Whose stories are told?
This has absolutely been my favorite module so far. The topic of one-sided history is one that seems to get addressed all of the time, but I hope it is being put into practice in our K-12 schools! I know that since I have gotten to Texas State, I have learned so much more about historical events that were covered in high school, and I just wish that this same level of care concerning these topics was implemented in high school because not everyone has the resources and opportunities to be able to go to college. That being said let's get into the topic of this discussion; Whose stories are being told? From the reading "Segregated by Experience" I learned so much about the systems that were put in place and are still being used in our schools today. One thing that stood out to me from this reading was the concept of movement for children of color. All of the time in classrooms you will hear "put a bubble in your mouth" "stay in your seat" or "don't get up from your desk". I had never made the connection between these practices and racial discrimination before but after the reading, it starts to make sense. Then and now we see a disproportionate amount of students of color being disciplined a lot harsher than white students. We see that this comes from "racist ideologies" that "position young children of color as threatening,...wild [and] disobedient". We can only improve ourselves if we know where these practices come from, and now that I know I will never limit my classroom's movement unless it is for our safety. The other reading called the Persistence of Sovereignty also highlighted how we silenced the Native American population. Of course, we all know that they were unjustly treated and taken off of their own land, but, at least for me, I never knew about the abuse that Native American children went through in regards to going to boarding schools in which they were forcibly assimilated into white culture to become more "civilized". Why didn't I know any of this? Why was this a shock to me? These were questions I was asking myself when I was reading and here is the conclusion I came to. Their stories are not being appropriately told. For some reason, our history textbooks like to make us look like the good guys when in fact there are so many things that have been almost withheld from our knowledge. For some reason to acquire this knowledge, you have to do research on your own time. THIS SHOULD NOT BE THE CASE. I emphasize this because it makes me angry that our curriculum in our schools dictates what we can and cannot share with our students! To be an informed citizen you need to know all of the parts of our history even though it is shameful so we can move forward and learn from our mistakes. So the question still stands, whose stories are being told? My answer? The stories of those who have enough influence and power to get it out there, and that needs to change.
HI Priya! I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing your take on this topic! I totally agree with you. The article definitely opened my eyes about things that I thought were normal when I was in school, such as putting your hands behind your back. I do think stories should be told as they are because it happened and it is history. As you stated, we should not have to search to find this information that should be provided and taught to us in school. It is very upsetting that we are only given partial material to learn in our textbooks. They should also include the ugly and show where these historical figures also made mistakes. I think it is important to teach kids about these things so they do not think everything was perfect and that no one got hurt in all the past events that have occurred.
ReplyDeleteHello Emily! Thank you for taking the time to respond to my blog. I appreciate the ideas that you added to this discussion and I just think that we should be given the whole story instead of the one we are being told.
DeleteI am glad that this is someone else's favorite module, because I have learned so much and really have gotten the opportunity to examine what schools are truly teaching to kids. I can also completely agree with the fact that I have learned more about what I did not learn growing up than I ever would have thought. I would have never thought that there are racial ties to something that we all grew up with in the classroom- that really shows how much truth has been lost. I think, especially with younger students, that the good and warm hero story feeling is more desired than how honorable the true story is. The truth is what shaped and set the foundation down for who we are today, so why wouldn't we want to teach the next generations those things? This was a very eye-opening blog, and I love your honesty! Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello Taylor, and it was a shock to me as well that things like catching a bubble were tied to racist actions! It is especially important that we know this so we do not continue the cycle of limiting our students ability to make their voices heard. Thank you so much for acknowledging my honesty, sometimes it is hard to say what I really want to say, but I am learning how imperative it is to do so.
DeleteHey Priya! I agree with what you said about how we have learned more about past events here at Texas State than in high school. You made a really good point when saying that schools should implement these topics in high school, which was something that caught my eye.Like you said many people dont have the oppurtunity or just can afford to go to college. They end up missing the whole story. I feel like in high school we only get the general idea of the event, not the aftermath and how it took us to how things are nowadays. I remember last semester in my History class we would be going over events and me thinking “ oh i remerber learning this in high school”, but things made so much more sense once we got into depth with it. I was able to make connections and everything, something i wasnt able to do in high school. Overall I really liked the way in which you explained your point of view to this module.It was easy to tell that you were passionate about this topic.
ReplyDeleteHi Mariela! Thank you for responding to my blog! I really wanted to emphasize the point of implementing the entire story of history into high school classrooms and now the question is how do we do that while still following our objectives and standards that are given to us? It is absolutely doable, but to me it is a matter of the teacher taking the time to implement the whole story instead of just looking at what we have to do. It takes more effort and that is something I hope our generation is willing to do!
