Throughout my service learning experience i have realized that i am capable of making significant progress within the hour and a half that i spent with my students two days a week. I was delighted to hear that only after one month of working with my two assigned students that their reading test scores have risen dramatically. Although i was happy to hear this news it got me thinking that if i can make this much of a difference in such a short period of time i wonder how much of a difference and influence the chidren's homelives make considering they are only in school 6 hours a day and the rest of the time spent under the guidance of their parents. If a child is surrounded by a poorly structured environment at home then the learning that occurs in the class is likely to be suppressed or undone by issues going on in the household. If a child has parents who are constantly fighting and yelling at eachother then it becomes difficult for a students main concern to be getting good grades when they are faced with greater challenges that distract them from their schoolwork. Some parents may be very busy and work several jobs, which prevents them from being availabe to answer their childs homework questions, make sure their assignments are complete, monitor their exposure to negative media, make sure they get a decent amount of sleep, provide a nutritous breakfast, and/or read to them before they go to bed. Since each family has a different sociocutural background their attitudes towards how to raise children may differ dramatically. While some parents make an effort to make sure their child is on track and become actively involved in the school community other parents may feel as if it is the childs responsibility and allow them more independence than should be given at such a young age. As a teacher it can be frustrating when so much effort is put in during the classroom but that a childs homelife can reverse the progress and supress their education.
As the culturally competent teacher that i strive to be i will try to find ways to address these challenges and create programs that will diminish the negative effect that dysfunctional homelives can play on children. I would work towards making sure that my school has an after-school program that lasts for at least two hours long, which will provide students with peer mentors, tutors, games, sports activities, and snacks. Therefore, students who usually return to empty households are able to spend their after school time productively while still having fun. Another way to address these challenges would be to speak with the parents whose child is struggling or seems to be upset or angry due to issues that may be occuring in the home. This conversation with the parents may be very tricky and i would make sure that i do not accuse the parents of being lazy or careless but rather draw their attention towards the child and try my hardest to reach them and make then genuinely concerned. I am aware that families who financial situation is suffering may not have the time to focus on the children due to job hours or that a family may be enduring so many issues that their son/daughters acedemic performance is the least of their problems in retrospect to other problems. In this situation i would stress the importance of education and the consequences of failing a grade. I would be very sensitive to the concerns and contributions of the parents and take what they have to say into consideration.
A very strong factor that is likely to come into effect while communicating with the parents is the possibility that they do not speak English at all or that they know very little of it. Perhaps a parent is incapable of helping their child with their homework because they themselves do not know how to do the assignment correctly. All these situations must be prepared for. If i knew i were to be teaching in a school where a large percentage of the students main language is spanish then i would try to learn as much spanish as i could so that if a student could not understand something just because it was spoken in English then i could explain it in spanish. I believe that schools with such diversity should have translators availabe or a few teachers availabe who are one-hundred percent proficient in spanish so that after school tutoring sessions can be available so that spanish speaking students do not fall behind just because of a language barrier. I believe that theorist Goldenburg would like these ideas since he symphathizes with students who are english language learners and are disagrees with the fact that ELL's should be making progress at the same rate as all the other kids without any sensitivity in the pedagogy style towards their situation. Goldenburg draws attention to the significantly lower difference of in reading and math scores of engish language learners in comparison to non-english language learners. He believes that ELL's are expected to learn too much and are often not explained the meaning of english words and are overlooked. It is important to remember that as teachers we are not suppressing other languages but supplying students with the English language as a neccessary tool to be successful in society.I must be aware and sensitive to the reality that students whose main language is Engish are more likely to have an easier time in school than students who only speak English in school and are then surrounded by Spanish speakers in the home. This is the same for any student whose main language is not English, whether the language being spoken at home is spanish, portugese,etc. If a parent were to tell me that they did not have time to sit down for thirty minutes a night or that they do not speak English and could therefore not help them with homework then I would make it a point to request that the child stay after school for ten to twenty minutes each day so i could help him start the assignment and make sure he/she understands it and is able to do it own their own later on that evening. It is the little efforts and accomodations like these that can make such a huge difference in an individuals education experience and guide them onto the path of success.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Prompt #2 (Question #2)
Throughout my service learning experience I have found myself frequently thinking back to my elementary school experience and relating mine to the children in which I have tutored, interacted with, and observed within my sixteen visits. When I was a fourth grader I was always very quiet and would never question or doubt a teachers requests. Whenever I would get yelled at for not doing homework or speaking to a classmate during work time I would always get very upset and be afraid of it happening again. One of the things that have stood out to me in the classroom is the children’s passiveness to a teacher scolding them. As I was tutoring one of my students one afternoon, my attention was abruptly turned to a teacher completely stopping her lesson by raising her voice and yelling at a student for speaking to another classmate. The student being yelled at stopped speaking but seemed somewhat unbothered by the incident and would most likely repeat the behavior at some other point throughout the day. My comparison between myself as a student and some of the chatty students which I have observed, have made me realize that as I teacher I must be aware of the impact of what they say and while I may say the same thing to two separate students, its effect on them individually may be completely different. I think teachers should be aware of children’s sensitivity and should also recognize when to be stricter and sterner for students who are not accustomed to being yelled at.
