2009 PD blog

Beyond Tolerance

2009-12-14T12:08:00.001-08:00

One of the events I attended was the Beyond Tolerance 4 event. I attended this event mostly because I didn't know anything about LGBTQ issues. The school that I attended prior to coming to NYU was a very conservative private school, and so these sorts of subjects or questions were simply not mentioned, let alone discussed. For this reason, I was excited to attend this event, to learn more about the young LGBTQ community here in the city.

The event started with a session dedicated to tabling. Several different LGBTQ organizations in the city gathered with tables, fliers, and information for any LGBTQ youth who were still looking for help or for a community. There were several difference groups dedicated to specific ethnic groups, but represented were also different organizations, shelters, or even churches who offer services to LGBTQ youth. I spent this time walking around, picking up fliers, and learning about the different communities there are in the city. It was exciting to see how many different organizations exist to help youth who may be struggling.

The next part of the event was composed of two different sessions, which we chose from a large list of options. The first session I attended was titled "How To Be A Youth Activist For Queer Rights." I wish that I could have had a brief description of the session before attending it; although I did learn some things from attending the session, I had hoped to maybe learn more about policy, rights, or advocacy. Instead, the session was held by an organization called Everyone Allied Against Homophobia, and essentially taught those of us who attending how to run a successful Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). The two college students who led the discussion brought us through a series of activities meant to ignite discussion about the purposes of GSAs, as well as the best ways to run an efficient GSA. As an example, one of the activities we did was a "choose your own adventure" activity, for which we were split into smaller groups. We were told to pretend that we were the members of our school's GSA, and were given scenarios from which we had to make decisions about what to do as a club. Based on these decisions, the series of scenarios continued, until it was determined whether or not we had made good decisions and thus been an effective GSA. In the end, I found that GSAs are plagued by many of the same issues that most other clubs struggle with, and as one of the Co-Presidents of a club here at NYU, this information was not especially new to me. However, I did enjoy hearing some different perspectives about some of the issues GSAs typically face.

I found the second session I attended, an intergenerational panel, much more attune to my own interests. The panel was literally intergenerational, with panelists ranging from their mid-twenties to their sixties. The idea behind the panel was to give those of us who attended the session a chance to hear different perspectives on what it was like to grow up gay/lesbian/queer, as well as to learn about things different panelists struggled with as they were growing up. To start, the woman moderating the event asked the panelists to tell us about their lives when they were young, and to tell us their "coming out story." The panelists then answered questions from those who attended the session.

This part of the session was, for me, probably the most interesting aspect of the entire Beyond Tolerance event. As I heard about the different ways in which the panelists had struggled with their senses of identity, and as I learned about how they came out to their friends and family, or what "coming out" even meant to them, I thought about how multifaceted this aspect of one's personality really is. As a straight person, I'll admit that my identity as a girl/woman was not something I thought about frequently as I was growing up. There were some panelists who said they had always known, and that when they came out to their families, no one was really surprised. There were other panelists, however, who got married, even had children, before they really came to terms with who they were. While some of the panelists seemed entirely comfortable with this aspect of their identity, others seemed as if they were still exploring and figuring things out. Other panelists acted as if they needed prove that it was okay to be who they were. Listening to these stories gave me an insight into lives and a community I had never really been exposed to, and so I learned an incredible amount from attending this event.

Combating Childhood Obesity

2009-12-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

This event was a workshop for educators in which three different speakers described different programs which have been created in order to combat childhood obesity. While I didn't walk into the event expecting much (of all the issues we have to face in the classroom, I must admit that childhood obesity wasn't on the top of my list of priorities), I ended up really enjoying the event, and walked away with a far better understanding of the issues at hand.

The first speaker was Dr. Maida Galvez, who works with the Children's Aid Society. She talked about the Go! Healthy Program, the Go! Chefs Program, and the Go! Kids program. Essentially, these programs involve a three-part strategy:
1) Provide education for students and parents
2) Improve what we feed children in our care (e.g., school lunches)
3) Change policies

While Dr. Galvez did briefly mention fitness programs for children, as well as ways in which her organization has advocated to change school breakfast/lunch policies, in her presentation, Dr. Galvez focused most on the second part of this strategy. She started by presenting and analyzing a typical elementary school breakfast/lunch menu, pointing the weaknesses and faults in the menu. She then went on to describe the foods and menus that she and her colleagues have developed. The menus featured such health strategies as eating more fruits and fibers, incorporating fewer sugars, and providing non-meat sources of protein. Next, Dr. Galvez talked about how none of this can happen without additional training and education for school cooks. To this end, she described several programs her organization has started implementing in a few schools, programs which have been met largely with success. Honestly, most of the food Dr. Galvez described sounded amazing, and I wondered whether it would really be possible to utilize these strategies in a typical public school cafeteria. No doubt the extra training, as well as the food made from scratch, would cost public schools additional funds they may not have to spare. Dr. Galvez addressed this issue only briefly, stating that the foods on her organization's menus are not much more expensive than the processed foods they currently serve, and that the benefits of giving children healthy meals far outweigh the burden of extra funds.

The second speaker was Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, who talked about two more experimental projects he has developed and implemented. Dr. Rosenbaum talked first about the complications of obesity, emphasizing that looking overweight should be the least of one's worries. Instead, he spoke of the dangers of later developing adult degenerative diseases such as heart diseases or diabetes as a result of poor diet and exercise habits during childhood. The two projects Dr. Rosenbaum mentioned specifically were The El Camino Project and the Reduce Obesity and Diabetes (ROAD) Program. Both of these projects were more experimental in nature, as he set them up like empirical studies (with control and treatment groups) and used to them to test and refine his theories. Both projects, unlike those of Cathy Nonas, focused more on exercise and fitness than on diet. One thing I found interesting especially about the ROAD Program is that he used this project to gather information on ethnic differences, and incorporated self-esteem scales into the program data. In terms of the ethnic differences, Dr. Rosenbaum found that people from different ethnic groups respond differently to various school exercise and diet strategies. For this reason, there is no one school exercise program that will fully benefit students from every ethnic group. At the end of his presentation, Dr. Rosenbaum mentioned that he is continuing research on this subject, working to learn more about these ethnic differences, as well as why they exist.

The final speaker was Cathy Nonas, who works with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Cathy spoke about the different strategies the NYC Department of Heath and Mental Hygiene is using to motivate people to improve their diet habits. These programs include the Healthy Bodegas Initiative, which offers benefits to bodegas that sell healthier food and snacks, the Health Buck, $2 food stamps that can only be spent at Green Markets, and Green Carts, food carts that offer benefits to vendors who will sell fresh fruit and vegetables in less-served neighborhoods. In addition to these, she mentioned the "Are You Pouring On the Pounds?" ads they created, as well as several other similar initiatives. Finally, she talked about the changes the Department is attempting to make in more general policies, such as changes in the health code at day care centers, school food standards, and the availability of competitive foods (e.g., vending machines) in public schools.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this event, as I walked away with information and ideas I hadn't considered before. I'm realizing now that although student health should be of utmost importance to school educators and administrators alike, these health issues are typically forgotten in lieu of other concerns, such as student test scores. However, a student's health greatly influences every aspect of his/her life, including his/her emotional well-being and academic performance. I now believe that these issues should be brought to the table and discussed more often, and that changes should be made so that students can form healthier diet and exercise habits.

Conversations of Color

2009-12-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

After the Dance & Movement Workshop that I attended on October 15, 2009, there was a one hour Conversations of Color that I attended with Karla Rodriguez & Jessica Hom.

The questions that were raised at the meeting were:

1. how are your definitions of diversity similar to each other? how do they differ?

2. why did you come to conversations of color today?

3. how do your definitions/ideas about diversity compare to your family's? to your friends'? to your religious institution's?

4. have your definitions/ideas about diversity changed since coming to nyu? how?

5. is diversity valued at nyu? what can/should the school do to promote diversity?

6. how comfortable are you talking about issues surrounding diversity? why is it such a difficult issue for some people to talk about? how do we create space so people can have these conversations openly and honestly?

7. what are some issues you would like to explore in conversations of color this year?

In a small group, we discussed these questions. The most important topics that were addressed was the issue of diversity at NYU. First, my small group addressed our concerns and feelings about these topics when it came time to speak in a whole room discussion. Speaking on the issue of diversity, my group and I raised the fact that many of us are learning the importance of diversity in all of our current classes. NYU, as one of the most prestigious schools in the nation, in NYC for that matter prides itself on having such a "diverse population". We then asked ourselves what a "diverse population" meant. Diverse means diverse in different ways. It means varying cultures, backgrounds, socioeconomic systems, gender, home life and experiences...not simply race.

I saw my old ASL I professor, Randolph Mowry, and my advisor, Victoria Carr were also present at the meeting. Randolph Mowry brought up such an interesting perspective on diversity and how people see him. He said that at first glance he looks like a typical white male, a symbol of power in America. If people would actually get to know him, people would learn that he does in fact bring diversity; he is gay, grew up in the lower class family bracket, and signs. It was interesting to hear others' opinions on this issue. Victoria urged my table (Jessica, Karla, and I) to take action towards this and mentioned how proud of us she was for attending the event as we were her students in one of the greatest programs at NYU. We spoke of the issues that we spoke about on the first day of classes, the meaning of a multicultural education and its impact on our students. We think that NYU should practice what they preach.

This was one of the first conversations that actually sparked my interest in social justice. People began asking questions of what NYU can really do to change the diversity at their school. It was a challenging question to answer, even from such a varied group of students. We spoke about the students in the room were all students who wanted to hear what others had to say. How were we to get this word about the importance of diversity to others not physically in attendance at the meeting? One of the same recurring quotes was brought to the table - There is power in numbers.

I pose a question for my fellow students -- If NYU should value diversity and actual represent a diverse population, how would NYU accept students of different socioeconomic statuses? How can that issue be actually raised to NYU?

We were also encouraged to host our own conversations of color meeting. They welcomed suggestions about any issues we wanted to discuss, which I thought was such a valuable resource. I invite all my other classmates to attend at least one on any topic they find interesting and are passionate about. People who are willing are also able to host one, so if you're interested you should inquire!

South Bronx Food and Film expo

2009-12-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

South Bronx Food and Film Expo
On December 5, I attend the South Bronx Food and Film Expo at The Point- where community and creativity connect. I started the morning off by registering for the event, and walking around the lobby that was set up like an expo. The expo consisted of different organizations based in the South Bronx marketing their work in the community. Each organization provided useful pamphlets and photos of events they have conducted prior to that day. The organizations were dedicated to promoting healthy eating by locally growing fruits and vegetables for their community.
After walking around the expo I entered into theresp film screamscreening room where we watched several films that promoted healthier eating habits. The two main films that were viewed were “What’s on your plate” and Fresh”. The film that stood out to me the most was “What’s on Your Plate.”
“What’s on your plate” showed the journey of two 11 year old New York City Public school girls trying to discover where the food on their plate comes from and difference between food on the farm and food in their city. They were also trying to figure out what’s healthy to eat and what is not healthy to eat. The girls began their journey on a family trip in Ohio, where they went to a farm with their parents and tried some locally grown produce. That was what sparked their interest in their journey. When they arrived back in the Big Apple they began their endeavor on researching where the produce in their city comes from. From their research they found that produce was sold all over the

with an abundance being sold right in their home state. Their endeavor consisted of interviewing several people in and around theresp community. The people in the community were able to provide them with answers to their great questions.
The girls’ science teacher stood out to me in this film. He did such an amazing job explaining to the students what calories are. He did this by giving groups of students different foods to light on fire with his supervision. What the students found from this activity is the longer it takes for the food to fully burn, the more nutrients and energy it provides to use. The less time it takes to burn the more empty calories it has .
Based on these girls’ admirable work there is a curriculum for teachers to use in their classroom. This curriculum can be food on the internet at www.whatsonyourplateproject.org . A curriculum like this could by useful and interesting to teach our students about the concept of healthy eating and we are what we eat.

Urban Word

2009-12-08T01:54:00.000-08:00

Urban word
On Saturday October 3rd I attended Urban Words Preemptive Education Language, Identity and Power annual mentor, teacher educator and community activist training program at NYU’s Silver Center. The day started off with registration and breakfast, followed by all the participants meeting in a room where David Kirkland kicked off the day.
His kick off stood out to me. He started speaking about language and liberation. The first activity he provided us was a language variation activity, where we worked in groups forming sentences with words that only contained two syllables. This activity made me feel limited with what I could say, as well as forced to think of new ways to search for words to say. I also noticed myself speaking at a slower pace than I normally do and feeling less confident when speaking with my peers. After this, he led us in the “coin game”. For this game we were split up into 3 different groups: gold, red, and blue. What I learned from this activity was the language of the gold group was valued most. The gold group was given more advantages and had good luck. What I learned from this is that people are afraid to be moved into the bottom because they know how hard it is to work your way up to the top group. The only way people were allowed to move from the blue or red group to the gold group was to lie and cheat. We played several rounds of this game. At the end of each round the team with the most points was awarded being able to pick a rule that all the other groups had to follow. This relates to the point of how urban youths language will be less valued then middle and upper class American’s language.

He then went on to show us a song called “U Turn”, written by a student. This stood out to me because it was a beautiful written piece of poetry that had many poetic elements. Instead of this student’s teacher being proud of his work, the teacher was upset about his spelling. As a teacher it is important for us to find value in everything our students do.

At the conference I attended the workshop Between the Beats: Finding and Creating Stories in Hip-Hop Music presented by Crystal Belle, a current high school teacher in New York City. We started the workshop off brain storming what makes the stories we read. This workshop taught me how I can incorporate hip hop music in the classroom as model for teaching storytelling skills to my students. We listened to songs by several hip hop artist. While listening to the each song we identified the literary devices that were used in that song. The literacy devices we focused on were setting, plot, theme, and conflict to name a few. By the end of the workshop I was able to see the correlation between listening to hip hop music as story, and how it allows me and students to create our own stories that explain who we are.

Dance and Movement Workshop

2009-12-07T20:47:00.001-08:00

I attended the Dance and Movement Workshop on October 15, 2009 for 1.5 hours in the Greene Building at NYU. The sponsors of this event were Suzanne Carothers, Darrell Hucks, and Freddie Moore. I wanted to attend this workshop because I wanted to learn how to incorporate dance into my future classroom because I realize the importance of physical movement for kids. I knew that dance is a great channel for students to express themselves but I had no idea that there were actual dance standards that could be integrated into the curriculum!

We also learned how to validate and incorporate the students’ cultures through developing dances that allowed freestyle or dances from specific cultures. Freddie is an incredible dance professional who holds in-class workshops at different classrooms during the year. Through the help of a CD of neosoul Nursery Rhymes and Freddie’s effective strategies, we all contributed to the creation of a choreographed dance that represented a little bit of all of our personalities and cultural identities. This CD and dances can be used to understand the children’s backgrounds and also learn about who they are. I related this event to the Multicultural Case Study which encourages us to really get to know our children; I feel that dancing is a great route to achieve this.

Another valuable lesson I got from this lesson was over the many misconceptions teachers hold about their students while they are working or listening. My immediate response to a student who looks like they are restless or wandering is to think that the child is not listening or being a bad student. I learned, however, that children have various ways of listening and just because they are not sitting or listening how you want them to, it doesn’t mean that they are not learning!

The Red Party!

2009-12-07T20:22:00.001-08:00

I attended this event in the Bronx with Samantha on November 21, 2009 for 3.5 hours. This event was sponsored by the Dreamyard A.C.T.I.O.N project which works towards providing a community resource center for teenagers in the Bronx and hosts events like the Red Party to raise awareness about AIDS and HIV. This event focused on helping the teenagers realize that the part in the Bronx that they live in has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS out of the entire New York City. For this reason, they were conducting free testing all throughout the party. The majority of the teenagers that were there got tested and received condoms and preventive measures to hopefully stop the spread of HIV.

During the party there was music, chips, soda, and best of all-their friends. It was interesting what a big effect the comfort of friends had on this whole experience. I lingered in the waiting room area for a little bit where they were showing an MTV documentary on different teenagers who had AIDS. Through my various conversations, I focused on making them feel less nervous and congratulate them for being brave and responsible for getting tested. Although they were nervous, much of the anxiety was eased because the event created a comfortable environment for them since their friends from school or the Dreamyard A.C.T.I.O.N project were there to support them.

Throughout the party there was also an open mic session that allowed these amazing teenagers to express themselves through poetry, singing, or rapping. So many of them had such powerful words and some of the performances even gave me the chills. Open mic allowed me to see how passionate and knowledgeable these students were about HIV; it also made me realize that these teenagers eyes have seen more in their lifetime than I have. Their words were so passionate and were driven by the desire for social change.

At the end of the event, the A.C.T.I.O.N group presented a documentary about their trip to Washington D.C. this last summer. Their purpose for that project was to interview people who had HIV/AIDS in the area and also bring awareness through protests. I was so amazed at what these students did there and how they pulled this Red Party together.

Although the topic of HIV and AIDS can not necessarily be studied in depth at the Elementary level, this night showed to me how powerful students can be and the amount of social change they can bring to their community and to the world. I am definitely looking forward to attending their next event.

Korean Peace Day

2009-12-07T19:36:00.001-08:00

I attended Korean Peace Day on Thursday, December 3rd for 2 hours at the Silver building at NYU. This event was sponsored by the National Coalition to End the War, Veterans for Peace, Korea Peace Campaign, Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea, Freedoms 4 North Korea, and Nodutdol.

