Race and Ethnicity in the classroom

I did my group differences project on race and ethnicity. Luke and I both choose to read two articles each. The first article I read was “Modifying Children's Racial Attitudes” by Frances Aboud. Aboud made it clear that children are not unbiased at a young age as many often assume they are, he on the other hand made the assumption that children are very biased and need to be taught how to be unbiased before they reach age 5 where it becomes less likely to be taught.

Aboud uses an intervention strategy to see if children can be taught how to be accepting of other races. I think this strategy is great and would like to see the results of its implications on a wider scale. I agree with aboud that children are not culturally and racial unbiased. I have worked in daycares for years and children will be biased based on gender, age, money, race, etc. even as early as 2 and 3 years old.

I also completely agree with aboud’s view on being racially colorblind. Racial colorblindness has often been thought of getting rid of racial biased, but it has done the opposite. Children pick up on social cues very easily, they see mommy wearing pink and getting her nails done with her girl friends and daddy wears jeans and works on cars with his guy friends. Although no one told that child that girls wear pink, they have picked up on it by seeing that daddy doesn’t wear pink. The same process applies for other biased, including racial biased. Although a parent may not say that a “black” man is bad, he may imply it by not speaking to him, or sneering his nose up unconsciously. When children see these bias behaviors occurring but are not taught why or how not to do them, they assume they are the “right” way and follow in those footsteps. INSTEAD, parents and teachers should explain differences such as sex, ey color, skin color, and then explain that just because these differences ageist doesn’t mean that one person is better than the other.

The other article I read was titled “Teaching for Social Justice, Diversity, and Citizenship in a Global World” By James A. Banks.  Banks argues that teachers need to worry less about academic matters and basic skills and more about the global world. Students need to learn social justice, diversity, and citizenship.

“I am very concerned about a conception of literacy that defines it only as basic skills and ignores citizenship participation in national and global contexts. Although it is essential that students acquire basic skills in literacy, basic skills are necessary but not sufficient in our diverse and troubled world. Literate citizens in a diverse and democratic society should be reflective, moral, and active citizens in an interconnected global world. They shut the knowledge, skills, and commitment needed to change the world to make it more just and democratic. The world’s greatest problems do not result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people in the world from different cultures, Races, religions, and nations been unable to get along and to work together to solve the worlds in tractable problems such as global warming, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Poverty, Racism, Sexism, and war.”

The old thought that assimilation was needed is no longer correct, instead multicultural citizenship is necessary. Banks States that multicultural citizenship “recognizes and legitimates the rights and needs for citizens to maintain both their culture communities and national civic communities”. I agree with banks very much, we as a society have put way to much effort on common core and achievement scores and have forget that we need to put emphasis on our culture as well as the other cultures that make up our culture.

B u, B enough, B light, With u, B

On September 10^th, 2013, I went to a presentation in Hodges library by Barb Rentenbach. Barb is a woman who has autism. She is mostly non-verbal, but communicates through a keypad and her mentor. Barb works to enrich the lives of others who share this disorder and teach those who don’t. Barb’s mentor spoke for her during the presentation.

            Barb wrote a book called “I might be you”. During her presentation she discusses this book and what it meant to her. She said there are 6 rules that she lives by and others can too.

1)   Discover: Discover who we are

2)   Persevere: Preserve in everything we do

3)   We are all the same: No one is better than you or anyone else

4)   Understand: Understand yourself and others. (understand Autism)

5)   Be open-minded: be open to new people and ideas

6)   Empower: Empower everyone

Lastly, the title of the presentation was “B u, B enough, B light, With u, B”. this title alone explains Barb’s beliefs. She says that we all need to be ourselves, embrace ourselves, and not try to be someone else. Barb says we are enough just the way we are to be a light to ourselves and to other people. Finally, she says she is with us.

Battle of the Brains - What is Intelligence

• What do you think about the events in the film?
• I found this film very interesting. The bottle activity and painting activities were my favorite. I enjoyed them most because eau participate was starting at what seemed to be an even playing field. 
• did you learn anything new about intelligence? If so, what?
• the theory that intelligence is measured by a "G" is not necessarily correct. Through this study it is obvious that different people are better at different things. 
• do you disagree with anything in the film? What supports your difference of opinion?
• i disagree with the statement "if you are good at one thing, you tend to be good at all things. instead you should look at "much greater knowledge",  what can they do that is productive in the world.
• How can information from this video be applied to your practice as a teacher?
• Intelligence can be measured in many different ways. Just because a student does not excel in one thing does not mean he cannot excel in another. 

