Kelly Briner

Annotation: I Wont Learn from You

Application: I freaking love the approach that was taken to try and
get Barry involved with reading and to flip all of the internalized failure
that Barry must have been experiencing on its head by empowering
him. Through internalized success it was awesome to see that Barry
actually responded to the instruction and was active in it. I wonder
what could have been done if the student still refused to learn though.
I want to try and implement this empowerment strategy. Hopefully I
can actually do so while battling anxiety, my tragic sense of
confidence, and make it a meaningful experience for my students.
Connection: suspicion, and self-consciousness minorities often
develop when they have daily contact with a dominant majority
I felt a lot reading sections like this that apply to me as a minority.
Asians in Azs public hover around 3% of the student population. I
have felt this so much to the point where I feel like its a constant third
conscious entity perched over my shoulder along with the stereotypical
good/evil duo. This plus anxiety is a bitch and a half because I have to
wade through multiple checks merely to exist as a normal person.
Reaction: Honestly, screw the guidance counselor that is preventing
Akmir from getting their degree by saying that they are unsure that he
has repent enough in order to get a degree that the student has
earned. This is the type of person that I am terrified of going into
teaching in Arizona. The righteous traditionalist that doesnt realize
how harmful their toxic definition of American is to the large majority
of people that arnt white or white-passing.
Reaction: The section concerning Betty where the author stated that
they felt annoyed at the time with Betty insisting on pushing her
message of how the content they were working with included sexist
language until some other students started to make fun of her was
very troubling. Like sure the author offered solidarity with Betty, but
only until they had a common enemy. Nothing changed, Bettys
message was still there regardless of if she was being egged on or not,
but until she was harassed it was as if her sentiment was not viable.
This really bothered me.
Connection: A white teacher, he has not lived the life. He cannot
relate any of the things to me. So Im bored.

I can empathize with this a little bit. I hope that as a minority, my

students will be able to relate to me enough to not shut down. Thats
my goal anyways.