edie’s blog

So many things about the last year are going through my mind.  I think about how far we all have come, how much we all have accomplished.  It has been a whirlwind, but a good one.  I think most of all, I have to ask myself what I am going to do with this, as Freire puts it, new knowledge and growth.  I like that I can sit down and gather my thoughts and assimilate what my next steps are.

One thing I will be doing is getting my ESOL certification next year.  I think Collette is, too.  I’ve always been a supporter of the “underdog,” and I do not mean that in any derogatory way.  I hated in high school, especially, how people who were different were treated.  I could never be a part of it.  I always went out of my way to befriend them, and lo! they were great people to know.  I’m not trying to sound like some sort of saint, but, truly, I have had an indignant sensitivity to anyone who was put down because of race, culture, or difference.  I would have to give credit to God for this, as He has been a part of my life from a very early age.  I’ve always been curious about other cultures, perhaps because I lived in other countries and saw first-hand that all people do not live the same or have the same opportunities as most Americans have.

Through this year, as I’ve learned more about the inequalities that not only education holds for our children, but the inequalities in life itself, I have become more passionate about making a difference in the lives of children who may have more burdens to carry than the dominant culture.  I’m not saying I want to “fix” things, otherwise that would imply that I think something is “broke.”  I know these children have much to offer.  All of the insightful readings and books we’ve encountered this year have led me to a new level of appreciation of who these children are.  I am tired of reading statistics about low achievement and high drop-out rates of these kids.  I am dedicating myself to seeing  success in the students that pass through my life.  I guess I always have been committed to that, but I now know there is more I can do to make that difference.

One thing I am going to do is bring in the gifts of my children’s homes, especially their parents.  When I moved to the school I am in now, I quickly learned I did not have to “schedule” times for parent volunteers like I did in my previous year.  I couldn’t even get a room mother!  I accepted this.  Well, I’m not going to accept it any longer!  I have parents who have great funds of knowledge, and I bet if I ask them, they’d be more than happy to share.  I know I need to put more of myself out there, though, to get to these “treasures.”  I’m going to ask about home visits so parents can get to know me better and vise versa.  I just know that if they know how much I envision for their children, they will be just as excited to be my partner in their child’s education.  I’d also like to have more community get-togethers; some for informative purposes, and some just for fun.

I’m going to miss our weekly discussions on matters that are important to us.  I’d like to start a book club next year based on professional books, but make it just as appealing as other book clubs. . . food, discussion, laughter   Any suggestions for a first book?  I was thinking about one of Paley’s that would appeal to all grade levels.

One last thing that I’ve thought about all year, but it really hit home with our final discussion Thursday evening, and that is in some way finding our VOICE as educators!  We sit around discussing the ludicrousy of some policies and outline what would make better sense.  It’s time to stop shrugging our shoulders and saying, “Well, nobody asked us.”  There are people we can go to, like our area superintendents or our district school board representatives.  Diane was right about getting different levels involved.  We have the second largest group of employees next to Wal-Mart!  There is no reason why we should not be heard.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful input into all of our discussions and interactive writings we’ve done this year.  I’ve learned so much through your different perspectives, but at the same time, I feel like we only scratched the surface.  There are so many things I would still love to discuss and understand.  I leave you with a few wise quotes I found:

Ronald E. Osborn: Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

Frank Outlaw:  Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. 

Benjamin Disraeli: We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

Friedrich Engels:  An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

Albert Einstein: I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Kurt Hahn: There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.

 Japanese proverb: Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

 Joel A. Barker: Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.

 B. C. Forbes: Upon our children – how they are taught – rests the fate – or fortune – of tomorrow’s world.

 Keep on teaching to change the world!

