Banning books and educational change

 BLOG POST #7 Share a brief summary of the podcast you listened to. What are YOUR key takeaways? What do you want us to know? How does this connect to social justice youth work as described by Clemons?

The podcast I listened to was Freedom Readers: Why Kids Should Learn About Racism. The focus of the podcast is to emphasize the nation's reality, and if we are taught the truth, we will be able to act on it appropriately. With literature being withheld from students, it withholds our education of an ugly past. Controlling what people read has been a productive way to stop us. The podcast was an interview between Kimberlé Crenshaw and Ibram X. Kendi is a author of six books for adults and 5 books for children. 

The podcast interviewed a student as they learned about CRT I had gotten an glimpse of Rachael Clemons' reading. The act of students at People For Change could help the student who didn't know that the book he picked out was banned and may have allowed him to actively make change happen. 

Key takeaways: "Our liberation is as much a matter of who owns our mind as who owns our body", "Black people just want to be free,"  "illiteracy allows for people to be dooped"

Ibram X. Kendi mentioned how if books in high school and middle school were reflective of his identity, then he would have started reading earlier, and it would have changed his life. The podcast was extremely interesting, they discuss the age range and if young people understand racism, and the truth is they do. With age comes better depth of understanding, non verbal communication shapes our children - we talk when we are not talking. There is battle of unlearning the racism around us and within us. There is a need in having historical analog, and literature and history books naming the history so we can condemn the wrongdoing. 

Rachael Clemons discusses SJYD model at the youth organization People for Change, and the podcast connects! The idea of encouraging students to make a voice about issues they deal with first hand in their school or in their district is creating agents of change. Rachael focused on studying participants co constructed knowledge with you people of color to teach about systems of oppression and the history of resistance to provide foundational change in communities. The students were supported by staff at the organization to help identify and facilitate action that would make an impact. The summer workshops on oppression came to my mind when listening to the podcast, it is in a sense Teaching out Critical Race Theory to the students in the org. 

YDEV 501 - WEEK 9 Blog 6

 BLOG POST #6 What is a space that you are/have been a part of that is grounded in values and practices outside of whiteness? Describe this space--the explicit and implicit beliefs and values that shape policy, practice, and relational work. What does it look like? Feel like in your body and movements? How does it sound? Taste?

I work in a college access program with first-generation, low-income students of color. The organization was created to support marginalized communities to start more access to college and now careers. There is an intentional discussion of students who come from low income, undocumented/refugee backgrounds, and are 1st generation students, and is the explicit belief in which we serve our majority BIPOC students. The schools in which we serve also have a direct connection of touching the young people who are actively not supported. We work to help students strengthen their goals and make them confident individuals regardless of their skin color. We support individualism where kids can take a path that is rare. Encouraging students on their path to success and offering active emotional and academic support embeds the values we stand on. It's working on a resume, on a scholarship, on a mentorship, and teaching leadership, especially on diversity equity, and inclusion. The belief and value system in that space is to createquity through education and supportive mentorship throughout middle school till 1st year of college. The name change of the organization from the crusade to a more college AND career valued organization shows their value. They open opportunities up to students without fixating on college access as it pertains to success! The space sound like laughter, like foul language, like food, drinks, like open door policy, financial literacy conversations, fears around citizenship, social emotional process, complaints of common app, and panic of college deadlines, etc. Feels like jumping while playing In the river on the bridge or watching a tedtalk on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The danger of a Single story.

YDEV 560 Blog 6

 BLOG POST #6:  

1. What about the reading (between pages 233 - 240) this week stood out to you?  Write one phrase or passage here.  Make sure to name the author. 

2. How is the phrase/passage relevant to you? Why did it stand out?

3. Identify or explain one question or connection from the readings this week.

Last week, I read Cathy's blog and realized that she went into this week's reading instead. I wondered why I missed the term reflexivity like she did. It all makes sense now. The reading this week was an interesting one. I understand how meaningful my relationship to the topic I will be researching is essential.

A phrase that stood out was - when Maxwell wrote, "For qualitative research, this ignores the fact that most sampling in qualitative research is neither probability sampling nor convenience sampling, but falls into a third category: purposeful sampling ( Patton, 1990, 169ff.)

Purposeful sampling cares for the intention of particular settings, people, or events. These individual pieces offer more insight into the data we are collecting than their counterparts. An example of this source of sampling is interviewing a student who has been a part of my organization since 6th grade or an alumnus of the organization who has knowledge of attending our organization from 6th grade to completion of college. When reading Maxwell's Designing a Qualitative Study, I consider many factors of what I may test on in this course and the coming semester. Purposeful sampling works with a direct source.

One connection I would like to share is the distinction between organizational, substantive, and theoretical categories. For a qualitative study, it is only possible to hold room for some data while applying substantive and theoretical categories; things may get lost in the process, but organizational categories allow for a broad process in design. I would like to question how one includes all three in one study, because I may use this method in my project.

Blog Post #5 Components to create a plan

 The reading on Designing a Qualitative Study stood out to me, giving me more insight into how I want my organizational structure to look.  A few key concepts were mentioned in the reading, like the five components: goals, conceptual framework, research questions, methods, and validity. On page 219, Joseph A. Maxwell writes that it is essential that you recognize and take account of the personal goals that drive and inform your research… what is necessary for qualitative design is that you be aware of these concerns and how they may be shaping your research and that you think about how best to deal with their consequences. This particular piece stood out to me because, as a researcher, I have not encountered times we are told to recognize our own goal of the research. I would assume personal perspectives would be biased, as they are not factual data, yet Maxwell would argue these perspectives can be valuable sources of insight, theory, and data! Your own experience may be more valuable! I could see that if I plan to work on my organization's data, then I, as an employee, can provide exciting information. 

To connect both pieces of writing, I would like to say the “Systems of Care” came about by qualitative study. The System of Care Plan came to be because there was a conceptual framework questioned. Something that is going on in the world is itself problematic or has consequences that are problematic. Through experiential knowledge and existing theory/research of the working systems and collaboration of systems, you may understand what pieces are working and what needs improvement. Communicating with partners, nonprofits, families, schools, and pediatricians, they discovered what was happening in their community and what needed to be planned moving forward. Reading through the table of contents, you can see the process of the five components organized in the plan.