Contextualization

I find Standard 3, Contextualization to be a little difficult in my situation. Looking at the Checklist for Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices from the CREDE website, I realize I am not sufficiently “[assisting] students to connect and apply their learning to home and community” nor am I “[providing] opportunities for parents or families to participate in classroom instructional activities.” As I have stated before, I don’t know how to effectively do these things with the time crunch under which I operate. To involve the families, I could establish a computer class after school, but I don’t know when I would do this. Maybe a better idea would be to set up a computer lab show-off night, like an authors’ tea, and allow the kids to invite their parents to come see the projects they have worked on in class. I could also create a survey to find out what skills our families might have that they would be willing to share in the lab. With the pace I work under, parent volunteers would be a wonderful help. I just have to find them. There certainly have been none forthcoming.

As far as connecting and applying learning to home and the community, I try to do this by allowing the students to tell me about themselves in their projects, but I know I need to provide more of these opportunities. One thing I have tried to do is find a grant that will allow me to purchase a class set of digital cameras. This would be a wonderful way for the students to share more about themselves. I visited an elementary school in Aiken, SC (I forgot the name of the school) that had a photography club, and it was wonderful. The kids took pictures, wrote narration to go with them, and compiled this into a PhotoStory. Sometimes, the narrations were fictional, but sometimes they were autobiographical. What a wonderful medium for the children to share their stories!

I have written a grant twice for the funds for this project, but I was turned down both times. I will continue to look for funds because I think this would really be a wonderful addition to my technology class. It would also be a wonderful after school club. If anyone has any ideas for a grant for cameras, please let me know!

Dilemma

One change that I think I need to make in my teaching is to “encourage students to use content vocabulary to express their understanding.” Because of my classroom situation (one hour per week for each child in my school), I am always conscious of not “wasting” time. When I child asks me a question but does not use the correct terminology, I will usually say the terminology for him or her and then quickly begin to answer the question. I do not make sure that the child is familiar with the vocabulary. I know this is a problem, but I struggle with how to do better and still get everything accomplished that I need to accomplish during the school year. I tell you, I am really hopping in that computer lab! Ironically, one of the things I need to accomplish is to get the children to use the content vocabulary.

I had several good strategies for vocabulary in my 3rd grade classroom, but I can’t seem to devote the time to these same activities now. I need to increase my use of word walls and other posted visuals to help my students “get” the vocabulary. I also need to make sure that I model using the correct vocabulary for them. Other strategies that I relied on don’t make sense in my lab. One of my favorite activities, and my students’ favorites too, was to learn the sign language word for our vocabulary, but once again, this takes time that we don’t have. Other activities we did included making our own motions for vocabulary words and creating “pictionaries” of the words. In these, the students were allowed to either write out a definition for their words or they could choose to illustrate the definition and skip the words. This especially seemed to help in math with geometry terms, but it often worked well in science, too. I just wish I had some good ideas of quick ways to help my children master the vocabulary of the computer lab.

Suggestions, anyone?

Respect

CREDE standard 3 really boils down to respect, which is Dr. Garcia’s first R of his 5 Rs and T of Culturally Responsive Teaching. Standard 3 regards contextualization, or “connecting school to students’ lives.” This involves beginning activities and lessons with what the students already know and making the activities relevant and meaningful within the context of the students’ lives. It also involves making connections between home and school and increasing parental involvement.

Dr. Garcia said that “The best way to learn about our students’ lives is to listen.” When teachers take the time to examine who their students really are and use their findings to better reach their students, isn’t this showing them respect? By considering and responding to their cultures, experiences, and other differences and similarities, I believe we show them that we value these characteristics that make them unique. In other words, we respect them.

I am afraid that many teachers choose to ignore the differences and just teach all of their students the same for the sake of “fairness”, but this doesn’t make sense to me. If children are not the same, then they require differentiation. This applies to all students and not just ELLs. It seems that best practices for ELLs are really best practices for all learners. We must tailor our instruction to meet the individual needs of the learners we serve. And once again, by doing this, we demonstrate respect.

Examination

Looking at the CREDE web site, I realize that I am effectively implementing some of their standards, but that I need to work on others. I do try very hard to facilitate joint productive activities (Standard 1) where my students work together on projects. Even when they have individual projects to complete, I allow them to assist each other as much as I reasonably can. Sometimes I do need to assess their ability to complete a project on their own.

Standard 2, language development, is one that I implement in a rather hit-and-miss fashion. I am conscious of allowing wait time for my students, and this gives my ELLs time to form their responses. However, I struggle with allowing my kids opportunities to talk in my room. There is some communication going on as they seek help and assist one another, but I don’t think I have the type of conversations going on that CREDE is suggesting. Because I only see my student for one hour a week, time management is crucial. I must ensure that they are on task. This also goes over to CREDE standard 5, instructional conversation. It is hard for me to allow the students to talk at higher rates than I do, because we don’t have time for anyone to talk too much. My class is project driven, not discussion based. I give a mini lesson on new material, we discuss it very briefly, I give instructions, and then the students work on the project. My students demonstrate their understanding by doing. If they are unable to do, then I work with them individually. It is all very fast paced.

If I look at the 5Rs and T, however, would say that my personal theory (the T) is very good. I believe that with the proper scaffolding, all of my students can complete any of the assignments I will give them in the computer lab. Some of my students will finish faster and have more sophisticated projects, and some students will require extra help, but most of them enjoy the computer lab and they can all finish their tasks.