I found this link while doing research for our group presentations on how the media influences us. Although we didn't go in this direction, this article relates to the Christensen reading. This piece talks about the negative effects of Disney movies but I like how it wasn't about the portrayal of the female characters in them. The author talks more about how the authority figures are presented in these films. They are generally seen as overbearing and protective and sometimes somewhat unintelligent and demanding. I have never thought about that aspect of these movies so I found this article to be interesting.  
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1142336/are_disney_movies_a_negative_influence.html?cat=9

I found this article while reading up on schools with children in poverty. I think it relates to the Anyon reading since the author goes in depth about these children and the various reasons they have been academically held back. She doesn't include much about how these children compare with children from wealthier families but I do like how she has different sections on how we can help these students. What I really disagreed with was the statement she makes about these kids not having a proper interaction skills and not being able to communicate in social groups. I personally don't believe this is a common thing with underprivileged children. Many wealthier families shelter their children which causes those kids to have less interaction with people, especially their peers. Otherwise, I did enjoy this article and I thought she gave good points that related to the Anyon reading.
http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/poverty/print.htm

Kliewer – Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down syndrome

Quote:

1.       “Colleen Madison agreed with Shayne that no child was inherently an intellectual burden to a classroom; in fact, she argued, each student contributed a unique and potentially valuable dimension to the web of relationships that formed in a school community.”

-          I agree with this quote that special needs children bring something unique to the classroom. I think having a classroom that is diverse in this way helps both the “special” students and the others in communication and acceptability. How are we helping children socially if we segregate them because of differences in certain abilities? Having a mixed class teaches tolerance and also broadens these young kids to see and interact with people different than themselves on a daily basis. In some situations it can help in their teaching abilities, by helping another student who made need extra help.  

2.      

“I don’t tend to see Down syndrome as something. If you look at those kids running around the room, they’re incredibly different from each other. They’re different in terms of what their bodies are like, how they best communicate, what they’re like socially, their interests. And with those three kids in the room it would be hard to say, ‘This is how you should teach kids with Down syndrome.’ They’re not like that at all.”

-          From my experience working with many adults with Down syndrome, I know that their abilities (and themselves) are very different from one another. In the house I currently work in there were four men living there, two with Down syndrome (one of the men has recently passed).  They were definitely very different in almost every way. One guy, “Lenny” love to be waited on and babied. He needed to go out into the community everyday and explore. “Ron” however loves to be independent. He enjoys going out constantly but doesn’t care about it as much because he prefers to do something where all eyes are on him. Although they were only about 20 years apart, Ron acts much like a teenager while Lenny loved sitting back on his armchair looking like Hugh Hefner. I couldn’t have imagined teaching these men something in the same way because of how different they were.

3.       “When she enrolled in a regular public high school as a freshman, Christine’s individual Education Plan was passed on from her segregated school; it suggested that she had extremely poor motor control, low-level cognitive skills, low-level communication skills, a lack of adaptive skills, and aggressive “acting-out” behaviors. In the general curriculum of the regular high school, however, these images of defect were dramatically transformed.”

-          It seems to me that when viewed as different and told that they can’t achieve something, students either become disruptive and in angry individual or hold themselves back in what they can do, or both. Being labeled as having a disability or not, (as educators) teachers should continue to push every student to their full potential. This quote is a perfect example of how the educational system holds certain students back because of what they perceive to be a limit or handicap in their learning abilities. Treated as a regular high school student, Christine rose past what was said to be her limits and in my opinion became much more active in school than the average high school student.   

Anyon – Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

Quotes:

1.       “The project is chosen and assigned by the teacher from a box of 3-by-5 inch cards….Explaining the cards to the observer, the teacher said, ‘It tells them exactly what to do, or they couldn’t do it.”

-          I found this statement to be really sad and disturbing. The students probably haven’t ever been taught how to go about creating a science project. It seemed to me that at 5^th grade these students had already been seen as hopeless. I was also disturbed at how these students seemed to have no expressive outlet in school whatever. All of the assignments were set up to be completed in “steps” and seemed more like a factory than an educational institution. The most disheartening thing about these schools were how neither the students nor their work were valued or praised.

2.       “I want to make sure you understand what you’re doing-so you get it right’; and, when they go over the homework, she asks the children to tell how they did the problem and what answer they got.”

-          What I liked about this school in comparison to the working-class schools was that the teachers actually want the students to understand what they are doing. Rather than telling these kids that in order to be correct they had to do ABC, they taught them how to solve problems. However, just like the working-class students, these kids did not find any enjoyment in school. The lack of fun and excitement can easily create students who hate school and possibly drop out.

3.       “For example, there was a series of assignments in which each child had to be a ‘student teacher’. On an occasion when a child did not maintain control, the teacher said, “when you’re up there, you have authority and you have to use it. I’ll back you up.”

-          This quote really sums up how students were viewed at this elite and wealthy school. These kids were taught to be leaders and figures of authority and they were already learning and practicing how to in the 5^th grade. These students were treated with respect and their work was viewed as valuable. Everything about how these children were treated was different from the working-class schools. I would’ve viewed this school as perfect if they had just encouraged a bit more creativity and individuality.

