Assumptions: What do I know???

Johannah Buissereth
Dr. Rebecca Goldstein
May 28, 2008
CURR 423
Assumption Paper
Imagine yourself as teacher, who has been teaching in a suburban school for a while. Then, you are asked to be relocated in an urban school setting. Now, you are feeling nervous and scared because society and media have viewed urban schools with negative stereotypes. How do you overcome the negative assumptions of the urban schools?
Growing up in a suburban setting, I have heard the negative assumptions of the urban schools, but never paid attention. I have watch movies such as “Lean on Me,” “Dangerous Minds,” and other movies that dealt with the urban school settings, and I have not develop any negative assumptions. Similar to the urban schools settings, I have experience the negativity assumptions in my high school, such as low standardized testing scores, going through metal detectors, and teachers who had low tolerance for behavior.
My father teaches at Brooklyn Academy Science Environment (Base High School), formally known as Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn, New York and most students are viewed as “troublemakers.” At BASE High School, I have seen students passed through metal detectors, disrespect teachers, and students are viewed as “having no future.” As I have watched this being taken place, I have some of the teachers do not have hope for their own students.
The question a teacher should ask themselves is, “Am I ready for this challenge?” In the media, middle class teachers, who lived in the suburban area, are viewed as “superheroes in the classroom.” In the school settings, teachers are placed in a hierarchy role. Teachers are supposed to make a difference in their students’ lives, but it’s the student who has to be willing to accept the change. Most of the time, teachers are blamed by the parents of the child. Teachers are blamed because of what the media portrays them to be, especially in the urban setting. In my opinion, comparing teachers in the urban and suburban school settings, most teachers in the urban school setting are willing to help their students succeed. The reason is the teacher probably attended an urban school setting, knew what it felt to have horrible teachers, and wanted to make a difference.
Another negative assumption is the description of an urban school. For example, the movie “Lean on Me,” the movie was based on a true story; however the description of the school in the movie was graffiti on the school walls, chains on the door locked, and preventing the drug dealers from entering the schools. Most schools in the urban setting may have graffiti, but not locked chains on the door. It is a fire hazard and it is placing the students’ lives in danger. When most people see graffiti on the walls on the schools, especially in the urban setting, the school is viewed as a horrible school. Now think about it: What if there is graffiti writing on a suburban or rural school, how does society view that school? In my high school, we had graffiti written on the wall, but since we were in the suburbs it was viewed as nothing.
Finally, students who come from an urban setting have faced negative assumptions. People without an open mind have viewed students who lived in an urban setting or urban school settings have “troubled lives.” Once again, it’s the media that portrays the negativity of how students are viewed in the urban school setting. The students are portrayed as Black or Hispanic who have come from a single- parent home, or drug dealers trying to survive in the “hood.” I have friends who live in the urban setting, and their parents wanted the best for their children.
The media exaggerates the lives of students who lived in the urban setting. I lived in the suburbs and the students who lived in the suburbs go through the similar struggles as the students who come from an urban school setting. Sometimes, it is worst in the suburban school setting. Society is very close-minded because most people think the most negativity happens only in the urban setting. For example, look at the incident in Columbine High School or Virginia Tech. No one had expected these two incidents to happen.
As a future teacher to be, I have seen the best of both worlds, but experience living the life in the suburbs. It is a challenge in which I will have to face in both urban and suburban school settings. I cannot develop a close minded mind, just like the media and most of the people in our society, but develop an open my mind to new challenges and experiences. In my classrooms, students will have the opportunity to express themselves through their talent and hopefully this will help them make a difference for themselves. It may not be easy, but this will show your students that I am apart of them.
Now to reiterate the question: How do you overcome the negative assumptions of the urban schools? The solution is to develop an open mind and always prepare your self for a new challenge. Also, develop your own strategies in helping your students to retain what they are being taught. Now, it is time to open the mind of those who have negative assumptions of the urban schools settings. Lets’ make a Difference!

Memorial Day and Urban education

Memorial Day is honoring of the soliders who fought and were killed in the war. In 1865, Memorial Day was first observed by liberated slave in the Charleston (wikipedia.) The first state to recognized Memorial Day was New York in 1873(http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html). Most people have forgotten the meaning of the celebration Of Memorial Day. Memorial Day and Urban Education can be compared. Most people have forgotten the meaning of the celebration of Memorial Day. In urban education, most teachers do not make an attempt to help their students in their academics. If we make time for our students in the urban setting, they will understand the meaning of an education. Similar to show our society, the meaning of Memorial Day.

