I think that to some extent, this week’s readings has a nice linkage to last week’s readings as the discussion on neurodiversity is also a discussion on normality. Nick Walker’s blog is very helpful in getting the concepts and terms straight. I really appreciated the word “neurodiversity” because it is not classifying people into what’s normal and what’s not like the word “disability” does. The word “neurodiversity” is indicating a large range of possibilities and acknowledging the diverse nature of human minds.

Excerpts from Karen Barad, “Reconceiving Scientific Literacy as Agential Literacy, or Learning How to Intra-act Responsibly Within the World,” in Doing Culture + Science, edited by Roddey Reid and Sharon Traweek (Routledge, 2000): http://www3.hass.rpi.edu/eglash/sst/baradliteracy.pdf

Most commonly...thought of in terms of the successful transmission of knowledge about scientific facts and methods from knowing scientists to the ignorant masses. Viewed in this way, the problem of scientific illiteracy is seen as a massive transmission failure....

The two videos “I stim, therefore I am” and “The Loud Hands Project” connected very well to Melanie Yergeau’s essay, Clinically Significant Disturbance: On Theorists Who Theorize Theory of Mind. All three seemed to center upon autistic self- advocacy, pushing against traditional philosophical theories and societal constructs of what is “normal”. Yergeau’s essay gave me my first introduction to the theory of mind (ToM).  Yergeau draws from her personal experiences, producing a compelling narrative on how destructive ToM is to autistic individuals by calling into question their humanity.

My placement is at  a STEM bases high school in West Philadelphia. I am in two Math classes, Algebra 2 and Calculus. Although the same teacher teaches both classes, the difference in the atmosphere is striking. The Algebra 2 class is the first class of the day. My first day was a half day so it was hard to tell if some things happened because the day was shorter or if it was apart of a regular daily routine. The first thing I noticed when I was in the class was that a student was writing the period time blocks from the teacher's laptop onto the board. I thought it was interesting because at my high school, everyone knew the schedules inside and out especially the schedules for half days.

I can't imagine being in a position such as Frederick Douglass' after he escaped to the North and was faced with the decision of whether or not he would be a voice in the abolitionist movement to represent his fellow slaves. I think about the enormity of the position he was deciding to place himself into. Did he know what he was getting himself into? How did he feel when he was weighing his options? To become an Abolitionist is obviously the admirable decision, he'd give voice to himself and the countless others who suffer from being voiceless, and he'd directly be fighting for a cause he truly believed in. I wonder if, and how seriously, he considered the other option, though. The option where he steps away and enjoys his much deserved freedom.

This was the most successful praxis session so far. Perhaps it was because of the increased level of responsibility that comes with selecting the books, rather than just packing them. In that back room, social interaction was increased, and I spent my night talking to several U-Penn students who had all started here for various reasons (mostly to fulfill requirements), and then just decided to continue. The first person I asked said that she and her friends all came together because it was fun, they got to chat, and it made her feel good about herself. If she was going to spend time socializing with her friends, why not also do something for the benefit of others.

This week I finally met S and J. They were preparing for an online webinar presentation that they had to do while we were there and so we served as their practice interviewers. I talked with S for a while in the beginning and we finally caught me up more on what I've missed so far. I told her I'm interested in helping with the poetry collection and so I spent a good half of the time by going through and organize all the submitted poetry for the book. About five minutes before I finished sorting through the poetry, S and J had already started their online presentation, and so we sat there silently trying to let them focus on their presentation as we looked through their website for ideas on how to update it.

I have been to my placement twice so far this semester at the Science Leadership Academy. The school is just on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and the majority of the students who come to the school commute from various locations around Philadelphia by public transportation. This is important for the atmosphere of the school, I was at the school last semester as well, and during the SEPTA strike about half of the students were not able to make it. The school has around 100 students per grade, and this is the first year that it is made up of 4 class years. For the past 4 years, they have been adding one class year, making 2017 the first graduating class.

The Meiners chapter is missing pages 40-41 -- here they are!

We learn the English language through a series of rules, a carefully constructed set of grammatical instructions that are explained as the boundaries and restrictions of a language. Then, as people delve deeper into an understanding of words, to utilize them in poetic measures, we are taught to break these rules.

A late-night conversation:  Discussing linguistics is always a favored past time, and tonight it was a frequent topic. A friend brought up her introduction to linguistics class, and how her final unit is all about the socioeconomic and cultural implication of the English language. Her professor frequently reminds them that, in his interpretation, grammar is an oppressive system, and that the concept of speaking correctly is just a method of subjugation.