SL Blog 3 Prompt 2

From what I have observed, Edmund W. Flynn consists of students who speak both English and Spanish. In my classroom, English is the only language spoken by the teacher and it is also the language predominately spoken by the students. According to www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu , 62 % of students at Edmund W. Flynn report that English is the language that they most often speak at home. 28 % of students report that they speak Spanish at home. These results were reported from the 2007- 2008 Salt Survey which was taken by 212 students.

Within my classroom, all of the student's ethnicity is African American. However, results from the 2007-2008 Salt Survey reported that of the many ethnicity's found at Edmund W. Flynn Elementary, 7% of students are White, 22% of students are Black/ African American, and 51% of students are Hispanic or Latino. (This survey is found at www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu). Therefore, I can conclude that compared to my classroom, there are many more Hispanic or Latino children that attend Edmund W. Flynn.

There are many sociocultural characteristics that affect the education of these students. From what I have observed, these children's culture values hard work and survival. As we read in Delpit's, "The Silenced Dialogue", working- class children expect their teacher to act as an authority figure because they have earned this title. On my first day at Edmund W. Flynn I learned very quickly that I would have to earn my label as an authority figure and the children will not look at me as such until then. Other sociocultural factors that effect these student's education is their families income level. As mentioned in an earlier post, the elementary school is set in an environment that houses poverty-level families. In fact, according to www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu , 85% of students receive free school lunches and 7% receive reduced-price lunches.

Cultural Capital is a way of explaining what students achieve in their education due to their culture. The cultural capital that the children at Edmund W. Flynn bring into the classroom is wide in diversity. This is a result of their race (predominately Hispanic/Latino), gender (53% of students at Edmund Flynn are female) * www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu *, and family standing in society (working class). Due to these student's race they learn through experience because their race values skills that can help them survive in the culture of power. Therefore, these students bring their stories into the classroom and thrive on learning that can be connected with these experiences. Due to these students living in a poor environment, these children value hard work and understand that learning requires determination. The children always bring smiles into the classroom and are eager to learn something new.

According to the colleges who are developing the Rhode Island Teacher Education Renewal project, The culturally competent teacher should be able to account for, demonstrate awareness of, and respond to the sociocultural distinctiveness of her and his students, families, and communities when planning for and delivering instruction.
I think that there are many assets that can be developed in order to strengthen this goal. According to Delpit, teachers need to know how to give instruction without making it sound like a suggestion. This is because students who are from a culture where directions are given as commands, misunderstand the teacher and do not do as they ask If the teacher was aware of the sociocultural distinctiveness between his/her students, then he/she would be able to give instructions in a way that is non-confusing to these students. Another asset that can be developed is the creation of lesson-plans and curriculum's that benefit students with sociocultural distinctiveness. Delpit argues that these children of color cannot learn from a curriculum made by white upper class individuals. Lake in "An Indian Father's Plea" also argues this theory by writing, "If you don't have the knowledge, preparation, experience, or training to effectively deal with culturally different children, I am willing to help you with the few resources I have available or direct you to such resources." I see this developing asset in my service learning classroom. The teacher knows each one of her student's personally so that when she makes lesson plans, she creates lessons and instructions that are specialized to the needs of her students.

Lastly, another asset that could be developed to not only strengthen the culturally competent teacher, but also society, is to educate individuals on the culture of poor or children of color. If people understood the different characteristics and values within this culture, they will become more culturally competent. As Delpit argued, if teachers were culturally competent, they may recognize that each student comes into the classroom with different background information. White, middle-class children come into school knowing the alphabet, while poor-Black children know the skills of survival.

SL Blog #2 (Prompt 1)

When I first drove up to my SL Project elementary school, I noticed that the school was set right in the middle of the city. Buildings are in very close confinement to one another, and the elementary school is set in a lower class neighborhood. I also noticed that there was trash and litter outside of the school, even on the steps that led to the main office. There was also no landscaping.

The space and structure of the school was very unfamiliar to me, the configuration was huge, extending three stories high. However, there was no playground for the children to play in. When recess came, the children used a space that could pretty much be summed up as an empty lot with a fence around it.

When entering the classroom, I immediately felt welcome by the teacher and students. The space in the classroom was well used, the walls covered with mathematical vocabulary words and children's art work. The desks were separated into groups so that the students could network with one another while taking advantage of the space in the classroom. When teaching lessons the teacher used the over-head projector. For example, when learning how to measure angles with a protractor, the teacher drew different angles and displayed them to the class using the over-head projector.

The children in the classroom were predominately Black and were diverse in their academic abilities. Some children had IEPS and needed help with their daily class work, while others, could have been in the gifted program. Unfortunately, the gifted program had been removed from the school due to lack of funding. I also learned that some of the children's academic abilities differ due to a strained home life. One child was a selective mute, which made it difficult to communicate with him, because of experiencing a traumatic incident earlier in his life. All of the students however, had trouble staying in their seats and concentrating on one subject for a long time. As we read in Susan Engel's argument, What it Takes to Become a Great Teacher, factors such as low socio-economic levels (which is seen in the school's neighborhood), and poor family life can all influence the way a child learns.

The teacher was very friendly and explained her reasons for why she taught each lesson the way that she did. All of her lessons depended on the academic ability of her students, and how long the students could concentrate on that subject. In order to create these specialized lesson plans, the teacher personally knew each student and their learning disabilities as well as specialities. This gave me a great feeling about the school, knowing that this teacher put so much time into making her students understand what she was teaching. Making the students feel comfortable enough to learn was definitely something valued in her classroom. For this classroom teacher, the value of knowing that her students were learning in a stable environment ranked higher than the value of high test scores.

Unfortunately, according to www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu , this elementary school ranks below the state's target index score in Mathematics and English language arts. However, due to this 4th grade teacher, and the elementary school's value of having their students attend a stable, comfortable environment, this has increased the attendance of most students. According to www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu , this elementary school ranks higher in attendace rate than the state's attendance target.

About Me (Blog 1)

Hi ! My name is Jennifer Dinerman and currently I am in my second semester of freshmen year at Rhode Island College. This semester seems to be going pretty well (still hard to tell though because it has only been two weeks). At the end of these 15 weeks I hope to apply to the school of Education. Last semester, I seemed to have a harder time adjusting to the college atmosphere and difficult schedule. When I'm not in class I love to hang out with my friends, family, and pets. But, most of the time when I am not in class, I am studying for my next class. It seems like a never ending schedule, but I know all of my hard work will pay off. Thanks for reading!