Some ground rules for my reading audience

I apologize to my reading audience for waiting so long to make another post on this blog. I have spent the first three weeks volunteering at my middle school absorbing the atmosphere that I have been disconnected with since moving on to college. However, with that being said, I feel it is my responsibility as an author to inform my general audience (In particular to those who may not be in my education class for which this is being required for) with the purpose and expectations that I have from this blog. In the posts that will be following throughout this spring semester, I will be addressing six particular prompts that have been given to me by my professor. Because not everyone may have those prompts on hand, they are as follows:

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 data on Infoworks as well as your observations). What cultural capital do the children bring into the classroom? What aspects 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 various 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?

When responding to any one of the above prompts, I will label the title of the post as "Prompt -- #" In addition to responding to these above prompts, I will also occasionally make an in-depth connection to an educational theorist. For those connections, which I will spend an entire entry on, I will title the post "Theorist connection -- *theorist name here*" Primarily, this is being done to circumvent the 500 word limit that my professor has imposed on us in our blog response entries (Though the observant reader would point out that this post in and of itself is over 500 words. But alas, these things must be said for the clarity of my potential audience). For the privacy of my teachers, peers, and students, no actual names will be used in this blog. And lastly, I will close on this note: While I will be objective as I can in my observations, I do not claim to be unbiased. No one comes from nowhere, as my professor likes to say in class. Please keep in mind at all times that education is an intensely political field, with systems of power being put into play. My political stance is that I am liberal, and when I become a teacher, I will also likely be a liberal teacher. When I post my observations, I encourage my audience to read them with scrutiny, and if you agree, then respond, and if you disagree, then also respond. My voice is no more important or significant or truthful than any other persons voice here.