Love to you all,

Edie

Until last night, I had only heard bits and pieces of what Obama has in mind for education in the United States.  I found the comprehensive plan laid out on the Obama website to be full of ideas I am encouraged by.  On NCLB, he hopes to make changes in assessment procedures, most importantly making them more informative to teaching rather than an end-result assessment that determines pass/fail for kids and schools.  Obama wants to see assessment that addresses higher-order thinking.  I think this is admirable, but I can’t help but wonder how a standardized test can measure this.  Perhaps assessments will not be nationalized.  I also worry about those children that struggle grasping basic concepts.  Their level of higher level thinking may not be as developed as their peers.  I like the fact that the President knows that the tests that are in place today compel teachers to “teach to the test” with so many standards to undertake in a year’s time.  I was also pleased to read that he believes all children should be tested appropriately, especially ELL and special needs students.  The fact that students who do not speak English well and students with any learning disability is expected to perform at the same level as their peers or fail is absurd.  That conversation has been reiterated for the past eight years in teacher’s lounges across the nation.

One of the things I was going to expound on to my letter to Rhina was the need for better quality pre-schools and parental support for young children.  I was heartened to read that Obama understands the importance of these early years, and not only wants to improve the quality, but to reach out to parents from the time their children are born (or even before).  This idea is idyllic, and again, I wonder how it will be accomplished.  Will this support be offered through social services, or perhaps through schools themselves? Will the public view this as interference of big government trying to tell others how they should be raising their children, or maybe these services will just be provided for those that want to take advantage of them.  We offer a lot of services and help now that people do not take advantage of.  Also, it will take a LOT of money. Obama proposes spending 10 billion dollars a year to fund: Early Learning Challenge Grants to states that meet the criteria; Early Head Start (0-3 years) and Head Start to quadruple the eligible children; increase Head Start Funding and improve the quality of the HS and EHS programs; establish a Presidential Early Learning Council; improve child care quality, support young children of low-income, first-time mothers with a program that will support them and their needs (for example: a nurse-family partnership). 10 billion sounds like a lot, but I wonder how far 10 billion goes now a day.  Some of these ideas sound like “If you just let us come in, we’ll show you how you can fix your life and take care of your babies and give them the optimum chance in life!”  We who know how important these early years are to the development of a child want to “fix” things.  I admire Obama’s passion, and I hope he can affect more children in this country with his ideas.

I also liked Obama’s stance on recruiting, preparing, retaining, and rewarding America’s teachers.  He plans to offer adequate entry-level salaries and service scholarships that cover high-quality teacher education programs.  Hopefully, this will provide more of an incentive for a career in education. 

In preparing teachers for the classroom, Obama and Biden will require professional accredidation of all programs preparing teachers.  I take this to mean from pre-school teacher training programs to colleges of education.  They would also like to see more Professional Developmental Schools set up around the country that would provide along with their coursework, internships with expert practitioners in education, much like teaching hospitals.  Georgia State has had a professional developmental pre-school for at least 30 years.  (My daughter attended 30 years ago when I was a GSU undergraduate.)  That sure would take some of the guess-work out of who you might end up with in any given school.  Barak and Biden also want to offer incentive for working in high-need districts by providing teacher-residency programs which elevates the intensity and quality of the beginning teacher’s education before s/he enters these areas of challenge. 

I think Obama and Biden hit the nail on the head when it comes to teacher retention.  We could have told them that beginning teachers need more intense and high-quality mentoring to help promote efficacy and confidence.  They also list collaboration as an important factor in building stronger professional relationships, and they plan to support this through funding, as well. 

Last, but not least, they address rewards for teachers.  At last, I have seen something that I think is equitable and is based on improving education as a whole.  Teachers who do not necessarily want to leave the classroom (and we need good ones to stay in the classroom), could share their expertise with colleagues through professional development courses, mentoring, and coaching.  In the past, these have not been acknowledged monetarily.  They will be held to high standards, and finally, those educators who have selflessly mentored, coached, and presented professional development will be compensated.

The Obama-Biden plan for education is abitious, but it is definitely on the right track.  I feel we have someone who seems to have a better understanding of what is essential in the classroom, as well as the nation as a whole.

The more I read Oakes & Lipton, the more valuable I realize it is as a resource.  It’s very up-to-date in what is going on in the school system, and I glean many ideas from it.  The chapter on communities reinforced much of what I read for my line of inquiry for Diane’s class.  Part of my question was how to bridge the gap between the ESL community and the school.  The authors hit the nail on the head when they discussed how we teachers often complain about too little involvement or too much!  Is there a happy medium? 

