Prompt 3: Shor

My class is extremely culturally diverse. For a teacher to plan a lesson to fit everyone would be extremely difficult. To be relatable to the students the teacher should know how it feels to learn in a classroom such like their own. They should be problem-posers as said by educational theorist Ira Shor in his book called “Empowering Education.” He also says that teachers should empower their students and that lays the foundation for their interactions in the classroom. Teachers should help the kids come up with problems and then encourage them to find their own solutions. The key is to allow participation between everyone in the classroom to be free flowing and non judgmental. Children will not remember anything in the classroom if what they are learning is not related to something in their own lives. Standing at a head of a classroom just saying things means nothing without reference.

Sadly, in the classroom I observe I do not see participation of students or encouragement to do so. Children are told to be quiet. If they try to help their friend sitting next to them they are shhed and personal stories on subjects being presented by the teacher are not accepted. The teacher makes assessments based on what the student writes or does in the time given to them. It is so bad that I feel like I to should keep my mouth shut so that the kids will not get in trouble. I try not to blame the teacher because I am not in their shoes and do not know what pressures they are under to teach the children.

However, they are not learning. They are going through the paces in order to get a passing grade. In dealing with multicultural classrooms relationships between students and teachers must be free flowing in order for the kids to feel safe enough to discuss problems that could then be used by the class to find a solution. Instead the teacher is constantly distracted by the others in the room with little focus on the individual. The teacher will read the paper and make corrections with little to no explanation of why it is wrong. I do not like picking out only the bad I see in the classroom but it is difficult to see any positive. If it was calmer the students and the teacher could collaborate in a way that not only teaches the material but allows real personal time between everyone. How to do that is a question that is still troubling me. Everyone is at different levels not only intellectually but maturity. Maybe instead of separating the trouble makers from the rest of the class, integrate them with peers who will help them focus, which could take some the stress off of the teacher because they would not have to constantly look up to see what someone has done.

I have not seen the ideas of Ira Shor put into practice personally, but know that one day I will try my hardest to make learning relatable for my students in order for them to learn the material that will last a life time. There will be a lot of apposition because Ira is not focusing on test scores or grades but what students should experience while in the classroom and that is not what the adults in power of the schools want to hear. This is just one of the things that will need to change so that children of America can see learning as fun and not just adults talking nonsense.

Prompt 2: Dewey

My class is diverse. It has little more girls than boys. There are whites, Asians, African Americans, Hispanics. If I had to put the groups in order from greatest to least in would be Hispanics, whites, African Americans, and then Asians. This is completely different from my school experience where there were only whites and one African American throughout my entire education. Infoworks shows that the entire school is just as diverse as the classroom, with 35% white, 33% Hispanic and 26% African American. As far as poverty I cannot tell. They all seem somewhere between middle to lower-middle class but this is by looks alone. Infoworks says that 68% of the entire school meet the requirements for free or reduced lunch which tells me to never judge a book by its cover. As far as special education goes, there is a special needs child in the class who has his own aid. The aid not only helps him but takes over looking after the class when the teacher has to leave. One of the children I tutor has opened my eyes to even more sociocultural diversity. The first day I met her she told me that she asked her dad a question and because he didn’t know the answer he promised her that they would look in the bible. I was taken back because religion is such a touchy subject with adults, that I was not use to it being an answer but for this girl it was, along with other students because if she felt comfortable talking to me about it she probably told her friends. She also informed me that she is bilingual and can speak Spanish better than any of her cousins which she was extremely proud of. Her mother is from a different country and her grandmother is trying to gain citizenship to America. The other student I tutor I have only seen once since I started volunteering over a month ago. This is unusual considering the attendance percent is 94. These students have the ability to be raised in a diverse environment which can help make them more understanding of other peoples’ cultures and traditions. The educational theorist John Dewey would agree that even though these students come from a multitude of different backgrounds a shared interest can bring them together in the learning processes. By them being together they will take everything that is good about their own individual groups and create a new group in the classroom that will harbor the good of each other based on the common interest that each group share. The problem is that the school environment is not interested in their individual lives, enough to try and integrate them. The teacher teaches. She does not have the time to hear stories about big brothers and silly cousins.

Students are on a tight schedule to complete as many academic activities as possible. There is a sense that if the class does not finish everything that day it was a failure. Talking even to help each other is forbidden and students are yelled at to the point that it becomes background noise. Its no one persons fault, the teacher is told what to teach by higher authorities. The curriculum does not take into account the diversity of the classroom and therefore the students do not know that there are differences between them and that those differences are important. However, the school’s test scores are higher than other schools like them so what would be the point of changing?

This is a Youtube clip of a dance crew that is a prime example of what a diverse group of people can do if they share just one common intrest. Enjoy!!
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Prompt 1: First Impressions

I have the unique pleasure of actually walking to my school. It is a short mile but this gives me the ability to see the neighborhood around the school. Its quiet and the houses are closely spaced. Then as you come up to the building you could hear children talking behind the fenced in windows. No playground or grass, just signs that say hello in array of different languages. This told me that the school at least has some knowledge of the diversity of their students. The entrance is a nondescript door that has an intercom system so you can name yourself and gain entrance. Just from the outside the school was at least twice the size of my own elementary school in the rural part of the state. It’s dark in the building and has a yellow ting due to the lights. There are narrow pathways leading to rooms, if you walk by to fast you’d miss them completely. The classroom itself is cluttered. That was the only word I know that describes the room as a whole. There are two old blackboards covered in spelling words, numbers along with dozens of other items that I could not focus on because of the sheer sensory overload. There is little color, it is just old looking. The kids sat in groups with minimal space between chairs.
The pure chaos of the students talking, student teacher and teacher shouting to shut up the kids and the children just getting louder, was enough to make me yell stop in my head. It is not working. I would want to reorganize the room. It is a tiny space for the twenty something students, one teacher, one aid and one student teacher and then me. If the information needs to be on the wall maybe having some art either printouts or student work to help cut through all the plainness would gather student’s attention to the important information on the walls. The school values obedience. Even in the hall the teachers are yelling while the students laugh at them and continue what they are doing. It is so obvious that what they are doing now is not working but yet they continue. I realize that it is easy for me to pass judgment on the teachers for shouting at little kids but I don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis. My suggestion would be to try different things, maybe talk to them to come to some sort of agreement that will better both lives. Actually ask the children what they expect to learn in the class and how would they would like to taught. The do not have to put into action what the students are telling them but to try and make things relatable I think would make a world of difference. Over all it seems that they are trying to deal with what they have. What they have is a cramped space with energetic children. It is not an excuse but I know that it adds to the stress. Talk is the best thing the entire school could do. Talk to the students so that learning can be a cooperative event not a singular voice yelling. The two kids I tutor are lovely, understanding and appreciate the help. Only time will tell if what exactly will translate to the children’s success.