Connections, Connections, Connections!

Laura Nardozzi
Blog 5, Chapter 4
Vocabulary Vitalizer, Idea Illustrator


Additive bilingualism (pg. 105)- bilingualism in which a second language is acquired without detriment to the first - www.highbeam.com

Counterhegemonic act (pg. 112)- against current intellectual trends: contrary to the prevailing fashions

Detracking (pg. 120)- students who were previously "tracked", or placed into groups based on ability, are now being placed into mixed groups of varying ability and backgrounds known as "detracking"

Idea Illustrator

    
"I prefer to think of teaching and learning not as accommodation-which inevitably implies loss rather than gain-but rather as a negotiation among students and their families, and teachers and schools."- pg. 105






"...teaching is not merely a group of strategies, but a combination of ingredients."- pg. 111

"Nowhere is the need more evident for teachers to begin their own transformation before they can begin to help young people identify with schools."- pg. 124

                                                 

This makes me think about....

Blog 5, Chapter 4 - Discussion Director (In-Class) AND Creative Connector - Elizabeth

"A new student from India comes to your school and ... she begins eating rice with her hands." (Nieto, 1999, p. 74)

It is ALWAYS important to remember that cultural differences exist, and that students from different ethnicities and cultural groups will bring various actions and affects to the classroom. For example, a student from Iran will likely be offended by the "thumbs up" symbol that is used positively in America but is an insult in many Middle Eastern countries. Likewise, students from Japan and other Asian countries may not hold eye contact with a teacher because to do so in his or her home country is offensive to those in authority.


"My philosophy has always been - start from where they are and go together to someplace else." (Nieto, 1999, p. 75)

I tell my students often that I do not have all the answers they need in order to be successful in mastering the academic content expected of them. I always celebrate when they know "more" than I do, and especially when they are comfortable enough to share their knowledge when I am unfamiliar with a concept or when I make a mistake! Teachers should be open-minded and confident enough to learn right along with their students, encouraging their students to "be the teacher" when they possess "expert" knowledge.


"Freire says, 'Dialogue is the sealing together of the teacher and the students in the joint act of knowing and re-knowing the object of study.'" (Nieto, 1999, p. 95)

Teachers must, must, must talk with their students. Talking "to" or "at" them establishes an ineffective and unhealthy relationship of control over student learning. Students truly must take responsibility for their learning in order for "true" learning to occur.

Accommodation

Shawne Murphy
Week 5
Chapter 4
Literary Luminator and Essence Extractor

Literary Luminator

 “…start from where they are and go together to someplace else,” (Nieto, 2010, p. 103). 

As an educator, we need to work with students and the knowledge that they hold in order to teach the students something new and add on to their existing schema.

“…the notion of community is at the center of learning,” (Nieto, 2010, p. 112).

The classroom is a community setting where all students should be comfortable in which they can learn and express themselves freely.

“…we never ask them who they are and where they want to go,” (Nieto, 2010, p. 114).

It is important to go the extra mile to get to know each one of your students personally so you can know who they are, what they want to do and what goals they have for themselves so as a professional, you can help them work to achieve those goals. 

Essence Extractor

Accommodation and negotiation are an essential mix to create success in the learning environment.

School Conditions: An Institutional Transformation

Christina Trovato
Rigorous Researcher Chapter 4 - Blog 5

Sonia Nieto begins the chapter by stating, "I propose an alternative perspective: that in order to advance student learning, teachers and schools also need to change in substantive and significant ways pg.101.

Accommodation needs to be shared by everyone. Until recently, it was overwhelmingly bi cultural students and their families who were expected to accommodate to schools, and accommodation generally meant that they had to lose their very identities in the process pg. 129.

• Site I found defining many terms we have discussed and are reading about:

http://tr.wou.edu/eec/documents/Appendix%20C-%20Acculturation.pdf

• This site focuses on how to create a bi cultural friendly classroom...check out the videos towards the end of the page (teachers interviewed) enjoy :)

 http://www.ldonline.org/article/How_to_Create_a_Welcoming_Classroom_Environment

My Culture is Not Fixed!

Week 4
Ch. 3
Laura Nardozzi
Creative Connector
Discussion Director

"Even when American Indians are included in the curriculum as existing in the present, the idyllic images of them tend to reinforce common stereotypes."- pg. 82

I really related to this portion of the text because I had a similar experience as a student. I can remember not fully understanding that Native Americans still existed and it was a group of people rather than characters in our books about Christopher Columbus. It was not until 3rd grade when we had a Native American man come to school and share with us about his life. I can remember being so confused about why he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and didn't have a long braid!

