Week #12

 Course Overview

Lisa Delpit: 

    Lisa Delpit had a significant impact on me this semester. Her research compels future educators to critically examine their own biases and understand how different teaching methods can inadvertently disadvantage students of color and those from low-income households. Ultimately, Delpit challenges these college students to honor and incorporate a child's home culture, and to explicitly teach the dominant codes of communication and behavior necessary for academic and societal success.

Card Game: 

    The card game was by far my favorite activity of the semester. The lesson of the game itself was obvious, except that the class was more focused on the rules and understanding the game. I then understood that judging doesn't get anybody anywhere when everyone comes from a different set of rules and standards. 

Jeopardy:

    As comfortable as I felt in this class and as much as I loved this activity, I still found myself limiting how much I spoke or advocated for my team. This was important to realize because it taught me how I need to be more comfortable with having the idea of being wrong in front of more than just myself. Competitive games are not my style, but watching both teams work together and help each other out was fun to experience and watch. 

Week #2

READ:  

Khan, Chapter 2: The Broken Model

WATCH:  

Short History of American School

Reflection

Focusing on what he argues in Chapter 2, “The Broken Model,” and what that means for how we think about schools and learning. Reading “The Broken Model” is unsettling in an important way. It forces you to see how much of what we take for granted in education isn’t grounded in what helps students learn deeply, but in historical routines and systems that were built for very different purposes. Khan describes the traditional school structure as designed more to produce obedience, uniformity, and workforce-readiness than curiosity, mastery, or meaningful learning.  One of his key critiques, what he calls “Swiss Cheese Learning,” really stuck with me. We often move students forward based on the clock: a semester, a school year, or even a class period, instead of on their genuine understanding. What we end up with is a patchwork of partial knowledge: lots of students drifting forward without closing the gaps that matter.

Watching this short history felt less like a nostalgic glance backward and more like a challenge to ask why we organize learning the way we do. The film traces how school as we know it, public, compulsory, standardized, didn’t always exist: before the 1800s, many children learned informally, at home or through apprenticeship. Formal, government-mandated schooling gradually emerged in response to industrialization, immigration, and concerns about social order. What stands out is how the original purpose of this transformation was as much social as educational: to shape a unified citizenry, to instill common values and basic literacy, and to assimilate, especially immigrant and working-class children, into a shared national identity. That history invites reflection: if schools were created with those social aims in mind, often emphasizing conformity, standardization, and “what all children should know by a certain age,” then perhaps some of the problems people critique today (rigidity, lack of relevance, inequality, alienation) are baked into the structure.

Both the video and Khan’s chapter highlight that the structure of American schooling is not natural or inevitable; it was constructed for specific historical purposes, and those purposes no longer align with the learners' needs. The video shows how early American schools were shaped by industrialization, immigration, and a desire for social order and conformity. Khan’s argument picks up exactly where that history leaves off. He explains that the standardized, time-based model we still use is essentially an industrial-era system that prioritizes efficiency and uniformity over true learning. What connects them most strongly is the idea that the system was never designed around how children actually learn. The video illustrates how schooling evolved to meet societal needs, producing disciplined workers and assimilated citizens. Khan argues that this left us with a “broken model” where students move together at the same pace, regardless of whether they understand the material, creating gaps that accumulate over time.

Week 11

Queering Our Schools

By the editors of Rethinking Schools

Mini Reflection

The essays in the volume don’t just argue for tolerance. They model what it looks like to build community in classrooms that refuse silence: classrooms where empathy, honest conversations, and respect for difference are part of everyday life. The book highlights how “queering” school structures — curriculum, language, family forms, school rituals isn’t special treatment; it’s part of building an inclusive, socially just education system. Teachers who reframe reading lists, challenge gender stereotypes, or invite reflections on identity aren’t just helping LGBTQ+ students; they’re enriching the learning experience for everyone.

Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

 Guidance for Rhode Island Schools on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students

Mini Reflection

Reading RIDE’s guidance feels like a powerful reminder that schools are more than just places to learn math or history; they are crucial sites of belonging, identity, and safety. The document doesn’t treat transgender or gender nonconforming students as a niche concern; rather, it insists that schools commit to being safe, inclusive environments for all students, regardless of sex, gender identity, or expression. What stands out is how comprehensive the guidance is: it covers not only anti-discrimination protections but also practical, everyday aspects of school life, use of names and pronouns, privacy around records, access to restrooms/locker rooms, and participation in athletics or other sex-segregated programs according to a student’s gender identity. This sends a strong message: acceptance is not about “special treatment,” but about dignity, respect, and equality.

Woke Read Alouds: They, She, He Easy as ABC

By Woke Kindergarten

Mini Reflection

What I appreciate about this read-aloud is that it treats inclusion not as a complicated or adult-only idea but as something basic, like A-B-C. That framing suggests that acceptance and respect can (and maybe should) be part of children’s earliest social lessons. The book doesn’t overburden young readers with heavy theory; rather, it plants a seed of openness, empathy, and awareness that might grow over time. At the same time, I recognize that young children may not initially grasp the full meaning of pronouns or gender identity as easily as older kids or adults do. The book works best when paired with thoughtful guidance — a conversation, a safe space for questions, and adult support so that the affirmations of identity feel real, not confusing or tokenistic. Some reviewers of the book note exactly that: that an adult’s presence helps children understand and process what pronouns and identity mean.

*ChatGPT generated image*

I liked this image because it shows that even though we are all different, we all fit somewhere in the puzzle. 

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