In an attempt to create immigration relief, President Obama has announced the creation of the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) Program, which is similar to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. DAPA is meant for undocumented parents who have children as of November 20th 2014 that are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Similar to the DACA program, individuals who are eligible may enjoy the benefits of obtaining a Social Security Card, Driver's License and a work permit for up to three years. It is important to note that both DAPA and DACA only provide temporary residence and is not indicated to be a path towards citizenship however; one is allowed to renew their DAPA status before the three years are up.

Even though we had our last class inside, I felt like people were more free (I don't think freer is a word). The chocolate and clementines were such a nice touch (Thank you Anne!) To me, this final class felt like a dinner party/award ceremony/celebration/social. A celebration of all of our work. I don't know if we would have this same feeling if we were outside, in an open space. Bryn Mawr's outside is kind of crowded. There's a lot of activity, buzz from the cars, people like to wander too much and would ineveitably end up in "our space:. In a way, the classroom served its purpose of centering us off, and allowing us to reflect within ourselves which I feel like was a main theme of the last class. There was a glimmer in people's eyes, of what I'm not too sure.

So thinking about this project, I was thinking about how flexible it was and whether or not that was a good or bad thing. I think the good was that it was able to work around other people's activities, but not really. I was hoping that it would tie into Teresa's art interpretation project, but I am very appreciative that Nkechi was able to twist it into a way that fit what I was going for, while not taking too much time. I think in the sense of all of us deciding something that was able to represent our class on the paper and through objects that people brought (Thank you for bringing them!), I liked the feeling of involvement from everyone.

Sarah Friesen-Johnson

May 5, 2015

EDUC 266, P. Cohen

Reflection

This class has expanded and informed my thinking about the field of education in more ways than one. I’ve appreciated it for it’s in depth focus on the American school system and I’ve enjoyed learning all the different angles within that subject. Most importantly, this course has allowed me to think critically about education and the work done on education more than any other classes.

Sarah Friesen-Johnson

May 5, 2015

EDUC 266, P. Cohen

Final Field Paper

Hey folks - for my final project I'm going to make my first attempt at writing a spoken word poem. I haven't totally decided on the direction I want to take it, but it will likely have something to do with the ecological ideas we've talked about, the environment, and identity (I know that's about as broad as you can get...haha). But to try and keep things "ecological" and open and connected as I create this, I wanted to open up this space for any of you to contribute ideas/words/phrases that stand out to you from this semester and I could incorporate into the poem.

Ariel, Abby and I decided to do the teach in we did (the focus/contact/connection exercises) because we thought it put into practice a lot of the ecological principles and concepts we talked about this semester. We've talked so much about interconnectedness and connection without words, but we didn't talk a whole lot about physical connection between people or ways of actually practicing the connection without words. So we thought these exercises could force us to play with that idea some - give us a real, physical, tangible experience of both connecting without words, physically connecting, and how those two can influence and enhance each other.

Throughout this course, we have read the opinions of many school reformers and learned about many school districts that support providing students in a public school system choice and agency. Superintendents, parents, teachers, and politicians argue that students should be able to choose what courses to take and at what levels, how they will demonstrate what they’ve learned, what they will be evaluated on, and of course, which school they attend. Advocates of choice in a school system often point to charter schools as a solution. While the idea behind charter schools is well-intentioned, there are many ways in which modern charter schools can improve.

Srinidhi Nambirajan

Schools in American Cities

Jody Cohen

5/1/2015

Strategies for Change: A Student Centered and Activism-Based Focus

Over the course of the semester, I have given a lot of thought to the concept of working across barriers within a classroom. In my Issue Analysis, I wrote about white teachers in urban schools, and the problems that engender and are engendered by the racial imbalance in the teaching profession. The topic has been one that I’ve kept in mind through the semester, especially within my field placement, where a young, white, female teacher leads a classroom of students of color. As another young, white female, I enter this classroom with the same barrier separating me and the students, although I also realize that race is not the only factor that can serve to separate in a classroom.