The event started by munching on Korean food like Jun, Kim-Bap Sushi, and Korean dumplings which were absolutely delicious! Professor Henry, who is a professor at NYU, then gave us a brief history about North Korea and brought awareness to the recent controversial events involving North Korea and the Obama administration. In April, North Korea tested a rocket and was then singled out by Obama and accused of firing missiles; later being named as the exemplar violator of the U.S. Non-Proliferation Regime. Professor Henry spoke about how “raising suspicion of the suspect [Korea] adds to the tension” and how important it is for the United States and Korea to stop being enemies.

One of the most interesting parts of the event was when Peter the Veteran spoke to us. He spoke about the “National Campaign to End the Korean War” and is part of “Veterans for Peace.” Their aim is to reunify the families of South and North Korea. Peter also brought to our attention that every war, including the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan, brings bigger devastation to those countries than to the United States. It was very powerful to see that Veterans are working towards ENDING wars and not SUPPORTING them.

The part of the event that I loved the most was when we heard the stories from the people who went on the “Korea for Peace Trip” for 10 days. Three members who went were a Special Education Teacher, a Social Worker, and a Columbia Grad Student. They all spoke to us about their preconceptions they had before going to North Korea and the adventures they had. They told us how they imagined hungry people and marching soldiers; they were also very scared of violence and hostility they might have to face.

Two of the panelists where from South Korea and the Social Worker even grew up there until he was about 11. It was interesting to see how their perceptions of North Korea were completely inaccurate and that they were surprised to see how alike they were. One of them said, “North Korea seemed to be at the other end of the world even though it was only two hours away.” It is sad to see how the same culture can be so far apart from one another. The positive aspect of this trip was that the people involved with the trip on both ends were able to realize that their preconceptions were inaccurate and that there were misconceptions on both sides. This relates to the theme we’ve been learning in class that perceptions and portrayals of people can be extremely inaccurate and hold us back from change.

I was glad over the fact that at the end of the event we were given specific steps or guidelines on how to help this cause. Some of the options they gave us were of signing a petition on their website, signing up for the list-serve, and joining the NY Working Group. These are also feasible things for my future students to do and be part of the change.

Characters Unite

2009-12-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

I've talked to my group for the cirrciulum about media sterotyping. What do you all think about the USA television network's campaign called Characters Unite?

check it out here: http://www.charactersunite.com/#/mission

I'm still undecided about it---because a lot of people are posting, but not using respectful language...

The People Speak Premiere

2009-12-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

I attended the premiere of The People Speak followed by a reception with the filmmakers and some of the cast at the Rose Theater on November 19th. The entire event lasted 3 and a half hours. The movie was an abridged film adaptation of Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States, with interspersed dramatic monologues of testimonials from real people throughout history. My favorite moment in the film was Kerry Washington’s impersonation of Sojourner Truth’s speech on female suffrage. She talks about how Jesus came from God and a woman. “Men had nothing to do with Him,” she says. Women’s rights is just one of the many social justice topics covered in the film.

What is so moving about both the movie and the book is that they tell history from the people’s point of view. Citizens’ perspectives of history are shown. The objective is to listen to the voices that have been underrepresented in mainstream retellings of history. However, one does need to have a solid grasp of U.S. history in order to truly appreciate the film as well as the book. This movie could be a great supplemental resource for students who already have a good understanding of major events of U.S. history. For example, I would show specific clips of the film to my class that pertain to a certain moment in history that we had recently studied.

I really enjoyed the film as well as the reception afterwards. It was pretty exciting being in the same room with the actors and filmmakers and talking to them about the movie. I encourage everyone to watch the TV premiere of The People Speak on The History Channel this Sunday, December 13th.

Beyond Tolerance

2009-12-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

I attended Beyond Tolerance's event for Youth Activism and Gender and Sexuality sponsored by NYCORE, held at Vanguard Highschool. I actually saw one of the teens from the Red Party that I attended a few weeks ago. It was pretty cool that the networking that these events were supposed to create was already working out!

First of all I noticed that this school, Vanguard, seemed to be working with their students on some pretty interesting topics. First of all they were studying identity, Brown vs. Board of Education, the origin of Man in Africa, and the diaspora that followed, and many other topics. The evening was structured so that we had a chance to walk around to tables and get information on various organizations prior to our workshops. I found a lot of information, and think it might be really nice to talk to kids about word usage. I found some posters geared toward older kids about the definition of words like Gay, Faggot, Dyke, and others. At the end of the evening there was an open mic(which really shows the power of poetry, song, and dance in our students' lives)- and a teacher shared a poem she wrote to her class about their usage of the word faggot. I'm also thinking about making my classroom a safe space, which I think would be nice for gay families or youth or staff in the building.

The first seminar I attended taught about legal rights of youth and teachers. I learned that students have the right not to be outted by school personnel. Students also have the freedom to present themselves as they see fit, as long as their clothing still fits into the dress code. Additionally, if there are any extra curriculars in place already, a GSA cannot be denied, and the name cannot be changed to something like "diversity club".

The second seminar, I heard from an intergenerational panel. One woman is employed as a paraprofessional in a school. She told of her life, she is in her 60s or 70s. She said she had a crush on a female neighbor as a 4 year old. She also has children. She suggests that elementary school teachers are supportive, and let kids talk about it in their own language (for example "I have two mommies"). I also was able to really notice the identity differences across the generations- the younger people did not think it was as important to tell others that they were gay or lesbian, and the older found it to be a very important part of who they are and think that people need to know. I think this is similar to the identity process that was discussed in the Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? text. We also must respect that our students, their families or our co-workers may be at any point on this spectrum, and we should meet them where they are.

Red Party

2009-12-06T15:25:00.001-08:00

I went to the Red Party in the Bronx a few weeks ago. This event was amazing. It was sponsered by the Dreamyard A.C.T.I.O.N. project. Which from what I understand is an organization for teens in the Bronx. They are into social action, and giving back to the community. This event was focused on getting facts about HIV and AIDS out into the teen community, getting teens tested, and also premiering the ACTION project's documentary of their work in Washington DC this summer.

There was an open mic where teens shared poetry, and raps, some were personal and others were focused on giving statistics. I found out that this zip code in the Bronx 10456, has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS per person. Some of the teens were really concerned about the test results, and what happens if they have HIV. The questions they were asking really made me want to learn more factual information about HIV, so that I could appropriately answer the questions.

I think this event just really showed me that teenagers have SO much energy, and willingness to help others. Additionally they have valid concerns about HIV, and not a lot of information has been made available. I picked up some pamphlets which I think I could adapt for elementary school students. I think I could talk to kids even as young as first graders about how HIV is transmitted(omitting sex for younger students if parents would object) but certainly it would be important to talk about how its transmitted not by sneezing but by other things like blood transfusions. We would also talk about the impact for this in the classroom- that if someone is bleeding we don't touch their blood and we always wash our hands if we have been bleeding.

Beyound Tolerance: Youth Activist!

2009-12-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Name of Event: Beyond Tolerance 4

Organizer : NYCoRE & NYQueer
Location: Vanguard High School
Time: 4:30 - 6:30pm.

I also got a chance to take part in the workshop this past Friday. But I went to the one called “How to be a youth activist for queer rights”. The facilitators were college student from Columbia University and Barnard (Everyone Allied Against Homophobia). Their main focus was on the purpose of the Gay Straight Alliance clubs in the high schools. They named three real goals of GSA

1. Safe Social Space

2. Support

3. Activism (mobilization)

The workshop helped in realized that fortunately for most of the high school in New York, they are supported by the administration and by their fellow peers. But they have taken on the responsibility in looking at larger national issues such as gay marriage and rights.

The workshop also got me thinking back about my old high school. We did not have any clubs that addressed issues of gender or sexuality, nor was it ever really talked about. I had two friends that came out to me my junior year of high school but never told the rest of our class. I remember one of them telling me, “I knew something wasn’t right since I was in second grade”. There were two things that struck me about his comment that he thought his experience wasn’t “right” and that he was aware of this from such a young age. It was not until he went to college where he was fully able to come out, and be comfortable with his own identity. I have always thought of my high school as progressive in many ways, but it wasn’t. The issues of sexuality in Thailand are one that I have never quite understood, Thailand is notorious for the sex industry but sex education is limited. People travel from all around the world to get a sex change operation but gays are still discriminated against and looked down upon. Unfortunately I don’t see this trend changing anytime soon either, which makes me very upset but I’m not sure if I will see any real transformation within my lifetime.

So as an educator when should I talk about this issue? How would parents feel if I taught their children that gender is a social construct?

NYCore Open Invitation Dinner

2009-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Jessica, Hannah, and I were very interested in the entire social justice action and its application in schools and attending the NYCore invitation event, in hopes of learning more about what we can do to participate and learn about social justice.

There was a man who did a spoken word about Queens, his hometown. It showed how powerful culture, identity, and experiences are part of children and its the teacher's duty to help bring about a child's identity to the surface. Spoken word is one way to do that. It was such a blessing to see him perform two of his pieces.

If anyone remembers the play titled "Recess" that Joan was asking us to watch last semester, I just caught a glimpse of the one woman play by its creator and actress, Una. It was amazing. She has such heart and passion. Her different voices of playing out how students act and react in school, how some teachers may not know the entire story behind one child's life and mistreat them was really vivid by just one character. Una jumps out of one character and into another by changing her stance, voice, and perspective. I would love to watch Recess in its entirety.

There were different tables and at each different table, one group from NYCore would come around, speak briefly more about their purpose and what they do, in order to ave get more people involved, as part of their open invitation night. There were many different groups, such as one group that would advocate for LGBT teens. There are also groups that help new teachers, since the first year as a teacher is one of the most difficult. We were even allowed to come up with topics that we would want to discuss, as if the topic is recurring, they'll make a session about it in order to help us.

The different groups that anyone is able to participate in NYCore. I recommend looking into it, especially if you want to become a radical educator in New York!

Preemptive Education: Language, Identity & Power

2009-12-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of October 2nd, I attended Urban Word NYC's Annual Mentor, Teacher, Educator & Community Activist Training entitled Preemptive Education: Language, Identity and Power. It was a weekend workshop that examined issues that affect today's youth, while providing creative and practical resources to address them. The conference used spoken word and hip-hop as a lens to explore language and privilege, in order to educate the participants on various practices in student-centered pedagogy by providing performances, panel discussions, and professional development. The event was held right here at NYU, in the Silver Center. Although Urban Word sponsored the event, there was a suggested donation for the weekend training of $100. As an NYU student, I was able to attend for free.

On Friday, there was an open panel and youth performance that was free to the public. The performance consisted of four youth spoken word performers: Jamilla Lyscott, Carvens Lissaint, Ceez, and Thiahera Nurse. They were all between the ages of 16-19. Using their performances as launch point for the panel discussions, both the artists and panelist engaged in discussions analyzing and addressing issues around language privilege, youth voice, and social justice. After watching the performances and listening to the panel, I experienced first hand the transformative power of spoken word and how it functions to reclaim identities and challenge inequities. Although all the performances were startlingly inspiring, Thiahera Nurse's performance of a piece entitled Queens was so powerful that it actual brought me to tears. Queens confronts the hierarchy of women "beneath kings". Nurse's opening line, "I gave my womb back to my mother last night" pretty much says it all (mind you she's 17). As a teacher, I could not help but think about the values we place on language and how it inhibits expression. It made me think about the tension of language in American society. In Jamilla performance of I Be Diaspora, she states, "I am my language". In terms of our coursework on social justice and educational equality, I think the connection is obvious: the values we place on language corresponds to the value we place on our students. If we truly value our students, we have to rethink the way in which we value their use of language and make room for these "languages" in our classrooms.

The second day of the conference consisted of two lectures, two breakout sessions, a panel discussion and a keynote speaker. During each breakout session, participants had the choice of three workshops. I attended Between the Beats: Finding and Creating Stories in Hip-Hop Music lead by author, educator, and artist Crystal Belle and Educator as Actvist: Because the Struggle for Justice Does Not End When the School Bell Rings presented by NYcoRE's Bree Picower and Rosie Frascella.

During the Between the Beats workshop, Belle introduced methods of teaching storytelling techniques using hip-hop music as a model. She explored three songs with us; All That I Got is You by Ghostface, Juicy by Biggie Smalls, and Lost Ones by Lauren Hill. For each song she had a prompt which forces us to explore an element of storytelling. For Juicy, she asked us to listen to the song and think, "Does this story have a resolution?" First we listened to the song and made annotations in the lyrics and then we exercises a turn-n-talk, followed by a class discussion. As a class we concluded that the resolution was in conflict; that although Biggie speaks of his success, he also glorifies violence and struggles to stay true to his roots. The results of the lesson made the question of "Should hip-hip be used in the classroom?" unquestionable. The answer is yes. It has value, and Belle showed me how. In relation to our class, I think it teaches us that in order to be social just in the classroom, we have to reconsider text and use what our students value to teach them what they need to learn.

At the NYCoRe workshop, we discussed and brainstormed the problems we face as public school teachers and worked together to think about possible solutions. Various topics arose such as standards, budgets, and special education. After attending this workshop, I learned that teachers need to organize and become active advocates for their students, schools, communities, and themselves in order to initiate change for social justice. NYCoRe is an organization that is doing just that and serves as a model for teachers who have a passion for and emphasize social justice in their classrooms.

Overall, the conference was an amazing experience. I regret not being able to attend the last day. Urban Word NYC did an amazing job orgranizing and bringing together people on the cutting edge of education. Two thumb way way up! I would check out their website for furture events and more information: www.urbanwordnyc.org

*Number of hours: 10 (October 2nd 7-9 & October 3rd 9-5)

Korea Peace Day and DEEP Reportback

2009-12-06T13:03:00.001-08:00

On Thursday, Dec ember 3rd I attended an event called Korea Peace Day and DEEP Reportback at NYU for 2 hours. It was a pretty incredible experience as a lot of my classmates have already shared. A professor from NYU gave us a brief overview of the situation in North Korea today. I had no idea that North Korea is the United States’ longest standing enemy. Nor did I know that the Korean War was still going on and no peace treaty has been signed. A veteran talked to us about an organization he is a part of that aims to put an end to the war. What really resonated with me was his explanation of the effects of war on a soldier’s mental health. My uncle, who worked as a doctor in the Vietnam War, unfortunately developed mental health issues because of the horrors he faced abroad. His experience only further supports my beliefs that no good comes from war. There has to be a better, more peaceful way to find solutions to the disagreements that occur between countries, states, and even individuals.

Following the veteran’s speech, three panelists who took a trip to North Korea talked about their experience and answered questions. Their discussion was fascinating. One woman, Sarah, spoke about the surprise she experienced when she realized that the people living were not so different from herself. I believe that this surprise is often faced when people take the time to learn more about others who they feel are so different from themselves. I too have been in this kind of situation and I feel that this concept could easily be brought into the classroom. Everyone, at one point or another, feels that they have nothing in common with another person, culture, or even entire race of people. In the end we’re all human beings who have more similarities than differences, in my opinion.

The event was very enjoyable and I encourage everyone reading this to check out the following website: www.endthekoreanwar.org. Sign the petition and help the U.S. come to a peace treaty with North Korea.

Preemptive Education: Weekend Training Series

2009-12-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, October, 3^rd, 2009 I had the lovely opportunity of taking part in the weekend training series. I understand that this a while back so it will be a good testament to the ‘enduring understandings’ (wink wink) that I got from this workshop.

The morning started bright and early in the Silver building with several activities led by David Krikland. The first activity we did was called “Real Talk” where we were instructed to talk about two questions

1. Is the US enriched by language variation?

2. Should the US adopt an ‘official’ language policy?

The only catch to this was you could only use 2 syllables words when you spoke. Some one in the group was also designated to be the ‘police’ and call out anyone who used words that were more than 2 syllables. There was incredible change of pace in the way we talked, everyone talked a lot slower. Many people noted that although they felt restricted and limited it forced them to find new ways to convey their message. The change in confidence level also reflected the idea of constantly being policed.

David Kirkland did a beautiful ob of talking about the power of language as he says “Language can be used, and is used as a social/cultural/political currency for exchange of values, beliefs, disposition … It is also an essential part of who we are”.

We moved on to playing a game where we were randomly given coins and they were worth different values. The only two rules were; no talking and no cheating. We were given a couple of minutes to trade the coins before each person wrote up their scores on the board. We were divided into the three groups depending on our scores (low, medium, and high). After a few rounds of the game where the high group was able to make up some rules and the low groups were punished by standing up it was an activity to reflect some of the larger problems in our society today. The game took only a matter of minutes to complete but within in that small time frame there was a lot to be said. The game started out with no choices, you were either in the high, low, medium group and movement between these groups became progressively harder as the game went on. Although the high group did not create new rules that targeted any other group it systematically kept the low group oppressed. Interestingly enough it was the middle group that rarely got any attention. A lot of the participant caught on to the game really fast, we even had a girl who revolted and went to jail because she did not want to take part in the system. It was a good activity to remind educators how this system of oppression has manifested itself and how it is being perpetuated. I just wanted to put in a quote that David Kirkland used “To imagine new ways of being is to already begin to act differently upon the world.”