Questions/Comments/Points to Share:

In a perfect world, every student would have the education and opportunities that the “executive elite school” kids did. This article was written in 1980 and it does not seem to me that much has changed. I’m very curious as to where the observed students are today. I’d like to know if they eventually read this article and if so, did it change where they sent their children to school?

 

MacLaren

MacLaren – Race, Class, and Gender: Why students Fail

Quotes

1.       “That is, striving for academic success is a subtractive process: the individual black student following school standard practices that lead to academic success is perceived as adopting a white cultural frame of reference…as “acting white” as the inevitable outcome of losing his or her black identity, abandoning black people and black causes, and joining the enemy, namely white people. “

-          Although I can’t directly relate to this, a few close friends of mine can. I’ve been told stories that this quote pretty much summarizes. They were labeled “weird” and “nerd” for speaking Standard English or just excelling in school. I’ve also seen not just my friends but others that attended my high school try to conform to what they thought they should be like. I find it sad that some kids don’t feel comfortable being themselves or achieving academic goals because of social pressure from their peers.

2.       “A study I did on Azorean students who had immigrated to Toronto and were attending in inner-city high school there explored the contradictory notion that many of these students held toward doing schoolwork. Portuguese parents frequently encourage their children to drop out of school at sixteen to help out their families economically, often in the family business.”

-          I chose this quote for several reasons. First, I as a first generation American-Azorean was a bit shocked to hear that in this study I’m considered a minority. The shock aside, I also chose this quote because I feel as if this is what happened to my mother. My mother immigrated here at the age of 14 years and was enrolled at Hope High school until the age of 17. It was then that she dropped out and started to work full time at a jewelry factory. She lived with and helped support her family. I’ve heard that this was not an uncommon thing then but it’s also why I believe my parents encouraged me to do well in school and attend college. I’d imagine this occurs with many different cultures who immigrate here only to have the first generation not quite live the “American dream”.

3.       “The girls in the Corridor often rejected marriage as a desirable option for the future. At the same time, however, some felt that marriage would be preferable to working in a meaningless job. Marriage at least provided the status of “wife” – undoubtedly worth more than having no status at all.”

-          This quote was particularly disturbing to me. I’m not sure on the date of this article but I would hope it was not published recently. For there to be only two extremes, single or just a “wife” is horrible. These girls should be striving to become something themselves and possibly be open to marriage and not view it as a trap.  If this is a recent article then we have a much serious problem with American females than I realized.

 Questions/Comments/Points to Share:

I’m not normally to fond of reading pieces like this. There were a few sections that grabbed my attention but not as frequently as other articles we’ve read so far. I am curious to know what year this was published in, I think that would help a bit in understanding the culture and time he’s speaking about.

Gender Roles in Disney Movies

Christensen

Linda Christensen – Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

Quotes:

1. 1."We are not only taught certain styles of violence, the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic strips; we are also taught how to succeed, how to love, how to buy, how to conquer, how to forget the past and suppress the future. We are taught more than anything else, how to not rebel.”

-          I found this quote to be very strong in summarizing the majority of this article. Christiensen gives us countless examples of how the media is obviously and also subconsciously teaching us negative things from such a young age. I believe in the last sentence when she says we are taught to not rebel she is referring more to staying in social norms. Kids are taught almost right away how to look and behave in order to be seen in a good light or as the “good guy/girl”.

2.  2. "Both of these tales leave young women with two myths: Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from the wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption - in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle.”

-          Sadly, this statement is all too true. When I was younger I remember doing “make-overs” with my friends all of the time. We would do everything from makeup to facial masks to improve our skin. Looking back, we probably all got the idea to do these make-overs from movies like Cinderella or Clueless type movies with montages where the “ugly” girl turns into someone beautiful and popular.  Christensen also mentions on the page before about how when women finally do appear in cartoons they’re like Jessica Rabbit (sexy, busty, and with scarcely any clothing).                                                                                                                                                

3. 3. "But more importantly, students saw themselves as actors in the world. They were fueled by the opportunity to convince some parents of the long-lasting effects cartoons impose on their children, or to enlighten their peers about the roots of some of their insecurities.”

-          Assignments like this one that Christensen had her student’s complete do a great job at engaging their minds and interests. Rather than just having them realize how children’s cartoons affect our youth not just now but in their future, she gets them socially involved. She proves this to be a successful method in keeping them interested in the topic and giving them a positive outlet to release any anger they may be feeling about it. They also helped others by putting the information out there in their community.

Questions/Comments/Points To Share:

It’s disheartening when we first realize that the childhood movies we’ve loved contain “secret education”.  The media seems to be trying to rid some stereotypes in children’s movies but I can’t help but think that the sole purpose for this is for the image. They have just recently made a movie about a black princess, could this be because of people constantly mentioning the lack of one? There was a lack of females in cartoons then came women like Jessica Rabbit. Is that the image we wanted to portray to the young girls in our children’s shows?