You will post at least six entries over the course of the semester, describing and interpreting your Service Learning experience. (You must use pseudonyms for your school, teacher, and students.) You will also read and respond to the blogs of four peers at least once. Your first blog is due no later than the week of your third visit; blog at least weekly after your first entry. Each entry should be between 400-500 words. Include stories that illustrate your point—show us rather than tell us. Integrate the readings/theorists’ arguments throughout (at least five connections to five different theorists.
Prompts 2-6 ask for responses to the Cultural Competency Teaching Areas currently being adopted by colleges participating in the Rhode Island Teacher Education Renewal. (The five areas are italicized; the prompts follow in regular font.)
Label each post by identifying both the prompt and the theoretical connection(s).
1) Describe the neighborhood, school building and classroom in which you are volunteering. What do you notice about the space and structure of the school? How do people use the space? How does this school “feel” to you? What contributes to this feeling? Describe the classroom, the teacher, and the students. What is valued in this school? In this classroom? How can you tell?
2) The culturally competent teacher should be able to account for, demonstrate awareness of, and respond to the sociocultural distinctiveness of her or his students, families, and communities when planning for and delivering instruction. Describe the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students in the classroom in which you are tutoring (Use the data on Infoworks as well your observations). What cultural capital do the children bring into the classroom? What assets can be developed that will strengthen our society/democracy?
3) The culturally competent teacher should be able to use a variety of assessment techniques appropriate to diverse learners and accommodate sociocultural differences that affect learning. How might the teacher be responsive to the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students in his or her assessment practices?
4) The culturally competent teacher is aware of the diverse cultural groups represented in his/her classroom, investigates the sociocultural factors that influence student learning, and is able to integrate this knowledge into his/her teaching. No one enters a classroom without a personal history; thus, no one enters a classroom completely free of bias. How might your personal history/sociocultural characteristics intersect with those of your students? What challenges or advantages might you have as a teacher in this classroom? What misconceptions about various cultural groups have you confronted during this experience?
5) The culturally competent teacher involves and works with families and community resources, understanding the differences in families, the important influence of family participation in students’ learning, and the benefit of collaborating with the wider school community. Imagine that you are the teacher of this classroom. What challenges might you encounter in collaborating with the parents of your students? How might you address these challenges? How might you demonstrate respect for the concerns or contributions of parents?
6) The culturally competent teacher communicates in ways that demonstrate sensitivity to sociocultural and linguistic differences, using a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques that encourage positive social interaction and support learning in their classroom. How have you (or the classroom teacher) communicated in ways that demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to sociocultural and linguistic differences?
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Couldn't be easier...
A blog is your very own, personal online journal. It is public, in that I and your classmates can read it and comment on it, but it is your space and you can control most everything about it. (If you want to make it private so that *only* members of this class can read it, I can show you how to do so).
Creating your own blog will also introduce you to the blogisphere if you don't know this place already. I hope that you will discover creative educational uses for this online medium. You will see how easy it is to use blogger.com, and perhaps it will inspire you to bring blogs into your own classroom.
To start your own blog, you will go to:
www.blogspot.com
The big orange button at the top right of the page will direct you to creating your own blog on a site called blogspot.com. Follow the instructions to open up a free GOOGLE account. (If you already have a google account, you can merely sign in at the top of the page.) You can use any email account you use on a regular basis — this will be your username.
Don't forget your Username and Password!! You will need them to login everytime.
As you fill in the info, you will be asked to name your blog. Please use your first name (and last initial if you share a first name with someone in the class).
Then, you need to choose an address:
http://_______.blogspot.com
This will be the web address associated with your site.
You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. Look through the options listed and see what appeals to you. You can change this later and can even find fun, creative templates at sites like PYZAM.
Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. A “posting” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many postings). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button at the bottom that says Publish Post. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.
Your First Post:
Your first post should be a short introduction to you: who are you, how your semester is going so far, what do you do when you are not in class, etc. (Just a short paragraph — no big deal).
When you are done creating your site and posting your first entry, please come back to this blog and post a comment at the end of my first posting (scroll down) that includes your blog address so that I can post it in the link list to the right.
Some Tips and Helpful Hints:
* Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word CUSTOMIZE, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc.
* Once you are in the CUSTOMIZE screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the top of the screen for all kinds of options.
* Poke around online and make a list of websites related to education, diversity, social justice or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your LAYOUT tab.
* Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am new at this, as well. Remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!
Good luck!!
Dr. August
Creating your own blog will also introduce you to the blogisphere if you don't know this place already. I hope that you will discover creative educational uses for this online medium. You will see how easy it is to use blogger.com, and perhaps it will inspire you to bring blogs into your own classroom.
To start your own blog, you will go to:
www.blogspot.com
The big orange button at the top right of the page will direct you to creating your own blog on a site called blogspot.com. Follow the instructions to open up a free GOOGLE account. (If you already have a google account, you can merely sign in at the top of the page.) You can use any email account you use on a regular basis — this will be your username.
Don't forget your Username and Password!! You will need them to login everytime.
As you fill in the info, you will be asked to name your blog. Please use your first name (and last initial if you share a first name with someone in the class).
Then, you need to choose an address:
http://_______.blogspot.com
This will be the web address associated with your site.
You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. Look through the options listed and see what appeals to you. You can change this later and can even find fun, creative templates at sites like PYZAM.
Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. A “posting” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many postings). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button at the bottom that says Publish Post. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.
Your First Post:
Your first post should be a short introduction to you: who are you, how your semester is going so far, what do you do when you are not in class, etc. (Just a short paragraph — no big deal).
When you are done creating your site and posting your first entry, please come back to this blog and post a comment at the end of my first posting (scroll down) that includes your blog address so that I can post it in the link list to the right.
Some Tips and Helpful Hints:
* Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word CUSTOMIZE, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc.
* Once you are in the CUSTOMIZE screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the top of the screen for all kinds of options.
* Poke around online and make a list of websites related to education, diversity, social justice or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your LAYOUT tab.
* Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am new at this, as well. Remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!
Good luck!!
Dr. August
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