prompt 6: JOHNSON

Due to the fact that there is no ESL in School Elementary School, Mrs. Ma’am had to communicate in ways that demonstrated sensitivity and responsiveness to socio-cultural and linguistic differences. In the beginning of the year a few students came to Mrs. Ma’am not speaking a word of English. Mrs. Ma’am could have easily sent these students to another school or another classroom, but she instead took in the challenge. She did not have to be sensitive to the fact that they were young children just looking to learn. They did not know what was going on in this world that spoke a different language. Mrs. Ma’am took them in and in the end taught them how to speak English. One of the students, Moe, came from Iraq. He left there when he was three years old. He came to the United States not speaking a word of English. His parents spoke no English either. When it was time for Moe to go to school many schools that did not have an ESL program rejected him. The district he moved to rejected him. Finally he came to School Elementary and Mrs. Ma’am was happy to take him in. She knew it was not going to be easy, but she wanted Moe to have a place where he can call his own. Now Moe is speaking English fluently and he is one of the top students in the classroom. All he needed was someone to have a heart for him and give him a chance. Mrs. Ma’am did that.

Something that I faced in class was one day I was working with a group of students. They had to draw pictures of something they do during the day time. One little boy drew a picture of him playing catch with his dad. When he presented his drawing to the group, I made a rookie mistake. I asked how many other students play or have played catch with their dad. One little boy looked down and when I asked what was wrong he answer, “I don’t have a daddy.” Right after he said that another student chimed in and said, “How can you not have a daddy?” I wanted to hit myself. I was not thinking about the fact that not everyone has both parents. I was not sensitive to the fact that everyone is not like I am. Not everyone is living the same life that I live. I am just so use to having both parents that I forgot others. As a teacher it is crucial to always think about what you say and in what setting you say it in. In my case I had to give the group a mini lesson on how not everyone has both parents. They had so many questions for me. In a way it actually turned out to be a good thing because now these students understand the differences in some families. The students did not make fun of the student for not having a dad. They ended up talking about things they do not have. It was actually a good lesson for them to learn.

Allan Johnson tells us that we need to think of more than just ourselves. When we think of just ourselves it leads to judging and misconceptions. I was not thinking about that student when I asked everyone if they played catch with their dad. I never stopped to think that everyone is not living the same life. Some kids only have a mom or a dad or live with grandparents. It does not matter who they live with. We all need to be sensitive to the fact that someone might have a single parent. As teachers we need to embrace all students of all backgrounds and not allow for judgment or biased opinions to settle in.

Prompt 5: DEWEY

If I was teacher my VIPS class, I would definitely struggle with collaborating with parents. This class did not have many students with parents who cared so much about their kids and really did not want to help. If I was faced with this problem I would try having individual meetings with all of the parents. I feel that it is really important for parents to be a part of their student’s education. My parents always asked me what I did in school that day and what homework I had. They always cared about my grades and my progression in school. In this class it seems like the parents think school is a day care for their kids. There are some parents who feel very strongly about their student’s progression. Some parents feel like they do not have any time for their kids to help them. This is very unfortunate, but sometimes the case. All we as teachers can really do is help the student as much, during the time they are at school, as possible. If they are going to get help it is going to be at school with the teacher. Also with the parents not really being involved, behavioral problems could arise. If students are allowed to do whatever they want at home, they are going to think that is acceptable behavior. Parents need to see that they are the most important thing in a child’s life. They need to embrace that and take on the challenge of making their students the best they can be.
Another problem that may arise is many of the students in this class do not have parents who speak English. This could cause a huge problem. Communicating with them could be extremely difficult. It is hard to get your point across when you are both talking in a different language and when you did not understand the other language being spoken. At the beginning of the year Mrs. Ma’am faced this problem with an Asian student London. London came into the class and did not speak any English and neither did her parents. London did not speak in class at all. At first Mrs. Ma’am just thought it was because she was shy. She realized very quickly that it was because she did not understand her. She found this out because she called London’s parents and could not understand what they were saying. She could not get any help from London’s parents because they spoke very little English and would not understand the work their daughter would be bringing home. She also faced this problem with a little boy from Iraq. There is no ESL class in this school so all of those students who would normally be in ESL are in the classroom with everyone else.
John Dewey told us that there are two desirable traits. They are common interest and interaction. As a teacher, we all want these things with our students and their parents. In collaborating we find these things out regarding the parents. It is very important for teachers to incorporte the parents because then they can talk about their common interest of helping their child to succeed. Also interaction is very important between teachers and parents because it can give the teacher a sense of why that student is the way they are. In an earlier promt I talked about Bob. Interaction with Bob's family allowed Mrs. Ma'am to figure out that he was acting out all the time and that there was something wrong. This helps teachers out greatly.

