Nick DiPaola's FNED 346 Blog Fall 2018

A child with Down syndrome is included in classroom activities just as any other student would. This picture was taken from a really great article on inclusive education that can be found  here .   For my final blog post of the semester I chose to make connections to other readings we have discussed in class. Since I found this particular reading to be interesting, it will be the focus of this post, with a couple connections added in at the end.         In a section of the book titled Schooling Children With Down Syndrome by Christopher Kliewer, the author informs the reader what it's like to teach a class with a student that has Down syndrome without letting them become frustrated or feel left out. In the chapter, he first discusses negative feelings associated with children who have the disability. Mia Peterson, a student segregated from her non-disabled peers says "I started to notice that I didn't like the classes I was taking called...

This photo was taken from a CBS News article posted in 2014 titled "Seperate and Unequal": Segregation Making Comeback in U.S Schools. For the article, click  here . For this post, I chose to write extended comments on our classmate  Emily Vieira's blog.         I like the quote that Emily chose from The Problem We All Live With  because it speaks to the fact that characteristics like racism and discrimination are learned. The young children in Francis Howell celebrated the transfer students from Normandy School despite what their parents thought which is indeed quite amazing. Older folks tend to be much less open-minded and accepting to changes as opposed to the youth, or in this case, their own children. I think it's also important to note that their was no increase in violence, no decrease in test scores, and overall, the transfer students fared well in their new district.          I also like the quote tha...

The article titled "In The Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning" written by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer discusses the purpose, goals, and outcomes of service learning projects for students. For this blog post, I've chosen three quotes I found important from the article and explained their relevance. Quote #1 - "Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling. Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students" I chose this quote because it explains in great detail what a service learning project does for not only the community, but the student as well. It also appears at the beginning of the article and introduces the topic. In our class, we are helping the Providence communi...

The 2016 Presidential election was highly controversial for several reasons. For this post I decided to go with option #2, where I read and responded to three of the graduate student's blog posts.  Find the link to them  here . #1) "Election Issues 2017" by Al DiFazio.  Al's post opens up with the statement that this election has become a question of character. Who are the candidates? I agree with this notion, and I also think that these two candidates were a couple of the worst options we've had for president in recent history. I say this because Donald Trump isn't your standard 'politician' and his rough-around-the-edges personality rubs many people the wrong way. As for Hilary Clinton, she's created serious trust issues between herself and American citizens. Al says that the most important problems that presidential candidates are faced with are jobs, the economy, education, the environment, immigration, tax policy, foreign poli...

Leaders of an LGBT club at a high school pose behind their pride flag to support the cause. The article titled "Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth" written by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan Kennedy discusses the discrimination and marginalization against members of the lesbian, gay, bi, and trans community. For this blog post I've decided to personally reflect on my experiences with this issue. Firstly, I come from a "traditional" American family where my parents believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. They were raised this way by their parents, and I'm sure that they want the same for their own children. With that being said, my two siblings, both heterosexual and male, are similarly close-minded to the LGBT community. Growing up, I've heard "you're gay" or "that's gay" countless times from them, often directed towards me because I was (being the middle child) a bit different ...

The children's book titled "No, David!" was influential to my childhood without me even knowing it. This post features extended comments from our classmate Nick Berling's blog which can be found here: http://nberlingblog.blogspot.com/ I really like the way Nick summed up the main idea of "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us." He mentioned how Linda Christensen argues that children are programmed very early in their childhood through literature such as books, magazines, movies, cartoons, etc, that give them opinions on different types of people and how our society works. I've been exposed to this argument in previous college courses and I must say that I agree. Honestly, I feel like the media controls everything in terms of the way we view the world. For example, the basic plot behind countless movies in America involves the male protagonist character succeeding the antagonist, thus 'saving the day.' Since we've read and seen this so many ...