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In the breakout session I decided to participate in a workshop lead by Crystal Belle called “Between the Beats: Finding and Creating Stories in Hip-Hop Music”. As a high school teacher she showed us how she incorporated Hip Hop in to her English class and how it can be used as a powerful tool to self-reflect, spur conversation about social issues, as well as covering some key writing elements. Some of the songs she had us listening to were : All That I Got Is You (by Ghostface Killah and Mary J. Blige), Juicy (By Biggie Smalls) and Lost Ones (By Lauryn Hill). These were some of the essential questions she had us thinking about

1. Why is important for young people to tell their own stories?

2. How does my environment play a role in the development of my idenity?

3. What elements of storytelling can be discovered in Hip Hop music?

This is Crystal Belle blog: crystalbellepoet.blogspot.com
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The last session I took part in was a lecture by Marcella Runell Hall, “Foundation 2: Hip-Hop, Critical Pedagogy & Social Justice Education”. I knew Marcella prior to this training series through the Multicultural Center for Educations and Program (CMEP), and I had known about her work on Hip Hop Education but it was great to see her talk about one of her passion and hear about all of it again it more detail. Marcella gave us a Hip Hop 101 lesson by looking at its history, hip-hop culture, hip-hop generation, and really looking at how to use Hip Hop as the foundation for teaching Social Justice Education. Marcella addressed many issues that overlapped with what he have been discussing in class such as the different levels of oppression, individual, internal, institutional, conscious, and unconscious. But she talked about Critical Pedagogy, as the process with which can be looked as “habits to thoughts, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning … to understand the deep meaning ... and personal consequence”, she talked about teaching students to engage in the “why?” even though there might not be an answer.

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Here are some recommended reading ...

1. Education for Critical Consciousness (By Paoulo Frieie)
2. Critical Race Theory (By Richard Delgado)
3. Theater of the Oppressed (By Agusto Boal)

Dance & Movement Workshop

2009-12-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

For one afternoon, a few NYU CHSE students (seniors and juniors) participated in a workshop that went over different exercises and activities that students are able to do within their own classroom in order to incoroporate dance and movement.

The man who presented the workshop (I forgot his name), along with a woman from Scholastic, Suzanne Corothers and Darrell Hucks were all present on that day. The main presenter and dance instructor was from the Alvin Ailey Dance School.

Throughout the workshop, we learned that there are different ways that a teacher is able to engage a student in a lesson by using and channeling through their energy. The first part was to actually get us to understand that everything we do every day involves some type of movement. Then, they showed us a YouTube clip of a classroom, played first with no sound, and we were to look at the children and the classroom environment. Without sound, it seemed as if the children were not engaging at all, because of their body movement, their posture in the class, where they were facing, what they were physically doing, etc. Then when played with sound, we found that the students were very much engaged in the lesson. The point being was that simply because a student may not be sitting in the "proper" way, it does not mean they are not paying attention; a student may be very well learn and just tend to move frequently. Children are naturally active and have a lot of energy that they need to release so being in school for an extended amount of time, they need to be active all the time. It also helps some them focus better.

The workshop was divided into groups. In each group, we all listened to a new CD of Nursery Rhymes but mixed with neosoul. It is an amazing CD. I recommend it to all teachers. The groups had to create their own version and take on a given song, i.e., Miss Mary Mack and then perform it. We also learned how many things that teachers want to integrate into their lessons (multiculturalism, home life, food, personal identities) can all be done through movement and dance.

Overall, I had an amazing time and learned so much about the importance of movement and dance in and outside of the classroom. At the end of the workshop, we all received a free picture book from Scholastic, promoting culture and dance, and a certificate of attendance.

The People Speak Live @ Cooper Union

2009-12-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

I was very excited to attend this event, because to be honest, the first persons name that I read on the event was Matt Damon! I haven't heard of Howard Zinn, but was curious to know more about him. I attended the event with Jessica.

It took place in the Great Hall. The president of Cooper Union gave a welcome address to the importance of The Great Hall. I never knew all the 'magic' that happened in that very hall that I sat in and heard about it. Fredrick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Obama, Abraham Lincoln, and many others all spoke in The Great Hall. That was why it was very special that they were showing a snippet of The People Speak.

Matt Damon then came out and read aloud a monologue from The Grapes of Wrath. Following his appearance, Howard Zinn came out to discuss more about the film and the reasons for making it. Then they showed parts of The People Speak, that will be airing soon on The History Channel. The People Speak is taking parts of history, more so parts that people may not remember, and giving them a voice. There are different celebrities that are part of the film and are performing a monologue in the voice of a historical character. John Legend was one of the people partaking in the film as well.

I especially enjoyed knowing what the purpose of the film was, because it was similar to the idea of heroification. Howard Zinn and Matt Damon produced this film due to the importance of sharing history with others, making it appealing, and also making sure that the parts of history that are remembered are not just the ones that are always visioned and remembered from history text books.

After the short preview of The People Speak, Howard Zinn and Matt Damon came out for a question and answer portion. During this time, I learned a lot about Howard Zinn and fell immediately in love with his entire philosophy. He has a book titled The People's History of the United States. Though a lengthy book (I know, because I bought it right after!), it's about how Zinn believes how history should be taught, not placing importance of the "leaders" that "led", but the people who backed up every amendment, every march, every revolution ever began in history. Although I haven't read it yet, Zinn and many other audience members referenced the book.

Zinn made sure the audience knew that every leader in American history could not have been able to do what he/she did without the help of the people. He mentioned that it was the people are the push towards the top, that we are the ones making history, and without us, change cannot be made. It was such a powerful event. It was also very inspiring as Jessica and I always believe there is power in numbers.

After the event, they gave away free t-shirts (an unilimited amount, as long as you asked!) that said "DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT" and also free dry erase boards promoting the airing of The People Speak.

Overall, I loved this event, learned a great deal, and also found it very relevant to what we are studying in class.

South Bronx Food and Film Expo

2009-12-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had the great opportunity to attend the South Bronx Food and Film Expo at The Point: Community Development Center in the Bronx. As they mentioned, it was very important to have this type of event in their neighborhood because the South Bronx is the poorest congressional neighborhood in America. It is difficult for families who are living in poverty to eat healthy food because they tend to be more expensive and less accessible. Also, the rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity were at higher levels in this neighborhood. The beginning of the day was an information fair where different organizations based out of the Hunts Point section of the Bronx promoted their work in the community with pamphlets and photos of events they have sponsored. Many of them were dedicated to growing fruits and vegetables locally and donating the fresh produce to the members of the community.

The next portion of the day was the film expo, which included three films highlighting the work of volunteers in other neighbored in NYC that promote healthier eating habits. I will be speaking about 2 of the 3 films. The first film, entitled "What's on your plate?" followed two 5th grade NYC public school students (Safiyeh and Sadie) on their journey to find out where their food comes from and how this affects their health. Their exploration began on a family trip to Ohio where the girls tried some locally grown tomatoes and described them as, "the best they've ever had." Being from the city, they were never exposed to that type of fresh produce straight from a farm. So they were inspired to look for the origin of the fruits and vegetables they eat. One of the students has high blood pressure so this investigation was especially useful as she monitored her blood pressure and how it changed after her newfound eating habits as a result of this process.

Their investigation began by researching the origins of produce sold in NYC. On a big map made of felt, they attached small pictures of individual fruits and vegetables to the world map. They found that the United States grew a lot of produce on both coasts, especially in their home state of New York, and the midwest was generally dedicated to corn. If New York grew so many great items, why weren't these items more accessible? They began their research by interviewing Anna Lappe, founder of the "Small Plant institute," who explained that companies made more money if they took a produce item and "branded it" in order to charge more money. To sell just a carrot for example is too cheap but if they slice it and package it in a "kid-friendly" way, their profit margin in higher. It's not about health anymore; their focus is money. This is why the school system can't afford to provide all healthy options. Safiyeh and Sadie felt that good food should not be a luxury and that there has to be a way to incorporate nutrient-rich food into their school lunches. They began to search for local farmers and/or vendors in the city that sold locally grown produce, for example, green markets.

Their exploration continued with interview with the Chief Food administrator in charge of NYC public school lunches. He explained that after WWI, there was a nationwide movement to eat better. They began to revitalize food, especially in the schools. But in 1960, the focus became combating hunger instead of nutrition. They spoke about the differences between food now and food then. There was definitely more butter in past school lunches but more fried food and/or bigger portions now, totally over 1,100 calories (elementary school aged children daily intake should be around 1,400). The example provided of plans for what future school lunches will hopefully look like included smaller portions and more fruits and vegetables, cutting the calorie count practically in half. The Chief Food administrator also said that they serve almost 900,000 school lunches PER DAY. The cost for healthier food is much higher than it is for chicken nuggets, for example, and they are working to get more funding to support their healthier food efforts. So far, they have introduced salad bars in some schools that seem to be popular for students because it is fun and they can take ownership of their food. Most importantly, it is healthy and will hopefully be one step towards decreasing the portion of our nation's population with diabetes, which today is 20%.

Safiyeh and Sadie found some local "urban farmers" that grow and sell New York grown produce to neighborhood in Manhattan. After collecting some of this food, their final activity was to cook with some eco-chefs and show their friends and family how delicious healthy food can be in comparison with the convenience of detrimental fast food. Safiyeh's blood pressure even went down through this process, as her new eating habits made a difference. She was always of the appropriate weight but made these changes to ensure that her future was not in jeopardy. The proactive students' goal was to show how eating habits during childhood can lead to adulthood and that is where problems arise. Their next goal was to encourage more green markets in neighborhoods like Harlem. Speaking with the borough president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, they expressed their concerns and he was able to lead them to certain green markets that they did not know about. By the end of their investigation, they were familiar with the neighborhoods that were selling locally grown produce and the neighborhoods that still needed some attention.

I admired the work that these two students did. Not only were they motivated by their health and the health of those around them but by the future as well. It is important to develop healthy habits now instead of relying on convenience. The next film was about how the farmers in our country are struggling and over 90% of them have another job in order to support their families. One particular quote from the beginning of the movie characterized our nation perfectly: "the only thing that Americans fear is inconvenience." That is why the fast food industry is booming and why levels of obesity have skyrocketed. Farmers cannot keep up as the demand for fresh produce is not as high. Also, they briefly spoke about the pesticides and chemicals that are necessary to prolong the "freshness" of the produce. But as Michael Pollan, author of 2 New York Times best-selling books about our nation's eating habits, pointed out, nature is not accustomed to everything of the same species growing together in one confined space. Nature thrives on a mix of things growing near each other and the mix of nutrients benefit all. Now, we grow the same item in one particular area just as we keep the same animals in one particular area. In order for those items to last longer in an environment in which they are surrounded by their own species, they must be treated with unnatural chemicals. If there was a mix, there would be no need for this type of outside help; nature would be able to sustain itself.

The above mentioned film was very informative but I definitely benefited more from the first one. It was so refreshing to see young members of the community taking action and fulfilling their curiosities. I am very interested in nutrition and promoting the healthy eating habits of my future students. The type of work that Sadie and Safiyeh did can be a great resource or serve as a motivating tool in any classroom. It is an inspiration for students and people of all ages to take action.

Korean Peace Day and DEEP report back

2009-12-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

I also attended this event. For the first portion of the evening, an NYU professor gave a brief history about political relations between the Republic of North Korea and the United States. This is very important to understanding how the current situation is between the two world powers. The majority of what the professor spoke about was the need for political activism and leadership within the Korean community. the most recent incident occurred earlier this year in April when North Korea sent "something" into space. This is where the idea of perspectives came in. The Obama administration referred to it as a nuclear weapon while the North Koreans called it a satellite, or "galaxy 2." After this incident, Obama called for a general international response condemning North Korea for their violent actions. Furthermore, Obama called for a "world without nuclear weapons." After this negative response from the rest of the world powers, North Korea was more concerned about politics and their relationship with other countries than the potential consequences for sending a "rocket" into space.

The second most recent event was when North Korea detonated a nuclear bomb as a test. Obama announced that his administration tried to "extend a hand" to discuss their political relations but this was now a clear threat. Furthermore, the North Korean government felt attacked by the Obama administration's aggressiveness and this worsened the political relations between the two. Shortly after, the incident with the two American journalists occurred and it was only until former President Bill Clinton became involved that the issue was resolved. Senator Hillary Clinton was also involved, as she expressed hope for "amnesty through the North Korean system" would solve this problem. North Korea felt that showed acknowledgment of their authority.

These events are prevalent in the news. It is not as obvious to make a connection between the current events and how they might affect our students. But the situation in North Korea may be hurtful to Korean-Americans living here. Just like after 9/11, some Muslim-Americans felt persecuted against because of how the world viewed their religion, the same can be applied here. The political choices made by North Korea has nothing to do with Korean-Americans. Perhaps some of them support that actions of that government and that is completely their choice. However, others may feel that the political actions depict their people in a negative way. This could lead to Korean-American students in our potential classes to feel ashamed about their heritage for fear of being judged. The administration of our country is against the actions taken by that of the North Korean government and that creates a very real conflict of interest for Koreans living here. It is important for us as teachers to be aware of the cultures represented in our classroom community but also how those cultures are represented and/or depicted in the news. I learned a great deal about this organization: their goal was to spread a message of peace and encourage political activism for the younger Korean genereations.

Stop Child Trafficking Now

2009-12-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

Over the summer, I heard about a walk that was taking place in September 2009. This walk was being held in order to raise awareness on human trafficking, specifically child trafficking, occurring internationally and domestically. When I was first informed on this event, I was shocked that such an issue even existed. I knew prostitution was something that not many people addressed, but I had no idea that groups were deliberately selling human beings for sex or slavery. It may have been naive of me to believe that slavery ended after the Civil War, but because of my educational experiences, I realized how corrupt society, and sadly, government are.

Child trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. It is the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a child through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation, prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage or involuntary servitude. The reason for child trafficking is because of the demand for it.

I decided to be proactive and create a team to become involved in SCTNow. As a team, we had to raise awareness and funds in order to take action. The donations received are being used to "fundraise organizations comprised of Special Operative Teams who gather information about child predators both in the US and abroad. These teams represent the best military, federal and state intelligence and investigative organizations. They track predators to build cases against them that result in convictions."

The process before the walk took more time because we a lot of effort was necessary in order to ask for support. However, while we were at the event, I was able to interact with proactive staff members and founders. These people have such a great passion to put an end to human trafficking, not just to see the demand decrease.

Korea Peace Day & DEEP Reportback

2009-12-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

I attended the Korea Peace Day & DEEP Reportback at Silver for an event. The event included an NYU professor giving a brief history and timeline on the North Korea situation, followed by a veteran from the National Campaign to End the Korean War. The night ended with a panel of speakers who went on the DEEP trip to North Korea.
The professor who spoke touched on a lot of similar topics that we discuss, such as "who" is giving us our information is going to seriously effect our perception of the issue. For instance, he described how North Korea sent a satellite into space, which Obama and the US called a missile. This slight change in wording will completely change the perception of the event, and reminded me of our reading from Loewen.
The National Campaign to End the Korean War spoke next, and this portion of the night was involved a lot in actually taking social action. They spoke about how they went to Washington DC to speak to congress about moving towards a resolution and even gave us an online petition that we can sign in order to help move this process along. These Veterans For Peace are also planning a trip to Korea to work with Korean war veterans in hopes of opening up a dialogue about a resolution.
This night taught me a lot about what I didn't know and also about some great ways to get involved. Hearing the stories of those who traveled to North Korea, and how their families in South Korea were scared or against the decision was interesting to hear. I learned how South Korea taught its students that North Korea was an evil place, and how North Korea taught its students a dislike for the United States. History is so strongly influenced by the point of view it is being given from, and this showed in many ways during this event. What I took away from the event is that there is still a major issue in North Korea. There has been a war going on for almost 60 years, one that has separated families and loved ones. The event served as a wonderful insight to the issues, opinions, and possible resolutions. What made the even that much better was that it also offered actions that we can take, even thousands of miles away from the conflict.

The website, which is worth researching and signing if you feel you want to, is www.endthekoreanwar.org

End the Korean War

2009-12-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

I attended the Korean Peace Day event on December 3, 2009. The event was really eye-opening for me; the Korean War is not over, even though the fighting ended in 1953. No peace treaty was ever signed and fighting can resume at any time.

This event gave me a whole new perspective from America's view of North Korea. For example, the rocket that was fired on April 5th that President Obama mislabeled a "missile launch" had a huge political impact on North Korea. The Gallaxy II was an economic initiative for science and technology for the country; calling it a missile served to condemn North Korea, and according to the speaker, spoke volumes about the scrutinizing mindset of the United States.

I also learned about the National Campaign to End the Korean War. Did you know that wounded veterans from South Korea have yet to be compensated for their injuries by the United States? Many veterans are still consumed by traumatizing memories of war and are anxious to see a peaceful end to this war.

As a future educator, this event truely stressed the fact that wars do not have a clear right and wrong side. There are multiple perspectives; I never really took the time to even think about the other side to this conflict. Differences in language and culture can have a huge impact; a negative impact if someone is not aware of the potential repercusions of their words.

Multicultural Conference - Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

2009-12-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

I went to the Multicultural Education Annual Conference at Rutgers University which was organized by the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. The morning keynote speaker was Dorothy Strickland, PhD. She spoke about The Literacy Achievement Gap: What We Know And What Might Be Done About It. I learned that The achievement gap between poor and minority students and their white and more affluent counterparts is one of the most pressing issues in education today. The presentation focused on three related areas:

1. An overview of the historical influences framing discussions about the achievement gap:

· Socio economic and socio cultural factors

· Linguistic background

· Quality of instruction and professional services

· Family income and reading achievement are closely linked

· Individual vs. group factors (nutrition, health care, school funding)

2. The impact on specific populations and contexts (i.e., poor and ethnic minority children, English language learners, the early childhood and adolescence years):

· We can estimate that at least half of the Black/White gap that exists at the end of 12^th grade can be attributed to the gap that already existed at the beginning of 1^st grade.

· Huge discrepancy in the vocabulary words spoken per hour in professional families vs. working class and welfare families.

