Charlotte
Woods Elementary
Location:
674 Prairie Ave, Providence,
RI
Teacher:
Mrs. Lefebrve
Grade:
Kindergarten
Woods Elementary
Location:
674 Prairie Ave, Providence,
RI
Teacher:
Mrs. Lefebrve
Grade:
Kindergarten
A Jonathan Kozol Moment....
"There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and
poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet
them, to be cheerful anyway.” -Jonathan Kozol
Upon starting my service learning project, I was a little apprehensive about teaching
in a Providence school. I was told that a high percentage of the children I
would be working with were not white and that almost all of them would be on
reduced lunches. Growing up in a very sheltered town as well as attending
catholic schools all of my life I was not sure how I was going to relate to
these children. After spending several sessions with these children I had
completely forgotten that most of them were of poverty and lived in unfair
living conditions. They greeted me every day with cheerful smiles and yelled
out, “Ms. Lauren! Ms. Lauren!” as I entered the room. I received constant hugs
and was told outrageous stories that could only be created in the imaginations
of five year old children. Within a conversation with their teacher one day, I
was told that one of the children who was a little farther behind academically
then the rest of the class was once homeless and lived in a shelter. This
ultimately broke my heart and I began to think of a quote by Jonathan Kozol.
Despite the fact that these children went home to their unpleasant home lives
they were still about to stay positive and cheerful while in school. After
realizing this I began to rethink my own problems and kept in mind that there
are people out there who have it worse so I must always keep a smile on my face.
Linda Christensen Moment ...
“I am uncomfortable with those messages. I don't want students to believe that
change can be bought at the mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle
of a woman's life is an "I do" that supposedly leads them to a "happily ever
after." I don't want my female students to see their "sisters" as competition
for the scarce and wonderful commodity--men.” -Linda Christensen
Growing up I loved Disney Princess movies and always considered myself a “princess.” My
dad always referred to me as his princess and I even have it tattooed on my
back. However it wasn’t until I read Linda Christensen and realized the
stereotypes that I was teaching my students were wrong. It is a well-known fact
that kids love stickers so wanting to make my students happy, I went to the
store and bought them stickers. I bought one pack of Disney Princess stickers,
one pack of Spongebob Squarepants, and a pack of Toy Story stickers. When my
students completed their work I gave them a sticker and found myself presenting
the princess stickers to the girls and the other stickers to the boys however
who am I to give them a choice of stickers just because they are a boy or girl?
I am wrong in my doings of not presenting them with the choice to pick from all
three packs of stickers according to Christensen’s philosophy. By doing so I am
limiting them and telling them that, “girls must like the pretty pink
princesses and the boys must like the heroic Toy Story characters.” Who am I to
make that decision for them? By doing this I am enforcing the stereotypes that
modern society forces down children’s throats. Since this moment I have
presented my students with all three stickers and when the boys said,
“Princesses are for girls!” I responded with, “boys can like princesses too.”
"There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and
poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet
them, to be cheerful anyway.” -Jonathan Kozol
Upon starting my service learning project, I was a little apprehensive about teaching
in a Providence school. I was told that a high percentage of the children I
would be working with were not white and that almost all of them would be on
reduced lunches. Growing up in a very sheltered town as well as attending
catholic schools all of my life I was not sure how I was going to relate to
these children. After spending several sessions with these children I had
completely forgotten that most of them were of poverty and lived in unfair
living conditions. They greeted me every day with cheerful smiles and yelled
out, “Ms. Lauren! Ms. Lauren!” as I entered the room. I received constant hugs
and was told outrageous stories that could only be created in the imaginations
of five year old children. Within a conversation with their teacher one day, I
was told that one of the children who was a little farther behind academically
then the rest of the class was once homeless and lived in a shelter. This
ultimately broke my heart and I began to think of a quote by Jonathan Kozol.
Despite the fact that these children went home to their unpleasant home lives
they were still about to stay positive and cheerful while in school. After
realizing this I began to rethink my own problems and kept in mind that there
are people out there who have it worse so I must always keep a smile on my face.
Linda Christensen Moment ...
“I am uncomfortable with those messages. I don't want students to believe that
change can be bought at the mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle
of a woman's life is an "I do" that supposedly leads them to a "happily ever
after." I don't want my female students to see their "sisters" as competition
for the scarce and wonderful commodity--men.” -Linda Christensen
Growing up I loved Disney Princess movies and always considered myself a “princess.” My
dad always referred to me as his princess and I even have it tattooed on my
back. However it wasn’t until I read Linda Christensen and realized the
stereotypes that I was teaching my students were wrong. It is a well-known fact
that kids love stickers so wanting to make my students happy, I went to the
store and bought them stickers. I bought one pack of Disney Princess stickers,
one pack of Spongebob Squarepants, and a pack of Toy Story stickers. When my
students completed their work I gave them a sticker and found myself presenting
the princess stickers to the girls and the other stickers to the boys however
who am I to give them a choice of stickers just because they are a boy or girl?
I am wrong in my doings of not presenting them with the choice to pick from all
three packs of stickers according to Christensen’s philosophy. By doing so I am
limiting them and telling them that, “girls must like the pretty pink
princesses and the boys must like the heroic Toy Story characters.” Who am I to
make that decision for them? By doing this I am enforcing the stereotypes that
modern society forces down children’s throats. Since this moment I have
presented my students with all three stickers and when the boys said,
“Princesses are for girls!” I responded with, “boys can like princesses too.”