So it's been a while since I've blogged, thank you Thanksgiving.

The latest stressor for this class has been my culture presentation. I have to admit, I was very nervous going into the presentation, which for me is unusual. I guess I was just afraid with both the elements of the project that I wasn't being thorough enough about culture. However, I felt like my class presentation went well, and it seemed like it was well received. I am glad I chose to study the event that I did because it really did have a lot of interesting things to observe from a teacher/ethnographer standpoint. I also enjoyed hearing some of the other presentations that were given. For instance, I found the culture of the hallways at the school to be particularly interesting. I never really thought about the way students relate the hallways to punishment, or even extra freedom, but it occurred to me during the presentation that when I was in middle school I always appreciated being able to walk in the hallways during class because they were quiet and I could walk at my own pace. I had definite self-esteem issues in middle school, and I recall the hallways being the type of place I got out of as fast as I possibly could. It was a place for socializing, and I didn't do a lot of socializing in middle school. I would make a bee line for my class, and get there as fast as I possibly could- head down, books clutched to my chest.
I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the culture presentations.

Observation today was a little different. My co-op teacher was a bit frazzled as she has a large research paper for one of her masters classes that she needs to write, so she is taking tomorrow off to write it. The kids were apparently complaining that she was crabby, which frustrated her. In order to help her get things done, she put myself and another intern to work filing graded papers for different classes. Though mundane, this seemed like a valuable task because it shows how much extra work there is for teachers to do all the time. There were stacks of graded papers that had to be filed for the students, and she reported that the last time she had the students file their own papers it was a disaster. I have an even better understanding now of some of the behind the scenes work that must get pushed to the wayside. It's clear that in addition to actually teaching and creating lesson plans, teachers must keep up with grading, and other tedius tasks.

RE: Observation

Wednesday's observation was nothing too out of the ordinary, but I wanted to comment on Poetry club. The club keeps growing and growing, and it seems like such a positive thing for the students. It provides them with a safe environment where they can share their thoughts with each other in a more unstructured fashion...no hand raising....so it fosters good discussion skills- respect, good listening, etc. Also, it encourages creativity and critical thinking about the poems presented. But something that interests me is watching the students interact with each other. The room is set up with all the desks in a big circle so everyone can see everyone else. The placement of the students in the desks is very intriguing. There is one student in particular, who I'll call Emily, that interests me. Emily always tries to sit very close to the teacher. She is VERY eager to talk about anything, especially poetry, her own poetry, others poetry, and how she feels about poetry. She reminds me a lot of myself in middle school, a little to eager to learn for the other kids tastes, and too interested in impressing the teacher. While it doesn't bother Emily, the other kids can be brutal. I haven't seen it much to her face, but they seem to be talking about her behind her back when she is constantly raising her hand or sharing with the rest of the class.

Watching Emily is almost an out of body experience for me. I can just see myself in her place and feel the rejection coming from my peers. It hurts me to watch her, because regardless of the teasing going on behind her back, she continues to "overachieve." You see, it's not that she's doing something wrong. In fact, she's doing something right by working so hard to do well in school. She's probably a bit more mature in some ways, and knows it, so she exercises that in school. And the fact that she's seemingly not bothered by the teasing is refreshing, though I remember myself at that age, putting on a good face at school, and being completely depressed at home. I can tell that even Ms. H senses the tension from Emily's peers when Emily is taking the spotlight, and I sense that she wishes she could do something about it. I wonder, as a teacher, where the line is. I would love to take Emily as a friend and talk to her about how she really feels about school. I would like to ask her about her friends and her experiences. I would like to find out if she is as confident away from her peers as she is in front of them.

Middle school is a tough place. I'm glad, for the kids' sake that it only lasts 3 years.

RE: Yellow reading (Supreme court decisions)

Most of the court decisions on this handout were new to me, so I was interested in seeing what kind of decisions had been made about education in the past. A couple in particular caught my eye.

I noticed a pattern in decisions having to do with the teaching of Evolution vs. Creation in schools. It seems that this debate is ongoing and there is no real end in sight. It is hard for me to say, as a Christian, whether or not students should or should not learn one or the other. I think personally that teaching evolution in schools is just a basic lesson in science. We know that science is not exact, and that even our "proof" could never be truly verified or denied. Therefore, if one's faith is strong enough that they do not allow the idea of evolution to tamper with their religious beliefs, then there should not be a problem. The issue at hand, however, is not so much whether or not it should be taught, but who gets to decide. The government doesn't have the bias of the church, and the church doesn't have the bias of the government. Neither one is really equipped to make an informed decision by representing the other's point of view equally.

The other decision that caught my attention was San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez. Here there was argument over funding and "equitable redistribution of funds across the state's school districts." The decision was that funding doesn't have to be equal across districts. Kozol covered this idea in his book, so it naturally caught my eye. I think in response to this idea, Kozol would say that ideally we would want equal distribution of funds across state school districts. That way there would be more equality of education of students. If there was equality, there would not be the opportunity for people in more affluent neighborhoods to keep all the wealth in one place, and with redistribution, everyone would be more likely to chip in and give more to educating their children. For example: Compare one wealthy high school (A) and one poorer high school (B). If there was a redistribution of funds and funding was taken away from A to make it equal to B, then perhaps the community around A would be more inclined to give to the district in general so that A could be raised, and by doing so, B would be raised as well.

