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.