Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Quotes format)

      This week's blog post is on 2 pieces of material on the culture and environment of a classroom. The first one I want to review is a chart by Alfie Kohn. In their chart, they go over qualities that are beneficial for a classroom and possible concerns to have. The second piece is on a video by Learning for Justice that goes over Culture Pedagogy. 

     Starting off with the chart, it seems to have a contrast between different age groups. In the very first section, it states that it is positive for students' chairs to be around tables while it is bad to have them organized into rows. This to me seems like it is very dependent on which age group you are teaching. Kids in elementary schools; both from personal experience and observation, have their kids surrounding tables or arrange their desks to resemble tables. In contrast to middle school and high school settings, the desks are arranged neatly into rows. It is just a huge contrast to what is considered important depending on what age group a school is geared towards. The chart continues and goes over some items that are important to have in a classroom. They state that the classroom is positive if it is "Covered in with students' projects" or there's "evidence of collaboration" This certainly brings a sense of good feelings and emotions. That the students are a part of the classroom. While items that are bought in a store or decorations that are commercially made and warning signs. The bottom line from this chart is that student engagement is very crucial to a culturally positive environment. 

     Wrapping up with the video mentioned earlier. The video discusses culturally relevant pedagogy and attempts to define what it is and how it is beneficial. At 1:12 of the video they state the goal is "teachers take the everyday, lived, cultural experiences and make the appropriate linkages between what the student knows and do and understand". This is crucial to being an effective teacher in the school system. If the students are not able to connect with the material in class, they are not gonna be able to learn or enjoy school to the fullest. To bring it back to one of the videos we watched in class called "Precious Knowledge". In that video, it brings up how the kids struggled to interact and engage in school due to it not being culturally relevant to them. But the moment that an ethnic studies class was implemented into the school curriculum, the student's grades started to rise. This is the perfect example of culturally relevant pedagogy being an effective method to get students to be engaged with the content at hand. This really makes me more self-ware of what I should be doing in the classroom when I go on my Inspiring Minds sessions. 

https://ric.kanopy.com/video/precious-knowledge

Delpit "The Silence Dialogue"

     The text for review this week is based on the work of  Lisa Delpit and her book "Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom". In this section of her text, she points out the reality between white students, people of color, and other minorities in a classroom setting. Specifically, the cultural power that exists between those who are in the upper and middle class and those who are not part of these social classes. Delpit highlights these into five main categories. With the first 3 being of more importance. 1) Issues of Power are enacted in the classroom. 2) There are codes and rules for participating in power. 3) The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of people who have power 4) If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier. 5) Those with power are usually unaware of its existence, while those with little power are most aware of it. 

    Everything about this text I definitely agreed with. There were moments where I felt like I was being called out when reading only due to the fact of currently being a TA. Where I could see myself teaching from the culture of power and wondering if my abilities to teach are even able to be effective for the students I help out. It makes me wonder if I should change how I teach to better help with my student's abilities.  I also thought it was very interesting reading about how people who weren't in the culture of power made it seem like those from it couldn't understand or try to understand what was happening. I know that objectively that isn't the case. It is just interesting that those who don't have the resources education-wise feel like they are by themselves even though some are actively trying to help them. Even if the attempts might not be effective, at least people are trying to bring people up into the culture of power. The only thing that I hope as teachers of the future is to try and recognize this as best we can so that our students don't suffer from their education. Lisa Delpit's work on this really got me thinking and I hope to check out more of her work once my schedule college-wise has been freed up. 

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Quality_Education_as_a_Constitutional_Ri/twDfDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover

The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies

     The blog post for this week is on the history of the education system related to how they teach history. The paper that this blog is titled highlights that the U.S. heavily favors having those who have European roots and practically shoves minority groups under the rug unless it is through the lens of slavery. This is a very accurate assessment based on the U.S. textbooks used to teach history. Furthermore, the U.S. treats these racial problems as if it is gradually progressing and shedding these traits as part of its mission of promoting equality and equity. Even though, it is much more complicated, with a lot more work ahead of us. 

    Furthermore, the children from the article recognize this phenomenon. Students starting in middle school start to question why U.S. history focuses so much on white men and not people of color. This was documented in the early 2000s with students of color stating it would be more interesting to learn more about people of color in history class as opposed to learning about the achievements that white people have made. 

