There is no available information on InfoWorks for the school I’ve been tutoring at, so I will write of the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics from my observations solely. The classroom I am tutoring in consists of mainly Hispanic children, whose first language is not English, and come from low income families. There is one Caucasian boy, and two or three African American girls. In the hallways I see students of Hispanic descent and again, few Caucasian and African Americans students. There is no diversity amongst the students of my Elementary school as all of the students are from the same general ethnic, linguistic, and sociocultural background. The teachers in my school are mainly Hispanic or Caucasian also.
The cultural capital surrounds the majority of the students, teachers, and Principal’s ethnicity. Because the majority of the school is Hispanic, the culture of the school demonstrates that clearly. Having teachers speak Spanish to the students, a Principal who speaks Spanish and communicate between parents who don’t speak English and teachers who don’t speak Spanish are some of the ways the school accommodates the Spanish speaking community. The lack of diversity in the classroom does not support a democracy.
Jonathon Kozol writes of segregation in Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid. Kozol believes that segregation is the reason for inequalities in schools. He finds that the school that are populated with mainly black or Hispanic students often have poor funding, are overpopulated, and develop poor teaching systems, while schools that have a large white population tend to be better. Personally, I believe that the topic of segregation is due more to class rather than race. Low-income families tend to not send their children to privately school, are often not as involved in their child’s education, and pay lower property tax, which determines the funding of the school. Weather segregation is because of race or class, the issue still exists, and is affecting children everywhere. Although the school I’ve been tutoring at does not have the same problems as the schools in Kozol’s article, all schools that are segregated have problems which need to be addressed. Having one ethnic majority hurts the school environment and the socialization of the students.
Another thing I found interesting was on my first day going to the school to tutor I went to the office to sign in and waited for the secretaries to acknowledge me to tell them my business at the school. While I waited the secretary answered the phone. The secretary said “I don’t speak Spanish”. Again, “I don’t speak Spanish!” And yet again, “I DON’T SPEAK SPANISH!!” she was yelling by the third time. All I could think is if she honestly thought the louder her voice got, the more the person on the other end of the phone would be able to understand her? Spanish speaking people don’t understand English not because they are hearing impaired, but because they don’t know the language. This exchange seemed strange to me at the time, but the more time I spend there, the stranger it was.
Considering the school is made up of mainly Hispanic children, some of whom are bilingual, and the community the school is in is made up largely of Hispanic people, this secretary handled the situation very oddly. She, being a white, English speaking woman, assumed that the person calling her should be able to speak English as well as their native language. I believe this situation relates to Delipt, because the secretary is in the culture of power, and expects others to be the same as her.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Prompt 6: Johnson
Whenever walking through the halls in the Elementary school I’ve been tutoring in, the younger students, no older than second grade, are always accompanied by their teacher speaking Spanish to them. I have not seen a teacher of young students NOT speaking strictly Spanish to their students. This tells me that as the students enter in the school for the first few years the teachers of the younger grades speak their main language, Spanish, and teach them English throughout the year. My students are fifth graders, and no one would ever guess that English is a second language for some.
One day of tutoring I was working inside the classroom and observing the students working for a few minutes. There seemed to be some sort of emergency in another classroom because a voice came over the speaker telling people to refrain from using the back stairway until further notice, followed by an ambulance siren. Seconds later, four of five young children (my guess is first grade) entered the classroom and a young woman asked Mrs. Smith if they could stay there for a little while. All the children had a sheet of paper, so Mrs. Smith had them sit at some spare desks to do their work.
One little boy however didn’t have a sheet of paper to work on. Mrs. Smith said “Where’s your paper?” Silence. She repeated, “Do you have work to do?” More silence from the little boy. She gave up and said “Fine, go get a book and read it until your teacher comes and gets you.” The little boy stood there looking around with this confused, sad expression on his face. After a few more seconds of the boy not moving, talking, or acknowledging her, Mrs. Smith said “Jose, tell him to get a book and sit down.” Instantly Jose and about three other children from my class ran over and started translating for the boy. They showed him where a free desk was, gave him a book, and (I’d imagine) told him what the teacher had said.
