My Experience with PARCC 😢

     Ugggghhhh! Where do I start?  This blog could go on forever..... My first experience giving PARCC was a few years ago as a Title 1 Reading teacher.  I was to administer the test to a small group of students who had that modification in their IEP.  The students arrived and things went well to start.  Then, about ten minutes in, tears from one.  "Mrs. Tremblay I don't know a lot of these words so it doesn't make sense, can I use a dictionary?"  "But Miss, that's one of the strategies you taught us to use when context clues don't help you."  "Please Miss, how about just two words?"  "But I can't do this" she mutters and sits, eyes glossy, still fighting the tears.  Another one sits and clicks through the test, clearly faster than he could possibly read it.  As I approach, he says "I'm just tired of doing these tests we've been doing it everyday for three weeks!"  I tell him to "Please try your best." Then I notice as the students get to the question which requires a typed response, they sit and look at it not knowing where to begin.  "I forget how to make capital letters, can you help me?" asks one.  Others struggle to think of what they want to say and then have to type it by finding one letter at a time in each word, talk about frustrating and time consuming.  Many of them answered with a few words and some a sentence or two.  The question really needed several sentences to be answered completely, but the struggle to get there was just too much for them.  The frustration, anger, disappointment, sadness, self doubt, was more than I could take.  When the 90 minutes were up, I tried to reassure them that they did a great job and gave them candy for persevering through the test.  They went back to their classrooms and I sat at the table and reflected on the whole experience although I wanted to cry.  This was day one, five more test days to go and I dreaded it more than the students!
     My first talking point comes up right away.  "However, as far back as 1974, it was clear that tracking student achievement data, including standardized test results, had negligible effects on improving education, especially for underserved students (Hall, 2015).  So we know these tests have done nothing to help and they are clearly bias toward minority and low income students, yet we keep throwing money away at the test makers and continue to not change the system?  Is this the reason bad schools don't improve?  Is this why a school like Normandy can remain on probation for fifteen years?
     The section on the educator perspectives begins by stating how "current educational policies in Rhode Island disregard teacher perspectives".  That is what really makes me the most crazy about our educational institution, why is it those least involved in actually educating anyone are the one's who make the decisions.  Clearly, those of us on the front line, in the classrooms, educating the students, learning about their lives, helping them to develop skills, ideas, and ways to solve problems, while encouraging them to explore the world around them, what would we know?  How could we possibly tell more about a child than test results that come a year later and you can never know what you got right or wrong, just how you did compared to others.  I remember as a fifth grade teacher getting the test scores the morning of parent-teacher conferences with a note to hand them out to parents.  Most of my students' parents could not understand the results and I felt horrible explaining that the student was below grade level but what did this mean?  I wasn't offering help, just trying to not make things so negative, and it felt awful.
     As I reflected on my first experience with PARCC, I did make some decisions for my classroom directly because of it.  First, was vocabulary.  I decided I was going to try to expose my students to lots and lots of vocabulary.  I make connections with the vocabulary and incorporated the website vocabulary.com into my station rotation as it allows for self-paced work with words.  I make opportunities for students to talk about words and work together to figure out meaning.  We've even used thesauruses to find better words for words we use too much.  I also have a reading program that I really spend time on setting up and reward them for reading.  Students get to "prove" what they read about in many different ways and they really seem to enjoy it.  They learn and share things that might not ever come up in the curriculum but they are all teachers and learners.  
     The second thing I did was start a keyboarding program on the chromebooks for my students.  Students completed a game-type program that taught keyboarding skills, but again self paced, and I offered incentives.  Students could earn a variety of things from lunch with the teacher, to homework passes, or the teacher chair at your desk for the day.  They loved it and learned an invaluable skill at the same time.
     Finally, I decided I was not going to do PARCC practice only in the weeks just before the test.  I was going to use the "forced" PARCC practice of the released items once a month, for one week of morning work and give it a fun name (Suggestions welcome).  I will use it as a teaching tool to get students used to the set up of the test and to go over different types of problems, but not make it as boring and miserable as it has been.  I will even use the computerized PARCC practice but only to give them every opportunity I can, to be as successful as they can.
     Some of the comments I found especially important include "This means that the large majority of students were required to take the computer-based option regardless of readiness".  (p. 5)  My students were clearly not "ready" to type.  "The time wasted on this test could have been netter spent working to boost their skills!"  (p.7)  Yes, 9 1/2 to 11 hours is too much time spent on a test that hasn't proven to "close the gap".  "This raises validity concerns.  If students are not understanding the test, how can accurate inferences be drawn from the results?"  And they aren't even allowed to use strategies they know will help them!  The one that most hits home for next year, when I will be forced to administer the PARCC to my fifth grade ESL class, "time with my ELLs is precious... I want to spend time with my ELLs teaching them valuable skills and lessons they need; not how to navigate through a computer-based test".  (p. 10-11)  The gap between ELLs and their English speaking peers continues to be our biggest problem in Central Falls, standardized test don't change that.

