Monitoring teaching acts

        The last chapter for the Kuma book clearly stated what to do when observing a classroom.  There are three very important stakeholders to consider when observing a classroom: observer, teacher, and learner.  The idea of this chapter was how to create your own personal theory and put it to practice and then self-observe, self-analyze, and self-evaluate your teaching act/theory.  Although I may have a teaching philosophy as a pre-service teacher, I do not know if that will work in my classroom because I have yet to have my own classroom.  When I do, it is important to take the M & M observational scheme into consideration.
        The M & M observational scheme consist of a three-stage activity: preservation, in which the observer and the teacher consult with each other regarding the aims, objectives, and activities of the class to be monitored; observation itself; and post observation, in which the observer and the teacher select a few episodes for a detailed treatment, analyze classroom input and interaction, interpret their analysis, derive pedagogic implications, and put all this knowledge together to develop a theory of practice.  This observational scheme is very detailed and takes a lot of time, but I am so happy that I have this to refer to when I actually am in the classroom because it will definitely help my teaching decisions.

Ensuring Social Relevance

        As I was reading through the microstrategies that Kuma provides at the end of each chapter, I came upon one that made me laugh uncontrollably.  A Hispanic student had just arrived to the US and went to go get a coca cola from the vending machine.  When he put 10 cents in to the machine which read, "D-I-M-E", he thought it said, "Dime" which translates "tell me."  He went up to the vending machine and said, "Una coca cola por favor" which means, "A coca cola please."  This is an example of linguistic/cultural misunderstanding.  Although these misunderstandings may be very comical, sometimes it may not be the case.  Therefore, it is very important as a prospective teacher to ensure social relevance in to my classroom.

        Lisa Delpit (1990, p.53) explains, "It is the responsibility of teachers to recognize that the linguistic form a student brings to school is intimately connected with loved ones, community, and personal identity.  To suggest that this form is 'wrong' or, ever worse, ignorant, is to suggest that something is wrong with the student and his or her family."  This quote really portrays a common misconception I have at times.  For example, a few days ago I was watching MTV and the host was using African American Vernacular and I thought, "Why is she not code switching?  She is on live television."  In other words, I basically said, "She is wrong for not code switching because she is on live television when she should be code switching to standard American English."  Chapter 11 reassured me that in some cases, it is not necessary to code switch to standard American English.  In all, it is important to be aware of ALL my students' backgrounds and integrate their culture in to my lessons to ensure social relevance.  Some ways I can do this is by targeting culture materials that use the culture of a country where English is spoken as a first language; source culture materials that draw on learners' own culture as content; and integrate target culture materials that use a variety of cultures in English an non-English-speaking countries around the world.

Update on Final Project

        After writing my observation analysis on the classes I attended at the ELI, I was definitely ready for our first workshop.  Stephanie and I completed our first workshop November 12 at 12PM at the ELI.  We had about 10 students who joined us that afternoon.  We first explained who we were and what we wanted to gain out of these workshops.  They all seemed pretty intrigued and were excited to start.

        To begin, we played an ice-breaker game to get to know each other better and Stephanie wrote on the board, "1. Name, 2. Where you are from, and 3. Something interesting about you" so the students could refer back to the questions if they forgot.  We found out that one  student was from Saudi Arabia, one from India,  one from Venezuela, and the rest were from South Korea.   After the game, we provided the students with various types of broadcasting roles through video clips and asked the students what they thought was similar or different from their country.  To my surprise, much of the broadcasting roles were very similar to those of the students.  This made it a lot easier when Stephanie and I went through the characteristics of each role.

        Towards the end of the workshop, Stephanie and I asked the students to pick their role for the upcoming script.  After that, we asked the students to bring back an article or two of current events that they would like to focus on for their script for the second workshop.  All in all, I believe the first workshop went smoothly and I am very excited for the next workshop, this Friday, November 19.

Chapter 10; Integrating Language Skills

        In Kuma's book, Chapter 10 focuses on integrating language skills.  He explains, "Integrated activities are all relevant for learners of different levels of proficiency, provided the degree of conceptual, communicative, and linguistic challenge is monitored and maintained."  Students in a well integrated activity should brainstorm, using ample resources, try to understand the teacher's directions and seek clarifications.
        Moreover,  it is very important for English Language learners to understand their language objectives for every activity because I believe, that is the main way of integrating language skills.  Every activity should be designed to meet the four domains of language and at the same time integrating social relevance.  If students do not see any importance of learning the material, they will not want to learn it.  It is important that every activity to be authentic so the learners can compare it to their lives, keeping in mind the integration of language skills.

