Reflections

As I have mentioned before, sometimes it is very hard for me to think specifically about what happened during my previous week of my practicum experience and write critical observations and reflections because I 1)Do not like simply sit in the back and take notes of what is going on, appearing to be disengaged with the classroom and 2)I have become very familiar with the classroom environment and students now and tend to see the daily operations less critically than I probably should. I think this has something to do with the age level of the students. Perhaps if I was with an older group of students for whom motivation was a bigger element of their language learning experience, I would see more theory-based moments that reflect back to the critical topics we discuss. However, I do not intend to mean that my experience is not a valuable one that I don't enjoy--my time so far at Kingsley has made me want to do something that I previously thought I would never, ever want to do--teach at a junior high school.

Anyway, I feel that this week I engaged in a few memorable activities with the class. On Friday, we went on a field trip to Schnuck's Grocery Store in Normal. Previously, the students have been learning the names for different fruits and vegetables and how to describe their color, shape and size and how to tell if they like that particular food or not. They used a worksheet that asked them such questions as "Find a fruit you don't like. Describe it." And they went around looking at different fruits and vegetables while the teachers periodically asked them questions such as "What color is this fruit?" etc. We also bought a few fruits and vegetables that they hadn't tried before to learn more about them. I thought it was a very fun learning experience for a field trip.

A Different Voice, A Daily Struggle: Made in America Chapter 9

Chapter 9, like so many of the chapters in Made in America was a truly sad awakening to the problems that districts, schools, and teachers struggle with every day. Olsen introduces this chapter with yet another situation kept in mind when working at a public school--honors classes.--and relates it back to ESL students and how they are affected by it. This scenario was something I had never thought about in relation to ESL students before. The situation presented in the book was that a teacher wanted one of her ESL students to be moved up an accelerated class. It's crazy to think not only about the politics and educational struggles that general education students go through with honors classes, but ESL students? Wow. The student in question ended up moving to accelerated, but he was in an honors class that was two grade levels below his. Olsen agrees that this was not at all up to par, but at least it was more on his level. One of the involved teachers attempted to detrack the tenth grade social studies program, which Olsen states was met with "lukewarm reception". Surely there is the need for students of different abilities to be in differently taught classrooms, but as is brought, it can be a more serious social problem.

Olsen makes a good point in recognizing that the what the school district, and most likely many other district as well are doing is "perpetuating a class system: the children of people who have had access to higher education also get prepared for higher education, and the children of people who have not had higher education don't get prepared for higher education" (Olsen 193).

I guess what I took away from this chapter, along with the sense of confusion at the varying opinions and double standards that were present, was that we just have to give the students, all students the best we can. Olsen makes good mention of the ideological difference between old and new teachers, particularly in terms of methods. The new teachers fresh out of their programs have so much inspiration for advocacy whereas the old teachers feel as though they've been at the school long enough and had enough experiences to figure out what is and what isn't practical. However, the veteran teachers are also presented in more of a negative view, similar to how they were in previous chapters, where they seemed totally unwilling to work with the needs of the ESL/bilingual students. I could just not believe how stubborn they were.

Made in America Chapter 8: Adults in the Crossroads

What a thought-provoking and educationally relevant chapter! From the first story by the author regarding the principal's lack of knowledge regarding the correct demographic figures of the school, it was very shocking to me to read about the faculty's seeming lack of investment and care of the students and the school. However, after reading about their educatonal value of "seeing students as all the same," it almost makes sense. Not that I am condoning a lack or care or investment, but the general disbelief of treating students differently and drawing attention to ethnic differences by promoting programs and differentiated instruction is understandable. Olsen states "because they believe that teaching in a diverse setting implies stressing commonality and a common single knowledge base, it is no wonder that they do not see the need to make accommodations to their teaching as the population of students changes" (Olsen 181).

