Blog #3: Class and SES

Class and socioeconomic status (SES) have a great impact on a child's life, and they are factors that follows them into the classroom. Children have no control over their class or SES, and teachers must be sensitive to the challenges that students may face because of it. According to the text, socioeconomic status is based on occupation, educational attainment, and income. In recent years, our country has faced much economic hardship; an overall unstable economy, recession, and loss of jobs affected millions of people nationwide; and the ripple effect somehow touched everyone. Yet, despite the fact that national economy is now slowly recovering, teachers are facing increased class sizes but a decrease in federal and state funding. How can we be expected to teach classes beyond capacity, with an overwhelming population of economically disadvantaged students, who have little or no parental support at home to help them with studying and assignments, and may not even may not even have the means to bring a pencil to class?

I teach in Irving ISD, a great school district with teachers who are truly committed to the students and to doing all they can to help them succeed. An article in the Dallas Morning News was published in July of 2010, entitled "Irving ISD reflects growth of suburban poor" (http://irvingblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/07/economically-disadvantaged-stu.html) including this graph:

As seen above, Irving ISD has had a sharp incline of Economically Disadvantaged Students, with the most recent statistic from 2009 in which 78% of the student population was considered "Economically Disadvantaged."  At the campus I work on the number is even higher with 85.2% of the student population identified as Economically Disadvantaged in the 2009-2010 school year, as reported in the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) Report. According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Economically Disadvantaged is defined as "one who is eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Program" (http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/acctres/gloss0708.html). Under this program,  "Students are eligible for reduced-price lunches (at a cost to the student of 40 cents) if their families have incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty level.  Students are eligible for free lunches if they come from families with incomes less than 130% of the federal poverty level." (http://www.dallasindicators.org/Education/EquityinEducation/Economicallydisadvantagedstudents/tabid/546/language/en-US/Default.aspx). As established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2010, the federal poverty level was only $22,050 for a family of four  (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/10poverty.shtml).

It's hard to think about the fact that 85% of the students at my school are living in poverty, and that the food served for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria may be the only food they get. During our class discussion this week, I was especially taken back by the statistics of homeless students in the state. I did some further research and found that as of January 2010 there were 524 homeless children enrolled in Irving ISD schools, and the number was growing (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100131-Irving-school-officials-worry-about-homeless-6291.ece). 

So what are the implications for me as a teacher? The way I see it, the children I work with need my care, attention, and support even more because of the fact that they are so severely economically disadvantaged. I need to constantly keep this in mind when assigning out of school work because they may not even have a home to go to in which they can sit in a quiet place and read a book. Furthermore, they may go "home" to a broken family, perhaps with a parent or parents with limited education/literacy and little or no English. I need to make the most of every moment I have with my students and try to encourage them that despite the hardships they may currently face, nobody can ever take away their education. Furthermore, if they are commited and motivated, they can succeed and break the cycle of poverty. 

Blog #2: Race & Ethnicity

The issue of ethnicity and race, and especially the role it plays in the educational setting, can be a very touchy subject. As the text mentioned, many teachers claim they are "color-blind" in that they do not see a student's color or treat them differently because of their race. To many educators, there is a consensus that race "shouldn't matter" or "doesn't matter." But despite what we want to see or not see, whether we claim to color-blind or not, race and ethnicity do and should matter. Simply ignoring students' differences only strips them of their identity, racial, ethnic, or otherwise. Harry A. Blackmun, former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, once said, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.” With that being said, I think we must find the balance between treating students differently but also fairly.

