Michelle Finkelstein
February 14, 2014
Dr. Caro
EDU 1515-092

Examples of Milner’s concepts:

1. Color Blindness- an example of ‘color blindness’ in schools is when a teacher fails to recognize the differences in students and tries to emphasize the similarities in each student. While going through high school I felt as if I wasn’t pushed hard enough by my teachers because the area we were in not all the students cared about getting an education and were really just there because they were required.
2. Cultural Conflicts- this is saying to each their own when it comes to cultural backgrounds. The instructor needs to make sure that if the student misbehaves in their class that they do not punish them more harshly because of cultural differences whether it be religion, race, etc. I was raised Catholic but my father is Jewish. Sometimes my teachers would give me more school assignments because I would stay home from school on a Jewish holiday.
3. Myth of meritocracy- If a student has a family situation going on at home: i.e. a parent being diagnosed with an incurable illness. The student may have before been a great student but now is starting to slip because of trying to adapt to having a parent who may not be able to do much for themselves and to where parental rolls fall upon the student. Instructors need to understand that things happen in life that are out of our control and be sympathetic but fair. My father has Stage II progressive MS. There have been times where I have had to miss many classes and large assignments because of trying to help take care of my dad.
4. Low expectations and deficit mind sets- This becomes a problem when a teacher judges a student before trying to help them learn without judging them. Sometimes other instructors have talked badly about a student and it puts a bad taste in a new instructor’s mouth. They never try to illuminate on what the student has done right. My sister is four years older and smarty pants of sorts. When I had some of the same teachers they expected so much from me that when I didn’t deliver the same way she did they started to look down on me as a student.
5. Context-neutral mindsets- The instructor is challenged to come up with a teaching design that fits the area in which he/she is teaching. A history teacher won’t teach history in Atlanta, Ga, as they would in NYC.
Michie: Chapter 1 White privilege to me means exactly what it says: white people getting more benefits whether it’s socially, economically, or politically over people who aren’t white. When the author talks about being an outsider she is referring to the fact that she is not a woman of color. She is white and has not had to experience as many hardships growing up as the other five teachers. Personally because I am white I have been privileged when it comes to certain aspects of my life. At the same time, I have also had many hardships. Around the age of six my father had to stop working fulltime because of his disability. He had never gone to college and worked in the restaurant industry his whole life either managing a district of fast food restaurants or when we moved to the Pocono’s a small-time family owned restaurant. After he was diagnosed he wasn’t able to work in the heat of the restaurant anymore. He became a stay at home dad and this in turn made my mother the primary bread winner of the home. The area that I was raised had a wide variety of ‘social’ classes. My mother ended up working extra-long hours every week, while my father took over taking my brother, sister and I to any sporting event or class event we needed to go.