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Precious Knowledge

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 The documentary "Precious Knowledge," created in 2011, takes us into the world of Tucson High School's Raza Studies/Mexican American Studies/Ethnic Studies program. In this program, students, mainly of Mexican American descent, learn about their heritage and they are empowered to build their confidence and defy the statistics that have been occurring for years.  Throughout the documentary, we are introduced to students, teachers, community leaders and lawmakers. We are given a look into their view of the Raza studies program in Tucson schools. One of the most powerful parts of this documentary were the students' views of the program. All of the students that spoke talked about how this program has helped them feel more in touch with their culture, classmates and their school. A study of the program showed that students taking these courses performed better on standardized tests and their graduation rate was 93%. The overall nationwide dropout rate of Mexican American
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Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools

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 "Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools," is a video put on by Haymarket Books discussing abolitionist teaching and antiracist education. Hosted by Brian Jones, the conversation asks questions to three educators, Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad and Dena Simmons. These three women discuss how they are working to help create more abolitionist teachers and antiracist education systems.  A major topic of this conversation is white supremacy and white privilege and how this shows up in schools. Some of the ways that were discussed were tone policing, curriculum and state standards, hiring protocols and a lack of hiring black educators. Throughout this conversation, many specific examples were brought up about how white supremacy shows up in schools, but one that really stuck out to me was from Bettina Love. She talks about an award in Georgia called "beat the odds." This award is given to schools based on class, low income and race. It awards the school for h
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I Am Not Your Negro

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 "I Am Not Your Negro" is a documentary written by James Baldwin and directed by Raoul Peck. It analyzes the history of racial inequality and oppression and makes connections to how these are still present in society today and how they have shaped the lives of today's Americans.  After watching this documentary, I learned more about the history of racial inequality than I had known before. Ever since black people have been in the United States, there has been a struggle for equality. Black people started as slaves to white people. When slavery was abolished, the racial inequities only got worse. In the video, Baldwin says, "Now that they don't need us, they're gonna kill us all off." When slavery ended, white people felt that there was no need for black people. They were brought to the United States to be slaves and now that their "role" is no longer needed, they wanted to get rid of them. While watching the documentary, I felt a bit uneasy hea
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In Sickness and In Wealth

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 The video, "In Sickness and in Wealth," is part of the series Unnatural Causes put on by California Newsreel. Unnatural Causes is a documentary series that analyzes how health is affected by different social factors.  The specific episode, "In Sickness and in Wealth," discusses how social class affects the health of people in America. The documentary focuses on the city of Louisville, Kentucky and shares the lives of four people, living in four different council districts. Each of these council districts have their own way of living through the different social classes they are a part of.  First, we meet a man living in council district 16, where many people earn more than $100,000 each year. Then, we meet a woman living in council district 24, where many people are "financially comfortable" and consider themselves to be middle class. Next, we meet a man who lives in council district 21, where many families are working full time jobs and their salaries co
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Introduction

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 Hello! My name is Kendra Martins. I am a first year third grade teacher in Pawtucket. I graduated from Rhode Island College in 2020 with a Bachelor's Degree in elementary education. I am working on getting my Master's Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Some of my favorite things to do are go to the beach, go for walks and work out. I am also a big Disney fan. I am looking forward to learning more about social issues in education through this course!
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