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.