My Life Becoming a Teacher

2006-04-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Chapter 10 & 11 of Nieto

Chapter 10 of Affirming Diversity focused on how to "affirm pride in culture," the title of the chapter. This section discussed how schools and teachers could help promote a positive attitude about students’ cultures. Some examples that Nieto gives it for teachers to support native languages by encouraging students to use their language at home and even let students work in same-language groups. Although I believe that this idea is a little extreme, I do see the importance of students’ continuing to use their language with family and friends. I guess I just feel that it is important that they have a good understanding of how to use the English language before using their native language in the classroom. This isn’t because I think that students should only use English, but in order for these students to excel in the American education system, full of English-written tests, as well as in the real wold where few people take the time to learn another language, they need to understand English. Sadly, they need to take the steps to communicate with others, because most Americans are lazy when it comes to learning other languages. Neito also says to create multicultural programs. At my high school, we had a multicultural club called Spectrum, and the club would put on an all-day performance once a year. I think that this is a step towards Nieto’s beliefs that "multicultural education should be an integral part of the school experience of all students". (360). Nieto goes on to say that multicultural education needs to be supported by more than just academics. Extracurricular activities should welcome students of all cultures. Unfortunately, most extracurricular activities reflect usually reflect only one culture. Nieto suggests posting flyers for various clubs in different languages. I have seen this at the junior high school I’m observing. There are many students there that are predominantly Spanish-speaking, so that have flyers for clubs that are in Spanish. The end of chapter 10 discusses what you need to do to become a multicultural person. I think one of the hardest steps in to "confront our own racism and biases". (383). I find it hard to think of myself as someone who is racist or biased, but I know that whenever I see a student, I automatically make some assumptions about them. I need to be aware of these assumptions and make sure that they don’t affect the way that I treat the student. Chapter 10 ends with the different levels of multicultural education. I had never thought about possibility of there being different amounts of multicultural education, but I plan to look for these levels in the future teachers I observe and the schools that I observe at. Chapter 11 of Affirming Diversity goes on with methods to solving problems that teachers might face and how to practice multicultural education. What stuck out most is the teachers need to work together. During my field observation, I didn’t get to see my cooperating teacher work with other teachers, but I know that at most schools, teachers must work together to create curriculum and lesson plans. From reading this, I learned that I need to work with other teachers, even when I am tempted to work alone. Nieto also talks about how you must change curriculum, including an example in which math teachers should ask students to see how different math operations are done in other countries. I was excited to read about this because this is something that one of the teachers in Dreamkeepers did with her students. There were so many strategies that I can use to teach multicultural education when I become a teacher, and I plan to keep this book as a resource.

2006-04-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Of Borders and Dreams Presentation and Immigration Act Class Discussion

Looking back into my notes, I realized that I haven’t yet written out my reflection of the literature circle presentation of Of Borders and Dreams, as well as the class discussion about the Immigration Act that we had later that week. It was very convenient that we spend two days close together discussing both of these topics because they have a lot to do with each other. For the presentation, the presenters tried to help us understand the barriers that the book’s main character, Alejandro had to get around in order to get an education. I also enjoyed the exercise in which the presenters had the class close our eyes and envision what Alejandro’s parents had to go through to get into America. I knew little about how illegal immigration affected the school system, so I enjoyed this presentation a lot and I thought that it was very informative. I only wish that the presenters included that class more in their presentation to help us better understand what they wanted us to learn.

Our class discussion about the Immigration Act and the controversy around it helped me to connect what we learned in the Of Borders and Dreams presentation to what’s going on today. Before class, I knew little about this act other than the fact that it had recently been protested in many cities, mainly starting the week that we were on spring break. I was surprised to learn that this act has been around for a while, but it was just coming to the attention of the public because of the protests. There are both positive an negative effects of illegal immigrants living in the United States, so I have mixed feelings about the act. Although I think it’s ridiculous to basically make out all immigrants in the United States to be criminals, I do think that it’s important that they become citizens. There are many illegal immigrants here that are beneficial and do many of the jobs that most Americans would refuse to do, but there are others, such as Jim’s example of the man from Mexico who comes here in the summer, makes money, and then goes back to Mexico rich. That man is abusing the system. He’s coming here to make a profit, but doesn’t give anything to the country, such as paying taxes. It’s people like that who ruin opportunities for everyone else. Recently, there was a political cartoon in the Chicago Tribune that amused me. It was a picture of Native Americans talking to Europeans coming over on a ship and saying, "You can come and live here as long as you adopt our language, customs, and values". This point was also brought up in our discussion when someone pointed out that other than the Native Americans, we are all immigrants. Although this is a pretty obvious point, I think that as Americans who have had families that have been here for generations, we can forget about this sometimes. We need to realize that we came here for the same opportunities that people are coming here now for. I really enjoyed our class discussion on this topic and I hope that I can learn more about this act because as we have learned in class, as well are our reading of the Suarez-Orozco article, immigration to America has a huge effect on the educational system.

