The Vagina Monologues

I know...for those of you who do not know what this is, you are probably wondering what in the world this is and why am I blogging about it. Well, the Vagina Monologues is a group of women who interview women and ask them questions like, "If your vagina could get dressed what would it wear?" or "If your vagina could talk, what would it say?" Actually, this is all a part of the act of the Vagina Monologues. They use these interviews as comedic relief/satire to convey a very powerful message. The Vagina Monologues are advocates for what is called V-Day; a day in which women reclaim peace. According to the pamphlet I received,
V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anit-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual slavery. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina.

At the beginning of the show I found myself cringing at the multiple uses of the word "vagina," but I soon became intrigued by the messages in which they were trying to portray in their acts. Most acts were very funny and received great responses from the audience (of mostly women, I should add). Other acts were more serious and described the violence of women in third-world countries. It is terrible to think of the experiences women are going through and the violence and terror they face. In these acts I actually started crying, trying to picture these women as permanently damaged or ruined as a result to overly-excited, cruel men.

The Vagina Monologues were very empowering, and made me realize that it is important to formulate a classroom in which violence (against either girls or boys) is prohibited. Today we are seeing an abundance of messages that exhibit violence: tv/movies, video games, child's play, etc. As future teachers, we need to figure out a way to speak to our students about handling conflicts in such a way so to prevent further violence.

Are Americans Falling Behind?

Until recently, the United States has been the most advanced (cognitively, technologically, militarily) nation. Currently, however, we seem to be competing with China. The following is a bothersome fact about students in the United States compared to students in China. It shows that the United States is not placing as much emphasis on one's education like that of other countries, such as China.

• Fewer than 40,000 students in the United States study Chinese, a language spoken by 1.3 billion people. Almost all students study English.

This makes sense because English is an internationally-known language, and is critical to learn if one wants to make a living not only in the United States, but in other English-speaking countries as well. As US citizens, however, we do not understand how much we benefit from having the world accommodate to our language. By requiring students internationally to learn English, it shows that the United States is the center of authority. If it were some other country who out-ranked the US, one that spoke an uncommon language differing from our own, then we would be the ones to include it in our schools' curriculums. We would have to teach it to our students so that they could reap the benefits of knowing two languages in order to succeed in life.

I think it is really important for students to know two languages; perhaps they would not have to be fluent in both, but they would benefit from knowing two languages over a person who knows just one. In other countries they make sure that their students are learning two languages simultaneously at the earliest age of first grade. Some might argue that the child does not have the proper brain capacity to understand two languages, but I think that is misleading. If we teach students at the lower levels of school (kindergarten through third grade) where a student's brain is like a sponge, in that it soaks in, so to speak, so much information that will be remembered for life, and will later on just be second nature. But, no, the US has to introduce students to foreign languages in high school. This is an issue in itself because some bigger schools have many languages to offer: Spanish, French, German, Norwegian, Chinese, Japanese; while other smaller schools may only have two options or one option of learning Spanish. Don't get me wrong, with the increasing number of immigrants in the US, it is important for us, as US citizens, to learn Spanish so to cooperate effectively with minority students and their families.

I think the US needs to be wiser in their goals for education. We are falling behind. Test scores comparing Chinese students to American students prove that the Chinese are more advanced and demanding in their academic studies. If we continue with the No Child Left Behind Act, the quality of a US education will diminish greatly. It is sad that the United States offers an education to EVERYONE, and there are students who do not appreciate the advantages of having an education. Instead, they slack off, miss school, and waste tax payers' money as well as their teachers' and parents' time. Meanwhile, kids over in China are working very diligently and at a very high academic level, that which surpasses the United States; and we wonder why we are falling behind....hmm...let's think about it.

Freedom Writers

I had the opportunity to see the movie "Freedom Writers" over my J-term break. It was an excellent movie and is currently one of my favorites. I really feel as though I can relate to that teacher; I aspire to be a teacher in the near future, only I prefer to be an middle school English or elementary teacher.
This movie was very inspiring. It makes me realize how important it is for teachers to get to know their students outside of the classroom (i.e. personal, family, extra-curricular). The teacher in "Freedom Writers" was a first-year teacher with no previous experience. She was placed in probably the most difficult situations in which a first-time teacher could be placed--or any teacher for that matter. It takes place back in the 1990s, I believe, during the Rodney King revolts in Los Angelas, California. During this time, racism was a critical issue. If you were not White then your life was pretty much jeopardize if you should come in contact with an opposing race--one that is not your own. This means that Hispanics, African-Americans, Latinos, Chinese-Americans were all at risk. The teacher's goal in this movie is to inspire her students to want to learn--because in the beginning, they do not really care that they are getting an education and do not see its advantages. The teacher is very successful in unifying her classroom; making the students overcome the differences between races and see that they all have something in common, despite the difference in ethnicity/race.
It really is a great movie, one in which I highly recommend, especially to potential teachers/educators. The movie shows that if we all work together and forget or appreciate the differences between ourselves and others, then we can make a difference; be heroes.

