Richard Rodriguez

Alyssa Giammarco
Dr. Corinne Mckamey
FNED 346
30 September 2018

Aria By: Richard Rodriguez

Summary: After reading this article I learned many things; one thing that I learned that was important was how society wants everyone to fit into the binary of speaking English. This story by Richard Rodriguez was mainly about how there are multiple language curves for young children. He explains his personal experience with the language curves. His experience included being a fluent Spanish speaker going to school where all they speak is English. He was basically forced to learn English because that's what everyone spoke. He explains that English was a difficult task for him to learn because all he speaks at home is Spanish, however he was expected by his teachers to talk English like all of the other students while in the classroom. Due to his difficulty with learning English, the authors parents began to help him practice at home by doing games after dinnertime. Now his whole family is trying to speak English at home to help him become a better student in class. When Richard became seven years old English was his primary language and Spanish was his second. However the language curve still affected him and his house after learning fluent English.

Personal Connection:

I can relate to this article because I have interned in a school where a saw a child who spoke fluent Spanish try and assimilate to the English spoken language. The good news was the child was so young so he had years to become accustomed to it. However it's still sad that a child so young is forced to learn a language that they never spoke at home or even knew was a language. Another connection I can make to this article is that my grandma spoke fluent Italian when coming into America. She came here when she was six years old. It was hard and difficult for her to learn English at first. She got frustrated in school just like Richard did. For many years my grandma spoke broken English. With a lot of practice, she learned English and it became her primary language. The last connection that I can make to this article is when I was in highschool and I had to take Spanish. It was very difficult for me to learn a new language because all I have been speaking my whole life is English. Even though I got frustrated I was forced to adapt to a new language. This relates to Richard when he was forced to learn a new language when all his life he spoke fluent Spanish. 

Points to share in class:

In my opinion I believe that its horrific how people are forced to adapt a new language to fit in the binary. Why does a person who's primary language is Spanish like Richard, or Italian like my grandma be pressured to learn another language? 

Like to the reading:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0MW5DdnZyVnpGSHc/view?usp=drivesdk

Social Justice Event

Alyssa Giammarco
Dr. McKamey
FNED-346
24 September 2018

For my social justice event I watched a Ted talk about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime. Nadine Burke Harris brought up a important point when talking about how childhood trauma affects children in so many ways. "Things like abuse, or neglect, or growing up with a parent who struggles with mental illness or substance dependance." All of these can impact a child's health at a young age resulting in childhood trauma.  First Nadine told us that after her residency she wanted to go somewhere that she was needed and could make a difference. She started working for California specific medical center. As a team they opened up a health clinic in a poor and low income neighborhood in San Fransisco. I couldn't believe that prior to them opening up their health clinic, there was only one heath care provider to serve and help more than 10,000 children. It was interesting to hear about a "disturbing trend" of ADHD: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Children were being sent to her with this disorder. However she did research about it and said she could not provide a diagnose for ADHD. This is because most of the children that she saw experience such extreme childhood trauma. Nadine quoted, "one of the things they teach you in mental health school is that if you're a doctor and you see a hundred kids that all drink from the same well and 98 of them develop diarrhea you can go ahead and write that prescription for dose after dose after dose of antibiotics. Or you can walk over and say what the hell is in this well." This quote is so important because in today's generation to help "cure" a disorder in a child at a young age doctors tend to prescribe more medication to "solve" issues. This affects children because they depend on these drugs that doctors provide them for many years. As an adult if they try and take them out of their system they are going to have a difficult time concentrating and start craving a drug in replace of their medication. This can later lead to addiction/drug addiction for many but not for all. 

Connect to in class readings:
"There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway."
I can connect this quote to a piece that we read in class: Amazing Grace by Johnathan Kozol. Kozol told a descriptive and detailed story about the horrible struggles adults and children from the South Bronx had to face everyday. This can be related to the Ted talk because the children he was describing are growing up in an area where they are dealing with trauma that will only affect them as they get older. Most of the adults that he described had a lot of trauma in their childhood that resulted in substance abuse as they entered adulthood. This quote reveals that even though some children's lives are filled with hurt, anger, and horror, when you meet them they make it seem like everything is fine. This is because these children face these obstacles everyday which makes them costumed to it. 

