Oh Brother…

Pedagogy of Kindness: 

Honestly, this chapter made me mad… and it’s weird because I’m normally so neutral like I agree and disagree with past readings, but this actually made me mad. I do not agree with this “kindness” method that Denil talks about. It’s so crazy too because I literally just had a conversation with a coworker of mine who is much older than me, but she is a Pre-K teacher in the school I work at, and one program they use is called “Teacups”. This method it is all about kindness and redirecting students with kindness when misbehaving which is what I’m getting from with Denial here. The Pre-K teacher I was talking to said that this does not work and that when a kid is literally trashing her room and throwing a temper tantrum, kindness does not work. On the other hand, in my experience, the kids I teach are rude. Not to me, but to each other. No respect for other students they don’t like whatsoever. Therefore, I have to be mean to them. I’ve tried the kindness method of saying “Oh friend, do we think that was a smart and kind action?” then they look at you and it’s like you’ve got 6 heads, and they don’t care.  

Taking this in a different direction with the whole idea of “gentle parenting” … it doesn’t work… sorry. Even with some of my conferences a few weeks ago with parents, they brought their child in and of course, it’s the bad kids who come in, and literally, no joke, the parent is telling her kid he needs to stop doing this and that in class and he’s DOING CIRCLES SPINNING AROUND THE ROOM. I’m sorry but if I was the parent I would’ve dragged him by the arm and made him sit down next to me. For a lot of these kids, there is just no respect for their parents.

Back to Denial, her approach COULD work if we lived in the perfect world, but nowadays I feel like it just would not work. These kids need structure and discipline, and they need to understand that certain actions have consequences. I’m not saying that you need to be strict 24/7 within the classroom, obviously, I create fun games and lessons, but my students understand that poor behavior does not get rewarded and in order to get a reward like a fun game or extra time at recess they need to follow directions the first time. Also, in no way shape or form is my classroom perfect or my students perfect because trust me they are not. Some don’t listen half the time, but when they do, they get rewarded. For instance, just this past week my students were actually really good with the exception of one. I kept giving warnings and consequences (and this goes back to the whole they have no respect and don’t care kind of thing) and I told them you can be a watcher not a doer and that student ended up sitting out while the other students had fun. Poor actions NEED consequences.   

Love in the Time of Peer Review: 

Within this article, it emphasizes empathy in the peer review process. I feel like this should be a skill that is more for like middle school maybe. I do peer review with my students’ writing, and the peer review process we do in Prof. Friend’s class is much more advanced so I feel like in middle school is where empathy may start to begin.  I could be wrong; I’m not sure but middle school is essentially “the middle”. It also mentions the traditional peer review process and how the “exchange can be limited” which if you are only doing a peer review once, I can see how that can occur. Published pieces need multiple sets of eyes on them before they are published. I believe it was in Prof. Sisler’s class when we did a peer review but with multiple people looking at my paper. Then, the next time I did a peer review where my paper was looked at and reviewed by a few people was in Prof. Friend’s class. This structure sets you up for the real world, in my opinion. Now, I’m not going to be a writer, but the process of having a couple of people from class read and comment on your paper before turning it in is a lifesaver. Even when we did it recently in class it helped me understand certain things that I was missing, and my peers gave me good information on what I could possibly add to make it better. In other writing classes, IF we did a peer review (emphasis on “if” because this was a rare occurrence) it would only be one person looking at my paper and giving feedback on it. 

Assessing So That People Stop Killing Each Other:  

Asao Inoue argues that traditional grading practices follow, essentially, the rich white men’s ideas. He argues that they are the ones feeding into the systemic injustices and inequalities in the education world. Inoue also proposes a new grading idea that will validate different backgrounds, create an inclusive environment, and reduce prejudicial judgments within the classrooms. Inoue is one for the people. He wants inclusivity and equity within the classroom and it is clear after reading this. He suggests creating different assessment methods that connect to social justice and diversity. America is known as the “melting pot”. We are so culturally diverse that this is a necessity in the education field. This goes for all ages too whether it be a first-grade classroom all the way up to an undergrad college course. Additionally, he points out how teachers need to be aware of and respect the diverse students within their classroom and also make their other students aware of it as well. Some things that are normal for one culture, may not be viewed that way in another so it is important to highlight their differences. Inoue is all about changing the assessment methods to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive… but the way that this world is going with Trump literally removing DEI… it does not seem to be happening any time soon. This is a whole other rant that I will not get into but essentially I agree with Inoue that the assessments need to be inclusive for all not just one particular race or group of students.