Taking the Time Makes a Difference

In today's society, especially in the United States, multiple languages are becoming more apparent. This is noticeable in a lot of school systems. At the Bobby Smith School, a lot of the children not only in my classroom but the school as a whole are Spanish. A large majority of these students speak Spanish as their first language. Observing this within Ms. Pickle's class, a lot of the students sometimes struggle with some of the lessons that are in English.

One of the times I was observing, I was fortunate to sit in on Ms. Pickle's lesson of diverse families from around the world. She would choose a book each week that would feature a family from a different ethnicity. After the book was read, Ms. Pickle would have an open discussion with the class on what the students learned about each family. It was interesting and inspiring to see the children react the way they did to each book. They seemed to enjoy learning about these different families, and it was one of the few times I've seen the children in her class sit in total silence and stare at the book in amazement. The book I got to witness being taught on was a book about a family from Mexico. The book discussed family values and traditions the family practiced such as the holiday Cinco De Mayo.

Seeing the teacher bring in cultural friendly books and introducing them to her young students was a great example of the theorist Allan Johnson. Johnson discusses how in our society much of the white race is privileged. He talks about how it is wrong to put white people on a much higher stance than the minority groups within societies. Discussing as an educator with your students different families and cultures helps students recognize and respect people of different races and ethnicities.

It was wonderful to see the students engage in open discussion and learn from the books Ms. Pickle read to the class. This showed me that she understood the importance of bringing in different cultural backgrounds to her classroom. If more educators did so, students would have an overall understanding of different cultures and hopefully would not see certain privaledges tied to different races.

One Step Towards Respect

Witnessing the progress both Dean and Alex were making started to make me feel as though I was truly doing the right thing. I love coming in and helping them every Tuesday and Friday with their reading and seeing them progress every time I tutor. Watching them both fly through words they struggled with before and understand the concept of sounding out words is a personal feedback which encourages me to teach better every time I come to the Bobby Smith School. I did notice however that Dean seemed to be moving faster through the words then Alex. This to me was ok. Every child has a different speed they need to work at and understanding that is something a lot of teachers need to take into consideration. I remember at my old elementary school I attended, teachers would move on to another subject, even when students were still struggling. I was one of those students who at times fell behind in some of the subjects I was taking, one of these included math. I felt alone like many of the students who had a tough time doing math and a lot of the time, the teacher did not take notice. Taking that extra time to work more with Alex on words he finds difficult probably means a lot to him and his education. This type of method on respecting student's individual speed and skill reminded of Ira Shor's view on empowering education. Shor discussed the importance of bringing a democratic atmosphere to classrooms so that each student is respected individually. When teachers run there class more like a democracy rather than just giving out facts to the students, the students themselves take more from their educational experience. Open discussions allow the students to speak their views and create a sense of connection to the teacher. This way, the teacher understands where each student comes from individually and is able to respect their opinions. Taking some of Shor's views and applying them to my tutoring experience, I feel it is best to respect a student's level of ability and use it to help them succeed when they struggle in certain areas.

Just a small town girl...

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.


I grew up in Danvers, MA which is a small town that is 30 minutes north of Boston. The population is made up of 98% of people who identify themselves as white ( www.epodunk.com) and 2 % who identify with a minority group. We have a fairly low divorce rate and almost all families have a middle class social status. Needless to say coming to school in Providence was a big change for me. After listening to and reading Kozol , I believe that I could use my background as an advantage in the classroom, but it also can be a disadvantage in the classroom as well.


It’s a disadvantage because try as I may I will not be able to completely identify with the children and fully understand their background. This puts a gap between me and the children I might teach. However, it’s the perfect opportunity to use the change model from Kahne & Westheimer and to place myself in the children’s shoes, and design a curriculum that would best fit and incorporate their background and needs. I also believe my background is an advantage in the classroom because during Kozol’s speech he talked about how there is a significant difference between a suburban education and an inner city education, because I experienced a suburban education, I can teach my classroom based on some of the principles that I learned there, and incorporate them into the curriculum. I would also make sure their culture was incorporated in the curriculum.


