Connection- Jonathan Kozol
In my previous post, I mentioned that my classroom consists of mainly African American and Hispanic students. This was an observation I made from just one classroom. I wanted to know the cultural background of the school as a whole. Using the data from Infoworks, I learned how many students of various cultures attend Manton Middle School. There are 62% of Hispanic students, 21% are African American, 15% are White, and only 3% of the students are Asian. I learned that most of these students in Manton Middle School come from a low or working-class family because about 82% of the students receive free or reduced-price lunch.
Jonathan Kozol, an activist who works to put an end in school segregation in America, believes that urban public schools are deeply segregated and do not demonstrate diversity. Many people in our society like to call a school that has mostly white students, and only 1% of the students are either Asian or African American, a segregated school. On the other hand, schools that are mostly made up by Hispanic or African American students, and only have 1% of white students are called a diverse school. Kozol makes the argument that both schools are segregated. I believe residential segregation and the distribution of money are the causes to America’s educational apartheid. Manton Middle School is not a diverse school for the reasons that Kozol argues.
Although the students from Manton Middle School are from families that are at or below the poverty line, I still believe the students in my classroom have something to bring from their background that can enrich the lives of their peers and teachers. One day, Ms. Lee was telling the students the “phrase of the day,” which was “more or less.” She gave several examples of how to use the phrase, and then she asked, “Does anyone have their own example of using the phrase of the day?” Ralphie, a student who demonstrates curiosity in the classroom and is enthusiastic about learning, raised his hand up high. He said, “Well, when my mom asks me if I had fun in school today, I say “mas o meno.” The teacher was confused and asked, “What is “mas o meno?” Ralphie simply said, “It means “more or less” in Spanish. At this moment, Ralphie shared a different example, but it is an example that the teacher can explain to her future students about the phrase.
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I think that's wonderful that the teacher can learn from one of her students. As we hear all of the time it's so important to keep the lines of communication open. Sometimes we lose what that really means. This is a perfect example of a child being able to teach an adult a better way to interact with children. As a teacher this is so important to keep our students equal with ourselves on some levels.
ReplyDeleteI really love that Ralphie gave your teacher a Spanish speaking example. It really shows that the teacher is there to teach her students but is also there to learn from them as well. Communication is key in a classroom. WIthout communication one can never have a participatory classroom. Now instead of using "more or less", "mas o meno" can be used by your teacher to be more relatable to her future students that may speak Spanish.
ReplyDeleteHaving Ralphie help the teacher out with some Spanish is really nice. If more students help the teacher understand Spanish then he/she would be able to communicate with the students a little better and in the end the class would be fun because more students would understand.
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