The info works data for the school in which I tutor at states that the student body consists of 35% whites, 1% Native American, 31% Hispanic, and 4% Asian, and 29% African American. I think that it is great that this school is so diverse and therefore exposes students to people of different backgrounds. Due to the high percentage of African Americans and Hispanics I was shocked to find out that no students were recipients of ESL or bilingual education services. I highly doubt that out of all the students there is not one individual who is having trouble speaking English as a second language or difficulties balancing the use of two separate languages. This makes me wonder if this school offers effective language services or if the students struggles are going unnoticed and being disregarded. Bilingual students have an automatic academic setback due to the fact that they will be forced to speak English during school hours but while at home they are surrounded by the use of a completely different language and are not able to be exposed to as much English as do students whose families only speak English. It is highly important for teachers to be aware of this and to not label a student as being lazy just because they are behind. Teachers must be highly aware of the sociocultural characteristics that distinguish the students, student’s families, and communities from each other.
Another shocking statistic that I noticed was that 65% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. This means that the majority of student’s family’s financial situations are very poor and that parents most likely have to be working two or more jobs. A student’s financial situation reflects the community in which they live in and the amount of violence that they are exposed to. Imagine a child who grows up in a household that has two working parents who may have to work more than one job in order to keep themselves financially stable. This child will most likely take the bus to school, not have a sufficient amount of time having parents help them with homework/read to them, and not be monitored in regards to the type of music they listen to or the type of television they watch. As I was tutoring a fourth grade boy I was stunned to hear him singing a song by Lil Wayne who is a popular rap artists amongst teens. The particular song that he was singing and seemed to know word by word was highly explicit and had a main focus on sex. Also, while I was working with my two students together they began a discussion on who was “hooking up” with who that was far beyond the level that fourth graders should be talking about. This immediately concerned me on what these children were being exposed to so early on in life and whether the parents are ignoring these vital warning signs or are not around there children enough to notice them. Both these students were Hispanic and could most likely have parents who are not around a lot due to their jobs. When a parent comes home from working all day the first thing they are going to do is most likely not help their child with homework or correct them if they swear or say inappropriate things since they may be too tired or worn out to bother. Also, children who are always yelled at by their parents may be more submissive and comfortable with being yelled at by a teacher since it happens to them all the time. While a student whose parents are calmer and have the patience the deal with a child’s misbehavior in a calmer way may be shocked and discomforted when a teacher speaks to them so sternly.