I had a preconceived notion when I went into tutoring,which was I did not think the children would like me or respect me as much because I was about the same height as them, but contrary to my belief all the children were very welcoming and excited to have me in their class. They also showed me the upmost respect especially when I showed authority. One day in Ms.Pickle’s class they had a publishing party, which is when the children read stories they wrote to their parents and classmates. One kid Joel, decided that he was going to disrupt this party by moving around and talking. He continued to watch me each time he made a devious mood because I had explained to him 3 times that he needed to stop this behavior because it is disrespectful to the reader. On the 4th time that I told him to stop, he replied “ I don’t have to listen to you because you are not a real teacher.” So, I explained to him that if he could not behave for me, he could go help Ms.Amesbury pass out snacks. He was not pleased with choice of discipline, and retorted with not asking me if I wanted one of the cookies he was passing out. However, at the end of his rounds he came up to me and asked me if I wanted a cookie. I thanked him and told him I did not make him help Ms.Amesbury because I was trying to be mean, but because I wanted him to understand that when someone is reading/speaking to you, you should show them respect , because that is how you would want to be treated. He said he understood and only did it because his parents were not able to come to the party. I told him that he could read to me and that next time he should tell the teacher or a helper that he wants someone to read to instead of disrupting the other speakers. Can you guess who the first person to greet me at the door everyday when I come in? Every session when I come in Joel is the first to see me and ask me to sit with him during Fun time Friday.

7.) Shaping My Teaching Identity

I would be lying if I said I always wanted to be a teacher. In fact my first occupational goal was to be a zoo keeper, but of course when you are 5 you don’t realize that the job does not just involve playing with animals. I have changed what I wanted to be my whole life from Pro-surfer to Actress to more realistic things like lawyer, or an architect, to deciding between nursing and education, and then finding a happy medium- Speech Pathology. I chose Speech pathology because I like teaching and I am also interested in Medicine. Speech Pathology allows me to have the option of working in a school or hospital. My tutoring experience at Bobby Smith School has helped me find that Speech Pathology is what I wanted to do. Mostly because I found that I like working with small groups of children versus a classroom and I like working with children who have a harder time in school than others. Although I will not be having a large class of my own, I will be working one on one with students, and this experience has helped create a mold of the kind of teacher I would like to be.


There are some things at the school I tutor at that I think work well and there are also some things I think do not work well at all. In my class I have noticed that one of my teacher’s favorite discipline techniques is “shushing”. Although I can understand that a teacher could be tired at the end of the day after having to deal with 20 students who are constantly misbehaving, I do not think just telling them to “shush”, will help solve the behavior issue. If a child is constantly misbehaving, than that child is usually having a problem, whether it is something at home or something at school. To eliminate this problem I think the teacher should pull the child aside and ask if something is bothering him/her and explain to him/her why the behavior they are exhibiting is considered unacceptable. The entire school is very big on discipline, and although that is understandable, I think the manner of how it is dealt with is a little unnecessary. Yelling is particularly a favorite technique of most of the teachers, which frightens both the students, visitors and even some of the faculty. I work at another school for my work study, and I have never heard a teacher yell and as a result the children participate more in the classroom and also respect their teachers more.


On the other hand I do like how they bring in volunteers like us to help kids who are struggling with school. Having college students come in and teach children how to read better is positive in many ways. Firstly younger children admire older children, if they work with college students and those students emphasis how much fun and how important college is, than the younger students are more likely to set a goal of going to college. Secondly, they are getting the one on one time they are not getting in the classroom, which helps identify the problem they are having earlier and getting it resolved sooner as well. I was shocked to learn from a fellow volunteer who did a project on an 8th grade class in Providence her senior year, that a lot of 8th graders in Providence are reading at a 3rd grade level. Volunteers can help resolve this problem by the one on one time they spend with their students. If I was to have a classroom of my own I would definitely welcome college volunteers into my classroom.