Prompt 6-Brown

The culturally competent teacher communicates in ways that demonstrates sensitivity to socio-cultural and linguistic differences sing a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques that encourage positive interaction and support learning in their classroom.

            One time, the other kindergarten teacher was out of school sick. And because there weren’t any substitutes, the class of 25 was split in two. Just a side not: the other kindergarten class is a special Ed class. So, Mrs. Paisley was inheriting 15 extra students on top of her 26. Mrs. Paisley said she was glad that I was there that day because for those two hours I really helped her, along with the classroom aid. Also, there was the ad from the other class to help out as well. I couldn’t believe how many students ere in one classroom at one time. Although, I have to say they were well behaved for the most part. They did all kinds of different activates to compensate the other children. During the language lesson. It was interesting to watch. I loved being able to work with the students from the other class. It was such an eye opener. Working with them was incredible. It was such a change from my normal routine in the classroom. Mrs. Paisley and the other teacher aid, Mrs. Bradley, were really accommodated for both classes.

            I related this experience to Brown. Although, this story wasn’t about all girls but I related to the two classrooms and Brown’s case of Mansfield verses Acadia. There were two very different groups of students. And in the Brown article there were two very different groups of girls. The difference being the high and middle class. In the two classes that were put together for one day I saw that they were separated and the classes weren’t integrated. I would have put the students at different tables and let all the students talk together. I think if it was my classroom I would have done it a little differently. All the students should have been able to come together and bee seen as one class for the day, when in reality there were two. Even though, the teachers did a good job accommodating for the learning difference, for example with the papers they did. But they should have helped the students by explaining it to them differently. The language and words that the teacher was using was hard for some of the students to understand. Brown’s article really made me think about my classroom and how I would never want my classroom separated in two. No matter what the situation is, I would want to bring them all together. In the article….as a possible solution was to put those two places together in the hopes they will even each other out.

Prompt 5-Johnson

Prompt 5-Johnson

The culturally competent teacher works with families and community resources understanding the differences in families, the importance of family participation in students’ learning and the benefit of collaborating with a wider school community.

                        Challenges that might occur in my classroom might be…when parents don’t agree with what us as teachers are doing or they don’t think that we are doing it right and helping their child in the right way for whatever reason. I think most teachers are aware of the different families in her classroom. There are all kinds of ways children are raised and what ideas their parents see as being most fit for them.

                        There is this girl named Allie and she wears everything top of the line. Now where her parents get the money I do not know. I don’t even have that much of an exciting wardrobe. Anyway, she always comes in with a purse and these fancy sandals or shoes; her clothes have sparkles and all these designer labels. Also, she is loud and kind of disruptive. Most of the time she has a hard time obeying and listening to Mrs. Paisley. I’m telling you this girl has more designer labels then I do and she’s five! J

                        Another example is the girl names Cari; she lives in a shelter with her parents and younger sister. Mrs. Paisley worked with this family to give Cari extra help when needed. My heart goes out to her because all I want to do is give her a hug and help her family get back on their feet. My heart goes out to them. Mrs. Paisley showed compassion by making special considerations for her.  She comes to school with whatever she has and puts on her best face and tries her hardest.

                        Johnson states that “Privilege is a social advantage that is both unearned and comes to people simply because they happen to belong to a particular social culture.” Here are two different examples of privilege. One child takes what she has for granted while the other appreciates and users what she has to the fullest. Sometimes “less is more.” Everyone has privileges, what we shouldn’t do, is abuse them. This article really made the think of my own privileges and how I should be more thankful for what I have in life and that some things are just too important to be covered by material things.

