“There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting all.” Michel Foucault
I teach in a school located in the middle of the public housing projects and one of the hardest things to do is to see beyond the circumstances and not make excuses for where they come from. In the reflection of my school and students the expectations for the students have always been high. Being consistent and firm, but at the same time I still perceive the circumstances of the students’ lives to be somewhat the same as my own growing up in small rural Midwest. Finding that my own values, beliefs and ideals were different from my students, this class helped to shed light into different approaches and views for my own classroom. Over the years I have had to change and learn how to relate to the families and children I serve without, but I will definitely be able to take knowledge from this course and apply many strategies to build even stronger relationships with my students and families.
Hick’s book “Reading Lives Working-Class Children and Literacy Learning” spoke to me as an educator. I now have a richer understanding of the importance of building relationships with the family and bringing experience to life for children in order to better grow in their literacy journey. In chapter two Hicks states “The idea that literacies are cultural and material practices shaped by histories, localities, and the persons within them that give form and meaning to children’s lives has been resisted in part because of psychology strong hold on educational theory and practice.” (p. 16) This has helped to me see as a teacher that children come with a literacy base already, but the base may not be what is need for school but rather home. Before reading Hicks book and the article about code switching, I thought that it was something that should come natural for children. Learning that code switching wasn’t natural put things into perspective and how I view my children.
An area I feel that I can definitely build upon and do better with is independent reading. I have always provided basket of books for children to read independently and on their level, but now after this course I find how important it is to search a little deeper and find books of interest. Reading can be boring for many of my students who struggle and they often become inattentive during the self-selected reading block, but providing students with books that incorporates all of their interest will increase their time on task and interest in books. Through a grant this year I was able to purchase graphic novels which were a hit among my boys, but I need to purchase more books to target my boys like Jake.
This course will has given me the knowledge to look at my students through a different lens. I will do a better job of getting to know my families and relating to my students. We may come from different sides of the track, but we do have a common interest already and that is their child. Looking at the beliefs and values of the families will help me to understand where they are coming from when it comes to their child.
One thing that really reached to me was the story of Laurie. Over the study it was stated that she had learned to be the “good child”. Reading about her struggles will help me to pay closer to my students in my class who are using the same defense. I will now be on “watch” to look for those students and spend some extra time in my remediation block attending to their needs. I don’t want any child to go unnoticed.
In closing I will approach this new school year differently. I will bring a new look an approach to my education practices which I hope will inspire my children to be lifelong readers and learners. Before beginning this class I was apprehensive about what I would learn or gain from an online course. I thought there was no way I would gain the knowledge I have, with not having a professor present. I now have an understanding about the different discourses that they bring to my classroom and how I can help to change the way I previously looked at my students.
Kara S