Before this post, I had not a clue of the lost boys of the Sudan. I have never heard of it or anything. I was also unaware of the problems in Sudan as well. I learned that these boys are some of the most bravest and strongest boys I have ever heard about in my life. To face such tragedy and then still feel the brush of hope to go on is amazing on their part.
The most surprising thing that I learned was how many times some of these boys would take that dreaded or hopeful walk to that bulletin board to see if their name was on there. To see if that day was their lucky day and there was a glimpse of hope in their future to make something of themselves in the United States of America. I feel empowerment for those who have had the privilege to come over to the United States of America and sadness for those who have not yet made it.
The most negative experiences these boys faced had to have been watching their homes and families be destroyed to nothing. How can anything get worse than that? These boys went from having their families and a somewhat normal life to nothing in an instant due to the horrible attacks they faced.
If any of these boys were placed in my class I would most definitely show them care and patience. I would spend extra time working with them to be sure they would catch up to the level of my current students, whether it be working through my lunch time or after or morning school hours. If willing, i would also ask the boys to present to the class what had happened to them in their country by creating a powerpoint or trifold board. If it was too much for the boys to handle, I would understand, and speak about it to the class myself.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Family Stories That Bind Us
I found this article to be amazing. There are many families that feel as if they are falling apart, but in reality, they may not be. All they may need is a little help, and this could be done through lessons in places as simple as school.
Being that I intend to be an elementary school teacher in the near future, I would most definitely want to implicate a project such as was done in the article, in my classroom. My project would be aimed for 3-6th graders. "Do You Know YOUR Family?" would be the title. The students would be given a set of questions they would need to ask their family such as: where were they born, where did their family originate from? Were there any struggles that their family suffered along the way of life? What were some happy times? Is there anything their family would change? And so on. The students would be asked to create a trifold board, and present it to the class as an oral presentation project. This way each student would learn a little more about each of their peers.
Not only would this help peers get to know each other better, but it would also help the students get to know themselves and their family that much better. This project could bring families closer by discussing issues that happened in their families life and such. This project is meant to make students feel proud about where they came from and how far their families have actually come over the years.
Being that I intend to be an elementary school teacher in the near future, I would most definitely want to implicate a project such as was done in the article, in my classroom. My project would be aimed for 3-6th graders. "Do You Know YOUR Family?" would be the title. The students would be given a set of questions they would need to ask their family such as: where were they born, where did their family originate from? Were there any struggles that their family suffered along the way of life? What were some happy times? Is there anything their family would change? And so on. The students would be asked to create a trifold board, and present it to the class as an oral presentation project. This way each student would learn a little more about each of their peers.
Not only would this help peers get to know each other better, but it would also help the students get to know themselves and their family that much better. This project could bring families closer by discussing issues that happened in their families life and such. This project is meant to make students feel proud about where they came from and how far their families have actually come over the years.
Bedtime Stories
Some features of stories can come just from pictures. Seeing pictures tells a story within itself. When listening to the Russian bedtime story, the music and pictures were relaxing enough to help a child calm down, and want to read and see what comes next. Of course, i could not understand the language of the story, but through the music and illustrations, i was able to get a gist of the bedtime russian story.
In Little Toot and the Loch Nest Monster, a character actually came out on the video to introduce herself, and what she will be doing. The narrator of the story was a man, but what made the whole story interesting was that it was as if you were watching a movie, not reading a book. These were two totally different techniques used in the Russian story, and this story. The use of the narrator's voice also indicated when something important was going to happen. At the end of the story, Shelly, the woman comes back with the moral of the story. This may help children understand the story better.
Bedtime stories, so common in the middle class household, in fact prepare children for school. From the time children are born, many parents are reading to them. This goes as a form of communication. Once the child reaches the age of two or three when he or she can talk, bed time stories become very important because now the mother or father can now interact with the child while reading. They can interact by asking questions, showing pictures, asking what might happen next, what the child did or did not like about the story, and so on.
Bedtime stories also give a sense of routine, which is good for a child. Before he or she knows it, they will be in a school setting, following many different routines. It also establishes a relationship with the person who is actually reading the story.
Some people believe that by reading to their child at an early age before bed, could increase their vocabulary and make their child more intellectual. Hearing a variety of vocabulary is good for a young child. It helps him or her experience and understand more of what people around them may be talking about. Many children learn through reading and looking at illustrations. Children can tell their own stories by looking at illustrations. This is what helps expand their imaginations. The more reading a parent does with a child, the better it benefits the child.
In Little Toot and the Loch Nest Monster, a character actually came out on the video to introduce herself, and what she will be doing. The narrator of the story was a man, but what made the whole story interesting was that it was as if you were watching a movie, not reading a book. These were two totally different techniques used in the Russian story, and this story. The use of the narrator's voice also indicated when something important was going to happen. At the end of the story, Shelly, the woman comes back with the moral of the story. This may help children understand the story better.
