The school I tutor at is a very diverse school. There are many different elasticities in this school which can be very helpful for a child's learning development. The Kindergarten class that I observe in has a white, female teacher. I've noticed that she does tell the students what to do instead of asks them and seems to be a little more demanding. In that classroom there is also another student aid who comes from another background. I am not sure of her ethnicity. But I have noticed that she seems to be a little more nicer with the children and the children seem to be more comfortable with her. Almost all of the children in this classroom have different elasticities other than white. Many are either African American or Latino. I'm not really sure if they are more comfortable with the Aid because she can relate more with them or because she isn't the teacher who has more control in the classroom.
The 3 Kindergarten children I work with are not white, I am not positive what ethnicity they are possibly Latino and Asian. There is no language barriers between any of us. They speak very well English and they have no problem speaking English with me. They absolutely love to talk about their lives. They tell me stories after stories which makes it a little difficult to get our curriculum done.
The First grade class that I also work in has a teacher who is non-white ethnicity. I don't get to observe in that classroom so I am not sure how the teacher and children work together. But I have noticed that like the Kindergarten class this classroom is mostly children who are not white. But I work with two little boys and one is actually white and the other I believe is Latino. Again there is not language barrier and they absolutely love to talk. They also love to read. It is hard to evenly split up the reading because they both want to read the most.
I wasn't able to get information of the Kindergarten and First Grade for my school but I was able to get 4th and 5th grade information from infoworks.com. Out of the 100 students 93 of them receive free lunch and 7 of them receive reduced lunch and 0 receive neither. For ethnicity it is; white-9, Black/African American-13, Hispanic or Latino-49, Asian-17, American Indian or Alaska Native-0, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-3, and Multi-response-10. In another chart it shows that most of them speak English at home and second most which isn't very far behind English is Spanish.
I think it is great to learn in a diverse environment like that. I went to high school in a very diverse school and I have learned a lot about other cultures. Being in a diverse environment like the school I tutor at, you are able to learn about other cultures, be exposed to other languages (which is very helpful now a days with jobs)and I think it really builds character. Being in school with people from other backgrounds helps you become aware of what is out there in the world and will help you in the future being able to communicate with those from other cultures. I loved going to a school in a diverse environment because I learned a lot about character and how to work with people from other races. It is difficult at times but it definitely helps build a stronger character for yourself.
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Great reasearch about the make-up of your setting. You bring up two very interesting points:
ReplyDelete- re: the reason why the students may look more comfortable with the aide, the level of authority is a big part of comfort at times especially w./ younger children it may not be stg personal about the classroom teacher, just that her/his expectations from the students are focused on learning and process more so than the aide
- re: studetns who like tyo tell stories and how it detracts from the "curriculum," this is a CONSTANT pull in teaching. Allowing students to share narratives, to "practice" language with their own stories is challenging because not all students may engage in one 'specific conversation, the ones who don't may digress, become fidgety, it may creat chaos, and it distracts from the focus you are trying to point to. However, telling narratives is an exercizer in self-expression, the very first step to public speaking, and a great multiplicator of speaking/comprehension skills as long as you try/are able to constantly model the correct grammar, by listening attentively, memorizing the words they use and use them back in instruction, have them use them in writing, point them out in reading. at times, your using back their own narratives, brings instruction to life for them, they can connect better to a more "abstract" point you are trying to make. It's much more difficult to keep up with these narratives when you visit 1/2 a week as opposed to every day for a school year!
I love how you said the kids both love to read and it's hard to split the reading because they both want to read. It's interesting because many people have certain stereotypes about Providence school children, and many people would not think that students there would actually enjoy reading. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to reading more of your posts.
ReplyDeleteThe classroom I am working with has an assertive teacher, and a more passive teachers aide as well. The teachers aide tends to gravitate towards a "reward for good behavior" view towards the students, whereas the teacher punishes students for bad behavior, taking away free time if they refuse to do something. Possibly a combination of the two would be effective, for the students only listen to the aide when they want to be rewarded, and sometimes do not respect their teacher due to their punishment.
ReplyDeleteAs for students and reading, I am having a similar problem. The teacher sometimes has me read tests to the students having trouble (as I talked about in my post you commented on previously). The students taking the tests often want to read the questions, and even fight over who is going to read them, even though they have difficulty reading. Reading is a fascinating subject to students, whether it is for leisure, or schoolwork. Too bad it doesn't go the same for taking tests!