PS. I also found out Bill Ashton is from Pawtucket, R.I. (News article attached)

Validating LGBT Population Through Educaton

     As I read through "Safe Spaces" by August, Kennedy, and Vaccaro I am reminded of Armstrong and Wildman article "Colorblind is the New Racism".  "LGBT students need advocacy and protection, not neutrality" (p. 84), just as those without privilege and power need those with it to make change come about.  I was again shown where simple assumptions are made and without even knowing it, a teacher may be sending a very different message than the one he or she actually wants to portray, whether intentional or not.  The example of the student in Spanish class who used the correct feminine form of the word but got it marked incorrect because the "norm" would have a female with a male not another female.  In this case, I don't blame the Spanish teacher but I always tell my students to see me to talk about anything they didn't understand or they are still no sure why it was wrong.  I would have liked to speak with this student and absolutely given her the points for a correct answer after the conversation.  
     In the discussion about "Postcards from Buster",I felt it was an awesome way to incorporate so many different ideas and topics in creative ways that can really connect children to the fact that people are different, live different, and believe different.... and it's a good thing, it's diversity.  But like most things, someone with power didn't like the challenging views so put an end to it.  This part I could connect to, as I had two "Arthur" and Marc Brown loving children.  However, the next part I'm embarrassed to say I had no experience with at all.  First, Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and then "resistance at Stonewall" or the "Stonewall Riots" had not been anything I had heard of, which shows the lack of communication about the LGBT community while I was growing up.  The only connection I could make to learning anything about this was the HIV/AIDS discussion in health where we found out it was a disease that affected mostly gays, lesbians, and drug users who shared needles.  Like white privilege that I had grown up with and didn't notice, I also grew up with implications that heterosexuality is the norm and although lesbians and gays were discussed (although not positively but as different and outside the norm) bisexual and transgender must have been too taboo to bring up as I was not exposed to either in school. 

"Bigotry is a heat-seeking missile- it will find it's target" (p. 84)

     Another thing that struck me was "Many, perhaps most, teachers pretend not to hear anti-gay comments.  (The message youth receive is not that your hearing is compromised- it is either you agree with the prejudicial sentiment or lack the courage to address it)".  I wonder how many teachers dismiss these comments because they are uncomfortable addressing them or because it's just easier to ignore.  Do they see the importance of having the conversation and setting things straight or is it no big deal because they don't see any direct connection?  Whatever the case, I see too many people be bystanders in too many situations.  I've seen teachers, administrators, and other school support staff ignore comments and even physical attacks of some sort in hallways and just outside of the school building, just because they could.  We need to not only get people to talk about these issues but there needs to be supportive actions taken as well.  Be willing to use the words and have the uncomfortable, difficult discussion as Armstrong, Wildman, and Johnson already explained.