Purpose of Teaching

So, I've been asked to provide answers to the following questions:

1. Why do we teach?
2. What is the difference between school "work" and student "learning"?
3. What makes for good teaching

To answer the first question, I believe we teach because it is an innate quality among human beings. Most people love to learn and experience new things and are so willing to be taught everything. Teaching enables us to broaden our horizons and be more open-minded to everything taking place in our world. We teach because it gives us a sense of higher knowledge and then when we communicate that knowledge to those uninformed, we are given a sense of pleasure and excitement knowing that we contributed to a person's learning process. There are no limitations on acquiring knowledge or teaching, which makes both learning and teaching fun. Teaching is, in itself, a learning process; when we are the educators passing on our knowledge to others, we have no way of preparing ourselves for the questions they will ask. Thus, we have to anticipate, as teachers/educators, the variety of people we are educating and that each individual learns differently. We should be prepared to answer any questions they are willing to ask us and always have an answer--even if it is a simple, "I don't know, but I can get back to you on that." Teaching is a part of a person's development. growing process. We base everything in life on what we learn, which is a never-ending process; for every day is a new lesson, we just have to take advantage of that opportunity to learn.

There are some similarities yet very big differences between school "work" and a student's "learning." It is only natural to assume that when we are assigned homework, the sole purpose of it is to take something away from it--learn from it. But, over the years, I have definitely noticed that some people abuse this privilege and feel obligated to finish their homework, instead of looking at it as a learning opportunity. A student's work should be completed as a task, yet not just to obey the teacher, but also for that individual's own benefit. Homework requires students to take a new objective/idea and ponder it, see what impact it has on their own life, and what it enables them to do with that information. Can they use it in their daily lives? Does it affect how they think or feel on a regular basis? Sometimes work is taken for its face value and nothing more. People do (or don't do) their homework to satisfy the teacher, or to just get it completed and move on with their day. But they don't realize that by not regarding their work as a learning opportunity, they are then forfeiting their chance to be a wise, knowledgeable person.

There are many aspects to good teaching. In fact, if you think about the good teachers (even some of the bad ones), and really thought about what made them such effective teachers, you would probably notice that each teacher had their own strategies of teaching. Some stategies perhaps contrast with others; but in the end, what matters is that they got through to you and had such an impact on you that, perhaps, you hope to incorporate some of their strategies into your own teaching. Some dimensions of teaching that I think are crucial are: caring, bonding/relationships, respect, discipline or sense of authority, creativity/fun, and a child-based curriculum.

Teachers have to care about their students and the process with which they acquire knowledge. Educators must know in depth about the child's family background. By doing so, the teacher is enabling him/herself to learn what makes the child "tick," if you will; what drives the student to behave or learn in a particular way. Connecting with the students, but keeping your distance and not being a student's best friend, will make for an effective classroom. There has to be a mutual respect and understanding about the rules of the classroom and what is going to be taking place, education-wise, in there. Teachers should be creative, because it allows students to think "outside the box" and have more fun in their learning. Creativity and fun evokes excitement to learn within the student. The more excited a student is to learn, the more apt they will be involved in the classroom activities, and the more successful and knowledgeable they will be in the future. Having a curriculum which is focused around the students is important. By creating activities that are appealing to the students--ones in which students will really enjoy partaking and being involved--you are thus setting yourself and the students up for an effective learing environment. It is also important that students understand the content of your material, or what it is you are trying to teach. At a certain age students begin questioning the purpose of the material or if it will ever be significant to their own lives; depending on the answer with which you provide them, it could have an everlasting effect on their lives. If they understand that the material is critical to their overall knowledge then they will use this knowledge effectively. On the contrary, if a student does not understand how the material can be applied to his/her own life, then the passion for learning is dissolved. That is why it is important for you, as a teacher, to take the material and apply it to the life of your students so they recognize its purpose in everyday-life. It is very hard to motivate students to learn; it is nothing you can force upon them.