Response to Alaina's Prompt #5 - Dewey

Alaina,

I really enjoyed reading this prompt because even though Dewey can be a tricky theorist to understand, you did a great job connecting your experience to him. Language is number one on my list of concerns when it comes to teaching in a diverse school system. If one does not understand a second language that is prominent in the area then one will have difficulties collaborating with parents and families about their children. Like you, I also took Spanish for four years in high school, however I do not think I am able to have a full conversation with a parent or student of Hispanic decent.

Dewey describes, as you clearly point out, that although there are many different cultures in one society, we must involve one another in order to move forward as a whole. By forming cliques, gangs, and classes, we are unable to relate to one another on common viewpoints and beliefs. These barriers that prohibit us in moving forward must be broken down. We are only isolating each other from a wider spread of opportunity.

As a teacher, I hope to be presented with these challenges so that we are able to break down these barriers (especially with language). I can see that by understanding these connections with these theorists that we, as future teachers, will be able to demonstrate what we've learned in our own classrooms. Best of luck!

Liana

Response to Alaina's Prompt #2 - Delpit

For some reason I couldn't respond to your post on your page so here it is! :)

Hi Alaina!

After reading this prompt and your connection to Lisa Delpit, I couldn't help but be reminding of my situation with my service learning experience. The biggest shock that I found in my school is there are no bilingual educational services available for the students. This, I noticed is the same as your school. I find it interesting that there are no ELL classrooms or programs to help students of a different language and culture with their English. However, it's good to hear that your classroom is set up so that all backgrounds and cultures are honored in a sense that none are excluded.

Another issue that I found interesting because I have noticed the same thing occur in my experience is the language barrier between parents and teachers. Most kids in my classroom come from a Hispanic background therefore Spanish is the primary language. When communicating with their kid's teachers, this barrier can cause many problems. I also feel that to solve this problem, the child should NOT be obligated to translate for numerous reasons. You have also clearly stated these reasons.

Lisa Delpit would definitely agree here when you mentioned her article, The Silenced Dialogue because you showed how individuals need that explicit instruction in order to feel a certain power. Not to say that this power should overrule another individual but to make them feel equal to his/her peers (especially in a classroom setting).

Great Job!

Liana

Prompt #5 - Dewey

(Don't mind the picture----I chose it because it matched the theorist connection and I would love the idea of my library housing a cat!)
Hi everyone!

I think I'm finally going to wrap up these theorist connections by introducing John Dewey. Although difficult to understand fully, his ideas branch out into many of the other theorists I have connected my Service Learning experience with. He talks about the numerous minor groups that make up the larger social organization which include: social sets, cliques (Brown), gangs, corporations, and partnerships. These groups can easily be seen within a classroom setting. I mentioned in my connection to Lyn Mikel Brown that I had noticed cliques being formed within my kindergarten classroom by two groups of girls. What I hadn't noticed is what Dewey had to say about these situations aside from Brown. Dewey explains there is something called the "Experimental Model". This model shows that "children learn by doing, solving real problems, and working together cooperatively" (p.1 - The Democratic Conception in Education).

I think the connection I have with Dewey through my service learning is that there are many different backgrounds that make up my kindergarten classroom. Nothing in the classroom is "ideal", as Dewey would say, because everyone brings something new to the table with every different activity. To be worthy, "We cannot set, out of our heads, something we regard as an idea society. We must base out conception upon societies which actually exist, in order to have any assurance that out idea is a practicable one" (p.2, The Democratic Conception in Education). Within my classroom, I see cliques being formed, students without a full understanding of the rules, and others simply keeping to themselves without interacting with others. The most important aspect of John Dewey's article that stood out to me was the second element where he talks about the isolation from other groups and the protection gangs/cliques have. He explains that even if the contact between groups is negative, it at least forces the intercourse between the groups. This, in turn, lets each group see the views of different societies.

Within my classroom, I think that interaction between different groups is normal. These groups however should be formed by reading level or language barrier, but then also integrated with other groups. This will help with the groups understanding and learning of different skills, languages, and backgrounds the other groups possess. Dewey encourages the application of this because “it is a commonplace that an alert and expanding mental life depends upon an enlarging range of contact with the physical environment” (p.5 – The Democratic Conception of Education). Children, starting from a young age, should understand that people come from different places with various backgrounds. By accepting these differences, as a society, we are able to communicate, connect, and experience everyone as a whole.

Prompt #4 - Brown

Hi everyone!