· Children from minority families are subjected to more restrictive, punitive language that is spoken in welfare and working class homes.

3. Research evidence about best practices that improve literacy achievement outcomes in low performing schools.

· Strong teachers in both languages for bilingual children

· We run the risk of simplifying concepts and do more harm than good

· Teacher quality is strongly linked to student success

· Effective prevention & intervention – there are some good programs, but we need to help the families to support the children that they care for.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

“As professionals, we must remember to treat individuals within a particular culture as both unique and similar and not as carbon copies of one another.”

“As professionals, we must help individuals maintain respect for their own cultural identity as they embrace the demands of membership in a broader cultural community.”

“As professionals, we must help individuals acquire the skills needed to make their own choices as the shape their own personal culture.”

I then participated in the morning workshop – The Culturally Responsive Classroom which was presented by Mary Ann Smorra, EdD

Participants were asked to engage in this experiential workshop as they reflected on their own perceptions of multiculturalism and diversity – from both personal and professional perspectives. We explored the issues and challenges that related to a culturally diverse classroom through a variety of activities. The handouts and activities easily translated into classroom activities with students.

The speaker read the children’s story book “Chrysanthemum” and asked the audience to reflect on the story and how it relates to issues of inclusion in the classroom. In the story, the teacher did not exclude any students who “bullied” Chrysanthemum, the teacher was not punitive and she built a classroom community by establishing her own caring presence. The teacher in the story demonstrated the hidden curriculum in her own attitude by not excluding anyone.

· Cultural identity is based on membership in multiple cultural groups, i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, color, religion, socio-economic status……..

· Educators need to know which group they belong to and what influences these memberships have on their own identity.

· Be aware of your own core and what you can bring to the table.

· Ask questions graciously, people are interested in learning about others.

We played the “Diversity Beans” game – for more information go to www.diversitybeans.com

This is an excellent activity that can be used with students to increase awareness on how people characterize each other when they first meet and how characteristics are based on appearance even before they get to know each other. Is appearance truly an indicator of what a person is like? “Don’t judge a book by its cover!!”

· Stereotyping is part of culture but as educators we need to teach students that they need to see each member differently. Fight the stereotypes!!

The afternoon Keynote speaker was Nancy Boyd-Franklin, PhD – Violence Prevention Programs for Youth in Clinics, Schools, and Communities.

This presentation addressed the increased incidence of violence in many communities throughout the United States. It focused on violence prevention programs that addressed these concerns. A particular emphasis was placed on the importance of cultural competency in the development and implantation of programs for ethnic minority youth in clinics, schools, and communities.

· Bring attention to the need in schools for violence prevention programs for youth

· Partnerships between psychologists, social workers, schools, teachers, administrators, parents and families to address the problem of violence.

· Partnerships with faith based communities.

· Homicide rate is highest for African American males aged 10-24 years old.

During early childhood, many children exhibit aggressive, violent behavior which usually subsides as they enter elementary school. There is a need for violence prevention at every level. Programs need to target young children and go across all the developmental ages to adolescence.

Risk factors are:

· Failing in school

· No bond with the school

· Peer influences

Recommended reading: “Preventing Youth Violence in a Multicultural Society.”

· Present students with alternatives for dealing with conflict ex. Walk away, negotiate, use humor (children can role play in the classroom)

· Peer mediation groups

Finally, I attended the afternoon workshop which was run by Lisette Maniates, PhD – Promoting Social/Emotional and Academic Resilience in Hispanic American Children in Schools.

This workshop stressed the importance of fostering resilience (achieving positive outcomes despite adversity) and focused on how critical this is in the development of bilingual children – who are at risk for negative outcomes. The presentation geared towards the understanding and assessment of resilience, and bilingual development of children within in the context of child, family, and school factors. She presented evidence-based interventions that promote healthy social-emotional development and positive academic outcomes.

The speaker identified resilience as, “The capacity to overcome adversity as a result of protective factors, i.e autonomy, temperament, and cognitive skills.”

· Temperament – how the child responds to new situations, influenced by poor parenting and economic hardships.

· Autonomy – having a sense of one’s identity and ability to act independently and to exert some control over the environment.

· Cognitive ability– student who display average and above average intelligence protect themselves from adverse situations.

Students who have better, stronger language skills in their first language can eventually gain a better and stronger understanding of their second language. It is therefore imperative to allow a child to build upon his/her strength in their first language.

Korea Peace Day

2009-12-05T01:51:00.000-08:00

As a Korean-American, I was very interested in attending this PD event because I knew that there were many things I did not know concerning the relations between Korea and the United States, and was more eager to learn than anything.
The night started off with traditional Korean food and moved on to speakers and panelists who spoke on behalf of the poor relations between the two nations. I was amazed at how unaware I could be of a reality that is so cruel. I was most surprised when they were talking about how although the fighting in the Korean war ended in 1953, only an armistice was signed, which was a temporary measure to end the conflict. This means that the Korean War is technically not over and that the fighting is able to resume at anytime, which is why this organization is actively advocating for a peace treaty to be signed. This made me realize how there is such an inconsistency in social studies education and how important it is to teach students the reality of not only this nation's, but this world's history.

Analyzing Disney

2009-12-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

On November 18, 2009, I went to a seminar within my own building that I was very interested in. The event sparked my interest because it was Analyzing Disney and analyzing the prejudices that the creators of the movies had when they made them. The entire event was based off of the upcoming Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, and how that movie portrays African American people. Being that Disney has always taken the route of the “fairytale” story of a woman who faces a problem and is saved by a man. In this case, the princess (the first African American Disney Princess), is instead turned into a frog.

After exploring the racial aspects of The Princess and the Frog, we took the opportunity analyzed several Disney movies including: Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and Aladin. Each of these movies, while they appear on the surface as being innocent and like a fairytale, their actual messages are not innocent. The appearance of the princesses in these movies are like Barbie, not having realistic proportions and giving children, even at very young ages, the idea of the perfect woman. Similarly, in Beauty and the Beast, Bell, the princess, becomes a submissive woman, and excuses the Beast’s violence and verbal cruelty. Also, in Aladin, Jasmine, the princess, seduces the evil Jaffar, exploring the idea that women can get what they want by using their sexuality. Finally, in Beauty and the Beast, the princess is at the mercy of a prince to kiss her and save her life, which could give the idea a woman, needs a man to save her.

After watching several parts of each of the movies, the discussion about each movie combined into a big discussion at the end of the event to discuss the media as a whole. One of the major discussion points in this larger discussion moved into whether or not parents should be responsible for discussing with their children what they watch, including Disney movies. Many of the people felt that parents should be obligated to discuss with their children what they see on TV and in movies. However, I intervened and brought up the idea that a guardian can love the child, but may not have the economic means to have a babysitter and possibly not have the privilege to have an education that would teach them to address and combat the ideas that their children are exposed to on TV and in movies. This stirred up a heated discussion about the amount of responsibility that parents should have in concern for what they are exposing their children to.

Bringing up the realistic fact that not all parents have the means to discuss with their children what they watch made me think about this in a school setting. Not all children in the classroom will have the opportunity to receive help with their homework at home and not all children will learn the lessons about how to analyze what they see and hear. Without the skills and practice of analyzing what they take in, students are hearing and seeing other people’s prejudices and may not be able to combat them. As a teacher, I want to teach my students to analyze and combat the prejudices they encounter. In order to teach students these skills, exposing students to a social justice education is vital.

Korea!

2009-12-04T18:28:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday I attended the Korea Peace Day & DEEP Report back in Silver. What an amazing experience! The event began with traditional Korean Food (which was delicious) and refreshments, and moved into a series of speakers. The first speaker was a professor at New York University who gave an overview of the current relations situation between Korea and the United States. In fitting with a number of the things I’ve learned thus far in our course, I can’t believe how much I didn’t know! For example, a crucial detail I’m embarrassed to admit, but the Korean War is technically still going on? I was under the impression it was a thing of the past, but after the speakers, my understanding that history and world affairs always have more than one side was solidified. Additionally, they had a war veteran speak giving another perspective on the need to action in Korea, particularly on behalf of the United States and how the citizens can make that happen. And finally, a panel who embarked on a trip to North Korea to develop partnerships and human to human relationships spoke of their experiences and what more could be done.

As I mentioned before, I was amazed at how unaware I was of the realities of our world, and those involving our own country! As we’ve discussed numerous times, and even read about in Loewen, there are more sides to history that we are typically aware of. Thinking as a teacher, I feel ashamed that I don’t know more about these realities, although I’m trying. I was to be able to present accurate information for my students, and allow them to discover these realities on their own as well. Additionally thinking about how culturally diverse our city is, I’m sure there is a high chance that a student of mine may be directly effected by the situation between North and South Korea, and as their teacher I want to be aware of what their investment is. I want to be sure I’m sympathetic to all students experiences, as different or similar as they may be to my own.

Dance and Movement Workshop

2009-12-04T18:11:00.001-08:00

This event took place on Thursday October 15th from 9:00-12:00 am in the Cochrane Room in the East Building. The event was ran by Freddie Moore who is an artistic director of a dance company. The main objective of the event was to learn how to harness children’s physical energy and use it as an instructional tool for learning in the classroom. This event was innovative, informative, and so much fun. Freddie packed so many ideas, exercises, and activities in such a short amount of time. Together we did a dance warm-up and did several other dance activities that required us to release our inhibitions, step outside our comfort zones, and be spontaneous. Freddie emphasized that dance and movement activities don’t have to be isolated events unrelated to the classroom curriculum. He taught us strategies on how to integrate community building, multi-cultural education, and creative communication skills through dance and movement. It was so much fun to be together in a different environment in which we could be informal and silly with each other. I felt like we had the opportunity to learn more about each other and our different talents and strengths. I felt like we also learned great techniques on how to explore different subject matters by simply using the energy and enthusiasm that children already naturally possess. Children need to be able to move around to release their energy, stimulate their learning, and express themselves. Now, after this workshop I feel confident that I can implement creative, instructional, and effective dance and movement lessons in my classroom. Completing this workshop was one of the best times I’ve had with my fellow classmates at NYU.

Poltical Participation in Iran

2009-12-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

This event I attended took place on Saturday October 10th from 10:00-2:30 pm at the Kevorkian Center located across from Washington Square Park. The event was broken down into three different sections featuring three different speakers who discussed and explained different aspects of politics in Iran. The first speaker was Kaveh Ehsani who is a professor of international studies at DePaul University. He provided some background information and gave a historical overview of political participation in Iran since the revolution. He emphasized how there is a profound democratic struggle that’s been going on for decades in Iran. He also explained the circumstances and details of the revolution in 1979. The second speaker was Norma Moruzzi, a professor of gender and women’s studies at University of Illinois. She elaborated on the role of women in politics in Iran. She also discussed the inequalities women in Iranian society endure but also addressed some of the misconceptions there are about Iranian and Muslim women and their role in society. The last speaker was Arang Keshavarzian, a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at NYU. He discussed the details surrounding the presidential election held in June in Iran this past summer.

I found this event extremely informative and interesting. Arang Keshavarzian’s presentation was by far my favorite. He explained the complexities of the election in depth and emphasized it’s significance for Iranian history. He went past the superficial coverage many of us are familiar with from different media resources and really described what happened and what it meant for Iran. He also supplemented his presentation with visual aids of campaign posters and of people protesting against and advocating for different candidates. The pictures he provided were extremely powerful and moving. He suggested analyzing campaign posters as a potential lesson for students as a way to introduce what happened in this election to a classroom. I was extremely satisfied with this event.

American History X

2009-12-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

On October 10, I went to a viewing of American History X, which was followed by a discussion on race and racism. The viewing of this took place at Hayden Residence Hall and was run by one of the Resident Assistance there, Steven Oates. The movie itself lasted approximately two hours and during those two hours, I felt scared, overwhelmed, disgusted and empathetic to some of the characters. The movie itself is about two brothers, Derek and Danny Vinyard. The brothers become part of a neo-Nazi movement after their father was shot and killed by a black drug dealer, while he was attempting to put out a fire. Derek, the older brother, kills two black gang members when they attempt to break into his car, and is then sentenced to three years in prison. While there, he eventually leaves the gang of fellow neo-Nazis and becomes friends with a black inmate. The neo-Nazis retaliate and rape Derek for abandoning them and being friends with a black man. After his experience in prison, Derek comes out, a changed person and works to prevent his brother Danny from continuing to be a neo-Nazi.

After the movie, the initial discussion began with a discussion of the movie itself, which many of the people had similar reactions as me. However, we then began to discuss parts of the movie that were more subtle than the clear plot. What stood out to me most in this movie was a short flashback to the Vinyard family having dinner before the father is killed and the father makes a negative remark about black people. This scene stuck with me because it was the only time where it showed what sparked the hatred for blacks that Derek and Danny build throughout the movie.

Later, the discussion moved into our own lives and the experiences that each person at the viewing had growing up. The majority of the people that attended, like myself, grew up in predominantly white communities. However, the people that did not grow up in that homogeneous environment, were able to share their own experiences, which was interesting because it enabled me to hear the differences and similarities between educations.

After watching this movie and participating in the discussion, I realized that the words that I use, as a teacher, will shape the beliefs of my own students. I also realized that I cannot control what the students will see, hear and be exposed to outside of the classroom. What I want to do as a teacher is to take negative prejudices that my students are exposed to and combat them. The connections that I have made about why it is so important to address prejudices, in this instance the prejudice is race, is because I cannot control what my students are exposed to outside of the classroom. If I do not introduce social justice education in my classroom, my students will see and hear the prejudices that other people have and I do not want them to believe those prejudices. By discussing social justice with my students, they will see that advocating for social justice is important and critically think about what they see and hear before they form their own beliefs.

Beyond Tolerance 4: Gender and Sexuality Workshop

2009-12-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

I participated (and volunteered) in the Gender and Sexuality Workshop at the Beyond Tolerance 4 Event tonight (12/4/09) at Vanguard High School on the upper east side. The first hour of the event was devoted to "tabling and snacks", where everyone had an opportunity to go around to various tables, learn about their services/beliefs, and sign up to be in the workshops of our choice.

The bathrooms on the floor where all of the workshops were help had signs over the "men" and "women" signs that said "gender neutral bathroom". I had a unique experience when I wanted to use the bathroom that I had never experienced before. I walked into the bathroom at the same time as a boy, and it made me extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious in a way. I am so used to walking out of a bathroom stall and washing my hands next to other girls. It was different for me to be standing between a boy and a transgender washing my hands. I learned that the bathrooms were labeled this way to avoid the stereotype that there are only males OR females, and no middle ground. Transgenders are not considered in the binary-gender bathroom assignments. It is important to include those who are biologically considered one sex, while identifying with the other sex. As important as I think it is to include this gender group, I am not sure how appropriate it is for women and men to use the same bathroom. I found myself confused on what position I take on the idea of a "gender neutral" bathroom. While I feel it is important on one hand, I also feel it is improper for women and men to be mixed into one bathroom. Going to the bathroom is a private act, where men and women (biologically speaking) have different experiences (sorry Corey and Edwin for that comment). I don't know... I guess I am still not clear on my position on this so I am going to move on to the workshop...

This workshop was designed to promote awareness about different terms, stereotypes, and assumptions about gender and sexuality. The leader of the workshop was a transgender named Kiwi, an associate of NYQueer. Most of the participants in the workshop were all high school students, most of whom were LGBT associated. My job as the "room captain" for this workshop was to make sure we were running on schedule and keeping Kiwi on track (basically time management). I also worked the computer for the slide show while Kiwi presented. First, we sat at tables in groups of 4-5. Each group was given a blank pievce of chart paper and markers. We were asked to create (draw) the stereotypical man and woman with respects to name appearance, a typical job, personal interests, romantic partner preference for both genders. We presented our drawings to the whole group and then discussed what we noticed on all of the chrts. We made the following generalizations: men are more masculine in appearance (muscles, short hair, etc.), women are more feminine and "girly" in appearance (breasts, long hair, clothing such as a dress), and that romantic relationships are woman/man. We then made 3 categories of gender: the woman, the man, and the transgender, which was neither fully a man or woman.

Next, we had a powerpoint presentation with definitions, examples, and pictures of several terms that are associated with gender and sexuality. We defined gender as a culture/system of meaning assingned to, associated with, and expected of people according to the interpretation of their bodies. We talked about how the institutionalized gender is typically binary (female and male). We talked about some terms associated with the identity of those two genders: female/girl/woman/mother/grandmother/sister/aunt/lady versus male/boy/man/fathergrandfather/brother/uncle/gentleman. We also talked about names that are given to represent the gender identity of an individual; names for females can include Sasha, Jennifer, or Mary while names for males include Henry, Paul, and Jack. Not only do these two sexes have names associated with their gender, but also pronouns (her/she and his/he). We talked about the sterotypical roles that women and men have. Women tend to be the caretaker of children and the househoold while men tend to work outside of the home and are considered the bread-winners. Clothing/self-expression was defined as the way people represent their gender identity. We defined heterosexism as the belief that everyone is heterosexual because it is the expected partnership and the general norm for romantic and sexual partners. There are several things that contribute to gender expression (how one dresses, acts, etc.) including: time, age (different expectations at different ages), religion/beliefs, culture, and race/ethnicity. I learned the difference between "sex" and "gender". Sex is a gender identidy that is usually based on biological aspects such as chromosomes and genitalia. It is something that is created; it is a social construction that can be "decontructed" through gender expression, which is based on cultural beliefs. A transgender is a person who transgresses the gender assigned to their body upon birth and does not identify with the assigned gender. We looked at other terms of genders that are not part of the binary definition: transsexual, cross dresser, drag queen/kind, gender queer, intersex (formally known as hermaphrodite), hijra, kathoey, two-spirit, and butch/Femme queen. Just as there are pronouns for men and women, there are gender neutral pronouns. "Ze" is the term used inplace of "he and she" and "hir" (pronounced "here") is the term used in place of her, hers, him, or his. Kiwi talked about the importance of asking people what pronoun they would like to apply to them. Some transgenders prefer to be called "ze" than he, she, he/she, etc. Others choose to be associated with the pronoun of their preferred (expressed) identity. Finally, we discussed different terms that are used to express someone's sexual orientation such as: bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, pansexual (someone attracted to all genders- men, women, transgenders, etc.), straight, or two-spirit. This slide with the sexual orientation terms had a picture of a rainbow surrounding all of the terms. Kiwi said that the rainbow represents the multiple differences in gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation (this is the reason I have chosen to color-code this post in order to express the many differences of gender and sexuality).

