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 at all.
Michel Foucault
This quote sums up what I am taking away from this class. As someone who has been teaching for 10 years, I think it is quite easy to become complacent, to feel that as long as you are reaching the majority of your students, you are doing a good job and that you need do nothing more. And, to an extent I think that this is true. You are doing a good job if you are reaching most of your students, but this class has made me delve deeper into what I do and made me truly think about the experiences that each child is bringing to my classroom and how those experiences affect them. It has made me more mindful of the fact that unless I am doing all I can daily to reach every child, I am not doing my job.
There is so much talk nowadays about being a reflective practitioner, and quite often I reflect on my lessons, how they went, and what needs to be changed. However, when I think about each individual student, or the students that aren’t getting what I am teaching, I rarely delve deeply into the “why” of it. I usually look at the surface issue, for instance, perhaps they need more exposure to what was being taught, which certainly is often the case, or that my technique in teaching that lesson didn’t hit the mark with them, which could also be the case, or that they just weren’t paying attention, but I need to think more about the whole child as well.
I have often told parents at conferences, when they tell me about difficulties at home, how much that can affect a child’s growth at school. Sometimes they seem shocked that home life can carry over into what is happening in the classroom. Although I talk with parents about this, I may need to look harder for myself as to what each child is going through at home and how it can affect their day-to-day performance in my class. I may need to take it easier on one who has had a rough day or one who has parents at home that are at odds. I need to take my own advice and help them through whatever it is so that they can concentrate on what needs to be done at school.
In reading the Delpit, Dowdy, and Noll articles, I began to think more about how much culture and background plays into each child’s school experiences. It made me think about how I sometimes jump to conclusions about my ELL students without really knowing them and who they are. I find that when I see a child on my class roster that has a hard to pronounce name, I automatically assume that they will be a below grade level reader. Just as in the Noll article, Indian students were given remedial classes without basis for them. I think that these three articles helped to remind me that we cannot judge a book by its cover, and that we cannot make assumptions about people based on their ethnicity.
While reading the Henry and Staples articles I found myself thinking about how I perceived school growing up, how I loved to read, and had an easy time with school. These articles opened my eyes more to the truth that sometimes teachers are tuned out to the students that do struggle or are not the same as them. It made me think about how I need to make a more concerted effort to personally get to know my student’s interests and try to tailor more instruction to them. It can be difficult especially with all of the other challenges we, as teachers, face, but if you can touch the life of just one more student than you would have otherwise, it will be worth it in immeasurable ways.
The Deborah Hicks’ book Reading Lives made me think about this a great deal as well. The stories of Jake and Laurie made me reflect back on children I have had over the years in my class and how I have dealt with them. It makes me wish that I had a magic wand to wave over each of my students and fix everything that they have playing against them in life. Since this is impossible, I need to work harder at knowing my students personally so that I can better help them. I cannot treat each child the same as the next and expect them to all do equally well.
When reading about Laurie I thought about those children in my room that follow all of the rules and seem to always be doing the right thing, but still struggle academically. I never really thought before about how their proper behavior could be their way of trying to please me since they cannot do so through academics. I think reading about Laurie will make me more cognizant of this in the future. It will also be something that I will talk with parents about more in conferences.
Reading about Jake made me remember that there are all kinds of “smarts.” Some children are smart in areas that aren’t academic in nature. Jake seemed to follow in his father’s footsteps and be good at making things. Some children are very good at video games, while others excel at sports. The chapter about Jake shows us that each child has a talent or something that makes them special and that we should try to find ways to incorporate that into our classrooms. Maybe if we do this and make an effort for a child, they will begin to see that school is a place where they matter and, in turn, they will “buy in” more to what is going on.
All of these readings helped me to become more reflective about what I do each day in my classroom. I hope that they will help me to have a new perspective on what I need to improve upon in order to give each child the best possible first grade year. Each child that enters my classroom door is someone’s most prized possession, the person in the world that they love the most, and that they have done their best to prepare for the world. Just because they may not have prepared them in the same way I would have prepared my own children doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Everyone has their own story to tell, and it starts at home.
-Elizabeth Norwood