Diverse settings are a hot topic in education and methods courses and circles everywhere today. We are always taught as education students that we need to be aware of diversity and promote as best as we can but Olsen makes a good point above. She also mentions how the principal of Madison believes that the school treats all of the students the same, but in doing so when they have different needs, "produces inequitable access and outcomes" (Olsen 183). The viewpoints presented in this chapter are very thought-provoking and beg for discussion of both sides of the spectrum. Should we be treating students all the same? Traditionally, yes, because all students should have equal opportunities. Should we be treating students the same? No, because each student is a different person and learner and needs to be taught and handled in the way they learn best in order to gain the best outcomes and opportunities. But in doing so, we, as Olsen above states, produces inequitable outcomes and access. But is this necessarily a bad thing? Olsen makes use of quotes of a few different teachers who explain that for some students, the best thing for the or what they best need is to get a basic education and "just get along." One teacher explains: " They're good kids, and we're a good high school. They're going to graduate from here and do the same kind of jobs their parents do--nothing fancy. Some will shine and go on to college, but most don't" (Olsen 176). This begs the discussion of whether or not this is a bad thing, that some students just want to get through high school and out into the real world. This reminds me of a certain part in the movie October Sky (check it out, it's great) where a teacher is defending four students from a small mining town in West Virginia who are trying to be in a science fair. The principal is reluctant to believe in the students, saying that most of the kids who graduate from the high school are just going to be miners, maybe if they're lucky a few will get football scholarships, but not much else. I think as educators it is important for us to believe in the students of course, but also to remember to be open to their needs, and maybe, as the mentioned teachers at Madison think, excellence may not be one of them.

...What do you guys think?

TPR, Field Trip, & Smartboard

This week was a great one for observing and participating in interesting activities in my practicum experience. I feel like I learned so much!

In class one day, Mrs. Collins did a TPR (Total Physical Response) activity for a vocabulary lesson on jobs. I was really excited to observe this because I have heard a lot about TPR but never really seen a lesson featuring this concept in action. The lesson was awesome! She first showed a slide for each job (cook, teacher, hairdresser, etc) with a picture and then showed the students a movement associated with it that the students had to do. For the cook, they would mimic stirring a spoon in a pot of soup. After they did it multiple times, they would associate that movement with the job. After they got through all the jobs and their specific movements, she would close the slide and just say the name of the job and the students would do the movement. Then, she would switch it up so that she would do the movement and the students would say the job. I thought it was so cool to see it in action. It is activating their psychomotor skills as way to learn. The activity also accessed higher levels of thinking. Later in the activity, they had to close their eyes and listen to the teacher say the word and then do the motion so that they weren't relying on the other students for the right answer.

On Friday, the class went on a field trip to the fire station and got to ask questions about what the firemen do and other things that they wrote, see their living space (kitchen, bunks, and living room), go inside the fire truck and try on their gear. It was such a great, fun experience for all of the kids. I will try to post a picture of one of the kids wearing the fire gear because it was adorable.

I also made a smartboard activity for the intermediate writing class (I do not sit in on this class). Every week, the students do an Article of the Week, which is a small magazine with articles on different topics. This week's articles featured a quincenera, information about an actor, information about volcanoes, etc. I remember them from when I was in grade school! Mrs. Collins had me research activities for writing that could be done with the articles and put them on a smartboard slide for the students to complete. I found some really great ideas and writing prompts, and I chose the following questions:

Write down five things that you learned from this article. What do you think was the most important? Why?

Use the following sentence starter and answer the question using information from the article.
-I was reminded of...

Creating a Supportive Place for Immigrants: Made in America Chapter 7

What a disheartening mind trip reading this chapter was. Olsen captures perfectly the administrative battles and struggles that many ESL programs face in schools, even schools that seem to have it all together with their ESL programs such as ones in the Bayview district.

The opening vignette of the P.E teacher and the counselor not realizing the exhausted student's true reason for not eating all day serves as a preview of all the teacher and administrative inefficiencies that are sadly present in the Bayview district, Madison High and Newcomer High being most affected. When I began to read about the Newcomer school, although pedagogically it sounded wonderful, I thought about how truly sheltered the children are in their placement at the Newcomer school when it comes to actually using their English in interaction with other students. Although the text mentioned that many children only attend the Newcomer school for part of the day and then move to another comprehensive high school, surely there are students who stay all day at the Newcomer school. Olsen mentions such problems regarding both problems: "..they have become increasingly aware of the double-edged sword that the separate Newcomer School program has created." The Newcomer School has become a somewhat isolated island of services for immigrant students." "Teachers of the same immigrant students at the two sites have little communication and cannot sufficiently monitor the progress of students or provide the articulation and counseling support needed." These quotes showcase only a few of the problems that the Bayview district struggles with every day.

