Question # 5

As a teacher, the challanges that I might encounter while collaborating with the parents of my students is that they might be teaching some things at home differently that I am in the classroom. The way that the children are used to being talked to at home, or being asked to do various things like sit down, throw something away, or go get something, can be different from the way that I ask them to do those things. In a culutrally diverse classroom, some of the students might only have Spanish or Chineese spoken at their home, and the only time that they hear English or are spoken to in English is in the classroom. Personally, I think that I would address these challengese by having some sort of teacher conference in the beginning of the year, and plan to have them throughout the year so I can be in constant communication with the parents and be aware of what the children are doing at home, the progress that they are making, and if there is anything important going on in their lives that I should be aware of. Also, a weekly sign in sheet or check up that goes home with the children would allow me or any teacher to be able to see progress being made, if any at all. I would show respect for the concern of various parents by making my classroom culturally diverse and showing that I am making an effort to teach outside the box and try new and different things to make sure that all of the students are learning and have equal resources to learning.

Blog

This visit to my classroom was my fourth visit. The way my reading coach has the visits set up is that the first half hour we pick out our game that we are going to play, our sight words, and the poem of the week. Then, the second half hour we meet in groups with our three children and play the games, after we are done we are sent back to our meeting room and fill out our paperwork of what we did with the kids, the games that we played, how they acted, and if they made any progress. Personally, I feel that we do not have enough time to fully make a difference or an impact on the students. We're basically given ten minutes to do each activity with the children and it feels very rushed. I think that if we were given more time, even ten minutes more, they would learn more and the information would sink in better. There is one boy in my group who knows all of his sight words and can play the games and make sentences effortlessly. I think that if he were doing another activity or had harder words to learn, it would better benefit him. Also, something that really upset me, and I felt was very wrong to be happening in a school enviorment was the way the teacher next door acted. She screamed at one little boy for not being in the right seat. She did not ask him once to move, or say it sternlly, she screamed like a drill sergeant. I dont think my parents have ever yelled at me like that. These children come from single parent homes in poverty and probably have to deal with things like that at home and it should not be happening to them in school. This school should be a place where they come and feel safe and protected, not somewhere where they need to feel on edge or uncomfortable. Teachers should be someone who they can look up to, feel safe with, and confide in; not someone who they are afraid of.

Question # 4

How might your personal history/sociocultural characteristics intersect with those of your students?
My third visit to the elementry school this time was much more productive and I got to know the kids a little bit better. They seemed to open up more and talk about their family and life out of school. It seems that all three children in the group come from big families and have a lot of siblings, which I can relate to because I have two younger sisters and a lot of cousins. Also, when I was younger, in elementry school reading and writing did not come easily to me and I had some trouble with it. One girl in my group doesnt pay attention and is constantly ignoring the activities that we are doing. I think that this is just because she struggles with the activies and feels uncomfortable about not understanding it. For me, it was easier to work with a visual aid and more one on one with the teacher and it seems that for her, it is easier as well. I gave her her own copy of the poem we were reading and her own marker to draw on it with and that seemed to help her because she has control over the situation and the activity.