Module 1 Reading Reflection

The first important concept I learned from the reading is that different cultures respond differently to "teachers".  I did not realize that there was such a variety in the way different cultures viewed their responsibilities as to what and how they taught their children.  An example of this is that in the Hispanic culture, their responsibilities were to teach moral lessons and behaviors such as respect versus articulation and decoding skills.

The second concept I learned was that using one form of communication with parents is very uneffective.  Especially with America being the "melting pot" modes of communication vary as to culture and location.  Many of our students do not have internet at home and since a large number of our students live on campus, email or websites are ineffective as modes of communication with parents we may never see until the end of the year.  It's also easy to assume that everyone has a cellphone, but in reading the literature that would be a false assumption as well. 

The third concept I realized was how much poverty can affect student performance in academics.  Many of our students are foster children and money is always most generally an issue. I didn't realize that their socioeconomic status could keep them from achieving their greatest potential, not to mention if they have added disabilities.

For implementation, I started this year on the first day of class sending a quesionnaire home with the students asking them their perferred mode of communication and time of day for correspondence.  I also asked specific questions about their child, their likes, dislikes, holidays, food, colors, music.  I did this to hopefully hit on information they would share, as to their approval of certain holidays, or food.  Some religions restrict certain foods from being eaten and I ask these types of questions to find that out without directly asking any questions regarding their religion.  This has worked very well, and for the most part, each of my parents/guardians are communicated with differently.  

Another implementation I started this year was the "Who Am I"  talk we do at the first of the year. I let the parents/guardians know what we are doing and have them help their child.  This gives them an opportunity to share their culture, beliefs, and history with the rest of the students.  I also encorporated this with Veterans Day.  Each of them had family or deceased family that served in the military.  By doing this activity the first week of school, it gives us all year to do mini lessons on various beliefs, holiday, etc.  The boys enjoy telling who they are and what they enjoy and it gives me a direct line to their family.

One sure change I will make in my classroom is doing more family involved lessons.  One I am working on for a Geography Portfolio activity is a timeline.  We are going to use pictures of the students starting from infantcy to current pictures.  For my blind students I will describe each picture.  Together we will put them in sequential order to form a timeline of their lives.  The parents are very excited to help with it.  I want to make my parents/guardians feel very comfortable with me and realize that I am for them and their child regardless of the academic abilities or beliefs.  I will take them where they are and take them as far as they can go.

For this reading assignment, I implemented the SQP2RS and the Picture Dictionary.  We use the SQP2RS frequently in my classroom in a modified form.  I could use the picture dictionary if I puff paint some pictures to make it a tactile representation of the word or phrase, or Braille some words and make a word web.  In the classroom I have used the SQP2RS mostly as a prereading strategy, but used it during and after reading yesterday and they did very well.  Repetition works well with my auditory learners, their rote memory is their greatest skill.