Do I have the full picture?
I do not think we will ever have the full picture; with any circumstance we are faced in life. I feel as if I have had to go out of my way, more times than I can remember to research additional information on topics in order to find out the entire picture. It’s our job as future teachers to make sure we are providing and learning the full picture ourselves and then teaching that knowledge to our students. Students have the right to be fully educated on all topics. In this week's module, I watched Victoria's video on Integration and Ruby Bridges. She explained how in school she only learned a small portion about Integration in school, and how she was never informed about Ruby Bridges and the unfortunate events she had to encounter. I can relate to this because in my Kinder-12th grade education, I was not informed about this either, it wasn’t until my sophomore year history class here at Texas State University that I learned about this. This also ties back into last week's blog post about Who stories are told and whose remains in the margins, Ruby Bridges story is being marginalized and many people have gone without hearing her story. If I were to teach about Integrated schools, I would talk about the events leading up to it, what happened during this time, and what the effect was on schools and education. This way students are given the full picture and are aware of all the events tied to this topic.
Hi Lindzie! I loved your response to the question this week! I fully agree that students should be given the opportunity to learn the full story, and it is our jobs as teachers to make sure that our curriculum is covering all sides, even if that means extra research and planning on our part. I think many teachers will use the required curriculum as a way to avoid discussing difficult or uncomfortable topics in the classroom. I to cant remember learning about integration in schools or Ruby Bridges until much later in my education (some time between junior and senior year of high school). How do you think teachers should tackle these lessons, and what ages do you think students should begin talking about this?
ReplyDeleteHello Lilli, I agree that some teachers will use the curriculum as an excuse to not teach these difficult/uncomfortable topics. I hope that future teachers like ourselves are exposed to these ideas, so we can be a part of the change and start teaching culturally responsive pedagogy. I think it's all about making the effort to get to know your students and their culture, beliefs, and practices. This will help us understand how we should approach certain topics with our students and what topics we should bring into the classroom. History is a lot to unpack, so it's important that we're teaching events in the order they happen, so the events that are to come will make sense in the "Full Picture." Ultimately, the sooner we begin these practices in our classrooms, the better. There’s no reason for students to be withheld from this information, especially when they share cultural similarities. It would depend on the topic, if it was age appropriate and it’s a part of the story it should be told.
DeleteHi Lindzie! I really loved your blog post and think you made great points for the question of the week. I agree and also put in my blog about how I also do not think we will ever have the full picture of something. I loved how you said you had to research about topics to learn more about them. I think as teachers we should be more willing to tell students we need to research more information about a topic. As you said it is our job as teachers to do this for our students. I also watched the Ruby Bridges video and I was moved. I wanted to make sure my students were never learning a singular story about a topic. I also said I had never learned of here in my early years of school when I should of. I really loved your blog and think we made a lot of similar points in this topic.
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