Service Learning - Real Life Experience of Culture vs Viewing Culture Through Publications

This whole service learning reading got me thinking about how we view a story on the news and think to ourselves "that's so sad" but we cannot even begin to comprehend how much torment and horror some people experience because we get the information second hand. 
When service learning or learning of culture to culture comes from first hand experience- and those people who are experiencing have a small influence to voice and change the perception of such things- it brings about a new level of understanding and helping a different culture or community in need. 
Realization and acknowledging is the first step into creating change. 
This story really caught my attention.
It is about a woman who participated in the Women’s Rights and Community Development in Ghana, where her internship placement was at a Liberian refugee camp. She was a teaching assistant for a kindergarten class and an aide in a classroom of children with disabilities. She interviewed many people and encountered relayed information of, as she states, "the witnessing of brutal deaths of strangers and loved ones, the attempt to escape but discovering yourself on a sinking ship and to finally make it out alive only to find yourself all alone in foreign territory"
Story link is here: Maegan Kae Sunaz

In the Service of What?

These authors Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning is more complicated than it may seem to certain students and it may take on a different level of importance for many as well. Most teachers and legislators advocate service learning as a part of the curriculum and policy makers have initiated The National and Community Service Act of 1990 and President Clinton's National Service Trust Act of 1993. The reading at one point discusses a teacher, Mr. Johnson, who required his students to involve themselves to participate in community service projects of their own choosing. One student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstream during pregnancy and another student devoted time to "help the elderly" in which she cleaned her grandmother's house for her. It seems that some students take service learning more seriously than others and that the question "In Service of What" applies to the different methods by which the required time to complete the goal of the service learning or the path that the student takes to achieve this are very varied and some display a lack of true passion or interest in learning how to truly be of service to one's community.
The reading also discusses the problem of service learning in the sense of the only thing a student takes away from it is feeling like they've completed a civic duty and taking pride in themselves and giving a pat on the back to their ego.
The student should focus more on trying to find where they relate to the person who is in need and how they got there to try and discover the underlying problems in the system that has failed them. An example of a story is given with students who devote time to a middle school in a "bad part of town". The students are warned by parents and others that it is dangerous and some parents even said that they did not want their students attending this service learning experience because they thought they would be in an environment that was full of violence, bad behavior and filth. When these students helped the middle school students in the "bad neighborhood", they found them to be friendly, attentive, and well behaved.
They also found the community to not be what was mentioned to them before attending the project. They saw it in a more positive light by experiencing it first hand. This is also an integral part of a service learning experience, to first associate yourself with another person in need in the goal of acknowledging assimilation and to then build off a negative societal connotation and abolish a myth and form your own opinion based on experience.

The following video shows a service learning project where students involved themselves in a community in Detroit where they helped give children "something to do" at a park. One resident of the area who has been there since 1950 said they would benefit from more events like this where the children could play and have fun. Directly helping a whole community in this way is an extremely wonderful thing to do- to experience the community and the people directly and immerse yourself in the culture and helping out children, teens and adults smile and enjoy life.

Media Presentation Project

Linda Christensen- Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

In this reading, Linda Christensen argues that children grown up with predisposed information within the texts of children's literature, the cartoons within the TV shows they watch and any other form of information that is thrown at them VIA the media. The truth is, even before this class I was aware of the media's power and infiltration to the human psyche. I knew that for most women watching TV commercials that the goal would be to look ageless and skinny and they could conquer the world. After this class I see more directly what Christensen is talking about in regards to children's literature and the prevalence of certain cultures being in power over other ones as depicted in stories. The values mentioned in Cinderella's story are not good ones- A rework of the story to celebrate an African American background for the character remade into Cinder Elly was good at incorporating Cinder Elly's braided hair and native adornments- but as far as changing the values of the main character from winning a man and becoming more well dressed and rich- that was non existent. Our culture has a problem with instilling false values into the minds of children- it has a problem not addressing all of the people within our world and focusing too much on the idea of women being beautiful, fat people being goofy or buffoons, people of different races and culture not holding important significance in the stories. There is a huge problem with children's literature, cartoon shows and role models that children seek after. Christensen's piece discusses all of this and also how students were allowed to have published works expressing the problems they believed prevalent in the culture of media and impact on youths. The following link shows Christensen's new book and a video describing her work.
Teaching for Joy

Alan et al- Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places: addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school.

