Blog Post #3 by Cabrera, Roberto

                  Marcus is being viewed differently by the people around him. One of those people is Emily, who is Marcus's teacher. s she teaches, Marcus seems to have the ability to participate. As he tries his best, but there are times when Emily sees him as a disruptive student if he did not act like himself. Emily see's Marcus as both a complex and complicated student. Marcus is taught to be a good student, but when Emily sees him, she seems to view him as someone who needs extra support towards the way he acts and learns. When Emily sees Marcus ready to learn in class, she sees that he "Participates easily" (p.116), but when Emily starts giving a writing assignment to the class, Marcus starts "making a beat on his legs while Emily is teaching" (p.116) which makes Emily see him as a disruptive student and shows that he sometimes becomes frustrated when he sees work is coming to him, which also makes Emily frustrated. When Marcus does not act like himself, Emily tries to help him, but he tends to not listen to her. Emily does tell Marcus "If we can't have a conversation, I'm going to have to call the office" and tries her best to talk to him. Not only is Emily his teacher, Marcus looks at her if she were his boss telling him what to do, which I think Emily does have the right to do that because she wants the best for Marcus, but Marcus tells her, "Nobody is the boss of Marcus Andrews" (p.120) which makes it harder for Emily to help Marcus get her attention to be motivated to learn. All this happens at Marcus's school and Marcus seems to be someone who has a hard time being with his teacher. The first example where I think Emily see's Marcus as both a complex and complicated student was found on this  part of the article,"Tip #1: Let Him Be Heard". In this section of the article, Emily sees Marcus as an active student while being hard to take care of for his behavior. Emily can see that Marcus is "Disruptive and provocative", but "When he is physically present, she gives him multiple opportunities to be heard 'positively', meaning within the parameters of acceptable student response, during lessons" and she calls him on Marcus to answer the questions and present with his knowledge. As Marcus happens to struggle, he sometimes does not want to answer Emily's questions. The harder the lessons turn out for Marcus, it also makes it harder for Emily to support him while teaching at the same time. She thinks Marcus can do better and this is my claim for Emily seeing Marcus as someone who needs to work on his own character, try his best more in class, and clear his behavior.                                                                                                                              

    Another example from the article was found on "Tip #3: Let Him Be Helpful", where Carla Shalaby sees/describes Marcus as a deserving human as well as both complicated and complex. She sees Marcus supporting his classmates and trying his best to be a good student. He seems to be great with his peers. In this section of the article, Marcus witnesses someone feeling upset and tries to find help for her. As a good student, "He had to leave the room for counseling and and told a staff member, Nyra was crying" (p.136) and he seemed to feel bad for Nyra. He was the only student was willing to stand up for someone and make someone feel bad to become better. Carla also shows how Marcus's experience has been a struggle, but at the same time, he follows directions and when he does something bad, it seems as if he looked more on his good side. When Emily was teaching Marcus a lesson in class, "She gave him a super hard book, and he worked so, so hard to read all of it, and Emily was proud of Marcus for being so smart and creative, which also made Marcus feel proud of himself" (p.143). The way I see it now, Marcus is a student who listens and wants to work hard. Emily also had a hard time dealing with Marcus, but when Marcus wanted to become a better student he had support from others to make him feel motivated, which was counseling. This shows how the author sees Marcus as a student who is deserving, complex, and complicated, but overall, she sees him as a deserving human. 

   

    This also compares to (Dis)ability by Beth A. Ferri. This article can also relate to Marcus's ability in school. The last example from the passage that made me think of how Marcus was being viewed for his ability was "Individual Educational Program (IEP). According to the passage, Marcus had an IEP which "Included allowance for a full-time paraprofessional to be at his side in the upcoming academic year" (p.140) which could have also been his key to success. Marcus's plan did involve classes with disabilities, but with the support given to him, that is what made him a successful student. According to (Dis)ability by Ferri, "When speaking of ability we invoke a host of ideas and images that rely on systems of norms to demarcate the line between ability and disability" (p.30) and Marcus was viewed towards his disability, which gave Emily a hard time to concentrate on Marcus and to see how she could best support him. Marcus was able to learn, but when he struggled, Emily did not seem to have the ability for his learning needs. When Marcus was able to give it his best shot, Emily was relieved and proud to see him to do his best, which also made Marcus proud. Marcus was a student who was tough to handle, but the more positive he turned out to be, the less stressful was not only for Emily to teach, but the easier for Marcus to learn better and the deeper I could understand how Carla sees Marcus as deserving human, complex, and complicated student.                                                                                                                                                                                                I felt as I was the same student Marcus as a young learner. Something that Marcus was being taught was being a good student, which was something also taught to me. Even now, I still try to do things to make myself a better person. I was a student who wanted to be helpful and heard, which I still do today. After reading the article, I learned that "Our ways of thinking about student ability and our educational practices with regard to perceived differences must account for the ways that ability is socially, culturally, spatially, and temporary located" (p. 32-33) and our learning styles must be expressed in a way to show that we need support in our struggles. As a student now, I participate and work to the best of my ability, but I also struggle at times and experience difficulties finding support. During years in elementary-high school, I had an IEP to support me towards my learning needs as something in school that made me stress the most the most were tests and the way teachers were teaching. With an IEP, I was able to succeed. I was also able to get support towards my classes. As a college student, there has been many changes. I have accommodations towards my learning needs and as a student with different learning needs, I fear of being behind and not having the same amount of support every year. Support is important when you are in school. When my professors or staff from the community see me, I am being viewed as complicated student. What makes me feel complicated is the worries I have during the semester, the support I try t receive, and seeing where Is stand in my class such as my grades, attendance, and academic skills. In order to become better, I try to talk with professionals and seek support. This what makes me the same student Marcus was at a young age and I still feel this way today. These are all my examples for how Emily and Carla S. (author) see Marcus and what I think makes them feel like Marcus is that person.