This experience has definitely been eye opening for me and has only strengthened my so called “Teacher Identity.” And it will continue to strengthen it due to the fact that I am not ending my volunteering session during break. I feel as if I have formed a close bond with the students at this elementary school.
Clearly I had formed some kind of bond with the students because one was able to discuss her economic problems at home. It was very hard not to hug that student and buy her a pack of pencils with a big shiny bow on it! I feel like I kept it professional. I believe that I was able to comfort her for a short period but still demonstrate that I was a teacher figure and she must come back to continue her work.
Another incident which was a learning experience for me involved two students. One could not grasp the commutative property concept from the math lesson. I was having a very hard time getting her to understand what I was trying to teach her. I was drawing pictures and using the large easel, the works! Then, as I looked at the other student who was breezing through the questions and already on number 9, I decided to see if he could explain it to her. I was right! She understood the concept and he understood it even better to the point that he could teach it. It was a win/win situation in my eyes. Sometimes students can learn better from their peers rather than from an authoritative figure.
Like I had mentioned in the first blog, they were perfect angels the first day. Eager to behave nicely in front of me and anxious to get to know how old I was and where I went to school. Later some issues arose. People are not perfect. It got difficult on some days. I am not upset about this in any way. That is life. Life is challenging and challenges you. That’s the only way to learn in my opinion. Bring on the challenge!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Parent Participation & Prompt #5
The culturally competent teacher involves and works with families and community resources, understanding the differences in families, the important influence of family participation in students’ learning, and the benefit of collaborating with the wider school community.
A student should never leave their brain within the school grounds. Education should not end when the bell rings. What good does it do when a student does not think outside the classroom and how much good does it do when they don’t do their homework? I think a student that lives that lifestyle can be a teacher’s worst nightmare. It is extremely important for a student’s parents to be involved in their child’s education.
I actually had a conversation with the teacher about this exact issue. Every week when I came into the classroom, usually to help with math, I found that I was back to square one with the students. The week before I would discuss long division with them and when we revisit the same problems they instantly forget the first step. One student knew that 5 could not go into 3 when dividing 38 by 5 but wanted to put a 0 above the 3 instead of leaving it blank. I thought I could briefly go over those concepts and move onto the next lesson but I soon found myself spending the whole hour repeating the same lesson. When I asked the teacher why this was happening she said they are not doing their homework. Probably because their parents aren’t enforcing it, she added.
I would call this the under protective parent. This is a parent who does not participate in her child’s development. Everyone knows that practice makes perfect, especially in math. If I imagine myself as a teacher, I see the opposite occurring as well. I would call this the over protective parent. This being the parent who thinks their child can do NO wrong. During parent-teacher conferences I’d think you’d discuss your student in detail and discuss how to make him/her the best he or she can be. If a parent is over protective then he or she will be close minded to any productive change for their child.
I am a strong believer that most children look up to their parents maybe even more than they look up to their teacher. They may need some encouragement from their parents. Someone they will listen to more than their teacher. I would hope that if I begin by revealing all of the student’s strengths, this type of parent would be softened and more open to encourage their daughter or son’s educational growth.
This topic, without a doubt, brings Lisa Delpit’s The Silence Dialogue in mind. She is a strong believer in parent’s participating in their child’s education. She brings about ideas such as asking your child what color is the balloon in front of them? Another example being that ideas get lost in grammar, parents and teachers should join together to teach them and fix it. Students are fully capable of learning these things. Don’t deny them and don’t ignore the opportunity to teach.
Delpit also goes into detail about the misunderstanding in dialogue. For example, when a student is sharpening a pencil at an inappropriate time and asked the student “Is it time to sharpen your pencil?” The student may answer yes, not knowing that the teacher is trying to tell him or her to sit down. Delpit brings up a great point and teachers should all keep this in mind when communicating to their students.
A student should never leave their brain within the school grounds. Education should not end when the bell rings. What good does it do when a student does not think outside the classroom and how much good does it do when they don’t do their homework? I think a student that lives that lifestyle can be a teacher’s worst nightmare. It is extremely important for a student’s parents to be involved in their child’s education.