Growing up in public schools, I feel like there are more opportunities for social class, race, and gender to influence relationships between students. From as young as the kindergarten level, cliques and groups of students form based on similarities. These similarities might not develop over time, but are very visible within a classroom setting. In my kindergarten classroom, I began noticing a few weeks back that many of the girls were friends. However, there were two sets of friends. One "clique" consisted of mostly Hispanic girls, and the other of two or three Hispanic girls and the rest of different backgrounds such as Asian and African American. What I found interesting is how they only separate into these two cliques during Reading Time (however, I only observe them for a small amount of time so I do not know exactly if this is the only time they form these groups). Regardless, both groups do not necessarily associate with one another unless the Mrs. E notices this behavior. For the past 2 weeks, I have noticed this segregation but have yet to bring it up.

This formation of cliques reminding me of Lyn Mikel Brown's article, In the Bad or Good of Girlhood: Social Class, Schooling, and White Femininities. Most of the girls in the article formed groups based on social class. One group from working-class families, and the other from privileged, white, middle-, and in some cases upper-middle class culture. When viewed by outsiders and asked questions about the opposite group, the girls argued what they thought the girls were: "precocious, too sexual, threatening, etc." (p.149). I can't help but think that if these kindergarten girls have started forming these cliques at this age, one can only imagine their future with others girls in their schools. I hope to see an end to this because it will only get worse if they truly believe that segregating each other based on language and culture, or even grades is acceptable.

What I hope does not happen in the future, is that the girls feel as though these cliques are acceptable to be apart of. I hope to see this experience in my classroom some day, and be very forward about my action towards this. I would tell the girls (or boys) that whatever these groups are based on, whether it be social class, cultural background, language, etc., it is NOT acceptable to segregate people. By segregated each other, they are excluding and disapproving of a person's culture and background.

I hope that in time, Mrs. E will see the affect this could potentially have on her students, not only the girls but the boys as well. This issue should be addressed early on or else there will be problematic consequences.

Prompt #6 - Kliewer

Hi everyone!

I’d like to take a moment in this blog and bring us back to my first week of tutoring at the elementary school in Providence. Even before I entered my kindergarten classroom, I was given a brief background on what kind of students I would be tutoring and what to expect as far as the whole experience. After hearing about my students, one in particular stood out to me. She was originally from Burma and her family had recently moved here in order to escape the harsh conditions they were faced with daily. From these conditions, the entire family had contracted lice and was forced to shave their heads. This little girl, let’s call her Isabel, now wears a colorful hat to hide her shaven head. I was told that the entire classroom was told to never discuss or even look at her hat because she gets embarrassed very easily (as I think anyone would). However, just recently, after months of wearing these hats, Isabel finally came to school without one. Her beautiful black hair, curled at the ends, was there for everyone to see. I think Isabel found her confidence that day when she realized no one was commenting on it or even acknowledging that she was not wearing her hat.

Connecting this experience with a theorist was kind of tricky. However, I realized that I could relate this incident to Kliewer (although not specifically to children with Down Syndrome). I looked at the case with Isabel and her option of wearing her hat or taking it off with how Kliewer described different accounts of how students were treating because of their Down syndrome in the education system. These students were segregated from certain educational opportunities when their non-disabled peers were not. If Isabel were kept in a confined space, because of her lice, how much attention would she receive? Her peers would be given the chance to learn and play without Isabel, therefore, not allowing Isabel the same chance as the other students.

To further explain my reason for relating this to Kliewer, I take this example because I am also at fault. The moment one thinks of a person having lice, they might automatically think of someone who is dirty and never washes their hair. However, this is not always the case. With Isabel and her family, there was no other opportunity to bypass the chance of contracting this insect. As Jason Kingsley discusses in Kliewer’s article, “How do we erase those negative attitudes in light of the fact that people without disabilities are judging us?” (p.71, Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome). Isabel, at first, considered her hat as a disability. However, when her she saw that her peers were not judging her based on her lack of hair, she accepted how she looked and continued with her work. If we, as a community, accept who people are in their own skin, then we can all work together to progress. As Judith Snow explains in Kliewer’s article, “Community requires a willingness to see people as they are – different perhaps in their minds and in their bodies, but not different in their spirits or in their willingness and ability to contribute to the mosaic of society” (p.73 – Citizenship in School).

If this was my classroom, I would have done exactly was Mrs. E did for Isabel. She made sure there was no discussion about Isabel’s hair because no one has any business in judging her. Children at this age usually do not see the impact words might have on other people so by eliminating the discussion, no one will have any reason to hurt her feelings.

Until next time! Thanks for reading!

