Troublemakers

                                                                     Troublemakers 

Reflection: 

While reading Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby I was making many connections to past readings we have done over the course of the semester. Shalaby was discussing how students who are typically seen as “troublemakers” need to be looked at from a different angle. Instead of believing that it is the students who are the problem we should look deeper into the system and the environment that they are being seen as a “troublemaker”. Shalaby is claiming that if we were to look deeper into the child's home life you will find that they typically are a good individual once they are somewhere their culture is embraced, they are explicitly told the instructions and expectations, and they feel accepted. As we previously discussed in class schools are catered to those that fit the SCWAAMP (Straight, Christian, White, American, Able-bodied, Male, Property owner) characteristics. As a result students who do not fit these characteristics are typically excluded in their school system. In addition to this it leads to students not knowing the rules and expectations that most schools have due to them not being explicitly told as they are just assumed to know them. This then leads to students not knowing how they are expected to act in school since it is different from what they are learning at home making them be seen as a “troublemaker”. If we look at these students in all aspects and teach in culturally responsive ways then it will reduce the amount of students that are viewed as being “troublemakers”. Overall, students will then be more excited to come to school each day and will be more successful in school. 

Reflection/Questions/Comments to share: 

What are ways we can ensure as future teachers that we will look into the students deeper and not judge students based on how they are acting in school. 

   

Literacy with an Attitude

                                                              Literacy with an Attitude

Reflection: 

After reading Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick J. Finn I was able to connect with what Finn was arguing on how schools differ based on the social class of the student population. I was fortunate to be able to go to an upper middle to high class school (Ponaganset High School) in an upper middle to high class town (Glocester) so I was able to have the opposite view point of what Finn was stating. In my school critical thinking was promoted in almost every classroom. In addition to this we had pathways at our schools which provided us with different types of classes so you could do something specific to your interests. This allowed students to have strong individualism and have the ability of free choice. This contrasts to working class schools because these students typically are not given much choice in the types of courses they can take. In addition to this the students are not usually challenged to their full abilities. The teachers that are in working class schools are commonly only teaching straight from the textbooks that are for low ability students even though most of the students in the school are not actually low ability students. This stuck out to me significantly because I believe that all students should be challenged to their fullest potential. Students coming from working class families should not have to by default become a working class adult as well. Students should be able to thrive and want to do the best that they can in their future. However, with the school systems not expanding their students' abilities and giving them individualism they are stuck in a box making it difficult for all students to be put to their best ability. 

Reflections/Comments/Questions: 

I believe that as future teachers we need to thrive to push our students no matter what social class that they are from. 

Video Analysis Links

  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v8D4xUnGvgx47rUUurgHN9m2EyRjWk8EOJEHrSV2tPo/edit?usp=sharing 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cayGNO0IlA-54HhshsbJxVo-GL7E7FA9Fz3vlUOp7gM/edit?usp=sharing 

What to Look for in a Classroom by: Alfie Kohn & Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by: Learning for Justice

 What to Look for in a Classroom by: Alfie Kohn & Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by: Learning for Justice 

After reading What to Look for in a Classroom by Alfie Kohn and watching Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Learning for Justice I was able to expand my knowledge of what a culturally responsive classroom would look like. As a result I can use this new knowledge when I go to my placement on Monday to see how they have set up their classroom and how their classroom is operated to see if it is culturally responsive. Even little things such as how the furniture is set up or what is on the walls has a huge impact on the students' learning. As explained in the video, having every student's culture should be encouraged in the classroom so that it can be built on and learned from. Some ways that this could be done is having students bring in an item that represents their culture into the classroom and having them present it so the other students can learn about that item and that student's culture. These items can then be left around the classroom throughout the school year so that every student has something that represents who they are. As a result of having their culture represented in the classroom the student is more likely to succeed in school and enjoy coming to school everyday. Whereas if the teacher just had posters of the typical white, ablebodied, students not as many students are going to feel represented and welcomed in their classroom. As we discussed in class these types of classrooms are typically only representing the dominant culture (SCWAAMP). Instead of having a window of knowledge for the students to learn about, it is only a mirror to those with the SCWAAMP characteristics.

*I asked Chat GPT to make two posters one culturally responsive and one not*