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.
Andrew, I so feel your pain on where you’re coming from! I came from the same situation as you growing up, the white suburban school, while I didn’t wind up in private school my parents moved before we hit high school in a bad area.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of Jonathon Kozol, both his article and the speech we saw him give, particularly the comment about letting the children speak . I loved his story about how the little boy would ramble on and the teacher said it’s terrible we cut them off because sometimes at the end there is a gem. I don’t remember exactly how it goes, but that’s something that will stay with me forever. It also reminds me of his article, about how schools are de facto segregated. Like I said, I’m in the same situation as you, I went to a predominately white school for my entire life and walking into my school was a complete culture shock. It wasn’t until I read Kozol that I realized how segregated schools really are, especially in cities. Most of the upper class goes to private schools that wind up being mostly white, which leaves the poorer children of other races to go to the public schools. It’s amazing that the upper class can deny funding to these overcrowded schools, when they are the only ones that can afford to send their children elsewhere.
Its great to see that you got to bond with your student over your differences, instead of letting them get in the way of the two of you making a connection!