How to Negotiate Many Communities

After reading CH 14 in our science book about how teachers need to negotiate different communities (science culture, students' culture, school's culture, teacher's own culture), I was left thinking how do I actually go about doing this? We are constantly taught about how we need to get to know our students, know your students needs, learning styles, interests, culture, background. It seems so easy to say that "I am going to get to know my students," but is actually really hard to do. For me, as I am about to enter my first year of teaching, I know that I will be more concerned with just surviving. I want to be able to teach the curriculum to all my students so that all of my students will learn, but I know it will take a lot of time and practice. It seems overwhelming to achieve negotiations among the different communities.

I was also thinking about how, from my understanding, that this chapter suggests that teachers have to adapt to their students' culture, and not the other way around: students should not be adapting to their teachers cultures-all while teachers must teach their students the culture of science. I wonder how you go about doing that? It's like I have to teach my students the language and actions of a new culture (science) meanwhile I am trying to learn my students' cultures and adapt to the language/actions/thinking processes of their culture. I've heard from other teachers that "you have to be yourself, and not try to be another teacher because another teacher's style may not be you, and it will feel weird trying to act like another teacher." So am I supposed to be myself, but adapt to my students' cultures, and teach them a new culture(science)? Do I have to be a chameleon?

I think that this will take a lot of balance and negotiating. I think if I am clear about how I teach, then my students can learn to adapt to my style. Likewise, if I am making every effort to teach to my students' cultures, then, in a way, my teaching style is adapting (and becoming/changing) to fit my students. So in essence, both teacher and students are adapting to each others' cultures. This is where understanding my own culture and preconceptions first, as the chapter explains, will help me value and understand my students' cultures. If I become aware of my own prejudices or misconceptions about students, then I will change my views, and then be able to really get to know my students without some preconceived opinion of them.

Talking with Kids about Science

This experience was a lot of fun for me. I enjoy going into different schools and seeing how students there learn and what they do. I also enjoy talking to different kids (other than the ones I see at my internship) and getting to know them, particularly about science. I think kids have so much to say and they know so much, and sometimes they can present things in a new way. My experiment was about dissolving sugar in water and then contrasting that with how pepper does not dissolve in water.

The first student I interviewed is an ELL student, but I didn't even notice. She was very talkative and I didn't have to do much prompting or rewording of my questions or directions. The second student I interviewed also was talkative and engaged. They both enjoy doing experiments and projects in science, which shows that the hands-on experiences in science are the memorable, enjoyable, interesting, and engaging for the students.

Both of the students could identify examples of what happens when you mix things with water. Both students could describe what they know about how things change. For example, the first student I interviewed said that when you put blue paint in water, it turns blue. The second student I interviewed said that when you mix things with water, it is not really water anymore. I found that statement to be so profound because she's right and I never thought about it like that before! The mixture is no longer purely water, but water mixed with something else, like sugar. So she was actually teaching me new points.

It is interesting because both of the students I interviewed thought that they are not very good at science. Neither of them could mention things that they are good at in science, and only mentioned that they have to improve on everything in science. I thought that they would have more confidence as science students because they are actually doing science in the classroom, as opposed to other students who don't. Also, they both mentioned doing science at home, like replicating at their home water evaporation experiments that they did at school.

It was interesting to hear their predictions of what would happen when I mixed the sugar and water because they both described prior knowledge of making Koolaid at home and what happens when you mix the powder and water. They predicted that the water will turn white or the sugar will stay in the cup. The first student had an interesting explanation for what happened to the sugar. She said that the sugar "fell apart" because as I stirred the water, the water got stronger and made the sugar fall apart, which is kind of like describing dissolving. The second student I interviewed pointed out that the sugar is there, but you can't see it because it is so small. This shows that she understands that the sugar did not just "disapppear into nothing" but is still actually in the water. They both predicted that the pepper would disappear like the sugar did. They both observed that after mixing, the pepper settled to the bottom of the cup with a little pepper still floating on top. The explanation for the difference was that the pepper is big and the sugar is small. The second student explained that the sugar is more clear and the pepper is black.

In our post discussion, both students expressed wanting to know more about the pepper and sugar, like where they come from, or what would happen if you mixed sugar, pepper, and water all in the same cup. When asked "what would you like to know more about yourself,"the first student I interviewed said that she wanted to know more about "who am I?" It was definitely a reflective question that she was struggling with- is she a dancer? or is she a singer? I found that amusing, but it shows that her identity is important to her.

Overall this is was an enlightenting experience. The students seem to have some understanding of dissolving, but not sure how to exactly articulate it. As a teacher, I would introduce the terms like dissolve after a discussion of what happened. This also shows that students bring a lot to science, like prior experiences at home or in earlier grades. It shows that students do ask questions and are inquisitive.

Culture is Embedded in Context

Sonia Nieto defines the many aspects of culture. Many times I think of culture having to do with someone's ethnic background, such as traditions, values, language, foods, clothing, etc. However, according to Nieto there are actually different facets of culture. The part that I want to blog about is that culture is embedded in context. Nieto's main point is that culture is influenced by its environment, therefore we cannot generalize about a certain culture. For example, the experiences of Puerto Ricans in New York is different than the experiences of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico. Just as the culture of a school may depend on its surrounding environment and the values of that community.

