{"id":951,"date":"2019-03-02T11:12:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T16:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/?p=951"},"modified":"2019-03-02T11:18:03","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T16:18:03","slug":"secrettosuccess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/2019\/03\/02\/secrettosuccess\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret to Success Isn’t a Secret Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

My second year teaching, I had this student, let’s call him James (after one of his favorite basketball players).\u00a0 James struggled in school.\u00a0 No matter how earnestly James tried to understand what he was trying to learn, it was like he was in a rudderless boat, failing to get anywhere.\u00a0 But, the great thing about James, something that I laud even to this day, is how hard he worked.\u00a0 James did not allow his learning disability to limit what he was determined to learn.\u00a0 While there were many people in his corner eager to help him, James’ success was primarily attributed to one person… HIMSELF! <\/span><\/p>\n

It reminds me of a quote I’ve used earlier this year, “If you always do what you’ve always done,\u00a0you\u00a0will\u00a0always get what you’ve always\u00a0gotten.” Here’s the thing…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can do the work, to get it done, and still not make progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be the equivalent of me showing up at the gym, and not actually exercising, picking up a musical instrument, but not actually playing, going to basketball practice, but not actually practicing.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I know it sounds hokey, but you can’t do it for anyone else but for yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My mom desperately wants me to lose weight.\u00a0 She is worried about my health, and any long-term effects associated with being morbidly obese.\u00a0 I could lose weight for my mom, just like you could do your homework for your teacher… but until YOU pick up the baton, both literally and figuratively, you will not be inspired to change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This blog post is brought to you by an assignment my AP Lang students recently completed.\u00a0 They were asked to make connections to the themes presented in Barbara Ehrenreich’s\u00a0<\/em>social experiment\u00a0Nickel and Dimed<\/em>. Below are two student samples:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Student Sample #A:\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
Barbra had met Pele when working at the nursing home. He mentioned having a lot of money but not being able to stay at home because he would go crazy.this reminded me about the article \u201cIncome Inequality\u201d where it talked about the rich having therapy. It mentioned that the rich don’t feel safe about talking about their money to others. That and Barbra suspicions had me thinking he was lying along with Barbra.<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Student Sample #B:\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
The experiment conducted by Barbara Ehrenreich in <\/span>Nickel and Dimed<\/span><\/i> was very similar to the experiment conducted by John Howard Griffin in <\/span>Black Like Me<\/span><\/i>. However, Griffin\u2019s experiment was far more extreme and controversial since his ultimate goal was to show compassion towards, and to provide a microphone to, the black race during a time in which a white man showing any empathy towards blacks was deemed traitorous. Through dying his skin and leaving his family to move deep into the South for months, Griffin did everything possible to simulate the life of a black man in America in the 60\u2019s. From being exposed to the perversion of white men while hitchhiking, to being rendered vulnerable to the violence of – once again – white men while walking alone late at night, there were many things \u201cBlack\u201d Griffin experienced that \u201cWhite\u201d Griffin had never known or worried about. He was constantly threatened by people who looked just like him prior to his transformation. Yet, while Ehrenreich\u2019s experiment may not be nearly as controversial or treacherous, it still encompasses the same goal and is still a great feat. Ultimately, both authors are putting themselves in someone else\u2019s shoes in order to fully empathize and educate themselves to their best ability about another group\u2019s day-to-day struggles. The end goal is to disclose their findings to the public and provide the matches to help spark change for the suppressed group. However, a big flaw in Griffin\u2019s experiment, which he acknowledged in the epilogue, was that he would never be able to fully simulate the decades of racism that blacks have endured. Therefore, he realized he was in no position to lecture blacks on what they should do. Consequently, he concluded that his experiment was pointless. Therefore, I wonder if Ehrenreich will conclude the same thing in her experiment and realize that she could\u2019ve just asked people about their experiences instead of invalidating their voices. This was not an option that Griffin had because black people would never tell a white man about their experiences because at the time there would\u2019ve been a lot of suspicion, and subsequently, fear towards Griffin\u2019s motives. Since simply asking low wage workers about their experiences was an option for Ehrenreich, it makes me question if she will also conclude that her experiment was pointless – just like Griffin\u2019s.<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

Let me begin by stating that it is not fair to compare these two samples.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is, no two students have the same education background and\/or opportunities provided to them.\u00a0 The truth is, the inequity which exists in education is staggering. With that having been said, both students received the same instructions – and, as you can see, produced startling different results. And it’s not about the length of their responses, it’s about the depth of thinking which is obviously happening in one post, and glaringly absent in another.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0As long as students’ focus is on the wrong thing, checking a box, they will not get as much out of their educational experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>To many, school is a holding place for eight hours of their day, a prison of sorts that continues to punish and demean them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I can’t help but wonder if\/how much student ownership plays a role in making learning more meaningful to them.\u00a0<\/span>But, at the end of the day,\u00a0 I can be the “best” teacher ever, if students are still just “checking in” they aren’t getting the maximum they can out of their time in mine, or any other teacher’s classroom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I had a solution.\u00a0 I have often polled other intrinsically motivated students, asking them what their secret is.\u00a0 But, it’s just like me and my weight.\u00a0 At the end of the day, the decision NEEDS to come from within, from them.\u00a0 They can’t do it for you, for me, or any other well-intentioned person in their life.\u00a0 That’s just how it goes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I will keep doing my best to convince them that this is the CHOICE that will change their lives indelibly.\u00a0Choose wisely.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for reading. – Ms. Sabbagh<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My second year teaching, I had this student, let’s call him James (after one of his favorite basketball players).\u00a0 James struggled in school.\u00a0 No matter…<\/p>\n

Continue readingThe Secret to Success Isn’t a Secret Anymore<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1798,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1798"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/sabbaghela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}