The View from Here
Lynne Fukuda (See Fukuda's column in future issues )

Techno Corner
Susan Jones

“And It Came About After the Death of Moses ” ©

Dan Lukiv, M.Ed.
English and Creative Writing
McNaughton Centre, Quesnel, BC, Canada
E-mail: lukivdan@shaw.ca

1.
Haghah—listen to
The word thoughts, like the hum
Or buzz of bees gathering their
Green or grey or yellow or brown
Treasures that cling to dangling
Legs. Listen. Hear the whole world,
The little round earth, the sum of cooing
Hearts locating their own treasures,
Finer than silver or gold or coral,
Filling thoughts with hope and wisdom
And soundness of mind. Listen to
These literate hearts, speaking from
Inside the flesh of men and women
And even children who love the stars
And brisk winds and juicy fruit
And everything else given to them to
Enjoy. See these children, spirit driven;
See the little Bezalels and Oholiabs   
Cooing like doves, ruminating like
Gentle cows, adding their soft
Tones to the deeper resonance
Of reasonableness and obedience.

Hear bees everywhere, gathering
Their lifeblood, reminding everybody
With their little wings that a greater
Buzz in the hearts of men
Means a greater peace
In our little home.

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Maximizing the Learning Experiences of Pre-Service
Teachers through Reflective Engagement

Gloria Jean Rodman, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Curriculum and Instruction
Texas A & M University - Kingsville
System Center – San Antonio
E-mail:  kfgjr00@tamuk.edu

Introduction

Experience in the classroom can reinforce the concept that self-reflection enables pre-service teachers to construct meaning from their work in the classroom (Costa & Kallick, 2000).  It has been a practice in a teacher preparation program at a developing public state university for teacher candidates to be given the opportunity to collaborate with professionals in the classroom and to develop their ability to engage in reflective practice.  This reflective experience occurs in collaboration with the university professor, classmates, mentor teacher and/or university partner and seeks to enrich the impact of the reconstruction, reorganization and application of theory to classroom practice.  Reflective engagement helps pre-service teachers to actively consider and reconsider beliefs and practices that allow them to move toward metacognition in teaching (Moon, 2004) so as to improve their ability to monitor the decisions about what and how they teach.  

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Predicting Eugenics and Education: Rethinking an Educational Fault Line

Nicholas D. Hartlep, M.S.Ed.
PhD Student – Urban Education and Social Foundations of Education
Advanced Opportunity Program (AOP) Fellow
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
E-mail:  nhartlep@uwm.edu

In her 2007 study titled Eugenics and Education in America: Institutionalized Racism and the Implications of History, Ideology, and Memory, Dr. Ann Gibson Winfield objectively critiques eugenic apologetics. My analysis of this text assesses how well Winfield’s book accomplishes the following: (1) discussion of the scientism-or pseudo-nature of eugenics, (2) description of the compositional and structural eugenic-laden inequities that pervade education, (3) discussion of eugenic labels used in the past within education, and (4) discussion of eugenic labels presently used within education.

Albeit esoteric to many in education, the practice of eugenics finds itself deeply rooted in a pseudo-scientific framework/ideology. In 1904, eugenics was broadly defined by Francis Galton: “Eugenics is the science [italics added] which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race; also with those that develop them to the utmost advantage” (as qtd in Winfield, p. 5).  Eugenics, simply summarized, is a racist and antipathetical attempt to create a perfect—Nordic—race. Eugenics is propelled by a scientism-nature insofar as it is predicated upon the notion that, with selective breeding, sorting, labeling, and categorizing, the world can reach utopia. This utopia is predicated upon the creation of a superior race. While attempting to create a superior race may appear absurd and incredulous in the 21st-century, eugenic tendencies continue to permeate and pervade education.

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