Lason-Billings, G. (1995). But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Theory into Practice, Vol. 34, No. 3, Culturally Relevant Teaching, pp. 159-165.
This articles discussing the need for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. It begins with linking schooling and culture, specifically with African American students. Culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three criteria, students must experience academic success, students must develop and maintain cultural competence and students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order. In one example the teacher focused on displaying African American males in a positive and productive way. By challenging the boys to be academic leaders they became examples for their peers to follow. Next, the article discusses cultural competence among African American students. Teachers utilized African American culture to motivate learning by integrating their music into poetry lessons, inviting family members to teach the class and by allowing them to speak their home language in class and translate it to Standard English. Lastly, the article discussed critical consciousness. It is important for students to be able to critique the very mores and values that make social inequalities in the classroom. One way a teacher handled this was by critiquing textbooks and class material with students, informing the community and providing newspapers with alternative and different perspectives.
1. what does cultural competence look like for my culture? This question is hard for me to answer and I'm not sure why. I guess that I don't really have culture competence. I don't really know what I would consider my culture or race. I am African American, white and Native American. I was raised by my white mother in Clarkston, an affluent suburb. I see myself as multi-racial and a part of multiple cultures, not completely defined by one. I want to be educated in a system that teachers awareness and appreciation for my roots and history, all of them. So cultural competence to me is integrating different parts of my many cultures into curriculum. Above being African American and Native American, I see myself as a minority fighting the same fight as Latin Americans and Asian Americans. A gain for one minority group isn't enough until every minority group shares the same rights and opportunities.
2. Clarkston High School teaches tolerance of other cultures but not acceptance. Going to school where segregation amongst students is as common as acts of prejudice inhibited the cultural competence of the African American aspect of my identity. Clarkston High School and the Clarkston community are predominately white and middle class. The minority members and white members of the community are segregated. This inhibits cultural competence because minorities are alienated and can't be themselves without becoming outsiders and doesn't allow for students to become aware of/appreciate other cultures.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
2 Million Minutes
USA Today Article
Yong Zhao Article
In my opinion, most American students look at Asian students to be incredibly intelligent and hard working. American students have many preconceived notions regarding Asian schooling, and many of them are actually positive. I know American students who fear Asian students and consider them to be “smarter” than them and worry about competing with them for grades or for class rank. American students also assume that all Asian students are very good at math and are often antisocial and to be “nerdy,” Although these are not true stereotypes, American students also have a basic understanding of how American school culture can differ from Asian school culture. It was also discussed in the article that American schooling is very focused on being well rounded, about getting good grades, being on a sports team, volunteering, as well as having a part-time job. Asian schooling culture focuses mainly on the academia and progressing further and faster within school.
American’s impressions of Asian students directly relates to their impression of Asian culture. Americans view Asians to be extremely proper and to focus on certain virtues like obedience and competitiveness. This is true within American’s stereotypes of Asians in schools, as they continue to be the best in schools and not focus on much else outside of it. American students also assume that Asians are that is very traditional, and this stereotype would explain why Asian students may not be interested in sports like football or soccer when they could be focusing on their studies. Asian cultural stereotypes also include Asians within school, like that Asians are all gifted in math and are “nerdy.”
Yong Zhao Article
In my opinion, most American students look at Asian students to be incredibly intelligent and hard working. American students have many preconceived notions regarding Asian schooling, and many of them are actually positive. I know American students who fear Asian students and consider them to be “smarter” than them and worry about competing with them for grades or for class rank. American students also assume that all Asian students are very good at math and are often antisocial and to be “nerdy,” Although these are not true stereotypes, American students also have a basic understanding of how American school culture can differ from Asian school culture. It was also discussed in the article that American schooling is very focused on being well rounded, about getting good grades, being on a sports team, volunteering, as well as having a part-time job. Asian schooling culture focuses mainly on the academia and progressing further and faster within school.
American’s impressions of Asian students directly relates to their impression of Asian culture. Americans view Asians to be extremely proper and to focus on certain virtues like obedience and competitiveness. This is true within American’s stereotypes of Asians in schools, as they continue to be the best in schools and not focus on much else outside of it. American students also assume that Asians are that is very traditional, and this stereotype would explain why Asian students may not be interested in sports like football or soccer when they could be focusing on their studies. Asian cultural stereotypes also include Asians within school, like that Asians are all gifted in math and are “nerdy.”