2006-04-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

School Girls Presentation

I have waited a long time to reflect on this presentation because I have lots of feelings and reactions to this literature circle presentation. Although all of the other presentations were interesting and I will take what I learned from them and use them when I become a teacher, this presentation hit home for me. I had never thought about how the differences in behavior could affect performance and learning in the classroom, but after hearing this presentation and looking back on my childhood education, I can see how my gender has affected my education. My only sibling is a sister, so I have never had the chance to see how my parents would treat a boy differently, but I think that I have been brought up to be more submissive, like what was talked about during the presentation. Because of this, I was more silent in the classroom and still am today. It’s not that I don’t like to participate in class- many times I have opinions that I’d wish to share, but I think that from my history in schools with boys, I have been taught not to speak. I wish I was as confident as some boys when talking in the classroom, but I’m still not. In one of my earlier journals I wrote about an article I read about creating more separate schools for both genders. At first I thought that was a ridiculous idea, but it sounds a little better after watching this presentation. I do, however, realize that not all boys learn and act an certain way, as well as girls. I still don’t think that this is the solution. When the group started talking about boys fulfilling the role of the stronger sex while girls were the weaker sex, I immediately thought about my experience working with Habitat for Humanity. I have worked with the program for three summers and have learned a lot about construction work, but every summer the adults on the worksite give the more difficult jobs to the boys, even if they have no experience working with tools. This not only bothers me, but most of the other women that work on the site. Last year, one of the adults asked if some of the ‘strong boys’ could carry shingles onto the roof. Needless to say, many of the girls were very insulted by this comment and decided that we could carry some shingles onto the roof as well. The packages weigh about forty pounds, which is almost half my weight and the weight of the other girls, but we did it. I don’t know if we were that strong or if we just wanted to prove ourselves to the men on our site, but we carried all of the packages of shingles onto the roof. I’ve started to realize the gender roles that men and women are supposed to play, and I’m trying not to play my role, but play who I am.

I was also really affected by the clip of Mona Lisa Smile that was played during the presentation. I had never seen the movie, but that was such a powerful speech that Julia Roberts gave. It makes me question what type of woman I want to be when I grow up. I’m proud to say that I didn’t come to college looking for a husband, but I have already found mine. Although we’re planning on getting married the summer after I graduate from college (I know it’s a little early to talk about things like that) I am going to start teaching and continue to teach while I raise a family. This presentation really affected me and my feeling about my responsibilities as a woman.

2006-04-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Observation Reflection

Now that I have finished my field observation, I feel as though I should reflect on what I have accomplished and learned this semester. Looking back on my experience, even though it seems like I didn’t do that much in my classroom, I learned so much about the teaching profession this semester from working with students and relating what I was learning in class to what I saw in the classroom. What I enjoyed most about my observation time was working with the students. That is something I always love to do and I will miss a lot. Most of my time was spent helping students with their assignments since they worked individually during class, but I learned so much by working individually with students. I was able to talk with them and look at what they were learning from their perspective and try to help them better understand it. When I first started observing, I was nervous when answering students’ questions because I was afraid that I couldn’t help them. Over the semester, I found that I was able to answer most of them and help the students. During my last two weeks of observation my cooperating teacher was absent, so I was able to help the students even more because many of the substitute teachers didn’t know what the class was learning about. These two weeks gave me so much confidence in working with these students. I just wish that this confidence had come earlier.

I really enjoyed observing my cooperating teacher this semester also. He has such a creative teaching style that is uncommon in most teachers. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it other than that he treats his students with complete respect. Unlike many teachers that I’ve had, he treated his students like adults and had discussions with them about issues affecting society. During my last day of observation, he showed a video about the genocide going on in Sudan and asked the students what they thought about it. He also gave them a fifty point extra credit opportunity to think of something to do about it and do it. He gave examples such as sending money to an organization that would help those in Sudan or writing a letter to a government official asking them to do something about the problem. After class, he spent extra time talking with a student that was very interested in this situation and had strong feelings about what should be done. This teaching method of questioning and improving society reminds me of Dewey’s philosophy of education. There are dozens of other teaching techniques that mu cooperating teacher has done that I can relate to readings that we have done over the semester. I feel very lucky that I was able to work with him and prepare to become a teacher while observing him.

Now that I have finished my field observation, I miss it terribly. I can’t wait to get back in the classroom and start working with students again. One question that I still haven’t fully answered is my feeling about teaching junior high school students. Each week I seemed to have a different opinion, either hating the idea of having to work with them or thinking about the possibility. I am, however, very excited to continue to work with children of all ages. This was a wonderful experience and I can’t wait to get back into the classroom.

2006-04-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

My Last Day of Observation

Wednesday was my last day of observation at the junior high school. The class celebrated by taking their unit test over Africa. Students were allowed to use their study guides and maps that they worked on in class. They first had to identify various countries in Africa and then they answer questions about the countries. While the students were working on their tests, I went around and answered student’s questions. Unfortunately, I had a hard time answering most of the questions that students asked. This was because most of the students had questions about what the questions on the test meant. I tried to answer student’s questions, but when reading the test, I saw that some of the questions were unclear. I felt bad that on my last day of observation I wasn’t able to help the students. I was, however, happy to hear about the progress of one of the students in class over the semester. I had only worked with him a few times in class, but his interest in his schoolwork has increased and he put a lot of time and effort into his study guide that he was using in class. His teacher and I were both really impressed with his improvement over the semester. It was a very good way to end the semester.

