Tuesday, August 19, 2014
6164 Professional Hopes and Goals
When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds I hope that they feel important, valued, and well-cared for when they are in my classroom. I love the quote above by Jimmy Carter. It speaks to the idea that we are all different as our are values, hopes, and dreams. When he compares it to a beautiful mosaic you can tell that he values these differences and sees them as important. I want families to know that I am on their side and will do anything I can to make them feel welcome and valued in my classroom.
One goal that I have personally is to address issues rather than shy away from them. When I think of past conflicts between children in my classroom I realize that there have been many missed opportunities to teach about diversity, equity, and social justice. I tend to move past a conflict or the mean words of a child by telling them that what they said is not okay. My goal would be to dive deeper and work through the conflict more thoroughly so that both the child who said something and the victim know why what they said is hurtful and not acceptable in our classroom.
I would like to say thank you to all of you for your help during this course. The thoughtful posts, probing questions, and meaningful discussions allowed me to see things from many different perspectives. I've enjoyed learning and growing with all of you during this course. Good luck in your future coursework!
Saturday, August 16, 2014
6164 Week 7 Blog
For the purpose of this assignment I am going to imagine
that I have a family moving from Spain and enrolling their child in my
Kindergarten class. This has happened
several times before, but without advanced notice I will say that I don’t feel
I was as prepared or as culturally sensitive as I could have been.
I would want to first prepare myself by researching their
country of origin and finding out as much information on the family as
possible. Being well-informed will lead to
a better understanding of where the family is coming from culturally,
linguistically, etc.
Another thing that I would consider quite important is
ensuring that I am able to say the child’s name correctly. Sometimes names have special accents or can
be hard to pronounce. It would be
important for me to know how to address the child properly so he/she felt
welcome and valued. My brother’s name is
Nasser and it is commonly mispronounced.
He gets frustrated when people don’t even try to say his name the right
way. I also previously had a student
from Spain who went by his middle name instead of his first name. All are important things to know ahead of
time.
The family’s language of origin would be something important
to know as well. Assuming that a family
from Spain speaks Spanish could be a mistake, however well-intentioned. I had a student from Spain a few years ago
and it turns out he and his family spoke perfect English. While they had lived in Spain for a few years
they were there for the husbands work and had previously lived in the US. Checking to learn real information instead of
making assumptions would be important.
If the family did speak another language primarily I would be curious to
know how much English they know. If the
answer is no or limited English, I would be looking for a translator to help
bridge communication. I might also learn
a few words or phrases to help ease the child into the classroom and better
communicate with parents.
Learning what holidays are celebrated by the family would be
another step. Our school calendar
follows Christian holidays as far as days off go. If the family practiced another religion I
would want to know and be aware that they may miss days or celebrate
alternatively. It would also be
imperative to know their religious practices if they had any effect on the
child’s diet. I have previously taught
children who had religious beliefs that prohibited them from eating both beef
and pork.
Finally, I would want to know about the culture of their
country as well as their family culture.
It would be important to know the roles of family members and their
views on education. If one parent was
the spokesperson more than another I would want to know that. Views and values on education are important
to understand when they are different from my own. I have had families who have very high
expectations of their Kindergartners and others who do not value the lessons
taught in hands-on ways and would prefer worksheets. These are all things that are important to
know.
My hope would be that these preparations would give me a
foundation on which to form a relationship with the family. Even if the information I gathered was not
all accurate, the family would see that I am trying and that I value them as a
part of my classroom community.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
6164 Week 6 Blog
During the summer I work as a receptionist at a summer rental
property. My job entails answering phones,
responding to emails, and working with guests when they come to check in. My boss is an amazing, kind, and funny woman. That being said, she has many ideas about
people that I would say are not “politically correct” and customer service is
not her strong suit because of this.
Today my boss took a call from a woman with a very heavy
Russian accent. She apologized for her
rough English to start the conversation.