This all happened within a few second, and at the time I had no idea why the boy was not answering. I haven’t had any experience in school where other languages are spoken, so I was slightly shocked and partially fascinated by the encounter. Mrs. Smith was used to her students speaking English, so she automatically assumed the boy spoke the dominate language in the classroom. I thought it was interesting seeing a middle aged woman needing to use a couple of 10 year olds as translators in order for her to communicate with this boy. After a bit of confusion, Mrs. Smith assumed the boy spoke Spanish and knew automatically which of her students would be able to translate. Mrs. Smith was very responsive to the linguistic differences with the students in her class and of the school.
Allan Johnson writes in Who, Me? What It Means to be Involved in Privilege and Oppression how everyone participates in social systems that give some people privilege and oppresses others. People are not necessarily “good” or “bad” who partake in this, but because they are involved at all keeps the existence of the social systems alive. By simply being involved in the game supports it’s existence. We may not directly affect the system of oppression for some and privilege for others, but because we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
I feel that because the children in this school are taught English by their regular teacher (not a linguist specialist); it is good that it is incorporated into their everyday lessons. By teaching these children to speak English, and then never using their native language again in public school, shows how devalued their culture and language are. Because this little boy had not yet mastered the English language, he could not communicate with Mrs. Smith.
It is not Mrs. Smith’s, my, the school’s, the state’s, or the country’s fault that Spanish is not as valued as English. Instead the whole institution, the entire game- all of it is to blame! Spanish speaking students enter into this school, and (thankfully) have teachers who incorporate learning English into their study of other subjects. The oppression happens once the child learns English, and his/her native language is completely devalued and hardly ever (if not never) used again in public school again. Johnson wrote, “As long as we participate in social systems, we don’t get to choose whether to be involved in the consequences they produce. We’re involved simply through the fact that we’re here.” (pg3)
What can we do as a nation, a society, a community, a future educator, a student, or a parent to change our society to value different cultures, languages, ethnicities, etc? If you were taught (not directly) at a young age that your language is not used in school or many areas around the country, how would you feel about your linguistic differences? Would it be better to teach multiple languages to all children as other countries do (see video in “Dual Language Immersion- Goldenberg” blog)?
One day of tutoring I was working inside the classroom and observing the students working for a few minutes. There seemed to be some sort of emergency in another classroom because a voice came over the speaker telling people to refrain from using the back stairway until further notice, followed by an ambulance siren. Seconds later, four of five young children (my guess is first grade) entered the classroom and a young woman asked Mrs. Smith if they could stay there for a little while. All the children had a sheet of paper, so Mrs. Smith had them sit at some spare desks to do their work.
One little boy however didn’t have a sheet of paper to work on. Mrs. Smith said “Where’s your paper?” Silence. She repeated, “Do you have work to do?” More silence from the little boy. She gave up and said “Fine, go get a book and read it until your teacher comes and gets you.” The little boy stood there looking around with this confused, sad expression on his face. After a few more seconds of the boy not moving, talking, or acknowledging her, Mrs. Smith said “Jose, tell him to get a book and sit down.” Instantly Jose and about three other children from my class ran over and started translating for the boy. They showed him where a free desk was, gave him a book, and (I’d imagine) told him what the teacher had said.
This all happened within a few second, and at the time I had no idea why the boy was not answering. I haven’t had any experience in school where other languages are spoken, so I was slightly shocked and partially fascinated by the encounter. Mrs. Smith was used to her students speaking English, so she automatically assumed the boy spoke the dominate language in the classroom. I thought it was interesting seeing a middle aged woman needing to use a couple of 10 year olds as translators in order for her to communicate with this boy. After a bit of confusion, Mrs. Smith assumed the boy spoke Spanish and knew automatically which of her students would be able to translate. Mrs. Smith was very responsive to the linguistic differences with the students in her class and of the school.