Bedtime stories, so common in the middle class household, in fact prepare children for school. From the time children are born, many parents are reading to them. This goes as a form of communication. Once the child reaches the age of two or three when he or she can talk, bed time stories become very important because now the mother or father can now interact with the child while reading. They can interact by asking questions, showing pictures, asking what might happen next, what the child did or did not like about the story, and so on.
Bedtime stories also give a sense of routine, which is good for a child. Before he or she knows it, they will be in a school setting, following many different routines. It also establishes a relationship with the person who is actually reading the story.
Some people believe that by reading to their child at an early age before bed, could increase their vocabulary and make their child more intellectual. Hearing a variety of vocabulary is good for a young child. It helps him or her experience and understand more of what people around them may be talking about. Many children learn through reading and looking at illustrations. Children can tell their own stories by looking at illustrations. This is what helps expand their imaginations. The more reading a parent does with a child, the better it benefits the child.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Becoming American
In "Becoming American", i had the chance to listen to some remarkable stories of how some famous children's family members made it to America. I could not believe it when i heard that between the years of 1820 and 1930, more than 36 million immigrants migrated to America. That is a lot of people moving to one country to look for better opportunities for not only themselves, but their families as well.
For example. Meryl Streep had ancestors that migrated to Newark in 1869. Her story was unimaginable. One of her ancestors had ten children with his wife. He decided to take four of the boys to Newark and leave behind six of the other children and his wife. I cannot fathom how hard that must have been to part from family. Stephen Colbert's ancestors came from Ireland.
I found it amazing how some of these famous children's ancestors could be tracked down to all the way from where they came from originally, what they looked like, and their age they migrated over to America.
My ancestors migrated from Germany to the United States. In fact, they migrated to Brooklyn. On my father's side of the family, his grandmother and grandfather came over on a boat to America and started a family in Brooklyn. That is where my grandfather was born. Then my grandfather moved to Long Island and started a family of his own in West Hempstead.
I always find it so interesting to find out where people originated from. Being able to track family members that far back is something i find to be amazing.
For example. Meryl Streep had ancestors that migrated to Newark in 1869. Her story was unimaginable. One of her ancestors had ten children with his wife. He decided to take four of the boys to Newark and leave behind six of the other children and his wife. I cannot fathom how hard that must have been to part from family. Stephen Colbert's ancestors came from Ireland.
I found it amazing how some of these famous children's ancestors could be tracked down to all the way from where they came from originally, what they looked like, and their age they migrated over to America.
My ancestors migrated from Germany to the United States. In fact, they migrated to Brooklyn. On my father's side of the family, his grandmother and grandfather came over on a boat to America and started a family in Brooklyn. That is where my grandfather was born. Then my grandfather moved to Long Island and started a family of his own in West Hempstead.
I always find it so interesting to find out where people originated from. Being able to track family members that far back is something i find to be amazing.
A Class Divided
I found the video of " A Class Divided" to be very interesting, in fact, intriguing. For a teacher to come up with the plan to divide her students into two groups based on their eye color was magnificent. You could immediately see the student's point of views of their peers change. First, the teacher told the students that blue eyed people were smarter than the brown eyed people. The teacher told the students that whoever had brown eyes were better than whoever had blue eyes. She did this to show an example of segregation. She even went as far as to say that the blue eyed students could not play on the playground during recess and the brown eyed students had a few extra minutes. I found it interesting when one student said he felt like it was a good time to get all of his angst out against friends that he couldn't do before, just because of their eye color.
I think that the teacher was right to carry out this experiment because it broke the idea of segregation down to a level that young students could understand. It was a different way of learning for the students, which i think made it more interesting for them, and helped them understand the idea of segregation better.
I think this experiment would be great to carry out in a classroom because it really opens up the eyes of the students. I have heard of similar experiments based upon clothing color or even hair color. I think these are all good ideas and give the students a new way to learn, while having a little bit of fun as well. Of course, the teachers had to get the permission of the parents before carrying out these experiments.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Week Two - Multicultural Manners, Body Language, and Expression
Multicultural Manners
The role of education differs depending on the economic standing of the students. Sometimes survival comes first, and as a teacher this may be hard to understand at times. If I find that a student is coming to class with homework incomplete, i need to take a step back and look at his or her social and economic background and see if i can work something out, like extra help or time to do homework in school. I have experienced the case of a passing of a family member with one of my students, and she was gone for a whole month of school because she had to fly to her home country to be with her family. Family was more important than her education. She fell far behind in her school work, which caused a toll on her grades and academic standing.
