Some Extra :)

Hey all, I just want to say that this class has helped me in many ways! I know now that teaching may not be for me, but I have gained an even better understand of kids that will help me with the tutoring, coaching and babysitting I already do. I know even more now that I love kids, but the classroom setting may not be where I belong. Although I have changed to a new major this experience has helped me view the world differently and I've gained appreciation for students, teachers and parents that I did not have before. I also had a great experience within the class and have never met such a great group of people. I'll miss everyone and take away with me a lot about class dynamic that was shown and discussed all semester. Ladies of the blog group! I just want to say thank you :) loved our Jeopardy project, you were probably my favorite group I've ever worked with!

Prompt Five Allan Johnson

After spending some time now in the Kindergarten classroom, it is quite apparent that Ms K tries to get her students' parents involved in what they are doing in class and what they will be learning in weeks to come. The one thing that stands out the most in this aspect of parent-teacher community the class has created is the children's homework folders. Every student has a bright, see through folder with their name clearly written by the teacher in the top right hand corner. This folder goes home with the students every night and should be returned every day for collection.

One day while sitting at the desk where the folders had been put in a basket, I noticed that each child had their folder personalized by themselves and a parent or guardian. It seems as though it was some sort of project to be done maybe at the beginning of the year, because the folders were not full of scribbles and children's drawings, they had been deliberately decorated with the help of someone older than them and not a teacher. I picked through the stack of folders to see stickers saying "I love mom" and different objects and shapes like school busses and crayons. And then many, with marker and crayon had their families names, family trees, nationalities, pets and more. It was really nice to see that these kids were asked to create such personalized folders with their family, not one lacking an adults steady hand in some writing!

Along with the wonderful folders, this kindergarten class also has days where the children bring in books that they are currently reading with someone at home, show and tell pieces and the teacher almost always has time to enjoy or discuss something a student has brought in from home, if it has a story about mom, dad or siblings. Ms. K makes it a point to help the kids interact with their parents on an educational level by leaving specific comments on homework assignments, extra letters about conduct and things to be signed if there is any kind of extra boost in progress or lack of improvement in a students work or behavior.

I have also seen many parents walk their students right into the classroom when they are late for school, and actually talk to the teacher rather than just dropping them off and running away. Many times, I have seen Ms. K refer to parents by their first name and she seems to make them comfortable as well as in the know about what their student is doing daily. Because Ms. K works so hard at trying to create a community, or almost a family or families in her class, I related this blog to Allan Johnson. Allan Johnson talked about how parents who work extra hard or hours that leave little free time to see their kids, do not get involved in what their children are doing in school. Because many parents of working class families struggle to have educational time with their kids, or they are just too tired, the child may lose focus in school or feel like he/she does not have what some have to contribute. These parents do not have it as easy as those of higher classes, who can make sure their children are getting a proper education, but it does not mean that they are bad parents. By helping them to get involved, or making it easier to learn about what is going on in class, the parents may be happier and more concerned with what their children bring home in their homework folder and so on.

Prompt Six Lisa Delpit

The culturally competent teacher communicates in ways that demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and linguistic differences. A teacher must speak with a voice of authority as well as a friend at times, and always with a voice that speaks to all or many children. This communication, both verbal and non-verbal must set a positive tone and support positive interaction between teacher and student. If we do not communicate to all students with taking in to account how we should be speaking to them, they might miss the message we, as teachers, are trying to send.

I held off on this blog prompt to see if there were any differences to cover between the "permanent" substitute teacher I spent much of my tutoring time with, and the real teacher who came back very late in the year. They both used very different teacher "voices" and set entirely different moods to the class. I could see that the children reacted differently to the new teacher and it made me extremely sad to see that she had pretty much ruined the class dynamic.

The substitute, Ms. K had the kind of voice and communication that worked with all students, seemingly bringing with together during lessons and when working with them individually, she seemed to have their attention and they wanted to speak with her. Ms. K began every day by letting the kids control which order they settled in, allowing them to hand in homework and then put their things in the closet, or the other way around, and then she began to set up the day by giving them their schedule, clearly and deliberately but with a light and friendly tone. She would then follow this schedule in exact order and always ask if anyone had questions, and to "Please raise your hand if you need to ask me something." She would clearly ask her students what they were doing, why they were out of their seat and tell them what they needed to be doing if they were not on task. Ms. K never worded anything in the form of a question, like "Is this a good time to sharpen your pencil?" and she always made sure the class knew what she meant. With all these strict rules, she also had a soft side in which i remember a day when a student was out of his seat and Ms K did not like it. She calmly walked up to him and asked "What are you doing?" he respond with a "getting a pencil" and she said "You need to be sitting, my friend." SHe handled it with both authority and kindness!