Allan Johnson writes in Who, Me? What It Means to be Involved in Privilege and Oppression how everyone participates in social systems that give some people privilege and oppresses others. People are not necessarily “good” or “bad” who partake in this, but because they are involved at all keeps the existence of the social systems alive. By simply being involved in the game supports it’s existence. We may not directly affect the system of oppression for some and privilege for others, but because we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
I feel that because the children in this school are taught English by their regular teacher (not a linguist specialist); it is good that it is incorporated into their everyday lessons. By teaching these children to speak English, and then never using their native language again in public school, shows how devalued their culture and language are. Because this little boy had not yet mastered the English language, he could not communicate with Mrs. Smith.
It is not Mrs. Smith’s, my, the school’s, the state’s, or the country’s fault that Spanish is not as valued as English. Instead the whole institution, the entire game- all of it is to blame! Spanish speaking students enter into this school, and (thankfully) have teachers who incorporate learning English into their study of other subjects. The oppression happens once the child learns English, and his/her native language is completely devalued and hardly ever (if not never) used again in public school again. Johnson wrote, “As long as we participate in social systems, we don’t get to choose whether to be involved in the consequences they produce. We’re involved simply through the fact that we’re here.” (pg3)
What can we do as a nation, a society, a community, a future educator, a student, or a parent to change our society to value different cultures, languages, ethnicities, etc? If you were taught (not directly) at a young age that your language is not used in school or many areas around the country, how would you feel about your linguistic differences? Would it be better to teach multiple languages to all children as other countries do (see video in “Dual Language Immersion- Goldenberg” blog)?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Prompt 4: Dewey
Entering my school for the first time, I saw the school as a slightly rundown building in an old neighborhood that seems to be placed in the middle of a moderate sized city. Judging strictly on the appearances, I thought the school would be filled with students of low-income families. That however, was a misconception. I am still unaware of the general income of the families whose children attend the school, but by observing the students, they seem to have many of the same cultural influences as students in other areas of the state.
In one of my tutoring sessions, my advising teacher, Mrs. Smith had the students work in rotating groups. One group would be doing silent reading, another would be working on their personal laptops, a third would be working on reading comprehension with Mrs. Smith, and the fourth group would be doing math problems with me, every 15 minutes or so the groups would rotate to the next station to do other work. The group in one of my rotations was not having trouble with the math from that week, so while we waited for Mrs. Smith to finish up in her group, the students had a quick side conversation. It all started with one of the students saying “Man, I had to sell my sidekick the other day”. This comment started a conversation about which generation sidekick he had, what type of phone he is getting to replace it, how much he sold it for, etc.
Needless to say I was completely shocked. (After it ended, I realized I probably shouldn’t have let them continue with the conversation, but I couldn’t help it- I was so interested.) These kids are 10 or 11 years old! I didn’t have a cell phone at that age. Please- sidekicks weren’t even invented when I was their age. Of course I automatically thought- who does a 10 year old need to call? Better yet- who does a 10 year old need to email?! I’m almost 20 years old, a sophomore in college, have been working since I was 14 years old, and I don’t even have a sidekick. After listening in on this conversation, I now understand when older people talk about the younger generation and their technology- I felt so old!
This short conversation showed me how the society affects children in every socioeconomic position. Children know the values society puts on material things, and in turn they find value in those same things. What surprised me is not only how this one student started talking about his cellphone, but also that every other student in the group knew details about the phone. I see this as a perfect example of socialization brought up in Jonathon Dewey’s The Democratic Conception in Education.
Dewey writes that the social group an individual is associated with teaches the norms and values of that group. Therefore, socialization depends of the habits of that group, “any education given by a group tends to socialize its members, but the quality and value of the socialization depends upon the habits and aims of the group”(pg2). I was very shocked to see children of such a young age be concerned with the same materialistic concerns of adults. Education is a social process, so these children have been socialized and taught indirectly the values and norms of the society they are living in.
Entering this classroom I had a misconception that the children would be from low income families, where things such as new electronics would not be the main priority. I would be surprised if any student in elementary school, or even middle school had a smartphone. The purpose of the phone is to make calls, text, check emails, and go on the internet, I personally don’t think those are necessities a young child has, should be allowed to have, or needs to do at the touch of a button. Maybe (most likely) I’m a little outdated, as the world is constantly changing and new technologies are constantly being invented. I got my first cell phone when I was about 13, and only used it to call my parents for rides home or things of that nature, however texting was unpopular- if even around at all.
