Cultural compentenece is my ability to be an effective teacher to all the students in my class. It is about expanding my point of view beyond my personal experiences and beliefs. Understanding that other views and experiences in the world differ from mine and that children bring these differences into our classroom. As their teacher, it is my responsibility to ensure the children in my class feel that their voices are heard and valid.
Incorporating diversity in my curriculum is important but I do not want diversity to be "just" a unit or theme in the classroom. Thematic and unit teachings about diversity seem to increase the idea of one culture dominating a classroom with the other cultures having less value. Diversity should be an integrated daily occurrence in the classroom. In our classroom, the goal will be to daily view the world through someone else’s and our own perspective.
To make this happen I need to incorporate the transformation and social action approach of multicultural education in my classroom. This is what I want to see in my classroom but it does seem daunting at times. It will take time and effort to make sure that I have the correct knowledge and information to share with my students. I will have to push my student and myself out of our personal experience and comforts.
One way I want to improve our classroom knowledge about cultures other then mine is by involving the students’ families and the members of the community we live in. By bring people into the classroom we learn from their perspective and gain a social awareness of what is important to our community. I hope that it will allow the children in class to make connections between their lives at school and their world outside school.
Mainly, I want to make sure that the student in my class feel safe being who they are and who their families are. That in our classroom students, teachers and visitors will feel welcomed, part of our class. That this, feeling of inclusion, will allow us to focus on learning. It won’t be prefect but we would learn to work with our imperfections to find our close to prefect class.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Equity Chapter Three Reflection 3.7
Reduced Lunch program for family of 4 = $39,220/$3,269
Free Lunch program for family of 4 = $27,560/$2,297
Poverty line for a family of 4 = $21,200
35% of the kids at Brush receive free or reduced lunch
27% of them are getting free lunch
Rent 3 bedroom 1.5 bath = $895
Utilities
Water/trash: included in rent
Gas & Electric: $100
Phone: $69.99
Total cost = $169.99
Transportation
Car Loan: $250
Gas: $240
Total Cost = $490
Monthly Grocery Bill
= $400
Movie for family of 4 (w/out concessions)
Adult: $9.00 x 2 = $18.00
Child: $6.50 x 2 = $13.00
Total cost: $21.00 x 2 = $42.00
Restaurant Red Robin
Adults Meal: $9.59 x 2= $19.18
Adult Drink: $3.99 x 2 = $8.98
Kid’s Meal w/ drink: $5.49 x 2 = $10.98
Total cost: $39.14
Taxes (guessing)
= $400
GRAND TOTAL: 2,314.00
Income – Grand Total = extra money
$2,297.00 – $2,314.00 = -$17
The school I am placed out has a lot of family that are on the free lunch program. I choose to do the activity with a family of four because most of the kids in my class have at least one other sibling living with them. After figuring out the basic need that a family would need to pay for plus 3 fun activities I was over budget by $17. Not to mention the things I’m sure I forgot to include in the budget.
A good job makes a difference is an understatement. I don’t know how people manage to get “ahead of the game” with out finical help or security. I would be able to be part of this program if it wasn’t for my loan and my parent allowing me to move back home. It would be even harder if you were supporting a family. I would assume that you would want your kids to have experiences and things that the rest of their classmates are privileged to. Money is a huge part of making those things happened. I’d like to think that money wasn’t that important but . . .
Free Lunch program for family of 4 = $27,560/$2,297
Poverty line for a family of 4 = $21,200
35% of the kids at Brush receive free or reduced lunch
27% of them are getting free lunch
Rent 3 bedroom 1.5 bath = $895
Utilities
Water/trash: included in rent
Gas & Electric: $100
Phone: $69.99
Total cost = $169.99
Transportation
Car Loan: $250
Gas: $240
Total Cost = $490
Monthly Grocery Bill
= $400
Movie for family of 4 (w/out concessions)
Adult: $9.00 x 2 = $18.00
Child: $6.50 x 2 = $13.00
Total cost: $21.00 x 2 = $42.00
Restaurant Red Robin
Adults Meal: $9.59 x 2= $19.18
Adult Drink: $3.99 x 2 = $8.98
Kid’s Meal w/ drink: $5.49 x 2 = $10.98
Total cost: $39.14
Taxes (guessing)
= $400
GRAND TOTAL: 2,314.00
Income – Grand Total = extra money
$2,297.00 – $2,314.00 = -$17
The school I am placed out has a lot of family that are on the free lunch program. I choose to do the activity with a family of four because most of the kids in my class have at least one other sibling living with them. After figuring out the basic need that a family would need to pay for plus 3 fun activities I was over budget by $17. Not to mention the things I’m sure I forgot to include in the budget.
A good job makes a difference is an understatement. I don’t know how people manage to get “ahead of the game” with out finical help or security. I would be able to be part of this program if it wasn’t for my loan and my parent allowing me to move back home. It would be even harder if you were supporting a family. I would assume that you would want your kids to have experiences and things that the rest of their classmates are privileged to. Money is a huge part of making those things happened. I’d like to think that money wasn’t that important but . . .
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Equity Chapter Four
Reactions to different kinds of kids. . .
1. Kids you find easy to like:
friendly kids, good sense of humor, comfortable around adults, works hard
2. Kids you find it hard to like:
whiners, bossy kids, needy kids
3. Kids you are sorry for:
bad hygiene
4. Kids you fell threatened by:
defiant kids
5. Kids you identify with:
quite kids, not volunteer info
6. Kids you gravitate towards:
The ones who can’t stay in their seats
7. Kids you fell inadequate around:
accelerated kids, advanced kids
8. Kid you probably don’t even notice:
the one’s I identify with, the quite ones, the ones that don’t want to be noticed
I’ve only spent a little time in my student teaching classroom but I can all ready see how hard it is to divide your time and your attention with all the kids. Already I’ve caught myself dividing the kids into categories like, good at reading, completely lost, space cadet, needy, bossy and I’ve only spent about 10 hours with them. I’ve also caught myself treating children differently based on these assumptions. I have to remind myself that I’ve only seen a small part of whom they are, just one example of how they behave. It will be interesting to see how my perception of them changes over the year.
1. Kids you find easy to like:
friendly kids, good sense of humor, comfortable around adults, works hard
2. Kids you find it hard to like:
whiners, bossy kids, needy kids
3. Kids you are sorry for:
bad hygiene
4. Kids you fell threatened by:
defiant kids
5. Kids you identify with:
quite kids, not volunteer info
6. Kids you gravitate towards:
The ones who can’t stay in their seats
7. Kids you fell inadequate around:
accelerated kids, advanced kids
8. Kid you probably don’t even notice:
the one’s I identify with, the quite ones, the ones that don’t want to be noticed
I’ve only spent a little time in my student teaching classroom but I can all ready see how hard it is to divide your time and your attention with all the kids. Already I’ve caught myself dividing the kids into categories like, good at reading, completely lost, space cadet, needy, bossy and I’ve only spent about 10 hours with them. I’ve also caught myself treating children differently based on these assumptions. I have to remind myself that I’ve only seen a small part of whom they are, just one example of how they behave. It will be interesting to see how my perception of them changes over the year.
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