Prompt 6: John Dewey

Usually multiple times a day, Mrs. Rose’s students spend time on the reading rug. This is an area where they not only read but work on learning various vocabulary words, and where they are given their work assignments for the day. Mrs. Rose is an incredibly enthusiastic and dramatic reader, she really does a great job of capturing her students attention. One the students were working on “karate chopping” vocab words. This is an activity where they are asked to draw lines and circles on top of the word where it should be chopped into two words. Victor was working on one of these problems one day. Mrs Rose handed the white board to Victor and asked him to “karate chop”. He did not get the answer right and after a few laughs from the students on the back of the rug, he became discouraged and no longer wanted to try. That is until his classmate Marco told him “you can do it, I believe in you”. Upon hearing this Victor took the whiteboard and got the answer right. Mrs. Rose heavily applauded Marcos for his kindness towards Victor and awarded him a plastic coin which the school uses to reward the students. She then mentioned to the class that what Marco did was very kind and that they should always be supportive of each other and not laugh. This shows that Mrs. Rose encourages positive social interaction and support learning within her classroom. Even though she may not be able to fully understand some of the Spanish terms or phrases her students occasionally uses, she accepts them open arms and encourages them.

Theorist John Dewey emphasizes the importance of education being a social function. Every student is different from one another. No student is exactly like the next. Therefore, Dewey believes that from these differences we learn from one another in the social atmosphere that is the classroom. Marco and Victor socialized together in a positive way that brought forth positive results. While Mrs. Rose usually does not allow talking on the rug while she speaks, she openly accepted Marco’s remark toward Victor and was very pleased.

Prompt 5: Lisa Delpit

If I were teacher of this classroom I am sure that there would be many challenges I would have to face. Since there are some students within Mrs. Rose’s classroom that do speak Spanish, whether it be as a first language or a second, they are still experiencing a completely different culture from that of the classroom. While I can in no means speak Spanish fluently, I speak it somewhat and I do have a large knowledge of Spanish culture and traditions. If I were the teacher of this classroom I would somehow bring in aspects of their Spanish culture or whatever their culture may be. Whether it be teaching the kids vocabulary words in Spanish and English, or having a day where we celebrate their culture. I personally feel as if it would be unfair to not incorporate their culture. A persons culture should never be forgotten, only widely embraced. I’m sure that I would face some difficulties if the parents of the children were Spanish speaking since I can’t speak Spanish fluently. I feel like if I hired a translator the personal connection between the parent and I would be lost. Maybe the key would be to learn Spanish as a second language.

This prompt can be directly related to Lisa Delpit and her article “The Silenced Dialogue”. Delpit emphasizes the importance of a parent and teacher relationship. The work of the teacher can only be carried out effectively if at home the parents are carrying on that work. Delpit believes that teachers should adapt to their students culture and somehow bring that culture into the classroom. Within “The Silenced Dialogue”, Delpit talks about something known as the culture of power. This is the idea that as a classroom and as a teacher we do not get to decide what we get to teach our students, the culture of power does, this being the white middle class. Within the culture of power students are expected to just conform to it and accept it. When in reality they shouldn't be just accepting everything that they are taught, they should be questioning it, they should be questioning the culture of power. Instead of forcing these kids into the culture of power, we should be integrating their own culture. Hopefully in the future more schools can look to Lisa Delpit to stand up against the culture of power and embrace the many different ethnicities and culture that make up the melting pot of America.

Prompt 4: Alan Johnson

When I arrived at Mrs. Rose’s classroom I had no set expectations or ideas. I was not sure what I was getting myself into but I knew that whatever it was, I would face it as it came. Growing up in a Puerto Rican step family, I was very familiar with the Spanish culture and language and I figured I would be working with some Spanish students at my school. I feel like if I was put as the teacher of Mrs. Rose’s classroom I may be able to more easily relate to her students than she can for the simple reason that I grew up in a Spanish speaking household.

Everyone has their own ideas on subjects. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, it is important within the classroom that it stays a neutral, bias free zone. This means that the teacher may have his or her own opinion on a topic yet does not force their opinion on that of the students. They should be entitled to make their own judgements. I do feel as if Mrs. Rose does not force her opinions on her students but she does make her opinion known, leaving the rest up to the students so they make their own decisions. This leaves room for open discussions and a participatory classroom. While Mrs. Rose may have a completely different opinion than her students she still allows them to be voiced and heard. This is extremely important in a classroom. I feel as if Mrs. Rose could however do a better job of integrating her students ethnic backgrounds into the classes curriculum. Maybe instead of teaching all of her vocabulary words in English she could teach them in Spanish as well, an ethnicity that is incredibly prevalent at my school. The idea of bias can be related back to theorist Alan Johnson who talked mainly of the segregation in our school systems that still go on today.

Johnson’s article discusses the idea that many whites in todays society like to use the phrase that goes something along the lines of “I don’t see color”. Johnson says within “Our House Is on Fire”, “when confronted with such a reality, many whites are quick to dismiss, deny, and defend against it. It isn’t true, they say, or it’s not that bad, not anymore, or it isn’t my fault, or I’m so sick of hearing about this. But in fact, it is true, and it is that bad, and it doesn’t matter whose fault it is” (4). If everyone in this world would just accept the fact that there is bias and there always will be, maybe we can begin to change.