Do you think that technology becoming more mainstream and being available to everyone is a good thing? Do you think it is a disservice to children when it comes to establishing material values? Do you think children (or adults) will possibly loosing face-to-face conversational abilities as texting and email become more popular? How about the idea having the uncensored internet available to children at all times?
In one of my tutoring sessions, my advising teacher, Mrs. Smith had the students work in rotating groups. One group would be doing silent reading, another would be working on their personal laptops, a third would be working on reading comprehension with Mrs. Smith, and the fourth group would be doing math problems with me, every 15 minutes or so the groups would rotate to the next station to do other work. The group in one of my rotations was not having trouble with the math from that week, so while we waited for Mrs. Smith to finish up in her group, the students had a quick side conversation. It all started with one of the students saying “Man, I had to sell my sidekick the other day”. This comment started a conversation about which generation sidekick he had, what type of phone he is getting to replace it, how much he sold it for, etc.
Needless to say I was completely shocked. (After it ended, I realized I probably shouldn’t have let them continue with the conversation, but I couldn’t help it- I was so interested.) These kids are 10 or 11 years old! I didn’t have a cell phone at that age. Please- sidekicks weren’t even invented when I was their age. Of course I automatically thought- who does a 10 year old need to call? Better yet- who does a 10 year old need to email?! I’m almost 20 years old, a sophomore in college, have been working since I was 14 years old, and I don’t even have a sidekick. After listening in on this conversation, I now understand when older people talk about the younger generation and their technology- I felt so old!
This short conversation showed me how the society affects children in every socioeconomic position. Children know the values society puts on material things, and in turn they find value in those same things. What surprised me is not only how this one student started talking about his cellphone, but also that every other student in the group knew details about the phone. I see this as a perfect example of socialization brought up in Jonathon Dewey’s The Democratic Conception in Education.
Dewey writes that the social group an individual is associated with teaches the norms and values of that group. Therefore, socialization depends of the habits of that group, “any education given by a group tends to socialize its members, but the quality and value of the socialization depends upon the habits and aims of the group”(pg2). I was very shocked to see children of such a young age be concerned with the same materialistic concerns of adults. Education is a social process, so these children have been socialized and taught indirectly the values and norms of the society they are living in.
Entering this classroom I had a misconception that the children would be from low income families, where things such as new electronics would not be the main priority. I would be surprised if any student in elementary school, or even middle school had a smartphone. The purpose of the phone is to make calls, text, check emails, and go on the internet, I personally don’t think those are necessities a young child has, should be allowed to have, or needs to do at the touch of a button. Maybe (most likely) I’m a little outdated, as the world is constantly changing and new technologies are constantly being invented. I got my first cell phone when I was about 13, and only used it to call my parents for rides home or things of that nature, however texting was unpopular- if even around at all.
Do you think that technology becoming more mainstream and being available to everyone is a good thing? Do you think it is a disservice to children when it comes to establishing material values? Do you think children (or adults) will possibly loosing face-to-face conversational abilities as texting and email become more popular? How about the idea having the uncensored internet available to children at all times?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Dual Language Immersion- Goldenberg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qteup56qSg0
Another way of looking at Teaching English Language Learners by Goldenberg?
Schools could use the same principles of teaching other languages to English speaking children as Goldenberg explains in teaching ELLs English.
This video shows how one school is teaching children how to speak other languages by incorporating it into the study of other subjects.
Makes you wonder what would happen if this program was in every elementary school nation-wide.
Another way of looking at Teaching English Language Learners by Goldenberg?
Schools could use the same principles of teaching other languages to English speaking children as Goldenberg explains in teaching ELLs English.
This video shows how one school is teaching children how to speak other languages by incorporating it into the study of other subjects.
Makes you wonder what would happen if this program was in every elementary school nation-wide.