I think it is so important that we do not see our lower-income parents as not interested in their children’s education.  When you stop and think about the things they have to worry about each day that many of us take for granted, we should praise them for all they do to support their children.  The authors state, “parents often see the care, support, encouragement, and cultural values they give their children as the foundation for their success in school.”  We must try better to understand where many of these parents are coming from and encourage them!

One thing I keep finding in all the articles I’ve read and this chapter, too, is the idea of making home visits.  This is something I think I would like to try next year.  The benefits sound like they cannot be beat in connecting with our children’s families.  I wonder how much more support we might receive in involving our kids more in reading at home, homework, etc.  I preach each year at my “open house” how we are a team in educating their children, and that I rely on their support to help their children achieve the most.  Then I have a handful of children who read at home for 30 minutes each night.  I wonder if connecting through home visits would make more of connection with the parents and perhaps get across to them that I really am counting on them!

I enjoyed Brian’s discussion on Ebonics Thursday evening.  I thought it was especially interesting in the development of languages, from the Pidgen down to the new language.  The history of Ebonics is certainly remarkable.  I’ve been thinking about my own class since then.  Some of my Black and White children say things like, “I done did that,” which was one of the gramatically correct Ebonics statements.  I guess I’ve always thought that these types of statements were more from a southern dialect.  I am accepting of this in our casual register.  Standard English is usually discussed during our Daily Oral Language practice or in our writing.  I discuss dialect regularly in my read-alouds as to how people talk in every day life.  What I think I convey to them is that we all speak differently in our “real” lives, but there are times when  standard English is more appropriate. 

It’s funny, but I never understood how is, am, are, etc. conjugated with the verb “to be” until I moved to the south and heard, “I be goin’ now, or he be my brother.”  I heard this from Whites and Blacks, though, so I always assumed it was a “southern’ thing.” 

I think assessment, like so many other topics in education, is one that will never have a perfect answer as how to make it most equitable among all students.  Just like different learning styles, aren’t there different modes of assessment that might be better suited for different children?  For example, I just gave an end-of-the-unit test on magnets to my whole class.  It was a multiple choice test provided by our textbooks, CRCT practice-style, and covered the key objectives that had been taught.  I read the test to my special ed. children.  I made some of the questions a little more friendly to put it more in context to them.  I think that helped most of them.  However, there were two children that I knew had much more understanding of magnets than this test revealed.  I’m sure they could have demonstrated many of the concepts to me with the objects in hand.  I know I can question them about their knowledge and understanding for a “report card grade,” but in real life, they will be taking the CRCT in a few weeks. 

I thought it was interesting in O&L that several states had tried more authentic assessment such as essays on understanding of content, laboratory reports, and portfolios.  The problem with these, is that they could not be “standardized” because they were too subjective, not to mention they took up much more time to administer and evaluate.  We all know that these are highly effective teaching practices, though, and they are the real tools we should be using in our classrooms to evaluate our children’s understanding.

Since NCLB was regulated, I have seen an increase in the demand for assessment data.  It seems to be the trend in our county over the last few years to aquire more and more assessment data.  My school seems to be a bit behind other schools in the county with acquiring data.  I say acquiring, because that seems to be what we are doing because we are supposed to be.  Is it guiding our instruction?  Not really.  We were asked to practice gathering data this year in mathematics so we could become more accustomed to doing it on a grade level.  We started the year by choosing a question on the county’s pre-test that no children in the third grade “got.”  It turned out to be such a high-level, multi-step concept that took deep understanding of the basic concept, that they did not fare much better on the post-test.  We, as a team, did not like those results.    (It made us look bad.)  So, we proceeded to choose a concept the next time around, that most of them did not know at the time, but we knew it was much easier to teach.  (What is the purpose of data collection again?)  The children did much better this time.  (Yea! aren’t we excellent teachers?)  It’s interesting the conversations that went on at these data meetings.  We were split into “Administration wants data, we have to do it,” and “Data is supposed to drive our instruction, and I don’t want to waste my time gathering data for the sake of data.”  I guess we’ve come full circle, because this last time around in choosing our data “concept,” we chose one of the key concepts of the unit.  For once, I feel like I can use this data to inform me of my children’s progress in developing their understanding of this concept.  Wait a minute, don’t I do that in my classroom already through formative assessment?  Our in-class assessment does not seem to have as much significance as the “data we are collecting.”