Prompt 4-Kozol

Prompt 4- Kozol


A culturally competent teacher is aware of the divers cultural groups represented in his/her classroom, investigates the sociocultural factors that influence student learning, and is able to integrate this knowledge into his/her teaching.
Mrs. Paisley wanted me to get a different feel of a classroom so one time she wanted me to come when the class went to gym. I said okay, so I did. The gym teachers name was Mr. Rock. After he introduced himself to me very impolitely I might add he proceeded to tell me that we just got out of college two years ago. He also told me that I was making a huge mistake becoming a teacher and it is a waste of time. If he didn’t get into the program he never would have become a teacher. He said he didn’t figure out, he hated teaching until he started actually teaching a gym class. For the entire 45 minutes, every word out of his mouth was don’t become a teacher, it’s awful, you’ll regret it and the kids are going to eat you up. Yes, he said eat me up! How rude!
I couldn’t wait to post this story because it was so incredibly annoying. He started off by making the class line up again the wall. Strike 1-They just got a new student but Mr. Rock didn’t know any of their names and he had been teaching them since September. Strike 2-The class pointed out they had a new student he asked who and where she was, after literally pointing her out. Mr. Rock said, “oh, nice to have you.” Strike 3-He set up a sharks and minnows game. He said no screaming, pushing or pulling. If a girl, for instance, Sarah (by accident) bumped into someone, Mr. Rock made Sarah sit facing a corner for ten minutes. If a boy, for instance, Dominic, screaming and shoved someone to the floor, Mr. Rock told him not to do it again and let him go back and play. This occurred the entire gym class. I was so heated by the time it was over. Ohhh right, and strike 4-was when he decided to sit in a chair NOT watching the class and played on his cell phone the ENTIRE class.
I related this story to Kozol even though he was more about the segregation of people of different races. Mr. Rock segregated the girls and boys. Treated them completely differently. I couldn’t believe how he was treating them. I can only imagine how he treats the people in his family. Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that no one should be put in a group or segregated for any reason. Everyone should be and is equal no matter which way you cut it. If half the class is African American and the other half is white, it makes me wonder if Mr. Rock would do the same thing in this situation as he did to the two students.

Prompt 3-Kliewer

Prompt 3-Kliewer

The culturally competent teacher should be able to use a variety of assessment techniques appropriate to diverse learners and accommodate sociocultural differences that affect learning.

I see in my classroom that the students parents…well most of them are all trying to help their child do well…then you also have little Timmy’s father who takes his child’s ADHD medicine. This poor child is trying to do well but it is very hard for him because of his home life. When he comes to school he tries but is sometimes unable to focus. All I want to do is sit there and work with him one on one but he has special education teachers there for him. Little Timmy is in my room for part of the day and goes to another room for the rest of the day. My teacher, Mrs. Paisley is well aware of the situation and tries and works out what she can for Little Timmy. Mrs. Paisley has tried to come up with ways to work with Little Timmy’s dad so he can do and get what Little Timmy needs. She is constantly trying to get Little Timmy’s dad to be supportive of his schooling and discussing with other faculty what the best plan is for him. Little Timmy has definitely come a long way since I first started visiting the school. Mrs. Paisley along with other teachers and staff has created a team for Little Timmy. And together they use different way and techniques that will best fit him.

I related this experience to Kliewer because even though his article is mainly about Down syndrome. It also talks about disabilities. Little Timmy has a learning disability and a mental disability. I wish I knew more about it to help him. Also, in the article Kliewer talked about laws and documents that will keep Little Timmy through school until he is eighteen years old.

