After going through the first 57 pages, I found Olsen's portrayal of Madison High School very eye-opening and easily visible for the reader. Her opening with the historical citings of the school and the change in demographics was very useful for the background into her research.
"... the need of "us" versus the drain of serving "them."" (Olsen, 14)
This quote stuck out to me as a future educator because I feel a lot of time we forget to teach TO our students, rather AT them. We get caught in this routine that isn't always the best for our students. I feel that we as teachers need to find out what is the best way to teach our students. We need to find means of helping students retain the material, going out of our teaching routine and instructing students in a new way, because the way we are doing it now is not working.
"You have to stay on one side or another. If you try to be in the middle, you are stoned from all sides." (Olsen, 54)
I feel that a lot of students, especially ELL students, think that they have to choose to either follow in the ways of being "American" or to not be. You can't juggle both or else you won't be accepted by either side. It's a sad truth, but we as teachers can try to guide our students to embrace other cultures. Students need to know that there's a big world out there, and it's best that we teach it to our students.
So far, so good though. I am enjoying the read. Blog you all soon!
-Tommy T.
No comments:
Post a Comment