     Fortunately, today I do feel that LGBT people are becoming a little more represented in our society with famous actress and actors coming out as part of this group and encouraging support.  From Ellen, Lily Tomlin, and Jodie Foster to Neil Patrick Harris, Ricky Martin, and John Glover these stars can bring some normalcy to others.  There are more television shows and movies with characters representing this population such as "Modern Family", "How I Met Your Mother", "Heroes" and "The Walking Dead" to name a few.  I was most excited to find out there are tons of great literature that can be easily tied to any curriculum.  The Rainbow Book lists will be an invaluable resource to help with including diversity among read-a-louds and small group reading instruction in my fifth grade classroom.  I enjoyed the GLSEN website and although I knew June is LGBT pride month (thanks to Providence's Pridefest) I had no idea October is LGBT history month although the topic should be addressed year round.  I was also thrilled to learn that author, Rick Riordan, addresses LGBT issues in his books (and received the Stonewall award for) "The Hidden Oracle" and "Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor" as he was a favorite among my sixth grade students with the Percy Jackson series.  Another fascinating find on GLSEN is that their are graphic novels available as well like "Princess Princess Ever After".  I am excited to see how I can tie some of these books to my curriculum and encourage my colleagues in fifth grade to try it as well.

Reactions to "Aria" and "Teaching Multilingual Children"

     As I read Richard Rodriguez's "Aria", I felt sad.  I just kept thinking of how the parents must feel.  I felt like they were somewhat forced to give up their own identities by those in power, for the "good of their children".  It's sad to me that they had to give up so much of their own language for the Americanization of their children.  The part I felt most heartbroken about was Rodriguez's statement "After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents".  It seems sad to me that he no longer could even use the names he had uttered since he was able to and the American words were "unsuitable" for his parents.  The silence at home is what really made me feel sad.  When parents and children are no longer communicating on a deeper level because of a language barrier that developed within the family.  I had a student in my fifth grade class who's parents decided to only speak English at home starting when he went to second grade.  In three years, he is no longer able to communicate with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  When he told me about it, he was upset.  He couldn't believe that not using Spanish really made him lose it quite quickly.  He explained that his parents want him to go to college and get a good job, and because he doesn't look American (he's of Mexican decent) he needs to sound American.
     In thinking about his last paragraph and his idea that there are two ways a person is individualized he says (to bilingualists) "So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality".  In his story, his public individuality is most important to his success but he still had feelings about his Spanish past.  My daughter's boyfriend is Guatemalan and his parents speak limited English.  He often will not speak in Spanish to them in front of my daughter or other English speaking friends.  He and his sister communicate strictly in English with each other and their friends even at home.  He often will leave the room if he needs to speak in Spanish to them on the phone.  He avoids them being around English speakers as he is embarrassed by their broken English.  Is there anyway to keep the family more united?  Would it help if parents also learned English?

     From "Teaching Multilingual Children" Abridged from chapters by Virginia Collier the seven guidelines are super helpful for my upcoming grade 5 ESL position in the fall.  Keeping in mind her idea "Most importantly, your goal is to help your students master the language used in formal schooling (academic language proficiency) and at the same time give your students language tools for use in all contexts in the outside world".  This made me think of Lisa Delpit and teaching the codes of power.  The codes of power includes when its appropriate to use different forms of language, like using slang is fine in conversation at the park with friends, but not when presenting to the class.  I also thought about "correcting" my students speech.  I explain the correction as formal English and what would be expected in college or a professional community.  Students understand and don't feel as judged or wrong.  I try to use lots of my students work and edit together, allowing students to help each other find a "better way to say something" and we give ideas and examples and the student who's piece we are editing decides.  Referring to these tips will also help me as the ESL teacher.
     The thing that struck me most from this article was the paragraph about how lack of "home language in literacy development instantly places immigrant children at risk".  This is what I see as the BIG problem in Central Falls.  Many of our students come in with little formal schooling and only speaking Spanish.  Because they come in speaking Spanish it is assumed they can read and write in Spanish, but often times they can not.  Most of their parents can't read and write the language any better.  Many aren't literate in any language, so imagine the difficulties they face.  In research by Collier "English reading skills of fourth graders who were not literate in their home language, were three years behind fourth graders who had received three years of schooling in their home language before arriving in the U.S."  In C.F. our school is working to close the achievement gap of our English Language Learners (ELL's) as it has become an increasing problem over the years.  Maybe we need to look at things from another perspective?  This article also state the importance of all four aspects of language together (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) which I truly believe is important.  Research also shows that the listening and speaking will precede reading and writing, yet using Access data we "pass" students out of the ESL program even if all four areas are not met because it goes by the average score of the areas.  I believe this is another factor that hurts my ESL students, as they are weakest in writing and barely on level in reading, but by passing this test they are no longer eligible for ESL support from an ESL teacher.  This happens all too often and the student's continue to struggle and the gap widens.   
     

