Some Thoughts on Race: An Opinion

The subject of race in unavoidable when considering social inequalities in schools. History has unnecessarily made monsters out of whites, blacks, Asians, and every other ethnicity in the world. It has also provided the masses with stereotypes, preconceived notions, and inaccurate portrayals of these races.

A person is a person, no matter what color he is. However, it is impossible to take this stance, if one views a man as a member of a race and not an individual entity- another man. A human being.

Unfortunately, even in the 21st century, racism is still a major problem in the world, as well as our schools. This brings me to my next point. My personal experience with race in school. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood my whole life. As a child, I was innocent to the politics of race and social segregation. I had black friends and white friends. This continued throughout my twelve years of schooling. I didn't care if you were black or white. As long as you were a legitimately friendly person, I liked you and was proud to have you as a friend, or even an acquaintance.

Now I'd like you to consider the following. Imagine you are an person from, let's say, Germany who is on his or her way to America to visit family. You have never seen a black person face-to-face before. All you know of this race is Michael Jackson (before he went off the deep end), Lil' Wayne, and what you've read on the internet or seen on the news of blacks committing crimes. Then you hop off the plane, arrive at your destination, which happens to be in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, and see black people everywhere; Groups of them loitering on street corners near foreclosed houses with graffiti all over the place. How terrified would you be?

Stop.

Sure, some neighborhoods may look like this. Yeah, it may be scary if you have no experience in dealing with black people. But this is just one of many misleading stigmas that have an effect on how people perceive a specific race of people.

The same goes for whites as well. Have you ever been to a trailer park? Have you ever seen a random white guy walking down the street talking to himself and begging people for change? Do you know anyone who uses crystal methamphetamine for "recreation"? Maybe you have and maybe you haven't. But even if you haven't dealt with any of that, it's out there. And chances are, you have a preconceived notion about people in those circumstances.
"Oh, those people are white trash."
"Just keep walking and avoid eye contact with the crazy man, kids."

We have no idea what these people have been through and how they arrived at their current destination. But that doesn't stop us from discriminating against them.

Now this may have been a depressing read, but I believe that if one doesn't think about race and racism in a realistic light, then he is feigning ignorance out of fear of confronting this important issue.

So I'd like to ask this of you: The next time you see a kid walking around with his ass showing, or a fellow who has scabs on his face and is itching his arm to the point where it's bleeding, stop and acknowledge the fact that, yes this person is different, and he may not be as well of as you. Recognize his differences and try to put yourself in his shoes. Then let any racist or discriminatory ideas evacuate your mind. Finally, accept him as a human being and wish him the best of luck.

Who knows. This guy could be your boss one day.

Inclusion Vs. Full Inclusion

Benefits of Inclusion:

• There are social benefits for students with disabilities who are integrated into general education classrooms. These students can make new friends, develop social skills, and have an overall greater self-confidence.
• Inclusion helps all students realize that each person is different and that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.
• Peer teaching and cooperative learning, which would ideally be implemented, would benefit each student equally by giving them a sense of empowerment.

Disadvantages of Inclusion:

•   Some of the resources that included students would be benefiting from might hinder the non-included students' ability to learn
• Many people and children are "afraid" of things they are not familiar with and do not know how to react towards someone who, for instance, has a learning disability. This fear could result in alienation and bullying in extreme cases.
• Time is precious.  There may not be enough time in the day or a class period to educate each individual student to the level he or she requires.
• Pulling out students from the classroom is required when teaching in inclusive settings. This pulling out could have adverse effects on included students.

Advantages of Full Inclusion:

• Students who are included would benefit greatly from learning the necessary curriculum needed to pass all twelve grades of primary school and moving into the work force.
• According to one study, "results indicated that students who have been placed in heterogeneously grouped programs showed significantly more improvement than those who were grouped by ability levels" (Peterson, 1989 as cited in Aldridge & Goldman p. 156").
• Again, socialization is greatly improved for all students in an included classroom.
• "Students without disabilities gain skills and insights that are beneficial to them, such as developing increased tolerance and appreciating human differences (Willis, 1994 as cited in Aldridge & Goldman p. 157).

Disadvantages of Full Inclusion: 

• Teachers are afraid of teaching in inclusive settings because many of them do not feel that they have the necessary training to teach students with disabilities. 
• Again, pulling students out of the classroom could have negative effects on their self-esteem.

For more information on inclusion, visit these sites:

• http://www.weac.org/Issues_Advocacy/Resource_Pages_On_Issues_one/Special_Education/special_education_inclusion.aspx 
• http://nichcy.org/schoolage/placement/inclusion 
• http://www.inclusion.com/inclusiveschools.html 

Inclusion, Full Inclusion, and Mainstreaming. An introduction

Inclusion is the attempt by teachers to educate each student to the fullest extent in the classroom.