With ten minutes left in the workshop, we participated in a group activity. We all stood in a circle, facing inward. One volunteer at a time had to give an example of how gender plays out in schools (heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia). For example, Kiwi started with the fact that bathrooms and sports are two things that are designated to someone's biological gender (male or female). I volunteered next and gave an example of many picture books used in elementary schools that portray a family as a mother, a father, and children. With each example, we threw a ball of yarn across the circle. The final product formed a complicated web of how gender identity is limited in schools.

We finished the session by talking about some things that WE could do to combat this web of heterosexism or create change in our schools. One participant said it was important to have a voice. If you are uncomfortable with something or do not feel included in a particular way because your gender is not recognized, you need to speak up and demand a way for your gender to become recognized. Another student talked about expressions such as "that's so gay", which is commonly used among heterosexual people. It is important to discuss how sayings like these are hurtful and think of other ways to describe whatever happened that elicited that response.

This experience was really intersting for me. I was one of 2 people in the workshop (of about 20) that was "straight". I learned different terms that are used for different purposes. I also learned different ways to refer to a transgender person (using the transgender pronouns) because it is hurtful for them to be called a binary gender-specific pronoun. The experience was great and I really enjoyed it. I know there were many other workshops at this event, however I was working in this workshop so I was not able to experience the other sessions. I look forward to hearing what the other people who attended this event has to say about their experiences.

Korean Peace Day

2009-12-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Last night, I went to the Korean Peace Day event. It was held at the Silver Center from 6:30 to 8:30. I went by myself but ended up seeing a lot of people from our classes at the event. First, there was food. It was delicious! I had never had Korean sushi before and Esther explained to me that the vegetables inside were pickled in soy sauce. After snacking, the event was comprised of three parts. The event was organized by Nodutodol for Korean Community Development, which is an organization based in Queens. For the first part of the program, a professor from NYU spoke about the history of the US-Korean War and some events that have taken place this year. He explained why this war poses such a threat and why it is important that these two countries make peace. Secondly, a member from Veterans for Peace spoke about his organization's involvement in The National Campaign to End the Korean War. Thirdly, there was a panel discussion. The panel was comprised of Korean American individuals who traveled to North Korea with a people-to-people connection program meant to educate people about North Korea and why it is important to support a peace treaty with Korea.

I was really glad that I had the opportunity to attend this event. Something that I've begun to recognize through participating in this course, and reflecting on my own education, is that history is often taught as if it is over. Certain events and laws that have occurred in the past are included in instruction, but there seems to be great neglect in teaching about issues that are ongoing in the present. Before attending this event, I knew very little about the Korean War. I wasn't even sure why it was started or that it is still technically labeled a war because only a temporary armistice was signed; no formal peace treaty has ever been signed. After going to this event, I've learned that it is actually the longest war that our country has ever participated in - 60 years next spring. As an educator, I want to make sure that I don't neglect to teach about history that is being made right now. I want to teach about current events so that my students understand their contribution to current history.

Also, I just want to mention one thing that I noticed on the hat that the speaker from Veterans for Peace was wearing. He wore a baseball hat with all sorts of anti-war slogans. One of the pins was actually a plastic name tag holder where he had inserted a piece of paper that read "5297 US Military Deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan." The numbers were each individually cut and it was clear that he monitored the number of US Military Deaths and changed the number accordingly. I've been against the Iraq war since it began, but it is honestly quite easy for me to forget that it is even going on. Aside from reading about it in newspapers, I don't spend much time thinking about it. I've been lucky that it hasn't affected me on a personal level, and while I have gone to anti-war demonstrations in the past, I haven't been to any recently. Seeing this veteran's home-made pin gave me a moment to self-reflect. I think his dedication to remain constantly aware is very poignant.

CATW-A Conversation Among Men About Sex Trafficking

2009-12-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

I attended this event on December 2 at the NYU Wasserman Center. It was conducted by CATW- the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

There were 4 men as speakers...
Peter Buffett (Composer/Philanthropist)
Michael Cory Davis (Actor/Activist)
Jonathan Walton (Poet)
Victor Malarek (Activist/Author The Johns)

The topic of discussion was the function of men to the continuation of Sex Trafficking. They discussed a very interested analogy, that the sex trafficking followed the economic system of supply and demand. The idea was that sex trafficking of women (as well as all trafficking of humans) occurred and was rising in popularity because there is an increase in the demand, in this case men who seek these relations, pornographic material, as well as sex in the media.

I learned that the average age of sex trafficked female was 12 years old. I learned that men who engage in some form of sex trafficking are usually lead to it through an elder and/or mentor. I learned that they cannot simply be blamed for their behavior, but rather given the opportunity and tools to unlearn this behavior and way of thinking.

As a future teacher, I feel that this is a very important topic that children a privy to, but are never explicitly taught or given the opportunity to discuss. They are surrounded by media and influential people that contradict the idea that women and their bodies have right and should be respected. Many times it is women themselves who pose nude for magazines for money, or fawn all over a famous man for a few minutes in the limelight and make the battle more difficult. But children, both male and female, need to learn that even though the ideas may be everywhere and seem to be shown in the most positive light, they need to question the basic foundations of human rights.

This is greatly connected to our course, first through the idea of protecting basic human rights, and secondly as the topic of my groups curriculum project. There were many resources shared, books, media, heart-wrenching poetry, that are great to incorporate into our curriculum. As well as encouragement from Michael when he explained that he has taught classes of children about the existence and horror of trafficking humans. Unfortunately the US, at least NY, has not allowed this information to reach our teenagers, but he has taught in China as well as many other countries, and continues to do so.

Combating Childhood Obesity

2009-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

I attended this event on December 2, 2009. It was talk/workshop hosted by the Citizens' Commitee for Children located at 105 E. 22nd Street 7th floor.

The workshop consisted of 3 speakers...
Dr. Michael Rosenbaum - Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Clinical Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Maida Galzvez - Assistant Professor, Preventative Medicine, Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital

Cathy Nonas - Director, Physical Activity and Nutrition Programs, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The talk was on the topic of Childhood Obesity. I had already known that it was a great problem in the United States, however just how prevalent it was, and the future outcomes of it were more than a little terrifying. I learned that many children who have obesity are prone to Type II Diabetes, which I believe is also known as adult onset diabetes. This is the type of diabetes that usually affect adults at more mature ages, however there is an epidemic in children now. The consequences are amputations of limbs, and blindness. As one of the speakers said to give an idea of what the future holds, they said to imagine the a country filled with 30 and 40 year old people who are blind and have amputations. Those are the children on today, that is there nearby future. This is a scary future, and although the NYC Department of Health, as well as the NYC Department of Education are working very proactively to lesson these outcomes, they face much difficulty from the beverage and food associations/companies. On a personal note, it saddens me that people are so consumed with greed and profit that they cannot and will not see the negative consequences of their actions, and ignore the positive influence they could have.

As a future teacher, this scares the life out of me. There are so many aspects of the student/child a teacher is responsible, and I feel now their health is something that needs to take priority. As a teacher knowing how important health education is for students, especially in today's world, it frustrates me how little importance is placed on Health as a core subject in most school programs.

I think that many children are unaware of what they are being fed, by parents, by schools, and most influential, by media. Children have the right to know what they are putting into their bodies, and they have the right to ask for all of the information. If children want to eat healthier, they need to be given healthier choices. This means they need to have their voices heard by the food and beverage companies.

Masters Dance Concert

2009-12-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

I attended the 2009 Masters Dance Concert on November 22 at the Frederick Loewe Theatre at 35 W 4th street. It was produced by Susan Koff, and directed by Debora Damast, through the Dance Education Program, Steinhardt.

This event was simply a dance concert consisting of Graduate students in different dance fields. I went primarily because 3 of my peers from my African Dance class were performing, and I wanted to show support for all of their hard work. The dances were all interpretive pieces, incorporating each dancers personal talents 0acting, tap dancing, ballet, jaz, hip hop, etc.).

One particular piece caught my attention. It was a composition of 1 male dancer and several female dancers. Themes that ran through the composition were stereotypes (both male and female), social issues amongst a gender group (girl accusing another girl of trying to start drama amongst people), and peer pressure/gender typed stereotypes (the one make trying to flirt with all of the girls and being rejected repeatedly).

I thought about interpretive dance and how novel the idea might be to students of elementary age. I feel that interpretive dance would be an amazing way for students who enjoy dance to express their beliefs, ideas, and emotions. Poetry is the usual art form to express emotions, but I think exposing students to this form of expression can be a very healthy way for them to learn how to use their bodies in a healthy way to express what they feel.

A Different Voice in Hapanese Culture: The Shôjo (girl) Phenomenon

2009-12-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

I went to this talk on October 14th, 2009 at Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South.. It was titled, A Different Voice in Hapanese Culture: The Shôjo (girl) Phenomenon. The talk was presented by Professor Michiko Mae, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Dusseldorf. Professor Mae is an expert on transcultural gender studies and world wide women's movements. The talk was organized by Carol Gilligan, NYU Professor of Humanities and Applied Psychology, Steinhardt.

The talk was about the increasing of popular Japanese magazines (ex. Anime) for girls, that introduced a new type of literature that was, on the surface, seen as a romantic and fantasy work of literature. However, it was actually a cultural self construct labeled Shôjo. Shôjo actually gave school age girls the opportunity to express their ideas about resistance to social constructs (gender based sterotypes) and to political decisions. It also became a very important and essential social networking tool amongst girls. It was an outlet for girls to explore any and all aspects of gender and gender sterotypes. Common examples are of either females behaving in typically male stereotyped roles (a brave knight saving a damsel in distress). These 'typical' roles are many times reversed in these stories, as well as many instances of lesbian relationships.

Although much of the content of this talk was new to me, there was a basic underlying theme in the talk about the Shôjo. This was the idea of speaking out against stereotypes, and having a persons ideas heard/read whether they follow the ideas of the norm or not. This reminded me of all of the different pieces of literature there is in New York. Walking down any street to get to class, there are magazine stands containing free magazines that discuss every topic possible. I always wondered why people would put in the effort to create magazine after magazine when they were giving it away from me, and why they were getting out of it. My theory is that the path is not their main concern, but rather getting their voices out there and to reach even a single person with their thoughts is their motivation.

During the talk, one specific event struck me as connected to the themes of our course. During the historical background of the magazines and the Shôjo, the social network met resistance during WWII. The government became much more restrictive, and they began to censor these magazines threatening editors not to print the resistance ideas in their magazines. The Shôjo were naturally angry and felt the government was being unjust, but what were they supposed to do if editors were being threatened? One editor, very creative, decided to follow the laws of the government and not print any article that was now restricted, but he created an editorial/reader section, where the Shôjo would be able to write their stories and express their ideas.

Although the topic of the talk was not a great interest of mine, it was encouraging to learn of yet another instance where people have met unjust resistance and found a way around it, particularly in a non-violent way.

Korean Peace Day!

2009-12-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

I attended the Korean Peace Day event on 12/3/09.

Upon arrival to this event, I was immediately met with Korean food! One big thing about culture is the food that is eaten. In order to emmerce myself in Korean culture, I tried the food items that were provided. I ate Korean pork dumplines, Kim-bap (Korean-style sushi), and Jun (which, to me, seemed like a fritatta of some sort but crispy and cut into small strips). The food was delicious and prepared me to learn more about Korean culture and current events that are happening in Korea.

This panel/presentation allowed me to see not only the struggle between North Korea and America but also to see the tension between North Korea and South Korea. First, an NYU professor spoke about some important things happening in North Korea in the present. First, he talked about the perception gap between the US and North Korea. He talked about a "rocket" that North Korea fired into space right before President Obama's arrival in Prague. What North Korea called a "rocket" which initiated a satellite, President Obama (America) called a "nuclear weapon". Both countries perceived the item that was launched into space differently, which brought upon more fighting and anamosity between the US and North Korea. North Korea believes that science and technology is the "engine that will propell North Korea as a powerful country and improve its economy". For this reason, they launched the rocket/satellite into space to use as observations for a scientific development. They believed that denouncing the launch would have meant opposing an economic goal and the goal to become a prosperous country. Because the US considered this a "nuclear weapon," Obama spoke about the need for a world without nuclear weapons. This statement was directed to the launch from North Korea as it may have been a "nuclear missile". The professor also spoke about the consequences of the fact that North Korea has been the US's longest lasting enemy thus far. This animosity towards North Korea enables the US government to have an everlasting mistrust in North Korea. Finally, the professor talked about the importance of political leadership and a need for community activism to bring peace to the two nations.

Next, a Korean War veteran spoke about what is being done to support the desire for peace between the US and North Korea. He spoke abot the National Campaign to End the Korean War, an organization that promotes peace between the two nations. He also belongs to a program called Veterans for Peace. One of the main projects of VEP has been the reunification of families over the years (Korean-Americans and their families in Korea, adopted children with their biological families, etc.). He talked about the importance for veterans to work together (both Korean and American veterans) in the interest of peace; they do not discuss what happened but rather talk about what they can do to end the hatred between the two nations.

Finally, a panel of 3 individuals (Korean-Americans) who visited North Korea through the DEEP program. The panel answered a few questions posed by one of the trip leaders in order to provide us with the experiences of these travlers before, during, and after their trip. Before going on the trip, the travelers had fears and doubts about traveling to North Korea. They were worried about the stereotypical perceptions of the North Korean people and government. One of the panelists even said that she did not plan to tell her parents that she was going on this trip because she knew they would not support the decision. Her parents tried to stage an "intervention" and told her all of the reasons she should not travel to North Korea, especially due to recent events that had occurred in North Korea. She had thoughts of backing out of the trip, but decided she wanted to experience the culture and experience the lifestyle of North Korea in order to strengthen the ties between North Korean citizens and Americans. First impressions of North Korea made the travlers a little skeptical at first. One of the travlers remembered how the flight attendant was very cold towards them, not like the bubbly and helpful flight attendants we are used to. Once they were in North Korea, the travlers realized that not all North Koreans act in the way the media portrays North Korea as a country. Many people were friendly and helpful towards them, even after knowing they lived in America (and their families were from South Korea).

It was really interesting to hear about their experiences in North Korea. First, it was great to see how their anxiety/feelings about North Korea changed over the time of the trip. They started out apprehensive and then realized they had nothing to fear about the people of North Korea. I was aware of the problems between North Korea and America, but it was really interesting how much the Korean American families from South Korea reacted to the thought of their child going to North Korea. This really showed me the dynamics of the conflict within the country of Korea.

At the end of the session, we learned about some ways we can help to bring peace among North Korea and America and what we can do to end the hatred.
1. Go to endthekoreanwar.com and sign the petition for the peace treaty. The petition serves as a way to bridge the gap between North Korea and America and hopes to finally solve the anamosity between the two nations.
2. Sign up for the list serve to receive more information about the social change happening with regards to North Korean/American peace. [http://nodutdol.org/]
3. Attend the national gathering in Washington DC in June of 2010 for the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War.
4. Apply for the Spring internship. [http://nodutdol.org/]
5. Join the New York chapter of the National Campain to End the Korean War.

Korea Peace Day and DEEP Reportback

2009-12-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

I attended tonight's event, Across the Imjin River: People of North Korea, which was held at silver room 411 for two hours.

The event began with a professor of Korean History from NYU, who briefly discussed the existing conflicts between North Korea and the U.S. He informed the audience about the foreign policy-related events that have occurred within the last year. The recurring theme was that the tension between North Korea and the U.S. grew deeper as the perception gap of "what to call things" widened. For example, North Korea recently launched "a missile" but to the U.S. government, this act was targeted as "a missile launch for nuclear test" while the North Koreans saw this as an event of shooting a rocket into space that symbolized NK's growth in computer science, bioengineering, modern technology, etc. The professor ended on a hopeful note that with community activism, we may be able to help Washington readdress the issues at hand with NK, U.S government's "longest-running enemy."

The next speaker was a veteran from the "National Campaign to End the Korean War" and "Veterans for Peace." He spoke about how veterans often suffered from the after-effects of war, whether the person was a bombardier or or a soldier in combat. Many veterans were still troubled by what they had to do at war and what they had seen. The veteran also spoke about the war's effect on the involved countries' civilians. Especially in North and South Korea, there are families who are still separated from one another because of the war. He encouraged us all to be active.

Finally, a panel of four speakers who have visited North Korea this past summer spoke to the audience about their 10-day experience. The first speaker began by stating that there are 28 million various and uniquely different people in NK and that the U.S. media does not portray all these people justly. All the speakers explained their fear and doubt about the trip because of the media's portrayal of NK and their (biased) background knowledge about NK from the past. The speakers all stated that their conflicted feelings and personal turmoil disappeared as they spent more days in NK and with the people there.

