EDL 7030

Am I biased? The truth is we all are. After reading Chan's article, "Teacher experiences of culture in curriculum", I have a better understanding of my limitations, as it pertains to my lack of awareness of other cultures.

Like William, a teacher in the writing, I would have tried to help my student attend, what I thought to be a very important life experience. William’s social narrative was affecting his ability to respect the thoughts and values of his multicultural students. Where William's social narrative is to travel, spend the night, and see the world as a classroom, other cultures may not embrace this concept. I, like William, would find it difficult to allow any parent to disallow their children the opportunity to learn, even if it is against the parent’s cultural narrative.

Thus, the question is. “How appropriate is it for a teacher to attempt to allow children to learn a (their) cultural perspective, regardless to the hesitant and resistant wishes of their parents?

Johnny Smith
Cohort 16

Chan's articles create the opportunity for much thought, some of it unpleasant for me.. As a visually impaired individual, I have always had much empathy for those who exhibit apparent differences as when compared to their peers. Nevertheless, Chan's ideas have caused me to think about how I have developed those emphathetic tendencies. Before I discuss the articles, perhaps a personal story will help illuminate my points to be made later in this post. As a child, my mother always stressed to me that I could do anything, even with my visual impairment. While I still appreciate the intense love of my mother, I now realize that she was wrong (to a certain extent). There are many activities in which I cannot participate, but her unbounded optimism infused me with a spirit of almost invincibility. She stressed to me that I deserved the opportunity to participate in any activity that my peers did. I suppose that she wanted me to 'fit in.'

While it is evident, based on Chan's descriptions and field notes, that many of the children from minority groups at the Canadian school want to belong and 'fit in,' in all reality they never will until they have the opportunities to make their own decisions. Once they possess the abilities to make their own decisions, they may find that they make similar choices as their parents did for them. I think that the question is this: should a sense of belonging take precedence over minority groups' cultural values, norms, and expectations? Should children strive to 'fit in' at the expense of all a family and culture hold important? I am not sure as to how my mother would answer this question, but for me as a child in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she would have answered yes.

I think that my individual example is somewhat different than those situations experienced by the minority children at the Canadian school, yet I think that an analogy does exist in that conformity is always important to children, and even some adults. I will certainly refine this answer as time passes.

Joel

It seems that educators are very much for celebrating diversity and as shown in Chan what begins as a good intentioned activity or event to do just that often has unanticipated results. As I read the articles I made notes in the margin and occasionally highlighted what I felt was an interesting or important passage. One of my notes was as follows: "We (educators) decide what & how cultural diversity is celebrated. What if we let students decide?" One of the Chan articles noted how disinterested and at times reluctant the students seemed to be in sharing their culture. Perhaps students should be given opportuntities to design an assignment or activity around their culture. This would allow students to work at a comfort level which is acceptable to them and maybe build their confidence so that future assignements/activities occur at a higher confidence level. This would result in sharing of cultural knowledge- which is sometimes a sensitive subject as we see in Chan- only sharing would occur on the student's terms rather than the instructor. So I ask the question- as the teacher, does it have to be my decision about how and when diversity is celebrated and cultures shared? Does the sharing have to occur on my terms?

Christy

Given the potential of experience to contribute to shaping a sense of ethnic
identity, school experiences that involve conflicting messages around the
value of curriculum events may further complicate the students’ developing
stories to live by. They may place them in a difficult position at the nexus of
differing and sometimes conflicting stories to live by, and contribute to shaping
their sense of ethnic identity. The curriculum may be perceived as the
intersection of school narratives and histories that differ significantly for
students, teachers, and parents. (pg 185)

My first teaching assignment was at Paschal High in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was a large 5A inner-city high school and at the eager-age of 22 I was the varsity girls soccer coach and one of several freshman honors English and 11th grade ESL English teachers. I was one of 115 faculty that year and, unlike the middle school in Chan's article, our curriculum and culture was far from celebratory of diversity. In many ways, we were a cross between crowd control and prison guards. My honors English class (and my soccer team) were largely white students and my ESL classes were multi-racial - to say the least! I had Cambodians, Bosnians, Croatians, Latinos, Vietnamese, Africans, and Chinese. The tension was so thick between many of the cultures represented that by fall break no student was allowed to wear shoe laces to school (I'm not kidding!) because of the gang activity and the various colors displayed. Looking back, I tried everything I knew to do to create an open and accepting environment. Yet, the tension still existed. Perhaps it was something deeper, like the poverty and disappointment in the American dream that perpetuated the tension rather then the school systems blundering, albeit kind-hearted, attempt to understand the significance of our students narratives.

