"Becoming Something Different" by Fairbanks, Crooks and Ariail

REFLECTIONS

This article has a great message behind it. I think Esme is a great example of what children are capable of if they set goals and have support to help them achieve their dreams. This reading shares many similarities with the movie Freedom Writers. I was a freshman in high school the first time I saw Freedom Writers and to this day it is one of my favorite movies. Esme reminds me of the Freedom Writers in the sense that she has dreams and aspirations but they seemed to be silenced.

This also can connect back to our reading of the Silenced Dialogues. The article starts to talk about how students become identified in particular ways and that they sometimes resist that identity that they have been labeled with. I think no matter what you can't label a student just because of what you see in their personality in school. If you don't know about their home life and what happens to them outside of the school you do not have the right to make assumptions.

When Esme decided to attend Cooper High with her friends it reminded me of the girl in Freedom Writers that decides to switch from the AP class to the lower level class. Now in her case it was a little different because she was doing the opposite as Esme and instead of challenging herself she moved to a lower class because she felt like an out-liar in the AP class. The teacher would always use her as the "African American" example. But in both cases the girls were using there Academic writes as a student. To be able to choose what they think works best for them.

Comments

I think it's great when the readings that we do make connections to other readings, videos or even our own personal experiences. I think that Esme is a great role model to all students. To show that she can make her own choices when it comes to her education is very empowering and inspiring to all students. Especially to the students that may feel silenced it shows them that they too, have a voice and a choice.

Hyperlink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUnpSYMNEhY
In this Ted talk Till talks about his life and his academic choice


Students want to be creative, they are often silence by higher powers like teachers. Even though this is an employee and boss, it still mimics student and teacher.