Prompt 4: DELPIT

When I was younger I was always well behaved and respectful in school. I always did my homework, assignments and always got along with all my teachers and classmates. I was always taught, by my parents, that there was no other way to act. I was brought up so well because I have two fantastic parents who care so much about me. They still get on me about things every day. Even though I hate when they tell me these things, I appreciate it so much because they still care about me so much and want the best for me. I always assumed that everyone was brought up like I was because all of my cousins behaved the same way. As I grew up and experienced more, I realized other people were brought up the wrong way. This is what I thought when other kids did not act the way I was. They had to be wrong because they were acting differently than I was. I realize now that everyone is brought up differently, but I still strongly believe that children should always be well behaved and should always do what they are suppose to in school. In my service learning class, this was not the case.
Students in this class were not always respectful and well behaved. One time the students were doing a partner assignment and one girl punched another girl in the face for being wrong. There were some students who were well behaved and did as they were told, but others did not fit into that category too well. There were some students who seemed to never do what they were supposed to. There was one student who was seated all by himself. He always seemed to be off in another world. He never did his assignments or paid any attention. The teacher always had to get on him to do his work or to pay attention. One day the teacher assigned me to “John duty” as she called it. It was my job to make sure he stayed on task and paid attention.
John was not necessarily a bad student; he just always needed someone to be watching over him. Towards the beginning of my tutoring the teacher was telling me about John. She said he was having problems all year. She said she met with him mom, who had sole custody over John, and she was tough to talk to. She did not seem very concerned with her son’s well-being. One day when I was working with him while the other students were having snack. He did not come in with his homework done so he was not allowed to have snack. I sat down with him, away from everyone else, and we worked on his homework. Before we started I asked him why he did not do his homework. He got really upset when I asked him this. He turned to me and told me that he was having trouble with it so he asked his mom for help. Then I saw tears started to come to his eyes. The he said, “And Mommy yelled ‘I do not have time for you John. Go do your homework by yourself.’” I almost cried hearing him say this. He then put his head down. I could not believe a mother could tell her child that she did not have time for them. My parents were always there for me. Whenever I needed something they did it for me, even if they could not do it right away, they found time. If I brought home school work, they were always willing to help. In Mrs. Ma’am’s class there were a lot of take home assignments that the students were suppose to do with their parents. This could pose a problem if parents are not willing to be a part of their child’s education. If the parents are not willing to help their children, the teacher is going to be the one spending extra time working with these students because she wants the best for them. Luckily enough for Mrs. Ma’am I was in the class and always willing to help, otherwise she would not accomplish much if she had to worry about individuals as opposed to a whole class.
Lisa Delpit talked about veiled author in her article. I was always brought up believing that everyone needed to be well behaved and do what they were suppose to. I thought that was the only way. In this classroom I discovered that everyone is raised differently. I was quick to judge some students in this classroom including John. I thought he was a bad kid who just refused to do what he was suppose to. I quickly found out that he was raised differently. Being in such a diverse classroom, the teacher always needs to be open minded and not base everything on what she was taught. Everyone has different backgrounds and as a teacher we need to welcome them with open arms, but we can still use what we have learned to change things that are not acceptable by many.