Next year we are going to a standards-based report card.  I think it will be much more informative to parents.  However, we are being asked to create standard assessments to be used by each teacher in the grade level to assess their students level of competency.  I can see that, in a way, because we will be using the same tool.  But at the same time, it ties our hands in differentiating our assessment tools.  I suppose I have to be content in knowing that I can use different assessment tools in my every day  teaching to inform my practice, but, bottom-line, the children will have to domonstrate their proficiency using standard-based assessments that we come up with as a grade level. 

All three of these articles address stereotypes in social class.  Bohn and Gorski expose it in their articles about Ruby Payne’s assumptions, and Anyon exemplifies it in her survey of fifth graders in five elementary schools.  Where you can find stereotypes being lived out, you can also find exceptions.  These exceptions are what we as educators need to put our focus.  What do these schools that seem to shine, despite economic disadvantages, have in common?

I have just finished reading an article in Dr. Truscott’s class about low-income schools (moderate to high numbers in free and reduced lunch) that depicted the difference in highly effective to less-effective schools in reading achievement.  Effective school strategies included strong links to parents, systematic assessment of pupil progress, and strong building communication and collaboration.  Compared to teachers that were less effective, highly effective teachers spent more time in small-group instruction, independent reading, had higher levels of student on-task behavior, and strong home communication.  They used higher-level questioning, even in below-average groups, were more likely to ask students to write responses to their reading, and imbedded phonics into authentic text, rather than teaching it in isolation.

In an article about 90/90/90 schools (90% free & reduced lunch/90% minority/90% pass national standard tests, five characteristics were found in common:  a focus on academic achievement; clear curriculum choices; frequent assessment of student progress and opportunities for improvement; an emphasis on nonfiction writing; and collaborative scoring of student work.  None of the schools prescribed to a program.  What they seem to have in common is a commitment amongst administrators, teachers, and parents to give and expect the best from their students.

Do teachers who work in economically disadvantaged schools have challenges?  Yes, but they are not insurmountable.  I believe the biggest challenge is making that “across board” commitment to implement the strategies that have been proven to be most effective and give every child an equal chance to succeed.

There are many thoughts that come to me as I think about this year’s journey through cultural awareness.  I have come upon ideas that I never thought about before.  One being the concept of “White privilege.”  I guess I shouldn’t say I never thought about it, but I never knew it had a name or how deep it was.  I have spent much of my life thinking how unfair life can be because of the color of one’s skin.  I’ve shared some of that with you.  There have been things over the year, though, that have prickled my skin.  I feel that no matter how hard I try to be culturally aware, I will never “get there” because I am White.  At least, that is what I feel through some of the articles and books I have read and discussions we have had in class.  But, then I think about the children in my class.  My class has African American, Anglo, Hispanic, and Special Ed. kids.  Do they feel I care about each and every one of them?  I think so.  Do they feel I expect the most out of them?  I think so.  Do they feel I accept and include all of their backgrounds?  I think so.

I chose to explore culturally relevant pedagogy as my year-long action research project because I am passionate about learning more and having a better understanding of my children.  I have come to find out that CRP is not just making sure you include literature and activities that represent all cultures, or just having an understanding of different culutures, but it is going further.  It is making a social stance and going out on a limb sometimes to help your children think about social justice for themselves.  I have to say that I have questioned if third graders were too young, especially if you have a class like I do this year, where everyone seems to care about each other and differences do not seem to matter.

