Mad Lib's Poem

The semi truck and the dump truck were best friends,
they're partying stopped at no ends.
The gargantuan trucks jumped for joy,
when they crashed into the trees, oh boy!
It was a razzel dazzel rose bush I assume,
however they weren't drinking diet coke when they resumed.
The dump truck said I've got a hammock,
but the semi truck explained, "we'd break it lets go to Hamtramuk.

Looking Through the Eyes of Injustice: Integrating Poetry and African American History

In looking at this article more in depth I realized the potential that poetry brings into the classroom. Students can get a real sense of emotion and connect to the people that experienced discrimination and injustice during the civil rights movement. By students seeing clips from the time period they learn a lot about the oppression and injustice African American people felt during the movement. I agree that students need to experience poetry to express their feelings and emotions on sensitive topics such as racism and the pain of the civil rights movement. I believe that students have a lot of emotions they want to express and poetry is a great form of expression. While attempting to teach civil rights emotions in my pre internship, i found it difficult to find a way for my students to express their many thoughts and emotions to relate to the people who have experienced it. Poetry would have been a great way of allowing them to vent their emotions and thoughts in a representative form. Poetry in the classroom is a powerful method of making history jump and become more relevant to students lives.

Two Voices Poem

"Freeze bitch!"
Oh my god
"I'm going to need that money"
"Just stay calm"
I've got five kids to feed
Please don't let them shoot
I wish things would have turned out different
I hope someone called the police
"You better not call the police"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just put the money in this bag and nobody gets hurt"
"Here take it all"
"Yes! I'm gonna have a ball..."

Found Poetry, "Tainted Undefeated Ship"

Undefeated inspired record,
A powerhouse team with accomplishments
of a classy bunch of guys
that put forth a myth of unbeaten celebration.
But soon the record will be tainted,
evil videotaping, asterisks, and lost champagne
would diminish significance not soon forgotten.
"If they wish to join the unbeatens, come aboard,"
but the 'ship has already set sail and the 'Pats
will be left behind.

Reaction to Group 2's Teach

The issue of social justice in todays classroom is a big issue to handle. By making activities open and free it allows students to have an atmosphere that allows them to see what stereotypes are and how we can recognize them, so we can prevent ourselves from believe them. Todays classrooms are becoming more and more diverse and it is up to the teacher to teach everyone one in his or her class the importance of equality and embracing differences good and bad. If a teacher is successful in doing this they can change the world for many students who have been discriminated and brought down because of their differences.
In witnessing their teach, I have encountered many new ways of handling social justice issues in the classroom and I hope to practice these activities in my future classroom. it seems like they tackled a lot of issues that are present for students in society and it is an important aspect of teaching that is often overlooked.

Letter to Disney

Dear Disney Motion Pictures,

After viewing many of you're movies with my children I have found that you have stereotyped various minority groups within the stories of the films. I find this to be very inappropriate for movies that are geared for younger viewers. These stereotypes of African Americans, Native Americans, as well as Arab Americans can not stand in a country as diverse as ours. These stereotypes demean women, show native Americans as the color "red" and stereotype broken English. In the movie Dumbo, african american's were portrayed as slaves and impersonal by not showing their faces. I demand that you change these stereotypes in order for my children to grow up with an equal view of all people no matter their race or ethnic background. These movies should be made to embrace differences not to make them a focal point of humor. Disney I say to you, please rewrite you're scripts and scenes to show equality of the races and everyone sharing in experiences, so that my children can see the value of a country that views differences as a good thing and not a means of stereotyping.

Sincerely,

An angry Parent of misled children!

Reflection on Social Justice Activities

The activities of group three's teaching were very important for teachers and students to experience and learn from. The activities showed how everyone in the classroom is affected by stereotypes and that as a teacher your teaching might be affected by this social issue. After seeing how the media impacts students, I feel that as a teacher we must try and combat those stereotypes and issues by changing our methods of teaching. This could be in the form of a lot of interesting lessons and texts that break down stereotypes. Introducing texts that have main characters that aren't popular, jocks, or similar to this. Students have to see that everyone in the classroom has things in common and can work together and can even be friends. Many people have a world view today that states if you play sports or wear nice clothes or are smarter than other people you are better than them. This just can not stand in the classroom and as a teacher I feel it is your job to eliminate this belief.