"Issues of power are enacted in classrooms."
This quote is from The Culture of Power by Lisa Delpit. This quote can be related to the ted talk about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime because it talks about codes of power. During the Ted talk when hearing about how many children came to Nadine with symptoms of ADHD it made me think of this quote. Delpit explained that as a child you have little to no power, whereas your parents make most of your decisions for you. For example Nadine talked about things that she learned from mental health school which was that if you're a doctor and you see many children drinking from the same well and some of them develop a disease that you prescribe doses of pills to cure their body. This is when Delpit's codes of power come into place because children are so young and have little to know control in making a decision. Parents have complete power over their children just like teachers have complete power over the students in their classrooms. 

Links to the Readings:
Amazing Grace By: Johnathan Kozol
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0Ml9vUkdMdFdoNDg/view
The Culture Of Power By: Lisa Delpit
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0ZXdvUDB5X3lDVDg/view

Ted Talk: Nadine Burke Harris
https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lif
etime#t-808876

Kozol and All Lives Matter Article

Alyssa Giammarco
Dr. Corrine McKamey
FNED:346
23 September 2018



Amazing Grace by Johnathan Kozol

"You just cover up ... and hope you wake up the next
morning," says a father of four children. one of them an
infant one month old, as they prepare to climb into their
sleeping bags in hats and coats on a December night."
This quote is revealing the struggle that families in the Bronx had to face. To some of us on a cold December night we bundle up underneath blankets. For these families including their small children, have to sleep in tiny sleeping bags without heat and hope to be alive the next morning. This is a horror story for these families that need to be changed.  This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about South Bronx and the obstacles that some children and families face while living there.

"There are children in the poorest, most abandoned
places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the wurld
has pumped into their jives, seem, when you first meet
them, to be cheerful anyway."
This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about the South Bronx and the obstacles that some families have to go through while living there. This quote reveals that even though some children's lives are filled with hurt, anger, and horror, when you meet them they make it seem like everything is fine. This is because these children face these obstacles everyday which makes them costumed to it. When I think about it, it's actually very sad that these children can put a smile on their face and go on with their day even though everything is not okay.

A small and wiry woman wearing blue jeans and a
baseball cap, a former cocaine addict who now helps ad-
dicted women and their children, she tells me that more
than 3.000 -horneless families have been relocated by the
city in this neighborhood during the past few years, and she
asks a question I will hear from many other people here
during the months ahead. "Why do you want to put so
many people with small children in a place with so much
sickness? This is the last place in New York that they should
put poor children. Clumping so many people, all with the
same symptoms and same problems, in one crowded place
with nothin' they can grow on? Our children start to mourn
themselves before their time."
This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about the South Bronx and how many families and children face obstacles on a every day basis while living there. Why would the government try and put many people with the same sickness in a small space together!! This plan makes absolutely no sense in my eyes. I understand the government is trying to help people in the bronx but this plan is just not a good idea. Especially when there are children mixed in this plan.

Points to share in class:
I agree with Kozol on many of his points that he shared about South Bronx. I believe that the government plays a huge role in why so many families are left in poverty and fighting for their lives almost everyday. The lower class basically has nothing to live off of because their income is so little. Also they have no essential resources or materials to help them and their families survive. This is heartbreaking and horrific that the government turned this place this way. They should be setting up clinics, health care centers, and other forms of help for the lower class families.

Link to the reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-JcBFAuLc-0Ml9vUkdMdFdoNDg/view (Kozol Reading)

All Lives Matter by Kevin Roose
The real issue is that, while strictly true, "All Lives Matter" is a tone-deaf slogan that distracts from the real problems black people in America face.
This quote is relevant to the text because the author of this article is talking about how Black Lives Matter and how many people believe that the slogan should be changed to All Lives Matter. The slogan of Black Lives Matter was created to stop violence and racism towards African Americans. For example there were many shootings that involved African American men that were shot and killed by white police officers. The slogan was created to end harmful violence on African Americans. Changing this slogan to All Lives Matter would not ave the same effect because not all races face what African Americans do. The real problem that needs to be changed it the treatment on African Americans. This is why the slogan All Lives Matter would not work.