However, I was challenged the past two weeks through the articles Rhina gave us to read and mostly from an article we read in Diane’s class about children’s ability to discuss race vs. adults’ ability to discuss it amongst different races.  So I decided to take the big step.  I found a book called The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson.  It was a beautiful book that took place during the Civil Rights times about a fence that separated a White family from a Black family.  It is told from the perspective of the Black girl.  Her mother tells her and her sisters and cousins to never go over it.  A little White girl starts sitting on it, and the Black girl watches and ventures over.  They talk, and after a few days the White girl says sitting on the fence isn’t going over.  By the end of the book all of the Black girl’s sisters and cousins are sitting on it, too, having a good time.  My children were delighted, and one girl said, “You can’t go over unless you sit on it first.”  The book ends saying maybe one day this old fence will come down.  My kids got it!  They understood the metaphor!  Before I read the book to them, I prefaced it with the story that I’ve told you about my grandmother not letting me play with the little Black girl in the adjoining back yard back in 1962.  I told my kids how I did not understand that.  Then I read the book.  They loved it.

I know this is long, and you’re probably wondering, “where is she going with this?”  But I have to tell it all so you can understand my title to this piece, so bear with me.  We are studying Mary McCloud Bethune and Frederick Douglass in social studies.  They both lived during Civil War times.  So over the next two days, I read Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco about the relationship between two Union soldiers, both about fifteen, one Black, one White.  I stopped throughout the book to discuss the content, clear things up, ask questions, allow the kids to contribute what they knew.  Some sad, but factual and truthful things happened in the book, and we discussed how things were like that in those days.  I thought the story and the discussion of the content went well.

Then, my para-professional, who is African American, asked me why in the world I would read such a book to these children?  She went on and on asking me if I thought she or the children wanted to hear about those things.  At first I said it was part of the children’s history, and we are studying that time in social studies.  She pointed out to me that that was a long time ago, and things aren’t like that anymore.  Who did I think I was exposing children to such horrible things?  She also said she was offended by the story I told them about when I was a little girl.  I was so taken aback!  I was speechless, and my mind was reeling!  Had I done something awful in my White ignorance?  I felt like with everything I thought I’d learned this year, I had missed something.  I began to weep, and I told her I was sorry she was hurt.  It was not my intention.  She kept hammering until I told her I could not talk about it anymore, and I went home.

Actually, I started home, then backtracked to talk to the Vice-Principal, who is also African American.  She was very supportive of me.  I called my co-teacher, who is also African American, and she, too, was very supportive.  Neither of them felt I did anything out of line, but I can’t tell you how much it shook my confidence as a White teacher feeling comfortable in approaching uncomfortable subjects.  I know my intentions were good, but I would never want to hurt any of my children in any way. 

I can’t really express all I am feeling right now.  I question if I “overstepped my bounds” in reading these books, even though I have support.  I feel like I want to go back to my culturally relevant “safe books” like The Patchwork Quilt or  Goin’ Home.  I stepped out, but was slapped down.  I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. 

Evaluating Children’s Books for Bias – This is a great all-encompassing resource for us to use as we review books we use in the classroom.  It is a little overwhelming when you consider all of the facets, but I think if we keep these in mind as we preview them, we will certainly find overt signs of bias.  I think the most difficult category to access would be the authenticity of the book.  None of us are experts of all the different cultures of the world.  We would definitely have to do some research to feel comfortable with the authenticity of a book.  I am also not sure about the question asking if it is ethical for mainstream writers to appropriate the literature of parallel cultures.  Eve Bunting has written many wonderful children’s books from different cultural perspectives, from homelessness, to immigrant Mexicans, to the Holocaust.  She was born and raised in Ireland, but I find her books to be thought provoking, uplifting, and sensitive to what she is addressing.  I am sure she does extensive research and interviews before she tries to portray another’s cultural point of view. 

Examples of Good Multicultural and Anti-Bias Literature – Except for some of the books mentioned about universal topics (houses, rice, shoes, etc.), I have not encountered the other books on this list.  Part of my capstone is to begin an annotated bibliography of culturally relevant children’s books, so I will definitely be checking them out.  Through some of my browsing of lists of culturally relevant books, I’ve found it difficult to find a synopsis of what the books are about.  I am looking forward to this venture!