I think this decision would be worth reconsidering if equality in education is valued in this nation.

One of the most prominent experiences with special ed students I ever had was when I taught dance classes in high school. I was teaching a 3-4 year old basic creative dance class, and a few weeks in my boss told me that I would be getting two new students the next week. Both girls, one 3, one 4, had Downs syndrome. At first I was very nervous, thinking that I wouldn't know what to do with students so young that couldn't really communicate with me. It turned out to be such a worthwhile experience. The girls loved the class more than any of the others, and while they required a lot of attention, they taught me, my student teacher, and the rest of the girls in the class, that being different doesn't mean bad. In the two years I taught them, there was noteable improvement, which made me feel so proud. Their mothers and I formed a good relationship, and they were so appreciative of how accepting and accomadating I was of their daughters.

Something that always bothered me, however, was how the girls were treated by my boss and the secretary (her mother) at the studio I worked at. I always felt that both of them considered the girls to be more of a nuisance than an asset to the class. They would frequently refer to them negatively, and they expected more than was necessarily appropriate. For instance, on picture day, both of the girl's mothers wanted individual shots along with the group shot. Getting 8 three year olds to sit still long enough to take a picture in an itchy ballet costume is hard enough, but throw two kids with Downs in, and it takes a whole lot more effort. The secretary was visibly frustrated by how long it was taking, and she made a comment along the lines of that their mothers should have been more considerate and not gotten individual shots because they were such a pain to shoot. I responded immediately that those girls and their mothers were just as entitled to those pictures as all the other "normal" girls. Regardless of how much extra time it would take, even if it put the schedule behind, sometimes I think it's necessary to make those accomadations so those children and their parents do not feel like they are an inconvenience to anyone. When a child has a disablity, there is no one to blame. Especially the child. These special needs children have every bit as much right to success, and education, and fun as everyone else.

I finished Learning Denied this afternoon. In general, the book has inspired me to truly be reflective about each of the students in my classroom. This is an ongoing process, but as a teacher it is crucial that you have a working knowledge of how your students are functioning in the classroom. While it is probably very difficult to give enough individual attention to be able to solve every students issues completely, I should think that with a situation like Patrick was in where his parents were deeply involved in a school struggle, that the teacher would go a bit out of their way to investigate themself. It disturbed me the lack of consideration given to Patrick's well-being in the situation. The repeated testing and the constant stress put on his parents was not invisible to this very intelligent little boy.

One of the boys I babysit for very often at home is facing challenges in school. He went into kindergarten as a young five year old because his mother felt he was really ready. Since then he has done well with the academic concepts and has excelled in school, but his attention span, maturity levels, and completion rates are problematic. Recently his mother took him to the doctor after struggling for nearly a year with his teachers and school administrators, as well as the school social worker. All the meetings and evaluations seemed to lead nowhere, just as in Patrick's situation. This year, in third grade, he has been facing even more difficulty in the classroom and at home. He is not completing his work in class, and circulates between being overactive and sluggish. The doctor suggested a trial of ADD medication to see whether that would help him find focus in the classroom. This was never administered, however, because his father would not allow it.

Now I understand that the child feels that he is stupid. His mother receives bad reports home weekly, if not more, and she is becoming frustrated with his lack of motivation to do any of his work at home. I worry that he is falling into a cycle where he feels that he will never be able to do what everyone wants him to do, so he isn't even going to try. It pains me to think that this could be damaging him emotionally, because I know that his mother only wants him to be able to succeed.

I am learning as I get more experience in and out of the classroom that being a teacher is probably one of the hardest jobs out there. The responsibility is huge, and the power is scary. One bad year in school can change a child for life. I hope that when I get to the point of being responsible for a classroom full of young students that I will be prepared to be thorough and influential in a positive way.

Learning Denied is a very difficult book to read. Not because the content is over my head, but because the situation faced by Patrick and his parents is so horrifying. I can not even imagine what it must feel like as a parent or as a teacher to watch a child be poked and prodded, and to see his parents visibly suffer at the hands of a school administration.

Reading this book led me to ask some questions of a friend of mine whose younger sister is learning disabled. While the situation was a bit different because it was easier to identify that she was having difficulty learning, the struggle of her mother was similar to that of Pat and Claudia. Parents going through this process deserve so much praise for their dedication to their child. I firmly believe that the public school system should consider reforms so that parents like Pat and Claudia do not have to be bullied by school administrations who think they know the child better than his own parents.