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Ecological Models of Human Development
Brofenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological Models of Human Development. In International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 2, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.
The evolution of ecological models- is that much of developmental psychology is the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time. The general ecological model- human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopschological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment. Also, it says that the form, power, content, and direction of the proximal processes effecting development vary systematically as a joint function of the characteristics of the developing person. Environments as contexts of development- the ecological environment is conceived as a set of nested structures, set inside one another. There is microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and last chronosystems. Genetic inheritance in ecological perspective- involves a reconceptualization of the role ofgenteics on human development.
Things that I can personally see better with this model are that a developing child in different situations has an affect on that child. If its not the people he is growing up around it could be the environment, and if I could just understand how the environment is affecting the child I can help the child. I can learn how to teach them as a teacher and understand what they are going through in their lives. As a teacher, you have to have a feel of what outside thoughts your students may be thinking about while you are teaching a lesson and have a way to help them put those thoughts aside while you teach.
The evolution of ecological models- is that much of developmental psychology is the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time. The general ecological model- human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopschological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment. Also, it says that the form, power, content, and direction of the proximal processes effecting development vary systematically as a joint function of the characteristics of the developing person. Environments as contexts of development- the ecological environment is conceived as a set of nested structures, set inside one another. There is microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and last chronosystems. Genetic inheritance in ecological perspective- involves a reconceptualization of the role ofgenteics on human development.
Things that I can personally see better with this model are that a developing child in different situations has an affect on that child. If its not the people he is growing up around it could be the environment, and if I could just understand how the environment is affecting the child I can help the child. I can learn how to teach them as a teacher and understand what they are going through in their lives. As a teacher, you have to have a feel of what outside thoughts your students may be thinking about while you are teaching a lesson and have a way to help them put those thoughts aside while you teach.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Model of Child Development
Ecology is the study of the environment, in a scientific sense. Knowing that ecology is based on the environment, Coll & Szalacha's model of child development is ecological because they studied and inquired how the environment effects the development of children. They discussed how environments van influence both positively and negatively. They also address the same topic that all teachers cannot forget, and that is that all the students are different. Just because they are in the same classroom, school, or school district does not mean that they are all share the experiences. If students do share experiences, does not mean that their views at the end of the experience will be the same. There are 8 main topics that they use to discuss these topics; Social position, Racism, Segregation, promoting/inhabiting environments,Adaptive Culture, Child Characteristics, Development Competencies, and Family.
My middle school experience fits best with the Family element. My parents were going through a rough time, later to get divorced. In middle school was when my father began to treat me in the horrible way that he would treat my mom. My father controlled the amount of money that my mom, sister and i were allowed to have. Most of the time that meant $20 for an average of 3 weeks. Even though with what my father made we were considered upper middle class, i lived like i was in poverty. This affected my academics in a negative way because i was more concerned with whether we were going to eat that night rather than doing my homework.
My middle school experience fits best with the Family element. My parents were going through a rough time, later to get divorced. In middle school was when my father began to treat me in the horrible way that he would treat my mom. My father controlled the amount of money that my mom, sister and i were allowed to have. Most of the time that meant $20 for an average of 3 weeks. Even though with what my father made we were considered upper middle class, i lived like i was in poverty. This affected my academics in a negative way because i was more concerned with whether we were going to eat that night rather than doing my homework.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Overcoming Obstacles
Sanders, M. (1997). Overcoming obstacles: Academic achievement as a response to racism and discrimination. Journal of Negro Education, 66(1), 83-93.
The articles suggests that there is a correlation between the level of awareness of racism and the obstacles it presents and the academic performance of African American students. The article suggest that students who have a high level of awareness don't disengage in school but use their awareness to fuel their motivation. They did a study using 28 African American male and female students whose academic performance is evenly distributed from high achieving (3.0 or higher), mid-achieving (2.0-2.9 GPA), and low-achieving (less than 2.0 GPA). Each group had students from two parent households and single parent homes. Some students in each group are below the poverty and others are above. Each student was interviewed by the author of the article. The results found that students who had the lowest level of awareness felt that racism and discrimination was a thing of the past and that any failure was from a lack of effort not lack of opportunity. These students happened to be have lower GPA's. The students who had moderate to low awareness were aware that racism could make obstacle in education and occupation but their awareness was abstract and none had given an example of when they or anyone else had overcome these obstacles. These student had mid-achieving GPA's. Lastly the students with most racial awareness were mostly high achievers. These students stressed the need to do better than their white counterparts just to get half as far as them. These students saw racism as a challenged and came from families that stressed positive/ethnic socialization. So it is suggested that students who are more aware of racism and its barriers and have a healthy sense of racial socialization will perform better academically than students who have low awareness.
