I thought about how convenient it was for the student to have a teacher that understood both English and Spanish in terms of being understood. However, I soon thought about the teacher’s continuous attempts to have him speak English which, made me feel like maybe it’d be best to let him answer in whatever language he was comfortable with but as the class went on, I then realized just how important it was to have him to be able to speak English... because once the students enter Kindergarten its most likely that their teacher will not know Spanish and thus not be able to understand them and fairly evaluate their learning abilities.

I wondered if there was anything else the teacher could do to make her students even more comfortable using English? For instance, possibly try to explain to her students in some form of why English is important? If they are told why the material they are learning is important then they will be better prepared of what they will face when entering elementary school as opposed to being surprised and feeling like they are alone in facing this situation. Although these students are young, I believe that if worded in a way that they can understand the concept, these students especially the shy ones will be more willing and thus settle themselves into getting more comfortable in using the English language. 

This week on Tuesday and Thursday night I held a discussion for SJTP participants to debrief the last workshop and to look forward to the next one.  I created discussion questions based on a survey they had filled out after the last workshop.  The questions were how do we develop social justice skills? How do we move toward competence (referring to the path to competence acitivity)? How can we explore both our dominant and subordinate identities? What are problems with categorization? What are pros and cons of separate spaces for marginalized groups?

The group on Tuesday night spent a lot of time talking about how we can get people to talk about privilege from a place of privilege without making people feel defensive.  We also talked about white guilt, the romanticization of oppression, the individual vs. the institution, cultural appropriation, and marginalization.

 The group on Thursday night talked a lot about the recent signs that have gone up around campus that say something like “Do you love your gay friends but feel pressured to be gay?” and the student response that pointed out how problematic those signs were and said “Do you love your straight friends but feel pressured to be straight?”  We also talked about what safe space is and what an argument or disagreement can look like in a safe space.

On Wednesday I had a meeting with Hallie and Stephanie to plan for the upcoming workshop this weekend, which was mostly discussing logistical issues and thinking forward to our final workshop in April.

Neurobiology and Behavior

(Thank you for this conversation Paul Grobstein)

“Maybe, it isn't

That there is something

To behavior other than the brain; but,

That there is something

To the brain other than behavior.”

“But aren’t neurons black boxes?”

“I suspect so,

Still neurons are not the storyteller.”

“This is the story of science as a story?”

“Our undertaking is subject

To the VAGARIES of the currents, winds, and tides

And our own will or lack thereof.

Therefore,

We must return time

And again, not only to find

But to create, and again to find and create.”

“Neurons are stories.” 

“The nervous self system…”

“Now I see

How science is living by the sea. 

Where, washed upon the shore are stories;

There to be captured

And dropped down again. 

Again,

Littering the terrain, so

The terrain is never the same, so

Know that truth and time are interwoven,”

I wrote. 

“Yep

Rich powerful writing

Part of you

You have been keeping under wraps,”

Wrote the neurobiologist.

“Stories are black boxes.”

…

When I am storytelling my life,

People often ask what happened, and I reply,

In the middle 
In the mud 
Winter stillness is
A canny 
Animating melt
Dozing open

-- Alice Lesnick

It really hit me this week that I am learning to be literate in french. I see techniques that we talk about in learning english used in my french class. Sometimes I have the desire to tell my teacher a tip or to try something, which may be more effective in our learning. I don't because I do not want to delegitimize her work and authority. The concept of authority brings me to a movie we watched in french this week called Les Choristes. It is a fantastic movie. It involves a school for troubled boys and a new prefect, who changes the student's lives with music. This movie brings up many similar concepts to those we have talked about in class, for example, how do we motivate kids to want to be literate? Additionally, one of the most important concepts I saw mirrored in our discussion and in the movie was the need to respect the student, and attempt to learn about the student. 

Here are some ideas that Nicole and I discussed today in class - comment if you want to add/change these goals!

Goals for Field notes /posting:

1. make our notes more accessible - focus on specific moments or interactions, highlight/bold the sections that you want us to focus on
2. respond to at least one person’s notes with a question (or bring a question to class)

Goals for conversations in class:

1. bring advice/suggestions
2. hold people accountable – ask them to explain their statements
3. I (or someone else?) will scan and post my notes from our conversation – this could be a good way to bridge/connect our conversations over time
4. Ask each person, “What are you looking for in your next visit?” - if we don't get to each person in the group, then we can at least go back to this question on Serendip

In class last week, I shared a story from my field experience, which I’d like to spend more time examining. I work with second graders. During guided reading, the teacher worked with a small group of students, while the others read a short book and answered comprehension questions, working quietly and independently. One student—I’ll call him Mike—asked me for help. I proposed that we read the story together. Mike agreed and began reading aloud, but he had a lot of trouble with one word—a name, “Marjory.” I didn’t want to give him the answer, so I tried to help him figure out the word. In fact, most of the students had struggled with the same word. Maybe I should have told Mike that the other students also struggled to read “Marjory,” but I didn’t. Mike got frustrated and put his head on his desk. For a while, he wouldn’t answer me, and he eventually communicated that he didn’t want to read anymore.

As I looked around this classroom, I began to become aware of how intentional classroom decoration can be. One thing that popped out to me in particular was a list of classroom rules. One bullet point stated something like, “Keep comments relevant (germane) to class discussion.” I was really struck by this careful insertion of a new vocabulary word into the classroom environment... This reminded me of Rose's discussions in Lives on the Boundary of how certain people in his life helped his learning process by giving him reference points, like Dr. Carothers, who “drew... a giant conceptual blueprint onto which we could place other courses, other books,” (52). Moments like this in Rose's book really struck me; I had never before thought about how important it is to come into an educational setting with a “blueprint” or sorts for understanding how to place and order other information...There is something more satisfying, engaging, and permanent about learning when you know where and how to place new information. The use of those vocabulary words side by side on the list of classroom rules helps to map new words onto knowledge already acquired. So, my experience in the classroom this week has led me to realize what an important tool the physical classroom environment can be for, even subconsciously, creating awareness of certain concepts or bodies of work that may help students later on to open up more easily to new information.