Culturally Authentic Bias – Ms. Cruz-Jantzen made me stop and think about the fairy tales and folk tales that are standards to our curriculum.  Although traditional literature should be explored, it is exciting to think of how it can bring into the classroom the opportunity of discussing stereotypes.  It can be used to help students be aware of stereotyping in all aspects of their lives, especially in the media (including books) that they participate.  If you are in a grade level that teaches about fairy tales, it’s fun to explore the different versions from other countries.  We find, even the emphasis on the lesson learned, is sometimes different.

Beyond Pink and  Blue – I loved this article about the action taken by fourth graders to call attention to the “Pottery Barns Kids” catalog!  Not only were they learning about gender bias, but they were bringing it to their concious minds by doing something about it.  I am sure these children are going to be so aware of bias as they progress through their lives.  I remember a junior high teacher that had us analyze magazine advertisements, billboards, and commercials.  To this day, I still find myself analyzing them and thinking about their hidden messages.  I also appreciated her thoughtful lessons of how she introduced and built upon the idea of gender stereotyping.  It gave me some things to think about as I plan my lessons.

Fiction Posing as Truth – This article was a real eye-opener for me.  How careful we must be when reading historical fiction or even history, for that matter, to question what is true.  This book would be a perfect example to explore with children to discuss authenticity and ask important questions about the author’s research.  I would be interested to know what Ann Rinaldi’s or Scholastic’s response was to this controversy.   I’m sure they contacted her/them.

Down, but Not Out – Several things stood out to me in this article.  I agree that the many schools and teachers view multiculturalism as “heros and holidays.”  We should be incorporating a multicultural approach to all we teach, but I wonder how “Black History Month” started?  Most schools celebrate it, and now I hear talk of “Latino History Month.”  What are we teaching to our children when we set ethnic groups apart?  I hope we can have real conversations with our children in the future about why these celebrations came about, why they were needed, but they need to become a part of the past, and we must evolve from this point.  We are a nation of many cultures and we must learn to accept and celebrate people at all times.  I believe this artificial distinction sets us more apart.

The article also alluded to the fact that our nation has had quite a conservative political swing over the past few years.  I wonder if that is about to change.  I disagree with California’s decision to cut out bilingual education and eliminate affirmative action.  However, I can see where providing public services to illegal immigrants was something they felt they had to change.  With the number of illegal immigrants this state has, compared to other states, how could they afford to serve them?  Does the federal government step in to help?

The push in education of the basic  standards and testing of those standards is affecting what is taught and how it is taught.  There are many things that are being set aside besides multiculturalism.  There is such a priority of teaching standards at a certain time and getting through it all, that there is little time to delve deeper into our subjects or explore other avenues.  I feel like we race through the day to get in all that is mandated of us.  Here is an example, just in math:  Daily RAP, Math Journals, Lesson, Guided Math, Math Centers, Assessment.

I also agree with Banks when he says that teachers are more likely to teach multiculturally if the students before them are diverse.  I know that is true, at least for me.  I didn’t think much about it when I taught in a predominantly White school, but it became very important to me when I started teaching in the school I’m at now.  I also realized I had to learn more to understand the cultures of the students I teach, otherwise, I wouldn’t reach them. 

I have to say, that I am a little bowled-over by the expectations some of these scholars have on multi-cultural education.  I can look with a critical eye at what I am teaching and make sure I am representing all culture groups as I plan.  But, honestly, I am not sure how I am supposed to “examine institutional racism” with my third graders.  Maybe it is very naive of me, but I feel I am contributing to better culture acceptance by celebrating all peoples, introducing my children to different perspectives, and having high expectations for each and every one of them.  If we can instill acceptance in them when they are young, won’t they grow up to be more accepting of each other?   