I actually had a conversation with the teacher about this exact issue. Every week when I came into the classroom, usually to help with math, I found that I was back to square one with the students. The week before I would discuss long division with them and when we revisit the same problems they instantly forget the first step. One student knew that 5 could not go into 3 when dividing 38 by 5 but wanted to put a 0 above the 3 instead of leaving it blank. I thought I could briefly go over those concepts and move onto the next lesson but I soon found myself spending the whole hour repeating the same lesson. When I asked the teacher why this was happening she said they are not doing their homework. Probably because their parents aren’t enforcing it, she added.
I would call this the under protective parent. This is a parent who does not participate in her child’s development. Everyone knows that practice makes perfect, especially in math. If I imagine myself as a teacher, I see the opposite occurring as well. I would call this the over protective parent. This being the parent who thinks their child can do NO wrong. During parent-teacher conferences I’d think you’d discuss your student in detail and discuss how to make him/her the best he or she can be. If a parent is over protective then he or she will be close minded to any productive change for their child.
I am a strong believer that most children look up to their parents maybe even more than they look up to their teacher. They may need some encouragement from their parents. Someone they will listen to more than their teacher. I would hope that if I begin by revealing all of the student’s strengths, this type of parent would be softened and more open to encourage their daughter or son’s educational growth.
This topic, without a doubt, brings Lisa Delpit’s The Silence Dialogue in mind. She is a strong believer in parent’s participating in their child’s education. She brings about ideas such as asking your child what color is the balloon in front of them? Another example being that ideas get lost in grammar, parents and teachers should join together to teach them and fix it. Students are fully capable of learning these things. Don’t deny them and don’t ignore the opportunity to teach.
Delpit also goes into detail about the misunderstanding in dialogue. For example, when a student is sharpening a pencil at an inappropriate time and asked the student “Is it time to sharpen your pencil?” The student may answer yes, not knowing that the teacher is trying to tell him or her to sit down. Delpit brings up a great point and teachers should all keep this in mind when communicating to their students.
People are biased & Prompt #4
The culturally competent teacher is aware of the diverse cultural groups represented in his/her classroom, investigates the sociocultural factors that influence student learning, and is able to integrate this knowledge into his/her teaching.
It is true. No one enters a classroom without a personal history; a personal history that forces you to be bias one way or another. I don’t know about you but I would love to say that I am an unbiased person. That is clearly impossible. Where you come from and what you have witnessed and experienced in your life shapes who you are. It creates certain stereotypes that can be hard to break. So, Instead of saying that I am not bias, I can say that I try to be as open minded as possible.
I think many people can be unaware of their bias tendencies. Let me give a small example of how I am bias. Whenever I see an Oldsmobile, the type of car, I think there should be an old man driving it. I would never drive an Oldsmobile because I would feel old inside of it. I blame my grandfather for this. Anyway, I obviously need to be more flexible about my automobile stereotypes. This is just a minor example that I can not break but bias predispositions in the classroom can cause a barrier between the teacher and student.
For starters, let me answer where I grew up. Well, in an all white, fairly rich community. That’s right, the opposite of where I am volunteering. Clearly, this can cause me to be ignorant to my students and their lifestyle.
This reminds me of an incident with a student that I was helping with math. She was using a mechanical pencil that needed to be refilled. Another student sitting next to her grabbed it with the intentions to fix it for her but broke it instead. The owner of the pencil got angry in front of my eyes, turning red, ready to yell at her fellow student. I took action and took action very fast by removing the furious student from the other who clearly made a mistake. I instructed him to finish the next few questions as I talked to his classmate.
As I took her aside to help her get over the incident, a few thoughts went through my mind. One was, boy, is this child spoiled if she throws a tantrum over a pencil! The other thought was, wow, this student may have an anger problem! I sat her down and told her that I’m sorry that she is upset and asked if she wanted to talk about it. She was almost in tears as she conveyed her family’s lack of money. Her mother specifically told her not to lose anymore pencils. I felt awful! The thought never crossed my mind. I wanted to tell her that I’d make it all better by buying her a whole new box but knew that gifts were not appropriate. I told her I was sorry and gave her a pencil from the room we were studying in and gave her a minute to collect herself. She came back to the table and was ready to continue within a minute. Her fellow student apologized without me asking him to. It was also wrong of him to grab someone else’s things.
