ED 350 Blog 5

What are the three ideas involved with Pedagogy?

The first idea is content knowledge. This is what the teacher is assigned to teach. For example my content areas are math and science. The problem with content area subjects, is that most of our education is focused on our content areas and not teaching. There is a belief that we need to have rich knowledge in our content areas, but this takes away from our knowledge of teaching. The next idea from the reading is pedagogical knowledge. This refers to principles that are used in the classroom. For example how we use classroom management with our students. That last is pedagogical content knowledge which is the knowledge that is needed to teach a specific content area. I believe that this is the most important since it incorperates both ideas.

What is TFD?

TFD stands for an attempt to Teach for Diversity. This is a program that was built to help prospective teachers to learn how to teach in a diverse classroom. TFD is set up into different Cohorts of students. The program strives to build a community among the students in each of the cohorts. Each member of the TFD program had to research an important part of the program. Each cohort was also assigned to work in a specific school. This program is a great way to effectively train teachers to work in a diverse classroom.

ED 350 BLog 4

What was the process of deculturalization when the African Americans first came over as slaves? And how did this affect the slave’s assimilation to the European culture?

The first step the plantation owner took to take away their slaves identity was to change their names. This was very hard for the slaves since they could not speak English and their owners would repeat their name many times so that the slave understood that was their new name. The next thing that Spring talks about is their harsh living conditions. Since the African slaves were from all different cultures none of them spoke the same language and they could not communicate with each other nor their masters. They also did not receive instruction on how to speak English. This forced the slaves to loose their native language and create one that they could speak to with each other and one that their master would understand. This lead to the creation of a new African culture, their left their old culture behind and produced a new culture practices. These practices did not model after the Europeans. On tradition that come from this was slave songs. These songs were a way for the slaves to “cope with their state of powerlessness”. These steps that were taken to deculturize the African slaves did not end here, this was just the start.

ED 350 Blog #3

Zinn’s ideology of the story of the Native Americans is very different than the one presented in “We Have a Story to Tell”. Zinn’s view of this story is very violent and he seems to sympathize with the Native Americans. This also goes along with his sentiment in the first chapter of his book. He seems to have a lot of harsh feeling towards Columbus and his feelings are more brutal and almost angry. It almost seems like Zinn is trying to get a reaction of shock from his readers. While in the reading of “We have a Story” it is more informative and the ideology is not so harsh. The authors tell it like it was, but they do not want you to have pity for them. They concentrate more on the struggle they had for power. I believe this sentiment is less harsh because it is something that is going to be taught to high school students. Not that they need a “watered down version” but when teaching one must keep in mind the views and opinions parents might have. I think this is the hardest thing about teaching “true history” from every view point. Many times parents do not think that it is appropriate. When trying to teach material like this, I think the first step that needs to be taken, is teaching to the parents first. This way they understand the material being taught and see how important it is to see the situation from another’s viewpoint.