Prompt # 6: Lisa Delpit connection

I knew that communication was very important to Miss Lemon. She makes sure that when an assignment is in at hand the students understand all directions. When they are working in their different centers she takes the time to speak to each child to make sure that are correctly doing the work, so that they can make the most out of their time. If Miss Lemon thinks that an assignment is unclear to a student, she will ask them to tell her what their understanding of it is. She also asks them if they understand why they are doing what they are doing. I think that is so important for a student to not only know what they are being asked to do, but why they are doing it. Although this story could make an easy connection to the concept of problem posing, I am going to focus on Lisa Delpit and her theory of the importance of communication.In the event that a student needs to approach Miss. Lemon with a problem, she expects a level of professionalism from them as students. Miss Lemon expects that when a student has a problem or a question that they take the time to think about the question they need to ask. This instills articulation in these young students which makes it easier for them to explain their point of view, or what they do not understand. This will be so valuable later on in life and will come more naturally when they need to assert themselves.
When I play the learning games with the students that I tutor I decided that I would also use this method as part of explaining how the game is going to be played. This gives the students a moment to think about any questions they may have before the game begins. This levels the playing field so that everyone knows what is going on. Once communication is allowed between students and teacher there will be a better learning experience for the student.
Lisa Delpit discusses about the particular way that people become empowered. I believe that Miss. Lemon is setting these students up for empowerment by giving them the tools of articulation. If they become well spoken individuals people are going to want to listen to what they have to say. Miss. Lemon also is instilling in them expectations of wanting to know all of the directions of a particular project before starting the work. Lisa Delpit discusses about people not understand the rules of a game, and then being unaware of there even being rules. These children in Miss. Lemon’s classroom have been used to given complete instruction. Later in life they will not stand for murky direction or understanding. Hopefully they will become people who demand to get all of the information before they begin a task, or project. As adults this has a good chance of carrying over to learning all of the aspects of something like voting, before they make a decision. They will become the type of people who will need to become educated in matters, before they make and decisions. So many people in our world today just make decisions based upon assumptions. It would be wonderful if more people were teaching as Miss. Lemon was teaching.

Prompt # 5: Ira Shor

I think if I were the teacher of this classroom there would be a couple of things that would be obstacles and challenges for me. First of all, I am not fluent in the Spanish language to say the least. I might imagine that since my classroom is made mostly of Hispanic students I would run into the situation where I wouldn’t be able to effectively communicate with a student’s parent about their child. If I had to employ a translator, I feel as though the direct connection would be harmed in getting points across and working together towards a common interest, which would be the education of their child. Something else I think that I would consider a challenge would be the school curriculum. Would it be unfair to teach these students only about American history, if I thought it would be more engaging to incorporate culture and History from the country their roots are. To learn about the different parallels between different cultures would keep the students interested because they could compare and contrast the differences that make each culture beautiful.
I personally think that hearing all sides of a story are important. When thinking of Ira Shor and his theory of education being political it makes me sad to think that our country has agendas. It’s concerning to me that students would miss out on learning important parts of things such as history for example. Another example would be teachers not being able to spend adequate time on a subject so that a student can fully learn. All in the name of using students as a ploy to learn just enough to pass a standardized test that someone else deems important. I encountered this very act when two of the students I was tutoring with were going to be given a test to assess their reading skill. Miss Lemon was aware that these students only had a certain amount of time to learn the material, and the deadline was fast approaching. Although these students wanted to learn more about words that rhyme, Miss. Lemon enforced that we needed to “move on” because we had to cover other things. These students cold have benefited from learning more about the rhyming words. It seems that when they are taught someone quickly, they seem to forget what they have just learned only a week ago. I had noticed this and wondered if taking some more time with the rhyming words would offer the time for repetition and solidify the concept in the minds of these students. I am confident that these students were not happy with moving on, when they felt that they wanted to spend more time on something that was more interesting. Instead these students had to learn just enough on this one subject to pass a test that will asses them. This test may or may not accurately determine their knowledge of something. If a person memorizes something for tomorrow, that says nothing about their understanding and true learning of the subject matter. In a week or two it is fairly safe to say this individual may seem to not understand the concepts at hand at all. How unfortunate that these students are subjected to this kind of treatment. As a teacher I think I would struggle with pushing my students before they seem ready to move forward in the name of only passing the next standardized test.

