Personal Experience: The Importance of Transitional Schools

1394 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of the teacher in motivation

The school that I was involved in throughout the semester was Southeast Career Pathway. Being that I am a nursing major and not a tutoring type I was kind of nervous about participating in this opportunity, however, I was able to join the biology class which felt a little more like home. Throughout the weeks I was able to go about five times and every time I helped the students with the worksheets for the day. There were about five students in the class and usually there were different ones every single time. Only about two of the students regularly attended the class. The students were a variety of ages, genders, and races, but most of them were of African American race. It was an excellent learning experience for me and I learned a lot about what a transitional school is like.
I love the concept of a transitional school and how it allows students a second chance at getting the education they need for the future. However, this school made me question if this transitional school is really worth it. The classroom that I was placed in had a teacher that did absolutely no teaching. Her idea of teaching was giving out worksheets to complete and turn in by the end of the class time. The papers would take the students about 10 minutes and then for the rest of the time there was nothing to do. They would sit and play on their phones or leave the school, while the teacher messed around on her computer. There was no learning going on in the class and I found that quite interesting. I know that I am not a teacher, nor will I ever be a teacher, but I know if I had a classroom then I would want to teach my students. I would come up with fun activities that make them want to learn about biology because it is an amazing subject. If a teacher l...

... middle of paper ...

...at the teachers are dealing with then there may be some understanding of how to teach the students. With the video from class that had the passionate teachers. They understood the culture so they knew how to teach the students in a way that would help them stay interested in learning. However, it is also about students having the motivation to learn. Students in these cultures and part of the low income society have to get out of the mindset of being part of the cycle of failure. They can change the way that they learn if they have the teachers that love to educate students. They may have to break from the typical stereotypes, but that doesn’t change where they come from. Some students may be concern that others will look at them differently for supposedly “acting white”, but I see it as wanting to be the best person that they can be and there is no issue with that.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Schooltalk By Mica Pollock

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    As Pollock states, “Equity efforts treat all young people as equally and infinitely valuable” (202). This book has made me realize that first and foremost: We must get to know each of our students on a personal level. Every student has been shaped by their own personal life experiences. We must take this into consideration for all situations. In life, I have learned that there is a reason why people act the way that they do. When people seem to have a “chip on their shoulder”, they have usually faced many hardships in life. “The goal of all such questions is deeper learning about real, respected lives: to encourage educators to learn more about (and build on) young people’s experiences in various communities, to consider their own such experiences, to avoid any premature assumptions about a young person’s “cultural practices,” and to consider their own reactions to young people as extremely consequential.” (3995) was also another excerpt from the book that was extremely powerful for me. Everyone wants to be heard and understood. I feel that I owe it to each of my students to know their stories and help them navigate through the hard times. On the other hand, even though a student seems like he/she has it all together, I shouldn’t just assume that they do. I must be sure that these students are receiving the attention and tools needed to succeed,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of No Saco Nada De La Escuela

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    A student should never be denied the right to learn and become successful because of a different skin color, or because they speak a different language. “No saco nada de la escuela” by Luis Valdez is a play that discusses the racism in schools. The play starts with students going to elementary school and then ascending to middle school and college. At the beginning the students were not aware of what racism really was because of their innocence. However, the teacher that they had was very racist and bullied the students of color. That experience made the other kids realize that not everyone was the same and because of color or language they should be treated differently. There are five different students who take part of this play, two of those students were white, and there were two Chicanos and one black. That is great diversity of cultures. The teacher that the students have in elementary school was an example of the other professors they were going to have throughout their school years. Very arrogant and not understanding of the minority students. Their teachers were not really interested in teaching the minorities and always showed her discontent of having students of color. Their teachers didn’t believe that students who were part of a minority should be placed in the same classroom as the white students. Maybe that was because they didn’t know the potential a minority student could have. One Chicano student named Francisco never denied his roots and became very successful. He had many obstacles in his learning environment, but at the end he becomes a great example of perseverance. Francisco is the student who I think showed the greatest development in the play. He had to deal with racism all the time, but that didn't stop ...

