Question # 2

My classroom consists of mostly black and hispanic children, there is one white child and one asian child. The teacher in the classroom is white, her assistant is black, and myself along with the other tutor are white. Some of the children speak spanish, but most of them are all fluent in English. This classroom reminds me of the last article that we read in class that dealt with miscommunication and power struggles between black and whites in the school. There is a huge language barrier along with a misunderstanding, and a lack in communication between them. This results in work not being completed and children being left out of and forgotten about during activities. The children in the classroom bring a fresh sense of openness and willing to learn to the society and the school. Children who were black and white were playing games with eachother and reading books without thinking twice about it. Even though they come from very different households and cultures, there is no language barrier between them or lack of communication. To them, they are there to learn, have fun, and make friends. I think that this kind of positive attitude and openess to new things will strengthen our society.

Question # 1

The school that I am tutoring at is right across the street from Women and Infants Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, and Hasbro Children's Hospital. The school building is very old and does not have much color or any plants. In order to get into the school you need to be buzzed in through an intercom at the door. The classrooms inside are all decent sizes and have a lot of color, posters, and artwork from the children hanging in them. The hallways also have a lot of artwork and school work done by the children in them too. From looking at the teachers, the women working in the main office, and the reading coach, I get the feeling that they all want to make this school a place where the children feel safe and where theygrow into indivudals and learn repect, responsibillity, and other life skills. When I arrived at the school, I was given a piece of paper with cut outs of feathers on it and was told that the school was trying to promote respect of themselves and others around them. I did not get to meet the children I will be tutoring or the teachers and classrooms that I will be tutoring in but I was able to go around and take a look at them and see some of the children. I am excited to start tutoring next Monday and hope that this will be a fun learning experience. On the website infoworks I researched the demographics for my school and I learned that 82 percent of the students there are eligiable for free or reduced priced lunch, they are twenty percent lower in the proficency rating for reading, writing, and math, than the state of Rhode Island, parents and family members are not actively involved with the school...only about 20 % of them are, 54 % of the students there are hispanic, and 38% are black.

Short Biography

My names Kayla, I'm eighteen and a freshman at RIC hoping to be an elementary school teacher or a high school teacher. I live in Barrington and graduated from Barrington High School. I have two younger sisters, 16 and 8. I love cheerleading, I cheered for two years for pop warner and four years all throughout high school and am currently the coach for the barrington high school team.