I'm feeling very anxious to visit the high school. Not only have I always been pretty socially unsure, but despite coming from an economically disadvantaged background, I've been separated from "city kids" for a long time and don't know what to expect when it comes to their behaviour, attitude, and language (eg, will they be laid-back? Use a lot of slang? Be open to our visit?). I think that a lot of this anxiety comes from our use of the term "inner-city," which has a mostly negative connotation, to describe the school. I've worked at an "inner-city" charter school before, albeit one which was kindergarten-8th graders, and what I saw there was a little disheartening.

While I consciously recognise the potential of the economically disadvantaged and those from the city, I hope that this trip can change my subconscious feelings, showing me that there is hope for more of us than I had previously imagined. Their policies seem fairly strict, so I'd imagine that the majority of the kids will be well-behaved, and I'm interested to learn about their "school selves" as opposed to their "home selves." I also think this will be an interesting place to observe how the educational system enforces "middle-class values" onto the other classes.

Education, access, poverty and resources… In previous weeks, we have read so many real-life stories and analytical articles about education. Meanwhile, we have concentrated on the limitations of public education recently. It would be very interesting to visit a high school since I’ve never got a chance to know high school life in the U.S. By comparing the public school in the U.S. and in China, I think it can help me to think more deeply. Our discussion on the topic of “In class/ Out class” is limited since we are literally “in class” previously on Tuesdays and Thursday. Visiting a high school could be a nice complementary experience as a part of our seminar. I am curious about students’ attitude about going to colleges as well as how their school performance affect their anticipation about going to colleges. Meanwhile, I am curious about to what extent can Friere’s or Noguera’s thoughts are applicable towards the real-life situations. It could be a nice chance to evaluate whether “Pragmatic Optimism” would function well in high schools. Finally, it would be good to keep an open mind and treat this trip as an experience of learning and teaching.

I think, like many other students, I am not really sure what to expect when we go to visit the high school. Though in part, I think this is because I am still not very clear on what we will be doing at the high school, I also feel that my lack of expectations relates to a comment that someone made during the silent blackboard discussion – that she wants to go into the school with an open mind and take the experience as a learning experience. I completely agree with this idea, and I too, hope to go into the school with this mentality. I know that no matter what we will be doing with the students, it will prove to be a fun, learning experience for all of us.

            As we enter the high school, however, I wonder about some of the comments that were made during our silent blackboard discussion, relating to the way in which socio-economic background might play a role in these students’ lives and schooling. I also wonder if there will truly be that sense of students feeling burned out due to the pressures of trying to succeed in school and as a bi-product of teachers feeling burned out as well. It will be interesting to me, to see if these particulars of our blackboard discussion are present in the school.

While working on formatting and posting my webpaper and messing around with how to insert images, this popped up:

I typed the following in as the image description for this image, which I do not think shows up without using a different method of viewing:

A pop up window with the following message: Are you sure you want to continue without including an Image Description? Without it the image may not be accessible to some users with disabilities, or to those using a text browser, or browsing the Web with images turned off.

Like many of the people who have previously posted, I'm not sure what to expect. I went a urban/suburban public high school so I'd like to see what it's like for students who go to a special admit public high school. I'd like to know more about how the selection process works. The pictures of the students that were shown during the presentation made them look like a fun bunch! I wonder if I'll be able to relate to them when we compare our high school experiences. I expect that they'll be open to talk about their experiences at their school and their interactions with their teachers and fellow students. I wonder if they'd be able to point out flaws about their school (if there are any) and if they have done anything to address any issues that they see. My high school was nice and all but I had no problems pointing out what could be changed. I also expect them to talk about college plans and possibly ranting about SATs and the Common App (it'll make me cringe) but it'll still be nice to reminisce about such a stressful time and know that I don't have to worry about it anymore...