Good Stuff on the Rethinking Schools Website

     "Spend an hour on the Rethinking Schools Website".....I can do that now, I have an hour before I need to make dinner.  As I peruse the site I am immediately struck by the "Planning to Change the World Plan book"  This plan book actually has pages to tell you historical events or important happenings each day and each month.  There are shareable quotes on each page and monthly themes and connections.  As I looked it over, I though there's a way to get some of these tough conversations started with our students.  As I continue through the site I find some great magazine articles and read a few.  I try the search bar and type in urban schools and am bombarded with articles.  My husband appears, "hey, are we having dinner? It's almost 7pm?"  Out for pizza it is and I decide to come back to it later.  I had left it open on my chromebook so I was able to come back to it however, now I am unable to access the site.  I keep getting a message that my user name and email don't exist....so I've contacted them by phone and email but haven't heard back yet.

     One of the several magazine articles I read (while I still had access) that really made think was "What Do You Mean When You Say Urban?  Speaking honestly about race and students" by Dyan Watson.  Urban means having to do with the city so urban students are students who live and attend school in the city, right?  He discusses his city of Portland, Oregon.  In that city he compares two schools, Lincoln, located in downtown Portland and another school, Jefferson, across the river in North Portland.  Immediately I thought of Normandy and Francis Howell and how those thirty miles were a world away.  At the school in Lincoln the makeup of the students was 75% white, 4.5% black, 8.6% Latino with 10.5% receiving free or reduced lunch and no Title 1 services are provided.  In stark contrast, Jefferson is 59% black, 8% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 17% Latino with 70% eligible for free or reduced lunch and does have Title 1 services.  As he discusses peoples' perception of Urban it's quite interesting that the word has become a "code for race" and it really means poor black and Latino children to many.  In a discussion of Urban Education, a teacher, Ruth remarks "To me, Urban students come from an environment where they can't see the value of education.  They can't see why it matters, because everyone that they know, everything that they do, has nothing to do with having an education".  Which is exactly the problem that Finn explains in showing that the each "class" just keeps producing more of the same and for the working and middle class it will never be enough to get them ahead.  Isn't it our job as educators to show them what else exists and that their futures are as bright as anyone else's.  I think Delpit would say this is exactly why we need to teach the codes of power to those without privilege.  In teaching the codes Delpit explains "They must be encouraged to understand the value of the code they already possess as well as to understand the power realities in this country".  (p. 40)
     After finishing the article, I did some research on the schools since then.  It is interesting to note "Starting in fall 2011, Jefferson High was transformed into Jefferson High School Middle College For Advanced Studies, a magnet school with a model that provided students with extra resources and the option to take college courses." which tells me much like Normandy, it never got better it just changed.  

