The Lost Boys

After watching the Lost Boys videos I have to say that I was very surprised about what I learned. I had in fact heard about them back when it was going on but I never really looked into it any further. I had heard that what was happening to these boys was horrific and I just could not bring myself to look into it any further, so I was not aware of the actual reasoning for the conditions they were facing in Sudan. One of the things that both surprised me and amazed me was that these boys were between the ages of 5 and 11 years old and had the stamina to make the journeys that they made. Some of the negative experiences that they had during their journeys were the fact that they had no food or water, and that they did the journeys barefoot. Most of them had lost their families and had no one to look out for them. One of the worst experiences that they faced was the memory of what they saw or had happened to them in Sudan. You can run from where it happened but you cannot run from the memories. After experiencing life in a refugee camp, which in itself can be a negative experience, some of the lucky ones came to America. Coming to America for them was a challenge because they had never used and utensils, or knew what lights were. As it was stated in the video they were coming from real life almost into a fantasy world. The modern world was very hard for them to grasp. The men in the video made the adjustment to life in this country very well. Things were a challenge for them but they persevered. The narrator did state that not all of the men that came over were as lucky. Some of the men were addicted to drugs or alcohol, and a few were in jail.

If I had any of these boys in my class two of the ways that I would help them would be to work with them in daily living skills. This is definitely a population that needed that. Another very important way that I would help them would be to teach them the hidden curriculum of the school. These boys would have never stepped foot inside of a school and this would be very helpful for them in order to succeed.  

The Stories that Bind Us

After reading the article “The Stories that Bind Us” I agree with what the article said. The findings were that if children know about their family’s background they are more able to deal with stress better and perform better when faced with challenges. I agree that children need to know the stories of their families and it is not always good to “hide the skeletons in the closet”, it is part of their family history and things should not be pushed under to rug. Sometimes it is the challenges that can pull a family together and make them even stronger. The article also discussed that fact that corporations are developing mission statements for their employees so that they too can work better and form stronger alliances, and having one for the family will work too. This I am not so sure maybe a good idea because unfortunately people do die or move away and generations change and new families are created. Having a strong sense of family instilled at a young age, and nothing hidden from each other I believe will give children the strength they need to grow and mature, and is one of the best things you can do for your children.

As for using the implications of the study to create projects for students I believe might be hard. First of all I plan on teaching very low functioning students with autism (basically I will be teaching daily living skills) and their cognitive ability for this type of project will probably not be up to par. If however, I am in a classroom that will allow for this type of project, I think I would have the students develop a family tree and then let them present it to the class with one story from their family about struggles that might have occurred. Once the students have presented all their stories I think I would then have an open discussion on how the things that have happened in the families can help to create success for themselves and or their family.

 1. Storytelling is a great way for children to learn lessons, ways to navigate through social norms of the world and most important reading, comprehension and language. They identify key images and important moments by keeping it simple and the endings have an important point to take away, or an answer to a real problem. Both of these stories contained these points and are very well presented so that children can make real life connections, giving an even stronger understanding of the world around them. These two stories are not only educational but entertaining as well. By having stories entertaining it keeps the child or children focused on the story.  

2. While watching the Russian story The Four Friends the first time I was reminded of one of Aesop’s fables, The Lion and the Mouse. In the Russian story the mouse was the one animal that was able to rescue other animals from hunters. In The Four Friends, however there was a stronger moral of friendship and how all the animals worked together to help each other. The crow tells the story of how the mouse rescued a group of doves and after that the deer gets caught. When the deer does not return to meet with his friends the crow goes looking for him and finds him in a net. The crow carries the mouse back to chew through the net and while this is happening the tortoise gets caught. The deer then pretends to be dead so the hunter goes to him. The mouse has rescued the tortoise and then the deer runs off. The hunter gets so scared that he then runs away.

In The Lion and the Mouse, the mouse was also able to rescue the lion after being captured by hunters. I felt that the Russian story, however gave a stronger moral to the meaning of friendship and “don’t underestimate the strength of the little people”. 

