My Teacher Identity

Response to Prompt 7

Going into this experience I was nervous, scared, and unsure of what I was getting myself into. I had never worked with children in a classroom setting prior to this and knew that by the end of my first visit I may have second thoughts about getting into this MAT program entirely.

I was blown away by how much I observed in just the little time that I was there. I formed relationships with the children and found myself looking forward to my next visit just to see their excited little faces. One night while leaving my own class I heard a little voice call out to me. It was a student from the classroom who I had been working with earlier that afternoon. The excitement in his voice and look on his face made me so happy to be doing this work.

Throughout my observations I was lucky enough to see my teacher act in a number of different roles other than a “teacher”.  Many time she played several roles at the same time, trying to observe while manage, and participating with the kids in order to challenge their thinking and expand their answers. I think that as a teacher in a young classroom it is important to be able to nurture children at any moment and be sensitive to their young minds. My teacher did a great job as a scheduler. For example, after announcing that it was reading time the kids spent roughly 20-25 minutes reading. At this point I could tell the kids were getting antsy and their attention was waning and it was at this point that she announced it was writing time, an activity the kids seemed to get very excited about. With kids this young I think scheduling your day around their attention spans is very important to ensure that they not only participate, but stay well-behaved. 

I think about how to create bonds with the students that allow them to trust me as their friend, but still respect the fact that I am the teacher and they are the student.  I wonder how I will find a rhythm and if it will change with new years and new children. The world of teaching is still very new to me, and I am soaking up all of these experiences with an optimistic outlook on how I will help them shape me into becoming a successful, reflective teacher.

Working with Parents

Response to Prompt 5

On my first visit to the school that I am in I witnessed an interaction between my teacher and a parent whom I would later learn was the mom of a student I have worked with in class. The mom had come in to school to take "Joey" out early for an appointment. I was standing to the side but I heard the teacher telling her that Joey had getten in trouble again at lunch for behavior problems. He also hadn't finished his worksheet that was supposed to be for homework. This didn't appear to be the first time they had discussed Joey and it seemed like this was an ongoing problem. The teacher told her that she had recommended he stay back and repeat the first grade. This was not something the mom wanted to hear and she got a little defensive and brushed off the recommendation.


Since that day I have worked with "Joey" several times on one-on-one reading and writing. My teacher has informed me that he has trouble paying attention, and I have witnessed his distraction firsthand. He is capable of doing the work but has fallen so far behind because of this problem. While doing a writing exercise where he was to write a story, his was short and repeated the same words over and over, clearly aprehensive  to challenge himself.


Today I learned that although "Joey" had not made the progress neccesary for her to feel comfortable with him going to second grade, he would not be staying back and repeating first grade because his mom didn't want him to. Even though she wanted Joey to have a better opportunity that she did (my teacher told me that the mom had dropped out of shcool in 10th grade), she still wouldn't hold Joey back even though he clearly needed the extra year.


I was disappointed to hear that this parent was not accepting this recommendation when it was so clearly needed. I can't imagine how frustrating it is for my teacher to work with this particular parent and putting the time and effort into this student when it seems like he is not getting this reinforcement at home.

Language Barriers

Response to Prompt 6

Today I was able to observe some new cultural additions to my classroom. There was a new kid in class who's mother was also in the room. The teacher informed me that this was his 8th day in America and he had moved here from Iran. She told me that this student was abrasive and had already bitten two students. During class I could tell that he was having trouble paying attention and keeping on-track. I don't blame him for getting lost because the assignment was to independantly work on writing a story to share with the class. He ended up writing a story in his native language of Farsi but was very apprehensive to share it aloud when it came time. With his mom pushing him he finally mumbled what he had written. The kids in the class were in awe of his language and physical written words but didn't seem to be judging him in a bad way.

This seems to be the greatest example so far of my teacher having to find ways to be sensitive to both socio-cultural and linguistic differences. Instead of writing him off to not be able to do the writing she altered the assignment so he could write it in his own language, even though she wouldn't be able to read it he would still be part of the group. Also, during the sharing time only two student had time to present their stories. This particular student was chosen and even though the class couldn't understand what he was saying I think that it is important that he was still included. She even turned it into a lesson for the other students by showing off how he wrote his words in another language and explaining how he is learning English and will be able to speak two different languages. (I later learned this student is also fluent in Arabic as well). Many of the students in this class likely speak or at least hear another language at home as well, as by having her promote that this is a "cool" thing that he speaks two languages I think it reassures these other students as well.

Response to Racism/Segregation Videos

My biggest reactions were to the first video, the Clark Doll Experiment from 1939. I had never seen that video before and I was amazed to see how these little kids already had such concrete opinions. I was astounded by what the defintion of "pretty, good, and nice" meant to these kids, and how can those words be associate with a color? I thought it was so sad when they chose the white doll  to be the one that that they thought looked like them because it was such a statement that they made about what they valued or wanted to appear to be.

Unfortunately, it is clear that institutional racism still exists in our society. In his excerpt from "Between Barack and a Hard Place", Wise discusses how simply the stigma of your minority can prevent you from acheiving the same standards as someone who is not a minority. This is also clear in many schools across the country. The elementary school that I am in there are only 4 white students in a class of 26. When the teacher tells "the girls" to hand out the folders it is two of the three white girls who do so. The "trouble" students are all of African American or Hispanic race. Even the conversations between student and teacher are a little on the racist side, today the teacher asked the child I was working with who happened to be African American why he wanted to be a "street kid" because he was acting tough in the hallway.