Prompt #4 Allan Johnson

When I first began the tutoring I didn’t know what to expect from the children. I knew that working in a title 1 school meant that I would be working inside a classroom where the majority would be at or below the poverty line. I also knew that most of the children I would be working with would be minority students. This is definitely not what I had experienced as a young student at their age. Thinking back to my experience as, I hadn’t really been immersed in a diverse classroom setting until I entered college, and even now many disagree that our college is a diverse setting. I attended a private grade school, and a private high school. I had never had any other children around me other than other white children. Since this was my social norm, I had never thought anything about it until I had entered high school, and there were maybe ten African American students in my school, and even fewer Hispanic students.
I was looking forward to what a diverse classroom would look like and how it would function. I had thought about how culturally rich and tolerant these students would become. I thought about the advantage they would have over a student in another school, who may be in the same situation I had been in growing up. What I found once I entered the classroom was the complete opposite of what anyone would call a diverse setting. The population of this classroom is primarily Hispanic students. I thought to myself that this is a worse setting than the experience I had described from my own account of being a young student. We have students who are all from lower earning class families, and we have them grouped together. They aren’t learning that there are other cultures, or other languages in the world to learn. This is segregation of the worst kind. Segregating children who are unaware of what is even going on. This kind of segregation is their social norm, just like it was my social norm. The difference is huge between the two. My social norm gave me an advantage over those who had less than myself, because I was taught that they just didn’t exist. I was taught that my life was important, and as god as my life was I should strive for better. I was never taught about those who felt like they couldn’t strive for better due to prejudices holding them back. Learning about prejudices didn’t happen until I was in high school, when I was gaining maturity, and understood important matters in a better way.
Allan Johnson discusses privilege, and how by being a particular race grants an individual undeserved rights. This is only obvious to those that have no privilege.. Many students are being taught from a young age their place in society. They are surrounded by those who are just like themselves. Worst of all they are unaware, as I was, that there are people different from themselves. These people that are different may either be suffering from injustices, or they may be the ones with all of the privilege. In either case the students are suffering. Those students who are considered “Privileged” are being robbed from cultural diversity they could possible learn from other students. Those who are considered to have a “lack of priviledge” may be unaware that they are in the position they are in until it feels too late for them. If a student’s classroom is a diverse setting from a very young age can possible lessen the opportunity of these students becoming adults who are unaware of the privilege that others have just because of their race.

Prompt #3: Lev Vygotsky connection

In the classroom in which I have been tutoring there is a unique teaching method in place. Miss Lemon has the children working in centers. These centers are tables or desks pushed together to form a unified work space where 3-5 students will work in a group but also independently. On a particular day I was waiting a few minutes for the students that I usually work with to finish in the Math center when I observed an interesting situation. “Amanda”, a student that I usually work, was finished with her assignment. Each student in the math center has similar math problems, but no two will have the same answers. I observed Miss Lemon working one on one with another student when she noticed “Robert” had his hand raised. She had taken notice of “Robert” and asked that he please wait and she will be right over to help him. “Amanda” took this opportunity to show “Robert” how she had completed a similar problem. This slight confusion that “Robert” had was due to the order of steps that were needed to complete this math problem. He simply needed a small push to remember how to finish his work. This is the beauty of the work centers because although students are working on their own separate assignments, they are working together as a group at the same pace. Due to the specific learning speeds of each individual student some grasp the concepts of lessons quicker than others.
This experience made me think of Lev Vygotsky. This theorist discusses the two zones of development. The first is the Zone of Actual Development. This is when a student is able to do the work on their own, and no further development is going to occur in this area. The second is the Zone of Proximal Development. This is when a student is very close to being capable of completing something new themselves, but still require the support of either a teacher or peer.
It’s interesting that these centers that Miss Lemon has put together have a diverse range of students learning speeds. These students always work together in the same group at the same center. At any given time due to a students quicker learning ability in a particular subject, any particular center will contain at least one student who is in the Zone of Actual Development and at least one student who is in the Zone of Proximal Development. In the situation I had described above “Amanda” would fall into the ZAD and “Robert” would fall into ZPD.
Although all students are given the information at the same time, different learning speeds will keep the centers at a diverse learning level. However, all of the students will benefit. At first glance it appears that “Amanda” may feel as though she is being held back in some way. One might also say that “Robert” is feeling rushed in his learning. That is not the case at all. “Robert” benefits from peer learning, since he has already been presented the material before, however the concept of the task at hand is just beyond his reach. “Amanda” is allowed the opportunity to exercise her leadership skills by helping a classmate. This also reinforces her understanding of the material if she can prove that she can explain it to another student with clarity.
If I were unaware of the theorist Vygotsky, I would not be able to fully appreciate Miss. Lemon’s centers in all of their glory. It is quite clear to me that Miss. Lemon is taking advantage of the Zones of development. The students are allowed to work together in learning while she works one on one with students who have very specific needs is quite ingenious. It’s a winning situation for all involved.

