I chose this particular article, due to the fact it drew my attention immediately. Having worked in a Christian book store for the past two years, I am far to familiar with the services that are provided for local shelters within the Lansing area. It should come as no surprise that the books we were sending to these local shelters, were in fact bibles. A form of literacy; yes! Is this the most comprehensible piece of literature to send into environments, which carry the connotation of illiterateness? According to this article, the stigma may in fact not be true. Either way, we were sending one of the most cherished documents known to man kind, in the hopes that it would ultimately be read, and to also serve as token of hope, in such grim conditions.
The irony of this is that at the school that I am placed at this year, I met a daycare provider (picking up a student) that also works at one of the main homeless shelters in Lansing. She was telling me that quite a few of the students that attend the school are actually residents at the shelter. I spoke of the bibles, and she laughed, due to the fact that she has witnessed the large amounts of bibles that come into the shelter. This particular woman also attended the same church as I growing up, so our roots in the church run deep, and we both carry a strong appreciation for the services that take place within the community. One thing she said that has never left my mind since, is that instead of sending these bibles, the people living in these shelters are in dire need of the most basic of commodities. And of course; children's books.
I think we spend a lot of time learning of theories and new methods of instruction to integrate into the classroom, and never take much consideration of the people spoken of in this article. It was interesting how at the beginning of the article it defined some of the states of being homeless, on being; "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence". I also supervise an after school program in the same school I am placed in for my TE courses. I have almost 24 students now, ranging from grades K-3rd. These are minority boys, who have already been labeled as "disadvantaged" thus far in their academic career. Three of the boys I have our brothers (in grades K, 1st, and 3rd). They come from a single parent home, in which the mother works nights. The boys are picked up three days a week from my program by their cousin. The boys fall asleep at their cousins, and their mother picks them up shortly after ten when she gets off work. From there they either go to their "home" (an apartment) or to their mothers boyfriends house, in which they sleep on the floor. The definition of homelessness that I noted above reminded me of them, because their financial situation does not permit them to go to a "home" like most typical students do everyday. I often hear their teachers complain of homework never returning. I give the boys a hard time as well, due to the fact they fail to bring their backpacks to school (I stress this only to create a sense of responsibility in them). The problem is, they are moving around so much during the week, their backpacks (along with the homework), are bound to come up missing. Why assign homework or books to read at home, when they aren't even at home. Now, thank God for the program that is offered that I work for because we do read. But, on the larger scale of things, what about the other 1.5 million (according to the article) children in America who are homeless? How do we better serve them? This article was amazing in detailing and providing new insights into how educators can bridge this gap, and serve those marginalized members of society.
This article reminded me of why I am going into the field of education and how heavy my heart is for those not often mentioned in the glossy textbooks and pdf articles we are continuously digesting in school, in order to become "better educators". It's the forgotten people that remind me why I serve and who I serve. I no longer could work for the company that was sending in bibles into these shelters, only to earn a buck, as the bibles stack high in boxes. Being a firm believer of the word of God, I know far to well that the pages of this sacred book must come alive. The context must be breathed into living existence. Instead of sending endless bibles into the shelters and countless amounts of teacher interns and service learning students into the schools; why not send us into the shelters?
Dominic - I really appreciated your point about sending people to the shelters instead of Bibles. Although I think that Bibles give homeless people a form of literacy, it is not an easy read! I think we should start small (with children's literature) and basic material before we give them Bibles that might overwhelm them or that they might not understand. The article that I focused on was called, "Three Types of English Language Learners," and I chose this one because TESOL is one of my minors, and I have worked with so many ELL students in the past. I found it interesting because I have witnessed all three "types" of ELL students, and I see the struggles that they face every day. The three types were defined as: 1) a student that loses his/her first language by being immersed in an English-speaking classroom 2) a student whose family moves around a lot and is behind in subjects and still struggles with English and 3) a student that gradually picks up English and still maintains her native language. I do not see any ELL students in my current placement, but I have seen all of these examples throughout my TE 494 placement and also from teaching in a migrant program. From what I have seen, most of the students fell into the second or third category. They were able to pick up their new language (English) and also maintain their Spanish perfectly. However, many of them had to attend "summer school" because they were from migrant families and moved around from town to town. There were a few students who I had throughout the majority of the summer and then just "disappeared" the next day, and it was quite frustrating. It is fortunate that these students had an opportunity to attend a free summer school program so they would be caught up before their next school year; however, not all children have that privilege. We need to keep in mind that our students come from all types of backgrounds and just like Dominic mentioned in his post, we need to give them as much support as possible because they might not get this at home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what both of you said about giving support to our students. Our students come from all sorts of different backgrounds and situations, and no matter what it is our job to treat them fairly and give them the best education that we can. However, I really like how you ended your post, Dom. It seemed like maybe you were hinting at structural problems or breakdowns in our society and/or educational system. Well, in the reading that I chose and also from experience in my field placement experience, I feel like I have also seen a flaw in the system. I read the article, “How can I help children with learning disabilities?” by Carlisle. This article states that in just about every classroom, there will be a student with a learning disability. In my placement there is a girl who had a reading disability and is pulled out of the classroom to go to a resource room every day. Fortunately, my CT has been teaching for many years and has lots of experience working with students with learning disabilities, but it made me think about what I will do next year or the year after if I have a LD student in my class. This article gave many strategies and techniques that can be helpful, and I think creative problem-solving can go a long way to find a solution that will fit with the student, but it made me wonder if gen ed teachers are really prepared well enough in college to know the best ways to accommodate for LD students. In no way am I saying that it is a problem or a deficit to have an LD student in the classroom because they still have many strengths and can excel in different areas, but I just feel like if I hadn’t read this article, and I was in a classroom of my own, I wouldn’t really know how to best tailor my teaching for the student. Even after reading this article, I still know that there is a lot left to learn. It just made me wonder if somewhere along the way in our schooling we should be required to take some sort of class that informs us of the best ways to work with LD students because we will most likely be teaching at least one LD student every year.
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