Reading and Response #1

One thing that I immediately noticed while reading this chapter was how it was able to bridge the gap between two different fields of education, and for me that is Psychology and  English literature. One thing that I have learned from the principles of educational psychology is that we all, no matter who you are or where you come from (socioeconomic status, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, etc), have different modes of learning that takes different shapes as we get older and begin to see ourselves operating throughout society. This includes everything from who your friends are to what you read to what your interests are and why you have those interests, the list could go on and on. However, learning and education in the 21st century should be something that is afforded to all but that is usually not the case. Children and adolescents who are looked down upon either because of who they are, where they come from, possible living in poverty, the color of their skin, and so on have a harder time in succeeding in certain education settings because they are not given the opportunity to succeed. They have other things that demand their attention and education is often left by the wayside. An interesting study done by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck discovered that white students who were given a "positive" note on an essay was much more likely to go back and rewrite the essay (87%) whereas only 62% of white students who received a "bland" note did nothing and left the essay as is. Take this scenario and change white students to African American students and the disparity between numbers becomes even more apparent. The African American students who received the positive note were 72% more likely to go and rewrite the essay, where only 16% of students with the bland note rewrote the essay. This is of the greatest importance when looking at a deep, meaningful, and enriching education system that doesn't take into account the psychological barriers that students face on a daily basis. If you were told, repeatedly, that you were not a good writer and to give up would you wake up every morning and be excited to learn at school? Or that you can't be apart of STEM  related classes because you have a vagina, which is literally the most absurd notion ever. There are many factors that go into making a great teacher truly exceptional but I believe that you must go outside of the state mandated education quotas and teach not only effectively but teach what your students want to learn, what their interests are, and do it with such tact and grace that they experience an enriching and deep connection to education and learning. I thoroughly enjoyed what Linda Darling-Hammond (2011) had to say regarding the state of affairs American adolescents are currently battling.