The new teacher on the other hand made the kids wild and they did not respect her because they clearly did not know what she was saying. She always worded things in this liberal, non-authoritative questioning that made the kids wonder what the right response was, not what they were being asked. And when she wasn't confusing them, she would be screaming at them about how they were wrong and not paying attention. It was awful.

Lisa Delpit would take the side of Ms K in that children of this classroom, and many classrooms need ot be spoken to in an authoritative and even commanding way so that they understand the message or what they are being asked. Delpit's article the Silenced Dialogue explains that what someone wants for their child is not always best to give to every other child, because every child is a student with different needs. The need to be commanded or spoken to in a lighter tone is important to see within each child, because it will help them in their learning.

Prompt Four Dennis Carlson

No students enters the classroom without a personal history. We know this by looking in any classroom, in any school, in an any state and so on. But one of the most important things we can do with these differences is recognize that they are there and there is diversity so that we can understand what makes us all different and then, as culturally competent teachers, we must investigate the factors so we can teach our students the best way we can to suit their needs. If we go into a class and fail to see the students' sociocultural differences, along with our own, we will not be guiding the students to the best of our ability.

Being in a school in the city for this tutoring, I entered on my first day with my own thoughts on what it would be like. I had already visited schools like this for school/after school events for family members and friends, and I knew what it would be like. However, I still knew it was going to be different from the elementary school that I went to as a child; also public, but in a very suburban area. Although I thought I knew what this experience in the classroom was going to be like, I did not realize how little I really knew about what goes on in their lives.

As I said, I went to a public school in a very nice area as a child, and new very little about needing or wanting anything and not having it given to me. This was the same for the majority of the children I grew up with as we did not know what it was like to be financially unstable. Free lunch was not common, if at all some had reduced, but it always seemed to be for the kids who had many brothers and sisters. As a kid and even now, I did not see many of the people around me as those who were struggling or in need of basic things.

But as I said before, some family and friends did have such troubles, so entering this public school in the city, I thought for sure that I knew what to expect. It's a different story when I began to work directly with the students and got to know about them more and more. Free and reduced lunch, I found out, were extremely more common, and normal things at the school. In addition to that, there were students who came to school with the same clothes on two days in a row, or who did not have a backpack that even really held their things inside of it.

These students may have economic issues I do not know of, but they still quite clearly are kids just as I was and have needs, wants and expectations within their classroom. Dennis Carlson wrote an article that focused on the understanding that a child's learning is not changed or affected by his or her race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Just because a child had a different socioeconomic stand with us our other students does not mean that he/she does not want and have the right to learn just as the other students. Carlson wants us to create the type of classroom that helps every child have an active part in what they all learn.

Prompt Three Claude Goldenberg

A culturally competent teacher should be able to use many techniques that suit the needs of the students within the class, especially in the diverse classrooms we have today. I see how important this is both my kindergarten and first grade classes, however, for different sides of this and for different reasons. Although on 26% of the students attending this school, a good number of the students in both k and first grade speak Spanish as their first language and/or it is spoken frequently in their home. They bring that part of who they are to an educational setting and it shapes how much and how well they learn. And with my little reading buddies, I can see that these students' differences from the kids who are already proficient in English, hold them back in a few areas within the classroom.

From the very first day, I could see that the kindergarten teacher I worked with was quite aware of the differences between her students, both educationally and socially. Throughout the morning, she would speak to each child in a way that best suited what they were used to and how they needed to be spoken to, whether it was for praise or to reprimand them for some reason. I could see that Ms. "K" worked closely with her students to be an understanding teacher, rather than just another person with authority. When I walk into my first grade class, however, Mrs. "F" does not know her students very well and it is quite apparent that she does not care to find out much about them or their educational and social needs. From the time I open the door, to the time I close it behind me with my group of students, I hear nothing but yelling from both the students and the teacher and an all to familiar phrase "I don't care, go sit down" repeating over and over, at each weekly visit.

As Goldenberg's article Teaching English Language Learners says, the students should be taught English and guided through to become proficient in it by the use of transference. Because the students already know what they are learning, or can understand it already in one language, that proves that they do know what they are learning, they just need to learn how to do it in English. And we cannot measure what they know if they do not understand it in English fully. Goldenberg's article goes on to explain some ways of how to begin teaching ELL's; in which speaking clearly, deliberately and slowly, using pictures and even motions to help reinforce the ideas and meanings, and really helping the children to understand, not just remember until a test comes along. As teachers, we need to recognize that these children need the extra help, and learn how to help them as well, not just use generic methods and deciding that that is enough.