On the first page of Freire’s 6th letter, he states, “An educational practice in which there is no coherent relationship between what educators say and what they do is a disaster.”  This stood out to me because I see this played out all too often in schools.  It especially stands out from the “rules” we carefully build at the beginning of the year that we expect children to live by.  These are rules built on trust, respect, and responsibility.  We expect the children to adhere to them at all times, but how often do we fall short of these same guidelines?  How often do we hear sarcasm and intimidation used on children?  Hopefully, not often, but you wonder what kind of disaster is brewing in the classrooms of those teachers who use it on a consistent basis.  One may not “see” the disaster looking into that classroom because of the fear some students may have, but what kind of disaster is going on inside the child?  How will this type of treatment affect that child for the rest of His/her life?  We’ve heard from several members of our cohort how this type of mistreatment had an affect on their lives and has had an affect on who they are today.  The teacher on page 251 in O&L put it best when she said how she wanted to “be fair; allow students a voice; teach with care, respect, and kindness…However, I had to prove to them through my actions that I was sincere.” 

I enjoyed the chapter in O&L because, as Rhina said, we were all probably thinking about our own classrooms.  I agree with the teacher who said she thinks social justice in the classroom starts with respect and clear guidelines.  I believe clear guidelines are essential in creating a democratic classroom environment.  I have a perfect example of this balancing between respect and clear guidelines this year with a certain student.  Let’s call him “Josh.”  This is a boy who is bright, personable, charming, active, and a potential leader.  The “challenge” with Josh is his belief (for lack of a better word) that the guidelines in the classroom apply to everyone except him.  (We’ve probably all had one or two like this throughout our years!)  I look at this as a need in him to stand out and be different, which I respect.  However, he does a lot of little things outside of our guidelines.  For example, he may sit in a chair when all the other children are sitting on the floor, or I may look up to see him with a clipboard sitting on the couch as I am about to give a spelling test. The things he does are not “terrible,” but he always seems to be testing the boundaries.  I must say I have tried many methods to curtail this behavior (one-on-one discussion; added responsibilites to display my belief in him; class meeting time for children to express their frustration with his antics (they brought it up); time out at recess; notes home).  Recently, I sat down with him to discuss his behavior.  I explained to him how I understood his need to be different, but he needed to begin to learn when it was okay to be different.  I explained that other children do not understand, and reasonably so, why he should not have to adhere to our guidelines, and so as the teacher, I have to keep things “fair.”  He seemed to understand this, and I saw it demonstrated in the classroom the next couple days.  Josh is the type of kid that I see so much leadership potential, and I am trying my best this year to help him develop it.  My fear is that he is going to continue to “break the rules” as he gets older and perhaps be a leader in a negative way.  I hope that I will have an impact on him, though, as he sees that I do respect him as a person, and I do want the best for him.

I have to admit, when I read Freire, I find myself saying, “Huh?” a lot.  I reread and reread, but sometimes it is difficult for me to follow his train of thought.  I believe, though, what he is trying to say in this letter, is that everyone is a product of their heredity and culture combined, but we must never forget that we are all individuals.  Everyone, no matter “where they come from” has something of great worth to contribute to society.  I think he is imploring us as teachers to embrace who each of our children is, take them where they are, appreciate their contributions, and help them to become the best they can be.

I was outraged by this article, although I did not find it surprising.  I think what infuriated me the most was the difference in mandated application of the Open Court program amongst different schools, depending on their demographics.  Why do we keep on “dumbing down” our curriculum for ELL students, when there is so much good research out there as to what strategies work to provide an equitable curriculum?  Here this school had implemented sound strategies and programs that proved to be effective, and yet it was replaced with a scripted program of phonics-based instruction.  I think new teachers out of college know this is not a sound approach and programs like these completely admonish language arts being taught in a holistic manner.  I just finished reading a case study in Diane’s class about literacy engagement with Spanish-speaking adolescents, and over a year’s study, the researchers investigated what worked well and not-so-well with these students.  Overall, a holistic approach inspired active engagement  amongst the students, as well as abundant achievement. 

I plan to pursue ESOL training next year.  I hope that with training and the research we have done through our EdS. program, that I will be free to implemnt strategies that I know work best and benefit children the most.