Prompt 5: Delpit
Most of my students are of Hispanic decent, and have Spanish as the primary language spoken at home. Because of this, it is very difficult for my advising teacher, Mrs. Smith, to communicate with the parents, as she speaks no Spanish. On my first day of tutoring, within the first 10 minutes of observing the classroom, I noticed an example of how Mrs. Smith and the school deal with challenges of communication between the school and parents.
Mrs. Smith was joking with a student, Thomas, about him goofing off in class. She threatened to call him mother to tell her how he had been acting. He seemed unphased by the attempt of intimidation. She then said “Oh, that’s right- your mother only speaks Spanish. It’s no problem, I’ll just have Principal Rodriguez call and tell her.” At this, he bent to his knees to plead for her to spare him.
Although this was quite funny, and seeing the student and teacher joking in such a relaxed environment calmed my nerves about the hole tutoring experience, this showed me things about the environment of the classroom and school. First of all, some of the student’s parents were unable to speak English. As this was within my first few minutes of the class I had no prior knowledge of the student’s lives. Second, the teacher spoke little Spanish (she would later tell me she spoke none), because she was unable to tell a parent how the student was acting in class. Thirdly, the Principal spoke both English and Spanish, so he was able to communicate between parent and teacher.
The Principal looks very young to be in his position, 30 years old at most. Having a young man of color in a position of authority in the education system is a great example for the students, parents, and community. In our society, there is an overwhelming amount of examples of white people who have control in the system, so having a man of the same ethnicity and speaking the same language of the majority of the students and parents of the school gives them an example of success by someone much like them.
By the conversation between the student, Thomas, and my advising teacher, Mrs. Smith, I see that Principal Rodriguez is used as translator between parents and teachers. I liked how this school’s objective was not to break the lines of communication because of language barriers, but instead develop the ways in which parents could participate in the students’ education. In The Silenced Dialogue, Lisa Delpit writes that “I do not advocate that it is the school’s job to attempt to change the homes of poor and nonwhite children to match the homes of those in the culture of power. That may indeed be a form of cultural genocide.” (pg 7) A school should not enforce the culture of power, because this would hurt the culture of the community. Instead, a school should celebrate the culture of its students.
Not only was a man of nonwhite decent a member of the culture of power, but the school’s objective was to celebrate the cultural diversity amongst its students by changing the ways of communication to better suit the community.
I feel that if I was a teacher in a school where a large number of the students spoke another language and had non-English speaking parents, I feel I would learn how to speak that language. It must be very hard to overcome the barrier between languages, and although there are faculties who speak Spanish, there is a low amount of direct communication between parents, who don’t speak English, and the teacher. If I was able to speak Spanish, even a small amount, I feel the relationship between teacher and parent would be better. I feel it is very important for parents to be involved in their children’s education, especially at a young age, so if I was the teacher, I would try my hardest to incorporate parent activity in the student’s education as much as possible, even if it meant learning another language in order to communicate.
Mrs. Smith was joking with a student, Thomas, about him goofing off in class. She threatened to call him mother to tell her how he had been acting. He seemed unphased by the attempt of intimidation. She then said “Oh, that’s right- your mother only speaks Spanish. It’s no problem, I’ll just have Principal Rodriguez call and tell her.” At this, he bent to his knees to plead for her to spare him.
Although this was quite funny, and seeing the student and teacher joking in such a relaxed environment calmed my nerves about the hole tutoring experience, this showed me things about the environment of the classroom and school. First of all, some of the student’s parents were unable to speak English. As this was within my first few minutes of the class I had no prior knowledge of the student’s lives. Second, the teacher spoke little Spanish (she would later tell me she spoke none), because she was unable to tell a parent how the student was acting in class. Thirdly, the Principal spoke both English and Spanish, so he was able to communicate between parent and teacher.
The Principal looks very young to be in his position, 30 years old at most. Having a young man of color in a position of authority in the education system is a great example for the students, parents, and community. In our society, there is an overwhelming amount of examples of white people who have control in the system, so having a man of the same ethnicity and speaking the same language of the majority of the students and parents of the school gives them an example of success by someone much like them.