Variety of Culture in the Classroom

Response to Prompt 2

The elementary school that I am volunteering in is large, and many cultural backgrounds contribute to the student body. The website  http://inforworks.ride.ri.gov  reports that out of the 621 students, 38% are African American, 30% are Hispanic, 19% are White, 7% are Multiracial, 3% are Asian, and 2% are Native American.

The individual classroom that I work in mirrors those numbers pretty well. The students in the class are primarily African American, with a handful of white and hispanic students, and one or two Asian students. The teacher of this classroom is of Asian descent and has a very strong accent.

Although these students are of different backgrounds you would never know by observing their interaction. There is no separation in the classrooom between cultural groups, or even between boys and girls. At this young age I think that children are too young to care about anything beyond having a friend.

The variety of culture found in this classroom is refreshing, and as an observer or teacher I would be interested to hear the different aspects that each student can bring into the classroom discussion. Children from different backgrounds can offer opinions that may not be brought up in an all white classroom, and I think those can be very valuable thoughts.

This week in the classroom I worked one on one with a student who was behind in reading due to his lack of concentration according to the teacher. This particular student was having trouble staying focused when we were reading outside in the hallway, especially when other students walked by. Although working with him was tedious he expressed such a sense of accomplishment when we were finished that it was worth the patience. I am learning a lot from these kids, not only how to teach but how to get them to open up and interact in a way that encourages them to be productive.

Welcome Back To School

Throughout the course of this class I have been placed to volunteer in a first grade classroom at an elementary school in Providence. I have never worked in a classroom setting before with children so I knew that every experience here would be a new one, which made me very nervous.

Driving up to the school was in itself a process for me, as I am not very familiar with the area. I left very early so I wouldn't get lost, and also because I wasn't sure what the parking situation would be like and we were told that at some schools this can be an issue. After finding a parking lot that was near the school I quickly made my way toward where I thought the entrance was through the rain. With butterflies in my stomach I pressed the button on the wall to open and was very relieved when the door buzzed and I got in without a problem. I made my way into the office where the teacher I was working with already happened to be there on her way back from lunch. She told me that we would be picking up the kids from lunch and that they can be a little rowdy at this time. Because of the rain there was no outdoor recess, but she informed me that those students who had completed their math worksheets would be allowed to have a 10 minute indoor recess back in the classroom. When the kids lined up in front of us I found those butterflies returning to my stomach, and knew that every move I made was being watched by these 5 and 6 year olds. I had forgotten how quickly young children can lose their attention but was reminded when we had to stop every 20 feet to make sure the kids were still in line before we could "pass".

Finally back in the classroom the kids all sat on a mat and I was introduced to the class. At this time we also had to sort out some issues that had happened during lunchtime involving one boy crying and another girls lunch bag being ripped "on accident". I found it funny to watch these kids policing the others making sure that the correct story was being told, and after 10 minutes of "umms" and trailing off sentences it was decided that the young boy who had "accidentally" ripped the girls lunch bag would have to write her an apology. I was sent to help him write the letter while the rest of the class had their indoor recess time. This boy was not very on board with writing the letter and I could tell that he wasn't the most motivated student. After finishing the letter I was sent to work with him in the hallway where he was supposed to read to me from a pre-selected library of books that were on his "level". He was reading at a level way below the rest of the class and the teacher told me that reading at home might not be high on the priority list.

The classroom at the school was big enough to accomodate all the students (around 25) and the desks were set up in groups of 6. There were lots of decorations up around the room and charts with different tasks on them. Each student had their own mailbox which reminded me of my own first grade classroom. Each student also had their own reading bin with appropriate books in each based on their reading level. I could tell that each student felt their had their own identity in the classroom and the kids seemed to respond very well to the teacher.

I later did some research on the school using the website http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov and learned that this school had some not so great reports. The NECAP assesment scores were lower in every single category at this school compared to the rest of the state. They also have a 1:15 teacher/student ratio where as statewide that number is 1:11. In this school 71% of the students are eligable for subsidized lunch compared with only 43% statewide. Another depressing statistic was chronic absenteeism with this school reporting 27% compared to the statewide 18%. I have a hard time understanding how this number is so high in an elementary school, but it reflects what might be happening throughout the community this school is in. I am glad that I didn't look these numbers up before I went to the school for the first time, I am not sure if they would have biased my initial opinions which were for the most part all enjoyable.

I am looking forward to my next volunteer experience and am excited to see if the students remember me or how they might act as they start feeling more comfortable with me. Until then, I am keeping an open mind :)

Bio

Hello!

My name is Kate Basile and I am currently working towards my Masters of Elementary Education through Rhode Island College. I am from Narragansett, Rhode Island and a graduate of Narragansett High School. I then attended college at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida where I majored in Psychology.

I have been a lifeguard at Scarborough State Beach since 2006 and enjoy the outdoors whether I am swimming, paddleboarding, or running on the beach.

In  addition to being outside I also practice yoga and would like to become a certified instructor as my next endeavor.

I also love to travel and recently returned from a trip to Puerto Rico. 

I adopted my dog, Bailey in 2009 and she has been a fixture by my side since the day I got her. In the future I would also love to work with rescue animals and help find homes for abandoned strays.

As far as teaching is concerned I would like to ultimately be a first grade classroom teacher. I enjoy working with younger children and while working toward my undergrad degree I was able to take some development and behavioral classes that I believe will help me on this path.