Black Ants and Buddhist: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Introduction

As I began to read this chapter, it reminded me of the first day of class when you explained this assignment to us. You told us that the looping sketchbook reflections can be done in any way we would like. The student in this chapter is writing a response paper and she is not sure how the professor will take the response. It turns out that the professor liked the way she responded on the paper and how the student connected it in their own way. The professor even suggested a book for the student to read, which inspired his/her teaching. Which is a lot like what you told us to do, to write out the reflection in a way that it makes sense to us. 

"I choose to teach critically because I believe young children are capable of amazing things, far more than is usually expected of them. I am not talking about raising a score on a standardized math test (although that often happens). I am talking about thinking critically and learning to learn, learning to use basic skills like reading, writing, solving mathematical problems, analyzing data, public speaking, scientific observation, and inquiry as an active citizen in your community."

This quote certainly spoke to me because as a future educator, this is exactly what I want from my future students. I want my students to be able to think critically. I can promote this by brining relevance and connection to the daily lives of students and their families in my classroom. If I relate the curriculum to the students daily lives, the students are more likely to start critical thinking.

In this chapter they also talked about multicultural education. They explained the seven basic characteristics of multicultural education in the definition that was provided which are antiracist education, basic education, important for all students, pervasive, education for social justice, a process and critical pedagogy. Even though it did not go in depth into this topic, I know that it is important to have in the classroom. Since this chapter was only the introduction of the author, I am interested in reading more.