While I agree that curriculum can worsen the immigrant struggle to assimilate while trying to remain faithful to their culture of origin, I’m not sure how curriculum can make the tension any more harmonious, especially between parents and their Americanized children. For my husband and his family (immigrants from Venezuela), the acknowledgment that the tension would always exist was part of the difficult decision to leave one culture and join another. In fact, for them, and many others like them, there was a genuine desire to embrace the idea of being an American.

Tension exists in the form of angst for all of us. We give it different names and different reasons. We color it or put a price tag on it or even say it is the wrong gender. Angst is human. Maybe a celebration of angst and awkwardness during middle school would be most fitting.

Danielle

Danielle's blog is very improtant and relevant to a point I wanted to make as well. Unless the students cooperate and open themselves up to other ideas, practices, and cultures while at school, most attempts at multicultural curriculum development will fail and probably cause more resentment and increased tensions. Hatred and prejudice are deep seated emotions that educators must acknowledge and hopefully remediate when possible, but can educators really affect these attitudes and emotions? School is a place to start this process of enlightenment, but a lack of reinforcement at home and outside of school negates most efforts of educators. Parents, the community, and other societal organizations must participate as well to create any lasting and genuine change.

Why does it matter? Cultural diversity and biases have been a part of our thinking and planning. What to what extent do we really implement these ideas and are we really doing it effectively. It seems that those of us who are "Americanalized" are usually the ones planning events and curriculum. That in and of itself creates a bias. How can we fully understand and know what is best and most respectful to a certain culture if we do not "own" that culture? It seems that we think if we create a project on different cultures, have a culture fair, or culture food day... we are somehow validating these different cultures. When in reality, we may be creating more cultural biases and disrespect than we realize.
The significance of the text is that it brings these ideas and problems to our doorstep. The examples mentioned in the articles are common practices found in most communities and schools. But did we ever stop to think about the implecations of these events? I don't think we do because we are not fully able to understand the underlying cultural beliefs of a place we do not understand.
Now the complex part... I hesitate to even bring this up, but it is necessary if I am to fully communicate my point on this. What obligation do we have to different cultures here in America? Ouch... that sounds bias in itself. But if families are moving here from other countries and have a different fundamental culture, would they expect that they will be bombarded by the cultures of the country they are moving to? This is not to say that we should not promote cultural acceptance and respect for those that are different from us. But how far can we go in bringing cultural awareness to the table if we do not understand all the different culutres ourselves? What role do we have in this and can we actually give justice to cultures that are not our own?

One sentence in the Chan article stood out for me. "The curriculum may be perceived as the intersection of school narratives and histories that differ significantly for students, teachers, and parents". So whose curriculum is it? Does the state own it because it is tested? Does the teacher own it because they teach it? Does the student own it because they learn it? Does the parent own it because they pay for it? To me the sentence from the article says we all own it and we all bring our perspective to the table. What we need to do as educators is work to make sure each perspective is at the table and participating in their own way. Curriculum should not be set in stone, it should be a fluid work that allows for adaptation, extension and redesign if necessary. During my time as a Media Coordinator, my school hosted many multi-culture nights, but it was always the same. Music did a dance from a different country, foreign language did the dress of the another nation and blah, blah, blah. Not exactly exciting for the families, whose kids were not apart of the presentation. Our principal could never understand why our Hmong, and Hispanic families were not participating. My thought was we were pandering to their culture. Several teachers and I took the program over and instead of highlighting the students, we visited the parents and asked them what they wanted to see, hear, learn and share. Several Hmong parents got together and presented the Hmong story cloth. They explained the cloths depicted people's life stories, and that this was a way of preserving oral traditions for future generations. We also had a parent share the American quilt and how it related to the culture of the mountains. We had several presentations all given by the parents in some cases translated for the audience by students. The quilt and the story cloth still hang in the media center for everyone to see and share. The night was successful, I think because we ventured outside our culture safety zone to talk with parents, to be open to new ideas and to have parents be apart of the evening. This became an annual event.