According to the panelists, North Koreans had many similarities, despite media's portrayals and set images of dull, poor, uneducated, and starved people in NK. As I listened to the panelists talk about their experiences and tell stories, I felt myself feeling more connected to the North Koreans as well. It was very touching for me to be there, looking at all the photos of North Koreans on the projector and hearing about the panelists' experiences because my grandfather's family still live (hopefully) in NK. I felt a desire to go visit and try to find my roots.

After this event, I realized that every country has its different culture, beliefs, government, political system, and philosophy. It is wrong for us to label countries as "allies" vs. "enemies." Throughout my elementary education in Korea, I was taught to fear the Communists and North Koreans, but now I see that no matter what country, the people will always have common grounds.

Yes, the panelists probably did not see all parts of North Korea and only saw parts of the country that the guides wanted them to see, but how often does New York City bus tours go through the "projects" or the "ghettos" and talk on the microphone about the segregation and political racism that exist even in the most "liberal" and "powerful" country in the world?

Perception is key. There are always two sides to a story. This is an important philosophy to keep as future educators. I believe that as teachers, we should also be careful of what we teach in our textbooks. We must be aware of the bias and prejudice that exist in the textbooks we are required to teach so that we can show both sides of the story to our students. I wish that my Korean elementary teachers had not scared me so much about North Koreans. I wish that my teachers had told me that it was okay for me to have families in that country and that it was okay for me to still want to meet them.

This event was very powerful and informative for me. As a future educator, I want to always keep in mind that labeling certain people or countries as something/someone to fear is never right. I want to show the broad scope of things to my students so that they too, can become open-minded and become people like the activists who had the courage to visit "the forbidden land" to trace their cultural backgrounds.

For more information, visit: http://endthekoreanwar.org/

Also, my aunt is one of the founding members of Nodutdol, which started the DEEP organization (they visit North Korea every 2 years). If you would like to apply for an internship or get more information on how to get involved (and visit NK!) please go to http://nodutdol.org/ or contact me for more info =)

End the Korean War

2009-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

On December 3, 2009, I attended a conference given by the North American Network for Peace in Korea, which discussed ending the Korean War between America and North Korea. The conference began with the discussion that there’s a need for political leadership from the United States. The panelist explained the purpose of Korea’s launch of Galaxy II’s reflected Korea’s achievements in science and rebuilding of their economy. The Obama administration opposed the launch; and the panelist argued that without political activism, the Korean War would never end. Next a former US Korean War veteran spoke lamenting over, the US government never compensated for their illnesses caused by the Korean War. Currently, the US veteran involved with a group of veterans, who come together in the interest of peace, and wanting to end most wars. Before this conference, I didn't know anything about Korean Culture. It was interesting to see from the Korean’s perspective on the tensions between American and North Korea. This workshop shows how important it is to incorporate different views on a topic into your lessons. I never knew the North Korean’s opinion on nuclear weapons. I found the conference helpful in better understanding differing world affairs.

A Conversation among men about sex trafficking

2009-12-03T18:13:00.000-08:00

I attended the event a conversation among men about sex trafficking at the Wasserman Center, December 2, 2009. The purpose of the conference was to commemorate the international day for the abolition of slavery. The conference began with a silent film “Blood into Gold” and an introduction given by Gloria Steinem. She introduced the panelist of men who were there to discuss sex trafficking. The organization is based on the understanding that prostitution is highly political, and the oldest form of oppression. A conversation among men works to end human trafficking, and free the world all forms of women’s violence. They recognize the privileges men have in society. Since men are given the legal permission to buy women and girls to act out sexuality, it creates inequality among genders.

I learned that the promotion of prostitution as a job is an attempt to normalize and legitimize it as an employment options for poor women. This allows legal profits for the sex industry and tax revenues for governments! The panelist stressed that young children are watching unsupervised pornographies. If young boys are watching these pornographies, it will encourage the sexual exploitation of women, and create a new group of pedophiles. Interestingly the panelists reminded me that it is not only women being exploited but men, too, are losing their integrity from how they view women and children in society.

This reminds me how important it is to raise my level of conscious of the violence to women and children in the sex industry. To seek social justice, the panelists explained, it is necessary that men come together and talk about prostitution openly. Integrating gender studies in my classroom is one way to help end sexual exploitation. This conference was a great experience, and totally changed my perspective on an issue I never knew affected me.

Beyond the Bricks

2009-12-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

With some of my peers from class, I attended a screening of Beyond the Bricks by Derek Koen followed by an interview and panel discussion at the Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem in the Magic Johnson Theater on November 19th for three and a half hours. The event was hosted by the makers of the film as well as the Education Voters Institute. The movie and the discussion were incredible. The film is a documentary following three young African American males and the hardships they face as well as the triumphs. The statistics alone featured in the film are shocking. 60% of Black students grow up without a father. African Americans are 700% more likely than Whites to be in jail. Only 8.4% of Black males are in gifted and talented programs. African American males are the only group that has a declining life expectancy. While the figures are disturbing, this movie, unlike others that I have seen before, is about finding solutions not simply naming dismal statistics. This approach is not only fresh but it is inspiring, as well. It is easy to get overwhelmed and want to give up when you hear the horrifying facts. This movie, along with the panel discussion, provides answers.

What struck me most was this statistic: self-esteem and confidence is the most related factor to success in school. I believe it is with this knowledge that teachers can truly make a difference. Helping students build up their confidence through positive reinforcement will foster pride in themselves and thus a greater desire to excel. Whether they are boys or girls, rich or poor, Black, White or any other race, all students need high expectations and love from their teachers and parents in order to believe in themselves and succeed.

I had never before truly realized the extreme challenges that Black males specifically face before watching this film and experiencing this event. Providing support and quality teaching can help these and all other students live better lives.

Styrofoam out of Schools

2009-11-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, I went to a presentation given by the Greener Schools Committee. In beginning lecture, I learned how each New York City Public School is supposed to have a sustainability coordinator, but due to budget costs, this position is no longer available. A Sustainability Coordinator’s job would focus on prioritizing environmental projects and creating a unified strategy to move New York City Public Schools ahead. Recruiting a coordinator could increase sustainability of practices such as recycling, energy and water use, transportation, and food services. It was interesting to note that if the New York City Schools did establish this position, the savings in energy and waste, would have the potential to make up for costs in establishing the position.

One of the guest speakers was Debby Lee from the Parson’s School of Design. She discussed how the use of Styrofoam trays are over used in schools and are posing a threat to our environment. Debby and her students took dirty Styrofoam trays from local Public Schools such as PS 41 and PS 163 and turn them into 3-D artwork! I learned that these trays take hundreds of years to decompose in our soil. An interesting point, Debby made, “waste is measured by weight not volume.” Styrofoam is so light in weight that it is taking up so much room in our recycling facilities. Also, the chemicals used in Styrofoam has been linked to certain Cancers. Debbie’s father, a Styrofoam worker, died from cancer, which she hypothesizes that the Styrofoam was the cause of death.

Debby showed the importance of the working together with your community to advice social justice. She claims that she was successful with her project was because she worked with the cafeteria management and custodians in schools. There are three possible reasons why New York City Public Schools continue to use Styrofoam trays-- 1. It’s cheap 2. Easy to store 3. Plastic industry spends millions on lobbying. I was shocked to hear that only 30 out of 1600 schools have dishwashers. If the DOE gave schools a billion-dollar grant, Debby concludes, “ Most schools do not have the infrastructure to run one of these units.”

To achieve social justice as an educator, Debby mentions, the importance of first getting the citizen’s approval by creating a petition. Debby has already over 600 signatures. Next, Debby suggests, working on a class project to get student’s attention about what is going on. Working with your school is staff is another crucial factor for bring change. Finally Debby concludes with starting a wellness committee.

Debby’s more practical solutions for not using Styrofoam plates was focusing on reduction such as--having students carry their own food, creating edible plates and “Tray less Tuesday’s.” Debby closed her lecture with how important it is to put pressure on the government. We can’t wait for the change it must begin with us. As we have discussed in class, Civil Rights Movement change can begin with ordinary people like Debby. This lecture was extremely engaging and relevant to me, because I am a supporter of environmental justice, and making our schools greener. I highly recommend attending one of these meetings!

Metro Center’s Policy Educational Forum on 11/24

2009-11-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, I attended an educational forum organized by the NYU Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. It was a large event and took place in the Rosenthal Pavilion in the Kimmel Center from 9 to 11 in the morning. Because the forum was supposed to be focused on policy, a lot of the attendees were administrators, leaders of community-based education organizations, employees of the department of education and also some teachers.

After opening remarks from Pedro Noguera and Dean Mary Brabeck, there were two parts to the presentation. First, a doctoral student reported the statistical findings of a research study undertaken by Pedro Noguera and a team of others at the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. This study analyzed the graduation rates of Black and Latino male students in the NYC public school system. There was a lot of data presented, but one result that surprised me was that the largest number of Black and Latino male students that dropped out of high school, dropped out after staying in high school for three years. I expected that the highest number of students who dropped out would happen after only one year.

The second portion of the presentation was a forum discussion. The panel included two principals of high schools in NYC, a corporate banker, the Deputy Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education and the Chancellor for the New York State Education Department Board of Regents. Again, a lot of topics and ideas were discussed during this time. One atrocious fact that I learned is that in Indianapolis, the Department of Education is giving individuals who have not fulfilled the requirements for a typical diploma, a different kind of diploma (somewhat similar to NYC's "Local Diploma") and statistically considering them high school graduates. The Department of Education can thus prove that the graduation rates of Black and Latino students are improving. These diplomas are not considered sufficient for entry into any Indiana state university! How is this happening? This should be illegal!

India Masala

2009-11-23T09:09:00.001-08:00

I attended the India Masala event celebrating International Education Week 2009 this past Thursday, November 19th. The event included performances by various dance groups, as well as a viewing of the movie 'Dor'. The event itself was great, with tons of food for attendees and performances throughout the night. As others have already mentioned I think we all took something different from the night, and for me it was the infusion of hip-hop in most of the Indian dance performances. This was something that I had never known, and is definitely a way that our cultures cross paths. This event was also a good experience because I saw someone I knew here at NYU in one of the performing groups, and this showed me a new side of that person that I didnt know about. I think this is obviously important in our classrooms, as you need to try to find out all that you can about your students because they may have a passion or interest that you had no idea about, but might share.
The movie Dor also provided a unique little lesson for all of us that attended the event. The first 5 minutes or so of the movie was played without any subtitles, before they ultimately realized this and restarted the movie. In that time, the movie was confusing and hard to understand what was going on, yet once the subtitles were on and I could follow along it really is a movie that all can relate to. When you dont get to understand a culture (or have subtitles, in this case) it is going to seem so different from your own, and will seem like something you will never understand. If you take the time to understand this culture, (or have subtitles, to complete the metaphor) a lot of times you will realize that it might end up being a lot like your own and that there are many ways you can connect with others. Overall I had a good time at the event with the other students from our cohort, and am much more aware of student groups like this on campus.

India Masala

2009-11-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

India Masala is an event sponsored by International Education Week 2009 and cosponsored by the Office for International Students and Scholars, the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs, the Student Resource Center, GARBA at NYU, NASHA at NYU, and SHRUTI at NYU (who knew any of these organizations even exist?!). International Education Week is is an initiative to promote international exchange and foster greater global awareness.
A group of us from the cohort attended the festivities which included tastings of Indian food, listening to Indian music, watching traditional Indian dancing, and watching an Indian film (with English subtitles). This event is a great example of how we can teach different cultures in our classrooms. What better way to learn about the differences and similarities among us than to introduce a certain culture’s foods and art and start discussions from there.
My favorite part of the event was the movie. It is a beautiful tale of love, loss, friendship, and courage. One of its themes is the empowerment of the weak and oppressed- in this case a submissive housewife who later becomes a woman who learns to defy cruel tradition and live the way she wants to.
Until now, I was not familiar with anything Indian except the term slumdog (learned from the movie) and the fact that India had areas where female infanticide (deliberate killing of baby girls) was practiced until recent years (but that’s a different discussion). I heard the word masala before but never knew what it meant. It is a mix of spices used in Indian cooking and I found out it this case it refers to movies in Bollywood where there is a mix of genres (romance, action, comedy, music) in one movie. I would really like to attend more events like this one to learn about other cultures this way. That's all. Stela

NYU: Indian Masala

2009-11-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

Going to this event, was the first time I have ever really experienced Indian culture. It was not only a new experience, but also an enjoyable one. I was first able to try some Indian foods (which were delicious!), then I was given the pleasure to watch Indian dances and a movie, both of which shed light on the culture of India. I always had the misconception that Indian culture was very different from other cultures that I am familiar with, but i have seen many similarities between India, America, and other Asian countries, in terms of their foods, music, dances, and movie production. The dance performances stirred a lot of excitement, and although the movie was very long, i enjoyed every moment of it. It was a movie titled "Dor" which told a story about two women who are desperately seeking what they individually want in life. Watching the journey that has been set before them, unfold, was not only heart warming, but I could relate to the two women in this film. And although the film was not in English, I was able to really grasp what the movie was about, and was moved beyond words. This made me think that although there may be a language or even a culural barrier between individuals, it is more than possible to not only communicate but connect through other means.

India Masala

2009-11-22T14:54:00.001-08:00

On Thursday Nov. 19th, along with a number of the students from our cohort, I attended the India Masala event celebrating International Education Week 2009. While initially nervous for the evening, I couldn't have enjoyed it more. As mentioned previously, the event was advertised as a movie screening of "Dor" as well as food and performances by student groups I had not heard of. From the beginning, I was engrossed in the film. I'm currently taking two courses that center on India and Post Colonialism and was surprised to realize how much I could connect them to the event. The film itself paralleled two women's story's and their journey to basically finding what the wanted in life, one her husbands freedom, and one her own freedom. I'd never seen an Indian film, and could tell that some of the more social comic aspects were lost to me, I didn't fail to grasp the overall meaning of the movie.

However my absolute favorite part of the night was all the performances. I had never even before heard of these student dance troupes, and couldn't have been more impressed. (And am now a HUGE fan.) The students across the board performed a clash of culture pieces including traditional Indian dance styles with more modern, even "American," songs and dance moves.

As a (hopefully) soon-to-be-teacher, I couldn't help but realize that myself as a student in classes about India wasn't enough. This production helped me to realize that the things I'm learning in my own classes, can be brought to life in other ways, whether through film or performance, I was able to more concretely understand and experience a culture I had previously been unfamiliar with. It really enforced what it means to bring learning to life.

NYCore Open Invitation Meeting

2009-11-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

Way back at the beginning of the semester I went with Nina and Jess to the NYCore Open Invitation dinner. It was basically an informational meeting where we learned a lot about the different projects that NYCore runs and participates in, and how the organization functions as a whole. It was really wonderful to share dinner with the group of people at our table. The attendees were mostly teachers (we were the only pre-service teachers). Even though I hadn’t been a full-time teacher yet, I’ve had so many experiences in the field during our program and I was able to participate in conversations about this with the people at our table. I felt that they were welcoming and open to discussion with me even though I hadn’t been in charge of my own classroom yet.

Something I thought was really neat about the organization is what they call ITAGs, an abbreviation for Inquiry to Action Groups. ITAGs are groups of people interested in a specific topic (ex. incorporating Social Justice Education into pre-existing curriculum standards), who meet eight times to discuss and learn about the chosen topic. After researching and learning about the topic, the group plans some sort of action to promote what they’ve learned from the experience.

Also at the meeting, I was able to see two performances – spoken word poetry and a section from a play. The play, “RECESS,” is a one-woman show that is performed by Una Osato. I remembered hearing about the play last year in our science class, but didn’t really know what it was about or how amazing it actually is, so I didn’t attend the performance last spring. After seeing the short part of the play that I did, I will definitely attend a full performance of it if given the chance again. I really think you all should too!

NYCoRE Saturday Series for New Radical Educators

2009-11-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, I participated in a session of the NYCoRE Saturday Series. The topic was overcoming the negative culture of public schools by staying positive and building allies. The workshop was held at TC and facilitated by Annie and Marissa who are both New York City teachers and members of NYCoRE.
New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) is a group of public school teachers committed to fighting for social justice in the school system and society at large, by organizing and mobilizing teachers, developing curriculum, and working with community, parent, and student organizations.
The first part of the workshop was classroom management lows and highs, conducted by Annie. She facilitated a discussion on building community. Some of the topics addressed were: empowering kids, positive language, staying positive within yourself and staying positive within the community. The point is to give students coping mechanisms they will be able to apply. For example, give them one thing they can do today that can make their day better, or show the student there is opportunity for growth by putting whatever happened yesterday or whenever behind us- don’t hold a grudge, and most importantly address the behavior not the student.
My favorite part was the reflection activity. We were to brainstorm things that effect students that are out of our control. The list was extensive- suicide, death, poverty, hunger, drugs, alcoholism, sexuality, lack of resources, body issues, overcrowding, foster care, absences, parents don’t speak English, status trends, gangs, learning disability, neglect, abandonment issues…the list goes on. This was named the “black hole” of positive thinking. I learned that spending time thinking about things I cannot control is a waste of time. I will be in control of my destiny as a teacher and focus on my planning and language and everything being positive.
The second part of the workshop was connected Freire to teaching. Freire believed that teachers engage students politically and then educate them in the process. Ways to connect are through critical dialogue, talk, and experience of living together. Existing knowledge must be questioned, thought provoking questions must be asked. Dialogue involves respect and the process is important and can be seen as enhancing community building. I am optimistic that it is possible to build a classroom environment that is like the world I want to live in.
Let me tell you- attending this workshop was special for me- and I say that because- after a year and a half of learning how to teach and practicing teaching in my placements, this is the first time I actually felt like a real teacher. Go and check it out for yourself. That’s all. Stela

Beyond the Bricks & India Masala

2009-11-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

Beyond the Bricks

I attended the premiere screening of Beyond the Bricks on Wednesday November 18, 2009 at the Hip Hop Cultural Center in Harlem. It was simply amazing! The event lasted for three and a half hours which included the screening of Beyond the Bricks, and an interview and discussion session. The screening and discussion was hosted by Education Voters Institute along with the producers of the film.