    Read More

  • Courageous Conversations About Race by Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gloria Ladson-Billings supports this idea in her essay titled “’Yes, But How Do We Do it?’ Practicing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” and also expands upon its importance by adding the insight of how teachers think about the social contexts, the students, the curriculum, and about instruction, all impact the students because how teachers regard these contexts gets woven into their pedagogy, which creates the very classrooms for learning. If I had to identify with one of the authors, I would identify more with Curtis Linton, who is white and grew up in a predominantly homogenous community (Park Ridge, Illinois).

    Read More

  • E. D. Hirsch And Lisa Delpit's Theory Of Being Colorblints

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    E. D. Hirsch and Lisa Delpit are both theorist on teaching diverse students. Both of these theorist believe that when teaching diverse students, teachers need to see their students for who they are. Seeing your students for who they are, means you look past the color of your students’ skin and recognize their culture. According to Stubbs, when teachers look at their students equally, no matter the color of their skin, then the teacher is considered colorblind (2002). Being colorblind is not a great thing because we should not treat all of our students the same, since each student is different. It is important to see our students for who they are because our classes are unique. Instead, our classes represent a rainbow underclass. According to Li, the rainbow underclass is the representation of families who are culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged (2008). In order to meet these student’s needs, teachers need to think about the struggles that each student face.

    Read More

  • Lisa Delpit's Theory Of Social Reproduction

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    The problems currently arising are “not really in the debate over instructional methodology, but rather in communicating across cultures and in addressing the more fundamental issue of power, of whose voice gets to be heard in determining what is best for poor children and children of color” (Delpit 19). Administration must be able to respectfully gather information about a student in and out of school to help understand where they need the most structure and guidance and when to let them work independely. The current educational system in place has a mold that students need to fit, and for students of lower income familys, that mold is often expects less of them so naturally, the type of schooling provided for racial minorities is [they] one that prepares them for their respective place in the job market.” (Ogbu 83). Social reproducation is not a reality that society must accept and best try to break without a complete solution, but instead one that can be broken by a refocusing and recommittment to the students that often need the most guideance and resources for them to succeed and break social

    Read More

  • A Class Divided

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film A Class Divided was designed to show students why it is important not to judge people by how they look but rather who they are inside. This is a very important lesson to learn people spend too much time looking at people not for who they are but for what ETHNITICY they are. One VARIABLE that I liked about the film is that it should the children how it felt to be on both sides of the spectrum. The HYPOTHESIS of the workshop was that if you out a child and let them experience what it is like to be in the group that is not wanted because of how they look and then make the other group the better people group that the child will have a better understanding of not to judge a person because of how they look but instead who they are as people. I liked the workshop because it made everyone that participated in it even the adults that took it later on realize that you can REHABILITAE ones way of thinking. The exercise showed how a child that never had any RASIZM towards them in the exercise they turned against their friends because of the color of their eyes. The children for those two days got the chance to experience both sides of DISCRMINATION. The children once day felt SEGRIGATED and inferior to the children that were placed in the group with more privilege. Then the next day the children that were placed in the privileged group were in the SEGRIGATED group. The theory is if you can teach a child how to DISCRIMINATE against a person that you can just as easily teach them how not to. Sometimes a person needs to feel what another person feels to understand how they treat people.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of They Ve Got To Be Carefully Taught By Susan Brady Koonig

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...Teaching acceptance and diversity of different ethnicity is one of the key components that can be taught in our school systems today. Here in America we have many different ethnic groups and races, we are one big melting pot. During school these differences should be embraced in a positive manner and a proper learning experience. Diversity is often mistaken for the word division, and sometimes people teach that diversity is division. Diversity should be taught in a way that brings people together, not divide people into groups. Like Konig said, “I hadn’t really given much thought to the ethnic and national backgrounds of Sarah’s classmates. I can guarantee that Sarah, being two and a half gave the subject absolutely no thought.” (51) We can take a few lessons from Konigs daughter and learn to not give the subject any thought, and just accept people for who they are.