     Another piece that I really enjoyed while I had access to the site was "Unfolding Hope in a Chicago School" by Gregory Michie.  The connection began right away in his disappointment about the Trump election.  His statement "And I feared his frightening campaign promises would soon land brutally on people's lives- including the lives of my students".  In the months preceding the election we had watched a couple CNN student news reports and discussed it a bit, but I was the Librarian this year so the interactions were limited.  On the morning after the election I got ready for school and had my plans prepared and ready.  My first period class was seventh and eighth graders, who I welcomed cheerfully at the door like every morning, but the students were sad and dejected.  I hadn't even gotten attendance entered when the questions and hostile comments began.  "Can he really send everyone back, even if they don't want to go?"  "What's going to happen to my mom, she stays home all day, are they going to find her?"  "What about my brother, he was born in the D.R.?"  The questions endless....my answers....uncertainty.  The words his students used to describe their feelings "Angry, Worried, Afraid, Disappointed" all the same feelings my students were sharing.  He goes on to explain that his students are not "naive" or "jaded" when it comes to injustice and hypocrisies because they are exposed to them and live with them in daily life.  So that day, my plans went out the window and instead I let the conversations and questions the students needed to have take up our 55 minutes together.
     Tears rolled down my cheeks as I read the section of Michie's article when he discusses the death of one of his seventh grade students.  The tears continue as he relates a second grade classroom who decides to do something about the boy's death.  The second graders made cards that carried a message of "Don't Lose Hope" and they presented them to the seventh grade students.  Michie explains it is just what his students needed.  And they did move on and more learning was done once they were able to have some closure to the horrific experience they all endured.  My emotions went to anger in reading the words asked to Michie, and I'm sure asked in the deaths of many other young, black men "Was he in a gang?"  As if it validated the death of his student.  "Asking if they were gang members seems little more than a pretext for concluding that their deaths were justified, or at least undeserving of sympathy. It’s the same line of thinking, in reverse, that prompts journalists to alert readers that a murdered teen was an “honor student”—as if a kid who failed a class or had a C average is somehow expendable." How sad the way our society can value or devalue a life. At the end of the article he mentions that in these violent cities there are also kids playing youth sports, religious celebrations, family and community gatherings and many innocent, beautiful lives who deserve as much as the next. Don't let the negative define the city or it's people. His challenge in the end "Day by day, piece by piece, unfold hope. Together". So as Finn requests "People can become conscious of injustice and inequity, and through disciplined, focused, and strategic action, they can bring about change". It's that keyword "together" that will bring about change. Delpit would totally agree "But both sides do need to be able to listen, and I contend that it is those with thee most power, those in the majority, who must take the greater responsibility for initiating the process". Allan Johnson would also be a proponent for this "if people in privileged groups don't include themselves in the solution, the default is to leave it to blacks and women and Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, lesbians, gay men, and lower and working classes to do it on there own. But these groups can't do it on there own, because they don't have the power to change entrenched systems of privilege by themselves". It's s vicious cycle as this leads us back to those in power often don't want to loose it or are just oblivious to it and their privilege.

 

Literacy with an Attitude

     From the start of reading "Literacy with an Attitude", Patrick Finn had me thinking about Lisa Delpit's ideas.  In the preface Finn explains the ability for things to change stating "People can become conscious of injustice and inequality, and through disciplined, focused, strategic action, they can bring about change".  (p. xi)    Delpit's similarly felt "Those with power are frequently least aware of- or least willing to acknowledge it's existence.  Those with less power are often most aware of its existence".  Both authors also agree on the fact that those with power are the one's who need to make change happen, which is the bigger problem.  As Finn states "The status quo is the status quo because people who have the power to make changes are comfortable with the way things are".  Allan Johnson echos this idea with his statement "The fact that it's so easy for me and other people in dominate groups not to do this is the single most powerful barrier to change.  After reading and pondering all that these authors shared, it's frustrating to know that everyone knows we need to fix the inequities in education, but yet policies, procedures, and complacency to the same failing system remain.  Whether  it's referred to as white  privilege or those in power, we need to stop discussing it and actually do things to even the playing field for all.

     As I read through the section on the "working class schools", as referred to by Finn, I got a sense of overwhelming anxiety.  It was so many of the things I see in the school I work in.  Mostly new, inexperienced teachers, using low level materials, "dumb-ing things down", skipping lessons due to difficulty, lazy students, parents that don't care, and students don't want to learn.... these things I had heard in my school.  I had teachers actually explain that they just skip the confusing or difficult concepts in math in order to keep with the pacing guide and I would need to do the same if I didn't want to fall way behind.  I was told "You don't have to teach social studies there is no curriculum anyway so don't bother, it's just more work for you".  When I went to other teacher's rooms to borrow things or look for ideas I was often disappointed to find very low level, easy and below grade level items they were using.  When I explained to one colleague I previously taught third grade in Smithfield, she stated that's about the same level as your students now, just do the same thing.  Next, in Finn's discussion of "middle class schools" and the teachers teaching knowledge from text books or curriculum, students just gaining knowledge or understanding, providing little excitement over schoolwork, not offering ways to use creativity, voice, and choice for students, and the anxiety about test scores were his main points.  Again, the anxiety strikes, that's the rest of them.  From what I've experienced we have both of these situations going on and our test scores, performance, and student success are all suffering.  It was very eye-opening!

