Social Acceptance

"You’re not supposed to be wearing that; that’s for boys," said *Jacob to *Sierra who was wearing work boots and a Home Depot racing jacket, during literacy time one day in my kindergarten classroom.

The teacher quickly spoke up and said "students can dress however they want Jacob; Sierra is cold and that jacket looks good and warm!" This distracted the students and got them back to literacy!

Society has already drilled into the heads of these kindergarten students what is socially acceptable, and the “Metonymic Fallacy,” the portrayal of white middle class women as standing in for the experiences of all women (to be considered "normal" boys and girls must act a certain way). Just because Sierra was wearing something that society has portrayed as being "masculine." Sierra was considered abnormal by Jacob because she is a girl, and in Jacobs mind (and many others) girls should be wearing "girl like" things (dresses, pink clothes, etc.).

I could relate Sierra to the Mansfield girls in Lyn Michael Browns article "In the Bad or Good of Girlhood." The girls in this article were all great girls, but did things a little differently than society constructs, so they were left out, and not made to feel welcome. This feeling of not belonging can be a real boundary for children, and it's probably only a matter of time before Sierra, and other students who want to wear something that is not usually considered "normal" do not feel as though they can wear what they want because there will be social consequences for wearing something that is seemingly “abnormal.” I think that Sierra expected that the teacher would say something (and she did) which made Sierra feel more comfortable, unlike in the Mansfield girl's case, when the teacher was not even on their side when it came to differences.

I thought the teacher in this classroom handled this disruption in a fast efficient way, which worked for the time being. But Jacob and the other students in the class probably did not understand what they were doing that was so wrong in the first place (they have always learned that girls should be “girls” and boys should be “boys”), and would surely benefit from learning information about peoples differences.

No child is exactly the same, and all children deserve to come to school without the worry of being left out and made fun of. This school has a wide variety of students from different cultures, and backgrounds, who have different beliefs and thoughts. This school, and all schools, need culturally competent teachers, who incorporate different cultures, encourage children to talk about differences, and encourages children to learn. Teachers must be aware of, and account for, all the differences that students have and educate students about people’s differences. It will be very difficult, in this day and age, to stop all of this discrimination because so much of our society depicts boys and girls to be a certain way. But no progress is made unless we, as teachers, take small steps to stop this in our classrooms.
*Not actual names

Prompt #7

Being able to observe two different teachers with two totally different learning styles and techniques has given me great insights as to what works, and what does not work when it comes to children being excited to come to school each day and learning skills and techniques that will help them now and as they get older.

One of the many things I took away from this experience that I will never forget is that a non-participatory classroom will not prepare students for future success. Engagement is key to learning! I remember my first week at this school, before I became a reading buddy, I went into my first grade classroom, and students were in centers. The teacher told me to go around to the different centers and let the students teach me! The students were thrilled to be able to show someone new, how smart they were and what they have been learning! Every child that taught me, was happy and engaged, and this proved to me that giving every child a chance to speak, gives them a chance to “show what they know,” which boosts confidence levels and creates a classroom of participatory learning! It was a wonderful sight to see!

One thing that I do not wish to bring into my future classroom is continuous day after day repetition of words and phrases. I have observed that this does not help children to learn the material at all. As I have said in my previous blog, when children are forced to repeat and repeat and repeat the same things over and over, it does not take long for students to become restless and uninterested. I observed this many times in one of my classrooms and almost none of the students were paying attention to anything being said by the teacher.

My experience as a reading buddy was very difficult, but very eye-opening. I struggled a lot in keeping my students on track, trying to get them to sit still and listen, trying to get them to cooperate and take turns, and trying to make this a positive learning experience for them all. It was a challenge, but the students taught me a lot about what they need from their teacher to be successful and overall this experience has changed me for the better.

I saw a lot of things that I did not like that are occurring in this school, and it has made me want to do something about it! Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer argue in their article: “In The Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning,” that there are two models of service learning that exist, a Charity model and a Change model. I could have gone into this experience knowing that I was helping children who were struggling; gone in, done my hours, learned some information, and got out (Charity). But I chose to practice the change model. As I reflect on this experience, I feel these students and teachers struggles, and I want to take action, and transform lives, as I remember my experiences at this school and how important it is for children to have an Empowering Education!

