Post4

I grew up in Providence in one of the roughest neighborhoods and I went to one of the roughest middle schools as well.  That's why I would like to work with inner city schools, I feel like I would have a connection with most of my students.  Who may be living in drug infested neighborhoods, single parents, and even parents themselves.  As a teacher I know I will face many challenges, and even though I like a challenge some may be more difficult than others.  One of my biggest challenges is that some of my students may feel that they have no connection with me and in the way that I teach.  Or that I may not know anything about their culture, even though in this class I have learned so much about cultures, gender, etc.  it still makes me a little nervous.  I am determined to to learn anything I can about my students, this of course will take patience and time.  The biggest advantage with working with inner city schools is understanding what it is living in rough neighborhoods and knowing that it's hard to be young and have to see sad things at a young age, or to accept bad things because they don't know any better.  I want them to see me in a different light that perhaps they don't see in another teacher who has no connection to them at all and who doesn't care to have a connection with them.  At this moment in my service learning I haven't had any misconceptions about my students or the teachers various culture groups.

Post5

I believe that having a good relationship with students parents or guardian is very important.  Communicating with them is a great way to learn about my students.  It's also a great way to understand my students, if there are a family problems that may be happening that can affect their behavior and concentration in class.   Communicating with the parent or guardian is a great way for them to know what's going on with their kids in class.  Students need to be acknowledged when they are doing good in class not only from the teacher but also from their parents.  They also, should know when their child is not behaving well or when they are not doing their homework. Some of the challenges that may occur with my students parents/guardian is the lack of contribution from the parent side.  Whether it might be because the parent doesn't care to meet with me because they don't care to know how their child is doing academical or maybe their a single parent and need to care for more "important" things.  I remember when I was younger my parents never came to parent/teacher conference because they were really busy working double shifts.  I wish they could have made a little bit of effort to meet my teachers, but as a kid I didn't understand that it was hard for them to take a day off and that they needed to care for five kids.  I will try to work with my students parents and try to be as flexible as I can.  I can understand that it might be hard for the parent to attend to some conferences.  We could email each other, we could talk on the phone, we could even right letters to each other.  Another challenge I may face is not being able to speak the same language.  That can be very difficult for the both of us to deal with, but I could possibly get another teacher who speaks the same language.  If the situation with the student is serious then I could provide a professional translator.  I know that requires money, but sometimes as teachers we must go above and beyond for our students.  I will ALWAYS show respect and concern toward the parents of my students, I know that it might not be easy to communicate with all of them for whatever reason.  But I will keep that in mind, as I deal with the parents I will learn more and more about them and about my students and hopefully it will get better at it every year.

Post2

www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu

As you can see from the chart above the majority of students are Hispanic with 58%, fallowing African-American with 24%.  In my class there is about 21 students and only one of them is white the rest are Hispanic and African-American.  Last week the students received a notice for their parents regarding parent/teacher conference.  One of the Hispanic students said that their mother doesn’t speak English, Ms. Z* said “Tell your mother to Flip el paper”.  She was trying to say, “Tell your mother que le de buelta al papel” in Spanish.  The whole class started laughing (including myself)  Ms. Z* then said  to her class “Students, you need to help me with Spanish”.   

I believe that my ability to speak two languages (English&Spanish) will definitely help me out in situations like that.  I am currently learning Italian and want to keep learning many more.  Although, I will not know all the languages in the world I know it can only benefit me and my career.  One example of cultural capital or social asset that one of my students bring in to the classroom is the ability to translate to one of the ESL student.  I will call her J*, she sits in class and helps her classmate (who I will call V*) with the assignment because she hardly can understand English.  As I observe J* it amazes me because she is really good at it.  Being able to translate English to Spanish at such a young age is great.  I must say that J* is one of the best students in my class.  Not only because she helps other classmates in class but also she respects the teacher's and she respects me as well.  

post1

My service learning project is neat.  My school has about 660 students, grades K-6.

When I first walked in I noticed tons of art work that the students have created.  In the first floor it has grades K-1, 2nd floor 2nd grade and has one 3rd grade class.  In the second floor you will also find the library, music, and art classes.  Grades 3-5 are located in the 3rd floor.  Finaly in the basement you will find 6th grade. My class is a little interesting because its located in the basment and it has three different grades 3-5.  My teacher is Ms. Z* the TA's name is Ms. F*,  I have been coming in on Wednesdays for 1hr 1/2 and helping out in literature.  The class is devided into two different groups, group A and group B.  

Group A:  Very low reading level, seven kids are in this group. Two girls and five boys, two of the boys have behavioral problems which make it a little difficult for the Ms. Z and Ms. F to keep the group together.  

Group B:  First grade reading level, it has four girls and five boys, one boy in this group has a behavior  problem, L* seems like a great kid but he sleeps during class and doesn't really participate with the rest of the  of his group.

As I walk to my class I saw this picture of Justin Beiber and had to take a picture of it. It's a reminder to the students to get their homework done.  I asked one of the TA's why Justin Beiber? And she said because he's very popular and is a big influence on kids and teenagers.  In my Elementary days I would probably like to see....New Kids on The Block!!!! ( I know I am old)

Three things that my school value:

• Be respectful
• Be responsible
• Be safe

When the class is acting wild the teacher reminds them of these three things, and the students seem to calm down.

I really enjoy my class!