Prompt 2 : Jonathan Kozol

I have spoken in my first prompt about the entire first grade class being Spanish with the exception of two Asian students. Since I am only allowed to observe and work with students in my assigned class I decided that it would be best to take a look at the bigger picture of the backgrounds of the students in this Providence school. I turned to InfoWorks to gain a better perspective. I have learned that in the school I have been working in 81% of the students are Hispanic, 10% are White, 7% are African American, 2% are Asian and 0% are Native American. This doesn’t reflect the population of the first grade classroom that I have been working in. I believe this to be due to the fact that I am working in an ESL classroom and for that reason the percentage of Hispanic students and Asian students are higher. Going by physical appearances alone, there are no African American students or White students in my classroom.
While I took a closer look into the stats I found that 92% of the students were eligible for subsidized lunch programs. This means that these students are able to receive free or reduced lunches. This indicates that only 8% of the students at this school are above the poverty line. To parallel the high poverty rates are the lower test scores. Consistently through reading, mathematics and writing the students from this Providence school tested 15% lower than similar schools in Rhode Island. Due to residential segregation, these statistics concerning the poverty level are a mirror image of the area in which the school is located. I had mentioned in my first prompt that there were people only a block away from the school that appeared to be homeless.
Once I had gathered all of this information I began to think of Jonathan Kozol. This is because he discusses the segregation of students into schools based on the residential areas that they live in. How our society segregates children into different schools then proceeds to hide behind the excuse of De-facto segregation. De-facto segregation is an excuse for segregation that explains away the situation by saying that schools are merely a reflection of the neighborhoods, and there is nothing that can be done about it. When students who are sharing the common misfortune of being at or below the poverty level are segregated into the same school, it is proven that their test scores are lower than those schools who are segregated with children who are above the poverty line. If Funding for schools is determined by test scores, and a school collectively has lower scores, he result is that the lower scoring school will receive less funding.
I had noticed that in my classroom there is only one computer. This one computer is labeled “The listening center” because all of the children must use this one computer at some point during the day to aid in their learning of correct pronunciation of the English language. One computer is not sufficient for twenty four students who need aid in learning a new language. I have questioned Miss Lemon about this matter, and she had expressed great gratitude in having this computer, and had informed me sadly that not all classrooms are fortunate to have even one computer. There is no computer lab in this school either. I believe that due to De-Facto segregation this school has fallen short on funding for such technical equipment. I found this a little disturbing since the school is so new, and seems to have spent a fair amount of money on being visual appealing.