Parental Involvement

The Teachers in my school have enormous challenges to face regarding many issues, one of which is parent participation. Parent participation has been steadily decreasing at this school. In 2005 and 2006 about 40% of parents filled out the "salt” survey questionnaire compared to only 25% in 2007 and 2008; this percentage is greatly below the average of all Rhode Island's elementary schools, which has consistently stayed at about 55%. Only 9% of parents attended a school workshop in 2008. And only 60% of parents are said to be involved in their children's learning.
Teachers at this school are quite dissatisfied with parental involvement as shown on the “Teacher Satisfaction Rating Scale,” (According to teachers, only 17% of parents are supportive of the school and its programs.) but teachers are not doing anything about it. When teachers filled out the salt survey in 2008 on "Parental Contact," the report showed that teachers are doing even less to contact parents today, compared to 2005 and 2006, and 70% of parents who filled out the "salt” survey said that the school has involved them less this year, than they did last year.
Many questions need to be asked to regarding these issues one question is; why are parents not involved? Many parents must be struggling financially if 93% of children are eligible for free or subsidized lunch programs at the school, and many parents must not speak English if 43% of the students are English as a second language learners. There are many things to take into account as to why parents are not involved.
If I were a teacher in the school I would struggle just like all of the other teachers are at getting parents involved, but I would try my hardest to change this. One thing I would do to hopefully increase parental involvement is; start the year off right in September with a "Meet your Teacher’s Night."
Parents would come to school in the evening with their children (so no babysitters are required) and do an activity or two to get to know other parents, students, and the teacher. Then students will go to the gym (ex.) together and play tag or watch a movie, while parents learn valuable information about the year, what their children will be learning, what parents need to know, and how parents can get involved.
To make this event even more accommodating, have refreshments or do a fundraiser trying to have a free dinner afterwards for all families. Ask a parent who is bilingual if they would be willing to translate what is being said, to parents who do not speak English, and if no parents are willing, try to find someone who is (a teacher, a friend, etc.). Also have the same paperwork to give to parents who need it, in languages other than English.
To get parents to come to this event the teacher should personally call each and every parent and let them know about it. (Parents are very busy, papers go home, and parents don't pay much attention to them or sometimes they get lost on the bus by the student, and never end up coming home). Make this a night to remember, even though it is very time-consuming and hard work for the teacher, in the end your hard work may really pay off. Remember that it's a one-time a year event (you can do more in the future once you have a rhythm to the "beginning event") and first impressions can really make all the difference. If parents hear the teachers say why they need parents to be involved, how important it is, and how much fun it can be, parents might really be motivated to do more, because pretty much all parents want the best for their child! Parental involvement can really help children to succeed on various levels!

*all information was taken from the "SALT" survey from: infoworks.com

Student Involvement

I have found that thanks to all of the required testing and standards, that there is no time for real student involvement, questioning, and problem posing in my school. Teachers don't have the time for student connection (being open to the needs of students) or as Ira Shor would say teachers are not practicing "Unilateral Authority." Students are participating, by answering basic questions when called on, but students do not have the chance to interact with other students, they do not have the chance to question, and they do not have the chance to experiment. I am finding that students don't have the chance to express themselves, and all the classroom activities I have seen, have been totally teacher directed, except for the reading buddies program.

As a reading buddy, I have found that students are getting more time to "show what they know" and this can potentially be a fabulous way to get students involved in problem posing situations (where students are able to question, discuss, and solve problems).

One of the games I played with the students in the first few weeks of the program, was where Students took a dice and rolled a number, the number they rolled corresponded to 1 of 6 words that were on a piece of paper and the students had to say the word that went with their number, make a sentence that included that word, and then rewrite the word on top of the other word. We took turns and kept doing this until one of the words was rolled four times and reached the top. At the very end we all made a sentence with that word. The kids had a lot of fun, and enjoyed this activity.

But as the program has progressed throughout the semester, it has become more and more teacher directed. Each week now, I must spend the first 15 minutes doing a repetitive sound activity (which don't get me wrong, I think it is important to some degree, but before reading buddies, the teacher was just doing the same repetitive activities for 30 minutes with all the students). I have about 10 words that I practice repeating the sounds to (ex. /R/, /A/, /T/) for 15 minutes, then I spend the last 10 minutes doing an activity with the students that gets them involved, but it seems that we just get started and into it, and it's time to go.

Just yesterday, the teacher in my first grade class was very, very frustrated about reading buddies. She told me that the reading buddies program was taking valuable time away from her teaching, and her students were not getting equal opportunity with the her. She said "Children who are below grade level, and are at the lower level of the spectrum are getting small-group time with me, but the children performing at or above grade level are not. Usually the children who perform at or above grade level get one, 30 minute group period with me each week (which is not enough), but for the past two weeks now, I have had to tell very disappointed students that I had to help another group this week, because the literacy coach told me I needed to be spending more time with the lower-level students. It is not fair!”

The teacher also showed me some student exam scores for literacy that she did the first two weeks of the semester, and is now repeating the exact same exams to see how the students are doing two months later. She has completed half of the class (about 12 students), and five students scored significantly lower on the most recent exam given compared to the exam given the first week of class. For example, one child received a 9/10 for "word sounds" on the exam given the first week of class, and just last week the same activity was given to this child and they received a 2/10. The teacher is extremely frustrated, and feels as though she has not been able to be a successful teacher this year, because she is teaching other teachers students and other teachers have her students all the time (no time for teacher-student bonding, and connection).