Melanie

Is it fair for a teacher to navigate students in their own acceptance and modification of their own culture? How can a teacher provide these experiences to their students when they themselves, do not have an appropriate level of understanding to the different cultures? What we are asking of teachers is not realistic. We are asking them to have a level of understanding for something that you cannot have unless you have lived it and it is a part of your life and belief system. We are asking people to step into another culture with grace and understanding and some how bring that to life for others. It is am impossible task, even with a teacher that has the best intentions.

Kim

I agree with Christy's idea of letting the students be in charge of coming up with ways to highlight their cultural differences. There does seem to be one problem with that as well. Students themselves are often hesitant to highlight their own cultures because of the fear of being "different" than their peers. They worry about not being accepted and to take the great leap of exposing a whole new culture, not sure of whether their peers will make fun of them or not, may be enough pressure where they do not care to share their cultures.

So if the "American" people in charge should not do it, and the students are too afraid... who is it that we turn to to help plan cultural events that will help others understand these different cultures? Parents would be a good place to start but it would also help to bring in people from the community, people that kids look up to, to help educate young people and adults in a way where the students do not feel threatened by it.

Kim

Is it more important to fit in then to hold true to who you are and what you value as a person??? While I understand the need for children and adults to want to fit in, I question the damage done to the heart of a person when they sell themselves short in order to become a part of the majority. While it is easy for the "majority" to think they are giving of themselves and accepting other people's differences, a lot of times this acceptance is on a very basic level and they do not really have to give anything up. To live in a community, society, world where your fundamental ideas and culture are different than that in which you live, is a task that cuts to the very center of who people are. And unless you have lived it, breathed it, felt its sting... you never really know the truth of what is given up for others in order to be accepted.

Kim

In the first Chan article Chan writes:

These cultural histories are never merely formal categories. Knowing that a child is ‘first-generation mainland Chinese’ is insufficient for curriculum planning and for research. It is necessary to understand in some depth the particular narrative histories of each child in order to identify both his or her cultural group and his or her specific history.

I think that I understand the narrative inquiry approach, but I have questions. Do we have the time in schools to really embrace this approach? Also is the average teacher well-trained enough in the process of inquiry in general to facilitate this?

I believe that short of this laudable goal perhaps striving for multicultural competence may be the best thing to do. If we spend time on teacher-preparation programs examining development theory as it relates to gender, socio-economic status, ability differences, ethnic background, sexuality and religious diversity we will accomplish several things. First of all, teachers will get a cursory understanding of the largest several groups in each of these categories and challenges they generally face. Secondly through this study teachers would likely develop an appreciation for tentative assumptions. If a teacher studies African-American identity theory and then studies lesbian identity theory and has read about the impact of socio-economic status on students, then s/he may feel equipped to teach an African-American lesbian from an upper-class socio-economic background. Where ‘tentative assumptions’ come into play is that the teacher may not realize to what degree these factors have inter-mingled in her or his student’s development, and also what other unknown factors may have played a role. By becoming educated on different developmental trajectories, and then realizing their limitations, I feel educators can begin humble deduction. Use the literature to which s/he has been exposed to enter a loose or tentative frame of the student and approach with the humility of one who knows that we are all different. After all, developmental theorists who go about the business of studying the lesbian experience or the African-American experience or any other experience are typically not trying to put people in boxes, rather they are trying to familiarize practitioners with trends. These theories don’t provide an address, just a zip code.

Alan

In reading these articles, I've been thinking about my mom and the stories she's told me about growing up in Tampa, FL. Her last name was Gomez, and my grandfather was Spanish, but my mom and her three sisters did not learn a word of the Spanish language (except when my grandfather cursed at them!) My grandmother was a country girl from rural Georgia, spoke no Spanish, and felt that Spanish-speakers were cliquish (because they were having conversations she couldn't understand.) She would not allow Spanish to be spoken in her home. At school, all the white kids thought my mom was Hispanic based on her last name and olive complexion, so they avoided her. The Hispanic kids tried to speak Spanish to her, but she didn't understand, so to them she was white. She was caught in between two cultures, not "belonging" to either. I doubt either of my grandparents were any help to her in processing the situation.