3. Bedtime stories are a great way for children to prepare not only for school but other environments as well. It will also prepare them for participation in a literacy setting. “A bedtime story is a major literacy event which helps set patterns of behavior that recur repeatedly through the life of mainstream children and adults”. There are seven ways that a child learns from having been read to. It teaches children to give attention to books, acknowledges questions about books, and teaches them to respond to conversational allusions of the content of the books. Children also learn to use their knowledge of what books do to legitimate their departures from truth, they learn to accept book and book related activities as entertainment, and preschoolers learn to announce their own factual and fictive narratives. By the time children are usually three years old they have also learned to listen and wit as an audience. One of the first ways is that a child learns how to interact which is very important for school. When a child is being read to, very frequently the reader will ask the typical “wh” questions and the child will answer which fosters “alternate turns in dialogue”, and “ is socialized into the initiation-reply-evaluation sequences which is the structural feature of a classroom”. Storytelling also fosters labeling of objects which will teach the child how to resolve conflict between two dimensional and three dimensional objects. But one of the most important elements that storytelling will teach is “reading for comprehension. Without being able to understand what is being read can impact a child and their learning not just in school, but for the rest of their life.

After watching the video Becoming American and listening to the stories of how the casts families came to America, I realized I could never have made the trips. One person's grandmother came from I believe Ireland and spent 3 weeks in steerage. The immigrants of that time must have had a strong determination  to come here in search of a better life to be able to make those trips. Most of those people left their families behind, knowing that they would never see them again, "slamming the doors on the past, leaving no trace to their roots". The sacrifices they made amaze me.  Once they got here a lot of them faced such hostility but yet they persevered, not realizing the impacts that they were making on future generations and helping to make America, as Steven Colbert said "great".  I am not really sure when my families came to America but I am very thankful that they did so that eventually I was able to grow up in America. It scares me to think that is just one of my ancestors never made the trip or had something happen to them on the trip that it could have changed generations after them.

Dr.Oz stated in the beginning of the video "it's spectacular that you have the opportunity to marry cultures together because win you can see the world from different perspectives you are better off"and I    whole heartedly agree with him. I love the fact that America is built on a "melting pot".

After watching “A Class Divided” I actually feel that this experiment did indeed teach the children what it is like to be segregated. Teachers can try to explain what it is like but until you actually experience it for yourself you cannot understand. Seeing the children change in a matter of minutes and their academics suffer proves that they were indeed experiencing what it truly feels like.

After listening to the children who are now adults I realized that the experiment did work for them. One of the woman even explained how she was teaching her children not to be racist, and her husband agreed with her. All of the grown students talked about how the experiment changed their views on racism and segregation for the better; to me this proves that the experiment did in fact work.

The problem than lies in was this the correct way to approach teaching this lesson. Part of me feels like it is a good way, but then part of me feels that this was not a good way. I am truly stuck. I do believe that the best way for children to learn is to have the actual experience but I am torn that this was a little too dramatic. If there was a way to modify this experiment so that the children can still learn the same affect, I believe that that would be the better way to go.

After watching all of the clips that Norine Dresser presented, I was reminded of all of the aspects of a multicultural class that I took at Molloy as an undergraduate. Everything that she talked about I was taught in this class. We were assigned different cultures, had to research our culture and then present to the class what we learned. We were also required to prepare a brochure explaining the culture, what teachers should know about these different cultures and tips for teaching a student from these cultures, for everyone in the class so that we could have those to refer to if in fact we did have a student from a different cultural background. I kept mine. Having these brochures will be a tremendous help if I have a student from one of these many backgrounds. I believe and agree with the things that Ms. Dresser talked about and their importance for teachers to be aware of when teaching a student from a different background. Investigating the traditions and beliefs can prevent many mistakes from being made. Some of the mistakes that can be made can be hurting a child's feelings, or even more so that child can fail at all that they are trying to do. Not only does a teacher have to worry about the student but they must also worry about a relationship with the parents or guardians. Insulting a parent can lead to a strained relationship and that will not be in the best interest of the child.

Native American Videos

The last of the mohicans was a video that we watched in class last week.  It showed how some of the colonists and this tribe of indians were able to get along and live along side each other. This however was not the only tribe that did get along with colonists. The section of the video that we watched actually showed how the indians stepped in and saved some of their lives after being attacked by another tribe.
This next video that we were required to watch was how a school treated a native american child who was sent to their school. Unfortunately this boy was not treated the way any child should be treated. He was forced to give up his culture, even being hit everytime he spoke in his native language. He was made to wear a "dunce cap" and cut his hair off. This is a far cry from the way the native americans should have been treated after the way that some tribes did infact help and treat americans. If  this is not an acceptable reason that the child should have been treated with respect, then the fact that he is a human being should be a reason alone. No matter what someone's cultural background is should not be a reason to torment someone to conform to our way of life.