What I remember from my time as a student "What too look for in a classroom." Kohn

 When I was in school, we often had desks lined up in rows. We barely ever had desks facing each other, like we do in this class currently. I remember having maybe one or two classes with desks that faced each other before this class. 

I never remembered having anyone's work portrayed in class. The closest that came to that was teachers displaying my projects as examples for future kids on what to do. And I would always be the only one who got their project shown for future classes because as they told the whole class, my project was better than everyone else's.

For me, my face always changed based on what class I was in. Classes that I'm extremely passionate about would have me beyond eager, while classes that I'm bored with would have me unengaged with a blank expression on my face.

This is one of the first classes that I have had that has everyone deep in a conversation while in class. FNED 101 also has a similar setup to this., they also have the desk pointing towards each other too. 

I've never really paid much attention to where the teacher was during assignments because when I was in class, I was always assigned as an extra pair of hands to help the students who needed help once I had finished my assignments. 

The classrooms I have been in have always seemed to be distracted by a visitor, no matter who they were. 

I've always had a problem where when I'm interested in a subject, I want to answer all the questions and when I'm not interested in the subject, I just completely ignore the teacher and notice that others do as well. 

I have always seen classrooms full of activities for students to do after they have finished their assignments. Such as books, games, arts and crafts, or other activities. 

In high school, teachers always seemed to let students pick their partner and I was usually alone because I had no friends. 

In elementary and middle school, we always had projects and artwork fill up the hallways but in high school, it was only sport trophies since they valued sports above all else. 

Below find a video of what a Montessori classroom looks like.

https://youtu.be/kuPetmcEAXQ?si=Nl-GGUGxxajBVouY

My parents values matching with Kozel's

My parents share very similar views on poverty with Kozel in 'Amazing Race'. They both believe that poverty is an individual problem and that anyone can escape it if they try. They have this belief system because this is what they managed to do, and since they did it they believe that everyone can. 

My parents both grew up poor, with their parents almost never at the house. As a plan to get out of poverty, they both joined the military, had the military pay for their education, and got respectable jobs. My mother is currently in the process of becoming a doctor and my father has been an Xray tech for well over two decades. My mom graduated with her bachelor's in nursing when I was 5, got an associate degree in massage therapy when I was 10, her master's in nursing when I was 12, and another associate degree in business management when I was 14. While my mom worked full-time jobs in nursing homes and went to school my dad worked his way up the management ladder in his hospital job. Both were extremely hard-working and competitive with each other. They had managed to work their way from the very bottom and get all the way to the upper middle class. 

My parents have always told me about the struggles they had to face growing up due to poverty and how people in poverty are just not working hard enough to become something of themselves. They would always sight everything that they had done as proof of what every poor person could do if they put their mind to it. They had also always warned me to stay away from poor people, because in their minds poor people were just people looking for free handouts because they didn't want to work for it. 

Below please find a video of what it's like to be poor.

https://youtu.be/L08YYKwgXHw?si=a4Yxp5oX81XG3Yj_

School is it's own society. Delpit

Think of a big society? You might have thought about a nation, maybe a state, perhaps even a town. But another example of a society can be a school. 

Societies need to meet certain criteria; they have a set number of rules, people in power, and punishments.

In most societies if you refuse to follow the rules you get sent to jail. The school has a place similar to its own jail cell but we know it as detention. But really it's more of a short-lived jailhouse for children. You are forced to sit there in punishment as you watch the clock, waiting for time to fly by. You count how long your sentence will be and try to sneak in conversations about what got you in there in the first place. All while thinking and regretting what you have done in the first place to put you there. The only other thing you can do while you wait is work. Doesn't this bring back memories of detention?   

Schools also have a certain hierarchy. Some people are given an easier way to succeed than others. The principal is like the King, he orders everyone around and when someone misbehaves, he/she is one of two people who can punish the misbehaving party. They can also over a teacher's decision. 

Then there is the teacher who is similar to the princess/prince. They are right below the King, they are still able to come up with rules of their own and punish people who disobey them, as long as it is ok with the King. 

Then some are higher up in society and tend to do better. They are the rich or middle-classmen who are typically white. 

Finally, there are those at the very bottom. They are already given a low success rate and must make due with what they have. This group usually consists of poor black students. 

Below please find a video explaining the social hierarchy of a school.

https://youtu.be/_63p4Q7AUlM?si=Tc8PgNLFLlUA8s64