…this truly challenging and very important job.

No one goes into teaching because they hate kids and want to make their lives miserable.

Most of the time it feels like a blue collar job where we are overworked and underpaid (I did a 12-hour day just yesterday).

This alone makes teaching worth it… at least for me… for now…

Letter 1 from a parent today:
“Thank you for your presentation today. I was very impressed with your approach to teaching and enthusiasm. Though ____ has acknowledged that at PS___ he has much more homework and “it’s harder” I do think that it has been clear to him what he is expected to do and he has been dedicated to doing it.

Though things seemed to become a bit tense at the end of the presentation, I wanted to let you know that though you didn’t hear from us, it was not because we were disappointed. In fact, I found you presentation very exciting and I was relieved–I expected that the public school approach to learning would be different from what we are used to (at _________ ) but my fears (which I wont go into) have been alleviated and I know that we will be able to adapt. I am very pleased that you are ______’s teacher and I hope that ____ will be able to thrive in your classroom. We’ll do our best to support him at home.

Again, thank you for your time today…and good luck…I’m sure you know parents can be difficult–I hope we wont interfere with your dedication to this truly challenging and very important job.”

Letter 2:
“Hello, this is ____________’s mom…the information you provided in class was very useful. __________ enjoys your teaching stratgies and I wanted to say thank you….although the meeting got tense; I appreciate the work you are doing.

Enjoy your weekend!”

Una Maestra

maestra martha rivera alanis

letter

face

the wisdom of tao

L2

MIDTERM

There are factors in second language acquisition that concentrate on emotional variables such as the learner’s anxiety level and self-confidence (59). These are aspects taken into account in Krashen’s “Affective Filter hypothesis.” Since Comprehensible Input is crucial in a learner’s second language acquisition, the affective filter, or the negative emotional variables, cannot interfere because it may hinder the learner’s ability to retain information.

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (or CALP) is a concept in the bilingual and cognitive theories of Jim Cummins’s work. In this theory it is believed that people are born with “considerable knowledge” and that bilingualism is a cognitive advantage, and the Native Language is the base of Second-Language Learning (59). This theory was utilized by teachers along with resources that help build L2 with the L1.

University of Southern California linguist, Stephen Krashen maintains that acquisition of second language must have learners immersed in the new language and then they must have prior knowledge about the language to understand words and topics; this learning of specific knowledge can also be called Comprehensible Input (58). Comprehensible input’s is generally characterized by shorter sentences, intelligible well-formed, utterances, less subordination, restrictive vocabulary, and a range of topics with focus on communication (58). Krashen believed that the learner’s current level of competence must be supplemental with the next natural order structure.

In 1972 Dell Hymes coined the term Communicative Competence which refers to the aspect of language users’ knowledge of the language that allows of the transmit of and interpret messages and to negotiate meaning interpersonally (620). Social interaction is an aspect of Communicative Competence and language. The learner is able to use grammar and spell well but they will also know proper language behavior of their social life. Learners capable of managing language within social contexts will succeed. A decade after Hymes, four types of competences were introduced, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence (62).

Linguist Noam Chomsky believed that there are “mental mechanisms that are specifically linguistic” (Baker 100). These mental mechanisms are called Language Acquisition Device, or LAD; in other words, this part of the brain is designed to support language learning. Krashen further argued that language goes through this “device” and it inputs language into the learner and that only affective filters can undo comprehension.

Multicultural/Social Justice Text

Authors:
Diane Webber and Laurie Mandel

Title:
Totally Tolerant:  Spotting and Stopping Prejudice

Publisher:
Scholastic Inc.

Brief Description of Story:
This text highlights different types of bigotry by outlining the situations of individuals and places in the United States who have experienced intolerance and currently demand respect.  There are characters like Hanaa, a Muslim, Molly, a punk/hippie, Zach, a gay boy from Virginia, and places like Jena High School, where there were designated “white” areas.

Brief Description of How You Have Used it:
So far I’ve used the book for vocabulary.  I noticed early on that my students didn’t know words like “demeaning,” bigotry” or “intolerance” and it troubled me.  I’ve read the stories about ethnicity and discrimination and had students (in groups) discuss issues.

12 – 16 April 2010

We analyzed books that we use for teaching and we shared with each other in class tonight.  I was very moved by “My Name is Yoon,” a book about a young Korean girl who moved to the United States and had uneasy feelings about the new culture around her.  I loved reading and seeing images of this imaginative girl, Yoon, who became comfortable with English in using her creativity.

Even in my 7^th grade classroom I plan on using this book since I have students who feel dislocated due to moving from other countries.  Further, all of my students have that teenage angst that leads them to not feeling the sense of belonging.  My students experiment with the way the dress, talk, and even the way they write to try to feel like they fit in.

22-26 March 2010

My thoughts this week have been consumed with the thoughts of the New York Teacher surveys.  When I speak to my colleagues and peers about the inequities experienced in being a teacher I think about how much our opinions matter.  When asked if we feel safe, if we say “no” is a policy maker out there looking for ways of making schools safer?  Are people really working to change the image of the South Bronx?

My middle school has founded an “International Day” on April 15 to which we are all making traditional foods to share with staff, parents, and the students.  Our eighth graders made a video “I’m From,” which was featured in the Tribeca Film Festival, will be shared with parents on this date.

Of Ideals and Reality

Ideally, there are many end goals of public schooling.  Students should finish their senior year of public high school having a good sense of the self and our place in this world. Further, students should understand self-sufficiency (delayed gratification) and productivity at the micro/macro levels and should gain an understanding of sympathy, empathy, and humility. Schooling should encompass a system reflecting on the world in a small and large scale. From childhood on students should gain fundamental concepts of economics (finance, debt, credit etc), essential mathematical and scientific concepts, strong reading comprehension and analytical skills about historical texts, and a grasp of how this nation works and others as well. Also, students should understand the human body and its functions and the cause/effects and correlations of our actions and the effects on our bodies. In later years of public schooling (high school), there should be the incorporation of politics, ideology, and general philosophy to further develop critical thinking skills. Maybe even some discernment.

The end goals of public schooling ought to be the imparting of knowledge of the way the world works and it should include a lot of self-assessment. The curriculum could stand as it is, though there would be a strict monitoring of how texts are used. For example, students could actually study historical texts and learn to not repeat historical errors worldwide. If children are shown selflessness, patience, responsibility with oneself, ones actions, and others around from an early age the concepts stick to adulthood. I believe that there is a misconstrued idea in this country to just let children be. I often hear parents say things like “that’s how he/she just is” when their child is aggressive, has low self-esteem, and/or procrastinates and/or is an underachiever. “let children be children” ideal conflicts with the later adolescent training of critical thinking skills and the being aware of others and the surroundings. Teachers should direct students towards rational judgments and hypothetical and deductive reasoning as soon as possible.

The actual the end goals of public schooling are so fuzzy.  Historically, in this country it seems to change every decade; education goes from attaining knowledge to be “better than” other countries to focusing on basic knowledge that lets us “get by” to a move towards democracy and the status quo.  The end goal seems to just for students to attain common knowledge.

These goals do not match my ideal goals because knowledge should be more wide-ranged so as to have productive, decent, well-rounded intelligent individual citizens.  Our goals should not be to herd children into being molded like everyone else.