The chapter truly showcases the double-edged sword that exists in the district. The LEP children are sent to the Newcomer School to gain the most beneficial instruction from teachers who know how to work with ESL students, but then they are being kept away from the real English environment. Additionally, the view that is placed on this program seems to be negative within the district, with the other faculty of the comprehensive high schools wanting the Newcomer School to "deal with them."

I hope this chapter prompts really good discussion on educational policy and management on Monday.

Reflections

FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
I would describe the type of teaching that goes on in my practicum experience as semi task-based and very communicative in its methodology. I think of task-based teaching as a series of many tasks, such as first writing sentences, then reading them aloud, then making a drawing, etc. I would say that Mrs. Collins sometimes employs that method: just yesterday the students did a similar tasks, but it seems to me that task-based has more lomg-term steps. I would say that her preferred teaching methodology is mainly communicative. Although there are many grammar-based activities that are completed, almost all have some speaking component to them where communication is emphasized. For example, at the beginning of class with the completion of the bell ringers, the students are asked to read aloud their sentences and occasionaly formulate a question which another student would answer. An example:

One student has completed a setence aout what he did this weekend.
"First I went to the church. Next I went to the party. Then I went home."
Another student would ask "____, what did you do this weekend?"  or a similar question and the student would answer.

I would say that the communicative method is one that is deemed extremely important by Mrs. Collins.

FOCUS ON STUDENT INTERACTION

The students in my basic class talk frequently, most often in Spanish, about things that happen in the classroom and occasionally outside things. This is the same for the student-teacher interaction. Although English is emphasized, the teacher sometimes uses Spanish so they are still able to use their native language. It is clear to me that Mrs. Collins does not want them to rely on Spanish because often when they respond to something in Spanish, she states that she doesn't understand and that they need to speak English. I think that this is very effective because she is not forbidding the use of their native language completely but encouraging English is academic prospects as well.

FOCUS ON SPACE

For the basic class, the space is perfect. There are only three students and all sit in the front row so that they are close to the board. They are also able and encoraged to move around the room: the reading library in back, the table and chairs in the back, the smartboard at the front, and even the teacher's desk and computer to do different things. The space also works well for the intermediate clsass and the co-taught math class. Although there are more students (about 10-15), they are still able to effectively utilize the classroom resources when needed.

Soething that I thought was interesting that I encountered in my practicum experience this week was a student speaking Spanish that I did not previously know spoke Spanish. I do not think that she is Hispanic, so I'm not sure if she maybe grew up in an environment where Spanish was spoken or if she picked some up after hearing so much spoken in the classroom. Another instance that I found amusing was when I was so used to speaking Spanish to the Spanish speakers in the class that I accidentally spoke in Spanish to a student who didn't speak the language and she told me, emphasizing the I, "I don't speak Spanish,"

Love and Marriage: Made in America Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Made in America, entitled Love and Marriage, was such a moving chapter both in itself and as a complement to the book. Conventions on dating, love, and marriage is of huge importance in many different cultures, and it is often a source of great conflict as well. It was amazing to read about the observations that Olsen made in her studying relating relationship customs to the students' academic lives.

I found it interesting that many of the interviews and observations of the students regarding their love lives directly related to their success in America. Many girls mentioned that they wanted to continue their education and get a job before getting married, but they were often unable to due to their cultural conventions of marriage: they were required or desired to marry at a young age and focus their attention on their new family. It must be so hard for an immigrant woman to come to the United States to first of all get up the courage and strength to continue her education, find a job, and hold down that job. But to have those hopes shattered because her family wants her to essentially throw it all away and get married? I cannot even imagine. It's somewhat of a backwards cycle: they work hard at school in order to get a better grasp of the language and perhaps become 'American', they get involved in American culture in order to fit into their new society, then move backwards once they marry a man of the same ethnicity and go back to their old culture, stopping their schooling and work to work in the home. It's quite sad. I myself cannot imagine a life without education or work.