Looking Deeper

I went on my community walk visiting my new teaching placement at National Teachers Academy and the surrounding community. Do to school work, I was unable to visit the location with the Masters of Teaching crew I have been placed with. To be honest, I was disappointed. I was looking forward to getting to know this new groups outside of my cohort. I saw my peers posting lively, happy pictures of themselves on Facebook, and beautiful pictures of the school building. 

My experience was different. I am thoroughly excited to be placed in the building of NTA. When visiting I can already see the great community effort happening. There was a summer camp happening with parent volunteers dishing out hot dogs and sides, and kids running around the gym. There are posters all around the area advertising local happenings, and upcoming after school programs. The actual school grounds are kept beautifully, and there are large spaces for kid activities.

 If you only view the building with that lens though, you completely miss out on what is happening in the area. Now, granted, I only had a two and half hour time period where I walked around but when I was filtering in this visual information compared to what I was reading about in my school statistics and information, I was a little perplexed. National Teachers Academy is located directly next to China Town. You walk underneath the Metra Bridge and you’re moments away from the square. My school population is made up of 91.5% African-American Students. In the time I spent, the only African American’s I saw were homeless people. In fact, just to the right of school there were five African American homeless people sleeping next to the school’s fence. 

When walking to the left of the school there are giant vacant lots of land and abandoned businesses. The school is lucky in that it is located directly in front of a giant park. The park though, is completely loaded with trash. It is like that in much of the surrounding neighborhood lots and sidewalks. When I exited the train stop, there was a large piece of graffiti that depicted four men. One was holding a gun, one was being hung, and the other were standing. In the corner of the picture said “See you around”. For me this was very powerful. The picture’s location was subtle, but gave off so much sadness and violence all at the same time. 

I did venture into the actual China Town and was blown away by the beauty and culture. I walked into many shops and restaurants experiencing the authentic Asian cultures. Particularly I was pumped to find an entire store dedicated to Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. Within the community I saw four different Christian or charter schools specific to Asian culture or the community. I guess I am wondering if that is where Asian students are choosing to send their students. I am looking forward to spending more time adventuring in the area. 

My point it all of this, is that we need to view our building’s culture further than what our building’s aesthetic or playground looks like. So in this instance, you have this beautiful school located with one side filled with China town and the other barren vacant lots. I believe there is much going on there than what meets the eye. When learning how to be culturally responsive teachers, we talked about how an individual’s culture is much like an iceberg, buried beneath the ocean. I believe not only is this same with individual culture, but also about the building as a whole. 

We watched the TED talk, A Single Story by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who explains it perfectly by saying “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” I want to start the year by understanding that we need to dig deeper, pay better attention and ask questions in order to not only understand the school building and community, but have a better idea of where our students are coming from with their own stories.

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript?language=en

Why I Hate Teachers Pay Teachers

First off, just bear with me if this is a website you’re a fan of before jumping into defensive mode . I swear there is a point to this.

My job working as a behavior specialist took place in a school with a high poverty rate, nearly 82% of our kids were free or reduced lunch and much of the student population is English language learners (Wyoming Public Schools).  I spent the majority of my time with our four kindergarten classrooms. My kindergarten caseload was heavy. I often would just drop in the rooms to check on kids, and observe classrooms to give suggestions. Every morning around ten o clock students would began their center rotations. These rotations, if you’re unfamiliar with this kind of practice, consist of different curriculum activities that small group of students rotate to. I love this kind of teaching. They give kids a chance to practice skills, accomplish group work in some situations, and have a more varied exposure to content during the day.

During my observations I begin to notice a pattern. Every single day at least half of the center stations were worksheets based off of the Teachers Pay Teachers website. All of these worksheets were either an item where you had to cut and paste something, or fill things out. There was also a category of a “sort” section using pocket charts. Students had to sort pictures into the correct sound pattern, or other decided rule. Now, maybe this is where you’re wondering, what is wrong with all of this? They’re working! I questioned the number of worksheets to a few teachers, as well as higher up administration. They all gave me the answer that because there were high class numbers, they had no choice but to do worksheet work activities.  

These are the problems I have with the entire situation.

   The Graphics

 Just one piece of the achievement gap has to do with the exposure of varied vocabulary and experiences with students. Students at the achieving end of the gap have had authentic experiences, and often have been surrounded by a variety of verbal vocabulary and interesting texts. In a fantastic article by USA Today, poverty is discussed in terms of success in the classroom a poignant part said "When it comes to early language development, research shows there is a 4,700 vocabulary word difference between high and low income students and that by first grade students from higher income families know twice as many words as low income students, Haskin said. This likely stems from the fact that higher income students are more likely to be read to and spoken to early in life, whereas students from a low income family might be competing for parental attention with second jobs and other financial stresses."  Worksheets from this particular site, usually revolve around a cute cartoon or coloring book generated style. This style of art is completely missing a great opportunity to show students authentic pictures of real life items that they may have not had the experience of seeing before. Often, too, this style of worksheet does not reflect the diversity and culture of the classroom it is being used in. If students cannot see themselves in the work they are doing, it doesn’t give much individual ownership over their own work. The imagery is very white suburban based.