2006-04-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Culture Presentations

Today's presentations were very interesting and fit together very well. I thought that Brittany's presentation about hip hop culture in junior high school was very informative and her observation of how students at the schools was very good. I had never realized the extent in which students are affected by hip hop culture. I don't think it had that strong of an influence when I was in junior high. That could be because my friends and I didn't listen to hip hop music all the time, but I didn't see any of my classmates wear hip hop styles or use that language. I do realize that it's important to know about the culture that affects your students. The teacher I observe knows the artists that his students listen to, as well as the different slang that they use. Obviously, communication is essential for learning, so you need to be able to understand your students. I also enjoyed Laura's presentation about girl culture, which I will comment more about when I reflect on the Schoolgirls presentation because I can relate to the ideas of those presentations the most. I did, however, like that she focused on the positive aspects of girls rather than present them from a negative perspective. I think I felt better about myself as a girl after this presentation. Imin and Lauren's presentations about fashion and pop culture were also interesting. Even though I knew most of the information that was presented from my experience in school and from observation, it was nice to review the information and listen to another person's perspective. I have enjoyed all of the culture presentations this semester. Many of them have opened my eyes to subjects in schools that I have never considered.

2006-04-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Caring in Schools Presentation

Thursday in class we were given a presentation on the book, The Challenge of Caring in Schools. The book had some very interesting and important ideas, although I'm not sure that all were fully presented. In this book, there are many controversial ideas, such as allowing students to pick their teachers and for students to only take classes that they are interested in and will need for the future. I'm not completely sure how I feel about both of these ideas because there are positive and negative aspects of both of them. Although it would be beneficial for some students to be able to pick who their teachers were, elementary and junior high school students, as well as most high school students, don't know what they need from a teacher. I do, however agree with her idea that students should learn about what they are interested in and will use in the future, to some degree. I feel that in elementary school, junior high school, and at least half of high school, students should learn all subjects. Most students don't know what they want to do for the rest of their lives until high school, if not later. It's important that students are well-rounded and can make a decision about what they are interested in after studying many different subjects. Mainly, I just agree with the idea that schools shouldn't just stress that importance of the basic subjects; math, reading, writing, and science. Doing so doesn't allow students to focus and learn more about what truly interests them. The most important thing that I learned from this presentation is that in order to be a good teacher, you nees to be involved with your students and their lives. Know what's going on and take an interest in each student. I believe that by doing this, the classroom will be a place where students will feel safe and be able to learn.

2006-04-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

A Frustrating Day of Observation

I have finally come back to my web log, and I have a lot of catching up to do! Today I observed at the junior high once again, and there was another substitute teacher. Of all of the teachers I’ve ever observed and had, she was by far the worst I’ve ever seen. I know that I don’t know enough about teaching to critique her from that perspective, but I can from the perspective of a student because I have had many teachers throughout my education. I was surprised at first because the students in the study hall class were usually quiet, but that changed when the next class came in. To try and settle them down, she allowed them to be loud and talk for two minutes and then they had to quiet down. I actually thought that her idea was very good and would work, but I was wrong. The students were just louder after those two minutes. The lesson plan for the day was to read the chapter about the history and government of Africa and discuss it, but it was done differently than it is usually done. Instead of having the students read the chapter silently or aloud to each other, the teacher read the entire chapter to the class. At the end of each section, she would summarize what she read. It actually reminded me of a lecture class because the students weren’t involved in discussion. Half-way through the chapter, she asked the class to read the rest silently and create an idea map, but because the students had no idea what that meant, she changed her plans and asked them to write down five important words. The problem that I found from this assignment is that many of the students in the class work at different rates, so some finished and didn’t have any other assignment to work on, while other students didn’t have time to finish the assignment, which the teacher collected. I now understand the importance of having multiple activities for students to work on, which is what their actual teacher does. After they finished the assignment, the substitute went on to read the rest of the chapter aloud that the students had just finished reading, telling the students what she thought were important words rather than asking them. After they were done reading the chapter, the class watched a video about the origin of mankind. I guess I was just really frustrated about how class went today. I felt as though the students’ intelligence was insulted by the way that she taught the class and few students learned something. On a positive note, at least I was able to observe how not to teach a class. I am really looking forward to their teacher coming back!

2006-03-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

Nieto Chapters 8 and 9

In chapter eight of Affirming Diversity, Nieto writes about the many factors that affect academic achievement. I was aware of some of these factors from the effect on me throughout my education, while others were a little less obvious and present in my life. Early in the chapter, we learn that culture plays a huge role in a student’s academic performance, and connections to a student’s culture is important for their success. When a student’s culture is taught in the classroom, it is shown that the culture is valued. I did not realize this need throughout my education because my culture was the dominant culture that was taught and valued by all teachers and students. Once again, I also didn’t see the important role that society plays in a student’s learning because I was a part of the dominant culture, which was valued by society. I can understand, however, how negative views and political actions against a culture can cause conflict for students who identify with that culture and affect their performance in the classroom. In the reading, I could identify the effect that activities outside of school affects student’s schoolwork positively. My involvement in activities such as music and sports gave me confidence, as well as leadership and teamwork skills. In the text, Nieto writes of how students that are involved in extracurricular activities are less likely to involve themselves in dangerous behaviors such as joining a gang or using drugs. Finally, families, communities, teachers, and schools affect the performance of students. From my experience, my parents have had a huge impact on my feelings about education and my success in school. For students coming from low-income families or from other cultures, hard work may be valued more and parents might have higher expectations for their children so that they can grow up and have more options than their parents might have had. Caring parents who are involved with their children’s education usually produce successful students. Teachers that also care about their students and their well being help to support each students’ identities, causing these students to excel in the classroom. What I liked most about chapter nine of the text is that it finally stated that the multicultural education discussed in this book is just good pedagogy. All of the characteristics and strategies used to effectively teach children of various cultures are necessary to teach well in general. From first reading this text, as well as The Dreamkeepers, I had thought that both described qualities that were necessary for all successful teachers. Even if I don’t end up teaching in a classroom with people of color, which is almost impossible, I will use these strategies in order to teach effectively.