African Students in America: reconstructing new meanings of "African American" in urban education.Find More Like This

Traore, Rosemary L. "African Students in America: Reconstructing New Meanings of "African American" in Urban Education." Intercultural Education; 14.3 (2003): 1-13. 22 May 2008 . In this article, Traore shows African and African Americans faced many negative stereotypes, myths, and misperception in the urban school settings. Students who came from Africa came to America to find a better education and live a good life; however it seemed to them to be very deceiving. In Jackson High School, the Africans and African Americans are portrayed as “savages,” “jungle bunny,” and/or “heathen.” According to the article, the Africans and African American were known as violent and are hostile toward each other. The author discusses about a father who worked during the day and went to school at night to pursue his Bachelor's Degree. His children went to an urban school named, Jackson High School. As the children continued to go to Jackson High School, the father realized that his children were losing their African heritage such disrespecting their elders, and not fulfilling to their own standards. The father began to question and asked what the reason was for his children attending school, if his children were not receiving the proper education. According to the article, Traore quoted, “School are not designed to educate Africans or African Americans about Africa, but they are designed by colonial masters. The author also discusses how the media portrays the stigmatism of African. The African students are often ridiculed and categorized because of what other has seen through the media. The author wanted the readers to understand the African heritage. The author points out in the urban school settings, most teachers do not teach their students about the African Heritage. She wants to the school to start teaching about the heritage, to open the minds of the students. The author is a teacher and is making a difference in the classroom. She is educating her students about her African heritage and she will like other teachers in the urban to teach their students the same as well.

Urban Education: an Approach to Community-Based Education.Find More Like This.

James, Carl E. "Urban Education: an Approach to Community-Based Education.Find More Like This." Intercultural Education 15.1 (2004): 15-32. 22 May 2008 . James explains the role of teachers in an urban setting for teacher candidates. James focuses on the reflections of four teacher-candidates in relation to the course and their experiences teaching in the 'inner city' community. Also, with the four teachers' reflection of teaching in the urban settings it has helped to educate them in the principles and pedagogies of equitable and inclusive education which is responsive to the needs and interests of their students and takes into account the communities in which students live.

"Teacher Beliefs and Student Achievement in Urban Schools Serving African American Students."

Love, Angela, and Ann Cale Kruger. "Teacher Beliefs and Student Achievement in Urban Schools Serving African American Students." Journal of Educational Research 99.2 (2005): 87-98. 22 May 2008 . Authors Love and Kruger emphasized successful teachers of African American students create a relational and personal environment. The authors created survey items that measured teachers' culturally relevant beliefs and ascertained which items correlate with higher student achievement. Also, they surveyed teachers from six urban schools to show the success of all children, endorsed beliefs regarding a communal learning environment, teaching as giving back to the community, and the importance of students' ethnicity.

Urban Education: Challenges in Educating Culturally Diverse Children

Zhou, M. "Urban Education: Challenges in Educating Culturally Diverse Children." Teacher College Record 105.2 (2003): 208-225. 22 May 2008 . Zhou shows the readers, the challenges of educating culturally diverse children in Urban America. In this article, Zhou raised a question: Why is education of culturally diverse children an urgent issue, especially in urban school? Zhou shows his readers the reason is because most students who reside in urban settings are children of immigrants and the population in the larger cities such as New York or Los Angeles. He emphasized local and state government pay attention to enhancing the school quality and school instruction and need to pay more attention to strengthening to neighborhood social structure.

Urban Poetics: Poetry, Social Justice and Critical Pedagogy in Education.

Stovall, David. "Urban Poetics: Poetry, Social Justice and Critical Pedagogy in Education." Urban Review 38.1 (2006): 63-80. 22 May 2008
. Author David Stovall views poetry or spoken word as a positive factor in the urban school setting. It helps students who live in an urban setting to express their emotions. Poetic educators such as Tara Betts, a biracial woman from the Midwest who is teaching in the urban community or Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, an Asian poet for human condition, has taught the students to express their emotions through poetry/spoken word. Stovall expresses how students should express their emotions because it will keep them off the streets and prevent them from going to jail.

