Final Post- Reflection

Hey everyone! Wow can you believe that the semester is almost over? I can't. My VIPS experience was amazing. It has taught me that being a teacher is the right path for me. When I saw those kids' eyes light up every time I entered the room, I knew that I was making some little impact on them. I found that the students listened to me and were responsive to my authority whenever I was speaking. My favorite time spent with my students was Science time. I helped Mrs. Flower organize the experiments and also help the students think about what they were observing. These fourth graders were so smart and had so many questions about the experiments, and it was awesome to see them learn. I know now what it was like for my elementary teachers to observe us learn in the classroom. To be a teacher is to be someone who can get to students and allow them to help them form their own opinions about what they are learning. For me, as a student studying to be a teacher, I have been able to learn about education theories and ideas on how teachers should interact with students and how we should mold our teacher identities into a combination of all theories. This experience not only in my school but also in FNED 346 has been awesome.

Prompt #4

It is true when it is said that everyone has a bias towards something. Our personal histories shape us and mold us into who we are, and what we believe. But how is it that these biases affect how we see our students? If we as future teachers see our students in our VIPS school, we observe them interact with other students, the teacher, ourselves, and other figures of authority. They themselves are generating their own biases, too. Whether those ideas are about race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability, they are still doing it. As hard as we try, teachers and teacher-learners must learn to somehow cope with the fact that all of our students are different and unique, with different strengths and weaknesses. As Robert DeNiro’s character Jack in the film “Meet the Fockers” said “His mind is like a sponge (referring to Little Jack)”. It is true, children’s minds are like sponges. What they hear and see and learn at home and in school becomes engrained in their minds. This is the beginning of their bias, and when they see/hear something that doesn’t quite agree with their own, they lash out.
As Carlson would say, the voices that students express are a part of what they consider to be normal. If in fact the ideas differ with another student, then students “label” the other as “OTHER” or “abnormal”. The communities that they form based on their shared ideals dictates how a teacher responds to the situation at hand. How would my personal history, and thus my bias, intersect with those of my students? I think that I better equipped to handle situations of language barriers because I can speak Spanish pretty fluently. Knowing that with the growing Hispanic population in America, I thought that it would be a good idea in high school to take Spanish so I would be 1) more marketable to colleges, 2) converse with Spanish-speaking friends and not have terrible language barrier problems, and 3) because I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. And I knew that teachers needed to be able to help students whose first language isn’t English.
There are challenges that as a teacher I will face when it comes to dealing with my personal biases and my classroom. At some points, I will have to control my biases towards certain students because of their race or language because I’m here to teach them. Putting aside my biases would mean making myself more open to new things, then be able to use this newfound knowledge from my students in the classroom. My biases might hinder my ability to reach ALL students simply because of our differences in opinion, but it is imperative that I reach ALL because it will better their lives. Including everyone in the classroom is necessary for a bias-free society as Johnson points out. He tells us that in order for change, we have to begin to think about our place in the world NOW and how are biases and beliefs shape the way in which we participate in it.

Prompt #3

The Brown School has turned out to be a very good school. I have enjoyed going there twice a week and observing the students and helping Mrs. Flower. Recently, I noticed that the teacher assesses how well students perform by how much they are paying attention. I’ve also noticed that those students who don’t pay a lot of attention to the lessons tend to ask a lot of questions about the lesson. I’ve experienced this and ask the students if they were paying attention. If they say they were, I would generally ask them base questions about the lesson. Students that tell me they weren’t really paying attention is really frustrating. It seems that some of these kids are sent to school to be babysat, and that’s disturbing. Some of the kids in the classroom are very disruptive, and they are typically the students that don’t pay attention. While there are many students in the class that DO pay attention, sometimes its understandable that they have questions. How exactly do you assess a student’s progress when you see them pay attention to the lesson, work on the assignment given, and yet, still struggle to understand the task? Is it easier for the teacher to respond to the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students? Regardless of the cultural diversity in the school/classroom, political agencies still enter, according to Shor. He would argue that what’s taught in these culturally diverse classrooms depends on the socio-economic aspects of the region. Shor would also argue that mass education of students has become infamous for its increasing number of low motivated students. It seems that these days, teachers are “teaching to the test” and not making sure that students fully understand the material. Assessing students is almost impossible unless the teacher instills a sense of competition in his/her classroom. Now, using this logic, can students be assessed in their native language, if its not English? Goldenberg points out that a lot of research points to literacy and other skills and knowledge transfers across languages. Also, using this “transfer of information” is it possible for students to use other modes for which to understand and learn different material? Students are capable of using technology and language in order to learn.

Prompt #2

Having gone to my school, the Brown School, and observe the classroom and the teacher, Mrs. Flower, I've seen that most of the students are rambunctious and don't sit still for too long. This is a 4th grade class, but it seems like it is a kindergarten class. The students have a real hard time sitting still, and Mrs. Flower and myself have to constantly tell them to quiet down. Mrs. Flower has a system that she uses where she will count to 5, and stay on a number until all of the students would have their fingers up at 1,2,3...5. There are some students in this system who are quiet right away, while it would take others a couple of seconds to understand what was going on. My role in this classroom is to help during the science period of the day. I help put the experiments together and then pass out the materials to the students. After myself and Mrs. Flower explain the experiment to the students, I then walk around and ask students questions to help them along in their observations. I do this in order to get answers from the students and get their views on the experiments and what is going on.

According to Infoworks, 61% of the school is Hispanic, 23% White, 13% African American and 3% Asian. To me, this is a very diverse school because of the almost overwhelming Hispanic culture, whereas the next closest group is Whites. Even more astounding to me is that 88% of the students do not recieve some form of ESL learning, which means that most of the students don't need assistance. also, this school is slightly above the state average in Math, Reading and Writing. In Writing, this school is 20 points above the state average, which is really good. I'm pretty sure that there is an embodied cultural capital in this school, because it would seem that the students are well aware of the socialization in the schools. The classroom is set up in groups of 4 students, where each group is diversified, and the students work well together, because they see the need to work together. Mrs. Flower's class is diverse because there is a large majority of Hispanic students, as well as African American students. The class only consists of maybe 4 white students and 2-3 Asian students.

My First Day of Service Learning

So today, I had my first day of the service learning portion of FNED, and suffice it to say, it was a good first experience. Although, I was anxious at first, partly due to the fact that i had never been in an inner-city school, I actually enjoyed it. The neighborhood was a mix of Hispanic and African-American cultures, which was different for me because I grew up in a predominately white town. Driving to the school, I noticed that most, if not all of the buildings on the road were labeled in Spanish or English. I noticed that there were many Hispanic stores and restaurants. The school itself, however, was nothing like I had imagined. It looked pretty new, and had a nice layout. After checking in at the main office, I made my way up the 3 flights of stairs to the classroom. Still a little nervous and anxious, i went into the room. I met the teacher, and she introduced me to the class. The class was very diverse. The classroom as well as the school "feel" like they truly want to help the children learn.

My First Blog-Intro

Hey, what's up all? I'm Chris, and I'm in FNED 346 as an Elementary Education major with a concentration in Social Studies. The plan is to get my Middle School endoresment but you never know what's in the future. I coach PeeWee football back home in Westerly and love every minute. My semester is going good so far. I'm really looking forward to starting my SLP.