This incident only reminds me of the words by Allan Johnson. He shared his words of wisdom in a presentation called Our House is On Fire. He argues the definition of race and how it is not biologically defined but rather socially defined. According to him, we are all part of the problem of race and negative stereotypes and we need to first recognize that and accept it. He argues, “Every day, decent, moral, well-intentioned people participate in economic and political systems organized in ways that produce mountains of injustice and unnecessary suffering. When you go home tonight, examine your clothing and ask yourself where it came from…”
While I drove home, after watching this student in tears, I thought about the $40 scarf I was wearing. Now, Johnson proposes the bigger issue of cheap labor that made my scarf and my day demonstrated where my money could have gone; buying the entire class a months supply of pencils to take home with them. It was an eye opening day.
It is true. No one enters a classroom without a personal history; a personal history that forces you to be bias one way or another. I don’t know about you but I would love to say that I am an unbiased person. That is clearly impossible. Where you come from and what you have witnessed and experienced in your life shapes who you are. It creates certain stereotypes that can be hard to break. So, Instead of saying that I am not bias, I can say that I try to be as open minded as possible.
I think many people can be unaware of their bias tendencies. Let me give a small example of how I am bias. Whenever I see an Oldsmobile, the type of car, I think there should be an old man driving it. I would never drive an Oldsmobile because I would feel old inside of it. I blame my grandfather for this. Anyway, I obviously need to be more flexible about my automobile stereotypes. This is just a minor example that I can not break but bias predispositions in the classroom can cause a barrier between the teacher and student.
For starters, let me answer where I grew up. Well, in an all white, fairly rich community. That’s right, the opposite of where I am volunteering. Clearly, this can cause me to be ignorant to my students and their lifestyle.
This reminds me of an incident with a student that I was helping with math. She was using a mechanical pencil that needed to be refilled. Another student sitting next to her grabbed it with the intentions to fix it for her but broke it instead. The owner of the pencil got angry in front of my eyes, turning red, ready to yell at her fellow student. I took action and took action very fast by removing the furious student from the other who clearly made a mistake. I instructed him to finish the next few questions as I talked to his classmate.
As I took her aside to help her get over the incident, a few thoughts went through my mind. One was, boy, is this child spoiled if she throws a tantrum over a pencil! The other thought was, wow, this student may have an anger problem! I sat her down and told her that I’m sorry that she is upset and asked if she wanted to talk about it. She was almost in tears as she conveyed her family’s lack of money. Her mother specifically told her not to lose anymore pencils. I felt awful! The thought never crossed my mind. I wanted to tell her that I’d make it all better by buying her a whole new box but knew that gifts were not appropriate. I told her I was sorry and gave her a pencil from the room we were studying in and gave her a minute to collect herself. She came back to the table and was ready to continue within a minute. Her fellow student apologized without me asking him to. It was also wrong of him to grab someone else’s things.
This incident only reminds me of the words by Allan Johnson. He shared his words of wisdom in a presentation called Our House is On Fire. He argues the definition of race and how it is not biologically defined but rather socially defined. According to him, we are all part of the problem of race and negative stereotypes and we need to first recognize that and accept it. He argues, “Every day, decent, moral, well-intentioned people participate in economic and political systems organized in ways that produce mountains of injustice and unnecessary suffering. When you go home tonight, examine your clothing and ask yourself where it came from…”
While I drove home, after watching this student in tears, I thought about the $40 scarf I was wearing. Now, Johnson proposes the bigger issue of cheap labor that made my scarf and my day demonstrated where my money could have gone; buying the entire class a months supply of pencils to take home with them. It was an eye opening day.
Language Barrier? & Prompt #2
The culturally competent teacher should be able to account for, demonstrate awareness of, and respond to the sociocultural distinctiveness of her or his students, families, and communities when planning for and delivering instruction.