Prompt 1

As I was driving through the side streets to my first tutoring session I was taken back by the sight of the area that the school was located in. The streets themselves were littered with trash, and there were a few people sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks from the school who appeared to have no place else to be. One man was talking to himself, while a woman was who was carrying a large plastic container stopped suddenly and sad down on the container, she didn’t have any shoes on. I noticed their clothes were tattered and they looked poorly dressed for a chilly morning in early February. It made me think of the children who attended this school I was going to, and the possibility of them having to walk through this area to get to school in the morning. I wondered if they would be scared as I would imagine someone in first grade might be, to walk by people who are less fortunate and not understand. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was a bit shocked to see that they had so many spaces and yet so few were occupied considering had been in session for nearly two hours. I had gotten out of my car and was making my way to the front door when I had noticed the houses directly across the street from the school. They were not well maintained at all. One of the houses had some broken windows that had tape across them. Another house had two cars on the front lawn that did not look to be in working condition. There wasn’t one house that could have been described as being visually appealing. However turning to face the school was a refreshing sight. Nicely landscaped lawn, a smiling crossing guard, clean tinted windows and pristine white sidewalks greeted me.
Upon being buzzed in and entering the school, it was as if I entered a different world from what lay outside across the street. The walls were coated with fresh bright paint which contained small murals of beautiful artwork. The floor was highly polished marble and there was a skylight in the center of the lobby which brought in lots of natural light. There were many small wooden benches lining the hallway that were made of carved wood that resembled something you might find at an antique shop. I entered the main office where I was greeted by the principle Mr. Graham. He briefly showed me around the office including his office and the office of the reading specialist Ms. Tower. I noticed that neither of their offices contained a traditional desk. Instead both contained a small round table with four chairs of equal height. I thought about the effect this would have on a child who might be sent to Mr. Graham for discipline. How a child might feel less intimidated speaking in either of these offices.
Ms. Tower led me to the room that I would be working in and introduced me to the teacher, Miss Lemon. This was a first grade ELS classroom. This was not a diverse classroom since most of the children were Spanish with the exception of two Asian students. Immediately I took notice of there not being an official “teacher’s desk” in the room but instead in one corner of the room was another small round table which contained two chairs next to each other. I would learn later that Miss Lemon would sit side by side with each student at that table at least once by the end of the day. If someone had described this classroom set up to me, I would be confident that it would be a recipe for chaos and disorder. Instead of having desks of their own the classroom was set up in “centers”. There is reading center, math center, listening center, quiet center, writing center and science center. Each center had a correlating bookcase, and each bookcase held individual boxes that had a students name on them. Throughout the day led by a schedule the students moved through the centers and worked on their assignments. The teacher and her assistant would take time and pop in on each center every few minutes to see if anyone needed help. Students rarely misbehaved and were getting along very well. It seemed too good to be true. It seemed that the only time students needed discipline were when they were sitting idle instead of doing their work. At this time Miss Lemon only had to ask the student if they needed help getting started, and that seemed to jolt the idle student back to work.
It was my first impression that this school took pride in its appearance, and was clearly the shining star of the neighborhood. Once in the classroom it was very clear to me that it was important to Miss Lemon that the students be self reliant. I was a little concerned when I saw that the students did a lot of work on their own, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The students in each center were working on the same projects. The small round table in the corner insured that she would get one on one time with each student at least once a day, something that would not be guaranteed if she were teaching to the student who were arranged in rows off desks. It seems to me that this particular class room values leadership skills, and learning to be self reliant while having the safety net of a supportive teacher there if you need help. The students were allowed to speak to the other students in their work center, so their social skills were being exercised also. I was very impressed with the set up and the way that the teacher interacted with the students. It also seems to me that they value a level ground between student and teacher. They demonstrate this by not having traditional desks but instead the smaller round table for the use of interaction between student and teacher. This also impressed me because I remember in grade school feeling intimidated having to go up to the teacher’s desk at the head of the class in front of everyone to ask for help with some work. I remember the desk seemed huge, and the teachers all seemed so intimidating. It made me smile to know that these students would never have that feeling, and because of that they would have a better learning experience.

First FNED blog

Hi my name is Jennifer Petrozzi, everyone calls me Jen. I transferred to RIC as a junior for the the secondary education program and my concentration is English. Along with being a full time student I work in a local coffee shop. I love spending time with my family, friends, and my dog. Although I'm enjoying my time at RIC, I'm really looking forward to graduating in spring 2011, and starting my teaching career. Looking forward to everyone's blogs!
~Jen