Intrepretations of True Love, Raindrops, A Casual Look, Jamesetta On My Mind, and The Blues Had A Baby

True Love

This piece focused on the idealism that was created for many because of their interpretation of Doo Wop songs. But just as well as any many other things in life, you must not use one aspect of something to base your whole outlook of that one thing. The part of this writing that caught my attention the most was the part where you talk about love and obsession having the same feeling. I think that many people confuse the two or might even think that they overlap somewhat. Personally I feel that these thoughts are molded through experiences and personal values. Once a person experiences obsession firsthand, then they can learn from the experience and be able to differ one from another there on after. I think there is true love, but there is only minimal exposure of it, through Doo Wop songs.

Raindrops

This writing was based on a song Dee Clark where he keeps referring to a metaphor which says that there is a cloud over his head, and the water on his face is raindrops. Basically what’s being shown through this piece are the feelings of a man who is grieving because he is hurt, so he is trying to express in words how he feels because every man knows it’s not manly to cry. This is a conception that almost all men live with, which in turn becomes anger in them. Since they are not allowed to grieve normally they withhold so much emotion inside and this causes an explosion when all the emotions are finally released.

A Casual Look

This piece discusses Trudy Wells and how her voice and words in the song a “Casual Look” helped you relate so well to the many encounters you had with puppy love, and how they all simply started with a glance. Even though puppy loves usually ends with what we think is the most devastating heartbreak at that time, I think that those experiences are essential for everyone to endure and be able to look back on those moments and think “oh I was really that young and naive once?” Puppy love is all a part of growing and learning, so when the real thing comes along you’ll be able to take a casual look and now you’ve found it.

Jamesetta on my Mind

This piece really hit home with me. Relating music with life has always helped me get through the good and bad. Music can make a person feel like someone understands the exact situation they are in at that moment. If the singer is really good, they can even make you feel as like they are talking straight to you giving you the advice you so badly need. Sometimes we can find comfort in songs and other times songs can give us the boost we need in order to finally move forward with something we having been idling. I love music, and I love the messages that artists can convey through the use of sounds and melodies. Songs often times give a voice to mute emotions.

The Blues Had A Baby

This piece primarily talks about how the music genre of the blues created what we today consider to be rock n’ roll music. Many genres of music have also been branches of another genre that came before it. Regardless whether it’s through blues and rock n’ roll music, the same emotions and feelings are being felt by all the artists making these songs. Music is a filter which some people use to get their emotions out and other people listen to the music in order to relate to it and help express themselves better as well.

Social Class, Gender, and Sexual Relations

The way that my parents taught me to understand my social class, is the way that many others of the middle class were taught also. My parents only liked to refer to our economical status as "comfortable". Being a Hispanic family originating from Cuba, and coming to the United States and actually having something to show for was a big step forward. That's part in reason why my parents liked to say that weren't well off but we were comfortable because we had food on the table and a roof over our heads. In today's society the media portrays everyone who doesn't have millions, to be poor. The media makes us unconsciously want to buy things to make others believe that we have a lot of money, partly by the use of subliminal messages. In some cases people fall into big trouble with debt because of this. Sometimes people try to portray themselves as having a massive amount of money and showing it off in the form of material objects like clothing, cars, and houses. I think that most people that tend to do these things are strongly influenced by the media and the things that the media makes us think that we need to have in order to be considered part of a higher social class. I think that the way that my family explained my gender and the things that women are suppose to be even as a young age. Having an older brother which was older than by 12 years, there was always a rebellion in my household. I wanted to have the same rights and privileges that he did, but I didn’t understand that I was not of the age and also I was a female. My parent constantly told me that women shouldn’t be out at a certain time at night because it would give other’s the wrong idea. The answer that my parents gave me the most often was their particular favorite for their reasoning for me not being able to go out or do something that my brother did “you’re a girl and he’s a boy”. I think that parents in today’s day and age teach their children those important gender differences to their children even starting at young age. My mother used to make me help her in the kitchen and always wanting me to be sitting nearby when she was writing bills or on the phone with the mortgage company because she always said that she wanted me to know what I needed to know as a woman. My parents didn’t like to openly discuss sexual relations with me when I was a child, so most of things that I learned about that at a young age did come from the media or my friends. As I got older my parents simply explained to me the causes and effects of certain actions, even though I was well aware of that long ago.

Rites of Passage

Rites of passage are ceremonies or rituals in which a child must pass through as a benchmark in order to grow and learn from those experiences. But not only are rites of passage those ceremonies but also things that change someone’s life such as marriage, birth, or even death. Depending on the culture, rites of passage tend to be different from region to region. The term known today “rites of passage” was first used by Gennep and he basically explained that the term meant that you were passing from one place in society up to another one when these rituals were performed. He went on to also explain that such celebrations like new years are also a rite of passage but not in the same context, in one that means the passing of time. Van Gennep goes on to explain rites of passage in even more depth by breaking it down into three stages; separation, liminal, and aggregation. Separation is something like a death, aggregation is explained by a union such as marriage, and liminal is when a person for a ritual is a separated from society for a long period of time. The readings that were assigned for this reflection I also read last semester in Introduction to Education, and I remember them quite well. Facing Mt. Kenya is a reading based on the Gikuyu people. It explains the rites of passage which a young girl has her clitoris removed. The Gikuyu name for these particular rites of passage is irua. Prior to the operation, there is a whole set of customs which these Gikuyu people follow. They place the girl on a diet because they believe that it will beneficial in the way that not as much will be lost after the circumcision. Also there are other religious rituals which are done prior to the girl’s operation. One of those rituals is called koraria morungu and it’s when the people bang loudly on drums because they believe that this will maintain the gods’ awake. I personally think that rites of passage are important in education first of all because culture is important. One way of keeping culture alive is by practicing the rites of passage that are typical to the culture. Also, I believe that rites of passage are important because education is another form of a rite of passage. Starting school, going to middle school, graduating high school are all important to grow also.