It's clearly important to be culturally-sensitive to those who have a well-defined sense of identity, especially if it conflicts with or is marginalized by the dominant culture. But how do we also help the castaway kids -- the ones who don't fall squarely in any group -- find their place?

marisa

OK everyone, I am just so slow at this. I responded to two entries and I don't see them posted. I'll wait a while and then rewrite them. This note serves to let you know that I am here and involved.
Diane

In reading the articles I agree with Christy and Kim as to the intention by the teacher to gather the students to focus into their cultural identity. The articles show that it may have been too much intention on the part of the teacher with a "forcing". The students and the parents may have responded better to an "invitation" for discussion on a voluntary basis.

I guess I could get wrapped up on my personal reasons why I felt this was not an appropriate thing to do, but I will stay the course as to the purspose of writing the articles. I really like the information that was shared within both articles. It was a lens into the passion the teacher had for the students and the students' and parents' passion they had for their culture, their diversity, and their own narratives. These articles offered me a lens into their motives and reactions to a sensitive topic. I am grateful to this.

In regards to the creation of a diversity curriculum assignments, that's another thing. I feel it is inapporpriate to force discussions on topic that can fuel emotion. This sort of topic needs to be voluntary. I several of my past classes in the graduate school, the classes were to delve into uprooting feelings about diversity. It was a forced agenda which I felt did not go well at all in both situatins. Yes, we need to talk and to think, but not to report and lay it on the table. It is to be internal work.

In regards to Johnny, Danielle, and Marissa, and the rest of the class: This juggling between two cultural worlds. How much human energy is involved with this? How much human energy is involved with just living in this chaotic world? How much time is left over to delve deep inside of ourselves and get in touch with our diversified struggles?

Reading through your comments, and I beg your forgiveness as I have been out of the loop due to my own situation, but I wonder how we can move from the articles we read and seek how we can use knowledge construction in the future educational settings we may enter. I wonder how we can face students, administrators, and even my future counseling clients and realize that we each have our own constructed reality of the world based on each and every experience when walked through. Last night I was searching through YOU TUBE and came across a topic on construction knowledge by John Abbott and found it to be similair in what the articles projected. Our experiences make us who we are and from that point of view EVERYTHING is subjective, even when we think it is objective. My point being that students, parents, teachers and everyone inbetween have reasons for being who they are and we need to be open (gently) to clarifying and encouraging conversation on people's perspectives, even if it seems to be objective.
Diane

OK classmates, I have been writing comments for the last couple of days and I cannot find my comments. I'm sure I have not done something right to save them but I just want you to know that i am indeed trying to post, just let me figure this all out.
Diane

Each semester I teach, I always have one or two students who do not seem to fit in with the rest of the class members. Perhaps the other class members do not fit in well with the one or two! Anyway... Pedagogically, I use a fair amount of group work. Often this interaction can bring students together, but I had one female student last semester who could not seem to get in tune with the other class members. She was quite intelligent, but I never could find an adequate way to include her in most class activities. I have taught for 22 years, and I still cannot overcome this problem. One way suggested to me by faculty mentors was to make it clear in the syllabus that group work was expected and this admonition should be adequate to make students aware of anticipated classroom interactions. I suppose the thinking is that a student could drop the class after the first day if s/he did not like the modus operandi. Still I do not like this method. Still I have no solution either.

Joel

After reading Diane's comments about our subjective constructions of ourselves, I find that some part of me can understand and agree with what she says, but still I am bothered by the idea of "extreme subjectivism." Rational, functioning society is based upon each individual relinquishing some of that subjective constructed nature of the self for the cooperation and betterment of the whole society. If we as individuals cannot do this and give up part of our constructed selves for the common good, the idea of Locke's Social Contract ceases to exist, returning us to a state of nature. This assertion may seem ridiculous, but historically every successful nation state or society has had a cohesive culture, and once that culture became diluted (regardless of the reasons for the dilution), the society ceased to function and lost cohesion. Some historians like Arnold Toynbee would argue that this process in inevitable and must be embraced as a part of the historical process. Only time will tell.

Siorry about forgetting to leave my name.