Prompt #2 - Delpit

Tutoring this week was really interesting. I decided to arrive at my kindergarten classroom about a half hour earlier than scheduled observe before Walk to Intervention. I came to notice how differently the students behave when engaging in various activities. For example, while Mrs. E took attendance and collected homework, the students knew what they should be doing. Some students were getting their homework, while others were sitting on the carpet reading a book. Of course there was one student who cared more to socialize in small groups than read independently. His name is Todd. I learned that he had just arrived at this school the week before from India. He speaks English but is still having trouble with learning the new classroom rules and curriculum. There is also another student who arrived shortly after Todd; Her name is Lucy. Like Isabel, she came from a culture where she was forced to protect her head from contracting head lice. Lucy would sometimes seclude herself from certain activities because she thought everyone needed to learn independently. Her mindset of how school was back home, traveled with her to her new classroom.

Both Todd and Lucy struggle with learning certain rules of the classroom. One could say that they lack the privilege of knowing the rules from day 1 like their peers who have the accepted and learned the rules. Without knowledge of their late comings, one could assume that Todd and Lucy are acting out or simply just do not want to follow the rules. However, in truth, their understanding of the rules is not like their peers in the sense that they have not completely learned them. For Todd and Lucy, they are most aware of the amount of power they do have because it is very limited. They have less power than their peers because they are constantly reminded of the rules. If they knew the rules like the other students, the existence of their power would be greater.

As Delpit described in her article The Silenced Dialogue, "If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier" (Aspect of power #4, p.3). After Mrs. E was straightforward with her response to Todd about reading independently while attendance and homework is conducted, Todd understands this and accepted it. Every so often, Mrs. E would have to remind both Todd and Lucy of certain rules but by the next week, they picked up on them with ease. I observed them socializing with their peers with more comfortablility and without hesitation when the time called for them to interact. "Explicit presentation makes learning immeasurably easier," as Delpit explains (p.4, Silenced Dialogue).

Prompt #3 - Goldenberg

Hi everyone!

The month of April describes numerous things for me: Busy, busy, flooding, busy, and a little bit of sunshine! However, aside from dealing with the flooding and water damage in not only my home but also my tutoring classrooms, I have come to realize certain things. Last week I was forced to deal with slight changes in the students I was tutoring. Due to the weather, most of the teachers and students were absent therefore, LET THE CRAZINESS BEGIN! Students were moved around due to conflicts with missing teachers, teachers were forced to substitute classrooms, etc. My kindergarten class had several students absent as well as the teachers' assistant. That is where I came in. I helped the teacher take attendance, monitor the children before their tutoring sessions, as well as monitoring the children monitoring the new class pets (Did you know that goldfish and freshwater snails do NOT get along well in one tank? Get two separate tanks = problem solved).


The point of this blog is to focus on how the culturally competent teacher should be able to use a variety of assessment techniques appropriate to diverse learners and accommodate sociocultural differences that affect learning. Within both of my classrooms are language barriers of some sort. More significantly with my kindergarten classroom the language barrier is between Spanish and English. I would say about 95% of the students in class are of Spanish background and speak Spanish fluently. According to Info works of RI, more than half of the population in the elementary school is of Hispanic decent. The remainder include 27% African-American, 8% White, and 6% Asian (infoworks.ride.edu). With reasons unknown to me, there are no ESL (English as a Second Language) programs being offered in the school. However, the school managed to create what is known as “Walk to Intervention”. This program focuses on student’s deficit in skills across reading on different levels. Teachers and tutors focus on skills such as phonemic awareness, short vowel sounds, phonics, etc.



In order to reach proficiency in a second language, theorist Claude Goldenberg explains, "Students (English Language Learners) should learn to read in their first language (Spanish). This promotes higher levels of reading achievement in English" (p.14, American Educator). Accommodating socio-cultural differences that affect learning are very important to a student's success with learning a second language. Linguistically, students use the method of "transferring". "Studies show that literacy and other skills and knowledge transfer across languages" (p.15, American Educator). Goldenberg also clarifies that this learning achievement is not only a difficult task for the ELLs and their teachers, but also the ones who create a curriculum based on what worked all along. If learning a new language at a young age will help with literacy and other knowledge for the child's future, then that curriculum will most likely help other ELLs as well.


Being aware of a student's background will help the teacher or any instructor learn what needs to be focused on with literacy skills. Observing the kindergarteners in the classroom before "Walk to Intervention" truly shows me their personalities and backgrounds. They all play with one another and never single a student out from reading stories together. With most students in the classroom being of Hispanic decent, I hear them speaking Spanish to one another with the teacher saying words like "mucho ruido!" (A lot of noise), when the noise level reaches a certain point. These habits tell me that the students will most likely use what they already know in Spanish when learning to read in English. They speak fluent Spanish and will hopefully use those grammer and langugage skills to transfer that knowledge to their English.

Until next time...thanks for reading!