2006-03-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Presentation Reflection

I feel that my group’s presentation went well today. Although we didn’t come close to finishing our presentation, I feel as the main idea of the book was addressed and the class understood and was interested in the book’s strategies to become a more culturally relevant teacher. I was so happy to see the students take and interest in the material and ask questions throughout our presentation. I really enjoyed reading The Dreamkeepers and I think that the teaching strategies discussed are important for teaching all cultures. As we talked about in the presentation, this book was different than any of the other texts that we have read this semester because while it does present many problems, it also gives a solution to the problems. Instead of feeling discouraged, I actually felt confident that these changes could be made. It seems as though these teachers know and understand their students better than the teachers that I ever had. I think that understanding a student, their culture, and their community is vital to successfully teach that student. Throughout my education, I have been in schools with pretty much all white children and teachers. Although teachers had an understanding of my culture because they lived in communities similar to mine, most of the teachers don’t live in my actual community and aren’t involved with students outside of the classroom. I realized that these teachers teach more effectively when they have more contact with their students and therefore know the strengths of their students and how best they learn. I will take the concepts discussed in this book and see how they are demonstrated in the classroom that I am observing.

2006-02-28T23:24:00.000-08:00

Learning Denied Class Lesson

I really enjoyed class today. Unlike some of my classmates, I never caught on to the fact that Dr. Winters was acting in a way to demonstrate the ways in which Patrick was treated in the classroom. I was shocked by how she treated the one "slow" group and including us in embarrassing them. During this class time, I felt very awkward and afraid to upset the professor. I also felt bad that she kept drawing attention to the same group. I thought that this was a very effective way of helping the class understand how Patrick was treated, and in turn, better understand the book. Reading Learning Denied was very difficult to read. I couldn’t understand how teachers could try and deter a student’s learning. This is exactly what happened in class when the professor had the slow group continue to work on the first assignment while she taught the rest of the class other important lessons, causing these students to miss learning important ideas. Reading this book, I felt completely helpless, which Patrick and his parents felt at an even bigger magnitude. I was shocked and couldn’t believe that the school district would rather focus on Patrick’s weaknesses and build upon those rather than taking into consideration his strengths. I have always thought of special education as something that is positive, but this book shows that there are some circumstances in which the special education program doesn’t work in the best interest of the student, which occurs when certain learning disabilities are misdiagnosed. Now that I have seen the horrible effects that holding back a student have on that student and their family, I will be careful in making observations about my students when I have my own classroom.

2006-02-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

Monday’s Observation and Today’s Class Discussion

Once again, not too much happened at the junior high on Monday. I walked in to find another substitute teacher, so the lesson plan was changed a little. The class started a new unit in which they will study Africa south of the Sahara desert. She first introduced the unit by having the class look at different maps of Africa to help them to better understand the economy, countries, and landscape of the region. Students spent the majority of the class time reading the first two chapters which talked about the topographical features of the region. They did so by students reading aloud each section. After reading each section, the teacher asked students about the reading to emphasize important ideas. When they had finished reading the two chapters, the students answered more questions about Africa using their atlases, such as the largest island, the three tallest mountains, the deepest lake, and the three longest rivers. During this time, I was able to walk around and help the students who were having trouble completing their assignment. They were asked to turn their worksheets in at the end of the period, which somewhat forced them to do some work while the students had a substitute. Once again, the students had a lot of trouble behaving well with a substitute, but they all managed to finish and turn in their worksheet.

In class today, we talked about high-stakes testing, as well as the legal part of teaching. Some of the legal issues that we talked about were shocking, such as the possibility of a teacher being fired because of his sexual orientation or having a baby out of wedlock. These social issues don’t seem to have any influence on the effectiveness of a teacher. These legal issues affect how we teach and what we teach. I agree with many of the students in our class that these legal rights and responsibilities were very vague. I also found it interesting that this reading selection states that tenured teachers can be fired. Although they can, it takes a lot in order to do so. Although tenure is a very important for teachers in regards to job security, it can also be detrimental to the students. From my experience, some (only a small percentage) of my tenured teachers disrespected their students and weren’t motivated to teach. Although this is a horrible thing to happen in the classroom, I still believe that tenure is very important. Reading this selection left me very afraid for my future as a teacher. It seems as though teachers can be fired very easily or not offered tenure. It scares me so much that even in the teaching profession there isn’t job security. These readings were a huge wake up call about the importance of having knowledge about the legal rights and responsibilities of teachers. I plan to learn more about this before I begin teaching. On another note, we got our philosophy of education papers back today. I was surprised how well I did on the paper because I had a lot of trouble finishing it. I plan on improving it over the semester.

