Essence Harrison

My takeaways from the assigned texts              The Social Construction of Learning Disabilities            " One can not be learning disabled on one's own. It takes a host of interactions performed in school to make a learning disability(pg. 482)".           "Our commitment to individualism has also persuaded us that vocational, social, and educational successes (and failure) can usually be traced to individual effort and ability"(pg. 483).           .  " Through the lens of rugged individualism, those who need help(those who are unable to confront life's problems on their own) are often seen as inept (lacking determination or skill) and those who accept help as weak "(pg. 483). This is often illustrated in my school. Students who are English language learners, are often put down by their teachers. Some teachers automatical...

Yesterday, I met with my YARI men-tees at the South Providence library. I feel as though we made great progress in terms of their research project. Laila and Amy have decided to narrow their focus on how race and diversity affects both the students and the teachers in Providence Schools. Their target schools are: Central, Classical, Juanita Sanchez, 360, Hope, and The Met. Their goal is to survey five teachers and five students from each school to balance the research. I mentioned that I work with two colleagues(Sierra, and Johnny) that manage the after school programs at Hope and Juanita Sanchez. While Laila and Amy were working on their research question, I reached out to Sierra and Johnny to explain the research project. I asked them if they had any students in mind that wouldn't mind participating in the survey. Early this morning, Johnny reached out to me and asked if I would like to meet with him and Sierra next week to formulate a plan to get into the schoo...

Going into this class, I was anxious about what I could bring to the table for my men-tees. It wasn't until I sat down with my two men-tees (L and A) that I realized me being a former employee of the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), was a resource within itself. L and A have decided to focus on Diversity and Race and how it affects student-teacher relationships. They are planning to interview students from the following high schools; Classical, Central, Hope, Juanita Sanchez, and Hope. Juanita Sanchez hosts an after school program known as the HUB. The Site Coordinator works for PASA. So does the Site Coordinator at Hope high school. I talked to my men-tees about possibly reaching out to my former colleagues to see if they know of any students who would like to participate in a survey.