promising practises ( how this conference relate to Feminist practices 2011)

This conference relates to feminist practices in many ways. Feminist practices cover issues that affect women, men, issues of race, gender, and many other forms of oppression. This conference addressed the issues of race in education, and how it can set a barrier between teacher and student. In the youth conference the three high school students addressed that not being able to relate to their teachers lead students to misbehave, because many teachers tend to judge them instead of trying to work and understand what they are asking for. The youth representatives addressed that having nothing in common with their teachers is difficult because even if they asked for help those teachers simply wouldn’t understand. After analyzing the issue I had come down with conclusion that in order to change all these problems of oppression we must teach our children about different cultures and their struggles to prepare them to be knowledgeable of the issues that they go through. In one of the articles written by Fletcher he says  “Encouraging multiracial friendships and exposing naive students to students of color can help to strengthen the knowledge base of students and decrease the incidents of race.”  This also can apply to teachers, especially because they deal with students with different backgrounds   

promising practices(external links)

http://www.projectgoal.org/
http://www.cityyear.org/
http://www.riseonline.org/

Promising Practices

The conference was a great experience from which I walked out with inspiration to change and help overcome the big animosity that is discrimination, whether it is from roles of gender or race this is a problem that hugs our society tightly and does not allow for change to occur. The conference was divided into five stages, the introduction, the workshop meeting, the expo, the youth conference, and the youth panel.

During registration I had the chance to pick form 13 workshops I would like to attend. I decided to choose a conference that would teach me something new, something out of the ordinary. I decided to attend a conference called service learning as a tool for experiential learning, with Professor Mustafa Ozcan. This workshop was mainly learning through experience, and how to make educational programs for students. Dr. Mustafa was a funny man; he was able to deliver a message of learning while having hands on experience. He allowed us to conduct group learning plans for students in elementary through high school. Putting together an experience for the students and an overall learning environment, giving a doubled sided message where the students can take in what they give out. In my group we chose Veterans of war. Our main purpose was to teach a class of high school students about the War of Vietnam and the issues that occurred after the War. We came up with a plan to allow our students to learn in the first person from Vietnam soldiers. By doing this we also taught our students the importance of giving moral support to the veterans in need. This workshop was mainly for students who are pursuing a degree in teaching and for teachers. This technique expresses difference in teaching, the traditional method of giving handouts and explaining what will be discussed was said to be forgotten after months of unused materials. But through hands on interactive with actual people and places students will keep the knowledge of the material they learned over the course of time, simply they make a connection from what they learned to a need in society.

When we were done with the workshop, we returned to Donavan dinning center for the promising partnerships expo.  The expo offered volunteer opportunities for teachers, and students aspiring to become educators. The expo was a great opportunity to learn about the resources and the organizations that exist in Rhode Island. One of the organizations that were present in the expo was city year. City year is a great program that caught my attention. In this program students from different backgrounds serve as tutors, and mentors to students from the elementary level through high school. The dedicated members of city year serve in schools full time for 10 months; they help students to improve their performance in English and math, attendance, and behavior. This organization made such an impact in many of us because their dedication and their hunger to help those in need.

After the expo we had to go to gaige hall where three young adults hosted the “teen empowerment conference with Heang Ly. There message was a simple but powerful one. Letting the voice of the youth from low income communities speak instead of always being spoken to. There expression of how the message of a teacher is translated into a negative view, making these students engage in acting out instead of a positive reaction to their miss-understandings in their work. Further into ways of interactive games that would show how lack of proper communication can deter a students learning environment. The T.E. students gave an inside look on how the students who act out can be reached if different ways to address their issues. To wrap up this part of the conference the T.E. students allowed for some audience interaction, letting any Students or teachers ask questions on this matter. From my point of view the conference was an encouraging word to teachers and those students who are preparing themselves to become teachers not to feel discouraged if they are presented with the challenge of working in a low income community. This message should be taken as a guiding point on how to reach these students, and each and every one of us can make a change in someone’s life.

Going back to the dinning center there was lunch provided and a student panel.  The 3 groups that presented themselves were T.E., M.P.H.T.A., and A.L.L.I.E.D. Each student gave their story of where they came from, where they are now and how they can help those students who were in their positions. All their stories were touching and reminded me of that special teacher that made a difference in my life and it brought a sense of genuine inspiration to want to reach out to another life and have this effect on them.  Finally the panel ended with questions from the audience.