Two questions about Chapter 8

(QTC #8) 

1)What is the difference between lower order thinking and higher order thinking? Do you have to have one to teach the other.

2) Evaluate our teacher or another teacher that you have and rate them on their level of teaching, Do they teach you lower order thinking for higher order thinking. Give an example.  

My Best Learning Environment and How it Can Affect My Case Study

Learning Environment

The learning environment that you provide of your students is crucial in order to enhance their learning abilities. I would have a vibrant classroom with student artwork and contributions on the walls and ceiling. I would also have a very trusting and inviting classroom. To do this I will have a quick welcome session with each student as they enter the class. Asking the how they are doing today and how their night or weekend was. If a student gives me news of a bad morning or such I will make it an effort to discuss it further with the student, to promote a trusting relationship.
Also, I will have a learning environment that acknowledges that all children are different, i will teach from different methods and theories and in different classroom settings. We may even go outside for a lesson if needed.

Case Study

"It has been one month since the school year began and most of your 25 kindergarten students know class procedures, such as the schedule of learning activities, where they are supposed to be for each learning activity, where they are supposed to keep their personal items, and how they are expected to move about the room and the school building in order to ensure a productive learning environment.  Then there is Willard.  He must ask 20 or more times a day, “Teacher, when can we go outside to play?”  In addition, he often does not stay where he should to work on a given learning activity.  Instead, you find him wandering around the room and getting into other children’s personal things.  Three times this past week you looked up just in time to see Willard walking out of the classroom without permission.  Some of the other children in your classroom community have started making fun of Willard.  Others are beginning to become less engaged in their learning. "

Affect on Case Study

For this case study I would first take note of anything in Willard's life that may make it hard for him to retain rules, such as, little to no food at home, fighting parents, an unsafe environment, or a disability. If any of these things ware present they must first be addressed before the misbehavior in the classroom can be fixed.
Next I would do a visual schedule that is on the board and has an arrow that slides to the event that is current That way Willard and his other classmates can know the schedule verbally and visually.
After putting this schedule in affect, I would discreetly pull Willard aside after a disruptance and talk to him about why he is not understanding the rules and reiterate what the rules are. We will also set up a reward system for when he follows the rules.
Lastly, we will have a class discussion on sharing and how it makes each kid feel when their favorite toy is taken away. Each Student will be asked to report their favorite toy, how that toy makes them feel, and how they would feel if it was taken away from them. They will also be asked to relate that back to their classmates.

Theories of motivation and how they can shape a classroom

There are many theories of motivation. I think that classroom management and the sociocultural theories are the most helpful and instructive for my classroom. I tend to look at the behavior of my students as well as the environment  that the child learns and lives in. While looking at these two factors and thinking about motivation, I can't help but be partial to these two theories.

Classroom management can make or break a learning environment. having a set of rules that the students agree upon and know how to follow will assist in better behaviors coming from your students. Also, having a classroom that is visual set up as a learning environment also helps with classroom management. The classroom can not be too visually noisy or too blank either.  If a students learning environment is at the best level and their behavior is not an issue they are more likely to be motivated to learn. 

Sociocultural theories can also help shape each student and the classroom as a whole. Each student has a different home environment  different outlook at school, different beliefs, and different cultural learning experience. In order to truly motivate your student you must be able to understand these different things about your student. 

Assessments

 There are many ways to assess our children in order to determine their strengths, weakness, improvements, and declines in education. Each one is equally as important and should be used for different reasons. Here are a few examples.

Informal Assessment: Involves Spontaneous, Unsystematic observations

such as - watching the body language of a particular child as he struggles with a math worksheet.

Formal Assessment: Involves preplanned, systematic data gathering

such as - Giving a test that has been planned out according to what the students have been learning

Paper-Pencil Assessment: Involves written responses 

such as - Giving a student a worksheet or homework assignment to assess what they understand thus far

Performance Assessment: Involves non-written behaviors 

such as -A class presentation

Criteria Referenced Assessment: Indicates mastery or non-mastery of certain topics

such as - A test based solely on what was learned in chapter 2

Norm-referenced Assessment: Compares performance of that of peers 

 such as - comparing each kindergarten's ability to hold a pencil properly

Authentic Assessment: Assesses abilitly to apply learning to real-world tasks

such as - Giving students a Lima bean to plant and grow when talking about plant life and photosynthesis

Traditional Assessment: Assesses ability seperete from real world tasks

such as -  Having students memorize and cite the water cycle without seeing how it works in the real world