When the woman spelled her name for her reservation I heard my boss
comment to the woman that it was sort of a crazy last name. Later she said, “You are very hard to
understand, did you know that?” The
woman was embarrassed by her limited English to begin with and I’m sure the
comment did not help. After hanging up
my boss commented that she hated calls from “those people” because she could
never understand them.
This interaction made me feel very uncomfortable. On one hand I wanted to say something to
stand up for the woman on the phone. On
the other hand I was worried about upsetting my boss by bringing up something
that she had done. It was a very awkward
situation and I ended up not saying anything.
While I did not encourage her behavior I also did not stop it, which is
how things are allowed to continue.
The comments my boss made diminished the equity of the woman
on the phone. She was made to feel inferior
because of her broken English. To set
the situation right my boss would have needed to be more culturally sensitive
and respectful or the woman would have needed to say something to combat the
behavior.
6165 Week 6 Blog
The adjourning phase of group or team work is when everyone leaves
to move on to other projects. I have had
a few groups that I was sad to leave but there have been others that I was more
than happy to put an end to. I think
that high functioning groups are definitely more difficult to leave than ones where
there is turmoil and conflict.
This past school year I was part of an excellent team
comprised of three Kindergarten teachers (one from each Elementary school in
the district) and one building principal.
The goal of this group was to change the way that our schools place children
into Kindergarten. When teachers place children
in all other grades a lot of thought is put into the decision. In Kindergarten, however, we were just
getting the luck of the draw. One class
may be riddled with behavior problems while another had extremely high
achievers. We set out to balance classes
through a screening day, but our mission was to make it as welcoming and
inviting as possible. We did not want parents to see it as a test or
something their child would pass or fail.
Instead, we wanted to welcome families in, spend time with children, and
thoughtfully place them into classrooms based on their disposition, skills,
needs, and previous schooling.
One thing that I loved about working on this group was their
passion for the work we were doing. Each
member was strongly committed to doing what was best for children and families. I also loved that our group was comprised of
only 4 members as it was easier to make group decisions with a smaller number
of participants. When we got ready to
leave the group I was quite sad to see that our time had come to an end. I was proud of the work we had accomplished, though. To end our sessions together we kicked off
the screening that we had designed. It was
impactful to see all of our hard work in action! We also decided to meet a few times each
school year to tweak the program we created as well as to add components to
make it even better.
In other groups the adjourning phase ended with a
celebration of sorts. Usually this was
dinner out or a get together with the other group members. During these events, group members always shared
stories about our group work and looked back at where we started. This was always powerful because sometimes in
the midst of the work you lose track of just how much you did or changed.
When I think of adjourning from the group of colleagues I’ve
worked with during my Master’s program it does sadden me a bit. While I will be thrilled to no longer think
of due dates for discussions, blog posts, and applications, I will miss the
fellowship. There have been many
instances where I have heard a new idea from an assignment and directly applied
it to an activity in my classroom. Other
times I have been challenged in my thinking by the assignments and the comments
from classmates.
Adjourning is important because it allows the group to find some
closure. You get to look back at where
you started and re-live the journey. It
allows the group a chance to celebrate successes and thank the other members
for the parts they have played.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
6165 Week 5 Blog
On my Kindergarten team there are two other teachers that I
collaborate with on a daily basis. I
have found that I have trouble expressing my opposition to a new idea or plan
they suggest. My tendency is to come off
as rude or defensive when my goal is actually just to share my opinion. One thing that I plan to try is looking for a
broader range of solutions. Instead of
just saying I do not like an idea or plan they come up with, I should be ready
to suggest alternatives. This might make
turning their idea down go better as I will have provided alternate
solutions. The other tactic I will try
is suggesting a compromise. Perhaps we
can try things the way they suggest for a specific period of time. After that time we can get together and talk
about what worked and what didn't work.
Has anyone else had trouble expressing their opinions in a
group? I find that there are things I am
passionate about and when I share my views on them I sometimes come across too
strong. Is there a happy medium between
sharing my views and keeping the peace with others?
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