- One thing that I really liked and thought would be useful in the future was the part about teachers giving back thru teaching and encouraging students to do the same. I never really thought about teaching as a way to really give back to the community. It was just about enlightening kids about the future and allowing them to make good choices through their education. I will definitely be willing to have a talk with my students about giving back to the community and letting them know they can make a difference.
- It's hard for teachers to be equitable because it's hard to teach and be culturally relevant at the same time. Most of the things we have to teach are all mandated, so there's no room for us to interpret or do our own things.
- One idea I think would be helpful would be to let her know that other kids are struggling too. Maybe allow her to go and talk with kids from other foreign places and let them work together to accomplish the task of getting more acquainted with formal English. That way she won't feel as if it's just her being "picked on". By doing this we are able to show her she's not the only one.
- Another idea I have is to teach the class as a whole about being comfortable learning new things, and believing that you can. That way she doesn't feel singled out and does understand that everyone is willing to help and work towards a goal. So if she comes to after school tutoring one day, then I can just make sure she believes she make the change to formal English and really learn something new without being embarrassed for help. It's all about teaching her to have confidence in herself as well as just being able to be unafraid to ask for guidance.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Equity
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I like when you said "It's hard for teachers to be equitable because it's hard to teach and be culturally relevant at the same time. Most of the things we have to teach are all mandated, so there's no room for us to interpret or do our own things." I completely agree. I think it's hard for teachers to use their creativity to encompass all learners because we have to follow a certain curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that this is the only other equity post besides mine, so I guess I'll comment on yours twice! I also really like your idea to encourage Alice to speak in more standard/formal English at school because it doesn't make her feel out of place or uncomfortable. I'll try it in my future classroom!
ReplyDeleteI also like your comment about teachers having difficulty in equity because of mandated policies. It is hard for teachers to try to engage all of the different cultures when they have such limited time and resources to do so.
ReplyDeleteI like how you had the idea to have Alice talk to other students struggling in class also. I think it's important for students to feel that they're not alone, and others are also struggling. They can then work together to achieve formal English.
ReplyDeleteGiven your first two points here, you might want to take a look at the 'culturally relevant teaching strategies' in Resources. We discussed those in class today, but they are excerpts from an article (also on Oncourse) "But Isn't That Just Good Teaching?: The Case For Culturally Relevant Pedagogy". One of the suggestions is about giving back to the community in meaningful ways.
ReplyDeleteYou say it's hard to teach and be culturally relevant at the same time, but one point made throughout the article (and class today) is that CRP is really just GOOD TEACHING--it connects students lived experiences to the academic material in some way. Teachers are 'culture translators' or bridge builders in that way. I think that's a general strategy that you could use in future teaching--we know for learning theory reasons why these connections are a good method!