    This seems to be very self-evident when talking about U.S. history. Very little is spoken about minority groups outside of how they were discriminated against and how their rights were restored only on paper. It would be more interesting to learn about the culture and achievements of people of color in U.S. history as it is a major section that is incredibly underlooked. Most students learn about this type of history from their English class with books like "A Raisin in the Sun".  In short, this is a change that I hope future teachers can implement into their history classes to better educate our citizens of tomorrow. If we don't teach the mistakes we made in how past or ignore the culture that makes up a majority of America, how are we able to grow and prosper as a nation.

 https://khdzamlit.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/2/6/11261956/a_raisin_in_the_sun_-_lorraine_hansberry.pdf

Still Separate, Still Unequal

     This week's article is about the history of the United State's education system, specifically about the inequities of students' racial and social status researched by Jonathan Kozol. In the very beginning, children were separated racially in the U.S. but as time went on with the help of multiple civil rights movements. The racial barriers that once existed on paper have all but disappeared. But while the racial barriers have mostly been eliminated, Kozol's research shows that economic status plays a major part in how well a student performs. The evidence suggests that students in wealthier districts performed better than those in lower-paid districts. This not only shows their performances but their conditions as well. Jonathon found in Boston Massachusetts (1960) that black elementary schools had out-of-date, racist textbooks. This doesn't even include the facilities that these children were using. Honestly, the History of the U.S. education system is just baffling to say the very least.  It really is an eye-opener to how poor and racially segregated the U.S. was if you were not born in the right area.  Below is a detailed timeline of the events discussed in this week's article for those who want to research the progress of the U.S. education system. Will speak to you all next week. 

https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/kozol-jonathan-0

Shifting the Paradigm. (Week 2 Argument)

     Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit-Oriented Schools to Asset-based Models: Why Leaders Need to promote an Asset-Orientation in our Schools

By: Shannon Renkly, Katherine Bertolini

This week's article for discussion is about the importance of how schools should be proactive about harnessing student's assets by trying to identify them and making their assets flourish. This is in contrast to how the majority of schools usually focus on students ' behaviors and attempt to correct these said risks. These as the title of this post suggests are asset-based models vs a deficit-based model. 

     The authors of this article talk in favor of the asset-based model and how crucial it is for students to focus on what they are capable of doing. The Authors cite multiple studies that when schools apply this said model, they see better results in their students' academic progress. Currently, the Deficit-Based model focuses on what students are not capable of doing and sets low expectations for its students. The source they use (Lombardi 2016) goes even further into the Deficit model stating that it believes the failure is from the students not putting in the effort necessary to complete their work.  The authors go on to state that the Asset model should be applied to both the students and the school's staff as well. Meaning that the content for students is adapted for them with high expectations, but those expectations are met with a collaborative and trusting environment. As for the staff, the authors state that the Asset Model helps with teachers' ability for leadership and instructional capabilities. 

      This article brings positive information to the teaching environment and should be implemented across the state to the best of every teacher's ability. While this should be implemented, it does raise concerns about what the students are capable of doing in a school environment. If the students are only able to perform well with what they are capable of doing, are they growing and learning as students? Now when the deficit-based model has results proven to be beneficial to students as stated in the article. (Scales, 1999). The only concern though is what happens when a student is given a challenge in school that their skills do not help with overcoming. Not that these students should be discouraged for that. Just some thought about how the asset method could be improved upon.

Sources with hyperlinks

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deficit-model-is-harming-students-janice-lombardi

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10332647/

 

My Introduction (Alexander LaMontagne)

     

      Hello, my name is Alexander LaMontagne. I am a Secondary Education History Major at Rhode Island College and this is the start of my blog for FNED 246/546. As this is my first time writing, I am introducing myself with a major hobby I enjoy doing and what I bring to the table regarding the education system. 

     The major hobby that I am most proud of is my races that happen throughout the year. I currently run a multitude of races that happen across Rhode Island. These range from 5k's to half marathons.  Some races included are the Blessing of the Fleet 10-mile race, Providence Downtown 5k, and the Colt State Park Half Marathon. I am also part of a running team that meets once a week called the Adult Sentinel Striders. A lifelong goal that I hope to achieve before I am 30 is to run in the Boston Marathon in under 3 hours. But that is more wishful thinking on my part. Hopefully one day it will happen. The major contribution that I believe could help students in the education world is my ability to keep students engaged with the content. For years I have been good at keeping and retaining adolesents attention with a variety of different subjects. The subjects that I have had the most success with have been history, chess, and basic mathematics. I have made great strides working with kids at residential facilities and public school systems. Not only do kids engage when I attempt but have looked forward to wanting to learn from the material. I started noticing this from my time working with kids for the past 3 1/2 years. I really hope that I can bring this skill of mine to education field