Amanda Fournier's Blog (Fall 2018)

I watched “25 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias, and Identity with Students” created by  The New York Times.  I watched all 25 films, which were divided into four series, and I will highlight a few of the films I found most impactful from each series.    In the first series, “A Conversation on Race”, the film that stood out the most to me was when the police officers spoke about racism. One officer spoke very bluntly and what he said was very alarming to me. He admitted to being biased, even saying if he saw a group of young, black men in a white neighborhood he would go over and give them a hard time because “they’re not supposed to be there”. Who is this man to judge whether or not these boys belong there? He also says towards the end that he thinks protestors should get a job and find something better to do than to blame the police for their problems. First of all, I cannot believe this officer feels this way in the first place. But second of all, I cannot believe he is not t

In "Empowering Education", Shor talks about the importance of participation and democracy in a classroom setting. These two things lead to an empowering education. Students feel they are contributing to something and feel encouraged to have their opinions and talk about what they think. Socialization is key to learning and students learn a lot from their peers.  This week I decided to do extended comments on Emily's blog because I feel that she chose quotes which really embody Shor's argument. The first two quotes that Emily chose talk about how children are born curious with the desire to learn. Asking questions leads to greater knowledge and so does interaction with the world. As Emily said it is human nature to want to learn and more specifically to learn from others, both are peers and those higher than ourselves in education.  The last quote Emily chose, like she said, is an example by Shor of what teachers should be doing. Shor gives great insight on ho

In "Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route", Oakes begins by addressing the two arguments to student tracking and grouping. On the one hand, classes are supposed to be more catered to the particular "group". Advanced students are "groomed" to be successful and students who need more attention and help can get this extra help. However, on the other hand, grouping can have all kinds of negative effects on the low-tracking students. These students are given a label that sticks with them for all their school years and as a result they are given less academic opportunities. Oakes argues that high-tracking students may benefit from grouping, but low-tracking students certainly do not. However, Oakes also argues that with the proper changes it is possible to get the best of both worlds.  Oakes names many changes that need to be made. One recommendation he makes is to focus on more content-based teaching rather than sequential lessons. Oakes also en