Nancy Avelar

February 15, 2016

SED: Annotations
Annotations, I Wont Learn from You

I never forgot this humiliation, and when I become a teacher, I resolved never to
humiliate any of my students.
For my it seems as though good teachers build from their previous experiences of having great or
bad teachers and reflecting on how this will affect their personal practice. The author of this
article took his experience of being humiliated for his refusal to learn Hebrew, and now build on
his philosophy of teaching, to not humiliate other students.

When I discussed Wilfredos reflections with several friends, they interpreted his
remarks as a cover-up of either his fear of trying to learn English or his failure to do so.
This quote, I admire how the author looked to seek advice from friends. I feel as though this is
something teachers do a lot, because you have to get different perspectives from others. The
thing I did not like was the fact that his friends did not present different perspectives but rather a
unanimous agreement that Wilfredo had not learned English because he was afraid to learn the
language or could not do it. In the paragraph before it says Wilfredo willingly said that he did not
want to learn because he would lose culture. I thought this was a valid reason, since I myself
have experienced willingness not to learn, so I disagreed with his friends.

Learning how to not-learn is an intellectual and social challenge; sometimes you have to
work very hard at it.
This article presents a different perspective to teachers as to reasons why a student might not be
learning. Sometimes we might just assume that are students are not bright enough or that they are
scared to learn, but we have to remember to really consider all cases and possibly they are
actively choosing to not learn the content for other personal reasons.

When Kohl decided to help Barry learn to read through tricking him out of reading, how
did he know Barry was actively choosing not to read? What are some clues or signs for us
teachers to identify other students who might choosing to actively not read?

I had read Conrads Heart of Darkness when I was a junior in high school and the book is
racist. I just thought it was amusing how Kohl at first reading the book tried to cover up
the racist aspect of the book by saying it was a secondary aspect to the great book. I never
quite understood the book fully, probably because I was so young, but I still can
remember a setting in the jungle with savages everywhere and his thirst for ivory.