Strangely, the thing that caught my eye most in these interviews was the use of the term "the white man". This made me, a multi-racial female, extremely uncomfortable. I feel like by referring to the white race as "the white man" not only takes away their individuality but excludes women. I know that if this article were discussing the African Americans race they would not have referred to it as "the Black man". I just think it is ironic that while discussing the barriers that racism and discrimination presents for one group they are stereotyping another group. Besides that I thought this article was very beneficial. I consider myself to be highly aware of racism and discrimination in the education and everyday life and like the other high awareness students in this study, I use this awareness to fuel my motivation. I know not only will it be harder for me to succeed and achieve my goals because of obstacles but once I do achieve them it wont seem as significant as it would if I were white.
The articles suggests that there is a correlation between the level of awareness of racism and the obstacles it presents and the academic performance of African American students. The article suggest that students who have a high level of awareness don't disengage in school but use their awareness to fuel their motivation. They did a study using 28 African American male and female students whose academic performance is evenly distributed from high achieving (3.0 or higher), mid-achieving (2.0-2.9 GPA), and low-achieving (less than 2.0 GPA). Each group had students from two parent households and single parent homes. Some students in each group are below the poverty and others are above. Each student was interviewed by the author of the article. The results found that students who had the lowest level of awareness felt that racism and discrimination was a thing of the past and that any failure was from a lack of effort not lack of opportunity. These students happened to be have lower GPA's. The students who had moderate to low awareness were aware that racism could make obstacle in education and occupation but their awareness was abstract and none had given an example of when they or anyone else had overcome these obstacles. These student had mid-achieving GPA's. Lastly the students with most racial awareness were mostly high achievers. These students stressed the need to do better than their white counterparts just to get half as far as them. These students saw racism as a challenged and came from families that stressed positive/ethnic socialization. So it is suggested that students who are more aware of racism and its barriers and have a healthy sense of racial socialization will perform better academically than students who have low awareness.
Strangely, the thing that caught my eye most in these interviews was the use of the term "the white man". This made me, a multi-racial female, extremely uncomfortable. I feel like by referring to the white race as "the white man" not only takes away their individuality but excludes women. I know that if this article were discussing the African Americans race they would not have referred to it as "the Black man". I just think it is ironic that while discussing the barriers that racism and discrimination presents for one group they are stereotyping another group. Besides that I thought this article was very beneficial. I consider myself to be highly aware of racism and discrimination in the education and everyday life and like the other high awareness students in this study, I use this awareness to fuel my motivation. I know not only will it be harder for me to succeed and achieve my goals because of obstacles but once I do achieve them it wont seem as significant as it would if I were white.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I Won't Learn From You!
Kohl, H. (1992) I won't learn from you! Thoughts on the role of assent in learning, Rethinking School 7(1): 16-17,19
This articles discusses how some stupid don't lack the abilities to learn and succeed and haven't failed to learn, but actively choose not to learn. The first example in the article discusses how a grandparent refuses to learn English because then the native language of his family may be lost forever. So he refuses to learn to keep an aspect of his identity. The next example was an African American student who never learned to read because his past teachers feared him and let him not do work. Every time the author would ask him to read he would throw a tantrum. Finally she took a risk and fed him the correct words to read and he chose to repeat them aloud to her and continued to read with her. This strategy worked because he was able to save face in front of other students and still learn how to read. Another example was of a student you refused to learn and also disrupted the classroom so no other students could benefit. This student was refusing to learn because of the racist and stigmatizing texts they were given to read. The last example was of a class of Mexican and African American students in San Antonio. They all just sat and stared while their helpless teacher asked questions and tried to teach. These students were refusing to learn because they felt that the school was racist and insulting to their culture. They chose not to learn to defend their cultural identities.