2006-02-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

Life in Schools Presentation

Today in class, the second literature group presented their book, Life in Schools. Once again, I was very impressed with there presentation. This group also did a lot of research, but used less statistics (mainly because the main idea of this book couldn’t be supported by statistics and graphs). I was very impressed with their knowledge of the capitalist system and they were successful in explaining how the system affects the educational system. Until this class, I have never thought about how the different classes in society affected the classroom. The group showed that the capitalist system lead to oppression as well as the alienation of workers. These problems are passed onto our children through social reproduction. The answer to the problem presented was for teachers to engage students in social analysis. Although I think the presentation was well-rehearsed, I feel as though a lot was left out because the group ran out of time. While capitalism and the problems that it causes were well introduced and explained, I feel as though there should have been more time spent about what answers the book has. I did, however, find the main ideas of this book very interesting and I hope that we can talk more about it in class when we have more time.

2006-02-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

Catching Up on My Journaling

Now that I am done with my philosophy of education paper, I can once again work on Journaling. Much has happened since my last entry, including our class discussion on Tuesday, more assigned readings, and observation at the junior high. Not too much has been happening during my observation. The students were preparing for their chapter test which is on Friday, so they spent Monday and today reviewing and finishing their study guides and maps while watching a video about the Andes Mountains, which they were studying. During this time, I looked ahead at the next unit, which focuses on Europe. I also spent some of the time memorizing the rest of the students names. This is the class that I’ve spent the least amount of time with, so there were some students that I didn’t know. I am also realizing that it’s going to be a little difficult to work with my student that I’m profiling. Her supervised study classroom changes everyday and I only observe her in class every other week. I will need to meet with her in class next week so I can figure out her schedule and find times when we can meet.

In class on Tuesday, we first discussed our philosophies of education. I was relieved to hear that other students had trouble keeping their papers to less than three pages. I had so much that I wanted to say and so many questions that I needed to answer, but there was no way to address every issue. I really hope that we have the chance to rewrite it this semester because I want to make my philosophy more concise. Also, we discussed the article we read about immigration and its affect on the educational system. I found this article very interesting because when I think about education, I don’t often think about immigrant students. I did, however, have some experience with these students in elementary school because we had a very good ESL program at my school. I have found that these students learned a lot of their English from their peers during social times such as recess. I believe that these students will add to the success to the future of America. They have many positive values that students in America don’t have, and add diversity to the classroom. I think that the issue of immigrant students is very important and should be addressed more often.

2006-02-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

My Philosophy of Education

On Thursday, we began to brainstorm about our philosophy of education. This is an important piece of writing to create during this class because it is important to have an idea of what my beliefs about teaching are early in my studies of the profession. I already have some ideas from writing a philosophy of education paper last year, but I have many new and evolved ideas through the discussions and readings that we’ve done in class.. Most of my beliefs came from my experiences in the classroom. I remember what I enjoyed most in school and what helped me learn well, as well as the experiences that discouraged me from learning. It is a huge mixture of the strengths of many of the teachers that I have had. A major part of my philosophy involves learning through experience and the student is responsible for learning. The job of the teacher is to guide their learning. When considering my thoughts about education, I had never thought to look at what I think knowledge is. It is such a basic question, and I see why it is essential to answer it. While I am excited complete my philosophy paper, I know that it will continue to change throughout my studies here, as well as throughout my career.

2006-02-08T22:59:00.000-08:00

Immigration in America

In the article, "Immigrant Children and The American Project," Carola Suárez-Orozco discusses the issue of immigrants coming to America and their effects on the country and the educational system. The concerns that she states early in the article are very important to ask, but questions that I’ve never thought about before. I’ve put very little time into wondering how immigration affects the culture of the United States, as well as how it would affect the educational system. Even though I may not realize it, immigration is still occurring at a rapid rate. It seems as though a major issue for immigrant children is "acculturation." It is difficult for these children, or for anyone for that matter, to decide how their two cultures will come together. I feel that these children are at some sort of an advantage because they work hard in their jobs and in school. They came to the United States for a better life, rather than many children here that take all that they have for granted and aren’t inspired to work hard. On the other hand, it must be very difficult growing up in the United States, trying to balance both cultures. I can’t imagine how hard it is for these children to try and fit in with their classmates while still holding onto their original culture. As it is said in the article, many times these children have a very difficult time fitting in, causing "shame, doubt, and even self-hatred." (56). Another difficulty that these students usually need to overcome is underfunded schools, which we talked about during Tuesday’s presentation. Many immigrant families move to cities, where many schools are underfunded, lacking supplies and an environment vital for learning. The most important point of this article is that "immigration generates change." (56). These immigration children will grow up in this nation and become a major part of society. Early in their education, we must make them a part of society without having them completely abandon their other cultural identity. I think that Suárez-Orozco states it perfectly that we must "cultivate" the assets that they already had before coming to this country, rather than viewing them negatively.

2006-02-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

First Literature Circle Presentation

Today, our first literature group presented Savage Inequalities by Jonathon Kozol. I was very impressed by their presentation and the research they used to support the book’s main idea. Unlike most presentations that I’ve seen throughout my educational career, this group included the class and made their lesson interesting and fun. I think it was helpful that the students used schools in Illinois as examples. It made the issue hit a little closer to home. Through using the school report cards, as well as other statistics involving district budgets, ACT scores, and drop out rates, they were able to support Kozol’s thesis that low income schools lack the resources to provide an adequate education for its students. It was very depressing to hear about schools that used the majority of their budget to repair the building rather than on newer teaching resources and the lack of opportunity that these students have. What was most motivating about the presentation was the report card for the magnet school in Chicago. The district in which this school was located didn’t have a large budget and it had a good amount of minority students enrolled (I believe over half). Although I’m sure this school isn’t in as great a need for more funding like East St. Louis High School, these results show that there is some hope for underfunded schools. I think that it would be a very good experience for our class to visit one of these schools and observe how the school day is different from our experiences in high school. I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do so sometime before I become a teacher. I was very impressed with the amount of time and effort that this group spent in order to present the ideas of this book. It sparked my interest in how money affects education, and I hope to read it sometime (most likely after the semester ends).

