Alicia+C.+for+Sept.+18

Welcome everyone!!!! Well, it is hard following the footsteps of my fellow classmates, Mike and Mat, because I am not computer savvy enough to embed videos and stuff. Sorry...I know it is a long jump down from The Jetsons to The Flinstones. I'll try to get more fancy with my WEB 2.0 assignment. So here goes..... Sociocultural-historical theories

HI Alicia - kick ass post __ Rogoff  __ __ Gutierrez and Rogoff  __ __ Larson and Marsh  __ __ Shannon __ __ Discussion: __ The educational system has been constructed with respect to the dominant culture. The standards and curriculum are centered on a narrow pathway of learning, giving very little room for success of the oppressed cultures. Educators need to realize that society has changed dramatically in the last decade. Today, many urban and rural school districts are dominated by the “minority” but, are still “teaching and learning” in styles favorable to the dominant culture. As our society becomes more socially and culturally diverse, so does education and should its ways of practice. Children are the products of their communities. Their different ways of thinking, acting and reacting must be recognized. Not in a negative manner but, in a manner where we can all learn with, as well as, from each other. As educators, we are responsible for providing our students with the best education possible. However, that can not happen if we are not aware of our student’s histories of engagements in different cultural practices. These engagements allow us to capitalize on the different avenues individuals and/or groups of individuals take to get to the same outcome. These variations are important and should be used to cultivate a strong learning community within the educational system. __ Questions:  __  ·   Given there has been a slow transformation into the equality of learning, will our society ever come to terms with its socio-cultural diversity? Will we ever find a universal means to the path of equal and fair education for all?  ·   If the educational system can so easily demand change in students’ ways of thinking and learning, why can’t the students demand the system to change its ways of thinking and teaching?
 * “…learning is seen as a function of ongoing transformation of roles and understanding in the sociocultural activities in which one participates” (p.210)
 * “…cultural practices of the dominant group are taken as the norm.” (p.19)
 * “…consider differences in the childrens’, their families’, and their communities’ histories of engaging in particular endeavors organized in contrasting manners.” (p.22)
 * “We need to understand the coherence of what people from different communities //do,// rather than simply determining that some other group of people do //not// do what ‘we’ do, or do not do it as well or in the way that we do it, or jumping to conclusions that their practices are barbaric.” (p.101)
 * “…people do different things to accomplish similar goals.” (p.110)
 * “The ideologies of more powerful social groups exert direct influence over the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of less powerful groups.” (p.37)