Prompt 5

Anything can be turned into a lesson, especially in the classroom. I witnessed an example of this while observing this week. The classroom teacher was reading a story about an elephant. E was their letter of the week and that was the theme of the book. There was also a little mouse featured on some of the pages. The teacher explained that the elephant and mouse are very different in some ways, but very similar in others. Even though they were so different, they could still be friends. I thought that this was a very important lesson and a great way to sneak it in to a group of 5 year olds. This also relates to Carlson's idea of rupturing the borders that separate individuals and emphasizing the multiple subject positions we occupy; we are different but we are also the same.
It is important to work with the students' families and community so that they get the most out of their education. It is then vitally important for teachers to understand the diverse family dynamics that are out there. A family does not have to be a mom, a dad, 2.5 kids, and a dog. This stereotype would be part of what Carlson calls, the "normalized community." He says that for the most part, public schools have often promoted these normalized conceptions based on a defined norm. As modern teachers, we need to change that. Some families can have no mom or dad, maybe a grand parent or an older sibling. Some families may have two moms or two dads. We as teachers need to be sensitive to this. I overheard a teacher in the hallway talking to her class about what they did over the weekend. She asked about their moms and dads. This immediately sent a red flag up in my head. I thought to myself, "what if these kids don't have a mom and/or dad???" How would they feel if they were posed this question and they didn't have a mom and dad? A better way to phrase a question like this would be, "What did you do this weekend with your family or those people closest to you?"
In this particular classroom, my biggest challenge again would be language. The majority of the students are Hispanic and probably speak at least some Spanish. I could invite both the students and their parents and their extended family to enlighten me about their language and culture in any way possible. Show and tell in the classroom could be targeted towards their language and culture and perhaps a parent or someone they know could come into the classroom and share their own expertise and experience with me and the other students. In one of the workshops I attended at promising practices, some teachers shared their social studies curriculum. They had a "world museum" where they learned about different countries around the world. Students and parents were invited to participate in any way to the museum. I thought that this was a great way to use the community and parents, especially in a diverse, cultural way. Carlson would suggest a democratic, multicultural education and community.
In order to achieve this democratic multicultural community, there are many things we need to do as teachers. We need to provide space for identity groups to form but at the same time find common ground through dialogue about difference. We need to redefine community in way that celebrates and difference and diversity. We have to challenge dominant ideology. Its not who we are but how we live our lives. Teachers need to redefine groups, and emphasize that we belong to many groups, not just one. We need to help students form alliances between one another. We must allow all voices to be heard in our classroom and help build meaningful relationships based on caring. Teachers must protect the rights, virtues, and freedoms of their students as well as the parents. It is important to be respectful of the parents and their needs. It is important to never make assumptions about parents. We need to make ourselves available to them. This may mean by email or phone. It may also mean that we need to give them other options to communicate with us, especially if there is a language barrier. We might need to give them contact information with someone who is bilingual in the school or maybe even within the community. We owe it to the students to make their family and their contributions important to us, our schools, and our community.