The children bring in a cultural capital that is very diverse yet share similarities as well. Many students are capable of speaking Spanish while learning English while others have English as their primary language. The way they speak of their home lives varies and what they eat for lunch varies from student to student. These students pick up on each other’s differences through discussions that will arise involving culture, traditions, and views. In order to strengthen our society we must allow students of different races to have free time for discussions and to try to expose students to others people of different races as much as possible so that they do not become afraid or resilient towards people who are not like them and will therefore make a step towards decreasing racism in future generations. Teachers must realize that not all students learn the same and that classroom time should consist of various instructions to techniques such as lecturing, group activities, discussions, projects, and activities that require an active mind so that all students can benefit and learn instead of just a group of students who learn best from listening. The article titled, “The Silenced Dialogue” by Lisa Delpit, supports the fact that a group of students may interpret an instruction or correction to be extremely mean and unnecessary while other students need that stern command in order to put them In line. This is why it is so crucial for teachers to be aware of the sociocultural distinctiveness of her classroom while using instruction for his or her students.
The info works data for the school in which I tutor at states that the student body consists of 35% whites, 1% Native American, 31% Hispanic, and 4% Asian, and 29% African American. I think that it is great that this school is so diverse and therefore exposes students to people of different backgrounds. Due to the high percentage of African Americans and Hispanics I was shocked to find out that no students were recipients of ESL or bilingual education services. I highly doubt that out of all the students there is not one individual who is having trouble speaking English as a second language or difficulties balancing the use of two separate languages. This makes me wonder if this school offers effective language services or if the students struggles are going unnoticed and being disregarded. Bilingual students have an automatic academic setback due to the fact that they will be forced to speak English during school hours but while at home they are surrounded by the use of a completely different language and are not able to be exposed to as much English as do students whose families only speak English. It is highly important for teachers to be aware of this and to not label a student as being lazy just because they are behind. Teachers must be highly aware of the sociocultural characteristics that distinguish the students, student’s families, and communities from each other.
Another shocking statistic that I noticed was that 65% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. This means that the majority of student’s family’s financial situations are very poor and that parents most likely have to be working two or more jobs. A student’s financial situation reflects the community in which they live in and the amount of violence that they are exposed to. Imagine a child who grows up in a household that has two working parents who may have to work more than one job in order to keep themselves financially stable. This child will most likely take the bus to school, not have a sufficient amount of time having parents help them with homework/read to them, and not be monitored in regards to the type of music they listen to or the type of television they watch. As I was tutoring a fourth grade boy I was stunned to hear him singing a song by Lil Wayne who is a popular rap artists amongst teens. The particular song that he was singing and seemed to know word by word was highly explicit and had a main focus on sex. Also, while I was working with my two students together they began a discussion on who was “hooking up” with who that was far beyond the level that fourth graders should be talking about. This immediately concerned me on what these children were being exposed to so early on in life and whether the parents are ignoring these vital warning signs or are not around there children enough to notice them. Both these students were Hispanic and could most likely have parents who are not around a lot due to their jobs. When a parent comes home from working all day the first thing they are going to do is most likely not help their child with homework or correct them if they swear or say inappropriate things since they may be too tired or worn out to bother. Also, children who are always yelled at by their parents may be more submissive and comfortable with being yelled at by a teacher since it happens to them all the time. While a student whose parents are calmer and have the patience the deal with a child’s misbehavior in a calmer way may be shocked and discomforted when a teacher speaks to them so sternly.
The children bring in a cultural capital that is very diverse yet share similarities as well. Many students are capable of speaking Spanish while learning English while others have English as their primary language. The way they speak of their home lives varies and what they eat for lunch varies from student to student. These students pick up on each other’s differences through discussions that will arise involving culture, traditions, and views. In order to strengthen our society we must allow students of different races to have free time for discussions and to try to expose students to others people of different races as much as possible so that they do not become afraid or resilient towards people who are not like them and will therefore make a step towards decreasing racism in future generations. Teachers must realize that not all students learn the same and that classroom time should consist of various instructions to techniques such as lecturing, group activities, discussions, projects, and activities that require an active mind so that all students can benefit and learn instead of just a group of students who learn best from listening. The article titled, “The Silenced Dialogue” by Lisa Delpit, supports the fact that a group of students may interpret an instruction or correction to be extremely mean and unnecessary while other students need that stern command in order to put them In line. This is why it is so crucial for teachers to be aware of the sociocultural distinctiveness of her classroom while using instruction for his or her students.
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