EDSS 531

RR#4 Respond to the following prompt:

What are your biases and how do you mitigate your behavior when working with students?

As a human being I had biases for things that were irrelevant. I feel sorry for myself when I look back and think about them.  Since I grew up in Mexico, I can say that for many years I was completely wrong about my own biases. As a young woman I was not mature enough to realize how wrong was my perception about people. In part was peer pressure. In Mexico prejudices are mostly based on socio-economic status. “How much do you have? It’s the value someone has.” One of the biases I used to have was toward students attending public school. In Mexico is still very common to judge people based in their socio-economic status. If some one attends private school is because they are “cool”, “gente bien” and automatically they are expected to be the best. If someone attends public school is because they are “poor” and their expectations to succeed are minimal, which is completely wrong. Wisdom and intelligence do not depend on a socio-economic status, it is the desire of the student of what they want to pursue in life.  Fortunately, I experience a couple of situations that helped me to be aware of my mistakes.  I am glad that I have a teen daughter, the reason is that every time I work with students and I have to tell them something, I think of my daughter and I ask myself, ”Is this the way I would talk to my daughter? How would she feel? I have realized that this is the best way I have to mitigate my biases. Fortunately, as an adult I can say that my biases are almost gone. I perfectly understand that in a classroom I will have students from different socio-economic level and I have the obligation of giving the same treat to everybody. I have clear my commitment as a future educator. Understanding my own biases is going to help me to improve the interactions I have with all my students in order to build deeper communication.

EDSS 531

Milagros Hinojosa

February 1, 2012

1.    Reflecting on your CPI, respond to the following questions: What is it like to be a student in my class?

During my CPI at OGHS, the students already knew the expectations. Students had clear the classroom rules. A couple of students did not follow some of the rules for example they were not inside the classroom before the second bell rang, as a consequence they got after school detention. In regards of talking, I made clear that talking is fine as long as it is related to the reading or the activity. Students were always taking notes with exception of a couple of them that were distracted, but with a little of encouragement, students realized the importance of taking notes especially when I did tell them that for the following quiz they will be able to use them and they will have more chances of getting better grades. At the beginning of CPI, students were kind of shy and did not participate very much but eventually they become more comfortable and willing to share their thoughts. Unfortunately six weeks were little time to interact fully with the students. CPI was a great experience.

What is it like for a student to move through classes in a day at our school?

OGHS has block schedule, so students have 10 min. to go from one class to another. Some of the student complained about it. They think they should have more time to go from one class to another one especially when they have PE (Physical Education) They argued they have to go to their lockers to put their things away and that this is the reason they do not make it on time to the following class before the second bell rings. One thing that they really like about school is that they have a copy of the text book in the classroom and another copy to keep it at home, so they do not have to carry them  because they are too heavy.


RR#2

Create a full sheet 3 column organizer (aka Tovani) to record and analyze at least 4 quotes from the text/ video:

Quote from the text/video	What it means	Deeper thinking
1) Video “We stigmatized mistakes”	We should not take mistakes as the worst thing that can happen. Mistakes are part of creativity. Are parts of the learning process.	As human beings, everybody make mistakes. The most important thing is to learn from them, and keep on going instead of get “stuck”. We should approach mistakes as a normal part of the process of learning.  In our life journey, we are going to cope with a lot of unexpected situations, some times we probably will be successful, but there will be another times that we will fail because of a mistake but it does not mean is the end of the world.
2) Video “Creativity as important as literacy and we should treat with the same status”	Each head is a world. Students are all different; as a consequence they have different ways of being creative.	As an educator, some times teachers tent to expect the same results from the students. This is a big mistake because teachers base results on standardized tests and not on the level of creativity students can come up with. Teachers should be aware that students are becoming more creative every day.
3) Kids Do Well if They Can “Kids with Social, Emotional, and Behavioral challenges lack important thinking skills.”	Before jugging students for not showing thinking skills, we should find out what is going on in the students’ life.	The function of the teachers is very crucial in the development of the thinking skills of the students. Our position goes beyond teaching the lesson for the day; we have to find out why the students are not doing well in class. Most times, we are not aware of what emotional, social or family issues are affecting the student learning. If we are able to identify the problem, we will be most likely to support and to help them in reaching their goals.
4) Kids Do Well if they Want “Behind every challenging behavior is an unsolved problem or a lagging skill (or both)	Everything a person/student does is for a reason. It just takes time to understand why the student is having that behavior.	Some times educators assume that if a child is not doing well is because he/she does not want to. This is wrong. Some times students might need a little care support accompanied by motivation to make them feel confidence on themselves and believe that they are capable of perform good in school. It is our job to help students when they are having behavior problems or lagging skills. It is not going to be an easy task but that is part of our commitment as a future teacher.
5) Jobs of the Future “The modern economy requires workers with higher skills than in the past”	Future jobs will require employees with higher thinking skill and be able to perform complex tasks.	In order to keep or to get a better job, workers should force themselves into the era of technology where high thinking skills play an important and determining role. For new generations of students, getting a high school diploma or higher education will not be enough to compete with the new thinking/reasoning skills markets will demand.
6) A Whole New Mind “Last century, machines proved they could replace human backs. This century, new technologies are proving they can replace human left brains”	This chapter clearly shows how new technology is replacing little by little human work. It also mentions fundamental abilities for professional success.	Very soon, technology is going to replace in a great scale human work. New generations of students have to develop stronger thinking, reasoning and creativity skills in order to succeed in this new world of “right-brainers” that will role the future. Students already have developed the sense of creativity; they just need a guide to conduct their abilities that will be essential to succeed in this new world of technology.

RR# 3

To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students and what they need for the 21^st century? How wide is the “gap” between them and you? In what areas are the gaps? What can you do to make connections?

These questions are very important. To be honest, I feel I have a good sense of who my students are, I have been fortunate enough to work with high school students for the past 6 years. Although, I have worked with various students at various academic levels, I still feel there is plenty of room for growth. As far as understanding the needs of my students, I am fully aware of their background and I feel comfortable understanding their needs. In regards of what they need for the 21^st century, I know that all students have to develop higher thinking skills as we already read in “Abundance, Asia, and Automation" in order to get a better jobs. As a teacher I guess I am going to prepare my students to the best of my knowledge. However I have no idea how the jobs will be in the future but I am sure that the new generations are going to be very successful because they have been expose to technology since their early years of education and that makes a huge difference in this new world of technology.

In regards of the “gap” that exists between my students and me, I would divide it in two areas.  The visible one is based on the experience I have over them, the way of dressing, the way I speak and behave and also the different perspectives we have toward life. Of course this gap does not affect the way I should treat my students. In order to make connections I have found it easy considering that we share many things in common such as culture, language, sports, traditions, food. The most important aspect to make a good connection is to make the students feel that you really care about them.

Academic/Philosophy 
"What I know and What I Bilieve About the Development and Learning Needs of Adolescents"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17CMLYeA5RfoAxxvzb7n-l1-Cs_gkOMFfo6hqSb2OHwA/edit

Educational Philosophy/ Model Integration
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L3Hi2h6Ikr8w90H0mrV_MyxBrd0jKVGbTMUJXe2Rnos/edit

Reflective Journal
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IE2pVaoMDknELgBfrYEdwqRzON3uKQwbA07rWukjTqI/edit