Joel

Johnny, I remember when I first started teaching, I had to do home visits before school started each year. Although I muttered along the way as I drove up and down streets, I always left the homes of my students grateful for this opportunity. In my last year of working with the Catawba County school system as a itinerant preschool teacher (filling a maternity leave position) I, again, traveled to student's homes to do my work with the child. I cannot tell you how much I learned about the families of my students; from the smell of oriental cooking oil to photos of ancesters on the walls. How I wish every teacher had the opportuniy I have had with home visits throughout my years of teaching. I realize that is impossible today. However, like you said, taking the time to "invest" in the student's life narrative is an investment in the relationship which will foster learning interest and relational attitude between student and teacher. Perhaps, the author could have invested student narratives by "weaving" students' stories into and throughout the curriculum, thus accomplishing a multi-faceted inquiry into diversity, standard curriculum, relationship building and new ways of knowing.
Diane

I feel your pain through your response to the article. When teachers have to spend so much time learning all the characteristics and sensitivities of cultural groups, they have little time left to teach, With that said, throughout my counseling education, each class spent time on multicultural issues concerning the specific class I took. I WAS important to know about how cultural groups would view a white female like me. I DO need to be aware of problems which may rise in a counseling relationship otherwise I may cause great harm to the success of the counseling session. With this are said, there was a standard comment from my profs in this regard which I think could apply to how to work as a teacher to avoid insensitivity. ASK.

I used this kind of approach when I was teaching and had car duty one day. Two hispanic boys next to each other were visibly uncomfortable being together and getting quite hostile without talking together. I pulled them aside and asked them what the situation was. it turned out that they were both from Mexico, one being from the city and wone from the rural hills of Mexico. The parents of the city boy told him never to talk to a country boy for the country boy was considered "below" the city boy. Now that day, I learned diversity was a whole lot bigger than two boys from the same country, speaking the same language, looking the same were VERY diverse.
Diane

This was a great article talking about all of the things that are pulling on women - work, family, relationships, time for oneself and for others. I do realize that some men also feel this way as well. They feel the pull of "trying to strike balance between family obligations and work related responsibilities." However, I do think it ways heavier on a woman than the man, because we are seen by society as the nurturers. But I am also woman enough to admit that I would not be where I am today without a supportive husband and family. If I "step up", I step up as a group with the support of family. The confidence I feel comes from them as well as the students and teachers I work with. I have attached a video to this blog, please take an opportunity to listen to it, even if you don't like Salt-n-Pepa. It is a great representation of what woman work towards throughout our lives. I ask each of the woman in the class to look at yourself and your support system and make your voices heard. This video was sent to me by my boys and husband after a particularly rough work week away from home. I was feeling guilty because one had been sick during this time and here I was away from home unable to be with my sick child. The next day this video arrived in my inbox, with a great note, that simply said "It Ain't nothing but a She-thing and that is why we love you." So when you are feeling torn between some many things, pull this song out to cheer you up. This was the first thing, I thought about as I read the article.

Melanie

I had an interesting AET Zone meeting Sunday evening with my cross cohort group. As we talked about 21st Century Schools it became apparent that most professional educators are scared and skeptical of change. We want to teach what we know and how we know. The Tupper article provides this definition of curriculum “the collective story we tell our children about our past, our present, and our future” (P. 560). I’d never thought of curriculum as a narrative before and as I listened to the teachers in my group defend the old way of teaching reading and writing, I realized that most curriculum hasn’t changed that much over the last 100 years.
What will it take for the story we tell to change our approach to curriculum? My guess is that the answer lies somewhere is this statistic: “The proportion of K-12 teachers who are white has gone from 91 percent in 1986 to 92 percent in 1990 to 89 percent in 1996 to 85 percent in 2005” (Drs. Feistritzer and Haar 2005).
For a fascinating look at why education is stuck in the 20th century, check out the "PROFILE OF TEACHERS IN THE U.S. 2005" at http://www.ncei.com/POT05PRESSREL3.htm

Danielle

Though I see the importance of individuality, self- confidence, and the need to be independent (Quinn, 2008), I still believe in the importance of corroboration, collaboration, and interdependence. To a certain degree, we are all independent; however, to a larger magnitude we are not. For instance, as I write this blog, my ability to sustain internet connection and power supply is heavily reliant upon both my cable and power companies’ technological ability to sustain and maintain ample power supply. Though it appears, I am in my room working on this assignment in solitude, indeed, I am really not alone. Even in my solace, I still carry along the thoughts, opinions, and reflective narratives of those closest to me. Perhaps these concepts are just fragments of my imagination?

