Prompt #6: Goldenberg

In my classroom there were many different races and ethnicities. Although there were a wide variety of students throughout my class, and the school, I never seemed to come across any linguistic differences that called for extra attention. The students in my classroom all spoke very fluent English, and none of them appeared to be English language learners. When observing my teacher, I didn’t notice any linguistic differences that she came across either.
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f I was a teacher in a diverse classroom that had English language learners there are a few steps I would take into account to make sure they are learning affectively, and are actually understanding what they are learning. These steps are based off of Claude Goldenberg’s key points on how to teach the English language development. First Goldenberg says that we need to teach the students vocabulary, syntax, grammar and pronunciation daily in order for students to learn affectively. The second key point in teaching the English language is the most important part; that we need to allow them opportunities to use what they are learning, in everyday life. Students whose first language is not English are going to have a hard time trying to use English words in everyday life, if they don’t know how to use them. They can sit down in class and write a list of every word they know in English, but it will mean nothing unless they know how to put them into sentences and use them. One final point that Goldenberg says is that teachers should actually have a block of time during school in which they learn all of these things. Studies have actually shown that just trying to pick up on the words and how to use them was less affective than when they actually had a specific time of day where they learned it, based on standardized tests.

Basically what I would do is I would take it really slow with ELL’s in my classroom. I would just work day by day with them, along with other students so they didn’t feel isolated, and practice their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation repetitively until they started to make progress. Teaching ELL students is not something that will happen over night. The most important thing to remember is to have patience. You need to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how it must be for them to try to learn a language that is totally unfamiliar to you, like Chinese! Just remember when you’re in your classroom teaching that every student matters and no student can be left behind!

Prompt #5: Delpit

When teaching in a classroom we learn that not all parents are the same. Watching parents walk in and out of the school doors as I wait for my class, I get to observe many different home values. One thing I witnessed was a conversation between a mother and a teacher about her son. The teacher said that she had asked the boy to pick up the mess he made with the alphabet letters and he refused. She said he just ignored her and went on playing with the blocks and pretended she wasn’t there. When she finally got mad at him and said she would call his mother, the boy got very upset and started crying hysterically. The mother was furious and started yelling that she asked him to pick up the blocks, she didn’t tell him. She went on to say that if you ask someone to do something they have the option to deny them.

This is just one of the problems I can imagine that teachers go through every day with parents. The mother did not agree with her form of authority, and the teacher was actually speechless and wasn’t sure what to say. If I were in that situation I think I would probably admit that I was wrong. It does make sense that if you ask a child to do something they have the option to say no. But if you tell them to do something, there’s no question that they have to do it. You need to always show respect for the parents and even if you don’t agree with what they’re saying you need to at least show that you understand their point of view. And NEVER under any circumstance tell them that they are wrong, because nobody is ever wrong. Everyone has their own reasoning behind their actions or ideas and as a teacher you need to respect that and take that into account.

Lisa Delpit talks about the culture of power, and one very important part of the culture of power is children’s background and family life. She starts off saying that there is a culture of power in white-middle class homes that ensures the status quo so that the power stays in the hands of those who already have it. “The power” is referring to having parents at home that will teach you the values you need to know for school; the value that the teacher is the higher authority, and has the power, and that they need to respect that. Delpit is saying that those who are given the culture of power at home have different values when they walk into the classroom. She uses the example that at home a colored mother would say, “Go take off your clothes and get in the bath tub.” There is no doubt that the mother wants her child to go take a bath. But a white mother might say, “Don’t you think it’s time for your bath now?” This tone is very indirect and doesn’t show authority to the child. It is the same situation in classrooms. If a white teacher says, “shouldn’t you start your test now?” a colored student most likely will not react appropriately. Colored children are used to the straight forward authority they’re given at home, and we need to accommodate that into our teaching. Basically what Delpit is getting at is that we need to provide these children the content that other families from a different cultural background have at home. We need to ensure that each classroom incorporates strategies appropriate for all children. We need to take into account that not all parents teach their children the same values and we need to expose children to all different views in the classroom. We absolutely cannot make them forget about the values their parents have brought to the table, but we must simply expose them to our own set of values and open up their eyes to new things. As for us teachers, we have to see their values as well and open up our own eyes to new things.

Prompt #4: Johnson

My high school was dominantly made up of white students. In fact, I don’t think there were more than a handful of minority students in the entire school. Growing up in a mostly white community, and then coming to tutor at this school where there is maybe one white student per classroom, was an amazing difference. It took a couple visits to get used to it and get comfortable there, but once I did it really opened my eyes to a whole new way of life.

I brought in a different tone to the classroom being one of three white people in the entire classroom, including the teacher. And each student had something different to bring to me. Two students one day were fighting about whose step-dad was better, like it was second nature for anyone to have a step-dad. From my background it was, not unusual, but uncommon to have parents that were divorced and remarried. Most of my peers’ parents were still together. My students had a whole conversation about their step-parents and many of the other students in the class joined in as well. It was definitely something I wasn’t used to.

I know, after the whole step-dad talk, it was difficult for me to talk to the children comfortably about any home life. Not that I was uncomfortable because of their race, I was uncomfortable because I didn’t know who had moms and who didn’t, who had dads and who didn’t. I didn’t want to upset anyone if I said something like, “well can’t your mom hang the picture on the fridge for you?” and have a child respond in tears because her mom died. I tried to avoid the conversation in general, but being a future teacher I knew that I couldn’t avoid the problem, because ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away. Whenever I had a response I would simply just ask them first who lives at home with them, and then use one of their guardians to refer to.

There are many misconceptions and stereotypes about minority groups, and whether we realize it or not we all make stereotypes unconsciously, and not just referring to race, either. One misconception that I have come across, by using infoworks, from hearing people talk, and from many other sources, is that minorities aren’t “smart.” Looking at infoworks, in dominantly African-American schools, the drop-out rates are sky high, and the test scores are extremely below average. Even when I walked into my tutoring school the very first day, my supervisor warned me that these students are very far behind. But when I sat down with my students, after hearing that and reading what I’ve read, I was shocked at how well my students did. I was also very appalled at myself for letting stereotypes get to me. These students did so well reading and writing, I had no idea where these below-average test scores were coming from, and why everyone says they are “far behind.” I suppose that stereotypes have some truth to them, because there are, of course, students you could tell needed extra help. But they are not all like that.

This whole experience reminded me of Allan Johnson’s article, Our House is on Fire. He talks about the privilege of being white and what it gets you. He gives examples of colored people walking into a convenience store and how they are automatically assumed to be stealing, or when over the phone they are told an apartment is for rent, but in person are turned down. There are so many misconceptions about different races and expectations are very low of those of color. Johnson says nothing else can threaten our survival as a society more than the privilege or race. He says that we cannot sit back and just pretend it’s not happening, because ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. In order to fix this problem we need to change how we look at the world and how we participate in it.