This school year, the district I work in hired someone to come in to do trainings specifically targeted on how to work with African-American students. He was brought in after statistics showed a larger percentage of African-American students were being put in alternative education settings, were being referred for more behavioral problems, and were lagging behind in academics. I was very open-minded about the training, and hoped to learn something from it. But what I hoped to be a productive and educational experience turned out to be something much more different. First of all, the person who conducted the training first came in prior to and interviewed teachers and students; but only the African-American students. I thought this was odd considering African-American students comprise less than 13% of the entire district’s student demographic makeup, and only 7% at my specific campus. I felt like if you’re going to ask students how they feel about racism in their school, it would only be fair to ask students of all groups how they feel. They large majority of our students, 68.75% are Hispanic, yet this study was only focusing on African-American student perceptions. The way the interviews conducted seemed odd, but some of my colleagues were even offended by this. They thought we were not getting a true picture of student perceptions of racism in the schools, only one group. Furthermore, the training was so focused on treating the African-American students differently that it almost neglected all other students. It seemed to focus on how this one group of students is so different, and they must be treated very differently, not how we can address the diverse needs of all our students. For me the training just seemed biased and it was uncomfortable, and other teachers also expressed feelings of frustration, offense, and discomfort. I’m glad my district is aware of racial issues and making efforts to train teachers to deal with those issues, but I was disappointed to find that this specific training, overall, was anything but productive. I left wondering, What can we do to make sure we are treating and teaching all students in a way that will yield the highest student success? How can we create a classroom environment that feels welcoming to students of all races and ethnicities? 

For me, I think of race as a person’s physical appearance and ethnicity as his/her national origins. I believe that a person’s race and ethnicity are part of his/her overall character and culture, but they’re only a small piece of the puzzle. When I look at a student, I see his/her physical race, it may make we wonder about his/her ethnic origins, but there is so much more to a person than those two factors. As teachers, we must see each student as an individual with unique characteristics, interests, learning styles, and cultures. We cannot treat all students the same because they are all different, but rather than be judgmental about differences we must learn to embrace these differences and teach the students to do likewise. Each student has something very special that they bring to the dynamic of the classroom. They all have their own stories, ideas, and perspectives on the world around them. Ignoring race and ethnicity will not make it go away; we must recognize it for what it is and use it as a way to celebrate individuality among our students. I think it’s very important to have open conversations about race and ethnicity with students because more often than not we can learn something from them. As time passes, each generation has a new perspective, understanding, and meaning of race/ethnicity and as teachers it is our duty to create a safe learning environment where students can talk openly about this and other issues of culture and diversity in the classroom.

Blog #1: Foundations

      The class session, Foundations, really got me thinking about diversity, culture, and the role they play in my classroom. As a Deaf Education teacher, my class is small but very diverse. In the past two years I've had students from many different backgrounds and lifestyles, each with their own unique culture. The students have come from African-American, Hispanic, Native American and Indian families. Their families have come from different countries, they have grown up in different socioeconomic statuses, and gone to churches of different religions. Yet, as different as they may be, they have one common characteristic among them- deafness. Working with these students and their families has introduced me to and made me aware of an entire subculture, that of Deaf Culture.
      The textbook described that culture provides a "blueprint that determines the way an individual thinks, feels, and behaves in society." For my students, it seems that their deafness affects them more than any other aspect of their culture (race/ethnicity, class, religion, or otherwise). Only a few of my students come from Deaf families, so I have taken on the responsibility of educating all of them about the history, traditions, and ongoing changes in Deaf culture. I feel it's very important for them to know that although they are "different" than most of the other students in their school, that does not have to be a bad thing! There are many successful people in the world who did not let their deafness hold them back.
      Something interesting that I have discovered about my students is that they don't really seem to understand prejudice. To them, the color of a person's skin is just something they see, but it means nothing more. Various topics that have come up in class that involved race such as slavery, affirmative action, and studying Martin Luther King, Jr were puzzling to them. They didn't understand why people were treated differently just because of the color of their skin. Likewise, one of my students this year has been very interested in World War II, especially the Nazis and the persecution of the Jewish people. He constantly asks me questions about why the Nazis wanted to kill those people, just because of their religion. Ironically, although they may not understand prejudice, they are constantly treated differently based on the sole fact that they cannot hear.
      I am looking forward to the rest of the semester in Diverse Learners. I hope to learn more about different aspects of culture, multicultural education, and maybe even learn a little something about myself. After class this week, I looked over the PowerPoint, "Strategies for Culturally Responsible Teaching," and it gave me some ideas to use in my classroom. I strive daily to build a "classroom-as-a-community," and I think this class will give me tools and strategies to be successful in doing so.