"The example of Black English underscores the impact that culture may have on learning and academic achievement."- pg. 84

We just talked about this in our Literacy class. I found it very interesting to think about because I feel that I am certainly guilty of this at times. I feel that particularly when I have seen African American athletes on TV being interviewed I hold a certain stereotype about the way they talk and somehow equate it to their intelligence level. I see now that there is no "right" way to speak English, it is merely those in power who decide which dialect holds more value in our society. As teachers we need to be aware of this and explain to our students that there is not just one way to speak and everyone has a dialect. We can explain that we have all agreed to write differently than we speak so that we can all communicate through our writing.

"In fact, most people do not even think about culture unless it is in a subordinate position to another culture or- if they belong to a majority culture-when they leave the confines of home and are no longer part of the cultural norm."- pg. 86

I felt this portion of the book directly related to me and my experience with living in another country. While living in Germany it became much more clear to me what aspects of who I was were directly related to my nationality. Particularly around Christmas is when I felt that my culture was now a minority and not the majority anymore.

"Standard" English is just another English

BLOG 4, Chapter 3 - Rigorous Researcher - Elizabeth

In Chapter 3, Nieto (1999) refers to Paulo Freire's questioning of language. Freier wanted to know: "When did a certain form of grammar became 'correct'? Who named the language of the elite as 'correct,' as the standard? He answered his own question by stating, 'They did, of course,'" (p. 55). The "they" that Freier is talking about is the dominant, White, upper-middle class society that has been (and continues to be) historically privileged and powerful in America.

In reality, when all political, social, and economic influences are removed, "Standard English" is simply another dialect or variation of American English. Few, if any, Americans, including those of the dominant race, speak the "Standard." However, because the English of the "White" upper-middle class is most like "Standard English," "White" English is more widely respected than Black English or Ebonics, or the "broken" English spoken by immigrant and other minority populations, to name only a couple of examples.

A dialect is "a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language; ... a variety of a language used by the members of a group; a variety of language whose identity is fixed by a factor other than geography" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect).

School and Culture

Shawne Murphy
Vocabulary Concept Vitalizer and Idea Illustrator
Week 4
Chapter 3

Culture – “The ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldview created, shared and transformed by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors that can include common history, geographic location, language, social class and religion” (Nieto, 2010, p. 78).

Pure Culture – Cultures influence one another and minority cultures and cultures with less status have an impact on majority cultures (p. 80).

Social Capital V. Cultural Capital

Social Capital – Made up of social obligations and networks that are convertible into economic capital (p. 83).

Cultural Capital – Acquired tastes, values, languages and dialects, or the educational qualifications that mark a person as belonging to a privileged social and cultural class (p. 84).

Culture of Survival V. Culture of Liberation

Culture of Survival – Embodies attitudes, values, traditions and behaviors that are developed in response to political, economic or social forces, some which may be interpreted as a threat to the survival in some way can limit or expand culture (p. 88)

Culture of Liberation – The values, attitudes, traditions and behaviors that embody libratory aspects of culture (p. 89).

Field Independent Learning V. Field Dependent Learning

Field Independent – Preferring to learn in an analytic matter with materials devoid of social context (p. 92).

Field dependent – Understood as favoring highly social and contextualized settings (p. 93)

“There is no ‘pure culture.’  That is, cultures influence one another, and even minority cultures and those with less status have an impact on majority cultures, sometimes in dramatic ways” (Nieto, 2010, p. 80).

“Culture, especially ethnic and religious culture, is learned through interactions with families and communities” (Nieto, 2010, p. 86).

“…Although students may be socialized to learning particular ways at home, these cultural and communication patterns may be missing in the school setting” (Nieto, 2010, p. 94).

                                



Are we Culturally Responsive?

Christina Trovato
Blog 4
Chapter 3

Essence Extractor:

Culture is an embedded mix of dynamic identities - Building off student's backgrounds rather than Assimilating is essential for learning development. 

Literacy Luminator:

Elsewhere, I have defined culture as "the ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldwide created, shared, and transformed by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors that can include a common history, geographic location, language, social class, and religion (Nieto pp. 78, 2010).

Culture is commonly decontextualized. In the United States, decontextualization typically occurs in the school curriculum and media images outside of school (Nieto pp. 82, 2010)

This research confirms that simply speaking English is no guarantee that academic success will follow. There seem to be several reasons for this. First, when children are able to keep up with their native language at home, they develop metalinguistic awareness, that is, a greater understanding of how language itself works, and of how to use language for further learning. Based on her extensive research concerning second language acquisition, Virginia Collier (1995) has suggested that practicing English at home among students who are more proficient in another language actually can slow down the cognitive development because it is only when parents and their children speak the language they know best that they are working at "their level of cognitive maturity" (Nieto, pp. 91, 2010).