The movie is a documentary that includes interviews with educators, administrators, elected officials, and activists who offer their ideas about solutions to the crisis facing young black men. This screening was an opportunity for not only me but for other adult figures to seek out the students who are caught in the middle of our education crisis.

Also, the powerful discussion with leading experts got me thinking about what we can do to provide a quality education for every child. The panel included Dr. John Jackson, President of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, Dr. Ivory Toldson, Senior Analyst, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Howard University Professor, Khary Lazarre-White, Executive Director, Brotherhood SisterSol, Shaquiel Ingram, 10th grader who was featured in Beyond the Bricks, and Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Former Vice Chancellor NY Board of Regents. The discussion session helped to explore policy solutions and actions that we can take to address the crises facing our students – especially minorities and those coming from an underprivileged family.

India Masala

I attended the India Masala during the International Education Week on Thursday, November 19^th for three hours. It was held at the NYU Kimmel Center sponsored by the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS), the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs, the Student Resource Center, GARBA at NYU, NASHA at NYU, and SHRUTI at NYU.

They had great Indian food ready at the beginning, dance performances by NY Pandemonium, NASHA at NYU, GARBA at NYU, and Bhangra, and a screening of Nagesh Kukunoor’s feature film, Dor. The movie was in Indian with captions but I felt like there was a limit to understanding the full context of the conversations. I have never attended an International Education Week event during my four years at NYU so it was a new experience for me. It was a great way for me to involve myself in the NYU curriculum and also experience multiculturalism – it was my first time watching an Indian movie and watching dance performances in person.

Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York/55th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

2009-11-21T09:19:00.001-08:00

On November 14th I attended the Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York at the Schomburg Center. The event started out with a group of students from the P.S. 46 Wind Ensemble playing. There were then remarks from Howard Dodson (director of the Schomburg Center), Gertrud Lenzer (director of the Children's Studies program at Brooklyn College), and Joan Lucariello (Dean for Academic Affairs at Brooklyn College). The Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott also spoke.

After the opening remarks, Professor Owen M. Fiss from Yale University spoke. Fiss spoke about the 2nd Reformation that started after Brown v. Board of Education, and ended in 1996 with welfare reform. He also spoke about a 3rd reformation coming now and how we need to focus on our public schools needing to meet students needs like charter schools can. He also spoke about parents needing to understand what is expected/needed of them and how they need to be supported by others to best help their children. Another speaker at this event was Howard Davidson, who spoke about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. He gave a lot of facts about different treaties that protect the rights of children. One of the things that surprised me the most about what he said was that the United States and Somalia are the only two countries that haven't ratified the CRC. This is something that the United States needs to work on and ratify.

One of the most interesting parts of this event, I thought, was the panel discussion at the end. William A. Scarborough, Barbara M. Clark, and Velmanette Montgomery all spoke. Scarborough spoke about many different things, but what I found the most interesting was the information he gave about foster care, working to provide services in the home, and working to get family to take over guardianship. Montgomery spoke mostly about what she called the cradle to prison pipeline and what causes this and how we can help by providing students with more health coverage, meaningful recreation activities, and work opportunities to help them be prepared for life after school. Clark spoke about child advocacy and helping children in school.

Beyond the Bricks

2009-11-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

I attended the screening of a documentary, Beyond the Bricks, on Wednesday, November 18th at the Magic Johnson Theater. This event was truly amazing and I thought that the film was very powerful.
The film followed a two students, Shaquiel, a 15 year old who is still in high school and pushing himself to graduate even though he has had some familial difficulties and has had to go through the court system for truancy, and Eric, a 19 year old who dropped out of school after an altercation with his teacher and is now pursuing an alternative route to get his diploma.
In addition to interviewing these two young men and learning them, the film also brought in many experts, professors at universities, community leaders, directors of alternative high schools, and a mayor. All of these people were able to give valuable information about some of the problems that these students are facing and how hard we as teachers need to work to help them.
One of the things that really stuck with me was some of the statistics that were shared throughout the film. Although Black males make up only 17% of the student population, they account for 30% of suspensions and 32% of expulsions. Only 2% of this nations millions of teachers are Black males. 60% of Black students live without a father at home. 1 in 3 Black males are incarcerated, on parole, or on probation. These statistics were very shocking to me, and are clearly something that needs to be addressed.
After the showing of the film, there was a panel discussion (Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Dr. John Jackson, Dr. Ivory Toldson, and Khary Lazarre-White). The panelists touched on many different topics, but something that ran throughout all of their comments, was the need for a strong community built around our students, and the need for understanding teachers who know where the students are coming from and can be connected with their needs. During this discussion a group of students from Bushwick Community High School asked some questions and one of the students said something that really stuck with me. He said that even though their school was called a transfer school, they considered it to be a school of transformation. This statement was very powerful to me.
Again, I really found this documentary to be very powerful and if anyone gets the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it.

http://www.beyondthebricksproject.com/index.html

India Masala

2009-11-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

I attended an event called India Masala.
At this event i was immersed in the Indian culture. The guests ate Indian food, watched Indian dance peformances, and watched an Indian film. At first i thought i was going to feel out of place, but when looking around at all the guests, to my surprise there was a great diversity.

As the dance performances began, it was so much fun. They were energetic and were upbeat. But the most memorable thing about this even was when the second dance performance started,the music came on first. I remember telling my friend sitting next to me, hey this sounds Chinese not Indian. She then turned around and said yea it does, maybe its because its from neighboring countries, they have to have something in common.

At that moment I realized that this was an important thing that i had learned. No matter how different the cultures may seem, all cultures have similarties and this would be a great thing to teach our kids in the classroom. The moral that I learned at this event was despite the differences, there are much more similarites.

Beyond the Bricks

2009-11-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

This event was AMAZING.
It was a documentary following three young black men. One student was 15, the other 18 and the last I believe was 19 years old. The documentary explained statistics and the lack of role models that young black males have. It shows their struggles as well as them overcoming those struggles.

After the documentary was over, there were four panelists.
Many of the panelists discussed the importance of role models, love, and the need for high expectations. They also discussed the importance of teachers getting to know the culture of their students by going into their neighborhoods and experiencing what the students go through everyday. They also discussed how Black males are always associated with failures and negativity such as Black males are more likely to be incarcerated. But they are not associated at all with positive.

Another main theme that showed up was the idea that a village raises a child. They discussed how important it is to have a community that is supportive of their children who are our future.

One of the most empowering things throughout this event was listening to students (from high school who attended this event) there was one particular young man who was from an alternate school. he stood up and explained that everyone see his school as a transfer school and as a place where "bad" students go. He then said, that his school was not that, but because of teachers like his (pointing at his teacher) they call their school the school of TRANSFORmation. This was a first hand account of young black men, getting the education, leadership, and love that they deserve, and it was clear that it empowered the student not only academically but socially, emotionally, and mentally.

55th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

2009-11-18T22:10:00.000-08:00

On November 14th, I made my way back to the Schomburg Center to listen to a forum discussing the 55th Anniversary of Brown v. DOE. I thought the discussion would be highly appropriate due to the recent visit to the Courage exhibition. This discussion highlighted the affects of the decision made by the Supreme Court and where we are today in education.
The keynote speaker from Yale University Owen M. Fiss, was knowledgeable on the topic of what produced the judgment of equality for all in our schools, but at times, I found him to be off-putting because it seemed as if he was trying to restate what the black community struggle was from the inside looking out when I strongly doubt he has had to deal with any struggles or face any forms of racism as a white male in America. Even with that being said, i did glean some solid and valuable information worth reflecting upon.
One point that he made was something we talk about in class on occasion which is the "REAL" results of Brown v. DOE. School hierarchy was made up from slavery times. So this leads me to conclude that since we have over 80% teaching America, the way they are taught, what information is disseminated and how the children are treated are at the mercy of the slave master aka The Teacher.
Although the case fought for equality, according to Owen, blacks are still uneducated, make less and are disadvantaged. Economic and social parameters continue to effect black communities. So this leads me to wonder, how are we allowing poor blacks to gain access to the same privileges as someone in the middle/ upper class, or as white students who live in the same town/city but have way better schools?
Some ways the system can work on this as brought out by the speaker was to include parents in the educational process, support parents as they try to keep their children safe, there should be equal per capita expenditures(I believe property tax should not be the only way ( bulk of the way)in which school funding is provided ) teachers and administrators need to understand and take into consideration the family make-up.
We have an epidemic occurring and for once, we need to stop blaming the black students who come in with an insignificant chance or support. It's time to look at the educators and administration and say maybe it's me who's the problem. These kids may not have spit flying onto their heads, or stones thrown at their backs, but when they enter their schools the anti-learning environment they are succumbed to makes me wonder if the Brown decision did anything at all.

Green Schools/Styrofoam Out of Schools Presentation

2009-11-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday (11/17) I attended a presentation at the UFT headquarters by the Green Schools committee. Mary Most, a representative from the NYC Department of Sanitation, began with some very helpful information on waste prevention in schools. I really learned a lot about what to recycle and how, as well as information on how to set up a recycling program in your school. Some really helpful pointers included:

Knowing what exactly CAN and CANNOT be recycled (for example yogurt containers, styrofoam, plastic utensils, plastic cups, straws, peanut butter jars are not included in the cartons/metals/foils/bottles category).
Even if something cannot be recycled, remember the 3 R's: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse! Use those plastic bags as garbage bags.
Work with the custodial staff within your school to identify storage areas, label containers, post signs, acquiring appropriate receptacles (only clear bags for recyclables).
Rechargeable batteries and old electric equipment don't need to be thrown in the garbage. They can be donated or recycled.

I also learned about all of the recognition schools are getting for having outstanding recycling programs and composting projects. The Golden Apple and Golden Shovel award winners feature news stories on schools that are helping to beautify the world, even here in NYC. To learn more about this you can visit nyc.gov/wasteless/goldenapple.

The part of the presentation that really caught my attention as a future educator of social justice regarded the "Keeping Styrofoam Out of Schools Campaign." The presenter spoke about the 600 signatures she collected for this petition to come up with a solution to this problem. Yes styrofoam is cheap, sturdy, lightweight, and does not require a dishwasher, but it is harmful to the planet. Any age group of students can learn about this and see how it is affecting animals, wildlife, and earth's future. I immediately thought of the M & M's protest after hearing about this petition and thought this is an issue students could potentially become passionate about. Making a change by lobbying, protesting, and presenting their own ideas on how to find a better alternative from styrofoam trays is definitely a social justice issue. Also, I feel like students don't have to feel down if they have a protest and do not see an immediate change. They can make daily life choices about conserving energy, recycling, reducing, and reusing and feel that they are contributing to a better world, a better society.

Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York

2009-11-15T09:30:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, November 14, I attended the Fourth Child Policy Forum of New York, presented by the Children's Studies Center and the Schomburg Center. The event was held at the Schomburg Center and focused on the human rights of children, as they relate to the 55th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 20th anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The event began with a brief musical introduction by a small wind ensemble from P.S. 46, which was fitting as the group featured several children. Several individuals, including Howard Dodson, the director of the Schomburg Center, and Gertrud Lenzer, the director of the Children's Studies Center, then spoke briefly, adddressing the importance of the day's topic.

After these introductions, the keynote speakers began, starting with Owen M. Fiss, a professor at Yale University, who focused on Brown v. Board of Education and how this essentially began the "Second Reconstruction," in which the lives of African Americans began changing in all settings, not just education. From this point, he began discussing the need for a "Third Reconstruction" and what must happen within this to better the lives of children, especially in regards to their home lives and their education. Following Fiss, Howard Davidson presented his ideas regarding the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and why (or why not) some believe the U.S. should utilize this important piece of legislation.

After a short break, three members of the New York State Assembly and/or Senate took the stage and presented a number of items regarding more recent activities related to improving the rights of children, especially within the areas of human trafficking, as well as the use of foster care. They also addressed what needs to be done to continue to build on these rights with a focus on improvement of physical and mental health. After this, the forum ended with a brief question-and-answer session.

After thinking about all of the information and opinions adressed in this forum, I was suprised to learn that such a thing as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child even existed and especially that it was completed twenty years ago. According to the individuals who spoke at the Forum, the U.S. played a large role in drafting the law articles, all of which focused on providing more rights to all children. Over fifty countries were involved in the CRC's creation, and over half of them have incorporated at least a portion of the laws into their countries' legal systems. I was shocked to learn that the U.S. is not included in this list of countries. How can our country criticize others for not protecting their children when several presidents refuse to incorporate the laws of the CRC here? The understanding that children are important does little without as many laws as possible in place to protect them.

The topic of the forum ties in well with what we are studying in this course. It addressed the importance of protecting the rights of children and ensuring they get the equity they deserve, something to constantly consider as a future teacher. Not only is it necessary to educate children in the proper manner but also to ensure they are not falling through the cracks, that each and every one of them has someone or something to hold onto as hope that they can and will become successful adults.

EquAsian: The Lifeguard Workshop

2009-11-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 7th I attended a workshop from 5:30- 8:00 on suicide prevention at the APICHA (Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS) headquarters on Walker and Broadway. I met with Larry, the coordinator, and different members of EquAsian, which is a support group for the Asian/Pacific Islander LGBT community. We discussed risk factors, warning signs, and reasons for suicide as well as preventative strategies.

The discussion was led by a guest speaker, Renee, from The Trevor Project, which is a confidential suicide prevention helpline for gay and questioning youth that offers someone to talk to. Needless to say, this workshop was extrememly emotionally charged (especially considering the recent suicide of an NYU student). Before the workshop began, I thought I would have a difficulty discussing such a heavy topic with complete strangers. However, I saw how open and honest everyone else was being and did not feel uncomfortable at all. I think what really helped was setting up ground rules before the meeting (just like we have done in class) so that everyone's opinions were heard and respected. We continued by brainstorming word that we associate with suicide: isolation, depression, hopelessness, escape, selfish, etc. Next we talked about risk factors associated with suicide and warning signs. For me, this was where I felt the most emotially vulnerable. I heard a lot of stories about how relatives and friends of someone who committed suicide "never saw it coming" and just how difficult it may be for someone to recognize these warning signs, even in a loved one.

One of the risk factors that kept coming up was "pressure." Immediately I thought of all of the academic, social, and emotional pressures that my future students will be left to face and how I will deal with that in my classroom. Keeping a positive and open way of communicating with your students is crucial, especially at a young age like elementary school when children are forming foundations of support. Part of our discussion led to the "Model Asian Student" stereotype that we have talked about in class (that Asian students are expected to perform to a higher standard than everyone else), which led to a discussion of pressures of an Asian student versus an Asian American student. One side of the debate was that Asian American students have a more difficult time fusing together a combined identity; one that is Asian and another that is American. Since I could not speak from experience about this topic, I mostly just listened and asked questions. In the end, I realized that being from two minority groups (Asian/Pacific Islander and the LGBT community) present so many struggles that I have never had to deal with in my own life; issues like being rejected from friends and family, teasing and ridiculed, stereotyped, all while dealing with everyday tasks like homework, chores, and having a social life.

Finally, I learned that the younger a person comes out to family and friends, the more likely they are to commit suicide because they do not have the maturity to deal with possible teasing and rejection from their loved ones. Teachers need to make sure their students can trust them and provide a classroom and school community based on respect, tolerence, and kindness.

ASL Poetry Slam

2009-10-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 15, I attended an ASL Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club. Although it was described as a poetry event, it featured one man sharing a number of short stories, through ASL, that relate in some way to the Deaf community.

Before arriving I had expected there to be no English usage. I was surprised, then, when the doorman verbally addressed me. By the time the show started, the room was packed, with people using both ASL and English. The show opened with a warm-up, in which three audience members were invited on-stage to use the signs for numbers 1, 2, and 3 in new ways. After this, several stories were shared that somehow addressed misunderstandings of Deaf culture. For instance, one story explained how a Deaf man was being followed, as he walked down the street, by someone, not of the Deaf community. This person, not understanding that the man could not hear him, continued to follow him while screaming for his attention and then eventually grabbed the man, thinking that he was simply being rude.

The show then ended with more audience participation, in something called "Guessign." Several people went on-stage, and, in partners, one person stood behind another, while placing their hands in front and signing a story about a vampire, all while wearing "monster fingers."

Because I am only in my first semester of taking ASL, I was lost during most of the stories. However, I was able to understand a few fairly well and was at least able to get the general concept being presented in each. I also learned a few new signs, as well as several items about the Deaf community.

As a future teacher, I feel that an event like this one would be a great way to further address differences, and similarities between a variety of cultures. Although students may not be able to understand items being signed, simply being in the environment can allow students some idea of ways that people using ASL interact. Too often we focus solely on items such as race to distinguish one culture from another and ignore those that may not be quite as obvious. However, it is apparent that there is a need to have students better understand Deaf culture to prevent incidents, like those from the story presented earlier, from occurring.