"There is a news bias toward stories that the majority of the audience (who are white) can identify with. So when a young black man gets killed (prior to the recent police shootings), it's generally not considered "news", while a middle-aged white woman being killed is treated as news. And to a large degree, that is accurate — young black men are killed in significantly disproportionate numbers, which is why we don't treat it as anything new. But the result is that, societally, we don't pay as much attention to certain people's deaths as we do to others. So, currently, we don't treat all lives as though they matter equally."
This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about how Black Lives Matter and how many people don't see that it's an actual problem. The meaning of this quote is that when a black man gets killed no one cares and it's not worthy enough to be "news" to people.  However when a white person is killed then that is worthy and considered news. What is happening to our society? Why is it that we don't treat everyone equal? Why is it that we judge people on the color of their skin? Who cares if you have white, or black skin, we are all humans!

Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone" should get their fair share."
This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about Black Lives Matter. This quote reveals that not everyone has a fair shot at anything in life. Of course everyone "wants" their fair share but the truth is not everyone gets it because life is completely unfair.

Link to the reading: 
https://splinternews.com/the-next-time-someone-says-all-lives-matter-show-them-1793849332
(All Lives Matter Reading) 

Points to share in class:
"All lives matter" is willfully going back to ignoring the problem."

I agree with this quote because the slogan "All Lives Matter" will ignore the actual problem that is trying to be addressed. The slogan "Black Lives Matter was created to stop racism, and violence including shootings among police officers. 

Kristof Article

U.S.A Land of Limitations?
By: Nicholas Kristof
August 8th 2015


“The chance of a person who was born to a family in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution rising to the top 10 percent as an adult is about the same as the chance that a dad who is 5 feet 6 inches tall having a son who grows up to be over 6 feet 1 inch tall, “It happens, but not often.” claimed by Alan Krueger
According to this quote, what I believe the meaning that Kruger is trying to address is that it's very difficult to move up in society. She uses the example of a person born to a family in the bottom 10 percent of income will most likely never rise to the top 10 percent as an adult. The quote is saying that sometimes it can happen but not often. This quote in my opinion is completely wrong. I say this because I know people that were born into a family that had little to no money and then rose to the top 10 percent as an adult. If you work hard and dedicate your time you will succeed. This quote is mostly irrelevant to the test because Kristof is talking about America being the land of limitations, opportunities, and social classes.

“Rich kids make a lot of bad choices,” Professor Reardon notes. “They just don’t come with the same sort of consequences.”

This quote is saying that many children that are born in a family who are wealthy make a lot of bad choices and wrong decisions. This quote is also revealing that children that are raised without having to worry about anything or needing anything, do not have the same mindset on bad choices as for someone that is brought up with not a lot of money. He also was discussing his friend Rick that recently passed away, who knew that he made bad choices. However, he worked hard to try and make his life better. This quote is relevant to the text because the author is talking about America's land of opportunity.

“Talent is universal, but opportunity is not.” Nicholas Kristof

This quote reveals that the person with talent needs to have the heart and the will to get that opportunity. The quote is also telling us that every person is capable of talent but might not have the necessities to continue their talent. For example, someone can be very talented in a certain sport, but they might not get the scholarship. The author proceeds to talk about his friend Rick who struggled in many areas of his life. However, he tells us how Rick began to turn his life around for the better. This quote is relevant to the text because it's talking about America's land of limitations and opportunity.

Talking point to share in class:

The best metrics of child poverty aren’t monetary, but rather how often a child is read to or hugged. Or, conversely, how often a child is beaten, how often the home descends into alcohol-fueled fistfights, whether there is lead poisoning, whether ear infections go untreated. That’s a poverty that is far harder to escape.