Teachers in the Hood: Fiction or Reality???

In the article, "Teacher in the 'Hood: Hollywood's Middle Class Fantasy" discusses how the teachers are portrayed as "teacher-heros" in the classroom. In other words, the teacher who enters into an urban setting and makes a difference in his or her student lives. Now the question we should asked ourselves is: Is this Fiction or Reality??? Is it fiction because of the way Hollywood portrays what a teacher SHOULD act in the classroom or make a difference in all his or her students' lives? or Is this a reality because teachers are "teacher-heros" and make a difference in the schools and in the classrooms? Welll some people say its fiction and some may say it is fiction. Some may say its fiction because they may have grew up in an urban setting and felt like the teacher never made a difference for them, they are close-minded because they may not know how teachers are in the urban settings, or Hollywood puts too much emphasis on teachers in the urban settings. Some may say its reality because maybe there was a teacher in his or her lifetime and made a difference for them, but depending if the student wants to make a difference in his or her life.

According to Bulman, he said "urban high school settings genre films have been one of Hollywood's most trusted formula." In my opinion, I believe this is a true statement. Not only in the urban high schools areas, but in urban settings such as the projects, drugs being exchange, and predominately black man are the ones who locked up or the ones selling drugs, and the black women are portrayed as having too many children or on welfare. (Ok, going off topic, but I had to write it in.) In Hollywood, these films are filled with students who come from a socially trouble background and in other people's opinion are known as the "low achieving" students. For example, the movie "Dangerous Minds," Michelle Phiferer plays the "teacher-hero" and makes a difference in her students life. Thats good because she cares about her students, however Hollywood left out plenty obstacles teachers face when trying to make a difference in his or her students' lives. It does not take an hour and half to change a students life..it can take months, or maybe years to help make a difference.

It seems that Hollywood makes everything in the urban high school setting picture perfect. Now lets talk about reality. There are some teachers who do not have that amount of experience teaching in urban schools are sometimes less respected by the students. The students believe that the teacher with less experience will not make a difference in their lives. In class, we spoke about "students who live in an urban settings do not like change because they feared they will not be able to challenge the system," but I believe students look for change. Most students who come from an urban setting look for change. Sometimes they are tired of looking at the same setting in which they live and want to live a good life. For example, my best friend lives in the projects in Paterson and everyday he wishes he lived in a safe environment. He wants something different and so he applied himself in graduating high school and is currently student at Montclair State University, however, he feels that he will always stay in the projects.

Hollywood does portrayed some reality in the urban high school settings. For example, the struggle and the change of a student's mind. Not just student in the urban setting suffer from not achieveing to their educational goal, but students in the suburban and rural suffer, also. The reason Hollywood focus on the urban setting is once again it portrays poverty, drugs, and students who feel they can not amount to anything.

Now the question we should ask ourselves: How can we should the producers of Hollywood, urban high school students and setting are not the ones with difficulty in school? We should try to convince them about the suburban and rurals areas? Lets think about it and make a difference.

The Promise of Urban Schools

In the article, "The Promise of Urban Schools" Annenberg Senior Fellows program is a way to develop greater understanding of the ways high-quality urban education enriches all aspect of public life and serves as a powerful expression of democracy. In this article, the Senior Fellows developd five analytical leanses to guide their research. This techniques is the five lenses or Agency to bring about Equity and social justice through effective and culturally sensitive links between Instruction and curriculume and their actual as well as potential Outcomes and impact, with a particular emphasis on Urban condition and contexts or it is short coded for AEIOU. The central purpose of schools in democratic way to help students to be active participants in public life. Agency is the power to understand, act on, and effect positive change in one's personal and social context. Successful urban educators have find ways to connect construction of knowledge in the classroom with language, music, poetry, and other cultural forms. The educators have find a cultural form in which students are able to express themselves. In a situation like this, students are able to express themselves and appreciate the purpose of education. Most scholars look at the down side of school desegregation for the children and families. For example, African American teachers and principles are being demoted or fired. Too many urban schools were operated as "lock-down." An example of a lock down is Eastside High School, where Joseph Clark, principle of Eastside High School locked down the school to prevent drug dealers and prevent outside crime from entering his school. The term"Lock Down" is another way for the school to seem organized and structure to control students rather than to liberate, enable, and inspire them. Lke schools in all communities, urban schools must be held to high standards.