It is too bad that once something is put into place at this school, every classroom teacher, whether it is successful or not successful in helping the students succeed, must abide by the same rules and do the same activities. Another thing the teacher told me was that she does think the reading buddies program can do good(so do I), but it's not doing good now. She said that last year, when tutors came in and took a small group of students outside the class the kids had more fun, learned more, and in the end were a lot more successful!

My First Impressions

*Not actual school name

I am a Kindergarten and First grade reading buddy at *George Washington Elementary School. *George Washington is a very nice school on the inside and out. The immediate area around *George Washington is quite busy and crowded, but the school is located on a side road off the busy main road, and seems very safe and secure. There is a large playground and a nice fenced in grassy area for the kids to play outside, and the inside of the school building is wonderfully kept; the classrooms are beautiful, with a nice carpeted area in each and posters all over the walls.

*George Washington has great resources and potential for all students to learn, but sadly I have found that the teachers have all pretty much given up, and are not happy with their job. My first two weeks in the kindergarten class I am in was spent observing the teachers teach literacy for 30 minutes and then help the students do their "worksheets" on the letter of the week. According to the teacher in my Kindergarten classroom it is a new requirement to spend 90 minutes at the same time, every day of the week on the carpet practicing literacy. The same is said for Math in the afternoon. Every teacher in the school must be doing the same things at the same time depending on the children's levels. The teacher told me that one day, two weeks ago, they had a long fire drill and missed the majority of their literacy group, so the teacher decided that she would do 45 minutes of literacy in the afternoon, and 45 minutes of math, well…… the math coach came in while she was doing literacy and he was not happy, she was forced to immediately switch gears to math.

The whole time that I was in this class the children were restless; fidgeting, picking on others, wanting to use the bathroom, raising their hands, wanting to tell the teacher about their dinner last night, etc. At the most, maybe 2 of 25 students were paying attention to the teacher and would answer questions correctly when called on.

When I heard Jonathan Kozol speak last week, I was moved, and he made it clear to me that there are major problems in today’s schools: The principals must make sure that teachers keep up to state standards, and the teachers are stressed out and afraid because they must always be on track, therefore they are very impatient with the children and the children are unhappy and don't like school, so…… they act up. In the first grade class I am in, a little girl was telling me a story about how her dog was sick, and the literacy coach heard her telling me. The literacy coach immediately told me that You can’t be afraid to interrupt students, and don’t let them tell stories because, there is work to be done. I did not know what to say, and it broke my heart; especially when the literacy coach yelled at this little girl afterwards.

It seems that living up to the states standards is what is really valued in this school. There was no children's artwork on the walls because there is no time for creativity (as both classroom teachers told me). The kindergarten teacher I am with, says that she has been teaching for many years now, and she would love to do creative things because she thinks that the children would learn better from them (I agree), but says the school has certain rules that they want you to follow, and you can either follow them or leave (It seems, most schools are like this now days)! You can tell that every single one of the students in the kindergarten classroom that I sat in, at *George Washington, could not wait to go home, have lunch, or simply do anything other than sit on the carpet repeating after the teacher any longer. Both teachers were very nice, but were quite frustrated that everything has to be a certain way, and there are no exceptions.

This school is a great school, and has a lot of potential, but students are not actively involved in the learning (other than answering questions incorrectly, and repeating words and sounds), and are bored. If the teachers had more freedom in the learning process, I think things would be different in this school.

All About Me!!!

Hi, my name is Jana.
I am a new Rhode Island College Student transfering from a College called Hudson Valley, in upstate New York. I lived outside of the Albany area all my life!!! When I was given the oppurtunity to move in with my Aunt and Uncle in Cranston, I jumped at this opportunity. I moved in this past May.
I love Rhode Island!!! One of my favorite things to do here is spend time in the ocean. Since I was about 10 I made it a point to come and visit RI, specifically to go Clamming!!!!!
I also love; being creative, playing board games, cooking, sewing, and spending time with my friends and family!!!

I want to be an Elementary, Special Education Teacher, because all my life I have loved helping children, being with children, and teaching children. As a teenager, I spent over 800 volunteer hours working with children. I taught Sunday school, assisted in a day care center, taught French to elementary school students, and more. In 10th grade, I volunteered in my Mom’s special education classroom for severely disabled students to see what it was like. I had the chance to create and conduct activities that were simple, yet fun. I liked it and wanted more. During my free time, I volunteered in the special education classroom at my high school. I could see that with the right activities and the right support, these kids could do so much more. It was challenging and rewarding. I was hooked!