DeleteHi Priya!
ReplyDeleteI think that having the change of going to college really makes you realize how much our school system is broken because of things that we aren't thought in pubic schools. I also think it what you learn goes with where your school is located. Since we do live in the South I think that our curriculum focuses a lot on slavery and African Americans and not on Native Americans.
I also was surprised when I read that children of color are being controlled by making them put bubbles in their mouths and walk in a straight line. I thought that was a thing that everyone had to do because I remember my teachers making us do that in elementary school.
Hi Andrea, and making that connection with the bubbles in the mouth was a difficult thing for me to understand because I had to do it as well. Taking the time to read the implications of our actions as teachers is really eye opening and all it takes is a little bit of time for us to change our ways of thinking!
DeleteHi Priya!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way when I came to Texas State that I learned so much more about history that I really should of been taught when I was in either middle school or even high school. I think it is important as future educators we know what is happening in the education system and how important facts are being left out and not taught. Like you said we should not having to be educating ourselves in things that should of been taught to us in the classroom. I think going forward it is my duty as a teacher to teach the facts about everything and not just what the textbook wants the students to learn. It is showing the students and teaching the students the truth. History can repeat itself if it is not taught and made aware of, and that is one of the many reasons why it is so important that students are learning all the facts from things that happened in our history and now just the history that is suppose to be taught.
Hey Taylor, and I agree that history repeats itself too often. Like I said to Andrea, all it takes is a little bit of time for us to read about these things, even though it should have been given to us. Hopefully as teachers we can make the change that we want to see in our classrooms.
DeleteHi Priya!
ReplyDeleteGoing to college has been so informational in the past 3 years compared to all the K-12 schools I attended. Like you said, I also learned more about historical events being in college compared to my years in high school. Hell, even my middle school social studies only broke the skin on historical events. I have moved across the country about 15 times and each time it's the same bare-minimum-scrape-the-barrel lessons. As someone who is going to be working in future school districts, I think it is so important to look at the facts of our prior knowledge of how school systems work, to further build on it. One thing I have taken from my very first class at Texas State was the importance of teaching from the heart, not just reading straight out of a textbook. I will never forget my Intro to History class. My professor gave "performances" instead of lectures. He acted out each event he was talking about. Giving as much detail as possible in each scenario. It felt as if I was there witnessing the event happen right in front of my eyes. I have forgot close to nothing from that class because of how intrigued I was in the lesson and how intentional my professor was in teaching.
Reagan, I love the performance approach! It sounds like it was an extremely beneficial tool that your professor used! That sounds like something I would want to implement into my classroom not only for engagement, but also for a deeper understanding of the topic and to put the students in the shoes of the event that we would be discussing. Thank you for that addition!
DeleteHi Priya! This was also my favorite module, and your blog post was very powerful. I never really thought about how limiting movement affects a classroom. Sayings like "put a bubble in your mouth" were used daily when I was in Elementary school, and now that I've read through these articles, I will refrain from using terms like that as an educator. Another thing I noticed in my High School is how unfair people of color were treated. I remember once there was a group of white students gathered in the hallway in between classes being loud. Those students got 3 warnings before they were disciplined. A few days later, the same scenario was happening, but with students of color. These students did not even get ONE warning before they were disciplined. That situation is a memory that I won't forget, and it's what really opened by eyes to racial discrimination, and how often it occurs every day. Lastly, I really liked your take on how we get taught history. Growing up, we are mainly taught the good parts, and the hard conversations that show some American's true colors are left out. In history, we have not always been the good guys, but for some reason we get taught that we were. Like you, it wasn't until college that I really learned the truth about moments in history that I was not correctly taught. Thank you for this post!
ReplyDeleteHey Mallorie, and yes children of color are disproportionately disciplined in comparison to their peers! It is extremely sad but with these readings we can work to correct this!
DeleteHi Priya! I really enjoyed this Module too! There was a lot more readings and videos to use and learn from which I really enjoyed. Your blog post is on point and I have to say I completely agree with you. Growing up in a predominantly mexican area, a lot of us as children were constantly chastised for not following simple directions. I always remembered thinking to myself at a young age " are they serious?" because it's true, were they seriously going to punish a 2nd grader for talking to their friend? It never made sense to me. In grade school, we never really got warnings before being disciplined and the students who had a little bit of a harder time abiding to the narrow rules were always labeled as troublemakers or bad kids and I always felt so bad for them. When I become a teacher I hope to establish a fun, controlled, and safe environment for my students to feel comfortable to express themselves. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteHello Ana, I am so sorry you endured this! I appreciate your experience and while it is not something that should happen to anyone, it will help us be better than those who taught us.
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