All posts by Diana Vlavianos

Put Yourself in Their Shoes & Listen Before Forcing Bridges: Understanding Immigrant Students

Blurring the In-School Ouf-of-School Line, Urban Adolescents

“There is a popular misconception, especially among teachers, educational policy makers, and fellow (mainstream middle-class) parents that parents who are not a constant presence at the school—chaperoning field trips, attending PTA meetings, baking brownies for the bake sale, simply do not care about their children’s education” Doucet, F. (2011). (Re)constructing home and school: Immigrant parents, agency, and the (un)desirability of bridging multiple worlds. Teachers College Record, 113(12), 2705-2738.

As educators, we must be wary of making any assumptions or being presumptuous regarding the education of any student, regardless of cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Just because a student is an immigrant, does not mandate treating them in a generalized manner applied for all immigrants, nor teaching them in a way that we would teach any other immigrant of that background (generally). Each student comes from a unique home life, with families who desire different levels of interaction or Americanization for their children. Continue reading Put Yourself in Their Shoes & Listen Before Forcing Bridges: Understanding Immigrant Students →

Blogging Builds Brighter Futures

Differentiation as an Approach to Teaching Diverse Learners, eLiteracy and Social Media(tion), Media and Technology Critiques, Urban Adolescents

As a future English teacher and writer myself, I am interested in adolescent participation in blogging, particularly because I, myself, have actively participated in many modes of blogging to further enhance and expand the quality and scope of my writing. The reality is this: adolescents are extremely tech savvy, and have access to infinite amounts of blogging websites such as Tumblr, WordPress, Weebly, etc. (think of how many One Direction fan fictions you’ve read on Tumblr that have been written by 13 year-old girls). With increasing access to technology, adolescents have grown prone to communicating digitally, finding comfort and confidence in socially and emotionally expressing themselves in a digitally written realm. Continue reading Blogging Builds Brighter Futures →

Empowering as Educators: The Significance of Critical Race Theory & Media

eLiteracy and Social Media(tion), Urban Adolescents

“Critical media literacy utilizes media as a pedagogical tool to facilitate students’ becoming critically conscious of themselves in relation to the structures of power and domination in their world. These structures create and perpetuate multiple macro- and microforms of racism, sexism, and other forms of subordination. It is crucial to focus on the intersections of oppression, because the images are racialized, gendered, and classed, and they effect racialized, gendered, and classed communities.”

Yosso, T.J. (2002). Critical race media literacy: Challenging defecit discourse about Chicanas/os. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30(1), 52-62.

I think that anybody can agree that it feels really crummy to be labeled, judged, or committed to conform to a predetermined stereotype, especially one chosen so arbitrarily as that which is determined by skin color, class, gender, or ethnicity. As adolescent educators, it is our responsibility to respect our students enough to keep them in the know regarding the realities of the world; this unfortunately involves racism, sexism, classism, and all other forms of oppression. Continue reading Empowering as Educators: The Significance of Critical Race Theory & Media →

To the “Wise” Teacher: Look Within

Socioemotional and Psychological Development in Adolescence, Urban Adolescents

“Wise teachers purposely plan lessons that offer social opportunities: collaborative research projects, debates, readers theatre, writing workshop, simulation games, and role-playing activities. Placing students in mixed social groups in academic situations during adolescence make help them better develop their social skills.” Brown, D., & Knowles, T. (2007). Who am I? The social, emotional, and identity trials of young adolescence. In What every middle school teacher should know. (2nd Ed.. pp. 37-66). New Hampshire: Heinemann Press.

It is obvious that the adolescence stage is an extremely turbulent and confusing one, especially for students experiencing times of instability in their bodies, minds, emotions, and friendships. As teachers, we are expected to help guide our students, by providing them with the necessary information and affirmation that all of this turmoil is normal and they are not atypical; we have to make this transition as seamless as possible, and facilitate socialization so as to not perpetuate alienation for any student. Continue reading To the “Wise” Teacher: Look Within →

Pump up the Penis at the Extent of Whom? Double Standards of Puberty

Biological & Cognitive Development in Adolescence, Urban Adolescents

“The first challenge is what Rice and Dolgin (2005) refer to as “locker-room syndrome”: males begin to notice in the shower after physical education class that they have less hair in places, have an underdeveloped penis, are considerably shorter, and have less-developed muscles (91). Males who reach puberty much later than their counterparts may experience feelings of inferiority due to poorer athletic skills and a less mature appearance (Graber et al. 2002).” Brown, D., & Knowles, T. (2007). Understanding the young adolescent’s physical and cognitive growth. In What every middle school teacher should know. (2nd Ed., pp. 10-36). New Hampshire: Heinemann Press.

Admittedly, I learned a lot about growing up and what was in store for me during my adolescence via the Canadian TV show Degrassi, which was one big PSA for woes of puberty. Degrassi did equip me for the reality of adolescence, though I always doubted the reality of some instances that occurred on the show (it seemed a little too dramatic). Upon reading this portion of text, however, I realized that not only was the show an accurate depiction of adolescence, but there was also a huge problem with my teen years, and society in general. Continue reading Pump up the Penis at the Extent of Whom? Double Standards of Puberty →