RE: What would you change about the disciplinary methods in your co-op classroom?
I find that in general my co-op teacher gets a lot of respect from her students, so she doesn't face many discipline issues in the classroom. However, when she does she generally issues one or two verbal warnings, and then writes out detentions to those students causing a disruption. She does not talk over students, and is clear about her expectations in the classroom. I take her cues when it comes to addressing issues in the classroom like talking or students getting out of their seats. My personal view on discipline in the classroom is that with each group of students the method of maintaining order is going to be a little bit different. I think as long as a teacher has a certain philosophy and set of expectations for what they want the classroom environment to be like and they make that clear to their students, then they're on the right track. For me, a good learning environment is one in which every student's needs are met to the best of the teacher's ability, so the teacher needs to discipline the students based on the needs of everyone in the class.

For coaching today, we walked into the classroom and the first thing I noticed was one of my fellow coaches students. Her left eye was completely swollen shut and bruised. I was immediately concerned, so when we were finished I asked my friend about what happened. Apparently the student and some of her friends were playing kickball in one of the local schoolyards. A group of older girls pulled up in a car and began to harass the girls playing kickball. An argument ensued, and resulted in the student falling on a fence and injuring her eye.

This situation horrified me for a few reasons. First, the girls that were harassing the students were much older than typical middle school students. Second, the girl who was in the fight provoked the fighting by inviting the girls in the car to come and stop talking trash.

The whole situation has led me to believe that I still have a lot to learn about the dynamics of the community in which I am working and living. Within the university it is easy to dismiss the characteristics of the surrounding community because it is not visible most of the time. However, people living in the community are facing difficult choices and situations on a daily basis. I know that if I want to be able to understand and empathize with my students, I will need to have a working understanding of their environment.

The reading in Learning denied is going to be very interesting for me, because I have already written a case study report. After the first three sections I have already learned a lot about what I could have done to make my case study even better. I like that Taylor includes so much description and detail. It is clear that her notes throughout the entire process were very clear, and that she did more than written notes, but recorded the time she spent with Patrick. I'm already disturbed by the process Patrick and his parents went through in his early schooling with the constant testing and worries coming from the school officials. I feel sorry for Patrick's parents because they were trying to field complaints from many directions, and they were discovering inconsistencies that raised worries in their own minds. It angers me from their perspective that the school would not listen to their point of view, because they should know Patrick best, as he lives with them. However, I can also imagine that Patrick's teacher has a very different view of him because most kids function and behave differently when they are in school away from their parents and in an environment where there are many other children and lots of distractions. I am interested to see what unfolds with Patrick's story.

I was impressed by the Lit Circle group that went yesterday. I thought their powerpoint was very clear, and the information they presented was very precise and helpful with teaching the things we would really be able to use from their book. The idea of culturally relevant teaching really intrigues me. I commented one day in class about the risk of a teacher getting involved in the community because in my experience, most of my teachers have been relatively private about their personal lives. I always thought that it was important for a teacher not to reveal a great deal about themselves personally because it was the students that should get to know each other well. That's not to say that students shouldn't be comfortable with their teacher, or that the teacher should hide their values and beliefs, but that the teacher should be more focused on generating relationships among the students so that they can relate and work with each other. The idea of culturally relevant teaching requires a teacher to get involved in the community outside of school. I like this idea, but it is not for the faint of heart. Especially in urban and rural communities, it seems that everyone knows everyone else's business, so a teacher would have to be very careful to always set a good example in case someone was keeping track.

Further, I like the idea of the teacher as an artist. I have always thought that teaching is an art, not a science. I can't see any other way of teaching than to be flexible and move at the pace of the students so that they understand all of what is going on fully before moving on. I also think the method of considering all students to have the tools to succeed is key in a classroom, especially in the primary grades. If children feel challenged and supported, they are more likely to rise to the challenge and prove themselves. Students that feel like their teacher has already labeled them as a failure will be less likely to improve, and more likely to skate along at a passing grade, but not a satisfactory grade. I think when I have a classroom of my own, I'll take these aspects of culturally relevant teaching, and keep them near my desk as a reminder of some key things to remember each day when working with my students.

Observation was fun today. The first class was extremely squirrely, and they were having trouble focusing. Ms. H ended up assigning them extra homework because of their lack of cooperation in class. I thought that was a good idea, considering they wasted so much time in class, though I'll be interested to find out whether or not they actually complete the extra work. At lunch I had the interesting experience of sitting in on the first meeting of the Poetry club. Ms. H and one of her colleagues that teach the poetry unit this year have developed a poetry club that meets at lunch time on Wednesdays. There was a very positive response by the students, and there were more than 20 present at the first meeting. The idea of the club is to read and share poetry, but also to speak with poets and write poetry. Ms. H contacted students at the two local universities to see whether there would be anyone interested in coming in and sharing their own poetry with the students. There was an overwhelming response and so there will be several guest speakers coming in to work with the students. I'm very pleased that this will be happening every week from now on, because it gives me another way in which to see how the students interact with each other.

I was worried after the first class that the students would be rowdy in the poetry club meeting too, but I found it incredible how much more respectful and focused the students were in a group that they were not required to attend. They were engaged in discussion and were actively listening to their peers. I was very impressed with their behavior, and I'll be interested to see what happens next week as well. I think this would make for a very cool culture project: The culture of students in extra-curricular academic activities.