Prompt #6: Goldenberg

In my kindergarten ESL classroom, I was given a new boy who was looked at as a “behavior problem.” He was switched around a lot from groups because no one could handle him, since there were only four weeks of our program left when I got him, it took some getting used to, to add a new student to our group: more materials, more sharing, going from two students to three.
Jason was thrown into my group. No one told me anything about him. The students wear name tags with their names and group letter on them. He had several letters crossed out and it now said “Group A.” the other two boys in my group told me he was in our group now. Of course, I welcomed him into our group and included him with our activities.
I had gotten used to the pace at which my students had read. They were not self-confident, but if I worked to get there confidence level up, by the end of my “shift” that day, they were reading better than at the beginning. I found nothing wrong with this. However, when Jason came into the group, I had something to compare it to. Jason read a lot faster than my two original students.
This threw off the dynamics of my group a little bit because I had taught them to be nice to each other and respect each other’s reading abilities, and they did, and got along very nicely together. When Jason came in, he got frustrated if Justin and Andrew did not read fast enough, and began to take their turns or read their parts out loud when the others were struggling. This was a tough situation for me because I did not want to tell him to stop reading, because I was afraid that would make him not want to read at all. Unfortunately, something had to be done because he was being very disruptive.
After my first session, my kindergarten teacher started to talk to me. She did not pull me aside, but instead started to talk about Jason in front of the other students. She asked me how he behaved that day, and I told her that he was a little bit disruptive. She told me a little trick that seems to work with him. If I made eye contact, he would look away from me. She told me that if I made eye contact and allowed him to look away five times, while staring at him the whole time, he would come back and cooperate. I remembered this the next week, and it actually worked. Although this seems like it may be negative, I actually looked at it as positive reinforcement. All Jason needed was attention. When I stoped and stared at him, he was getting attention. After doing this a couple of times, he was able to pay better attention to what was going on in the group.
I was able to relate this experience to Goldenberg. His article is based on research about English Language Learners. Not all students learn on the same level, but teachers must modify their work to be sure all students are learning. This is called scaffolding. We must use scaffolding to start where the student is and built on that. I used this to work with Jason in a positive way, even though his intellect level may have been above Justin and Andrew, I needed to work with him more to allow him to work better.

Prompt #5: Delpit

Working with families in schools can be a very tricky subject. After all, all parents want the best for their children, but what’s the best for one student may not be the same for another. In this rough economy especially, more parents work more to support their families, which could sometimes bring the illusion that the parents don’t care because they are not always physically, or mentally, home.
As human beings first, teachers second, we will always try to protect our students. Since all family lives are not the same, we would work hard to make sure that the “not so good” situations are not brought to the attention of the other students. But does that mean that students with the “better” home lives should not get help from their willing families?
I think it is the responsibility of the culturally competent teacher to know the backgrounds of his/her classroom. I do not see a lot of family involvement in my classrooms. Unfortunately, if families are brought in, it is for a negative reason. If the child is misbehaving, I’ve heard teachers threaten to call parents. This is unfortunate because if family involvement is only used in that way, it can never be seen positive.
It can be complicated to communicate with parents, but according to Lisa Delpit, it must be done. It is important for parents to be as connected as students. Power must be translated to parents as much as students. Delpit highlights five aspects of power:
I. Issues of power are enacted in classrooms.
2. There are codes or rules for participating in power; that is, there is a "culture of power."
3. The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power.
4. If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier.
5. Those with power are frequently least aware of ~ or least willing to acknowledge -its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence.
Of these, I can summarize a statement that parents be included in the culture of power, and be told the rules, so they can help their children relate to the culture of power. I have been thinking a lot about this subject a lot, and I cannot find a perfect solution to including parents the right amount, however, I think there are some alternatives. In my classroom, I would start the year with sending a letter home to parents saying that if they want to volunteer to come in to read to the class. I would set aside days where the parents could sign up and if they wanted to sign up they could, if they could not or did not want to, they did not have to. Since it would not be something the students would keep track of, they would not know if other parents did not come in. I feel like this would start the year on a positive note, and encourage parents to work with their students all through the year.