Another thought comes as a response to Quinn’s discussions on the role of women teachers’ and the “role strain” they encounter. I believe that men can and often experience these same nervous tensions, particularly minority men. On any given day, I, a minority male professional have to engage in, navigate through an academic world consisting of predominately - white, middle to upper class professionals. Along with that society, comes a set of ideals, beliefs, and perspectives in which I am expected to govern myself by. On the contrary, as soon as the clock strikes 4:30 p.m. and my shift ends for that day, I must begin to alter my thoughts, my role, my dialect, and my conversation in order to relate to both “Pookey” and “Ray – Ray”, who live in my neighborhood. This can be stressful and sometimes frustrating. Perhaps this is an example of the “role strain” that Quinn shares in her piece about ‘Postmodern Teachers’ and the tensions they face both as female-teachers and as mothers.

The frustration comes knowing that this, a continual cycle of tensions and dynamics has the impossibility of ending. So, I find myself pretending. Talk about Role Strain – at least Quinn and the several ladies she interviewed have a chance for theirs (Role Strain) to end. For example, a woman who is with child will eventually have the baby. The baby grows up and eventually is out on his/ her own. However, as for me, my roles of tensions, strains, and angst have the overwhelming possibility of lasting much longer than 9 months - the time it takes a woman to bear a child. Marginalization has no deadline or does it?

Just as the teachers in Quinns’ “Constructivist Cosmopolitan” piece found themselves’ juggling the daunting and challenging roles of wife, mother, and professional, I, too, am doing a tight-rope act of my own. I am juggling my role as husband, educational professional, minority male, and on-and-on. And through my life experiences and cultural differences, I have learned to appreciate the struggle for acceptance, inclusion, and the right to be heard. Having understood and continuing to understand some of the historical foundations of racial discrimination, has given me another vantage point from which to envision and tell my narrative. According to (Tupper& Cappello) stories and counter stories can serve as a road map that will lead the colonialized away from unjustified exclusion.

As I close, I would like to bring attention to this quote from the reading of (Tupper& Cappello, 2008) and I quote,

“We are what we know. We are, however, also what we don’t know. If we know about ourselves-our history, our culture, our national identity-is deformed by absences, denials, and incompleteness, then our identity … is fragmented.”

No more fragmented identity for me. No more dyconsciousness of the mind whereby uncritical habits of the mind produces distorted images, perspectives, and a societal order that corroborates with exploitation and inequality. This way of seeing the world shuts down the ‘pursuit of happiness’ for those who may have an alternate vision of what society should look like or could feel like. Without the narratives of others, our world-view or our historical consciencesness is left with holes, empty spaces, or even worse – ‘Fragmented’.

Johnny Smith

I find your insights very interesting, and you bring up a point I have often wondered myself: how racially consistent will the teaching pool remain? Even if the newly graduated pool of teaching candidates is 50 percent Hispanic, will this much needed change be enough? I am not sure if I am saying this correctly or using the appropriate terminology, but my point is that even if the teaching pool of K-12 graduates changes as to racial composition, how will this change in racial and cultural composition affect the core teaching values of these graduates if the university faculty does not change its racial and cultural composition? It is easy and almost imperceptible for a dominator class of educators (even unintentionally) to pass on certain values that support the dominant class.

In reading these articles I have come to the realization of a simple idea that most everyone else in class is probably already aware of- Life is just a big series of constructions and deconstructions. As we move through life our experiences add to our body of knowledge and allow us to construct and deconstruct as is fitting.

We as educators hold a powerful tool for this process for our students- curriculum. As we saw in the Tupper and Cappello article curriculum can take an idea which has been omitted and is largely unfamiliar and it can become something causes change. Students studying the treaties in many cases were forced to deconstruct their existing ideas and construct new ideas about treaties, history, First Nations peoples and other aspects of their lives. For some students this undoubtedly led them to consider aspects of their lives they had not even really been aware of previously. Take for instance the comment of the young woman from p. 573:

"When I listen to us-even still-it's like 'them'-I don't know-I was thinking about it as we were going around, it's almost like everyone says them or they like they're all one group, and I'm sure-and I just did it too-it's something that I'm going to have to adjust to now that I'm thinking about it"

The curriculum resulted in this young woman taking a powerful look at the language used by herself and others. To that point she had not likely thought about the language she and others used.