I feel that money isn't the most important thing on the planet. However, in today's society money is what makes you survive. You need money in order to buy clothing, food, and other necessities for your family. As a preschool teacher and educator I believe that the environment that a child lives in is the most important. I feel this way because there are children who live in households that result to violence to resolve an issue. These children are forced to grow up quicker when they have not fully developed yet. It's horrible to think about, but it's the truth. Then there are the children who live in a household where their parents read to them every night and show affection to them. These children are able to learn responsibility from their parents and wait to grow up until their mentally developed.

Link to the reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-usa-land-of-limitations.html

All About Me

September 16, 2018

All About Me

My name is Alyssa Giammarco and I am a sophomore at Rhode Island College. I am currently studying Youth Development with a concentration in speech as my major. I always had a passion with working with children ever since I was a little girl. When I was a sophomore in high school I transferred from Johnston High School to Cranston West where I could further my interest in teaching in the Child Development program. This program gave me the opportunity to work with children of all ages. It also taught me the skills you need to become a great teacher. I have interned in a preschool, first grade, second grade, and eight grade classroom while I was a senior in high school. In each classroom I had to adapt to the children's learning styles and abilities so I could plan age appropriate activities. I had to develop lesson plans and block plans for each classroom while managing to pass my regular classes as a high school senior.            This program helped me become the teacher I am today.

Besides managing college, I also work a full time job. I am currently a preschool teacher where I help young children develop and grow everyday. I work almost thirty hours a week while going to school full time. It sometimes becomes challenging but I overcome the obstacles because I wouldn't change where I work. I love working with my students and making a difference in their lives.

My favorite thing to do is travel. Over the summer I went on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship and visited five islands; St Martin, St. Kits, St. John, Antigua, and Barbados. Another place that I have visited was Orlando Florida. I have gone there with my family ever since I was little. My future place to travel to is Paris France. I hope that one day I will get the chance to see it for my self.

RIC Activities Day

       For my social justice event I went to the student activities day with Allison Perry, and Tiffany Scoco. It was interesting to see many different student organizations that were created here on campus. We showed up early and watched each table be set up. We noticed that each table were unique in their own way. Some tables that caught our eye were the anchor television channel, new student orientation, political science club and sojourn.

The first table that we walked up to was the anchor television channel here on campus. They produce and record events that happen on campus. What was also very interesting to hear was they post the videos on youtube for students to access on their own device, and they livestream on Facebook. It was clear that they try and cooperate with students to make sure everyone on campus has a way to view and watch anchor news. This specific club meets once a week on Wednesday at one thirty in the afternoon. They told us the common interests and differences among the group members. Some club members are outgoing and want to be in front of the camera while others prefer to be behind the camera. Members who enjoy being behind can post edit and they usually have a highly skilled background in technology. Before we left their stand, they gave us a anchor news t shirt that we can promote for their group.

The second group of club members that we met was at the new student orientation table. This group was recruiting new members to help with incoming freshman or transfer students get adjusted to a new environment. In the summertime they have new student orientation for freshman and transfer students. In addition during spring they have an orientation just for transfer students. Members in their club range from fifty two to eighteen years of age. They are open to everyone who wants to join, they don't have specific restrictions to be accepted in.  Not only did they provide us with useful information, but also gave us a few materials such as a brochure and a Rhode Island college sling bag.

Thirdly we went to the political science club where they explained that they fight for minimum wage increase and free tuition for community college of Rhode Island trying to aka our campus a better place. They also watch government debates between candidates. In addition we learned that they go on a trip to Washington DC every year to sight see political events. This group meets every week during free period on Wednesday's. They have forty nine members which include a president and a Vice President. They all share a strong political background and an interest in politics. Furthermore they gave a brochure and a sticker for your car window. 

Finally, the last group we saw was members of sojourn. They believe in building a good community. They seek justice and complete a lot of community service. An interesting thing about them is that they explore faith and are open to all types of people from different religions. Another unique thing was that they meet every Wednesday at seven o' three at night. We questioned why seven o' three and not an even time, and the answer was that it's random so no one will forget. In their group meetings they discuss religion but not all of the group members are religious. However, they all want to build a strong community, create world peace, and build friendships. Before leaving they gave us a magnet and a card of events that they were hosting.