2006-02-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

Some Progress Made in Observation

Today, class was much like the other days in which I’ve observed. The students began their class period by taking their daily map quiz. In today’s map quiz, the students were introduced to a new concept involving directions. Instead of explaining the concept of east southeast, Mr. H (the teacher which I am observing) helped guide the students to understand it on their own by asking them what they knew about the four cardinal directions. He used this same strategy to help students learn about how to measure distances on a map. When I went around the room to help students with their quizzes, I was frustrated that some of the students either didn’t listen or didn’t understand what the class had just found together. I find it hard to believe that some seventh grade students don’t know the four cardinal directions, but I guess that’s possible. I also realized that I need to be more confident when answering students’ questions. For some reason, I’m always worried that I won’t be able to answer their question, but that hasn’t been a problem. The students spent the rest of the class period working on labeling their political and physical maps of South and Middle America. While they did this, I went around to help students, but I also looked for the student that I would like to profile. In doing so, I realized that I hadn’t learned all of the students names yet. I am going to solve this problem by either asking Mr. H for a seating chart or asking the students what their names are when I help them. The problem is that I observe a different class each week because of block scheduling. I’m hoping that by next week, I will have the names of the students in both classes memorized. I did, however, pick three boys and three girls that I thought would be good to observe for my profile. Mr. H agreed with two of my selections, so I am going to decide between the two of them and e-mail him tomorrow. I feel as though I should choose a girl because I think that she would open up to me more than a boy would, but I could be wrong. I’m going to look over the assignment again and see which student would best help me. On a more positive note, the students were pretty well behaved today and I don’t hate working with junior high school students like I did last week. Once again, I’m starting to think that it wouldn’t be that bad to teach in the junior high rather than in an elementary school. I’m still trying to get more involved in the classroom, and I’m going to talk to the teacher about that on Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll be able to teach or assist in teaching some mini-lessons soon. I just don’t want to interrupt his class because I know that I’m very fortunate for him to take time out of his day to give me the opportunity to observe his classroom. On a final note, I’m interested to see how the first literature circle goes tomorrow. I have no idea how to structure our presentation, which is in less than a month!

2006-02-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

Understanding Discrimination Through My Ancestry

I just finished the sermon, "How the Irish Became White," which we received an e-mail about earlier today. I thought that the story was especially interesting because most of my heritage is Irish. Until class on Thursday, I didn’t know about the extent of discrimination that the Irish first faced when they came to the United States. I do however, remember my dad talking about how his Irish Catholic family was a ‘minority’ in the town that he grew up in, although he didn’t face discrimination. I found it hard to believe that a group of people that had undergone discrimination and something similar to slavery would turn against those with a similar experience. It seems as though our country is like a group that likes to make newcomers feel unwelcome until they conform and become more like the group. Those new members, in turn, oppress those in which they were once on the outside with. Although I have never experienced discrimination, this article helped me to come closer to the issue, knowing that my ancestors had gone through it.

On a different note, I will choose my student that I will profile tomorrow. I’m still not sure about what kind of student I would like to observe. I’m excited to begin working on this and hopefully spending a little more of my day at the school so I can see how the child acts in other environments such as other classrooms, at lunch, and at recess. At first I thought that I wouldn’t be able to relate to the students, but junior high school students seem to have grown up since I was in junior high. It is scary how mature these students are, or at least the mature nature of things they know. I am interested in learning about what these students talk about and what influences them.

On a final note, which really has very little to do with class, I hope the weather warms up soon because some of these walks to the junior high have not been very enjoyable.

2006-02-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

Today’s Class Discussion on Chapter 5 of Nieto

Today in class we discussed chapter five of Affirming Diversity, which focused on culture, identity, and learning. Unlike the previous chapters in the books, this booked talked about the ways in which teachers should acknowledge the ethnicity of their students. We shouldn’t act as though we’re color blind, which is something I’m guilty of doing sometimes. At the beginning of class, we made it clear that this idea didn’t contradict the earlier chapters because Nieto is talking about ethnicity and not race. I had never thought of the fact that students of different ethnicities might learn differently. That is something I’ll have to try and observe the next time I visit my geography class. Once again, our discussion turned to tracking, which is an important issue to discuss in the class. Through this book and by looking back on examples of how tracking negatively affected students while I was in school, but I still don’t think that tracking is horrible. I think this is because I had a somewhat positive experience with tracking. When I was in first grade, I was put in the lower reading group. I think that this was fair because unlike some of the other kids in my class, I was still having trouble reading. By the time I got to second grade, I was in the more advanced reading group. It’s not like we were singled out in the class, we were just assigned different books to read during class. This is like what goes on in the second grade classroom that I observed last year. As I described in an earlier post, each student is given a letter, and that letter symbolizes the level of book that the student can read up to. Each of the students have different letters, but I think that this system had a positive effect on them. Many of the students were determined to move up a letter and worked hard by actually reading during their scheduled reading time, as well as at home. This is similar to my experiences in school. Although I never passed the tests to get into the advanced reading group in fourth grade, I continued to work hard in my classes, trying to improve my reading and writing skills. Finally, in eighth grade I was recommended to take the enriched language arts class as a freshman in high school. Although I was a little apprehensive about being put in that class (most likely a result of tracking) I was challenged in that class and it was one of the best experiences I had in high school. I know that it’s important to help others when they need it, and I know that I will also learn when helping others, but I still feel that in a tiny way, tracking is somewhat good for students. If all students were to stay back and help their peers, how can they ever reach their potential? How are they going to be challenged? From my experience, whenever I was in a "regular" English class, I wasn’t being challenged and didn’t meet my full potential. I could have worked harder. This is largely my fault, but I think that many students need to be pushed. I know that this is a horrible way in which to look at tracking, but it is only because it had a positive effect on me. I never felt bad about being placed in the "regular" classes throughout elementary school and junior high school; I had a very good education. But I learned so much about the world and myself as a thinker more in my enriched classes. I think I’m just a little confused about what would happen to the "gifted" students if they weren’t allowed to move on and were held back to help their peers. If anyone could help answer that for me, that would be especially helpful.

