I liked this web-site because hunger in America is growing. Everyone knows what it feels like to miss lunch, well there are children that are hungry everyday, and others that never get the proper nutrition. My Children will be able to relate to the stories of others in their own neighborhoods and from around the world and through conversation offer their own suggestions of ways to reach out to the hungry. Through this lesson my class could begin to manage a school cupboard. A place that parents could receive food throughout the year. Having food drives on Thanksgiving is great, but it's not enough. This would be an example of hands on teaching.
http://elschools.org/best-practices/moving-conflict-peace-0 The blog posting by Todd Felton titled: "Moving from Conflict to Peace" was interesting. I am wanting to teach Social Studies, and my job will be to show the relevance of history and events to my students. In order for my students to understand the significance of injustice of the past, by looking at the present maybe we will be able to help change the future; even if it's in their own family, school, or community. The teacher in the article used three basic questions for the students in "Peace Circles" to approach conflicts What was the harm? Who is responsible? How can we fix it? What was exciting to me was the fact that students began taking responsibility of their own actions, in one of their own conflicts with other students. This is a good example of culturally responsive teaching because, the teacher allowed the students to work in groups to work out problems, and listen to one another. In my opinion this is a life long lesson.
"By providing my students and myself with tools for addressing conflict, we’ve become better-equipped and willing to work toward peace, holding ourselves and one another more accountable for the simple choices we make on a day-to-day basis." (Felton 2012)
After reading studies on the dialect of the
Appalachian student it is apparent that there is a problem in which schools and
teachers instruct their students. It is
believed that those students that come from low income homes often fail to do
well in school because of a teachers preconceived philosophy; a cultural deficit perspective.A cultural deficit perspective is detrimental
to society, because if students are overlooked simply because of where they
came from, the cycle of illiteracy and poverty continues. Teaching students that the language that they
learn at home is incorrect and forced to speak differently when reading and
writing, the student is in effect being closed off, or at least seriously
impeded from accessing the world of print (Purcell Gates, 2002). The belief
that the families of students of the socioeconomically disadvantaged do not value
education and often fail is a direct result of the culture deficit perspective;
which has devastating results; such as, poor grades, a high dropout rate, and
an overrepresentation in special education.
“First, and most obvious, teachers and schools must
accept, believe and act upon the belief that children of poverty are learners,
have been learning since birth, and are ready to learn at any time, and will
learn” (Purcell-Gates, 2002).
Most teachers believe students need to learn Standard English
so that they will have the communication skills which will enable them more
opportunities in the future. It is from this belief that many teachers have
developed a negative attitude toward minority dialects as forms of incorrect
English; a cultural difference perspective.
When teachers use corrective measures to teach Standard English, there
is an automatic implication of wrongness in the student’s own dialect which
sets those children up to feel inferior and creates a dynamic resistance to the
school experience, (Rowland, & Marrow, 2010). For example, the
"habitual be." When speakers of standard American English hear the
statement "He be reading," they generally take it to mean "He is
reading." But that's not what it means to a speaker of Black English, for
whom "He is reading" refers to what the reader is doing at this
moment. "He be reading" refers to what he does habitually, whether or
not he's doing it right now. While a teacher’s
intention in teaching their students Standard English, it is possible that their
corrective attitude toward non-standard variations has actually been impeding
their chances for academic progress, which creates a barrier between the values
of home and school.
“The challenges for our schools and educational institutions-
to teach kids to speak the language of education without denigrating the
speaker.” “Language not only
communicates what we are thinking, language also communicates who we are. Language
is a reflection of a people” (Rowland, & Marrow, 2010)
Teachers who practice cultural deficit perspective often fail
to pay attention to those aspects of the student’s life experience and family
that make him/her unique and resilient.Avoiding deficit thinking requires a willingness to take the time
to learn more about the lives of individual students outside of school and
celebrating their uniqueness. Luis Moll, a professor at the University of
Arizona, has done work with school teachers using an approach called “funds of knowledge.” This approach involves teachers forming research teams,
going out into the communities where their students live and doing ethnographic
research to find the funds of knowledge the people in those communities
collectively possess. The families shared what they knew (Moll, 1992). Teachers then return back to their schools,
share their findings and incorporate them into the structure and content of
lessons they teach in their classes. This is a commitment of time and effort,
but it makes teachers more knowledgeable about their students. Schools are then reshaped by the presence and
participation of families from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Teachers
can avoid a cultural deficit perspective, by considering what’s right with the
children they teach and building on what they already know, rather than what’s
wrong and needs to be fixed.
“The secret to literacy instruction is for schools to
investigate and tap into the “hidden” home and community resources of their
students. And he points out that his research calls the “deficit model” of
student assessment into serious question" (Gonzalez, Greenberg & Velex,
1994).
A Strategy that can improve literacy
instruction for speakers of non-standard English is to let students use their
informal speech in the classroom and acknowledge it as a valid language which
does not have to be corrected and is not wrong (Epstien & Herring-Harris,
2011). Teachers that work to teach
students the structural differences and similarities of non-standard English
and Standard English help students to “code switch,” moving back and forth
between the students dialect and Standard English. “By using their own words to describe these
patterns, students move from what they intuitively know about language
(cultural capital), to an understanding of language variation and how it works
in different settings and with different audiences” (Epstein &
Herring-Harris, 2011)
Mainstream
America’s intolerance of language varieties extends to the classroom, where
dialect is pitted against Standard English.
The classroom creates a dichotomy of good and bad, poor and proper, and
correct and incorrect with home voices always falling short of the
standard. But research shows that
nothing could be further from the linguistic truth (Epstein &
Herring-Harris, 2011).
The “Where I’m From,” project supports and
acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages as worthy content to be
taught in the formal curriculum. It is with this project that a student can
learn more about themselves, their families, what is important to them and
about others in their classroom. It
builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experience. It creates
a sense of community, and a place of belonging.
Our culture is central to
learning. It plays a role not only in communicating and receiving information,
but also in shaping the thinking process of groups and individuals (Education
Alliance, 2006).
Speakers
of non-standard English would be welcome in my classroom. I would shape my curriculum with the
characteristics of culturally responsive teaching. I will do this by creating a safe place in my
classroom in which everyone feels comfortable.
I will engage in
dialogue with the parents of my students and invite parents to participate in
their child's education. I will explore the
cultures represented in my classroom and adapt lessons so that they reflect
ways of communicating and learning that are familiar to the students. And
finally, I will teach my students to build on their own literacy experiences
and acknowledge their cultural differences, while teaching respect for each other’s
values.
Gonzales,
N., Greenberg, J. & Velez, C. Thanks Funds of Knowledge: A Look at Luis
Moll’s Research Into Hidden Family Resources, CITYSCHOOLS, 1 (1), 19-21, 1994.
Mull,
l. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching:
Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. (1992). Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-41.
Purcell-Gates,
V. (2002). “…As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K.
Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language,
culture and power.
Rowland,
J. & Marrow, D. (2010). Dialect Awareness
Education: The importance of Watching Our Words. USC Undergraduate
Research Journal Vol 3.