    Read More

  • National Honors Society Application

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    I was also in Algulitos, a program where high school students teach younger students Spanish. I led a classroom of second graders every Friday while integrating fun and learning. I was very excited to be involved in this program because it was an opportunity to be a successful role model for younger children. I developed many friendships ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Joel Spring's Deculturization And The Struggle For Equality

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    As stated in my Week 3 Journal Entry, at one point I was helping in a classroom with a child who speaks Spanish. Instead of trying to force the child to speak English, I tried to use some basic Spanish when I worked with them in order to make the child feel more comfortable. I believe by making this small effort to speak the child’s native language that the child was more willing to participate in class and try to learn English. An additional example of making a relation from the text to a personal experience is when I was in elementary through high school. I did not realize until reading Spring’s book how little cultural diversity was taught in my elementary, middle, and high school. I went to school in a very Scandinavian county, and we did not have a lot of diversity. There were several students in the district who came from Hispanic, Asian, or African decent—but they were very few. I cannot recall a day when a teacher spent time to discuss a one of these student’s cultures, which is utterly ridiculous. With the amount of time spent in school and the amount of diversity in the world, it seems illogical to barely speak of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though there were only a handful of students in the district from different cultures, it would have been beneficial to learn more about the rest of the world because when high school is done we all go out into that diverse world. I know I will take the time and make the effort to teach my future students about the beauty of diversity and

    Read More

  • A Significant Issue in Education: Teacher BIAS

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2004) reported that Black students continue to trail White students with respect to educational access, achievement and attainment. Research on the effectiveness of teachers of Black students emphasizes that the teachers’ belief about the Black students’ potential greatly impacts their learning. Teachers tend to teach black students from a deficit perspective (King, 1994; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Mitchell, 1998). White teachers often aim at compensating for what they assume is missing from a Black student’s background (Foorman, Francis & Fletcher, 1998). The deficit model of instruction attempts to force students into the existing system of teaching and learning and doesn’t build on strengths of cultural characteristics or preferences in learning (Lewis, Hancock...

    Read More

  • Diversity in the Classroom

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    It challenges America’s status quo by breaking the standards of American classroom traditions. Back in the days, the typical American classroom was taught by white women and white men, filled with white students. They all came from the same background, culture and economic status. There is no wrong in having people of the same culture, and race, come together in one classroom, but students and teachers do not gain as much opportunity or rich experience as they would if they were surrounded by diverse students and teachers.... ...

    Read More

  • Cultural Diversity Reflection Paper

    1623 Words  | 4 Pages

    I believe this is a very relevant topic today since prejudice and discrimination has become the leading issue of violence. The goal of this type of education is to teach the students that they have worth and can learn. It is a very positive subject matter when considering the benefits of implementing this type of education into a school system. This type of education encourages students of a diverse background to have a positive self-identity, pride in their heritage, accept others with diverse backgrounds, and promote social justice against prejudice and discrimination. Teachers can change the conversation in their classrooms by adding spontaneous and relevant content to their curriculum that both promotes multiculturalism and connects with the students. I believe a big part of making a change in our society today is by ‘changing the conversation’ whether that is about discrimination or another important issue. Teachers can step in at a very early age and promote feelings of self-worth and encourage the students to accept each other aside from cultural

    Read More

  • School Reflection Essay

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    The teachers of the school were very supportive, I loved them all. Being at school is very good in terms of dealing with different people. We were exposed very early to this world; where there are different attitudes and beliefs. I think having teachers with totally different minds has a role in our social intelligence development. I learned how to deal with people even if their beliefs, thoughts and styles do not meet mine.

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Racism In Education

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is essential that teachers know and understand this and know how to properly support their students. A socially just teachers needs to know what each individual student needs in order to succeed and do everything in their power to help them get there. Teachers need to be an advocate for their students and create an environment that is safe for them to be themselves and succeed. A highly effective teacher is someone who is great at teaching concepts from a textbook, but, more importantly, can teach life lessons. Teachers have the ability to change lives. They will influence the students and they need to lead by example. If a teacher treats specific cultures differently than others, students will do that. But, if teachers promote diversity and inclusion, students will follow. Students living in poverty should not be targeted, bullied, or feel unsafe to come to school. They are just as equally important than a child not living in poverty. If the teacher can connect and try to relate to the child, then they may encourage them to take a step further with their education and to better themselves throughout their life. Education is the key way to improve life and the one thing that can get someone out of the poverty cycle. Each and every child should feel that they have their teacher on their side and they are advocating for them. Without this, students will fall behind and may become disinterested in

    Read More

  • Diversity and Multicultural Education in the Classroom

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then expect students of other social classes and cultures to change perspectives on motivation and competition, learning styles, and attitudes and values that their homes and families have instilled in them (Manning & Baruth, 2009).

    Read More

More about Personal Experience: The Importance of Transitional Schools

Open Document