This video isn't from the event, but I thought it might be cute to use if discussing ASL in the classroom, especially if your kiddies like Miley Cyrus. We should all thank Sarah, who sent me the link. :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKnQjBf8wM

Jewel Allison: Let's Talk About Racism

2009-10-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

On Friday, October 16th I attended the First Fall Potluck of the Anti-Racist Alliance featuring poet Jewel Allison, presenting her book Stealing Peace: Let’s Talk About Racism. The event took place at the Community Church of NY and was from 5:30-9 pm.

This event started out with a discussion about racism and slavery. Many people were saying that racism was created by white people and can only be done away with by white people. It was interesting to hear this point of view because I’ve never heard anyone blatantly say that white people are to blame and that they’re the only ones who can get rid of it. I think it’s wrong to point out a specific race and put all the blame on them and I think to get rid of racism, all races can work together because white people aren’t the only ones who are racist and not all white people are racist.

The poet, Jewel Allison, came in after to present her book. She started out by saying that her book was an attempt to understand who we are as human beings. One main theme that resonated to me in her poems and her discussion was the idea of labels. She said that labels are a very small fraction of who we are and these labels are what make us think we’re different and this is how we started making ourselves smaller and smaller. The worry now is how we’re going to continue making ourselves smaller by coming up with new labels. Allison believes we need to see ourselves as one race; we are all African. She calls white people, white-skin Africans, who just migrated to a part of the world where there wasn’t much sun so their skin color didn’t need to be dark to protect them from it, which was interesting to me because it makes sense, but I’ve never really thought about it that way. Her poems, “Let’s Talk About Racism”, “From Africa to Europe with Love”, and “Songs of Solomon”, all highlight how racism affects everyone. She also talks about how history tells the story of who we are and how we relate to one another. One line that stuck out to me was “racism is underneath the sheets with us when we go to sleep at night.” I definitely believe this is true and it’s interesting to me because I never really thought about racism and how it impacts me before this class and event.

As a future educator, I want to instill in children that racism does affect everyone and that they can work together to fight against it starting with just acknowledging it for what it is and stepping away from the labels that separate us. It’s important for them to see how racism specifically relates to them and we can show them this by studying history and their own backgrounds and experiences. Also, after this event, I realized just how much poetry could be a really powerful tool to express feeling. It would be great to show students just how powerful they can be with a tool like poetry.

If anyone is interested in hearing a couple of Jewel’s poems, just search her name on YouTube. They’re really great. She’s a talented poet.

2nd Annual MEC Latino Heritage Month Celebration

2009-10-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 15th I attended the 2nd Annual MEC Latino Heritage Month Celebration. It was at CUNY Medgar Evers College and was organized by the Association for Latin American Students at this school. The event was from 6-9 pm.

I decided to go to this event in the first place because the words "Hispanic Heritage Month" grabbed my attention from the flyer. I started thinking that I didn't even know it was Hispanic Heritage Month and I thought as a Hispanic myself, it would be great to find out what it was all about. Also, when I went back to my student teaching placement the day after, I realized not one school I have been to celebrates or even mentions Hispanic Heritage Month. I have seen plenty of schools celebrate Black History Month in February and Women's History Month in March and I wanted to see how I could change that, starting with finding out more myself.

The event started with an open mic poetry slam. There were 4 people that read poetry about a variety of topics that included racism, being biracial, colonialism, race in general, immigration, and identity. One poem that stuck out to me was one about beng biracial. It was said by a young girl whose name was Nyambi Morgan and it was titled "Mixed and Misunderstood". In this poem she described how difficult it is for herself to claim an identity when she’s biracial . One line that resonated from the poem was about having to mark “other” on applications that ask about race. Morgan wrote she didn’t know what that meant. It was as if “other” meant not human.

Sounds of Earth, a Puerto Rican band, performed. Their music has African roots and they played the drums and the woman wore a traditional costume from Puerto Rico. The dances were infused with both Hispanic and African rhythm. After the performance, they showed two movies that had to do with denied rights in Puerto Rico. “La Operación” (The Operation), was about the sterilization of women in Puerto Rico in the late 30’s. “The Borinqueneers” was about the Puerto Rican Infantry Regiment, the only all-Hispanic unit in the US Army. Both films highlight the injustices and abuse of rights of these groups of people. There was a panel at the end, with students, professors, and activists, discussing the movie and other events that occurred that have to do with racism, discrimination, etc. I had no idea about all these horrible events that happened to the people of Puerto Rico. I had never heard of these events and it made me feel like I need to go out and find out more about events such as this one because I’ve realized that events like this are generally not openly talked about.

As a future educator, I want to encourage my students to learn about their races’ roots, but also one another’s. It would be great to talk about and explore an event like this every couple of weeks to get my students to “open their eyes” to the serious things that happen around the world. After going to this event, I know a lot more about Hispanic Heritage Month and I want to find out more. I want my future students to have that feeling too.

Dance and Movement Workshop!

2009-10-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 15th, I attended a “Dance and Movement Workshop” on the 2nd floor of the East Building. The workshop was led by Suzanne Carothers, the Director of the Undergraduate Childhood Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University and Freddie Moore, the Founder and Artistic director of Footprints Dance Company. The participants of this workshop included juniors and seniors in the Childhood Education program at NYU as well as several Steinhardt staff members.

We set some goals for the workshop. We discussed the activities we would participate in and discussed ways to implement them in our future classrooms that we teach. The “movement” started right away as we stripped off our shoes (and some people their socks too) and practiced some warm up techniques to prepare us for the activities. We made sure to stretch all the different parts of our bodies that we would be using throughout the workshop.

The first activity dealt with our experiences with movement throughout the day. We each said how we use movement in our lives and what movement means to us. We made a chart of some themes that were seen from how we described movement in our lives. We then took some of those themes and worked on expressing those movements. Freddie chose about 8 different ideas/themes that we worked together to decide how we show that feeling or idea. For example, one of the words on the chart was “struggle” because some of us find it difficult to move around as often as we should or would like. We came up with a “move” for each of the 8 words and put them together in a choreographed manner. This activity allowed us to be creative as well as working as a group to make a cohesive dance routine.

Then, we discussed some of the ways that we see movement in our student teaching placements. We were then separated into groups of 3-4 people. Each group was given a song (from a CD Freddie brought to class which was a compilation of common nursery rhymes with different rhythms, tempos, and beats than the traditional versions of them). Each group had to choreograph a dance for a 30 second section of our song. My group chose “Hey Diddle, Diddle”. At first, we were thinking way to literally. We were trying to make movements for each word that allowed us to show the story as the song was playing. We realized that the song was too fast and we could not all do movements for every single word. We had to work together to make our moves fit the song. We decided that not all of us in the group had to be doing the same moves at the same time. This task was very difficult for us. Two of the people in our group were dancers while the other two, including myself, had no idea where to start. We learned how to work together and make the dance work for all of us and portray the story of “Hey Diddle, Diddle” in a way that everyone could grasp the idea. After our “planning time”, each group performed for the audience of our peers in the workshop.

From the beginning of the workshop to the end, I realized a lot about movement and myself in general. I realized that dance does not mean that you have to be trained, fit, talented, and coordinated. Dance is a form of expression that is spontaneous at times and can be used to tell a story. I would not say I am the most graceful dancer, but I was able to move in a way that told a story to my colleagues. I realized that movement is something that happens at every moment, whether it is planned or not. Some people struggle to find ways to move, some people are handicapped in ways that restrict their movement, and others are moving all the time without even noticing. Movement is a part of our lives and it will be a part of every child’s life that we will teach in the future. This workshop provided me with ways to discover how I can use movement as a motivational tool for students as well as a way to refocus their attention or just relax them if they are stressed. The workshop provided me with strategies to coordinate ways for students to use dancing and movement in a productive way throughout the school day.

At the end of the workshop, we were given a certificate of achievement for completing the workshop. We were also given a picture book called Beautiful Ballerina by Marilyn Nelson and Susan Kuklin. Ballerinas from the Dance Theatre of Harlem were the inspiration for this book. The book includes the text of a poem written by these young ballerinas with graceful photographs of the girls. This book will serve as a great way to celebrate dance and movement in my future classrooms.

Dance/Movement Workshop

2009-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I, along with ten or more others, had the opportunity to attend "Dance and Movement Workshop" in the Cochrane Room in the East Building. The workshop was led by Freddie Moore, a Founder and Artistic Director of Footprints Dance Company.

First, we set goals for the workshop and outlined what was to come in the next three hours. We then took off our shoes before stretching and getting comfortable in our own bodies. This was an importance step, for it was emphasized that as teachers, we must be comfortable with our own bodies before teaching our students to be just that.

We introduced ourselves around the room and expressed our feelings by using body movements. Even though it was a bit awkward at first, we soon began to truly feel comfortable under our own skins and no longer felt self-conscious. We made a good three minute dance routine together, using the ideas that each of us came up with. It was exciting to see that most of us were untrained/unskilled in dance, yet we were able to contribute to the creation of such movements.

Freddie then played this Youtube video for us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHDyxTRCwQ0 We first watched it with the sound off, and observed the children's movements. We discussed our guesses as to what was happening in the video and how the children seemed to feel through their body languages. After the brief discussion, we watched the movie again with sound. It was eye-opening to see that children who looked so disengaged and inattentive were actually actively participating and listening to the teacher (which we could only find out the second time with the sound on). *YOU SHOULD TRY THIS ACTIVITY TOO!*

Next, Freddie split us into groups of 3-4 people and played a nursery rhyme song to each group. Each song represented a different genre or style of music. For example, "Ms. Mary Mac" was a powerful, hip-hop like song, while "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" was a soft-jazz song. Each group had to take their nursery rhyme and create a dance movement in about 30 minutes and perform it in front of everyone else.

The purpose of this activity was to show that children could become more self-confident and comfortable with self through dance and movement. It was also surprising to see the dances come together, because each person in the group had such different ideas.

At the end of all the performances, we gathered around and discussed what we had learned from the workshop. We were all excited to implement dance and movement in our future classrooms. All of us agreed that this workshop should have been required for all education majors to attend, because it was not only exciting and fun, but such a beneficial tool to have as future educators.

The main ideas I got out of this workshop were:

Dance/movement does not discriminate. No matter who you are, what your background or ability/disability may be, anyone can participate and express themselves using movements.
If a child feels disengaged or uncomfortable and does not want to participate in the dance, the teacher could still make that student feel like he/she is a part of the dance. No matter what the movement is, it can be incorporated.
Dance/movement can be a powerful motivational tool.
A child sitting still does not always mean attentiveness. The opposite can actually be true - a child who is fidgety or moves around a lot could be very engaged and attentive.
National Dance Standards can be applied to any subject or lesson in the classroom.
Dance/movement is a necessity for children. It is a natural part of our lives.

I know Suzanne is trying her best to have this workshop again for next semester, so if you werent' there this time, I hope you can make it to the next one. It was truly inspiring and beneficial :)

Urban Word

2009-10-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the Preemptive Education's Urban Word poetry slam. What I enjoyed most about the poems was the fact that they were young adults and teenagers who had used the English language to express feelings and play on words. My goal in attending was to see how I can use different methods of expression that are not generally used in the classroom setting today. Many of the students who performed became involved in slam poetry by chance and not because it was part of any curriculum in their school.
What I found most interesting was that, slam poetry gave these students the medium to fully express something that was missing in their lives. This urban fire allowed them to fully convey their inner thoughts about misfortunes going on in their neighborhood/nationally as well as personal issues that plagued their minds.
I definitely loved the powerful poems called Queens and Switch which talked about a girl from Queen who felt she was a queen and Switch was about gay men violently killed because they walked and talked with a switch. Like the poet said, he felt compelled to tell the story and he feels like a vessel in which he is used to reach the masses in his freedom of expression. I thanked him for his expression and wished I had more courage to lay out what really matters to the youths I work with today in such a thought provoking manner.

Word Life: A Performance and Conversation on Language, Identity, & Power

2009-10-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I attended The Preemptive Education series' performance and panel discussion on "Word Life," organized by Hip-Hop Theater Festival and Urban Word NYC. The performance was held in Silver Center's theater in room 703, which could have easily been filled with more of us future educators out there.

Three panels were on stage as each of the 3 poems were presented then later analyzed and discussed by one panel per poem.

The poems in order were:

1) Diaspora - about being an African-American woman, struggling with race/ethnicity

2) Switch - about being a homosexual male (See video below)

3) Queen - about living as a beautiful young woman in the city and being objectified by men

Each poem was then analyzed for more in-depth discussion by the panel and the poet(s). There were some very interesting comments during the discussions they had and here were some of the highlights.

In regarding education and ignorance: "danger is not there to tie us down but it is a prerequisite for courage."

On the discussion of vulnerability (in performing a highly-disputed piece like Switch): "You have to be willing to be as vulnerable as the students. Students are going to ask questions and push your buttons. Be open to the 'button-pushing.'"

On the discussion of Queen: "Entertainment industry is very political. There is no 'tabula rasa.' Queens may be queens, but they are still seen as if they are below Kings."

On language: "The language we have created is used against us to oppress us. So what do we do? I think certain words are worth fighting for and claiming back (like the N word).

On education: "Teach not by the books but by what you know that your students already know. My teacher brought in Tupac in order to teach Frost. Practice what you preach. Lead by example. This can be the bridge between knowledge I have and the education to be had by others."

As a future educator, I took all of these topics discussed to heart. Hip hop, def poetry/jam, rap, movement, dance... everything that this performance involved helped these students speak out about important, heart-felt issues that they felt passionate about. It was clear that these students began to think differently and began to be proactive and speak up about some of these issues they were so passionate about. If I could have my kids become anything as a teacher, it would be passionate. It was truly inspiring to see these poets/students (and some professional performers) reach out to future educators and other students to show that one's voice can be heard--not when they are loud enough, but when they are passionate enough and heard by enough people who are just as moved.

*** Finally, I thought the second performance piece Switch was extremely powerful. So I found it on Youtube. PLEASE WATCH THIS. The whole thing. The climax happend around 1:50. You will not regret watching it. In fact, you might cry, cringe, or get goose bumps as you watch this powerful piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsNGe12Y2r4

Preemptive Education

2009-10-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday, October 2, I attended Preemptive Education: Language, Identity, and Power, hosted by Urban Word NYC and held in the Silver Center. The poety event last night kicked off a weekend of panels and workshops geared toward addressing important issues in new, innovative ways, including spoken word poetry and hip-hop.

The event featured three young poets presenting their own written work about some very strong and important ideas including being brave and reclaiming words/identity. After each poem, a panel discussed the significance of the ideas/issues presented and how these can possibly be addressed in the classroom setting.

Like the rest of the audience in the packed auditorium, I was incredibly moved by the words these individuals shared and the way in which they did so. "Switch," for example, a poem about being homosexual and brave in the face of opposition, brought everyone to their feet and several people to tears by the way it was perfectly choreographed. Another poem, "Queens," talked about what it means to be a woman and was based on the poet's experience on a bus one day, in which some very young boys said, in so many words, that girls were only good for sexual purposes.

It was incredible to hear such powerful emotions coming from such young individuals. From this, although it seems almost obvious, I learned that too often the abilities of students to address important issues is underestimated. People believe that students in high school, or even younger, cannot eloquently discuss items like those presented in the poetry slam, when, in reality, they may do even better than individuals working at it their entire lives.

Thinking about the event as a future teacher, I realized how necessary it is to change the ways in which information is presented and discussed/shared. Instead of having students simply write poetry, they should be able to use such a unit to cover social justice issues like those from this event and/or from class. Students need to understand that they have a voice which deserves to be heard, and it is the teacher's job to ensure this happens. As much as it may seem daunting and even impossible to even start talking about topics such as racism or sexism, it can and needs to be done.

Prayer in the Square

2009-09-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

On September 20th, I attended Prayer in the Square, an annual event in which all the churches in the tri-state area are invited to gather in Times Square to pray for an hour about issues relating to social justice. The event was also streamed by churches throughout the nation and the world. It was put on by Times Square Church, in cooperation with various churches and organizations in the area.

Each year, the event invites different people to lead the prayer over different issues. This year they had a Vietnam veteran pray for our nation's soldiers at home and abroad, a flight attendant pray for those still suffering from the affects of 9/11, a city social worker pray for underprivileged families, a former Nigerian diplomat pray for genocide in Africa, an aid worker pray for children involved in child trafficing, a Wall Street executive pray for the state of the economy, and a youth pastor pray for the pressures teens and college students go through. Mayor Bloomberg gave a speech about his new program to help mobilize volunteers throughout the city to address issues of need.

I found several aspects of the event particularly empowering. Firstly, it is an incredible experience to be able to stand in the middle of Times Square and cry out to God about the problems in the world around me. There's something about being among a group of people (around 50,000) who share my passion and voicing my concerns out loud that I found very empowering. We were there, we cared, and we were doing something. Secondly, the event made a special effort to cater to young people. Those between the ages of 18 and 29 were invited to a special pre-event rally, and were given a special section in the crowd where we could pray together. It meant a lot to me to see so many people my age who were fighting for change, and I appreciated the fact that Prayer in the Square acknowledged that my age group was valuable to have present. Lastly, I really appreciated being able to hear representatives of different issues praying for their topic. I was able to hear what they were grateful for, their hopes for the future, and the concerns they had.

I left the event feeling inspired.

As a future teacher, I will definitely remember how empowering it is to participate in an event that encompasses more than the tiny classroom group, and how awesome it is to go to a specific location (if possible) that represents the issue being addressed. I will also remember that there are always more than one way to address an issue. I don't always have to have my students volunteer, or protest, or write letters. Participating in social justice is as close as a prayer.

For more information, visit www.nycprayer.org