Dr August always says “No one come from nowhere, and No one comes from everywhere” meaning that everyone has grown us to somesort of bias towards a group or groups of people. Yet as a teacher you need to realize where your children come from, and what experiences they have encountered in their life, compared to your own experiences. In my classroom, most of my children are of a type of African American decent. Just this alone, is completely different from what I am used to. I went to a school where there was maybe one or two non-white children. Even my job at a daycare, most children I teach there are white; so being in a black dominated classroom is a flip of the world for me. Some challenges I had to get used to are the the language they use, their attitude, and their actions. With trying to become a new teacher, if I were to be handed this specific classroom, I would think I had an advantage. To me, this would be a different style of teaching than what I am used to, and I would be able to figure out my own way of teaching towards these children without trying to change them. I would adapt to how they learn the best. Misconceptions I have faced during this is that I have always known for most African American's to be loud. Yet one of my girls, Purvi, is one of the most quiet and shy girls I have ever met. But once you make friends, she becomes very happy and loving towards you. I also know that children in general are very disruptive and hyper, and the teacher I am obverving has children that listen very well. When asked, they all sat quietly on the rug and writing while following directions and paying attention.
I would relate this to the theorist Lisa Delpit. She wrote the 5 aspects of“the culture of power”. Her number three rule is “If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier”. This is showed in classrooms by teachers not understanding that some students do not understand “veiled instruction”, because they have always just been told what to do directly. So they need to be told directly the rules for them to comprehend and follow the certain direction. Without them understanding the rules or codes, they might not follow the teachers instructions, which leads them to get in trouble and seem disobedient, when all in all, they just didn't understand. Also without being told exactly what the rules are, they will not be able to gain power. Once told the rules the students will understand what is going on, and what and what not to do during classtime.
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I also related my prompt four to Delpit because clearly in the “culture of power” number three is a mirror image of what happens when we do our service learning. I notice it more and more as it seems you did too when you realize that if the students are being told explicitly they understand the codes and rules. Delpit says how “those with less power are often most aware of its existence”, the students who don’t know will feel like an outcast. This then makes gaining any source of power impossible without the rules you can’t win the game, and that is exactly how the students will feel. Another theorist I felt related was Ira Shor. The learning levels of certain students can play a big part based on their culture of power. If students aren’t being told explicitly then how will the teacher understand what they know? It has to do with cognitive levels and how most students if they aren’t told will become non participatory learners. Students at young ages like the service learning are usually active and ready to learn, one example is the little girl you talked about. She’s a shy girl but if no one takes that into account then sooner or later teachers may take the shyness for lack of comprehending. This would lead to a student who has a much higher cognitive level to be viewed as much lower. With the help of the teacher to not think each student knows the same thing will increase the level of participation in a classroom.
-Alysa
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