In conclusion I felt that I made the right choice of choosing my workshop because the whole conference had a nice flow. Everything that I learned in each stage of the conference related to each other. Giving me the message that it is not enough to say what I can do to make a difference or an impact, but taking the steps to make this happen. 

8# fletcher A. Blanchard, Andrea Ayvazian (extended comment)

Andrea speaks of Oppression and what it means to her, what she hopes for this country, and how and what are some ways of systemic oppression expressed. she says "what does seem to create real and lasting change is highly movitivated individuals....". She uses the "term oppresion to describe the cobination of prejudice plus access to social political and econmic power on the part of a dominant group." Taking this into the front lines she brings fourth a comment on fighting fire with fire. I say this and her words stating "PFLAG speakers can be heard....because they are heterosexuals speaking to other heterosexuals, they often have a significant impact." Her statement expresses how a black person telling a white person racism is wrong does not have the same impact on a white person than if a fellow white person was to tell another white person racism against black people is wrong. When people come together to say "NO", this change can spring violence in some ways. As she states "deology, or the propagation of doctrins that purport to legitimize inequality; and Violence by the dominat group against the targeted group." In Heathers page she discusses what Flecther B. tries to say,

Heather mainly speaks about Fletcher B, she breaks down three main points that he brings across in his article. Flectcher says that racism should be addressed from an early age because that is the time that children are learning how to create relationships with other children. So is very important that they learn how to socialize with children of other races, and as stated “Encouraging multiracial friendships and exposing naive students to students of color can help to strengthen the knowledge base of students and decrease the incidents of race.”

what are little boys made of? (connection)

the masters tools will never dismantle the masters house (Audre Lorde) (argument)

this author (Lorde) argues that the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

Lorde uses her quote to explain the position of many feminist and advocates that fight for change. Lorde shares her experience when she agrees to take part of a conference in NYU institute for the humanities, where she commented on issues that dealt with role difference of race, sexuality, class and age. Lorde argues that is arrogant to try to examine and discuss issues about role differences if there is no input of feminist that know about the subject. in page 36 Lorde says "when the tools of racist patriarchy are  used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? it means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable." from my point of view lorde tries to say that there is only a small amount of change that could be done because they voices of different race's, sexualities,class and age are not present in important meetings to bring change. her main point is that i order to bring change people in different role should come together and make policies because it allows for everyone to see issues from any angle not just from one.

people like us ( review)

What does sociologist Lawrence Mead truly say with “if people behaved rationally, they would seldom be poor for long in the first place.” To me, Mead is not saying a bad thing although it truly sounds like a bias statement. From my point of view mead is trying to say that if poor people realized what their problem was and thought rationally about the options they had to fix them they wouldn’t be in that hard situation for too long, and although the smallest change would take time it would be like taking small steps until you reach a point that you are able to take long strides.

Tammy is middle aged woman who has lived on welfare for 18 years, she an example of someone who has tried her best to better her life and that of her children. However I feel like she conformed to her way of living. She did not try to at least keep her home clean, I believe that if Tammy would of taken a different approach to the situation; for example she could have saved a small amount of money little by little too slowly be able to buy the parts that she needed for her car to be fixed. That way she could have found a better job, and from there she could have worked her way up and out of her situation. Even though it would take some time to do so. Another reason I believe Tammy conformed to her life, is because she stated that her dad was poor and he did what he could and she is doing what she can as well. By doing and believing this she has limited herself in a way.

Her son is an example of a person in poverty who wants and is passionate to move up the social ladder. He shows this in many ways, for example he tries to keep his home clean and presentable even though it’s not an amazingly beautiful home. He tries to dress better because he feels that his poverty is not a reason for him to look bad. He is driven by his dream of someday going to college and trying to have a career that would help him out of his situation; and even though it is tough he does not give up because he knows that if keeps trying better days would come his way. He does not conform and rebels against all the odds that face him.

It must sound like I’m against these people but I’m truly not. I have the utmost respect for them because they work hard to maintain their family. I just don’t agree that people should just give up trying or just stick with their problems because they believe they cannot do anything about it. and ultimately that is what Mead is saying