I guess my point here is that we as educators owe it to our students to give them as much of the story as possible on which to base their constructions and deconstructions. If we show them during their time with us that the construction they currently have should always be open for deconstruction, perhpas they will carry that through life and keep an open mind for the series of constructions and deconstructions to come.

Christy

I really was touched by this article for several reasons. First, I was drawn into the methodology of the narrative form (with blended narrative from the author). When articles are laid out in this fashion, they are easier to read...from my perspective. I enjoyed the "back and forth"ness between teachers in the field and the educational researcher because the flow of the writing was smooth and very rythmatic. It displayed humaness and reflective soul work coming from the teachers and insightful (referenced) information from the researcher. It was balanced well between the subjects and the researcher; no one voice stood strong, the teachers and the researchers both produced insight for the reader.

Secondly, I have to admit that I also enjoyed the topic. As a woman educator, I struggled with ALL the topics: nurturer, giver, mother, social worker, advocate, etc. for my students. Perhaps my own burnout from teaching preschool was brought on by what these teachers experienced. This article gave me a voice, as though I had contributed. What was refreshing was that the researcher "heard" and "felt" and made meaning to what was written in reflection. When I taught and felt the same as these teachers, no one was willing to listen. If fact, there were so many of us women feeling the same way that, I guess, it was pointless to dwell on the situation because it wasn't going to change.

Finally, I think that living in the time as we do, we are ALL faced with multiple roles tugging at us; be it in the workplace or at home and in the community. However, in teaching, especially for the professional who holds the profession high, we give and give until we just burnout. I am grateful that these women had a voice that was heard. Perhaps, in continuing ed programs, these issues, especially for women teachers who have been in the field a long time, self-care can be addressed so that teachers don't leave the field like I needed to do.

Diane

Do you question that which you hear?
Or do you take it all at face value.

How closed minded that would be.

Your dominance remains,
along with your dysconsciousness...

But how could you know?
How could you understand?

The silence of the tongue is a powerful thing.
Sometimes more powerful than a hated word.

Discrimination spoken against any group... is at least acknowledgement of that group.
How would you feel to not be acknowledged at all?
To be invisible... silenced... not worthy of a word?

Giving an alternative vision gives rise to many
and questions the dominant culture.

Students need perspective... and truth
Open their minds to all perspectives
and they in return will open the world...

Kim Moore

I agree so much with what you said about teachers being afraid. I experience this a lot where I work and even with some very close friends that are teachers. I find them fighting administration when asked to step beyond what they know and are comfortable with. They use a lot of excuses for not wanting to make this change but I really believe it is because they are scared. They are afraid to step beyond what they are comfortable with. Afraid that a student may know something more than them. They are paralyzed in their fear to step into the unknown.
I think what will need to happen before we start seeing changes in the classroom, is that teachers will need to be required to be trained in areas of technology. They need to have opportunities that are "safe" for them to practice and use these approaches in the classroom. Until teachers "own" their own knowledge of technology and a different approach to teaching...I do not think we will see sustained and widespread change.

Kim Moore

Do women experience multiple roles and demands in their lives?

This woman does...

Teacher, Doctoral student, daughter, friend, mom, committee member, church member, ex-wife (yes...that has a lot of demands too!).

"More often, teachers related their identity to multiple role demands that exist outside of a geographically defined spaces" (Quinn,2008)

I agree with Quinn that "time" governs our lives. So what impact does this limitation of time and multiple demands have on our lives? It pulls us in ways unimaginable. It zaps our energy, sometimes making us lose track of the big picture or prevents us from taking big steps for big changes.

"In our time governed lives, where teachers are challenged by the demands of their cosmopolitan selves, we quickly grab the most accessible device to keep us a float" (Quinn,2008).

We are overloaded in demands and often cannot even think about stepping up to take charge and make real change. So we leave it to others. It is less demanding to complain about something... than it is to put yourself out there through time, energy and risk... to try and make the changes we complain about.

So do we need more hours in a day? I don't think so. We would fill those up with other demands as well. So we continue to rely on those who find time and energy for these demands and we accept things the way they are, unable to find a way to make changes we want.

Kim Moore