Prompt 3: BROWN

When the students were taking a test, it was done the same way every time. When I was observing my teacher, she always passed out the tests and then went back around to make sure everyone had one and they were all on the same page. Once everyone had a test and were all on the right side, the teacher began the test. There were a good number of students in the class who were struggling with reading in the beginning of the year, so Mrs. Ma’am thought it would be best if she read the directions out loud to the students. This way they could all understand what she was asking them to do. Towards the end of the year there were still some students who did not have the easiest time with reading, so she stuck with her methods of test taking. Another reason she read the directions to the students was because many of them had a hard time focusing. When Mrs. Ma’am read the directions out loud she could look around and clearly see who was not following directions or just not paying attention at all. To make sure that the students would be listening to her, she chose tests that had no directions at the top of them. She chose tests that had the directions in small letters at the bottom of the page. Another thing she was read the directions twice. The first time she read them at a normal speed and then she read it again, but she read it slower and raised her to emphasize what points the students should be paying attention to. The students always got excited when they heard her voice change and when they saw her eyes widen behind her glasses. Although the teacher was reading out loud there were still some students who did not follow along. Some of the students in this class had no attention span at all. These students fell behind quickly and got lost and could not catch up. They got very frustrated and resorted to doing nothing. I was put in charge of these students. I had to make sure they stayed with the rest of the class and helped them when they began to struggle. The students were getting really excited when they were getting the answers and getting them right. They felt so good about themselves because they were not falling behind.

During the testing, the teacher periodically reminded the students of the directions. She basically guided them through the whole test. At this age level the students need a lot of guidance and Mrs. Ma’am did an excellent job of making sure her students had every chance and every tool to succeed. I understand that it was towards the end of the year, but Mrs. Ma’am really knew her students. She knew what they liked, disliked, what worked/did not work for them and she knew how to help them succeed. It was really amazing to see a teacher take care of 26 students and know what each of them needed. One thing I noticed about Mrs. Ma’am that I really liked was that even though she knew her students were all at different levels, she still gave them all the same test. She did not change the test for each student because she knew they were all capable of doing the work. Some students were given extra assistance, but the same work. She knew her students could do the work, they just needed a hand. She did not make modifications, she made accommodations. Lyn Brown talks about either making modifications or accommodations for students with disabilities. Some students had disabilities in the sense that they learned a lot slower than others in the class. Brown said we need to do these things at times to benefit the students and to allow them to succeed. The accommodations that Mrs. Ma’am made were to read the directions to the students and to assign aids to those who needed a little extra help. She did not modify the test for those who would struggle, she accommodated.

