At the city school that I was assigned to, there is a great deal of diversity among the students throughout the whole school. In my classroom, there are about 26 students all together, with an almost equal amount of boys and girls. You can tell just by looking at the students that they come from different cultures and racial backgrounds. I was placed in an ESL classroom, meaning that English is a second language to most of the students. Although I am tutoring in an ESL classroom, all of the students are able to speak English, for the most part, with out difficulty. Keep in mind that the students are only in first grade, so they can speak up to that level. When I looked up the statistics on Info works, I was amazed at what I found.
When it came to lunches at the school, 88% of the students at the city school are eligible for free or reduced price lunches, which leaves 12% of the students who are able to afford the full priced lunch. 70% of the students who attend the school I tutor at are of Hispanic background, 11% are African-American, 6% are Asian, and 13% are white. In my classroom, there are mostly Hispanic children, and not one white child. 25% of the students at the school I am tutoring at are receiving bilingual education help.
I remember one of the Fridays I was at the school, the teacher was reading the students a book about a Chinese boy. One of the kids in the class said, "Hey, so and so is Chinese!" The teacher quickly responded by correcting the young boy and stating the actual culture of the boy, which was Leocean. I found this interesting and I was the one who learned something that day. I had never heard of that culture and did not know where Leocean people were from. As soon as I got home that day I did a little research of my own and read about the Leocean culture.
I wanted to briefly speak about one theorist we discussed in class--Lyn Brown. Brown wrote an article about entitled "The bad or good of girlhood". In this article, Brown compares and talks about two different categories of girls; the girls who come from less fortunate families who do not have much, and the more middle-class rich girls. Brown states that the rich girls are more aggressive, spoiled and sometimes rude, while the poor girls are more laid back and just expect that their lives will never change--they will grow up to be like their parents. I experienced something in my classroom, that reminded me of Lyn Brown's article.
I went on a field trip with the class and one of the girls came in with her pants on backwards. This was not the first time this child had been dressed "down". She comes into class with her hair all tangled and clothes that do not fit her well at all. But when she got on the bus to go to the field trip, one of the other girls noticed she was wearing her pants backwards. I heard the girl whisper to another girl, (both of which appeared to come from more wealthy families), "Look at her clothes, she must not have money to go buy pretty clothes like me!" I was shocked when I heard her say that--these children are in first grade!! I just think this shows what kind of home-life the "richer" girl has. It seems like she is spoiled and always gets what she wants...according to her statement.
Unfortunately, the teacher did not hear what the young girl said, because these children need to understand that everyone is different. Not all people can afford the unimportant material things that many people treasure. In my opinion, the teacher needs to make the children aware of the different backgrounds and cultures of other families in general.
Hi Kayln,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. I also saw the same things in my classroom with the diversity. It amazes me how much different these children's lives are than what me and you had. To see how many students who are in poverty and can apply for free or reduced lunch just is amazing. I also liked how you talked about the Chinese boy, and how the teacher corrected the other student. This is something that we future teachers need to do. We have to make students aware of all the different cultures that are in the classroom and not. I am like you I had never heard of the culture. I am in shock about what you over heard on the bus going to a field-trip. That is so wrong of those girls to be saying that about another student. I would have said something to them. At that young of an age something like that could really break that students self esteem. That is something that could affect them for years. It also is amazing in the first grade there are students who are already that spoiled.
There is one girl in my class who wrote in her journal about how she wishes she could go to dance lessons, because she loves to dance. After sharing one of the other girls in the class said why don't you go to dance lessons than. And the little girl responded mommy said we do not have enough money to do that, and I could just dance at home. The other student said ohhh...wow, I go to dance three days a week. I love it so much, it’s so much fun. She was rubbing it in this girls face. I looked at her and said some of us are not as fortunate as others, and you must respect them and not be rude. I asked her how she would have felt if she could not go to dance and all the girls around her did. I feel that she really understood where I was coming from. She said she was sorry for saying that.
Your connection to Lyn Brown was perfect. I saw the same connection in my classroom with the example I just told you. This was a perfect connection to what happened on your bus ride, and what I saw in my classroom. "Brown states that the rich girls are more aggressive, spoiled and sometimes rude, while the poor girls are more laid back and just expect that their lives will never change--they will grow up to be like their parents". We need to find a way to show these kids that money is not happiness. That you can buy everything and you need to be nice to everyone and that one should not single out another person for having less than they do. Nice connections Kayln