Little Rock 9

After reading the case study in my textbook about the high schools in Little Rock I’m just completely amazed. I’m amazed at how racist and impassionate people were to kids, because the Little Rock Nine were just that, kids. I obviously knew that there was segregation and racism but every time I read another story about how life was for people living in that time and dealing with those issues, it never fails to amaze me. The Little Rock Nine were just some kids who didn’t want anything more than to get the same education that all the whites were receiving at that time. Even though they were treated horribly, I would have actually wanted to be one of those nine. Those nine kids were brave enough and strong enough to stand their ground and stick it out until the laws were passed for them to actually win the battle. While reading the article, I couldn’t help but imagine myself going through all those things those kids were going through. Trying to walk into a school and being turned down by the National Guard. Then when they finally did make their way into the high school through a side door they were told on and taken back out of the school. Then the president at the time actually sent troops to “maintain order” outside of the school, which was actually to make sure that the blacks didn’t make their way inside the school again. Honestly, I don’t know how those nine children maintained such good attitude throughout all the mean and bad things that happened to them throughout their struggle to getting high schools to be integrated. I probably would’ve been offended that I actually needed armed guards to enter a school, and I would’ve been hurt by the things that the angry mobs of whites who were standing outside of these high schools protested about how I was allowed to attend the school. But in the end I would have wanted to experience and endure those things the way they did because just how they explained at the end of the reading those same people were able to go back to that high school in 1997, and walk through the front door and enjoy the fact that they stood up for what was right, and they were a part of a huge and significant change in history that was made because of many people who were also like them and didn’t agree with the way things were, and wanting to see big changes fast.

Culture

Culture is a big topic of concern for any upcoming teacher, or even anyone who wants to work with the general public since the United States is such a diverse country. When reading the assigned articles, I realized that culture is a complex matter of the human spirit. In order for us our human spirit to grow and mold into a complete energy, we must experience not only our own culture, but also the cultures of others. No one culture is above anyone else’s but most time that’s exactly what some people truly believe, and that’s when big conflicts start, no one should ethnocentric. Robert Gibson has a theory which he explains by an iceberg. The theory is basically structured by what is under what on the image are the things about our culture which are there but obviously not seen, and those are the aspects that our influenced by those that we can see above the surface. In better detail, food, music, traditions, etc are all things about a culture that we are aware of because they are made visible. The aspects of the person and their culture which are inside are that person’s/culture’s beliefs, attitudes, values, etc. The things that are instilled in us are commonly the things that make different cultures clash. We commonly tend to think that the same values and beliefs that we have are those of all other people and that also is being ethnocentric, because of beliefs and values aren’t any better or righter than anyone else’s. Cultural transmission is another thing I was familiarized with through the readings. Cultural transmission is the term used for transferring one’s culture, beliefs, values, etc to another person of another culture. This happens with teachers most often as well. Teachers can actually put this in their curriculum purposely in what they call their formal curriculum. But teacher’s most of the time where cultural transmission happens is in the hidden or otherwise informal curriculum which the teacher has. The way that the teacher talks to the students, how the teacher reacts to the children’s behaviors, the teacher’s expectations of her students. All these components are based on that teacher’s beliefs and values and he/she needs to be conscious that his/her ways aren’t the only ways or right way.

The Diversity Case Study

After reading the case study in the beginning of chapter one, I realized that diversity is a major issue that promising and existing teachers must face in their day to day lives. In this particular case study it talks about a girl named Samantha who will be a first time teacher soon, but she is now enrolled in the diversity course. She begins the course by first thinking that she is well prepared for handling diversity because she feels that she has been exposed to it before, and has been able to manage the situation successfully. For example, she talks about the volleyball team that she is a part of. She goes on to explain that her volleyball team looks like the “United Nations” because of all the different types of people on her team. What Samantha later begins to realize is how much of a huge impact diversity causes when it comes to the teaching process. She begins to think about children with disabilities, people who speak differently than she does, or people who carry heavy accents which she is unfamiliar with and would most likely have a hard time understanding. Samantha also starts to evaluate her brother’s difficulties since he is already a teacher in the classroom. She realizes that her brother teaches in a school which isn’t too far from where is will soon be and that he has a lot of diversity in his classroom as well. I have had many experiences which I would say have somewhat helped me be prepared for diversity but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that these experiences alone have fully prepared me. As of now I work in an after school program at an elementary school. My groups of students all are very diverse. I have everything from students who are of different ethnicities, colors, and genders. I also have many students who are being raised in single family homes, and some who are even part of the foster care system. Some of the children are open about it and others aren’t, but the ones who are most affected I can see through their behaviors and how interested they are in school and learning. Being a teacher I know that I would be dealing with the same or if not very similar circumstances in the classroom, and being exposed to dealing and helping these children now, I feel it gives me a step forward in how I would approach these same issues in my classroom. I would try to group those who are least motivated with students who I see are progressing forward and are interested. Diversity is a large issue that comes along with teaching, but I think I can learn to deal with it.