This article can really help all educators "see" better in their classrooms. I can really understand not wanting to learn something because it degrades your race, religion, or ethnicity. In fact in my 9Th grade biology class I refused to learn about evolution because as a christian I was very offended. Instead I wrote a paper stating my reasons why I refused to participate during that section of the course. In this case I was able to respect my religion and still work on a task in class. I think teachers should take more time to ask a student why exactly they refuse to do the work and look at their past experiences for an explanation.
This articles discusses how some stupid don't lack the abilities to learn and succeed and haven't failed to learn, but actively choose not to learn. The first example in the article discusses how a grandparent refuses to learn English because then the native language of his family may be lost forever. So he refuses to learn to keep an aspect of his identity. The next example was an African American student who never learned to read because his past teachers feared him and let him not do work. Every time the author would ask him to read he would throw a tantrum. Finally she took a risk and fed him the correct words to read and he chose to repeat them aloud to her and continued to read with her. This strategy worked because he was able to save face in front of other students and still learn how to read. Another example was of a student you refused to learn and also disrupted the classroom so no other students could benefit. This student was refusing to learn because of the racist and stigmatizing texts they were given to read. The last example was of a class of Mexican and African American students in San Antonio. They all just sat and stared while their helpless teacher asked questions and tried to teach. These students were refusing to learn because they felt that the school was racist and insulting to their culture. They chose not to learn to defend their cultural identities.
This article can really help all educators "see" better in their classrooms. I can really understand not wanting to learn something because it degrades your race, religion, or ethnicity. In fact in my 9Th grade biology class I refused to learn about evolution because as a christian I was very offended. Instead I wrote a paper stating my reasons why I refused to participate during that section of the course. In this case I was able to respect my religion and still work on a task in class. I think teachers should take more time to ask a student why exactly they refuse to do the work and look at their past experiences for an explanation.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 54-67.
This article mainly described the specifics of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, but unlike the other articles, it discussed the impact of teachers and how these motives are prevalent in education today. It also discusses the differences in performance and how extrinsic and intrinsic motivations differ. Cognitive Evaluation Theory was also discussed in the article, how the importance of competence can increase intrinsic motivation. They must also experience a sense of autonomy to increase their sense of self-competence so that intrinsic motivation is completely based on their internal motivation. Positive feedback also increased intrinsic motivation, as long as it didn’t have rewards. Extrinsic motivation included a chart, which described the different types of extrinsic motivation, as well as the idea of amotivation, the idea that a person’s behavior completely lacks a state of intention.
The most interesting thing in the article was the statement that intrinsic motivation will decrease as time goes on within school due to social responsibilities. As each grade passes, students are more likely to enjoy completing the tasks for the task itself, not for the rewards or alterior motives. I would like to know why this occurs, and what can be done to curtail this “epidemic”. How can we encourage students in higher grades to encourage tasks for themselves, if they are struggling to be accepted into college or have varying motivations for completing tasks? This is especially prominent in elementary school, where I remember being as young as four or five and receiving stickers and rewards for completing my tasks. How can we teach our students to love to learn without tangible rewards?
This article mainly described the specifics of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, but unlike the other articles, it discussed the impact of teachers and how these motives are prevalent in education today. It also discusses the differences in performance and how extrinsic and intrinsic motivations differ. Cognitive Evaluation Theory was also discussed in the article, how the importance of competence can increase intrinsic motivation. They must also experience a sense of autonomy to increase their sense of self-competence so that intrinsic motivation is completely based on their internal motivation. Positive feedback also increased intrinsic motivation, as long as it didn’t have rewards. Extrinsic motivation included a chart, which described the different types of extrinsic motivation, as well as the idea of amotivation, the idea that a person’s behavior completely lacks a state of intention.
The most interesting thing in the article was the statement that intrinsic motivation will decrease as time goes on within school due to social responsibilities. As each grade passes, students are more likely to enjoy completing the tasks for the task itself, not for the rewards or alterior motives. I would like to know why this occurs, and what can be done to curtail this “epidemic”. How can we encourage students in higher grades to encourage tasks for themselves, if they are struggling to be accepted into college or have varying motivations for completing tasks? This is especially prominent in elementary school, where I remember being as young as four or five and receiving stickers and rewards for completing my tasks. How can we teach our students to love to learn without tangible rewards?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Brophy, J. (2010). Motivating students to learn. New York: Routledge. Chapter 5. Rebuilding Discouraged Students' Confidence and Willingness to Learn.
