Week : Citizenship

What examples of citizenship education do you remember from your K-12 schooling?

I remember talking about being helpful and volunteering in the community, and this would have been an example of the us being taught to be a “Personally responsible citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 3).

There were also classes that would have taught me to be a better “Participatory Citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 4), but because I didn’t realize their purpose until reading this article, I didn’t take those classes.

What types of citizenship (e.g. which of the three types mentioned in the article) were the focus?

“Personally Responsible Citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 3), was the main focus I was taught about in elementary school. When we needed to do fundraising like Unicef, they would always say that we need to be grateful for what we have, and we should want to help children who are less fortunate than we are. And w talked a lot about helping others or ways that we could help in the community, an example of this was my class would go to the old folks home and walk with them around town, and talk with them. This made their days, and my grandma’s friends would tell her about how it made their day. And earing that made our volunteer days a lot more rewarding.

Explore what this approach to the curriculum made (im)possible in regards to citizenship.

It wasn’t very formal so it was more like a hidden curriculum that was expected for us to learn, rather than something we needed to be taught. And in my personal experience it was something that was being introduced to at a young age. One way was me and my community coming together to help me raise donations towards the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation , and this happened from my second birthday until my tenth. This hidden curriculum was made somewhat impossible sometimes because not all children in the classroom had as much money, and were able to help out as much s others. This made them a bit apprehensive to help out, and that made it hard for my teachers to handle the situation because it becomes more awkward.

Braiding Assignment

The connections I made were with Aimee‘s and Taylor‘s love letters.  I connected to these stories because the three of us wrote to our grandparents, thanking them for being ecoliterate, and trying their best to save the earth. One thing that all three of our letters had in common was that our grandparents all grew their own food at one point in their lives. From them doing that we learned about working for the things we need, and understood the gratification that came from being able to enjoy that hard work. A connection Aimee and I made were how our grandparents did not rely on certain elements that many cannot live without today. And we admire them for this ability because they enjoy/ed the smaller things in life, and did not see the need for all those extras. Something that Taylor and I both connected with were the special connections we had with our grandparents, and how those special relationships will last a lifetime.

Although there were many things we connected on in our love letters, there were many things that we differed on. From the way Aimee and Taylor wrote their letters, I assume the recipients of these letters are still alive, and sadly my great-grandpa passed away almost sixteen years ago.   Something that I differed on from both Aimee and Taylor was that they talked about many experiences they shared with their grandparents, while I reflected on the lifestyle of my great-grandpa. One difference I had was that I asked my great-grandpa questions about if he would enjoy the lifestyle I live compared to the life he lived and became accustomed to before his passing.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013)., talks about how her father shared important knowledge with her, which was, “”We’ve got a lot to be grateful for, and we all have to do our part to keep it going. (p. 169)” An obvious difference between Kimmerer’s quote and my love letter is that her father is speaking to her, and my letter is written to my great- grandpa, but that does not take way from the connections it does have.  My great-grandpa helped build my family farm, and because he worked so hard for what he wanted, and was so passionate about it, the farm was built strong, and is still in the family, and will be in the future. This connects to the quote because Kimmerer’s father talks about being grateful, and my family is grateful for the work our ancestors put into the farm, and gave us a farm to work hard on and be proud of. This also connects to the second part of the quote because if my grandpa decided he did not want to be a farmer, or one of my siblings chose  not to farm, than our century farm (which is now around one hundred and twenty years old) would not be running anymore, and many years of hard work would be wasted, and that means we have a family and moral obligation to keep the farm in the family.

References:

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.

Week Five.

Before reading: How do you think curricula is developed?

I think that a curriculum is written in the mindset of what a teacher and student should be able to cover in full every year, without excuse. And if you aren’t able to do this, than the students will be behind he next year because that was the precursor to the next course. I also believe that while teachers may have some input in the writing of the curriculum the main influences are both the government and the officials who haven’t necessarily been in a classroom for a while, or at all. And this can make it difficult for teachers to achieve somewhat unachievable standards.

After reading:

1. How are school curricula developed and implemented?  Members of the cabinet will offer ideas of things that should be added to the curriculum and the ideas will discussed. Schools or school districts may be able to have a say in their curriculum (pg. 16). Test scores will also be used as an influence of how the curriculum is written, so if a large amount of students score lower on multiplication, then the new curriculum will show this,
2. What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of school curriculum? That test scores will be taken into consideration then implemented in the revised curriculum.
3. Is there anything that surprises you or maybe that concerns you?  I never realized how much influence the government really had on the way that curriculum is created. It concerns me about the test scores being used to revise the curriculum, this means that the students who struggled won’t be in the that grade. and so they are not benefitting from the revisions.

Love Letter.

Dear Great-Grandpa,

How are you? I bet that if you looked down from heaven things would seem a lot different from when you left us, or from when you were a young man…? I can imagine that the carbon footprint that you left upon this earth is a lot smaller than mine will be by the time I pass away. The way that your family grew their own food and you weren’t as dependant on commercial companies as our family is now, is something to think about, and think about why this seems unachievable . I wish that I was able to have a garden and grow my own food, like I am able to do while on the farm, unfortunately that will have to wait until I have moved again.

I also loved how you and Great-Grandma didn’t rely on a lot of electronics and electricity. That makes me very happy because many people who grew up without all those luxuries, would typically abuse them without worry of the effects it would have later in life. I wonder what you would think about the way the world is like right now? They way we are all so reliant on big companies in order to get our everyday needs, and there isn’t a lot that people do for themselves anymore.

Do you think that you would prefer this way of life, over the way you lived as a young man? Sometimes I wish that I could have lived around the time you started taking over the farm. I just think that having to work for the things you need is very fulfilling and I people now a days were to work towards the things they need we may not have such a pollution issue right now. I think that this would be true, but there isn’t really a way to find out…

I miss you Grandpa,

Love, Leeza.

Blog #4: Students

Using the way we have defined “commonsense” in the lectures, “commonsense” is stories that we hear and accept them as truth . As for a student learning “commonsense” stories in the classroom, there are many characteristics that students must have to be considered to be a “good student”. The first thing a “good student” needs to be compliant, and if they are then the students will not reject the stories they are being told, and will accept the story as truth. Another attribute a “good student” must have is they must be “blind” to the truth or opposing view of the story they are being told. By doing this they aren’t opening up their minds to a complete history and will not accept anything other than the narrative they have been told repeatedly throughout their life. The final thing a “good student” needs to be is well behaved. This means that they are good listeners and will not disrupt the class with distractions.

Students that are privileged because of “commonsense” stories are the white middle or upper class students that are not affected by these stories in negative ways. These students that will tend to accept these stories also tend to be in positions of power when they grow up, and these “commonsense” stories influence the ways they run their lives and their work.

One thing that is hard to see past when children are taught to believe these “commonsense” stories, they tend to believe biases and stereotypes that have been created because of “commonsense” stories, and will never believe anything other than those stereotypes, unless the stories are disrupted.