Dawn Thomas
I can relate to Julia in Chapter 9. I have done the exact same thing because of fear of not knowing the right answer and if I do answer with the wrong answer then someone may laugh. I hope my students do not feel like they can not answer questions because of fear of humiliation. I've always worked with the younger children and this hasn't seemed to be a problem in my classes. I know Julia was in a K-1 classroom, though. Most of my students want to talk, talk, talk even when I need them to be quiet or listen. So this chapter has opened my eyes that this may not be the case in some schools. I had to think back on my teaching career to actually think of something similiar. I had a Vietnamese girl in preschool and she didn't talk much. I figured it was because she was learning English and was shy. This may not have been the case at all. It may have been because she didn't feel comfortable and didn't know the response she would get. I will definitely be aware of this in the future.
After reading this chapter, I've realized how important tone and presentation are. I believe tone especially can have an influence in the classroom. A teacher's tone of voice can make a difference in a student's attitude. I have said comments to people and they got upset. It was not the way that I meant for it to come across and I was shocked at the reaction. I asked what was wrong and was told that it was the tone that I said it in. I didn't realize it at the time but I wasn't hearing myself.
I felt for the young teacher who took the retired teacher's place. She definitely made some mistakes. It could happen to anyone. I guess we can learn from her that we need to create respect and affection in the classroom.
I have learned from reading this material that I need to listen as I'm teaching and learn what my students are hearing. As Herb Kohl says, I may need to make a topsy-turvy!
In reading Chapter 12, I believe it is very sad that the newspaper staff was afraid to ask questions because of the way they talk. That's why we as teachers need to make sure our students feel comfortable with language in our class. What are we to do to help these students feel confident? How can we do this in the classroom and it carry over to the "real world"? In conclusion, from reading this chapter it strongly urges schools to accept the home language and teach the standard dialect at the same time.
Comments (4)
I think this idea of the "real world" needs to be expanded, don't you? When I read your post, and how you described moving from the classroom to the real world, it made me think that the classroom IS the real world for students for a long, long time! I wonder what would happen if there was a shift to understand that the real world has multiple dimensions for children and adolescents.
Alecia Jackson
Posted by Prof. Alecia Jackson | June 2, 2007 11:24 AM
Posted on June 2, 2007 11:24
Dawn, I was Julia also in school. I would act as if I was writing or looking for an answer while praying that the teacher did not see me. One reason was that I knew with my speech problems it was hard to get out what I wanted to say sometimes and the second thing was I was afraid of being told I was wrong. I try to encourage my resource students to ask questions and not to worry about being wrong or saying something wrong, but it is not always that easy to get them to feel at ease.
Tone does play a big part in what we say even when we do not mean anything by what we say. We all need to be mindful of the tone in our voice. It is something we do not think about when we are in the classroom. I agree that the young teacher made a mistake in the way she came in and handled the class. I wonder if any teacher ed classes considered certain classes or workshops on language, communication, and/or how to be a beginning teacher. I think these types of workshops would help new teachers and veteran ones in the field.
Chapter 12 was good. I felt bad for the students who were too embarrassed to ask questions. We do need to change this to help students feel confident about speaking. I know many adults including some older family members who feel uncomfortable speaking in public because they feel they do not speak correctly. It’s something we need to help change because everyone has something meaningful to say.
Posted by Danielle Griffin | June 2, 2007 5:20 PM
Posted on June 2, 2007 17:20
Dawn,
I believe tone can set the environment for a classroom also. A teacher's tone can stifle or enthuse a child. There are many of bad examples in the school system today, but as teacher training and education improves I feel these numbers of bad examples are decreasing. (thank goodness)
I think public speaking was a good comment to make for this chapter. We need to find a way to help all students and adults feel better about public speaking and learn to appreciate each other's languages and dialects.
Posted by Beth Rigsbee | June 3, 2007 2:33 PM
Posted on June 3, 2007 14:33
I too agree that tone is something to consider when talking to your classroom. At the most simple level the class should be able to tell which voice is your teacher voice, your joking voice, your serious voice, and your casual voice. And they react accordingly. I for one love to be sarcastic because I teach at the high school level and most of the time that works because I kid around with the kids, however, this has been known to let some kids not take me serious enough when it comes time for that. I have yet to find the happy medium. Don’t you think there should be a class out there just for this subject of tone, relationship, language, and discussion in the classroom? That would be a very beneficial course to take when becoming a teacher as an undergrad.
Posted by Kristen Billings | June 4, 2007 11:15 PM
Posted on June 4, 2007 23:15