Week 2: Webpage Evaluation

After reading the resources provided to us, in particular the article "Why in the World Wide Web" by Jamie McKenzie, I decided to evaluate my own district website (Newark Public Schools), as I am currently a first year teacher at Arts High School. After reading the article and spending some time exploring the website, I was quite impressed with the wealth of information available at the click of a mouse, including full textbooks, novels, search engines and data bases, and even a way for parents and teachers to log in to the digital grade book to view grades and assignments for students. The website is user friendly, all of the links I clicked on worked quickly and properly, and the site was easy to navigate.

Although I regularly frequent the district's website, I was amazed to see how much information and resources were available via the site as well as to think about the time and care that was put in to designing such a website. I was able to locate my schools web page, as well as email addresses and contact information for all teachers in the school, including myself! Despite the fact that I mainly frequent the website for pragmatic purposes, including checking my district email and logging in to my grade book from home, if I was a parent, I would find the site quite useful. From the site, one can navigate to specific teacher's e Boards where assignments, syllabus, calendars, etc. can be posted and modified continuously. These e Boards allow parents a way to access and monitor their students assignments, grades, upcoming events, etc. from where ever they are, even if they are away on business, live far from their children, etc. My one issue comes with the fact that Newark is an urban district where many families still do not have access to computers, therefore are unable to take advantage of this well designed, practical website. This issue one of my fundamental qualms with technology. It is, in fact, not democratic in that certain individuals, depending on their socioeconomic status and class, do not have the same access as others. (Curious about this topic? check out this article on the digital divide in America.) Nonetheless, the fact that this information is available 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world makes the website extremely valuable.

The district site also showcases different schools achievements, awards, and student work. It also is visually pleasing and includes images of students. For parents, the site provides digital copies of important documents, links to parent groups, advisory boards, etc. The amount of information and resources available for parents, students, and teachers alike is quite remarkable. I believe that this exploration of my own school districts website was fruitful in that it opened my eyes to ways in which a website can be extremely useful in organizing information and making it available to all those who are requesting information, including teachers, students, and parents/guardians.

Methodology: Inquiry Project, Higher Education and its impact on Newark

Before discussing my methodology for my project, I feel it is necessary to restate my topic or question of interest, as it has been shaped and reshaped again over in my head since its initial proposal.

After visiting Newark and collecting some data in the form of photographs, as well as attending an Open Advisory Board meeting in Newark, my question now exists as follows:

How do institutions of higher learning (5 total in Newark, I have examined in particular two which exist in close proximity, NJIT and Rutgers Newark) impact local urban life? What types of changes in terms of housing, local establishments, street culture, if any, have resulted from the placement of these universities within the city? What types of buildings-landmarks-atmosphere classify these college communities; further, how are they defined visually? What lines, if any, divide these communities from the rest of Newark (I know,these communities are still a part of Newark, I need to work on re-wording), and what do these lines look like?

Methodology: My project consists of research done on multiple trips to a specific section of Newark, particularly the areas in and around Rutgers and NJIT. The data I have collected consists of photographs, videos, as well as personal observation (field notes) in what I will call transition or border zones between college "campuses" and the rest of Newark as a city. Campuses exists in quotes both because these colleges exist side by side and not discrete from each other, and also because I, for the purpose of analyzing my data am seeing them as distinct from the rest of the city in order to assess what the borders around these areas look like visually, and what the significance of these areas could be to Newark citizens.

During one of my visits to the area I brought what I would consider an "insider" with me who knew the area, a former NJIT student. He served as both a guide as well as a reference and gave me his perspective on the situation. It was important that I situated his comments and viewpoint within a broader perspective of his experiences as well as what the purpose of my inquiry was, in order to make sense of what he was telling me and use it as relevant information without becoming partial as a researcher.

Prior to my discussion of the data collected, I will look at and discuss the history of Newark and its construction, as well as the interaction and role these institutions have within the city, economically, politically, and culturally. It is here that I will tie in data (notes) I have from the Open Advisory meeting to demonstrate how these institutions affect urban youth (i.e. magnate schools vs. comprehensive schools).

Upon analyzing my data, I will then discuss the dual city theory which I believe demonstrates a lot of what my photographs of these transition zones demonstrates. Lastly, I hope to incorporate Fruchter's book in to my discussion as I feel that he sums up a lot of things which we have been pointing too all semester, sort of all roled up in one, but I haven't quite figured out how I will fit him into my discussion. Perhaps I need to continue reading! This, my friends, is a mere draft/plan/brainstorming session, please...offer up your suggestions!

Challenges to Urban Students

Upon reading the first three chapters of Brian Schultz's Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, I am consistently reminded of Annette Lareau's Unequal Childhoods and of how the two books present a dialogue between each other. When thinking about the challenges that the students of room 405 face, I believe that there are many concrete as well as invisible challenges that the students are expected to not only deal with, but to rise above in order to reach expectations and standards set by the state.

The most obvious of these challenges are the deplorable conditions which the students are expected to learn in; from the unsanitory, malfunctioning bathrooms and bulletholes in the windows, to the assemblies held in the hallway (which at times doubles as a cafeteria). NCLB applies the same high standards to schools in this type of horrible condition to suburban and elite schools. This insensitive, inappropriate blanketing of expectations becomes even more vacuous as the grim reality of the place where these students come to grow into responsible individuals comes into clearer focus.

That aside, I think Schultz would fundamentally agree with Lareau about the deep-rooted presence of socio-economic stratification and inequality in the American educational system. Certain types of knowledge and "ways of being" are priviledged in this system, and more often than not according to Schultz, the school faired to recognize or validate the reasoning and life skills that these urban students had mastered outside of the classroom. Schultz believes, as do I, that: "The Curriculum itself and the way it is taught are often driving forces responsible for gross inequities that advance the unjust socioeconomic stratification of this country" (Schultz, p. 13).

Inequality is inherently a fundamental part of how schools are run, in what they teach and how they teach it, as well as in what they expect from their students. These inequalities affect urban students in harmful ways that leave them with inadequate education and a poor chance at success in the future.

Schultz's approach checks these fundamental inequalities at the door of his classroom. This is extremely hopeful to a future urban teacher. It shows that as teachers who are integrally part of a injust system, we still can go beyond these limitations in meaningful ways that allow students to gain real control of their education. We can function within an unfair system to create justice and equity for the sake of our students' education. By giving these urban students back some of the power that had been stripped of them due to the very nature of the schooling system and its curricula, Schultz shows how education can be relevant, socially conscious, and inspiring while also teaching the fundamentals that students are required to know by the government.

I found a great news clip from Channel 7 discussing the students situation as well as the Project Citizen project which the students worked on. It allows for a visualization of some of the described conditions of the school as well as the kids of Room 405. Check this out: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6500574DENMMFeE