- Assessment
- Colorblindness
- Culture of Power
- Neoliberalism
- Accountability
- Literacy Packages
- Epistemology
- Critical Literacy
- Language
- Trilingualism
- Out-of-School literacy
The significance of each of these concepts varies. Of late many of my posts have focused on neoliberalism. This is because everything can be explained in terms of neoliberalism. Also many issues that deal with students of color can be looked at in terms of the culture of power. As a last note on the culture of power: one of the goals of education should be that all have access to the rules to the culture of power. In addition everyone should have equal access and therefore everyone has the ability to change the rules, therefore making the culture of power irrelevant. If the culture of power is irrelevant then equality will be achieved. In addition, if the culture of power did not exist than many of the other concepts listed would also not be an issue such as trilingualism, colorblindness, assessment and neoliberalism.
As I and other future teachers move into their professional careers these issues cannot be forgotten. Rather they need to be addressed and acted in a productive way. Children walking through a park of mixed races may not act to the issues of racism. As they get older they learn of the issues that separate us. As educators we need to remember that these issues never go away. This is way we need to teach in a way that does not affirm societies predisposition of certain groups of people. Teachers need to teach students how to deal with feelings about racism with the goal of bring students together. The other day I heard someone say, “Genetically we are 99.99% similar but it is the .01% that be obsess about”. We need to focus of how to not make this .01% an issue. As we need to know how to not create walls and barriers that prevent us from communicating. Rather how to find an effective means to create spaces were issues are discussed.
I hope for all those who have followed this blog they have found it effective and meaningful. I would appreciate any comments on any of the posts and I am willing to discuss any of the issues that have surfaced.
Listen and learn is the best tool for effective teaching.
This idea that making the rules of the culture of power more accessible to all people helps to make the CoP less relevant is an interesting one- an interesting theory of change. More words and work on this idea are needed in the future, but for now, have a fantastic summer.
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