Manners And Body Language Across Cultures
Body language is more likely than verbal communication to be misinterpreted across the culture. I learned about this in my undergraduate courses. Sometimes when a student is asked to make eye contact, it is a sign of disrespect in his or her culture, so they fail to do so, which to us is a sign of disrespect.
In Vietnam, when crossing your arms, it is considered to be a sign of respect, showing that you are giving your full attention to the speaker, while here, we may think of it as being a sign of disrespect and resistance to what is being discussed.
I was surprised to find out that a smile means different things in different cultures. If Koreans smiled, it was a sign of how serious a matter was. We smile when we are happy. I also found it interesting to learn that we look when we are listening, and look away when we are talking where in the African American culture, it is the complete opposite.
Manners And Verbal Expressions Across Cultures
I learned that it is better not to call people by their first names unless you know them quite well. Professionally, this is something that I abide by, however. When complementing or praising people of different cultures, i must be careful because it could change the social dynamics among peers. Complimenting could also cause tension among Asian cultures. They may think that they were not doing something well before they were being complemented, making them feel worse.
I learned to change my style of asking questions as well. I may need to phrase my questions in another way such as "Tell me what you don't understand, What confuses you?" Instead of ," Does everyone understand?" I learned that people will say yes because it is what they think you want to hear, and saying no would mean that i would not be a good teacher and that would be demeaning.
The role of education differs depending on the economic standing of the students. Sometimes survival comes first, and as a teacher this may be hard to understand at times. If I find that a student is coming to class with homework incomplete, i need to take a step back and look at his or her social and economic background and see if i can work something out, like extra help or time to do homework in school. I have experienced the case of a passing of a family member with one of my students, and she was gone for a whole month of school because she had to fly to her home country to be with her family. Family was more important than her education. She fell far behind in her school work, which caused a toll on her grades and academic standing.
Manners And Body Language Across Cultures
Body language is more likely than verbal communication to be misinterpreted across the culture. I learned about this in my undergraduate courses. Sometimes when a student is asked to make eye contact, it is a sign of disrespect in his or her culture, so they fail to do so, which to us is a sign of disrespect.
In Vietnam, when crossing your arms, it is considered to be a sign of respect, showing that you are giving your full attention to the speaker, while here, we may think of it as being a sign of disrespect and resistance to what is being discussed.
I was surprised to find out that a smile means different things in different cultures. If Koreans smiled, it was a sign of how serious a matter was. We smile when we are happy. I also found it interesting to learn that we look when we are listening, and look away when we are talking where in the African American culture, it is the complete opposite.
Manners And Verbal Expressions Across Cultures
I learned that it is better not to call people by their first names unless you know them quite well. Professionally, this is something that I abide by, however. When complementing or praising people of different cultures, i must be careful because it could change the social dynamics among peers. Complimenting could also cause tension among Asian cultures. They may think that they were not doing something well before they were being complemented, making them feel worse.
I learned to change my style of asking questions as well. I may need to phrase my questions in another way such as "Tell me what you don't understand, What confuses you?" Instead of ," Does everyone understand?" I learned that people will say yes because it is what they think you want to hear, and saying no would mean that i would not be a good teacher and that would be demeaning.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Native Americans
Last week in class, we watched a movie titled, "The Last of the Mohicans". This movie dealt with Indians and their homeland. I found this movie to be very interesting because there were many languages that were spoken, as well as types of people, such as : Scottish, British, Mohawk, French, British, Dutch, Colonists, the English, and even Mohicans.
I learned that the relationships between these people were strained, and no one had declared independence yet. I also learned that in the 18th century, relationships between men and women were arragned. I would not be comfortable with this arrangement today.
I also watched a video on Native American Boarding Schools. The Native American man speaking throughout the video went through a tragic experience. He was forced to go to this boarding school, and he was very upset. He had to go as far as cut off his hair, and change his own appearance. He then had to wear a read hat after cutting off his hair. To me, this would be considered hazing. This Native American was very emotional when discussing his time in the Native American Boarding school, which made it difficult to watch. I felt bad for the man. No one should have to go through such tragic experiences.
I learned that the relationships between these people were strained, and no one had declared independence yet. I also learned that in the 18th century, relationships between men and women were arragned. I would not be comfortable with this arrangement today.
I also watched a video on Native American Boarding Schools. The Native American man speaking throughout the video went through a tragic experience. He was forced to go to this boarding school, and he was very upset. He had to go as far as cut off his hair, and change his own appearance. He then had to wear a read hat after cutting off his hair. To me, this would be considered hazing. This Native American was very emotional when discussing his time in the Native American Boarding school, which made it difficult to watch. I felt bad for the man. No one should have to go through such tragic experiences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)