The classroom that I am in, like many of the ones everyone else is in, is very diverse. There is not a single white student in the class. My first impression on seeing this is that I’m sure English is not the primary language for many of these students. Not being able to communicate with the student I had to work with was one of my biggest fears. Fortunately for me, Kanye*was monolingual so that was not an issue directly. However, there were student in the classroom who were much more fluent in another language then they are in English. And to my surprise it was much more then just a handful of Spanish speaking student. There were a few kids who spoke mostly Spanish at home, two that spoke Creole (they were cousins and lived together so it made sense), and one that spoke a type of Asian dialect. I had an opportunity to talk to the classroom teacher about how they go about handling such a wide range of different language barriers in one classroom. Her answer was so simple I had to just laugh. She told me the only way handle it is to just let them be themselves and that if they can let everyone else know who they are, then everyone can learn off each other. This reminded me a lot of the Goldenberg article. She allows these students to learn in the language they know best because she feels that it really will help them. This is exactly what Goldenberg talked about. By allowing a student to learn in their native language, they are able to take what they already know about things such as sentence structure, and reapply it to their lives when they being to learn English. The problem most English language learners face is that there are many teachers who try putting an end to a student’s use of their primary language in the classroom. They think that by doing so they are creating more opportunity for the student to get further with their learning of English, when in reality they are greatly hindering it.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Prompt 4
Prompt 4
Of course when walking into this situation, I had a feeling that there would be some clear feeling of difference in terms of sociocultural levels. I was familiar with the school I was assigned to and knew it wasn’t in one of the best neighborhoods in the city. So I went into this with my expectations into the situation very low so that they could only get better. From what I saw, it wasn’t terrible. There were clearly some kids that were better off then other, but that will always be the case to some extent. I immediately thought of something we had read in class. Due to the fact a large percentage that a lot of students were of a minority, I assumed that the school would be in poor conditions and very low accommodations for students. I had to take time to reflect upon my own education background. I went to public school in a small suburban, primarily white town from kindergarten until the eighth grade, after which I went to a predominantly white private school. Because I had never really spent much time in a predominantly black and Hispanic school, I really had no idea what to expect. I wanted to do everything in my power to take my own background and go into this class with a completely clean slate. Delpit made a very strong point that I thought a lot about going into this whole situation when they talked about the role someone plays when working with children that are not your own. I was assigned to only work with one of the students in the class, so I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to work with all of the students and only be able to interact with them on a limited basis. I wanted to do everything I could to make a strong impact on the student I was working with, as well as allow myself to be impacted. Something I really took from Delpit was allowing children to speak. It is usually what they have to say in the end that makes the biggest impact. Sure this led to a lot of rambling and stories that didn’t really have any purpose, but still, it allowed me to put myself into the students perspective a little more on an educational level as well as a cultural level when he would talk about his family and friends and other things involving his community. Hearing about his life and how different it was from my own was great. We both enjoyed comparing and contrasting different stories. It allowed us both to express our culture to each other in a way that we each felt that our voices could be heard equally. I can see allowing every student to fully express themselves based on their cultural diversity would be a great advantage as a teacher because it would allow them to grow as people and as learners. Sure the fact that I am not bilingual where many of the students are would be a disadvantage, but I think it would allow me to take on a new challenge and grow as an educator. I’ve always tried to not have any misconceptions, especially going into a situation like this one. I have learned however that letting a student express themselves culturally does have a huge positive affect on them, not only in the classroom, but I think in their development as well.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Blog Prompt 1.
My service learning experience started by taking me to a part of the city that though I knew to some extent, was not entirely familiar with. The south side of the city my not be the most economically enriched area, but as far as heart goes, south Providence has plenty. Even before reaching the school itself I could see this. I walked down the street from a friend’s apartment being greeted with smiles and a sea of friendly gestures from many of the people I walked past. I already had a really good feeling about the whole situation. As I approached the building I felt my stomach sink. The building could, to say the least, use a bit of work inside and out. But inside the school itself was the exact same as the streets outside. Structurally there need to be a lot of work done, but as far as the people, all the children couldn’t seem happier. They would all smile and wave whenever someone new walked down the hall saying hello or good morning. It was great. Of course there were a handful that didn’t follow suite, but there are always a few. Of course the sweetest, most caring faculty member in the school, was the one that I would be working with. We’ll call her Miss Beyonce. Miss Beyonce was the head of VIPS for the school I would be working with. She told me that I would be assigned to a young first grader that was falling very behind. We’ll call him Kanye. Kanye was a great kid. Very eager to learn which I was excited about. My biggest fear going into this was to have a kid that doesn’t want to learn, because that has to be the hardest. So I was grateful for that. Then there was also some interaction between the teacher, Lady Gaga, and the rest of the class, the Wu-tang Clan. Everyone in the class seemed great. Of course they were loud and rambunctious, but what little kid isn’t? Statisticly speaking, the only two white people in the class we the teacher and I. Something that I immeadiately noticed were the amount of posters on the wall were in both Spanish and English. It was something I didn’t think was so praised. There was also the same in all of the hallways. The teacher I could also tell enjoyed being there. Every time she would discuss the progress of Kanye once he was amongst the Wu Tang Clan, she would always smile and say how happy she was to be doing what she was doing. I can tell that pride, of both and community and a culture, as well as morals of how to grow into good people. Everywhere throughout the school there were sign of encouragement motivating them that they are the best and can do great things. And on top of that, all of the signs we also in Spanish. They don’t want these kids forgetting who they are or where they’re from and they should be proud of it. There is a very large emphisis on respect in the classroom. Lady Gaga leads the class in a very old fashioned sense of sit forward with no talking out of turn, not in a mean old lady way, but in a practicing of manners and being well respectable people.
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