 12th graders they go out and get themselves their own services they can do for their community. While the 7th grade class comes up with something together on what they could possibly do for their community. It's mentioned that even though these are two different approaches to getting children out into the community they are both ways of getting children out of the classroom and into the community. There were a couple of things that I found interesting that this article mentioned. The first thing I found interesting was when it was mentioned that students who talk about their service learning get more out of it. It m

The 3rd Presidential Debate

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There were three points that were brought to my attention while watching the debate. One of the first things I noticed was the fact that Trump and Hilary didn't shake hands before or after the debate took place. I understand that there's tension between the two parties, for good reason at the moment, but they could have at least been respectful enough to carry on the tradition. The second thing I noticed was a few times when Trump was talking he would partially answer a question and then respond with something along the lines of lets go back to the last question. I understand wanting to fully express how you feel about the topic, but once it's over it's time to move on. I feel like the public were the ones how were short changed on questions because they didn't get completely answered. The third point that really stuck out to me was when Donald Trump was asked if he would accept it if Hilary won as president. The fact that he chose not to just say yes really bot

Gender and the 2016 Election

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While reading the article on "Donald Trump, Locker Rooms and Toxic Masculinity" by Jill Soloway it was crystal clear what her argument was when it comes to gender. She points out that once two more men are together there becomes a competition over masculinity. Men discuss, rate, and degrade women who they don't know. As long as she isn't related she is up for grabs for the topic of discussion with men in this so called "locker room talk". What I liked about what she had to say was when she was describing the differences between the possible talk that women have in their locker room and the apparent conversations men are having. She points out that women will use the locker room as the way it should be, to get ready for your next adventure in your day and to talk a work out class you may have just taken and so forth, while men are apparently discussing women for their pleasure. While reading this article it reminded me the article "Other People's Ch

Second Presidential Debate Trump/Clinton

I have never really been one to get into politics, even when it's an election year.The fact that I'm watching these debates for extra credit for my class is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me, well political wise. Not that I'm going to drop my whole idea life of being a teacher to become a politician, but I actually like the feeling of being somewhat informed on what is happening in this race to be president.  On that note, I could hardly believe I was actually watching a presidential debate Sunday night. I feel like although some issues were touched upon, it was mostly a Trump is only running for president for his own gain, not for the American people, and a straight out don't vote for Clinton because she lies and she's dangerous.At some points I even forgot the question they had asked because it had become so off topic! I don't really have any knowledge on presidential debates, but are all of them like this? Constant fighting between adults

Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth:By Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy

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Extended Comments                                                   While reading this article I didn't really have it much to connect to in my personal life. The topic of LGBT was never really brought up until I got to high school and there was a whole club for people who wanted to share that connection with others. But growing up a had a best friend and she dressed like a boy, but always had this really long beautiful red hair. I never thought anything of it, until I s gradually switched to wearing boys clothes too. She was definitely on to something, they were so much more comfortable than wearing girl jeans, and girl shirts. I eventually out grew the phase of comfortable clothes, but she didn't. She eventually came out as gay, and now has a wife. I couldn't be happier for her. But the point is it wasn't until late middle to early high school did I even realize that there were people out there who may not be heterosexual.  It wasn't until after reading Bia

Kaine/Pence 2016 Debate

Tonight I watched the vice presidential debate and I think it was almost as scary as watching the first presidential debate. The whole time Timothy Kaine was reminding the United States why we shouldn't vote for Donald Trump. All the topics that would turn people away from voting for Trump were brought up. The topics were about immigrants, Trumps temperament, how his tax return still hasn't been released, and how he has talked about women, While he was reminding us why Trump shouldn't be president he also brought up ideas of why Clinton would make a better president. I felt like the whole night Mike Pence spent time discussing the ideas of how to help America, but necessarily defending his running partner. Not that he disagrees with Trump, but I felt like he never fully said that the ideas that Trump has should be the right ideas. While listening to the people discuss after the debate they said that Kaine was there to make his point that Clinton will do the best she c

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us by Linda Christensen Reflection

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While reading this text all I could think about is my god daughter and god son watching cartoons, movies, shows, and books learning about racism, and unequal rights portrayed in these shows. It's insane to think about how early we start children with shows that give girls the idea of the perfect body, or boys the idea that they are superior to girls just because they are male. Then I began to wonder does the amount of time watching these shows make more of an impact or does just the "regular" amount of tv time cause their opinions to form. I found a website that showed that children are spending more time with the television and that they are definitely affecting a child's beliefs.  I can't say that I will never watch any of these types of movies or shows or read any of these books, but I will never be able to see or read them in the same light. One of the things that bothered me was actually reading the the only way to be happy if you're a woman is to chan