Today marked our second week at Shea, and it is exciting to see that the students are already becoming a little more comfortable around us. We saw a lot of the same kids as last week and had a few new members, as well. After re-introducing ourselves, we focused on the topic of self-awareness. We discussed what self-awareness means, different types of learning (kinesthetic, auditory, visual), and took a personality test. As Grace mentioned in her post, during introductions a student shared that he was from Haiti and other students laughed. This incident did not sit well with the PC volunteers and it reminded me specifically of the cultural relevant pedagogy. I think that if teachers were utilizing cultural relevant pedagogy that Ladson-Billings suggests, perhaps this type of behavior would be lessened. Another striking moment was when a student recalled that I had taken a biology exam the week prior, and he asked how the exam went. I was really impressed and glad that he had taken the time not only to listen to me but also to follow up the next week. A final moment that stuck with me after service was when we had students write two things they liked about themselves on an index card. Some students wrote, for example, “I am Hispanic,” “I am intelligent,” and, a sillier one, “I am excellent at making beats.” Students in my group were quick to jot these down – a crucial sign that they indeed exude a level of self-awareness and self-confidence. I was really happy to see this self-esteem shine through, especially after learning that urban schools can have negative effects on a student’s self-confidence. Overall, it was a very rewarding day at Shea and the students made me realize that the basic stereotypes deeming urban students unmotivated and insecure are not only overly general, but also very untrue in most cases.
No comments:
Post a Comment