The main points of this article is to show that not all students learn at the same rate/speed. Also students who don't put forth much effort or find school very meaningful need special motivational attention. For low achievers you need to work with them regularly so they don't become frustrated or humiliated that they can't keep up with the other students. Strategies for helping low achievers according to McIntyre are: individualizing activities and assignments, providing directions to structure tasks, providing task assistance or tutoring, and maintain motivation. According to Abbott they are: keep directions simple, seat student toward the front of class, extra credit opportunities to raise grades, and tutoring. Now "failure syndrome" students often fail because they do not invest their best efforts. If these students do not question their ability they will be able to handle challenging activities calmly and successfully. But if they do fail it is down hill from there. Strategies to help these students would be to guarantee success regularly, give them recognition for real effort, emphasize personal causation in learning, and use group process methods to enhance positive self-concepts. These students take time to "cure" and require patience. Students don't need to be stressing themselves out with goals that are unlikely to be reached. They need to be concentrated on themselves and how they are able to perform and work with that and be comfortable.
An idea I had when I was reading was when I get my classroom and notice the kids who "crunch down in their seats and avoid eye contact" so they do not have to answer a question, I am going to make mental notes of who those students are and little by little work with them on getting them out of their shell. I do not want my students to be afraid to speak up in class, therefore, I will take the time to notice the little details and movements that the students make.
The main points of this article is to show that not all students learn at the same rate/speed. Also students who don't put forth much effort or find school very meaningful need special motivational attention. For low achievers you need to work with them regularly so they don't become frustrated or humiliated that they can't keep up with the other students. Strategies for helping low achievers according to McIntyre are: individualizing activities and assignments, providing directions to structure tasks, providing task assistance or tutoring, and maintain motivation. According to Abbott they are: keep directions simple, seat student toward the front of class, extra credit opportunities to raise grades, and tutoring. Now "failure syndrome" students often fail because they do not invest their best efforts. If these students do not question their ability they will be able to handle challenging activities calmly and successfully. But if they do fail it is down hill from there. Strategies to help these students would be to guarantee success regularly, give them recognition for real effort, emphasize personal causation in learning, and use group process methods to enhance positive self-concepts. These students take time to "cure" and require patience. Students don't need to be stressing themselves out with goals that are unlikely to be reached. They need to be concentrated on themselves and how they are able to perform and work with that and be comfortable.
An idea I had when I was reading was when I get my classroom and notice the kids who "crunch down in their seats and avoid eye contact" so they do not have to answer a question, I am going to make mental notes of who those students are and little by little work with them on getting them out of their shell. I do not want my students to be afraid to speak up in class, therefore, I will take the time to notice the little details and movements that the students make.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice
Stipek, D. (2002). Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice. Allyn and Bacon: Boston. Chapter 1, Profiles of Motivation Problems.
In this article there are five different students with five different types of motivational problems. Defensive Dick, has poor performance and puts off doing any kind of work so that others don't see that he doesn't know how to do the work. He is self-defeating. He is likely to cheat and during a test takes the time to sharpen his pencil, pick up an eraser and draw on his paper. Hopeless Hannah, has convinced herself that she cannot do the work before she has even tried it. She doesn't ask questions because she doesn't expect to understand the material. One day this type of student may become the class clown or bully or tease. As they approach adolescence, they may engage in more serious antisocial behavior to gain respect. Safe Sally, has done nothing but take classes that she knew she could get A's in. She has never challenged herself and dropped out of classes once she earned a "bad grade" in it. She lacks self-confidence in her academic skills. Satisfied Sam, he knows that he is smart but doesn't like to show it off and doesn't feel like he has to prove it. If he is interested in the subject he is more likely to get involved, otherwise he just is happy with staying out of trouble and passing by with his C+. Anxious Amy, has a hard time performing in the classroom. She can do the homework at home and get the majority of the questions correct but when she is taking a test she turns it in with half the test not filled in.
Something that I was thinking about was when Amy is when she is taking a test to put her out in the hallway so she doesn't feel so nervous or rushed when other students start turning their tests in. I know when I take tests and other students start to turn their tests in I feel that I should be turning my test in to so I start to rush the rest of my work. When I would rush I would get those last few questions wrong or not even do them because I couldn't think clear enough because I was all flustered with being nervous that I wasn't going to finish or be the last to finish but there is nothing wrong with that.
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