Prior to entering my VIPS experience, I knew the ethnicities my students held were going to be very diverse. Like mentioned in my previous blog, I had an understanding that the area of Providence where the school is placed consists of a high population of minorities. I am now here to report that I have not volunteered with one white student in my 5th grade classroom; solely due to the fact that there is NOT one Caucasian student in the classroom.
The Infoworks data on this elementary school supports my observations. The website’s numbers illustrate that the school inhabits 64% Hispanic, 24% African American, 6% Asian, and 6% White students. Even though this site separates the students into categories, I see them as a whole. And after observing their characteristics linguistically, ethnically, and socioculturally, I am pleased to share how well they can communicate and work together. There is no language barrier between them or any student with a heavy accident.
I was fortunate enough to give a spelling test one afternoon. One of the words being language, I asked the class if they knew how to speak another language. Six students raised their hand! You would never be able to tell by looking and/or listening to them that English was not their first language.
Claude Goldenberg brings about the issue how 4th grade English Language Learners (ELLs) score 36 points below non-ELLs in reading and 42 points below non-ELLs in math. This is a clearly a concern for the development of our society and its minorities but honestly does not make me concerned with those six students. I completely understand Goldenberg’s argument in Teaching English Language Learners and agree with it. Why should students, who don’t understand or speak English well, be forced to learn at the same rate that everyone else is learning, plus learn English? Clearly, this is not fair. They also must learn how to communicate with their fellow peers using slang and later learn proper and academic English in class. Without a doubt this is confusing and intimidating. What concerns me the most is when students who are so confused that they resort to unproductive and dangerous activity with fellow students who share the same issue.
Again, I am thrilled to mention how smart those 6 bilingual students are. Some days during my tutoring sessions I sit down with a few students to help them catch up. Those bilingual students are never the ones who are behind in their math or writing. I have actually corrected three sets of spelling tests. Those students received the highest grades! They also received a smiley face sticker. I sound like a proud teacher right now and I am proud of them. Hearing all the negativity that comes with being an ELL in FNED forces me to see the issues some of those students may have over come. I’m humbled. These students can help break down language barriers. And lastly, I’d like to hope that theorists like Goldenberg will continue to write articles to raise language issue and put forth a change in our society.
Prior to entering my VIPS experience, I knew the ethnicities my students held were going to be very diverse. Like mentioned in my previous blog, I had an understanding that the area of Providence where the school is placed consists of a high population of minorities. I am now here to report that I have not volunteered with one white student in my 5th grade classroom; solely due to the fact that there is NOT one Caucasian student in the classroom.
The Infoworks data on this elementary school supports my observations. The website’s numbers illustrate that the school inhabits 64% Hispanic, 24% African American, 6% Asian, and 6% White students. Even though this site separates the students into categories, I see them as a whole. And after observing their characteristics linguistically, ethnically, and socioculturally, I am pleased to share how well they can communicate and work together. There is no language barrier between them or any student with a heavy accident.
I was fortunate enough to give a spelling test one afternoon. One of the words being language, I asked the class if they knew how to speak another language. Six students raised their hand! You would never be able to tell by looking and/or listening to them that English was not their first language.
Claude Goldenberg brings about the issue how 4th grade English Language Learners (ELLs) score 36 points below non-ELLs in reading and 42 points below non-ELLs in math. This is a clearly a concern for the development of our society and its minorities but honestly does not make me concerned with those six students. I completely understand Goldenberg’s argument in Teaching English Language Learners and agree with it. Why should students, who don’t understand or speak English well, be forced to learn at the same rate that everyone else is learning, plus learn English? Clearly, this is not fair. They also must learn how to communicate with their fellow peers using slang and later learn proper and academic English in class. Without a doubt this is confusing and intimidating. What concerns me the most is when students who are so confused that they resort to unproductive and dangerous activity with fellow students who share the same issue.
