Blog # 3 Immigration...Better life?

Immigration is constantly on the rise in the U.S. These people come here because they can have a chance to raise a family with better opportunities. However, when these families come they 1)must be legal...they have much paper work and many other things they have to complete before they are let in and 2) they are leaving everything they know and love to have a better life. In the case of the family moving to the U.S. (Chicago) it seems that their hearts and minds were to return to Mexico after they had succeeded. I think this situation is worse because they got greedy. They left their country with the intent to return but got use to living this lavish life style and wanted the big cars and big houses and lost track of why they came in the first place. In the end they put off moving in for a long time and then at the end of the chapter he wants to sell the house. I feel he loved his country but loved America more because that is where he found success. I feel they lost track of their vision...in which I feel all or most immigrants come with a vision. Immigrants need to stay focused on their dream...and if they want to return to their country after they have satisfied all they set out to accomplish then go back because no matter how much money you have the reality of it is money cannot buy you happiness.

Blog #2 Paintings and Culture

Velvet art form is unique and brought a lot of money to families with whom was selling/making the pictures. Many pictures are neat but some are portraying people in a negative aspect and some pictures are portraying religious figures in debatable scenes. As far as economic conditions are concerned...I think the velvet era has passed. People do still sale them but I don't think they are as poplar as they were before. They were used to decorate many homes and businesses. After the huge broadcast of these paintings many people started doing them here in the U.S. and the big "boom" was gone. These paintings sometimes can cause controversy among the different cultures and how the figure is represented in their world.
If an ELL student is riduculed for this type of family tradition. Family traditions comes in many forms and this happens to be one. Students get made fun of for many reasons because of ignorance (not knowing). In multicultural education we should always instill in our students individual differences between cultures. The words prejudice, stereotype and discrimination comes to mind here...and we have to make sure all groups assimilate in a positive way respecting all cultures. Even though religion is not suppose to be taught in school, I think it is important for students to know the different types of religion. For a student to be ridiculed is a form of bullying. Bullying is not allowed. Many times students are ridiculed because of the unknown factor. I think this would be a great learning experience to gain knowledge of why they believe/practice that particular tradition. Students would be reminded that we all come from different backgrounds. Each culture practices different beliefs and that doesn't make one right and the other wrong. I think this is interesting...this is a little off topic but it kind of fits in way. There were some students graduating from the adult education school. There was one student there who was not going to walk because it was against her religion and her family does not support this kind of recognition. I didn't really understand why but its not my place to judge others and that's what I would tell the students. Students need to know that its not polite to judge someone because of their beliefs tradition or not.

Blog #1 Immigration

My position on the current state of immigration is as diversity grows, so must we. Immigration is an ongoing process that increases the population in the U.S. It is important to remember the reason many immigrants come to the U.S. in the first place. Immigrants come for better opportunities for them and their families. My position with immigration is easy...come join we can all learn from each other and make a difference in learning from many different environments. However, the immigrants need to be legal and here for a meaningful purpose and not for harmful purposes.
Small businesses and companies need to remember that it is illegal for companies or independent contractors to hire or employ any illegal immigrants that emigrate to the country via illegal processes. The United States accepts the most legal immigrants as permanent residents of the country out of all the countries across the globe.
I don't have any new suggestions to immigration reform. I know the people in this area are doing the best they can at the job they have in trying to keep everyone safe. I do believe the responibility level of documents that are fake/false need to be identified better. The borders need more security/man power. Illegal immigrants punishments need to be a little harsher to eliminate so many of the cases.

Hello!!!

I have been teaching for four years. I was teaching 4th grade (all subjects) and now I am looping and will be teaching 5th grade next year. I plan on graduating in Aug.

Teacher's pay

Teacher's salary is one of those subjects that's gets everyone all upset and in an uproar. Teaching is one of those professions you really have to want to do because you truly love it and not because of the money. The funny thing is I always thought that teachers got paid about the same (the difference would come from the cost of living). I always figured that other district got paid more but their cost of living was much more so the playing field was much more leveled. After reading this article it is not at all like I thought (LOL!!) Everywhere pays for your education and time that you put in. How much you get paid is going to depend on the district you are working in and how well the community responds to outside factors.
As a teacher, I already know my pay is low...and yes I complain a little, but I still buy things for the classroom because I want my classroom to be comfortable and welcoming. The children love coming to my classroom because of all of the things I have in there. I have learned how to live on a teacher's salary. I shop at yard sales and find all kinds of neat things that can be used in the classroom. When you tell them you are a teacher sometimes they will even let you have the things for free!!! :))

There are many good things that goes along with the teaching profession.The average starting teacher's salary is $32,000 but many districts pay more to attract good teachers to their schools. Teachers with masters degrees or higher make an average of $10,000 more per year. There are many opportunities to supplement income with coaching, various teacher-led after school programs, and tutoring. Teachers are always in demand! We get summers off!! (Yes only two more days.)

At my school most everyone has a good classroom with high expectations of all their children. 98% of the children buy into your expectation and rise to the occasion. All in all teacher's pay is not all that important...seeing the children succeed and grow up to be prosperous is what counts. When you see them come back and are successful doctors and lawyers...you can say to yourself "it was well worth it".

Cultural Pluralism

All the articles describe what really actually happens in schools. Multiculturalism should be taught year round and not in a specific subject on specific day. This is a very hard concept and that's why people do it wrong. Multicultural education needs to be much more than ethnic tidbits and cultural sensitivity. Teachers need more training to be more successful in teaching muliculturalism correctly. The students like learning about other cultures. Its been my experience in the classroom that teaching simultaneously and continue relating the curriculum with the culture is a difficult process. It takes much planning ahead of time. The curriculum, policies and structure of my school is used as a means of social control by factors of success, program planning, assessment and accountability, curriculum and instruction, and the school environment. All these things maintain many opportunities to be interwoven with multiple disciplines, encouraging students to become more connected with all backgrounds. Multicultural education needs to be accompanied by a deep commitment to social justice and equal access to resorces. I think high standards for multiculturalism hold great promise for improving and closing the gap for students from different backgrounds.

Multiculturalism

Mulitculturalism takes many forms in many different areas. However, in education it is important to make sure all students feel welcomed, acknowledged, and included. After looking at all the sites these were my thoughts:
-multicutural education can be defined as an equal opportunity for other ethnic groups to reach their highest potential without discrimination and prejudice, and for others to develop knowledge about cultural differences.

-In my classroom/school we celebrate all the different culture groups throughout the year. I think this is very interesting because the students get a chance to tell us more about themselves. We don't have to read it in a book or watch a movie, we have a real life experience. It has been my experience when you ask a child to share their culture they are more thans happy to do it. The other students have enjoyed whent they get to learn/hear something new about someone.

-In the first site about Pithissippi, my first thought was mixed. I undertsood the thought process; however, times have changed and America has made so much progression in many ways. When times change everything changes. One cannot continue to use the same ideas and tactics that worked decades ago for the future. The fact is that America is made up of many cultures and they come here for better opportunites and because of the freedom.

-My opinion on the second and third one is not so much that other countries think multiculturalism is wrong, but I think they are just concerned. I think they are concerned in loosing their own culture in trying to recognize others. I agree with this to a certains degree. America has its own system and culture, but because of all the cultures it seems sometimes our values and beliefs are dismissed because of others.

-All in all recognizing different cultures is not only a great learning experience but also a decision that one has to make in regards to positve interactions among other ethnic groups.