By the conversation between the student, Thomas, and my advising teacher, Mrs. Smith, I see that Principal Rodriguez is used as translator between parents and teachers. I liked how this school’s objective was not to break the lines of communication because of language barriers, but instead develop the ways in which parents could participate in the students’ education. In The Silenced Dialogue, Lisa Delpit writes that “I do not advocate that it is the school’s job to attempt to change the homes of poor and nonwhite children to match the homes of those in the culture of power. That may indeed be a form of cultural genocide.” (pg 7) A school should not enforce the culture of power, because this would hurt the culture of the community. Instead, a school should celebrate the culture of its students.
Not only was a man of nonwhite decent a member of the culture of power, but the school’s objective was to celebrate the cultural diversity amongst its students by changing the ways of communication to better suit the community.
I feel that if I was a teacher in a school where a large number of the students spoke another language and had non-English speaking parents, I feel I would learn how to speak that language. It must be very hard to overcome the barrier between languages, and although there are faculties who speak Spanish, there is a low amount of direct communication between parents, who don’t speak English, and the teacher. If I was able to speak Spanish, even a small amount, I feel the relationship between teacher and parent would be better. I feel it is very important for parents to be involved in their children’s education, especially at a young age, so if I was the teacher, I would try my hardest to incorporate parent activity in the student’s education as much as possible, even if it meant learning another language in order to communicate.
Prompt 3: Goldenberg
One aspect of my advising teacher’s methods that I appreciated was her ability to change lesson plans according to the student. Almost every student in the classroom was on Hispanic decent, and many of which English was their second language. My main focus of tutoring was math review, where the teacher, Mrs. Smith, pulled the students with the lowest scores on the recent tests, quizzes, or homework aside to work with me for some small group activities. Because of this, I worked with some of the same students on a weekly basis, one of whom, Emily, never seemed to grasp the information. After every session, I would report back to Mrs. Smith on the students’ progress. Once I developed a relationship with some of the students, she stared filling me on the background of the students.
Emily, who always agreed that she understood the math problems, never could perform the problems correctly. After a few weeks of working with Emily, Mrs. Smith filled me in on the new way of grading Emily. Instead of looking at the final answer Emily arrived at, Mrs. Smith would study the process of how Emily arrived at her answer. Emily almost always used the correct formula and equation in her problem, but the simple math was usually wrong. Mrs. Smith would only take off a small amount of points instead of marking the question wrong because of Emily’s inability to do simple math. Emily was not encouraged to practice math at home, and because of the language barrier, math was not her main concern. From then on, I worked with Emily on addition, subtraction, and simply multiplication.
I appreciated Mrs. Smith’s ability to change her grading and assessment techniques in order to fit the diversity among her students and their sociocultural differences. I feel this related to Goldenberg in his article Teaching English Language Learners. Goldenberg writes that ELLs, English Language Learners, learn the same way as students whose main language is English; however, accommodations may be made to suit their needs. This student learned the same way as other students in the class, but because of her difficulties with other subjects, math often fell behind in her home studies. Emily shouldn’t have been punished because she had not mastered the basic math skills yet, but graded on the process she used in her work. Mrs. Smith altered the content instruction given to Emily and the “instruction [was] designed to promote content knowledge” (pg 42). I appreciated how Mrs. Smith worked with students of Spanish speaking backgrounds to achieve a common goal of content knowledge.
Emily, who always agreed that she understood the math problems, never could perform the problems correctly. After a few weeks of working with Emily, Mrs. Smith filled me in on the new way of grading Emily. Instead of looking at the final answer Emily arrived at, Mrs. Smith would study the process of how Emily arrived at her answer. Emily almost always used the correct formula and equation in her problem, but the simple math was usually wrong. Mrs. Smith would only take off a small amount of points instead of marking the question wrong because of Emily’s inability to do simple math. Emily was not encouraged to practice math at home, and because of the language barrier, math was not her main concern. From then on, I worked with Emily on addition, subtraction, and simply multiplication.