2006-02-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

Yet Another Day of Observation...

Today was my fifth day of observation at the junior high school. As ususal, I walked in during the teacher’s study hall period, so I went around observing what the students were working on. Aside from working on some geography assignments, students were also working on a Jekyll and Hyde venn diagram in order to help them compare and contrast, a bacteria map in which they were to label the different parts of a cell, and a geometry vocabulary crossword puzzle. I’m very fortunate to be able to see other projects that students are working on in other classes. I thought that all of the assignments were creative and made the subjects more interesting for the students. I know that I would love to fill out a crossword puzzle in order to learn vocabulary words. I’ve noticed that during these study hall periods, many times some students will come up to the teacher’s desk and ask him random questions, such as today when a boy began talking about astronomy with him. Instead of sending the student back to their seat, the teacher has a discussion with the student. This boy is taking an interest in a certain subject, and the teacher took some time out to discuss something of importance to the student.

When class began, students started by working on their daily map quiz. During this time I was able to go around the room and help answer students’ questions. I was surprised by how many of them were unfamiliar with finding a location using latitude and longitude, especially since they have been working on it for the entire school year. Because the teacher was still a feeling sick, he planned to hand back papers and have the students watch a movie. While he handed students’ papers back, he reviewed them and explained common mistakes that students had made. One assignment was especially difficult for the students, in which they had to create a graph, so the teacher dropped the grade but still reviewed common mistakes that were made so that they would be able to understand what they had done. Once all of the papers were handed back, the class began their in class video assignment. While they were watching their video on the Amazon, students were to fill out the five themes of the geography of the Amazon. This included the location, the place (physical and human features), human-environment interaction, movement (of goods, people, and ideas), and region. Before beginning the video, the teacher gave explanations for each of the themes using Bloomington as an example. This referred to Dewey’s idea of building education off of what students already know.

On Monday I will finally decide what student I should pick to work with for my profile. Once I have some idea, I’m going to discuss it with the teacher and see if they are a good candidate. We have agreed that I should pick a student that isn’t a model student and always well behaved, but I need to find one that is somewhat disciplined and will be able to help me with my observation and research. I also need a student that will be able to get most of their work done so that I can use some of their time to work with them. Aside from this, I have one small concern right now. I feel like I’m not that active in my classroom. I’m just not sure how I can contribute because much of the time it is a class discussion that the teacher has planned. I think it would have been easier for me to observe in a language arts class where I could work one on one with the students. The most I’ve done thus far is help students when they are working on worksheets and map quizzes on their own, but that doesn’t happen often. I’m not sure how I can get involved. Does anyone have any suggestions?

2006-01-31T23:27:00.000-08:00

Illinois Teaching Standards

Today in class, we talked about the state of Illinois’ teaching standards by first reading each other’s articles from the ISBE website. While we had the opportunity to understand some of the standards that the state has, this assignment also introduced me to technology, improved my research skills, and caused me to collaborate with others. Each of these skills are important to develop before becoming a teacher. We began our class discussion by defining what standards are and the four different types of standards. Our discussion quickly moved to the No Child Left Behind Act and tracking in the classroom. Although the No Child Left Behind Act was mean to keep teachers and schools accountable for the success in their students’ learning, it has been unsuccessful thus far and the gap between middle-class students and minorities and low-income students is growing. Whenever this act was brought up in my high school classes, our teachers discussed it with a negative view. This is because most educators (in fact, all the educators that I’ve talked to) believe that the No Child Left Behind Act interrupts learning in the classroom. Because schools must meet certain requirements, teachers prepare students for standardized tests rather than taking time to teach other important lessons. Teachers are motivated to train students to perform well on testing instead. Just like tracking, students are put into groups in order to observe their improvement. During today’s State of the Union Address, President Bush briefly talked about the act and how it has been successful, which surprised me because I have heard little praise about its results. I understand what legislators are trying to achieve, but I feel that they are going about the wrong way to do so. It is my hope that one day creative learning and the assessment of the quality of learning in a school can be combined.

