I really enjoyed reading Kumashiro, as it seems to tie in a lot of ideas that we have been discussing in class and that other theorists have touched on. I found there was something from every chapter that struck me. In particular, I found the part about incorporating Buddhism into teaching practices as extremely powerful. A lot of my spiritual upbringing incorporated Buddhist values of life and death and the idea of 'letting go', so I recognize the value in these lessons.

Node-

Oxford English Dictionary:

Meanings

1. “A knot, a knob, a protrubence, a knotty formation.”

2. “A hard concretion or circumscribed, usually rounded, protuberance, swelling, or mass; a nodule; spec. a localized area of syphilitic periostitis, esp. of the tibia.”

3. “A small, usually rounded structure or organ.”

4. “An entanglement.”

5. “A small ball representing a planet in a Ptolemaic model of the solar system.”

6. “A point or line of absolute or comparative rest in a standing wave system; a point at which a spherical harmonic or similar periodic function has the value zero.”

Mindful

 OED :

 In predicative use: †having recollection or remembrance (obs.); taking thought or care, heedful; being conscious or aware. Freq. with of. Also with clause as object.

Urbandictionary :

 An incredibly Deep form or state of being in the mind which allows one to be truly united with the soul.

Merriam Webster Dictionary :

 aware of something that may be important

Animal

 OED : A living organism which feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and a nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli; any living creature, including man

          It is ironic that the ecological world is so concentrated on systems of connection, when it seems that the social and political structures are constantly trying to show distinctions, disconnections, and confusion. “Even in the rare cases when someone from one world really tries to deal with the other side, the chasm seems unbridgeable, the languages too different to translate” (Campbell 125). I was intrigued by the way Campbell complicated the relationship between nature and textuality.

I enjoyed reading Kumashiro's perspective on anti-oppressive education because of the way he repeatedly called for discomfort, and the way he encouraged the need for a space to do so. It was useful that he critiqued his time in the Peace Corps as his first venture into "education," but also into the world of difference and "helping," even though this came so late in his life. I found it interesting that his practice was so reflective of both student/teacher learning but also of teacher/teacher educator learning. i thought it was very useful in critiquing both the K-12 education system, and showing the pitfalls of teacher education/preparation programs.

Hi everyone! I'm a current senior at Bryn Mawr. I've been doing TLI partnerships since my first semester Sophomore year– so this is the end of my third year doing this work. Several of my partnerships have been with 360s, but this year I'm excited to be doing a more typical one-on-one partnership. My major is called "Educational Identities and Empowering Pedagogy." My quick way of explaining it is: "It's kind of a merging of Education and Identity Studies." My longer way of explaining it is: "I'm interested in the way student identities can best be supported in classroom spaces. How do we make schools inclusive communities?

Coexistence

OED:
Existence together or in conjunction.
With special reference to peaceful existence side by side of states professing different ideologies.

Urban Dictionary:
A belief system which claims tolerance, but is itself a doctrine of absolute belief that all religions are ultimately equal, despite that this violates the law of non-contradiction.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Existence together or at the same time

self

— OED: "In the sense of the Latin ipse. In concord with a n. or pron., to indicate emphatically that the reference is to the person or thing mentioned and not, or not merely, to some other."

Belonging

Oxford English Dictionary

1. Circumstances connected with a person or thing; relations with another person or thing.

4. A thing connected with, forming a part, appendage, or accessory of another.

5. The fact of appertaining, relationship. esp. a person's membership in, and acceptance by, a group or society

Your Dictionary

1. Acceptance as a natural member or part: a sense of belonging.
2. Personal items that one owns; possessions.

Urban Dictionary