Prompt 2-Shor

The linguistic, ethnic and social cultural characteristics of the students which I am tutoring are mostly African American and Hispanic. Many of the students are at or below the poverty level. There are only 9 girls and 17 boys. According to my teacher, last year it was the complete opposite. She also has a student with a disability. He is really a good kid but has problems focusing. I have worked with him on reading and it was very difficult to keep his attention. I tried everything I could think of to help him stay focused. As far as ethnicity goes, the student’s names are very different. Some of the parents took a word, spelled it backwards and that was the name that went of the birth certificate. There is also a classroom dedicated to ESL, although according to info works, only 16% of the students are in an ESL class. Since I am in a classroom with 26 students, she told me that one day she will send me to another classroom and observe the ESL class. She said it is a very different way of teaching. Sounds interesting to me, so I’m kind of looking forward to that. I have also learned a lot about the students just by being there, for example, how they talk, their manners, how they dress, how they wear their hair. It was just a little insight into their lives. My teacher has told me about some of the students and where they come from. Some are obvious and some things are not obvious. Just by being in the classroom for two hours each visit they teach me more and more. Cultural capital is what my teacher tries to instill in these kids. They are very well behaved for the most part. There is always an outburst here and there but my teacher knows how to contrast it. She has complete control over class. She tries to give the students what they need. Some need more help than others. There is one student that does not come to school all the time because she lives in a shelter. So my teacher does what she can to help the student keep up in the classroom. When it’s time to teach the students there daily reading lessons, sometimes I take the students that need more help into the hallway and do a different exercise with them. Such as using the whisper phone, which is an ingenious. It really helped the students who have trouble sounding out words to do so. Assets that can develop to strengthen our society are that if children have a good education and good ways of knowing how to carry themselves they will go farther in life. Showing them that they can do anything is a way our society will grow and become better. A theorist that this prompt reminds me of is Ira Shor, because he was all about empowering education. School is about the students and helping them to learn for when they go out into society. He also speaks of socialization which the students learn from being in a classroom setting. These students are going to be the future and they need to be motivated learners. We can help them be motivated by science experiments, playing educational games and language as Shor states, "Language intrigues children."

Prompt 1-

Prompt 1
So, the school I went to is in a remotely okay area. I mean it’s pretty safe. The school building itself is kind of confusing. I wasn’t sure where the door was. The door is on the complete opposite side of where I parked my car. Of course, with my luck the first day I went it was pouring…oh well so I was a little soggy, nothing I couldn’t fix a couple seconds before opening the door to the office. As I walked through the office door the secretary looked at me, she said hello and I politely said hello back and explained wheat I was doing there. I asked for the binder, and she had no idea at first, then finally she figured it out, she let me put my paper in it. She was kind of disorganized. Eventually I was given my visitor’s pass and went on my merry way. The school feels warm and welcoming. Although, I didn’t get to meet the principal until my third visit because she was adopting twins. She started a conversation with me about school and what I was doing there. The short conversations that teachers have with me as I was down the hall with a student or the way my teacher explains what she is doing and why. My teacher is very nice. She is actually my friend’s mom. Her aid on the other hand gets upset with the kids very easily whereas I find I have much more patients with them. The aid is on the older side so her patients probably are wearing thin. No offense to her. My teacher has taught the kids from day one, manors, how to sit, there weekly line order, how to act, sit and be quiet when told. When the student act out; my teacher is very good at having them think about what they are doing and what needs to be done to fix it. She has good control over the class. Etiquette is valued very much in this school and in the classroom. The hallways were filled with students’ artwork, it’s a very creative school, I might add. The structure of the school is arranged so that the “wings” if you will, of the school coincide with the grade levels. For example, one wing is for the cafetorium, kindergarten and first grade the second wing is for second and third and so on. The classroom has a number line, the alphabet, words they have been learning, big story books, science projects. Lots of projects hanging up on the wall, the room is very colorful. There is a rug area for the students to sit on for reading and morning lessons. I have to say these children are very well behaved for the most part. The principal was in the military so they trained the students to walk down the hall with their hands behind their back and refer to it as “duck tails.” I thought it was very creative. Also, in the classroom are centers for the students to go to. I am usually there during reading and writing time. So, there are about five different centers they rotate too. My teacher is very organized and prepared. The tables are clearly marked and the students know what they need to do and get right to it.

But I think that is all for now, I can't believe how fast 500 words came :)

Hi everyone,

So, I guess I shoudl start off with my name. Hi, my name is Lisa. I'm typing this blog because I have to document my visits to a school for my fned class. First off, a little about myself...well, I love to dance. Dancing is my life. I dance 6 days a week and am in the Company. I teach 3 to 9 year olds. I love to shop, lsiten to music, amke up new choreography for my little ones and so much more. I look forward to writing more on this blog once my school visits start to begin :)

till next time....


Lisa