2006-01-30T21:51:00.000-08:00

Observing a Substitute Teacher

I walked into class today to find that the teacher was gone and there was a substitute. This gave me the chance to observe the classroom when the teacher was missing. It takes a special kind of person to be a substitute teacher, because it is a really tough job. The students thought that since their teacher was gone, they had the opportunity to misbehave during class. The students began class like they did each day, taking their daily map quiz. Then they went on to read about South America in their atlases. Early on, I realized that this was more of a lecture style class, in which the students read the text and the teacher talked more about what they had read. The students were having a hard time paying attention throughout the lecture. They were used to being vocal in class through discussions, which created problem early during the class time. The substitute was having a difficult time disciplining some of the students, which is understandable. This isn’t the students’ teacher, so they feel as though it doesn’t matter how they act. This causes me to wonder: How do you discipline as a substitute teacher? Or as a teacher? How do you manage the classroom without having to stop your lesson to ask a student to behave? This lack of respect escalated to the point in which as student told the teacher that he was singling him out for bad behavior because he was black. This was clearly not the case, as the teacher had disciplined other students that weren’t black. What bothered me most was that many of the students found this comment to be funny- especially the student who made it and his other African American peers. I’m not sure if that is because these students were a little more comfortable with the topic of racism, but it still bothered me because I don’t think that racism is a humorous topic. This situation in class also causes me to ask: Do kids today think that racism is funny? With comedians like Chris Rock (although I’m not sure seventh graders should be old enough to listen to or watch his comedy) racism is funny rather than depressing. After this incident, the students watched a video on South America. While I used to look forward to watching videos in class, these students seemed uninterested and didn’t pay attention. I could see many of them writing notes and even getting up and walking around the classroom. Although today’s class was a little less exciting for the students, the activities they did were classic plans that are left for substitutes. In my experiences with having substitutes, many times we did the same. It may not be as interesting, but it is a plan in which the students still learn that day.

2006-01-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Structure and Organization of Schools
In this chapter of Affirming Diversity, Nieto focuses on organizational issues in the school, such as tracking, retention, standardized testing, disciplinary policies, and family and community involvement in the school. Before reading this chapter, I had thought of tracking as a good way observe a student’s performance throughout their educational career. Like many others that do not hear about its negative effects, I thought that tracking was a good way to see how different groups were performing in schools. When I was a sophomore in high school, I even did a research project on my school district in which tracking statistics was used as data. I had never considered the negative consequences of tracking. I found the experiment involving the kindergartners being placed into three groups and seeing where they were in three years very interesting. It is clear that where you are placed early in life has a huge effect on how you evolve. Nieto says that tracking is largely related to racial and social differences, but it is hard for me to see that from my previous education. In my elementary and junior high schools, there were very few minorities and we all were in the same social group. I can, however, see how tracking has a lasting effect on a student’s academic life. In fourth grade, we have a reading and writing test that some of us took to see if we were accelerated learners. If a student performed exceptionally well on the test, they were put in the Project Idea Program and were taken out of the classroom for many of their classes. When they reached junior high, they were in the same classes together, as well as in high school. Their performance on one test took them on a different track than they could have been on. I’m not sure if they ended up graduating more successfully than those who weren’t accepted into the Project Idea Program, but their grouping was clear throughout their education. A horrible consequence of tracking is the perception the student has of themselves and how that affects their performance in the classroom. I can agree that when I am in a more advanced class when more is demanded of me, I work harder because I feel that I’m meant to be there. Nieto goes on to talk about the negative aspects of standardized testing. Through learning about the No Child Left Behind Act last year, I already knew how standardized testing can be unhelpful and harming at times. These tests put students into groups once again and narrows the teacher’s curriculum. I agree with the alternative methods of testing, such as portfolios and performance assessments in order to document a student’s improvement. Through this chapter, I am able to see how the structure of the school, which isn’t always thought of as important, has a huge effect on students.

2006-01-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

Inequality in the Classroom

Nieto’s chapter on racism, discrimination, and expectations opened up my eyes to racism in the classroom, which even occurs with some teachers that mean well. Looking back on my years in school, I can see how different groups were treated in certain ways. What surprised my most was the differential treatment of girls in school. I had never noticed the different ways in which my teachers interacted with both boys and girls, but the descriptions that were written are familiar to the ways in which girls and boys were treated in my classrooms. Recently, there have been news reports about the possible benefits of separate classrooms for boys and girls because of their differing traits. I feel that this is an uneffective way to educate students because educators cannot make the assumption that all girls learn a certain way and all boys learn a certain way. I think that the way in which boys and girls are taught and treated in school had a huge effect on the way in which they act. If boys are expected to be more vocal in the classroom throughout their entire education, they will be. Another important point that was discussed in the chapter was teachers’ reluctance to discuss race in the classroom. I must agree, that whenever I have discussed race in classes I have felt a little uncomfortable, and I’m not sure why. I know that as a teacher, I am going to need to be able to face this issue and be comfortable with it in order for my students to feel comfortable with it. The saddest fact about discrimination and expectations was how strongly it affected certain groups in a negative way. Nieto describes "self-fulfilling prophecy," in which students perform in ways according to teachers’ expectations. As an educator, it is a teacher’s job to encourage their student to strive to do the best that they can. Teachers that acknowledge a student’s race or social status may lower their expectations for that student, which in turn only hurts them. Now that I have read about how a persons’ race, gender, and economic status affects their education, I can see dozens of examples from my high school experience. I hope that now that I am aware of these differences in which students are treated, I will be sure to manage a classroom in which everyone has an equal opportunity to excel in the classroom.