When I see that Ms. K is helping the students on a more personal level, by asking them what they already know about something, working with them through to the answer and using transference as much as she can, I see a teacher who is good at what she does, understanding of her students, and someone I would want to be like. But, when I get to Mrs. F's class, it's a different story. She does not use any form of guidance with her students who aren't proficient in English, yet she's treating them like they understand and she tests them on information I'm not sure they understand in a language they are struggling in.

Prompt Two Lyn Brown

Day two of tutoring, and I can see that the students in my kindergarten class have created their own little cliques and groups that they feel comfortable in. Even though the majority of the school is Hispanic, the students seem to group themselves off by what they are used to and their backgrounds, or home life. I see this a lot in the way the children who speak fluent, or close to fluent Spanish will speak with and gravitate towards one another when there is idle time between lessons. This happens even though they are all mixed up at pretty random groups at their tables around the room. And I can see that it is not that the children dislike each other for being different, they have just become closer to those who are more like them.

From my first grade classroom, i actually have an issue with two students who come to read with me outside of the class. For the most part, the first grade class is like a family and all of the children are very close and caring for one another, but the issue between "Derek" and "John" is completely opposite of the rest of the classroom. These boys do not get along because Derek clearly does not have all of the nice things the John has and does not fit in with the mainly Hispanic classroom. Nobody else seems to care, I mean they are just children. But, John likes to cause trouble and make Derek feel unwanted, with sly comments and remarks made under his breath. Derek has now become mean to many of the students that John is friends with and will swear at them, only causing himself to be in trouble with the teacher and have to sit alone in the corner of the room. Even though economically, the classroom as a whole is about the same, and the children do not live very different lives, all clearly coming from working class households.

As Brown's article described, the working class children "reveal a childhood and adolescence in which race and class privilege are givens. Even their anxieties about their class position underscore this fact, since they reflect not self-examination or cultural critique but a need to justify the prevailing concerns of the middle-class in the United States." These students have grown up focused more on their status based on their race and what their class has because growing up with out many things makes them see what they do not have. Unlike higher classes who have a lot and know very little of what it is like to want or to know what is is like to not have.

As for the boys, John and Derek, I notice that they, as well as the rest of the class pay close attention to what the their peers have and don't have, their race or ethnicity, and how they present themselves in the class, and they clearly judge them based upon those things. John has obviously decided that he is of the "better group" though and as if he is maybe of a higher class, he looks down at Derek, thinking he might be lazy or deceitful or something, just like the Acadia girls of the Brown article might see the Mansfield girls.

Prompt One

Driving to the school my first day, I noticed that there were cars parked all over the street and kids seemed to be jumping out and running to the small fenced in area to see their friends. The neighborhood seemed to be happy and full of life before the bell rang, but as I sat in my car and the kids entered the building, the street became quiet and just like every other street surrounding it. The parking area was very small and spaces were marked off for each teacher so that everyone fit in it properly, those who left first for the afternoon, closest to the exit. As I walked to the side entrance, I noticed how the brick school building was not wide, but extremely tall, and after I was buzzed in, I noticed that the many narrow steps only led up to a second floor, not a third or fourth like I had expected.

Upon entering my first classroom for the day I was greeted by all the teachers on the first floor and I took a seat in the back corner of the room. The room was packed with books, toys, charts, tables and so much more! The alphabet streaming across the room at the top of the wall and the kindergarteners works stapled just about everywhere made the room bright and fun. Then the kids began piling in! After they entered through a separate door from the class, dropped off their coats and bags, they ran in to grab their journals and sit at their tables. They were loud and the first few came up to me to let me know that they had entered the room first or second or third. I smiled helped them get settled with the work they knew they had to do. They kids were very distracted by my presence and kept walking over to me to ask random questions or tell me thing about themselves. My favorite part of the morning was the Rise and Shine song that they played to sing and wake up to.

Then at 10:30 I went upstairs to the first grade class and met a whole new set of kids. They were wild. There was screaming and it was disorganized, but I could see that the teacher was trying her best to keep them on top of their work. Luckily I was able to just grab my students and take them from the classroom to play games and read. I was given a group of boys who let me know right away that I needed to learn the rules and that I should give them fun games all the time. One student became a problem and I knew I would have issues with him for the rest of the tutoring experience. He told me that he hated his teacher and didn’t care what I had to say. Woah this should be fun!

The Introduction...

Hey everyone! So this is my first post, even though I've worked on others I'll start here. I'm a sophomore at RIC and I commute so I spend very little time on campus, which makes it hard to meet new people. When I'm not in class or doing school work I'm out with different groups of friends, going to local shows, hanging out outside, and watching movies (mainly horror!) I'm pretty laid back and it will probably show by the way I write the rest of my posts! Later :)