This author argues the issues with the act of introducing the LGBT community to Primary schools as "taboo". The paper consisted of an analysis of what happens in the classroom when different characters and ideas are introduced through children's books or the personal experiences of their teachers. It suggested that in classrooms we have an undertone of assumption with a heterosexual world. It also speaks of the boundaries of "safe zones" in public schools. It is mentioned that homosexual or heterosexual teachers feel more comfortable expressing themselves and their personal lifestyles in the faculty lounge where student and parent's ears are not present. Once these individuals exit the area their speech becomes more hushed on the controversial matters. It addresses the fear that by introducing something not every parent is comfortable with the repercussions will be back-lashed responses. For example, a father in this reading said something along the lines of "I'm afraid my son will become a fairy". It is also mentioned in this reading Section 283 which is related to the Local Gov't Act of 1988 This amendment stated that an authority figure "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained schools of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". Needless to say this amendment was repealed in 2000 but the fact that it ever existed in the first place proves that a standard set by society can set decades of prejudices in motion. A classroom experiment was preformed with a teacher named Kate who asked the class to perform a task where they addressed the derogatory terms for people of different race and sexual orientation with terms that would make those people prideful of their differences. One boy in her class called it "minging" which is a British slang for "something unsavory or distasteful". Many students responded with relating stories of knowing and accepting family members who were gay. This exercise proved successful by not only addressing the different sexual orientations as an obvious norm but promoting acceptance of it. The following link shows a real life issue of integrating the LGBT community into a school system in Chicago in 2009 with the proposal of a gay-friendly school and the model being pulled to be redesigned to be an even better model in which a zero tolerance mindset would be implemented. Here is the link!

"Why Can't She Remember That?" by Terry Meier

This author Terry Meier argues that the importance of instilling the love for books at the pre school and kindergarten level is immensely relevant to their later successes in the world of education. She explains that in her personal experience many children of color or bilingual learners who have not grown up with many book reading experiences have not had the importance of books instilled into them. When a child has an experience of book reading they are already more engaged because they have read these books and seen the direct real world relationships that mimic the lessons in them. When we constantly teach children about books in which characters of color are not introduced or relate able, they will not form a connection to the story or understand it’s relevance and importance. The reading suggests that teachers should not just ask questions that have obvious answers. This teaching tactic does just one thing- to make the child an “information giver” and make sure that the child is “listening”. The most important part of a child’s education is to make sure that the child is not just listening but they are getting some form of relation to the story, characters, or the relation from the story to their world specifically. This will help the child see the book as a source of value to the vast information that will allow them to understand the world around them. Meier gives examples by using puppets and branching out the lesson to more than just reading a book. It is important that the capacity of learning is beyond just reading text. Many ways include but are not limited to: using a puppet to answer the obvious or "silly" questions, choosing books that may be the old tell tale story but reworking the name and race of the characters so other children will see themselves in the stories, and making sure that if the majority of the class is a different race that the material given to the students will reflect and resonate with them all. 

Questions to ask:

I want to know what were important stories of your childhood and if everyone related to those stories or remembered being read to as a child. I want to ask my classmates what stories stuck with them and taught them a life lesson- if any. My story would probably be "Ma, You're Driving Me Crazy!" - the cover of the book was a little girl with red messy hair and freckles. I have included a photo of the cover in this blog post (top left) and a link to an adorable little girl engaged by the book: HERE.  I would like my classmates to respond to this blog with a link to a book they remember and why it resonated- if any examples arise from this question.