THE STRANGER

A few months before I was born my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me to love the Word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening.

He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, my brother, and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars. The stranger was incessant talker. Dad didn't seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up--while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places--go to her room, read her Bible, and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.

You see, my Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house -- not from us, from our friends, or from adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted.

My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home--not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man/woman relation- ship were influenced by the stranger.

As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time, he opposed the values of our parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and he was never asked to leave. More than forty years have passed since the stranger moved in with us, but if I were to walk into my parent's home today, I would still see him sitting there waiting for someone to listen to his stories and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?...We always just called him.......TV.

Author Unknown

Talking Points #4 Quotes

                       Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us

                               By Linda Christensen

   Dose the content of children's books and movies instruct young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these stories and media? Are they giving our children a distorted secret education?

   

"True death equals a generation living by rules and attitudes they never questioned and producing more children who do the same." (p.129)

“if the race of the character is the only thing changing, injustices may still remain”. (P.132) 

  
   Both of Cinderella and Snow white these tales leave young women with two myths- Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through conforming to the pressure of consumption-in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle. In Peter Pan the representation of men, women, people of color, and poor people are very up front, even with a boys club and changing a girl to look like a boy to fit in. Another story that comes to mind is Little Red Riding Hood. The girl in the story in is depicted as dumb and naive, I mean how many times is she going to let the wolf in the house? No one in their right mind would let a stranger in the once but in the story she dose over and over, and who mistakes a wolf for their grandmother…C’mon!

   I am uncomfortable with those messages. I don't want students to believe that change can be bought at a store, also i don't want them thinking that the goal of a woman's life is an "I do" that supposedly leads them to a "happily ever after." A man should not be the answer to a happy life or success. Also our Female students should not see their "sister’s" as competition like in Cinderella, but as part of their support team in life.

   We as educators need to find new ways in challenging the servant/master relationships or the materialism that makes women appealing to their men or the men appealing to their women. Maybe by having our students dissect these texts and write about the good and the bad that may come from  them as innocent as they may seem.

   I have watched all these children’s movies and have read many children’s books. Having two children of my own that have done the same, It is our job as parents to convey that these stories and media are forms of entertainment not a blueprint for life by any means.

An té a bhíonn ag magadh, bíonn a leath faoi féin. (When a person mocks other people, half of the mockery is towards himself.) Ghaeilge 

Starts with us!

http://www.stopbullying.gov/educators/

Talking Points #3 Hyperlinks: GLESN

    A Day of Silence is the largest student-led action towards creating a safer school for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression of gender. On April 15, 2011, students across the country took a vow of silence to call attention to the "silencing effect" of anti-LGBT bullying in schools.

     No matter what sexual orientation or expression of a gender one may have, they do have equal rights to the education in this country. So why is it that anti-LGBT bullying is so high? The victims of this abuse do not feel comfortable in school when they do attend. A main problem is children that are being harassed are not going to their classes where they are being bullied or not going to school at all. This is a huge problem. The education environment should be conducive for all students, not just the jocks, or the so-called straight, good kids. It should be for everyone. Children are not raising their hands when a question arises because of the way their speech may sound. Sometimes the teacher will not call on a child specifically because of this reason. I think this is ridiculous! As a future educator it is and will be my job to embrace all types of people I have in my classroom. Everyone has the power and privilege of free speech. Unfortunately some are not using theirs because of the way they may sound. Some children fear that they may offend someone or get harassed.

     On this day of silence students around the country are giving up their voices for all of the voices that are not heard at all because of harassment. The first step is to end this practice. So as future educators it is our job to embrace the voice that they do have. This needs to occur no matter what it may sound like. I completely support A Day of Silence. This I hope to have a full day implemented during the curriculum where the classes participate in completing the activities using another way to communicate with their peers.

You can download GLSEN’s Safe Space Kit at     

http://www.glsen.org/cgibin/iowa/all/library/record/1641.html

Here are some links for more information on this interesting method.

http://www.dayofsilence.org/ 

http://www.studentorganizing.org/

Talking Points #2: Reflection

           “Teaching Multilingual Children” by Virginia Collier and “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez are both very interesting texts. All of my classmates in FNED 346 will come across students who do not speak much if any English at all. Teaching English as ones primary language has its advantages and disadvantages in the school system. On one hand, teaching all children English at an early age will prepare them for today’s society. For someone getting a job in the US, it is imperative that they can speak the primary language of English. Thus our school systems are preparing the youth with a bilingual education.

            On the other hand I have a problem with what the family portrayed did. They allowed the school to dictate what culture they would be or conform to. Yes, it is beneficial for a young student who does not speak English to learn it. But it is also important to not strip the family of their native language. Schools help mold a bilingual student and enable them to have a better chance of employment later in life.

            These readings reminded me of the displacement of the Native Americans that were stripped of their language, appearance, and culture as a whole by the white man. Native American children were put in boarding schools to learn the white man’s language. After schooling was completed they were released into the world. Most of them tried to go back to their families that were left behind but now they realized that it was harder because they had been transformed into “Good Indians.” In reality, there was nothing good about going back to their tribe and not being able to communicate. They had been stripped of their native language and couldn’t understand it anymore. Being stripped of your language to conform to a society is never right. Bilingual education is a very rewarding system if every language is embraced.

            The two main questions that I have in teaching to a multilingual class are probably common for most educators. How do you teach English in a way that respects and affirms the multiple home languages and dialects represented among students in class? How do you affirm the cultural values of both the home and school? “Teaching Multilingual Children” by Virginia Collier is a great answer key. “Language is enchanting, powerful, magical, useful, personal, natural, and all-important” (181). She further goes on to explain that the reason to use a whole bunch of activities in the classroom is to eliminate the boredom, raise awareness, and to make language teaching as well as learning as culturally relevant as possible for all students.

Inspirational

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Talking Point #1 Kozol

     The text "Amazing Grace" by Kozol was a piece of writing that most people would finish asking themselves if this happens in real life. The answer to this would be yes! "Do people of color believe that they are being shunned or hidden by society" (Kozol, 3)? This is happening by keeping the poor all together in the same neighborhoods. This occurs even if half of the population of these areas are infected with the HIV virus. It is awful that children that are born with this disease are placed in the same areas of children that are not infected. This makes it inevitable that these children will grow up and contract this illness. A trip to the hospital could be somethimes deadly. Handing out condoms and clean needles to the prostitutes promotes the illegal activities that results in having to quarantine these people apart. Dirty needles and infected homeless people in the neighborhood playground is not how most of us grew up. Unfortunately this is a harsh reality of today's society we live in. "Somebody has power, pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil" (Kozol, 23).

     "I wonder how powerful God is. He must be wise and powerful to make the animals and trees and give man organs and a brain to build complex machineries, but He is not powerful enough to stop the evil on the earth, to change the hearts of the people" (Kozol, 23). It was nice to hear that the children in this past community had a safe place to go in St Anne's Church. It was here where they could go inside and close out the filthy streets full of death and crime. Just having something to believe in can make a huge difference to a child that witnesses murders, and drug deals. It is so common for them to see these things it does not seem to phase them when they are talking about them. This is a sad reality but with a bright light of belief and prayer children can find a way to escape the sad reality of their lives.

My life as of now

My name is Phil Kenney and I am in my junior year at Rhode Island College. I am majoring in Physical/Health Education. My life has always revolved around sports. I currently coach Pop Warner football in Portsmouth, RI. I am a husband and father of two boys. I like all sports and love to spend time doing active things with my family. I am eager to gain and spread knowledge in this great field of education.

Phil