Full Inclusion is based on the notion that all students, regardless of intellectual ability, should be educated in the same general education classroom as their same-age peers.

Mainstreaming "is defined as integrating children with special needs into the regular classroom with the understanding that there is a resource room special education class to which they can go receive assistance" (Aldridge & Goldman 149).

Inclusion, full inclusion, and mainstreaming are three different teaching approaches for dealing with students who have different intellectual abilities. There are many different facets that need to be prepared for inclusion. The school systems need to be prepared, as well as teachers, families and students. Different perspectives are needed from each facet to determine the best approach to administering inclusion.

Padagogical Strategies

Direct Teaching is “A model of instruction in which the teacher is a strong leader who structures the classroom and sequences subject matter to reflect a clear academic focus. The model emphasizes the importance of a structured lesson in which presentation of new information is followed by student practice and teacher feedback (Sadker and Zittleman 387).” 

     Within direct teaching there are six principles and they are; Daily Review, New Material, Guided Practice, Specific Feedback, Independent Practice, and Weekly and Monthly Reviews. 

Let us start with Daily Review, this just means before the teacher begins the lesson of the day they will review previously learned material, the teacher will focus a lot on homework and making sure students understand the material before moving on. 

Second is New Material, this is where the teacher focuses a lot on letting students know the objectives that they will be learning as well as breaking down the information that they are learning into smaller pieces in order to learn it quicker. 

Third we have Guided Practice, this is just how it sounds, students learn with teacher supervision using their newly learned skills. 

Fourth we have Specific Feedback; Specific Feedback is where students receive immediate feedback to both their incorrect answers as well as their correct answers. The incorrect answers are corrected immediately so that errors do not become a habit. Frequently wrong answers tell the teacher that her/his students are not yet ready for independent practice. 

Independent Practice is the fifth principle and it is very similar to guided practice besides with independent practice student’s work by themselves at home or at school. 

The sixth and final principle of Direct Teaching is Weekly and Monthly reviews, this is simply where the teacher does regular reviews that give students another chance to practice.

Cooperative Learning is when students work on activities in small groups, and they receive rewards based on the overall group performance (Sadker and Zittleman 388).” Cooperative learning works best when students are learning in groups that are heterogeneous and are small. The students should be in a circle in order to have face-to-face interaction. The rewards are earned only if the entire group reaches the goal this ensures that students work together in order to help each other learn the material. This is used in the classroom simply by letting students work in small groups; this can be used in any subject and any grade level.

Mastery Learning is, “an educational practice in which an individual demonstrates mastery of one task before moving on to the next (Sadker and Zittleman 389).” In this learning process the students do not worry about passing their current grade but rather working at their own pace and rising to their own level of learning. With this model it relies on instructional alignment which is the relation between what the teacher teaches the students and what the students are testing on. This model is great to incorporate technology with because computers allow students to work at their own pace. They also have a self-assessment feature where students can learn and take tests on the computer which would make it easier on both the student and the teacher due to the fact the student will know right away if they have the right answers and the teachers can see if the student understands and is excelling within the program.

Problem-Based Learning is, “An approach that builds a curriculum around intriguing real-life problems and asks students to work cooperatively to develop and demonstrate their solutions (Sadker and Zittleman 391).” The principles of this learning model are, learner cooperation, higher-order thinking, cross-disciplinary work, artifacts and exhibits, and authentic learning. This model gives students real-life situation that they must work together or individually to solve. Such as pollution students are giving the problem of pollution or littering around their school building they must then brain storm ideas in order to solve this problem. Students could come up with the idea to pick up trash or to start a recycling program at their school. Or to try to come up with other ideas to be green within their school and at home.

IA: Sternberg's Triarchic Theory and Nature Vs. Nurture

There is another theory on intelligence called Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory. In this theory, Sternberg labels three separate areas of intelligence: Analytic, creative, and practical.

1. Analytic intelligence- ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare and contrast
2. Creative intelligence- ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine
3. Practical intelligence- ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice.

As you may notice many of the 8 intelligences of Gardner’s theory can be categorized under the three intelligences of Sternberg’s. In fact, the analytic intelligence can be paired with linguistic and mathematical intelligences; the creative intelligence can be paired with spatial, body-kinesthetic, and musical intelligences, and the practical with the interpersonal, intrapersonal and emotional intelligences. This does exclude the naturalistic intelligence, but this demonstrates effectively the evolution of our understanding of intelligence. The following pictures are diagrams of Sternberg’s and Gardner’s theories.

   

Now all of these intelligences are very specific, and you may find yourself saying that you have the ability to demonstrate many of these. The question that you should be asking yourself is, “why don’t I have the ability to do all of them?” This question can have multiple answers, but what it all boils down to is the debate between nature vs. nurture. In other words, do your surroundings and genetics influence your intelligence or does your upbringing? 