COMMENTS for Laura - Week 3

Laura, do you know which geographical location and/or school district these figures represent? I clicked the link and looked around the website for more information, but I was unable to locate it. Regardless, I would also be curious about outcomes (i.e. grades, final level of education, employment, etc.) as well as the race brake down for the students educated by these persons, especially the ones that didn't hold a bachelor's degree! (Incidentally, if private schools were included in the data, I am not surprised that 0.8% failed to hold a Bachelor’s degree. The private sector is completely different than the public sector, and as a result, the “rules”/credentials for teaching are different!) - Elizabeth

Week 3- Ch. 2- Who's your teacher?

Laura Nardozzi- Rigorous Researcher


I felt that an interesting topic for a more in depth look at a specific topic would be to see what the numbers are for the ratio of men to women teaching in our schools. Also, to extend Sonia's discussion of this I looked at how many African and Hispanic American teacher's there are. Here is what I found:

Selected                 Number, in   
characteristics           thousands       Percent
--------------------------------------------------
     Total                    2,561         100.0
    Men                         694          27.1
    Women                     1,867          72.9
Race/ethnicity            
    White, non-Hispanic       2,217          86.5
    Black, non-Hispanic         188           7.4
    Hispanic                    109           4.2
    Other minorities             48           1.9
Experience   
    Less than 3 years           249           9.7
    3 to 9 years                653          25.5
    10 to 20 years              897          35.0
    More than 20 years          762          29.8
Highest degree             
    Less than bachelor's         18           0.8
    Bachelor's                1,331          52.0
    Master's or above         1,212          47.3

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/MiniDig95/teach.asp
Although this data is significantly outdated (1994), it can still help us as educators because the students who were being taught during this extreme time of inequality within the field of education are most likely the parents of the students were are teaching. They may have developed a detachment from school and disinterest because of the lack of connect with the teacher. This is not to say that the teacher needs to be the same "race" as the student to connect, but the importance of diversity was not stressed nearly as much. Also, note that only 52% of teachers held a bachelor's degree when this data was collected?? Anyone else find that odd?

COMMENTS!!! Week 3

I have tried all afternoon and evening to leave the following comments as we have been doing. It just doesn't work! I contacted Dr. Ahmad, and she replied that no other student has reported problems. I also checked on blogger help for information, but that didn't prove too useful either. So, I am posting my comments here:

Chrissy, with regards to deculturization and degradatiion of native languages in schools: I am a TESOL student. I completed my first TESOL class and 15 observation hours in the Fall. It has been proven by various researches and practitioners that in many cases the ability to learn a second or subsequent language is enhanced and most effective when students access similarities and differences in their native languages. There are opportunities for errors here that result from "overgeneralization," however these errors are productive and mark learning! – Elizabeth

Shawne, your first quote reminds me of the "blaming the victim" article we read in SPF 501 last week. For others that may be interested in learning more about "blaming the victim," read William Ryan's piece with the same title. You can find it in "Race, Class, and Gender in the US" by P. Rothenberg, ed. 2001. I have a .pdf if you would like a copy! - Elizabeth

Let me know if any of you are having "comments" problems!

Can you see the LIGHT?

BLOG 3, Chapter 2 – Literary Luminator AND Essence Extractor – Elizabeth

"Educational inequality takes many guises and results in differential outcomes for students," (Nieto, 1999, p. 45). -- Regardless of whether or not words or actions of inequality are intended, they have a major impact on students in our schools. Generally, the types of inequality encountered relate directly to race, ethnicity, gender, and SES.

"Students resist schooling in sundry ways...," (Nieto, 1999, p. 43). -- Some students who have experienced inequality in school simply choose NOT to learn what is being presented to them, regardless of the appropriateness or quality of information and instruction. These students enter in a power struggle with teachers and administrators, as a result of their feelings and/or experiences with inequality.

"...the role of teachers' attitudes and behaviors toward students of different backgrounds can be significant," (Nieto, 1999, p. 42). -- My student teaching supervisor/mentor/undergraduate senior seminar professor always told us: "Your students are only going to be as successful as you believe they will be." He told us that the relationships we make or break with students are equally, if not more, important that the content and skills we teach. Students that have been "broken down" by the school system time and again will fail because they have been offered no reason to succeed.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

ESSENCE: "Power and privilege ... are at the heart of inequality" (Nieto, 1999, p. 46).

Unjust, Unfair, Unequal - The Educational System

Shawne Murphy
Discussion Director and Creative Connector
Week 3
Chapter 2

“…those who are not successful (in school for example) are blamed for what are in fact primarily institutional problems.  That is because in the official discourse of equality, there has been a deafening silence concerning the institutional barriers that make it almost impossible for some to ‘make it,’ while they virtually guarantee success for others” (Nieto, 2010, p. 55).

