Alumni Interview with De'Andre Bright

Understanding Humanities through the Eyes of a University student

De’Andre Bright, a former student of the Baltimore Preserving spaces and Places American Studies class at UMBC was able to meet with me to help me gather a better understanding humanities research and work. Through this interview I was able to come understand that working with communities in the city is not as troublesome as some have been known to believe. It seems that taking humanities courses at UMBC has led to a deeper understanding of community systems and life within the city for De’Andre. 

How did community involvement impact your thoughts about humanities work… how did it change over time?

-It gave me more of an understanding with how to reach the community. I had to embrace their community to be accepted and it made me more comfortable with going into less that pleasant areas.

What is your focus at UMBC and how have you incorporated that into your career?

-I am currently in my senior year of an American Studies Major. I plan on using what i have learned in American studies to become an elementary school teacher and then open my own school in the distant future.

What were your thoughts about Baltimore? And how did they change?

-My thoughts about Baltimore were all over the place. At first, I was nervous about having a class there or even going there but after spending time in the community I realized that most of the troubles were over inflated and people would just assume that the community was so bad but in reality, it was good. My thoughts have definitely changed for the better.

What did you enjoy most about AMST 422?

-Working with students with totally different perspectives and experiences to coordinate public outreach.

What did you take away from 422?

-Never look at a place and assume it is just something boring, you never know what something could be just do some research on it.

What do you think about the humanities courses offered at UMBC?

-They are wonderful!!

Has taking humanities courses changed how your view humanities (working with people)?

-Yes, it has. It has made me more patient and has also made me change the casualness of my conversation habits.

What are techniques or skills you have learned in your humanities courses that you would implement in your career?

-Communicating with people from different walks of life. I also learned to see the best in things and to work with people I normally wouldn’t. It has also taught me to look deeper into something if you scratch the surface and nothing is there.

Lit Review

Throughout looking for secondary sources, I have found that there is more information about the negative impacts of inclusion classrooms than I originally thought. Yes, a lot of the research and information leans towards inclusion classrooms but some of these articles also bring up the negative side. Though some of my research will cover the necessities of an inclusion classroom, my argument is guided towards the downfalls of this environment for both special needs students as well as the general education students. The secondary articles I have chosen discusses some of the advantages and downfalls of an inclusion setting across different grade levels and disability areas. There are many challenges associated with inclusion classrooms including the level of content, the pace of the classroom, expectations of independent skills, and much more. Throughout reading some of these articles, I have come to the realization that the teacher’s attitude and ability to differentiate instructions properly have a major impact on the effectiveness of an inclusion classroom. My second article discusses the importance of continued professional development with specific components that should be discussed and implemented for inclusion teachers. There are many articles I found that discuss ways of making an inclusion classroom work. Ideas, practices and skills that can be contributed to making a successful inclusion environment, but I am going to focus on the ways this environment doesn't work. 

Mastropieri, Margo A., and Thomas E. Scruggs. “Promoting Inclusion in Secondary Classrooms.” Learning Disability Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 4, 2001, pp. 265–274. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1511115.

Vaughn, Sharon, et al. “A Collaborative Effort to Enhance Reading and Writing Instruction in Inclusion Classrooms.” Learning Disability Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, 1998, pp. 57–74. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1511372.

Obiakor, Festus E., et al. “Making Inclusion Work in General Education Classrooms.” Education and Treatment of Children, vol. 35, no. 3, 2012, pp. 477–490., www.jstor.org/stable/42900597.

Implications of Inclusion for General and Special Education

This is a great article for my research purposes as it summarizes critical issues in the inclusion controversy, it falls perfectly in line with the line of research I plan to pressure on inclusion education. It covers everything from the questions concerning the program efficiency, legal and financial considerations, and implications for carious populations within the educational community. It is a scholarly article published by the University of Chicago Press in a book titled The Elementary School Journal. Murphy definitely takes a researchers approach to this article, she is sure to cover a lot of historical content on inclusion, laws, movement, and general information that is prominent to the discussion. She also asks questions that she wants readers to think about and then answers them. 

Murphy, Donna M. "Implications of Inclusion for General and Special Education." The Elementary School Journal 96, no. 5 (1996): 469-93. http://www.jstor.org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/stable/1001845.

The negative side of Inclusion Classrooms

For my research proposal I am going to take on an unpopular opinion that inclusion is not as beneficial for students with disabilities as studies and research has lead us to believe. 

As a future special educator, I am interested in seeing the benefits and drawbacks of an inclusion classrooms. As I have already began working in the school system I have seen both the pros and cons of inclusion classrooms. Studies and research states that inclusion classrooms maximize the success of students with disabilities as well as benefit socially with fewer negative labels. But I have personally found this research to be untrue in many scenarios. I have seen the students with disabilities struggle to understand the curriculum they are being forced to learn, I have seen their face when they realize that everyone else in the classroom understands and they do not. I have also seen the effects this has on the general education students, the students that consistently have to slow their ideas down during group work, the students whos lessons are constantly being interrupted by the numerous questions one student has because they don't quite get it, the constant interruptions from other adults being in and out of the room to support another student. Do not get me wrong, I also see the good side of inclusion classrooms, the friendships that can be made, the social interactions that the students would otherwise go without, and the utter understanding from general education that special education students are worthy of an education. But my questions still remain;

Is placing special education students in inclusive classrooms beneficial for their success or harmful for their education? Self-contained or inclusion, which breeds success? Is an inclusion classroom beneficial for those without the special needs? Does inclusion truly benefit everyone?

