“There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks, and perceive differently than ones sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all.”- Michael Foucault
While thinking about this quote, I realized all the different perspectives that are in my classroom. I’ve never looked it from another point of view. I have always tried to understand my students and their backgrounds, especially since I have so many ELL students. I never really look at school from my students perspectives. I remember being a student and I guess I should not assume all of my students have the same outlook as I did. I always loved school and it came naturally to me. Teaching fourth grade, many of my students already have a perspective about school. They know how much work they are going to put forth.
I know that I can think differently and see things differently; I just need to make myself do it. I need to take the time and think about my students. I need to try to think like them. Some of them have so much going on in their lives at such a young age. They’ve seen and experienced things that I hope that I never do. I know that I need to do a better job of looking at things the way that my students do. I want to meet their individual needs. This past school year, I had so many students with special needs that it became hard to meet their individual needs in every subject, everyday. Having almost thirty kids in one classroom is overwhelming even if they are all on the same level and have the same background. I had students on every level from various backgrounds. I did try to look at the assignments from their point of view; I just had a hard time trying to please everyone. I know that I need to do a better job at this. I try to please the majority of the class. I need to get better about offering alternate assignments. I did this some this year, but I found it difficult to find the time. I try to give my students choices, so they can do it the way they want.
I am trying not to correct every single thing my students do. After reading Delpit’s article, I realized that I should not correct every mistake my students make. I know that if I was corrected all the time, I would just give up. No one wants to be wrong all the time. This has been hard for me because I constantly want to correct my students when they say something wrong. I still think that correcting grammar is for the best. I want my students to sound educated, is that so wrong? I am learning not to correct the way they say a word. I have African American students who do use Ebonics and I do not want to change the way they say a word. If I can understand what they are talking about, that’s going to have to be good enough for me. It is who they are, I don’t want to change the way they speak in front of their family and friends. I want my students to be able to code switch, I think this helps them be able fit into multiple situations.
I need to take more time and research and learn more about my students’ cultures, like in Henry’s article where the students did not feel like they fit in. I want my students to be able to understand the curriculum and have it apply to their lives. We’re not going to work hard to learn something if it won’t benefit us in the long run. I know all students, myself included, have memorized information for a test. I have long forgotten many of the things that I learned because it did not relate to my life. I want to make learning meaningful for my students. I want to teach things that they will remember. We do have to teach a certain curriculum, but we can teach it the way we want. I want to make learning fun.
I feel like the students in Noll’s article in some of my classes. There are certain topics that may be confusing or just not interesting to me, either way I have lost my voice during these classes. I think many people go through this at some point in their lives. Experiencing it, I know it can be difficult for some of my students. There are not always topics that we want to share our opinions on. I think that even if a student does not share their opinion, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have one.
After reading several of these articles, especially the first chapter in Changing Lives, I know how my students feel. I had to keep rereading it so that I could try to understand. This is how some of my students feel. I haven’t felt this way in a long time and it really bothered me. I’m not used to having to work so hard to understand something; I can see how my struggling readers must feel. I think it was good for me to be reminded of the feeling that happens in my classroom daily. It makes me want to explain things better to my students and to help them pick out books to read that they will understand. Of course there are going to be times we they do not understand something, but now I can tell them that I know how that feels and that we all go through it at some time.
I’m glad that I took this class because I wouldn’t have read these articles and research otherwise. It has really got me thinking about my classroom and they way I teach. I’ve been thinking about if I teach in a way that is beneficial to my students, academically and emotionally. I would never want to hurt one of my students, but now thinking back I’m concerned that maybe I have and didn’t even realize it. I’m going to be more careful in my classroom from now on and be more respectful of all cultures, even if I don’t understand it.
Dana Eudy