Your genetic make-up defines what kind of eye and hair color you will have, how tall you will be, and even what your voice will sound like. Your genetics can also decide how fast your brain will develop, and, in the nature argument, even how smart you will be. There are different parts of the brain dedicated to the different types of intelligences explained earlier. If for some reason your genes have predestined one or more of these parts of the brain to develop differently then you may become stronger or weaker in that respective intelligence.

                 

                Your surroundings, nature, also play a key role in your development in the sense that if your surroundings are not healthy (i.e. pollution) then the brain could be adversely effected, and therefore your ability to develop these intellectual skills could be effected.

                

                On the other side of the argument some people attribute a person’s upbringing to being the sole contributor to their intellectual ability. How a person is raised, their nutrition, and the support they get from the community all play a factor in how a person develops cognitively.

                 

                The fact of the matter is that both nature and nurture play an important part in a person’s cognitive advancement. No single factor is more important because they all work together. If, for some reason, there is a weakness in one area then the entire development of the child is effected, and this means that intellectually the child will be affected.

IA: Gardner's Eight Frames of Mind

     There are multiple forms of intelligence a person can display, and in many cases students are strong in multiple categories; in fact there are 8 accepted forms with a 9^th contested intelligence. This theory is known as Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind. 


    Linguistic Intelligence- a student’s ability of having or pertaining to the use of vocabulary, language, and speech in creative and critical ways.

A student with a strong linguistic intelligence would be strong with creative writing, and in debate with other students as a proper knowledge of word use would benefit their presentation of thoughts and ideas. Students with this strength would find it easier to figure out word meaning in context to a topic. An example of such ability would be like being able to write a short story or write a persuasive speech. 

Logical-mathematic Intelligence- A student’s ability to grasp basic math and science skills, and to further apply such skills effectively.

A student with this strength would find math classes easier, and the material would make more sense to them. The time it would take for a student to figure out key concepts, solve problems, and derive proofs and connections to similar material would be heightened. A student would be able to apply basic scientific approaches to more complex scenarios with ease. An example of this would be considered to be placed in a high math class or solving higher degree of difficulty problems in such subjects with ease. 

Spatial intelligence- A student’s ability to see details in one’s environment, and to apply, effectively, mental imagery and imagination.

A student with this strength would have a heightened imagination, and a strong ability for mental imagery. This student would be able to find differences between similar objects with ease as this person is detail oriented. An example of this ability would be like being able to mentally picture a car and deriving a variation of the same car with an imagination.

Musical Intelligence- A students ability to demonstrate musical talent.

As a musically intelligent person, you would find playing musical instruments to be easy. Reading, writing, and understanding musical literature would also make much sense. An example of a student with this strength would be a person that can play multiple instruments, or someone that could create their own songs.

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence- A students ability to apply oneself athletically

A student with this type of ability would have increased athletic ability, and would show this skill through sports. Students with this ability can also show great dexterity and ability through dancing, pantomime, and ornate hand tricks. 

Interpersonal- A student’s ability to perceive others feelings, perceptions of self and reality, and behaviors.

A student with this strength would find it easy to see another student’s feelings, intentions, and beliefs. This student would find it easy to identify the underlying causes of the student’s emotions. This student can also use other’s moods and thoughts to influence their own.  An example of this would be a person that regularly consoles others due to the fact that they can “see” their pain, or a person that can read character or other forms of emotion.

Intrapersonal- A student’s ability to be self-aware, and in tune with ones thoughts and feelings.

A student with this strength would better understand their thoughts and feelings, and what the root cause is; in other words they would have a good understanding of causality. This person would also be able to better relate to others by being able to put themselves in others shoes. 

Naturalistic- A student’s ability to understand nature by seeing patterns and elements of nature.

A student with this intelligence can easily see patterns in nature between living and non-living entities. Their ability to place or group living and non-living entities would be heightened and classifying natural phenomena would also be heightened. This would mean that a student would be able to identify what type of rock or leaf they were looking at, and be able to match up mammal to mammal. 

Emotional Intelligence- A student’s ability to perceive and express emotion.

This intelligence is very similar to interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences in the sense that it encompasses the two intelligences.

IA: Intellectual Ability

Intellectual Ability is, defined simply, what one is able to do with his or her brain. All students have different intellectual abilities in a number of different fields. For example, some students may excel in mathematics, while others are astounding writers. Also, some students may be able to think creatively, while others think logically. It is important for educators to identify and cater to different intellectual abilities in their students.




 Intelligence Quotient (IQ): This little thing is a score derived from a number of different standardized tests. It, in a sense, is a measure of intellectual ability with the average IQ for Americans being between 70 and 130. Interestingly enough, a person's IQ score can be linked to Socioeconomic Status, which was discussed in our previous blog. You can take an IQ test at http://www.iqtest.com/ and find out your IQ score for free. After completing the test, the site will ask if you want to buy something. You do not need to buy anything to find out your score.