Again, I am thrilled to mention how smart those 6 bilingual students are. Some days during my tutoring sessions I sit down with a few students to help them catch up. Those bilingual students are never the ones who are behind in their math or writing. I have actually corrected three sets of spelling tests. Those students received the highest grades! They also received a smiley face sticker. I sound like a proud teacher right now and I am proud of them. Hearing all the negativity that comes with being an ELL in FNED forces me to see the issues some of those students may have over come. I’m humbled. These students can help break down language barriers. And lastly, I’d like to hope that theorists like Goldenberg will continue to write articles to raise language issue and put forth a change in our society.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
My First Day & Prompt #1
Getting to my first VIPS experience was not easy by any means. I got extremely lost on the way to the elementary school. Despite the fact that I not only received directions from a fellow classmate, she even drew me a map in class! I’m not surprised, I get lost in my own backyard. But in my defense, the fairly new and nice looking small brick building had no sign claiming what it was. Thank goodness I left my house an hour and a half in advance.
This small elementary school is next to a brand new high school and behind a dumpy middle school in a depressed area of Providence. I even heard a couple cat calls and whistles over blasting music played by random men driving by me as I walked in, gross! Even though I had these negatives thoughts in my mind upon entering, I never thought twice that the people inside would not be pleasant and welcoming. I also never thought twice that the students would not be open to learn and be inspired and in return inspire me.
This is because I have prior experience interning with underprivileged 7th graders in downtown Providence. I made the mistake of walking into that building thinking that the students would be closed off to my help. I was pleasantly surprised at how willing and eager they were to learn! This past experience with 7th graders mirrors my current experience with my 5th graders with VIPS.
There was a bell to get buzzed into the building which made me feel safe not only for myself but for the students inside as well. They deserve this kind of security. I found the secretary to be very helpful as I told her it was my first day with Ms. Multiply* she walked me all the way to her classroom and told me to have fun. As I walked to the classroom I was happy with my surroundings, very clean school. The teacher was completely prepared for me, knowing who I was as I stepped in. All the students were eager to know my life story and sit and be around me. I told them I am a student just like them at RIC, they were very impressed. I continued to tell them that if they work hard in school and with me as a work with them, they soon will be in my position.
I observed the classroom environment for the remainder of the day. I found that the students respected their teacher. They were behaving appropriately as the teacher went over the math lesson and gave a spelling bee. I noticed that they were looking over at me often, almost as if they wanted to show off how good they could act. I could tell the teacher appreciated her student’s behavior with the smile on her face and her pleasant tone. Is this how every session is going to be? Is it really this easy? Boy, did time show something different!
This small elementary school is next to a brand new high school and behind a dumpy middle school in a depressed area of Providence. I even heard a couple cat calls and whistles over blasting music played by random men driving by me as I walked in, gross! Even though I had these negatives thoughts in my mind upon entering, I never thought twice that the people inside would not be pleasant and welcoming. I also never thought twice that the students would not be open to learn and be inspired and in return inspire me.
This is because I have prior experience interning with underprivileged 7th graders in downtown Providence. I made the mistake of walking into that building thinking that the students would be closed off to my help. I was pleasantly surprised at how willing and eager they were to learn! This past experience with 7th graders mirrors my current experience with my 5th graders with VIPS.
There was a bell to get buzzed into the building which made me feel safe not only for myself but for the students inside as well. They deserve this kind of security. I found the secretary to be very helpful as I told her it was my first day with Ms. Multiply* she walked me all the way to her classroom and told me to have fun. As I walked to the classroom I was happy with my surroundings, very clean school. The teacher was completely prepared for me, knowing who I was as I stepped in. All the students were eager to know my life story and sit and be around me. I told them I am a student just like them at RIC, they were very impressed. I continued to tell them that if they work hard in school and with me as a work with them, they soon will be in my position.
I observed the classroom environment for the remainder of the day. I found that the students respected their teacher. They were behaving appropriately as the teacher went over the math lesson and gave a spelling bee. I noticed that they were looking over at me often, almost as if they wanted to show off how good they could act. I could tell the teacher appreciated her student’s behavior with the smile on her face and her pleasant tone. Is this how every session is going to be? Is it really this easy? Boy, did time show something different!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Ok, so, I like math...
My name is Courtney Morgan. I am a 22 year old student at Rhode Island College. My goal is to become a middle school math teacher. I know its odd, I love math! I enjoy spending my free time outside of class with friends and family. I'm also obsessed with my morning run ha! And I am both anxious and excited to be part of the VIPS program.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
