Okay team, so these readings brought up a lot of emotions and caused me to pose more than 3 questions. With that said, I will list each of the questions and we can select which ones we would like to answer. There is some overlap in the questions. I will also post these on the blog. I hope you're having a great day!

CAPETILLO-PONCE & KRAMER ARTICLE

1. In the Capetillo-Ponce and Kramer article, it stated that the outcome of Q2 was a representation of a state's mainstream perceptions of ethnic/linguistic minorities and a referendum on broader sociopolitical and economic aspects of MA society with Latinos being the dominant minority influence causing a nationalist, "English Only" response. Do you believe that Q2 would have been voted in favor of bilingual education, if it had been portrayed as a tool for capital gain in a language such as Chinese or Portuguese, where their economies are booming, as opposed to utilizing inferences that Bilingual Education is an English/Spanish correlation risking American identity? What does this say about our society? the media and their influence on our "freedom" to vote in a democracy. How does the media portray subjects that influence our opinions on hot topics, i.e., public schools and test scores. Is Q2 another example of the dominant group deciding what's best for the minority without their consent?

2. How will you as an individual work to advocate for your students with needs ranging from ELL to Autism, and stay committed to the field, knowing how heavily politics and capitalism plays a role in education?

3. Why do you think the Anti-Unz group focused more on Anti-Unz and teacher rights, instead of children's rights, benefits of multilingualism and effective reform of bilingual education?

4. When voting, how many people do you believe are actually knowledgeable in the votable subject matters found in referendums? (For example, how many people were not well versed in Q2, but voted anyhow, even with confusion and what are the implications of these results in our society?)

GORSKI ARTICLE

1. In many of our readings, there is a reoccurring theme that the oppressed must be the ones to unite and educate in order to become liberated. In the Gorski article, he states that multicultural education is a matter of social justice that can only be secured through comprehensive school reform. Assuming the statements are accurate, how can we as teachers empower and give the students (who are the oppressed in schools) a voice to participate on a level where they can play a role in comprehensive school reform and analyze the systems of power and privilege? Is this our responsibility as educators?

2. In our specific grade levels and subject matters, how can we bring multicultural education into the classroom? How can we educate teachers and administrators who are under the impression that multicultural education is simply ethnic celebrations to an understanding that multicultural education requires comprehensive school reform?

3. Do you believe that UDL and Bilingual Education are outlets, which can be utilized to support comprehensive school reform? If so, in what ways? If not, why?

4. When have we been guilty of unintentionally undermining or softening multicultural education?

5. One of my greatest fears as a grad student and educator is that I will take all of this wisdom and become paralyzed or silenced by the politics involved, for the sake of complacent comfort and "peace", and keep the knowledge "locked" in my treasure chest. So I ask, how do we as teachers become passive and complacent when we see or know of educational inadequacies? How do we refrain from becoming inactive/immobilized over time? Are we really going to be an intentional advocate for multicultural education in the face of adversity and speak, educate, ask difficult questions, and advocate for it in staff meetings, in board discussions, and in the classroom or will we be the well-intentioned and fall by the wayside and conform to the norm? How will we be diligent?

AND...if we don't teach multicultural education, how will our students feel when they find out the truth? Will they feel the teachers they respected were really liars or keepers of the truth? Is this thinking to extreme or transformational?

Sincerely,

Melissa :)