      Over the past two years, I've decided to change my teaching practice to Blended Learning.  (Check out this video if you want to learn more.)   In Blended Learning students have much more voice and choice.  It is demanding to plan for but produces amazing results.  Blended Learning really mirrors what Finn described as going on in "affluent professional schools"  The focus here was on creativity and personal development, discovery and experiences, "higher concepts" taught, current events incorporated, independence and creativity fostered...all the stuff we want for EVERY student.  I believe in setting high standards and then encouraging students to exceed these standards.  I have seen students who struggle, achieve their goal just because someone else believed in them.  There are so many great ways to incorporate such amazing technology and student choice in the classroom that I believe we can get all students motivated to learn.  In a Blended Classroom there are many different ways a student can chose to show mastery of a skill.  For example, the students had a science report to complete but they decided the topic and how to present it.  I had google slide shows, posters, books, models build by students, a game board, and a magazine created by a student to show mastery.  After sharing, everyone learned even more content and also learned new strategies, ideas, and new technology to use going forward.  

Desegregation because Integration Shows Proven Results

 

Nikole Hannh Jones

     The statistics that Ira Glass and Nikole Hannah Jones discuss at the start of their segment "The Problem We All Live With" are staggering.  At the "start of real desegregation the achievement gap between black and white students was about 40 points,"according to Jones.  Glass points out "on standardized reading tests in 1971, black 13 year olds tested 39 points worse than white kids.  That dropped to just 18 points by 1988 at the height of desegregation.  The improvement in math scores was close to that, though not quite as good".  This is proof that integration works.  Combining lots of different cultures can bring lots of sharing of ideas, customs, cultures, and explanations of beliefs, all of which provide learning experiences.  Students learn in a variety of ways, but one of the best for many students is working with a partner or small group.  Having a common goal leads to communication and cooperation.  Having different experiences will lead students to think about things in a way that makes sense to them.  Sharing their thoughts and ideas leads to learning and discovery a teacher cannot plan for.  

     The Separate but Equal was just an idea, it was never a reality although the newspaper is date 1954!  Even "the United States Department of Education has put out data in 2014  showing that black and Latina kids in segregated schools have the least qualified teachers, the least experienced teachers."  The data is filled with more outrageous statistics in every category.  Some examples: "Black children represent 19% of preschool enrollment, but 47% of preschool children receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions; in comparison, white children represent 41% of preschool enrollment, but 28% of preschool children receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions".  Another part showed "Racial disparities in suspensions are also apparent in K-12 schools: While 6% of all K-12 students received one or more out-of-school suspensions, the percentage is 18% for black boys; 10% for black girls; 5% for white boys; and 2% for white girls".  The school buildings, supplies, and availability of equipment and technology is also extremely unequal.  These poor segregated schools had no way to improve.  They could barely keep themselves running never mind fine ways to get better.  As Nikole Hannah Jones said, "In most of the thousands of poor, segregated school in America, that would be it.  Your zip code is the anchor that traps you".  Normandy is an example of how bad schools don't get better.  They were put on "provisional accreditation" which was to be a warning, yet they remained with this label for fifteen years, proving poverty ridden, segregated schools don't get any better. 
      I found the Normandy school district's failure and ultimate bankruptcy extremely upsetting and very sad.  Especially with how long the schools continually failed which inevitably means those children who passed through are they educated?  Will they be able to become productive members of society?  When they are finally forced by law to give student choice, they try to sabotage students ability to leave by providing transportation to a "white" school 30 miles away.  At that school, Francis Howell, the reaction was even more negative.  Accusations of violent behavior, implications that the "different areas" shouldn't be mixing and they shouldn't allow people "coming across on our side of the bridge".  Parents go as far to ask for metal detectors, suggest changing start times, and blamed the kids from Normandy for things that haven't even happened.  So although this was never a desegregation program it proved how successful desegregation could be.  Hannah Jones explains " In the schools where white families chose to stay, test scores for black transfer students rose.  They were more likely to graduate and to go to college.  After years of resistance, St. Louis had created the largest and most successful metro-wide desegregation program in the country".
     In the last part of the segment, when they discuss how Normandy continues to suffer and Elisa Crouch follows a Normandy senior honor student through his day.  Middle school level assignments in an AP class, four music classes but only three academic classes, and classes being taught by substitutes who are not certified were just some of her observations.  The statement "It's hard to imagine a bar lower than that".  I feel that Central Falls as a district is falling into a similar situation.  Our schools are struggling because of our transient population who live in poverty and our society continues to make it a struggle for them to survive.  In my daughters first year at U.R.I., she was matched up with a Central Falls graduate as a roommate who truly believed she was ready for college.  However, at the end of the first semester my daughter had earned 15 credits plus the 6 from taking AP classes in high school, so 21 credits.  Her roommate ended the semester with 3 college credits and could not understand why, when she had as many classes as my daughter.  Nobody at the high school and nobody at the college explained that all the 100 level classes were just preparing her for the classes that give credits.  She has four free years of college, but at this rate she won't be close to graduating, but she also won't be able to continue financially.  I feel that Central Falls set her up to fail.  We need to hold our students to high academic standards and do our best to provide the support to get them there.  We can't continue to lower the bar and cheat the standards, because it is having negative affects.  We are sending more students off to college in Central Falls but are they graduating and becoming successful adults?   