Poverty - Test Scores http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2015/07/25/complicated-correlation-poverty-lower-test-scores/30683627

Imagery and Word Choice

       Over the span of the year the kids were used to me popping in and out of their rooms. I began to notice that they would save up all their center question to ask me when I came in their rooms. I began to get incredibly frustrated over the pattern of their questions. Not because they were asking, because of why they had to ask. The issue the kids kept having was that they did not know what the pictures were of in their matching sections, or that they did not know what the words meant when having to sort for sounds. For instance, the word Jack o Lantern for Pumpkin, Hen for Chicken or a spade for shovel. There were countless incidents like this where students would not know what to do. When they asked for help, they were yelled at that they just did not want to do their work. This problem could have had two solutions. These images were connected to experiences and vocabulary exposure that students just did not have. It was not fair to expect that knowledge. If the teacher really wanted to continue to use this kind of work sheet, the teacher could have gone over these words and connected it to examples that would teach the meaning. The second option the teacher could have done is create their own worksheets that were culturally component, and done the same thing. If they really felt like going the extra mile, they could have come up with activities outside of a worksheet that encompassed the same exact content mastery goal. Possible? Completely. Extra time? Probably. It is my personal opinion though that when you put actual effort into something you’re going to see the results you want instead of confused students every day of the year.

More Authentic Clip Art/Imagery Use http://search.creativecommons.org/

       Classroom Community and Knowledge

.       My third issue with items found on Teachers Pay Teachers is the lack of thought that goes into the use of it. Teachers are stressed for time, and energy. The quick method of printing something out, having an aid or yourself cut it up, and being ready to go sounds so nice. But how is that matching your students’ individual needs? You can’t differentiate a worksheet unless you yourself have created it or have specifically chosen multiple activities for each child. The idea behind these activities is that you can laminate them and use them again every year. Again, simple and easy, but lazy. I can understand if you’re using a repeat behavior chart or even anchor chart, but students are going to be way more excited about a learning activity if it is fresh and based on some of their individual interests. Not only is it drawing them into the curriculum, but also showing them that you took that time to care about them as individuals. This furthers the trust and relationships in the classroom.

Now what?

                How do we create curriculum that doesn’t seem to further widen this achievement gap in our lower elementary grades instead of using this whitewash worksheet approach? I think this answer is something that I personally will continue to learn and develop.  I do have some strong ideas though. I think we forget what a great tool technology is. There are countless videos, online story books, Skype classrooms, and much more that can create a deeper understanding and new experiences within the classroom.Museums, historical monuments, zoos and other exhibits have online tours students can experience in almost real time. If lack of technology is an issue, nothing is greater than our good old fashioned libraries. Connecting new words and experiences with mentor texts is just as wonderful. Libraries with smaller resources have interloan opportunities to check things out from bigger libraries. Often too, they have group books to use for small group activities. Universities and other community resources also have items like this to loan out to schools. It is just all about going that extra mile to make that connection for our students. Other great ways to make these curricular connections are the use of games in centers instead of a worksheet. Although this wouldn’t always give knowledge to new material, students can learn from each other not only in the concept mastery, but in social skills and from each other’s vocabulary and experiences.

Worst comes to worst, if you completely disagree with all of this and feel more confident in worksheet ability, at least use higher quality graphics and pre-teach worksheet content. Do not choose cutesy over quality. 

Activity Suggestions, further information on the achievment gap in classroom curriculum. 

http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/2123.pdf

My Journey to Here

            The question “Why do you want to teach in an urban school?” has been asked to me so many times. By now if I do not have confident answer, I might as well hang it up and go home. My reasoning, I believe, will just be the foundation that I will keep building and reflecting on.

          In order to explain how I ended up here, I have to back track a bit and explain myself. I am the oldest child of a two parent, six kid household.  My mom is a stay at home mom, and my dad a UPS driver. Overall though, we lived the basic middle class situation of living pay check to pay check. I grew up in house set in the middle of a 16 acre wooded lot, and my village growing up, only had about five hundred residents. In terms of diversity, the most you could ever expect was the handful of Hispanic exchange students we would get each year in our high school. Otherwise, general attitudes and sharp stereotypes believed by village residents discouraged any possible chance of diversity.

 For my entire life I have always wanted to be some sort of teacher. I spent many days bossing around my youngest siblings, making them do different activities and outdoor tasks. My parents took us to the library each week, and encouraged us in our individual interests. In my elementary years, I was in love with my teachers. I was the kid who cried on the last day of school.

