Being a minority myself in my classroom at "No Name Elementary", I couldn't believe how much the children noticed this. The majority of the class asked where I was from. I told them that I go to school right up the street but I live about 45 minutes away. They couldn't believe it. "Do you live with your mom or dad?" I tell them I live with both my mother and my father. "Wow!" was the answer I received from most of them. I asked how many lived with both parents and merely 4 children raised their hands.
Walking into the 2nd grade class after a few weeks, I was able to see that the majority of the children were of Latino decent. The second largest racial group that existed in this classroom is of African-American decent. There is only one white boy in the class. All of these students are second graders, but are placed into a first grade reading level classroom. The reading classes are organized by reading levels, so if there is a third grader reading at first grade level, he would go into that classroom. While I’m sitting there and wondering why all of these children are behind in reading, I decided to look on Infoworks to see what their other averages are. Looking on Infoworks, it shows that the student’s average in mathematics is 32% proficient, in reading 40% proficient, in writing 21% proficient. Compared to the average of all Rhode Island Elementary schools, their averages are extremely low.
I was thinking, why in the world are these children so behind? Then I look at the teachers and see that they are always yelling and impatient with the children. They are so burnt out that they aren’t able to enjoy what they do anymore. The theorist that I can relate this to is Jonathan Kozol because he has a main point in his article that he reads letters from children that want the resources that other children in higher class schools have. These kids at my school live in a “not so nice” neighborhood and after talking to a few of them, I found out that half of the time, their parents aren’t home in the first place. If their parents aren’t home, and they don’t do their work, there is no way that they will receive as good of an education as they would if they had the attention at home. Kozol wants all children to have equal resources and be able to learn in the same way because they deserve the same education as the high or middle class children.
If only my school had a bussing program or something of the sort, the children would be exposed to different kinds of people. Higher class, middle class, etc. There is not much diversity in the school and they would not suffer if this happened. The children need more diversity and see that it is okay to care about the work they do in the classroom. If they care more, they will be able to succeed.
2 comments:
Hi Maria!
I enjoyed reading your post, but was a little disheartened at what the children in your classroom have to face on daily bases. With parents who are in the home and teachers who are as you said burnt out and frustrated. I thought it was interesting how many students had separated parents; I wish I knew a statistic like that for my service learning school and the effects on the students in their moral and work. One statistic you did give was the class racial background; my service learning school also had a majority of Hispanic/ Latino decent with around 70 percent. But unlike you I did not it in my classroom, which a assumed because it was an inclusion class was more racial demographic.
I strongly agree with your connection to Kozol, he focused on the quality of schools and education, sometime your school sadly lacks. Bringing up the quality of schools is in no means an easy feat yet, I feel individual teachers would be able to make the students time in that class most productive. I also connected mines to Kozol seeing the overall need for best schools.
Another part I found interesting was how the reading classes are set up. By the student’s reading ability, you may think differently but I think it is a good system, if it challenges the student to strive to reach the higher level in reading, not allow them to perform under at just at their ability. This method of scaffolding I can see as productive depending how it is used.
I hope that in the future we will be able to serve the students more productively.
Christine
Hello Maria!! = )
I really enjoyed reading what you had to say in your post. I think it is amazing that the second graders took an interest in you and you took there questions and used it to help learn more about them. That is a quality of a good teacher and I praise you on it!
However, like Christine I was disheartened to hear about the problems the children in your class have to face.
One other thing I noticed was that you used info works to back up your observation of reading levels. I think it is effective. In my elementary school it was set up in a similar way. While it allows for the freedom to learn at the level you are at however, I think that by switching into a different class they do not get the ability to stay connected to peers of their own age.
I also agree that your connection to Kozol is a good one. Kozol focuses on the quality of schools saying that resources are needed to even the playing field- to allow the lower and middle class to be able to reach the high class. As was the case in our presentation, the better the resources, the better ideas the students will have and the more chances they will have to grow to be the best student they can be. =)
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