I appreciated Mrs. Smith’s ability to change her grading and assessment techniques in order to fit the diversity among her students and their sociocultural differences. I feel this related to Goldenberg in his article Teaching English Language Learners. Goldenberg writes that ELLs, English Language Learners, learn the same way as students whose main language is English; however, accommodations may be made to suit their needs. This student learned the same way as other students in the class, but because of her difficulties with other subjects, math often fell behind in her home studies. Emily shouldn’t have been punished because she had not mastered the basic math skills yet, but graded on the process she used in her work. Mrs. Smith altered the content instruction given to Emily and the “instruction [was] designed to promote content knowledge” (pg 42). I appreciated how Mrs. Smith worked with students of Spanish speaking backgrounds to achieve a common goal of content knowledge.
Prompt 1- Detail of the school
My elementary school isn’t in the best of neighborhoods. As I’m driving to my placement from RIC I see that every time I take a corner, the surrounding buildings seem to get worse and worse. Abandoned buildings with boarded up windows, streets filled with potholes and ripped up sidewalks, and frequent liquor stores and family dollars seem to suddenly appear as I draw nearer to the school. As soon as I pull up to the street my school is on, the houses are average size, and they seem out of place in such a neighborhood. The building is surrounded by one way streets and no notable parking lot, so I’m forced to park on the street in a long line of cars. The school is an old building with no mention on the school’s name on the front. After I click the buzzer, the door automatically unlocks with no question of my name or reason for coming to the school.
When I walked in, there is no signage telling the location of the front office to sign in, so the first time I had to ask a passing by student, and he told me upstairs. The secretaries asked no questions, instead went on with their office tasks. There was a sign on the principal’s office door which struck me as odd on my first visit. It had cartoon children celebrating and the words “Our school met satisfactory ratings again this year!!” That automatically told me how the students do on standardized testing, how the school appreciated their “satisfactory” performance, and implies that before recently they did not even make the satisfactory requirements.
My classroom is in a basement classroom, and walking through the halls it seemed like any other elementary school. Students in line formation walking behind their teachers like ducklings, colorful pictures on the walls celebrating the students’ good class work, and small children running through the halls as teachers yell after them, although sometimes they are yelling in Spanish. The classroom I am assigned to has the children set up in U formation, with colorful decorations around the room. Although the neighborhood the school is located in, the obviously low tolerance of outsiders entering, and the “satisfactory” rating, the school seems like any other elementary school, even my own from years past.
What is valued in my classroom is respect. It is clear to see and obviously demonstrated throughout the time I've spend there. The students show respect for the teacher, student teachers, myself, and each other. Anytime the students have acted up and been rude to each other, the teacher takes each student outside into the hallway separately. After she hears both sides of the story she makes the students apologize to each other, and the teacher for the disturbance. Then students then had to work together on the project the rest of the class was paired up in. This forces the two to get along to accomplish the task they were assigned.
When I walked in, there is no signage telling the location of the front office to sign in, so the first time I had to ask a passing by student, and he told me upstairs. The secretaries asked no questions, instead went on with their office tasks. There was a sign on the principal’s office door which struck me as odd on my first visit. It had cartoon children celebrating and the words “Our school met satisfactory ratings again this year!!” That automatically told me how the students do on standardized testing, how the school appreciated their “satisfactory” performance, and implies that before recently they did not even make the satisfactory requirements.
My classroom is in a basement classroom, and walking through the halls it seemed like any other elementary school. Students in line formation walking behind their teachers like ducklings, colorful pictures on the walls celebrating the students’ good class work, and small children running through the halls as teachers yell after them, although sometimes they are yelling in Spanish. The classroom I am assigned to has the children set up in U formation, with colorful decorations around the room. Although the neighborhood the school is located in, the obviously low tolerance of outsiders entering, and the “satisfactory” rating, the school seems like any other elementary school, even my own from years past.
What is valued in my classroom is respect. It is clear to see and obviously demonstrated throughout the time I've spend there. The students show respect for the teacher, student teachers, myself, and each other. Anytime the students have acted up and been rude to each other, the teacher takes each student outside into the hallway separately. After she hears both sides of the story she makes the students apologize to each other, and the teacher for the disturbance. Then students then had to work together on the project the rest of the class was paired up in. This forces the two to get along to accomplish the task they were assigned.
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