Fast forwarding a decade found me at Grand Valley State University, smack dab in the bible belt of West Michigan. I was in a state of transition. For personal reasons I had just bailed out of the music education program, switching into language arts, and was in a bit of a mental funk. I was ready for change. My drive to teach in an urban school came that year in Susan Carson’s Cultural Education course. That class sparked a bit of magic for me. Dr. Carson’s class took place in the library of Coit Creative Arts Elementary, an urban Grand Rapid’s Public School. The school had nearly an all-black population, with a low socio-economic status. Here we worked with students twice a week doing math and reading tutoring. We also worked with members of the community completing service projects like local food trucks, and student outings. Between our experiences within the school, Dr. Carson’s personal stories of teaching in severely impoverished areas, and serious class discussion, I begin to view education with a whole new perspective and as a whole different purpose.

 We learned from reading LisaDelpitt about how to be a warm demander, meaning that we need to hold our students to high expectations and standards, while also caring and encouraging our students to bring out the best potential.

* A great Lisa Delpitt read* 

http://www.amazon.com/Multiplication-Is-White-People-Expectations/dp/1595588981

 I learned how a neighborhood school works, and how important it is to create strong relationships with community members and outside resources. I began understand the value of relationships in education, and how understanding others’ perspectives can evoke the best solutions for our students. I learned how developing a strong classroom community can make or break your teaching year. I saw poverty through a new lens. I thought I grew up struggling, but I felt like an idiot when I began to process that there is a huge difference in not being able to afford mall style clothes, shopping at Save-a-lots, not having second car or soccer camp, and worrying about the next time you would eat during the week. I had, and still have, so much to learn about the different components of poverty and systematic inequalities. I began to examine my own bias, and although I personally think I am one of the most open minded thinkers to come out of my small town, the reality is we do not always see what is embedded deep down within.  What these students struggle with every day is something that I can only try to understand and do my best to help them reach their fullest potential. These experiences changed me forever. After that I knew there was no way I could accept the idea of teaching in a suburban or close minded classroom. I found my passion for teaching in urban in education.           

That still does not answer how I ended up in the AUSL residency. When my class with Dr. Carlson ended, I spent much time working with the at-risk, particularly Hispanic, urban population of Grand Rapids. This past year, bring me to my application to AUSL. Last year I worked as a behavioral interventionist for Parkview Elementary, the highest at risk/behaviorally challenged elementary school in our district. My job was essentially a cheaper knock off of a second social worker for my building. I was qualified because at the time I was obtaining my Masters in Special Education with an emphasis in Behavioral Disorders. Through the high-highs and low-lows, I loved my job immensely. A handful things kept eating at me.

. In our district we were seeing changes in our school population. With each year our ELL population keeps rising, along with the poverty level and need for outside student services also matching that trend. Teachers are doing their best to keep up, but the education and burn out rate is also matching that rise. My building has truly dedicated teachers, but the handful of teachers who had the clock in-clock out mentality, dragged our school down. Teachers did not have the strategies, and often energy, to try different things to reach students. Sometimes there was not even enough momentum to share ideas on what was working within the staff.

While working, I was in school full time. My hope, along with learning how to teach diverse learners, was that I would be receiving teaching that was specific to urban education. That these “expertise” professors of the field would be able to help fill in these knowledge gaps of what to do differently. I found overall this was not the case. My behavior disorder professor, Mark King was wonderful. He gave fantastic strategies, and stories of experience, discussed the importance of building relationships, and most importantly not being afraid to fail and pull yourself up and try again. My other class content though was not reaching my needs. I would ask questions about issues in my building, and they could not answer my questions. Everything was based off of the perfect white suburban classroom. I would have class days where tech materials, culturally biased texts, and classroom strategies were presented by the professor. In my district these would not work because of lack of funds, resources, space etc. When I would ask for ideas on how to differentiate these to a setting similar to my building I would either get an eye roll, or a brush off conversation. I hit early winter and I was angry. I was sick of the lack of motivation make change, and university education that could not keep up with the surrounding population or provide me with needed answers.

 That is how I ended up in my AUSL residency. I found it attractive in that it had a master’s program specifically with the content I have so badly sought after, while also giving us the hands on experiences from a turn around school.

In my last little bit I want to wrap up with the challenges I think I will face. I first and foremost know in my head I will nag myself wondering if I made the right decision to be in a program that is so data driven. Many of the strategies we are being taught are almost identical to behavior management in my behavior disorder program. I will face the challenge of going down that rabbit hole in my head of whether I think it is fantastic because I know these approaches work with behavioral challenged kids, or whether I should be unsure about that used as a whole based approach With poverty and culture being so multifaceted, I think every school will have different kinds of problems. I am excited to be able to learn from my peers who will face different and similar challenges that I will. I think a challenge will be to keep my bias in check, as well as building trust with my students and staff.  Above all, especially being in a program like AUSL, I think we will be challenged to prove we are not the white knight wannabe trying to save the day, but teachers who truly are devoted to making a difference in education.