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More than "Culture Conflict" in Delpit

     
     In "Other People's Children Cultural Conflict in the Classroom" Lisa Delpit's strong opinions toward white people are very strong.  I felt she was blaming us for the fact that white privilege exists and that we had no right to teach black children.  The blame is on the majority not listening, but I feel it also has something to do with the way both sides react.  She really had me feeling bad about trying to educate all the non-white students I interact with everyday although I know I love doing what I do.  Luckily, by the end of "The Silenced Dialogue: Power of Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children" I felt like she was just asking us, the white teachers, for help in making all students successful.  She generalizes to every white teacher, but not all of us ignore the hard conversations.  I agree with her point that we need to teach "the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life...".  Our students need to understand both societal rules and language rules to be successful in college or a career.  I encourage my Spanish speaking students to continue their home language and learn to not only speak, but read and write it so you can have a skill that is needed in many jobs.  

    I also connected Delpit's idea to how I taught writing.  I feel the most important step is when I conference with the student and read it aloud and talk about it.  Not only can I discuss grammatical errors and sentence structure, but I get them to add details and description.  If they don't identify errors I might explain "that might be how you say it but when we write in English its more formal and has to follow certain rules".  I'm going to start using a line from the Alaskan teacher asking whether "they've said enough to sound like a book".  (p. 42)  These mistakes, or teaching points, turn into small group mini lessons which have proven to improve my students writing.  As mentioned above I understand the need to teach the codes but also encourage them to keep their own code through culture and language.  Her quote "To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them".  (p. 32-33)  I think this is true and could turn students off to learning from certain teachers.  With my seventh and eighth grade students a discussion of the negative opinion of Central Falls ensued because I mentioned the town I live in.  They talked about the litter, violence, and illegal behaviors.  I showed them video I took of the trash I saw each day walking a few blocks to school over the next week.  I did this to show how much of the litter came from the free food provided at school each day like milk and juice cartons, styrofoam trays, plastic containers, etc.  I asked them to be the change.  There are trash barrels outside school so encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to use them and start a change in the city.

     I enjoyed the section about Martha Demientieff who taught "Village English" and "Standard English".  She explained the prejudice to them in simple terms.  While doing this she made it positive, "We're going to learn two ways to say things. Isn't that better?"  Next, she explains why the two languages and where they will need the "Standard English".  Explaining the hard truth that people are judged by how they speak is difficult but important.  The part that really impressed me was her also encouraging them to be the difference.  "Maybe after we get the jobs we can help them to learn how it feels to have another language, like ours that feels so good".

     These articles have really made me think about the preparation of teachers.  The colleges require a Special Education class even if you don't take Special Education just as is true for all the content subjects and even the itinerant subjects.  The classes required never address some of the most important aspects of being a teacher, like classroom management and social, emotional support.  I did not take any class that even discussed such issues so deeply.  If I hadn't come to Central Falls, which lead me to get my ESL certification and now a Master's degree, I might not have had this course and might still be oblivious to certain aspects of privilege.  I think it is important to get the conversations started and keep them going.  How many of these white teachers are Colorblind and just need support in changing to Color Insight?  Is it being done in a positive way like the Alaskan teacher did?