I thought it was interesting to consider the effects of the
home environment have on a student’s education.
I also thought it was interesting that simple things such as vision
problems or hearing problems could greatly effect a child’s learning, and these
problems can easily be fixed.
A school is typically set up based on the majority
population. If the majority of the
students at the school are white and celebrate Christmas, the teacher may talk
about Christmas and neglect to discuss the other holidays that students of
different backgrounds may celebrate.
Classrooms are inequitable when not all cultural groups are
addressed. Also it’s important for
teachers to teach in a way that all students from different backgrounds can
learn and understand.
I would help Alice in my classroom by helping her understand
the difference between formal and informal language. I will instruct to her that it’s important to
use formal language in school. I will
correct her in a positive way when she speaks using informal language so that I
am not degrading her or harming her self-efficacy. When she may say something like “I bes fine”
I would tell her that I would rather her say “I am fine.” This way Alice can learn the proper way to
speak, and start developing habits to speak using formal language. It’s important to not allow Alice to use her
home language or she will never learn academic language and continue to
struggle. If formal language is picked
up at a young age Alice will have an easier time advancing in school. I can help Alice during extra classroom time
by providing grammar worksheets and one-on-one help so she begins to develop
these new grammar skills.
I like your ideas here, but I want to make an important note. You note you are teaching Alice the 'proper way to speak'. This is something A LOT of teachers might say, but I want you to recognize why it's problematic (this may or may not be what you meant, but I want to be sure).
ReplyDeleteYou might want to look over the slides from Monday. It's important to emphasize the non traditional language and formal academic language as simply two dialects of English, NOT preferencing one over another, or calling one 'the proper way to speak'. The emphasis should be on building a bridge from the old to new dialect, or teaching them the new dialect as a new (additional) language.
Of course, telling them why academic langauge is important to their future success is a good idea, as you suggest. NOT teaching them academic language would put them at a disadvantage, but there is no reason to assume they will NEVER use their more comfortable dialect (outside of school). Maybe you can communicate when you expect academic language (and teach them this dialect if they don't know it) and when they can choose.