Deconstructing The Racism of "What A Weird Name!" - Key & Peele

First off - hope everyone is staying safe from the storm. Be well, Donovans!  Stay safe/hydrated/enjoy your tomorrow off!

Secondly - IDK if any of you catch the Comedy Central sketch show "Key & Peele", but I thought this was a relevant (and hilarious) takedown of the white privilege behind "Your name is funny" comments. The reversal is that a teacher of color substitutes in a posh suburban school and tells a group of white kids - Aaron, Blake, Jacqueline, that their names are "weird" and "don't make sense". I'd always thought it was more than vaguely racist when acquaintances of mine joked about names outside of the mainstream, but never saw it articulated as well as this sketch. What do you think? Insightful, problematic - both?

ETA: On rewatch, I can see how this pushes the "angry black dude" meme. Nevertheless, I like how it deconstructs the racism behind making fun of non-mainstream names. 

Calculating readability with your classroom texts

Donovans,

Using the sample classroom text you brought to class on October 18th, follow these directions to compute the grade level equivalency of the text. It's a brief exercise that will give you tactile experience with some of the common considerations of what makes a text easy or challenging, as well as a chance for you to consider what is not taken into account. Please post your thoughts about this process of computing readability here.

More, More Videos

  Hey Lovely People,

   So, I'm joining the posting trend this week.  While I was at the movies on Saturday, I saw the movie trailer for a new Abe Lincoln film.  I immediately gave it a side eye and raised brow, but I thought I was try to "unpack"( Kat lol) it before writing it off.  Based on last week's conversation on Critical Literacy, I'm interested to hear how you all think this text can be understood with this political and social era. What does it mean to produce a movie like this at this time?

     It's coming to most theaters Nov. 16. I'd love to go see with with some of you!

  Here are the links for two different trailers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=F_PfTl63qQQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDMmIhDsBSw&feature=related

  See you in a few!

More videos!

One on white privilege:
http://youtu.be/Wf9QBnPK6Yg

And one on the NYPD's stop & frisk policy:
http://www.upworthy.com/meet-the-17-year-old-who-blew-the-lid-off-racial-profiling-with-his-ipod

I don't think "enjoy" is really the right sentiment, but, uh,

Be enlightened. 
M.

The minidoc on the police department is fascinating, although I'm wondering about fact checking?  Is that a terrible second reaction (after shock&horror, of course)?

What does it mean to be white?

Hey y'all,

A friend of my posted this on FB and I found it extremely interesting. I thought I'd share!!

http://blackgirldangerous.tumblr.com/post/33241021145/how-to-know-if-you-are-white

Application time

In light of Professor Kumashiro's talk on the neoliberal education reforms sweeping that nation, what do you think of the entrepreneurship highlighted here?

Widening what counts as the code of intelligence

Another example of codeswitching: this time from Lavar Burton addressing candidate Romney's comments about PBS and poor ole Big Bird. Listen for the phrase and tone behind it of "fix his mouth."

I am also posting this to open up a thread and space for discussion about the candidates' stances on education.

Denver Public Schools Erases "Social Justice" Language from its Teacher Evaluation Rubric

I just came across this article via EdWeek's Twitter and thought: "What better example of the deeper implications of language in the education world?" The headline speaks for itself, but here's an excerpt from the article:

In response to complaints, the Denver district is revising language in its teacher-evaluation system that described a "distinguished" teacher as one who "encourages students to challenge and question the dominant culture" and "take social action to change/improve society or work for social justice," The Washington Times reports.

District and union officials both said the language didn't properly reflect the concept they were trying to convey: that the best teachers help students view and analyze information critically. They've updated the framework as a response, the newspaper reports.

This raises some interesting questions. First, is "social justice education" the same thing as "viewing and analyzing information critically?" I can see arguments on both sides: the first being that one needs to think critically to agitate for social justice, the other being that one can think critically and come to different political conclusions about society's ills.

The other question I have is: was the "social justice" language suggested by the teachers themselves? If it was, isn't changing the language yet another top-down mandate of how teachers define and relate to their own work?

I want to know more details about what the Denver policy-makers mean when they say "social justice" - but what do y'all think? Were they smart to take away the "social justice" language away, or simply caving in on a political whim? 

Literature Circle Groups

Hello All - Everyone except one person got their first choice for the literature circles. Please order your books and be ready to start working with them on October 18th. I've noted where there are folks

The New Jim Crow (strongly recommend breaking this group into 2)
Yamira
Kat
Kamilah
Jamilah
Marina
Aleshia
Marcus

Autobiography of Malcolm X
Jeannine
Regine
Lily
Jianan

Harlem on our Minds
Mimi
Dan
Luis

Other People's Children
Tinyan
Sean
Anicia
Jessica H.
Emily
Mariela

The Dreamkeepers
Iesha
Ashley
Jessie Sofio
Hillary
Steven

Responses to Kumashiro and Picower

The Donovans represented in the talks at HGSE!

Both Drs. Kumashiro and Picower were greatly impressed with the questions that were posed to them; questions that lifted their game individually and collectively.

In this thread, please post any responses, comments, and/or questions you'd like the collective to think about. As much as possible, make connections to others' thoughts, so that we create a virtual conversation of sorts.