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.
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Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you looked at the Infoworks data. Is the school 20 points higher than the state average or 20 points higher than schools in the same SES?
Cultural capital refers to the knowledge that the children bring to the classroom from their heritage. What languages or traditions, for example, do the children share?
As to the ESL numbers--not receiving services is not the same as needing services. Children need support in acquiring and using academic language long after their services end.
I agree that your school is probably more diverse than many in Providence--many classrooms have no white students at all. Kozol would call such classrooms segregated.
I look forward to your future observations,
Dr. August
Hi Chris, Im surprised that in a fourth grade class that the students seem to have a hard time sitting still. Im in a kindergarden class and I feel as though 90 percent of the students are really well behaved and are able to sit still. Although there are a few students who have a hard time sitting still,overall the class is well behaved. Do you think that the students cant stay still becuase their bored with class material or do you think its something completly different?
ReplyDeleteI think its wonderful how diverse your school is. At first I described the school Im in as being divese, but then i realized that there was barely any white students so it is more of a segragated school. I agree that its really good that they are above the average in math and writing! Do u think they are doing anything different from other schools who are having a hard time with those subjects? I think that more schools should put children into diverse groups when working with partners so they have a good understanding of socialization. It sounds like your tutoring at a really good school! =)
Chris, it sounds like you are having a good experience in your classroom even though the children can be very energetic. I think your teacher has a very good method of keeping the class quiet and attentive when they get too distracted. It must be fun to help out during science period, and to see the student’s reactions to the experiments.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with what you said about the school being diverse because of its large Hispanic population. I think that it is good that the school has a certain amount of students from each race, but it would be more diverse if those percentages were all approximately the same. If the school was 61% white instead of Hispanic would you still consider it diverse? It is an interesting fact that only 12% of the students receive some form of ESL. Do you think that it is because the (primarily Hispanic) students are already fluent in English? Or because the school doesn’t have the funding to provide this program to every student that may benefit from it? It is good to hear that your school is above the state average in many testing categories, when so many other school seem to be struggling. Again, I disagree that your class is diverse because you say there is a large majority of Hispanic students, and a total of 6-7 whites and Asians. If these races were reversed, would it still be diverse?
this class is diverse because of its ethnic diversity, and not necessarily the language that the kids use. i believe that my classroom is diverse because of the vast differential between the cultures. the Hispanic speaking students dont speak Spanish in the classroom, but do have a slight accent. Meanwhile, the teacher, Mrs. Flower, understands each students' needs and abilities which helps her tailor the lesson to the class.
ReplyDeleteScience is usually a very fun time for the students, especially since we started the crayfish unit, because the students get to work with something living. they get out of control and science takes longer than planned. today it took nearly and hour and a half for science because myself, Mrs. Flower, and another volunteer had to repeadedly keep telling the students to lower their voices and quiet down. the students didn't listen, and me and the other volunteer thought that maybe the teacher wasnt speaking Kling-on or something. We didn't even do science because the students were not obedient and kept the volume up. Also, there was a fire drill today so that took about 10 minutes off the time that wouldve been devoted to science.
Hey Chris, It seems like your are having a blast in your classroom but the kids seem pretty out of hand. I think the teacher needs to assert some more authority and you should be able to as well. Their should be consequences for their actions because to much fooling around in the class leads to nothing getting accomplished. I'm in a kindergarten class and they just look at snails and worms for science. I do not see them do anything else but observe yet. They are extremely well behaved though and really are interested in science.
ReplyDeleteI don't think your school is very diverse at all because more then half of it is Hispanic.I find that to be segregated more then diverse. At a school like this I think more students would need some ESL program so it is interesting that 88 percent of them don't receive it.