I Wonder...
The students in our classrooms are all diverse individuals. They all bring different enrichment to the classroom. This was illustrated for us in the opening vignette. Angie enriched her classroom with her culture through her language and music. I really respected the way the teacher in this vignette decided to deal with Angie. Angie was simply bringing a little bit of home with her to school. She's only in kindergarten and is only beginning to explore and learn language. She is also being exposed to many different peoples and languages. I agree that one should correct a student like Angie once or twice and then allow them to decide for themselves what standard English is to them and whether or not they will par take in it.
Ms. Adams accepts Angie's Vernacular English because she is using it while acquiring new knowledge. Her language is helping her find meaning in the material that are being presented to her. She is displaying a special gift that she has that allows her to express and retain new knowledge.
Teachers can learn more about their students literacy practices by handing out surveys on what kinds of subjects their students like to read among other interests. I would even suggest having students bringing a favorite book or picture to share in the classroom. Observing students during their recess time might be helpful. Finding out what kind of games they are playing and what kind of play songs they're singing can also be helpful. Being knowledgeable of such things can help one build lessons that are more appealing and relating to the students. Making students more engaged in learning.
Further Reflection
I want to have a classroom that is welcoming to all students. I will welcome linguistic variation into the classroom and have every students share it with one another. This will allow students to become more culturally aware and also culturally accepting. I feel very grateful for having the opportunity of going to a school in a very diverse setting. My friends are a diverse bunch and we have always shared some of culture with one another.
Cambourne's conditions present the idea that learning how to read and write is very similar to the way that we learn to speak orally. Oral language, reading, and writing is all connected. Students learn to orally express themselves and later make connections to literature when they begin being exposed to it. This becomes more prevalent when they enter a classroom. They see writing, Reading, and speaking modeled all day by their teachers and peers.
The teacher in the beginning vignette became aware of the importance of allowing students to express themselves. Self expression helps define our individuality. It is very important to promote and encourage self expression through different mediums. We read about Angie's gift of self expression through music. She demonstrated that she understood the the material she was working on and she also represented the information she had just learned in a unique way.
Posted by Nercy
Nercy,
ReplyDeleteI feel that as educators, we sometimes "jump the gun" and go into correction mode. Especially with they yourger grades, children need time to expand their vocabulary and understanting of word meanings. Angie was using her own way of processing, through music, to retain the new information she just acquired about the heart. It used to bother me as a child that i had no problem remembering the lyrics to a song, but I could not remember the information I actually needed for school. I too used to make little rhymes or hum a tune when studying. I think it's every teachers hope and dream to offer students of diverse languages a welcoming, non-judgmental environment. When teachers come down hard on all the deficit's, students are turned off and tuned out. As teachers, we have to be realistic and accept that our students are going to be at different levels in different subject areas. People learn best holisticly, making our own connections and breakthroughs .
I think we can all see that promoting self-acceptance and self-expression are significant factors in teaching our students. It is also necessary to understand individual student's background knowledge and experience, learning ability, and learning process. If teachers do not observe and learn about their students, they cannot understand and accept their culture. Further, if teachers are not aware of how their students learn, they would not know what and how to teach their students.
ReplyDeleteHi Nercy, I agree with Desiree here. I don't think we should correct children too early inthe younger grades. I think children need time to aquire and learn standard english. I think, as a tecaher, correction is almost a knee jerk reaction...Soemtimes we don't put any thought to the correction. We need to be aware of this so we don't alienate any student unintentionally. As student get more education and begin to aquire more ways of speacking English, then we can begin to teach them differences and where to use Standard English and where to use dialectical English.
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