Nieto also points out how in the U.S. culture is decontextualized because of the media and school curriculum. I loved the example that Nieto used about Native Americans. I think we have all seen the stereotypical picture of a Native American- a tan, shirtless man with long black hair decorated with a feather. These are the pictures we see in many elementary school books. So this is what students think Native Americans look like. I spent a summer in New Mexico for a missions trip working with Navajo people. They look, dress, and act like any of us, but many students have the stereotypical image stuck in their mind. And many of them are still living in poverty and being oppressed because of the treatment of Native Americans in U.S. history, but many people think that the Native Americans are no longer oppressed. This shows the messages that we send to our students, whether it is intentional or not. As educators we have to be critical of the texts and media we use. For example if we decide to show a movie in class, we should be critical to whether that movie perpetuates stereotypes of certain groups.

In terms of connecting this with science teaching, we as teachers should not assume anything about students of a certain culture and be careful not be be affected by what is portrayed in the media. Students have misconceptions about what science is also- that science is only for crazy looking old white men in lab coats. They may think science always involve doing some experiment with beakers and chemicals. We should find examples in texts or the media that show everyday people participating in science so students know that they can be scientists too.

Yes We Teachers Can

The article "Yes We Can" brought a contrast to the article we read last week, "Unemployment Training." The main point of "Unemployment Training" was that urban schools do not adequately prepare students for the real world, in fact they prepare them to fail. "Yes We Can" raised hope for me because I am interested in teaching in urban schools, where the majority of students are minorities. The article pointed out that the schools where students of color are achieving are not doing anything extraordinary or radically different. The schools simply teach all of the students to high standards with high expectations so that even minority students are thriving. Teacher quality is what makes a difference for the students. Teacher quality is what effects how students perform in school. This means that it does not matter where you are teaching, but rather are you qualified and working for the best interest of your students. Also, it does not have to do with the students' race or low-income backgrounds. Now that I think about it, saying that students of color will inevitably fail, is like saying that they are genetically inclined to not succeed, which of course is not true. I think that many teachers have prejudices toward students of color or low-income, and therefore have lower expectations. There is such a negative connotation of urban schools (which I really hate) existing today. We talked about it in class on Monday how as teachers we should have high expectations for all of our students. We as teachers need to evaluate our own attitudes toward students of color (which is why those surveys we take are helpful).

I attended a staff meeting at the beginning of the school year and the principal said that even if you don't believe a student will succeed, "fake it till you make it." I think the principal meant that eventually you will really come to believe that your students will succeed.

The second point of the article that I wanted to comment on is the idea of using assessments and data. Just because there are assessments and data that show that some students are underachieving, teachers must use the data correctly in order to make the appropriate changes. Some teachers may just look at the data but then do nothing about it or give up on their students. In my Latinos and U.S. Education course we talked about the power of advocacy. We discussed how some Latino parents cannot be the advocates for their children because they do not know about the data or about programs available for their children. The Latino parents may not be aware of the resources available. Using assessments and data, teachers can work with parents to become advocates for their students, which result in better changes. This also ties into what we talked about in our Leadership class, that as teacher leaders we have to use data to back up our claims or our desires for certain changes.

I think it takes more than just using assessment, data, and standards. Even if high standards are set in the curriculum, it does not mean that every teacher strives for it. I think it takes teachers that strongly believe in their students, believing that their students can succeed. So Yes We Teachers Can guide our students to success!

Classifying

In Chapter Two of our Science book, there is a section entitled "Classifying and Cultural Norms," starting on page 49. The main point of that section is that some students may have cultural backgrounds that make their understanding of classifying difficult. Classifying involves organizing objects into groups. You have to be able to classify objects into opposite descriptions. However some students may come from cultures that do not have an "either-or mind set," and thus do not really get that things have to be classified in two opposite groups. For example, the book talks about how non-Western thinking does not reflect the "either-or mind set."

This section really struck me because a process skill that seems so simple to teach can actually be very difficult for students to get! I thought it would be a simple skill for students to learn because you are just looking for observable properties. However, some students may have a hard time just looking at observable properties, and want to look at the functional properties of the object. It is clear how cultural differences in thinking can even affect how students learn science. Even what students observe about something or infer may be influenced by what their culture values. For example, (this may be a stretch) a certain culture may value the sense of touch as observing, while another may value the sense of sight. That would affect what one student versus what another student observes. Another example that comes to mind is that some cultures may stifle creativity, so a student may not view science as creative, or use creative means to come up with answers to questions or designing experiments.

As a teacher I have take my students' backgrounds into consideration when teaching science, or any subject. The book suggest being explicit, which again ties back to thinking of science as culture. Students need to know the cultural norms of science to be successful learning science. So like teaching another student about Vietnamese cultural norms, like being very respectful to elders, I need to teach my students the cultural norms of classifying, like how to look for observable properties.

When we classified the beans in class on Monday, I had a really hard time grasping this concept at first. I wonder if that has to do with my cultural background or my lack of interest in science. To be honest, however, I still do not see the purpose in trying to get an object into just one group. But John was really good at explaining it to me in different ways, which is what I have to do when teaching science.