Separate classrooms for students with special needs, known as self-contained classrooms, with lower student to teacher ratios, controlled environments, and specially trained staff would offer more benefits to a student with disabilities but according to research it has failed to provide sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of self-contained classrooms. Most research suggests that inclusion classrooms are favorable in the success of students with disabilities but there is minimal studies to show the negative impact inclusion classrooms can have. People are scared to ask the sensitive questions, the politically incorrect questions, of the potentially negative impact inclusion can have on both the general education students as well as the students with disabilities, which is why there is such a lack data on these questions. In my research proposal I plan to address these questions through research, personal experience, and experiences of educators and students of both abilities.

It is of the upmost importance to not exclude any students from equal education opportunities and most research suggest otherwise; inclusion classrooms pose more harm to student success with both the disabled student as well as all of the general education students in the class.

“Listening to Learn: Analyzing a Song from the ASA Dissent Mixtape”

A Place Where Love is by Andy Bey

 To me this song inspired a sense of community and love. Andy Bey, along with many other African Americans, were fighting for their equal rights as citizens. A lyrical line that stood out to me was “You live your life here. And it’s a sad, sad story; That each one, of us, awaits a day of glory” I think Andy may have been referring to his struggle in life as a young black man fighting to be seen as an equal. The specific line ”Brothers and sisters, I wish they would be, A place where love is” I feel is spot on to his wish that everyone could be considered brothers and sisters and just love each other for who they were.

This song was released in 1974 on Andy Bey’s Album Experience and Judgement. It is a considered of the genre Jazz but it is soulful music that has been loved by many and inspired many other rhythm and blues artists in the industry. This is song written from the soul. I think that many R&B artists may have been inspired through his work. Not only this song but other from his album seemed to have been written from his heart and through his experiences. A more recent artist in the industry I feel may have been inspired by Andy Bey is Rahsaan Patterson. His music holds a similar style to Beys and though it flows in a more contemporary way his lyrics are about his own experiences. I have type the lyrics as I listened through the song in case some of you would like to listen as well, there was no lyrics for it online. I did miss a small part because I could not understand exactly what was being said but for the most part I think it is correct.

You live your life here

And it’s a sad, sad story

That each one, of us, awaits a day

Of glory

But why? but why

Do you think flowers die?

Why do you think babies cry?

For people like you and me

Brothers and sisters, I wish they would be

A place where love is

Each generation, believes it will have a new day

But it can only suffer what we had today

But somehow, since white dessert has sand

And a woman has never felt the warmth of a good man

But why, do you think flowers die?

Why do you think babies cry?

For people like you and me

Brothers and sisters, I wish they would be

All of us sharing, 100 years a day

And we can’t even get together to change the hand of fate

But why, why

This is why, and for some reason we each grow old

I thought this was a future

But its only history

Brothers and sisters, I wish they would be

A place where love is

A place where love is

AMST 300 Blog 1

I am a typical essay researcher. The most I have ever researched anything outside of being for a paper was last semester in AMST 490 preserving places and making spaces in Baltimore. I actually found out that researching can be a lot more fun than the typical internet searches. Research can be interviewing people, diving into historical documents at the local library’s and even just walking the streets and observing the area. I really enjoyed taking that class and it gave me a new perspective of researching. As for this class I am interested in seeing how the research skills I learned last semester can help me with my research paper. As I am on the elementary education track I would like to research something in education, more specifically problems we find in special education. I have worked in the special education field for quite a few years now and have come across some important topics I think may be interesting for me to conduct my paper on. There is a lot of controversy about inclusion classroom and if the students are really getting the education they need to be as successful as possible. A working title I may consider is Inclusion classrooms and teaching: Helpful or Harmful. I would like to focus on something within this topic because I am receiving my teaching certificate for general elementary education but plan to continue my education into special education. With a duel certificate like this I will be likely to become an inclusion teacher at some point and I would like to have background research on how helpful I could be to my future students.

A Journey Through Hollins Reflection

Our event was held on a beautiful saturday afternoon. During our last class meeting before the event we were concerned that people would have difficulty locating our building, our original idea was to find a chalkboard to put outside advertising our event, but i was unable to locate a chalkboard. I decided to go with a balloon bouquet with information on one of the balloons, i think this idea was helpful in drawing attention. We had no complaints of difficulty finding the building.  I was surprised to find that many people showed up early for our event and were extremely interested in the walking tour. I would say we had at least 25 people sign in on our log, and a pretty decent size group went on the walking tour. It was exciting to present the information we gathered to the community. De’Andre did a great job catering our went and I heard a lot of compliments from the attendees. Zachs presentation of the website went very well and people seemed to enjoy the interactive aspect. Most people really came for the tour though. During our entire event i took a lot of photographs to document this great experience. I still have to edit them but i think i got some great shots, especially during the tour. The tour was exciting, and it was great to see in person all of the buildings we did our research on. I noted that this tour was almost completely different then our original tour with Curtis. We went to a lot of new places. We ended at Hollins Place which was a great way to end the event. De’Andre and Curtis did a wonderful job for the open mic portion and we even had some community members participate. This was a great experience for one of my first UMBC classes and I actually hope to take it again as the higher level class for my graduate degree.