Promp 3: Jonathan Kozol

As I stated in my second post, my assigned school consists of 64% Spanish, 24% African American, and a combined 12% White and Asian. The classroom that I have been working in has no white children but all African American and Hispanic students. It is evident that in most cases these children come from low income homes since most receive free or reduced price lunch. The teacher of the classroom, Mrs. Rose, is an older, white woman who clearly comes from a middle class background. I'm sure that before teaching at her school, she most likely did not spend much time around people of color or other ethnicities than white. Although she does appear to really care about her students and their education, I am not fully positive that she knows how to embrace their sociocultural differences.

Every time I have arrived at my classroom, Mrs. Rose begins to do testing. She pulls individual students to a separate part of the room where she has them read a book to her. I sit at a table that is next to where Mrs. Rose tests and I listen to many of her students severely struggling with reading. Which makes me wonder, has she taken the time to consider that these students may need more one on one help? Since I began my tutoring I have never seen Mrs. Rose help a student one on one. I see her do individual testing, but whenever a student has a question about their work she quickly tells them she can not help them at that moment. This seems to show me that Mrs. Rose may not understand that some of her students come from homes where their parents will not help them with homework, or encourage them to read, or even show any signs of being interested in their children's schooling. Mrs. Rose needs to be the one who embraces and understands this in order for her students to prosper and grow in both their learning and school. Although I do believe that Mrs. Rose accepts and loves her students for who they are despite whether they are Spanish, African American, Asian, poor or rich, I do not think she fully understands or knows how to embrace and work with their differences.

Jonathon Kozol, writer of "Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Education Apartheid" talks of how many schools in America are still deeply segregated. By not adapting to the needs of these students who are learning English as a second language or those who have learned English but still struggle with the difficult aspects of it they are segregating their schools. If they fully embraced their students linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics than their school would be doing much better than they are. Maybe if more one on one time was spent with Mrs. Rose's students, they would not be struggling with reading.

Prompt 2: Claude Goldenberg

The ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students in my assigned classroom are very different from that of what I am used to. Growing up in a predominately white and Portuguese town, I was not necessarily exposed to a diverse school or classroom. We maybe had five African American students in my high school so to say it was diverse is far from the truth. However spending every weekend in Providence with my dad for more than half of my life has made me used to many different ethnic backgrounds such as the ones in my tutoring school. Consisting of 64% Spanish, 24% African American, and a combined 12% White and Asian, there is a good balance of many different ethnic backgrounds, although Spanish and African American students are the majority.

Out of all the students attending this school, 35% of them are learning English as a second language (ESL). English being one of the hardest languages to learn, I watch a few students in Mrs. Rose's class struggle with the complexity of the language. They have a difficult time writing and an even more difficult time reading. While they may struggle with English in the classroom, once they go home they are in their comfortable environment where speaking your native language is acceptable, unlike in the American school systems where they expect English to be learned by all those who do not know it. I took Spanish for almost 6 years, but if you asked me to put together a full sentence I would not even know where to start. While these kids are struggling to learn how to speak English I wonder to myself what Claude Goldenberg would think of this.

Goldenberg emphasized the importance of teaching English language learners in their native language in hopes of helping them to succeed in learning English. Maybe if Mrs. Rose and the staff at the school hired more Spanish speaking teachers, they could help the English language learners learn in a more efficient, helpful manner. This would not only benefit the students but the teachers as well. I feel like if this idea was used at more schools across the country it would make Americans more accepting of other cultures and I really feel like it would greatly benefit the school systems. We can only hope that someday Claude Goldenberg’s ideas will be heard so that maybe some change will occur.

Prompt 1

My school is tucked away off a main street only a mile or so from one of the worst streets in Providence. Surrounding the school is what seems to be affordable housing with a daycare located next door. The perimeters of the school are guarded by gates and fences with many cameras located around the building to ensure the safety of the students and faculty. When entering the school one must ring a bell in order to be let in. Upon walking in the school I noticed it was of substantial size with a large cafeteria and library. The walls are painted bright colors with large pictures of the people the school is named after. The overall vibe of the school was good and it seemed as if they used their given space adequately. The office was a a mess and it was apparent that I did not catch the secretaries on a good day since they were far from helpful.

Entering my class I was very nervous. I thought to myself, would the kids like me? Would the teacher be kind to me? It turns out that I did not have much to worry about since I was greeted with smiles and a warm hello. My assigned classroom has almost twenty second graders, all of Hispanic or African American background. The teacher of the class is an older woman with a nasal like voice who we'll call Mrs. Rose. Mrs. Rose has a strong disciplinarian attitude and does not take any misbehavior in her classroom. she uses a color card system to discipline the kids. It involves changing the color of your card every time you do something wrong. While I am not positive as to what each color necessarily means, I know red is not the color you want to have. The classroom is cramped with many large tables and a reading rug in the corner. I have three students that I work with every week who all are a little behind where they should be at a second grade reading level. We are working hard together and they truly are making progress!

It seems that what my school values the most is discipline. In my classroom, my teachers word is rule. She does not allow any room for misbehaving, and when a child does misbehave they are quickly scolded. Mrs. Rose clearly wants absolute compliance from students. I noticed this same attitude with many of the other teachers in the school. Upon taking a bathroom break with the class, I observed many other teachers disciplining or yelling at their students for things such as stepping out of their lines or talking too loudly. While I do believe that it is important to set rules and boundaries in a classroom, I feel as if this specific school disciplines a little too much. I look forward to discovering what else my school values over the weeks to come.

Hey everyone! My names Chelsea and I'm a sophomore here at Rhode Island College. My major is Secondary Ed English and I can honestly say that I can't wait to start my career. When I'm not in school I work full time at the mall and spend anytime that I'm not there doing homework, hanging out with friends or playing guitar. See you all in class :)