Every day, students in the educational community are facing difficulties in their learning and understanding of information, and it is not their fault.  I had firsthand experience through one of my field placements in which I worked with a teacher who had already given up on her students within the first two months of school because all of the educators had deemed the class as behavior problems that would never learn.  The educators in this position made it impossible for the students to learn and placed the blame on the students because they had “behavior issues.”  Had the teacher given these third grades students a chance, she would have seen that they were smart, funny and willing to learn with the proper encouragement; it took me about a week to find this in each child.

“…curriculum segregation is a major indicator of inequality that takes place when assignments, pedagogical styles and teaching materials differ according to the group of students with whom they are used for” (Nieto, 2010, p. 60).

Scaffolding was preached since the day I entered the school of education.  Scaffolding can be defined as the ability of an educator to adapt a lesson, information, worksheet, procedure, etc., to meet the needs of each student in the classroom setting.  Not all students have the ability to learn in the same way, nor do they learn by the same means whether they be hands-on, listening, visual, etc.  It is the responsibility of the teacher to meet the needs of the students through scaffolding instruction to provide each student with a fair opportunity to learn.  If we as educators use the same styles of teaching over and over again, we are setting the students up for failure because we are refusing to meet their needs. 

“The pressure to assimilate also means that they are expected to discard their native languages and cultures in favor of instead of addition to new ones, in the process of abandoning their identity” (Nieto, 2010, p. 67).

Students in the educational system are always feeling the need to assimilate into the school environment so they do not stand out.  I experienced a form of assimilation observing in an ESL classroom in an urban school.  The students that did not speak English well were ashamed to participate because they had an accent or their English was not easily understood and the often tried to copy what was done by a native English speaker in order to ‘fit in’ or seem ‘normal.’  It is not fair that students feel that they have to change the individual that they are in order to fit in with their peers or to be able to receive the same educational benefits that the rest of the students are receiving. 

Concepts within Educational Inequality

Christina Trovato
Week 3 - Chapter 2
Vocabulary/ Concept Vitalizer and Idea Illustrator

Tracking: 

It has become increasingly clear that tracking is not simply a neutral practice to make teaching more efficient or student learning more likely (Nieto pp.56, 2010).

The issue of ability tracking has been a contentious one in recent years due to research showing that minorities are disproportionately represented in the lower tracks. Because these lower tracks have been shown to lead to lower achievement in later years, it is apparent that the tracking system perpetuates the inequities of race, gender, and SES in our society. (http://mste.illinois.edu/hill/papers/tracking.html)

Tracking is the most commonly used term for ability grouping, the practice of lumping children together according to their talents in the classroom. On the elementary level, the divisions sound harmless enough: Kids are divided into the Bluebirds and Redbirds. But in the secondary schools, the stratification becomes more obvious—some say insidious—as students assume their places in the tracking system.Opponents of tracking trace the practice to the turn of the century when most children attending public schools were from upper-middle-class families, but large numbers of black and working-class students were starting to enter the schools as the result of compulsory schooling laws and rising immigration. Tracking quickly took on the appearance of internal segregation. Today, though the world outside schools has changed, the tracking system remains much the same.  (http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/tracking/)

Deculturalization

Assimilation can result in what Felix Boateng (1990) calls deculturalization, a process by which individuals are forcibly deprived of their culture (Nieto pp.64, 2010).

The methods of Deculturalization are:

• segregation and isolation

• forced change of language

• curriculum reflecting the culture of the dominant group

• textbook content reflecting the culture of the dominant group

• exclusion of the dominated groups’ language and culture from curriculum and textbooks

• a teaching force made up of members of the dominant group    (http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/education/spring/spring03dse/chap05concepts.html)

Monoculture:
"They won't except you if you're not like them. They want to monoculture [you]," she said (Nieto pp. 67, 2010).

Monoculture describes systems that have very low diversity. The term is applied in several fields.
(http://www.metaglossary.com/meanings/488879/)

 Degradation: 

  The degradation of native languages has repercussions in the school setting, and it can be invalidating both for students' self- concept and learning (Nieto pp. 66, 2010). 

• the act of changing something into something different in essential characteristics

• an act that makes people primitive and uncivilized

• an act that makes people cruel or lacking normal human qualities

•  depriving one of self-esteem

• an act that debases or corrupts 

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/degradation)

 Resistance:

 Another reaction to inequality is what has been called resistance. According to this theory, students resist schooling in sundry ways, vandalism, breaking school rules , and, in what is of interest in the present discussion , refusing to learn (Nieto pp. 73, 2010)

To strive to fend off or offset the actions, effects, or force of.
To remain firm against the actions, effects, or force of; withstand: a bacterium that resisted the antibiotic.
To keep from giving in to or enjoying.
(http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/resist)

Awesome Videos I Found regarding Inequality in the classroom: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGYd37xuefk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhXQDQZdKq4&feature=related

Below is a map I made visualizing many of the down fall bi cultural students face every day in school