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!
Hey Jana,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post, I realized that you and I had very similar experiences with our VIPS tutoring. Also, it seems we took away many of the same observations and ideas for change!
I could not agree with you more about the importance of implementing a participatory curriculum. I, too, saw how students felt more confident when they were able to contribute their personal ideas and opinions in the classroom. In doing so, they gain a sense of pride and feel like a valuable contributor to the classroom. And what an interesting idea that their teacher had of letting them teach you. I love that. I can just envision students getting excited about the possibility of sharing something new. Great, great idea.
I also had some difficulty with my small Reading Buddy groups. Two things you said in this post specifically reminded me of my tutoring experience. First, I was instructed to repeat activities several times with them to ingrain the lessons in their minds. While I realize this is important for them to fully grasp something, I noticed them becoming impatient, uninterested and bored. Secondly, the management of their behavior was a regular task to deal with. It was often difficult to even get through an activity because one student would try to leave the table, one was kicking another student under the table and one was trying to stand on top of the table! I absolutely have more respect for teachers who manage a large classroom and regulate behavior.
I agree with both of you and we all seemed to have similar VIPS service learning experiences. Some of what you guys said as far as having trouble working with your students was some of the exact same stuff i had to deal with with my students. You both talked about an eye opening experience that helped you gain respect for teachers of these large inner city classrooms.
ReplyDeleteJana, you also mentioned how you wish not to bring a continuos use of words and phrases. This made me realize something about my teacher. She really spent a lot of time one the same words and lessons. When i was going in twice a week, i really realized that her lessons took a long time. This definitely linked to student behavior in class i think because the kindergarten students keep her focused on other thing most of the time. Also some of my students were ELS students and that also slows down a class.
You do a great job relating this topic to Kahne & Westheimer. I'm curious to know if either of you had students that have any diversity as far as struggling with their lessons due to not speaking english to start with and maybe that that is a start to acting out during class. I'm just starting to entertain that idea that maybe Goldenberg applies here too and his theory of academic english. The students may struggle with the literacy lessons, but when it comes time to entertain a distraction to avoid the lesson, the social english comes out in full force!
Glad you both took a lot out of our VIPS project!