Prompt 2: Kliewer

There were a variety of ethnic backgrounds in the class I was observing. I could also see there were different economic backgrounds by the ways the students were dressed. In this class there was one students who did not speak any English at the beginning of the year. The teacher was not sure why she was not put into an ESL classroom, but she worked with it. Now towards the end of the year this student is speaking English very well and she is actually speaking more and volunteering in class. At the beginning of the year the teacher tired everything and could not get the student to speak. She would not even speak in her native language. That was something else I noticed. None of the students in the classroom spoke anything other than English in the classroom. The teacher told me that most of the students speak something else at home, but in class the stick strictly to English. Although many of the students came from similar backgrounds, they all were very different and had different ways of doing things. I could quickly figure out what their home life was like just by seeing the students sit down to do a work sheet. I could quickly see how one student was babied when he was at home. This student, Bob, was very badly misbehaved. He did his work until he got to a certain point and that’s when he lost it. It was clear that this student was not disciplined at home and he would do whatever he wanted. There was a certain point he needed to reach and when he reached it, he was completely out of control. Once he reached this point there was no calming him down. He would throw things, rip up papers, refuse to do his work, answer the teacher back. He was such a distraction to the class. The teacher tried to ignore him not doing his work and ripping up papers, but she had to jump in when he began throwing things and endangering those in the classroom. The student got so bad that he had to have his mother come into the classroom and sit with him all day. When the teacher tried talking to Bob’s mother, his mother said he was never like this at home and that there was nothing wrong with him. The mother said she did not know where the behavior was coming from. A few days later Bob's brother came to pick him up from school and Bob threw another fit right in front of his brother and the teacher. Bob's brother started laughing when Bob was getting out of control and told the teacher that he always like this at home. The teacher then figured out that Bob's mother was lying and that she was in denial. Right after the the teacher filed for Bob to be put into another school, possibly into specical education. It took about a month to get all the paper work out and for the mother to final accept the fact that her son needed more help then he was getting in that school. He ended up going to another school and he was put into special education classes. After many tests, the found out that this student was autistic. He was not getting the proper attention that he needed in the regular kindergarten class. He needed special attention and he is now being given that in his new school. This related to Christopher Kliewer because Kliewer believed that everyone should have an equal oppoortunity to succeed even those who have disibilities. Bob was not being given an equal opportunity to succeed being in a regular class with no special attention. He needed the special attention to succeed and he was not getting it. Due to the fact that he was not getting it, he was struggling in class and getting very frustrated. He was finally put where he needed to be and now he is doing much better. His teachers are able to keep him under control and give him the proper attention so he can succeed.

Prompt 1

When walking into any place, the appearance is extremely important. The school I attended was not so welcoming. The school looked old and of low quality. When I walked in, the inside was as welcoming as the outside. The inside looked old and like it needed a lot of renovations. When I walked up the stairs, to the office, I noticed how small it was. The office, like the rest of the building, looked old and grungy. The secretaries resembled the school very much because they were not welcoming. When I walked into the office, they paid me, as well as others, no attention. Once I left the office, I entered the hallways. They were so bare. The walls were lines with rusty lockers and empty bulletin boards. The hallways did not seem like they were promoting a safe and comforting learning environment. The only semi-welcoming things in the hallways were the inspirational posters that were scarcely scattered on the walls. They seemed to be drowned out by the dingy walls and rusting pipes line the halls. I was not looking forward to seeing what my classroom looked like. When I walked in, however, I walked into a very pleasant surprise. The room was so bright and colorful. It was such a relief. Students work plastered the wall. It was comforting to see that at least teachers put their students work on display somewhere.
When I walked into the room I did not feel uneasy or overwhelmed. The kindergarten room was very busy. There were things all over the walls in the classroom. Things were over lapping on the walls. The walls were covered with students work. Personally I think the students work was the best part of the room. The pictures and words written were really great to see. They are not great spellers so it is so interesting to see how they think words are spelled from how they say them. Besides all of the students work, the walls contained many things. In the front of the room where the students sat to do their morning rituals, there was a calendar, a weather wheel, a list of days of the week, and the order of subjects they are doing that day. Above all of that stuff was a list of all of the letters they have learned so far this year. Next to the cubby and bathrooms was a list of words. These were the difficult words they have learned so far. Two of the words that caught my eye were chameleon and Antarctica. Those two words went along with two books they read. The wall across from the bathrooms contained classroom rules and a spot for the student of the week. Each week a student brings in pictures of themselves and the pictures are placed around the poem in the middle. Every week a new student is picked. It was very clear that the students work was highly valued. The hard work the students put into their work did not go unnoticed at all.

This is who I am!

My name is Stephanie Coro. I am from North Providence where I have always lived. I have two fantastic parents and three siblings, two younger brothers and one older sister who also attends Rhode Island College. I was planning on being a Physical Education/Heath major, but being in this class and doing the service learning project changed my mind. I am now going into Elementary in hopes that I will get to be a kindergarten teacher some day. I play on the RIC women's basketball team, which my sister also played on until this year when she graduated from the team. I am a big sports fan. I love both playing and watching them. I love being warm and just lounging all day. Thanks for reading about me!!
Stephanie : )