"Waiting for Superman"

According to Ira Shor's article, "NOT Waiting for Superman", “Waiting for Superman” was a painful movie to watch for public school advocates.” As a pre-service teacher who will be working in the Chicago public schools next year, I definitely concur with Ira Shor's statement.  I found it very demonizing to me because I am an advocate for public schools.  It was as if the movie was indirectly saying, “Screw public schools because they are getting no where, so send your kids to charter schools, where they will be mentally abused by the lottery draw.  But, if they do get in, they will eventually have a high profile job; The American way of life.”  I understand that the statement I made was very harsh, but I feel that was the way the movie was portraying itself to its viewers.

Moreover,  I felt that a lot of things were missing in the movie but the one that stood out to me the most was how teaching styles are better in charter schools than they are in public schools.  No where in the movie were there interviews, or clips of teaching styles in charter schools, or public schools.  My question is, how are students performing better in charter schools than the students in public schools?  Did Geoffrey Canada ever take into consideration that many charter schools do not accept English language learners and students with disabilities, whereas public schools accept everyone?  Maybe that is the reason why public schools are not doing well as a school because English language learners and students with disabilities may not being doing that well on standardized tests, therefore on average, the public schools outcome looks bad.  On the other hand, where charter schools get to pick and choose between students, most likely, the high performing students, the charter schools outcome looks great.  I do not believe this is fair.

I believe that the movie should have taken a more approachable way of promoting good quality education.  Since the public schools statistics are not showing improvement, I believe Geoffrey Canada should have taken that into consideration and attacked the problem.  Instead, he said something along the lines of we have already tried with public schools through the law, and nothing has changed.  If nothing has changed with the law, then find another way to improve public schools. 

         In conclusion, I do not believe turning to charter schools is the way to go.  There are so many students, taking our growing student population into consideration, that we, public school advocates, should be thankful for the teacher unions funding professional development for public school teachers, and not bashing them, as was seen in the movie.  We should also find ways to improve public school education, rather than running away from it and turning to charter schools.  All in all, I am happy with the outcome of charter schools, but I not happy how this movie turned out; Advocating charter schools as the right way to get an education and to be successful in the United States.

"Get Up, Get Out, and Get Over It"

 Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the poetry slam so I took some time on youtube.com to    find one meaningful poet that stuck out to me.  It is a two minute youtube clip and it is found at :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnUYQjSNKSc

        Cellise Craig, is an urban poet, and expresses her poetry through rap. I absolutely loved this clip because her take on poetry is through rap, and slowly but surely, rap poetry is becoming so popular, especially in the music of the "Rap Game."  A lot of people think of "Rap" as the stereotypical, swearing rhymes.  But, it is not always the case, such as the case of Cellise Craig.  Cellise explains that she lives freely through flowing (which means rapping).  She explains that she writes her sad feelings with her "pad and pen" when kids tease her in class.    She also makes the statement, "Is it the fact that I am gay why things are never OK?"  She then states, "When I wished I was dead, I made a change when my friend said you gotta get up, get out, and get over it."  Another thing that really hit home was, "'I wanna leave and forget it but then I'll be weak and I don't want major issues of my past to repeat.'  'So my friend said, you gotta get up, get out, and get over it.'"
        This poem is focusing on the issue of being gay and feeling empty.  So many students, especially in middle school and high school are going through issues, such as identity.  By allowing students to express themselves through poetry is simultaneously counseling students feelings and incorporating academics; In other words, expressing themselves academically.
        Moreover, I am currently taking PSY 302, Psychology of Adolescence, and our class just talked about the issue of identity.  Identity lasts all through adulthood, but is most crucial in mid-adolescence.  I am not sure how old Cellise Craig is, however, it seems like she is going through a hard time with her sexuality, which is also her identity, and who she is.  She explains that her friends tease her about being homosexual, which also brings about the topic of bullying.  According to some theorists ofpsychological development of identity say that schools need to find a way that every student be cared for and counseled.  This poetry slam is a perfect way to do so.  As I said, this poetry slam allows students to explain their feelings academically.  It is like killing two birds with one stone!