MVP 14

Auerbach said, “Parents play a key role and are instrumental contributors to the academic success of students” (Auerbach, 2009; Gibson &Haight, 2013; Noguera, 2001). “Engaging parents in school activities and student learning is widely considered fundamental to high-quality early childhood care and education” (Douglass, 2008). “Parents’ involvement is important for improving school engagement and student performance for middle school (Mo & Singh, 2008) and high school students” (Ouimette, Feldman, & Tung, 2006). “While incorporating parents as partners in the educational process is critical, the partnership is one in which parents of color are often powerless, silenced, and marginalized” (Lewis & Foreman, 2002).
As a student teacher who works at a kindergarten class, I agree with what they stated above. Parents’ engaging could really help students’ academy and their daily behavior. I have noticed that some children fight or bully other children was because their parents pay less attention or engaging on their kids, which I found out them when I talked to the parents. In my kindergarten class, we use the book baggy and snap words every day and I ask my children to bring these two home every day because they need to read books and read words again and again until they master them. One day, one Spanish student and one Chinese student are both forgot bringing it to the dismissing place, and their parents came to pick them up. So I asked them to wait at the dismissing place and I could go back to the classroom to get them for my students. It only took me 5 mins to get them and returned back to the dismissing place, then the Spanish student and his mon have gone and the Chinese student and his mom were still there and waiting for me. I asked my cooperative teacher why the Spanish student and his mom leave and don’t wait for me. The cooperative teacher said, “his mother told me that it is okay, and we just don’t read it tonight”. The book baggy and the snap words are very important for our students’ academy and the semester will be finished very soon. I wanted my students can learn knowledge from the school and get a nice score on their post-assessment. The Spanish student’s academy and performance are the worst in my class and he often absent without reason ( he did not provide any Doctor notes or something). His parents seem don’t really care about the study and how their performance at school.
I figured it out why the Chinese student’s academy and his overall behaviors are much better than the Spanish student in my class. The Spanish student is very behind the whole class level.
The Spanish student is very behind the whole class level. I think the parents’ engaging is very important for their kids’ performance.
Since the time we study at school is limited, so parents’ helping and involvement at kids’ homework and study can help students to improve their academy and performance. But I think the parents should care how their children performance and how their children’s academy.

“…movement toward cultural competency may be met with some resistance and apprehension from school personnel uncomfortable with learning about race and ethnicity. Integrating cultural competencies into the day-to-day activities within the school building and the classrooms, however, can have an impact on the academic achievement gap for students of color” (Banks, 2004 in Yull, Blitz, Thompson & Murray, 2014, p. 23).

There were different sections of this article that I wanted to highlight, but with this passage I will touch base on some of those points. Teachers and schools that acknowledge that cultural competency should be implemented in their classroom, or hidden curriculum, is a step towards making all students feel welcomed at school. Before that, teachers should make the effort to know the “population of students they are educating” (p. 19). As we’ve read, it’s important to get to know the student population at our schools; learn about and understand their communities and traditions to better prepare ourselves during the process of creating an inviting class environment. I still believe this isn’t a priority for many educators, to build relationships with our students by getting to know them outside of academic boundaries. I also agree that integrating cultural competencies will impact minority students, as the article mentioned, they are stereotyped and held to low standards because of those labels. But, when we put our effort into implementing race and ethnicity topics that broaden student’s cultural awareness, students will feel acknowledged and supported by not only the staff, but also their classmates.

“Assuming the best is essential for long term learning and positive connections to take place in our classrooms.” (Smith & Lambert, 2008, p.16)

This quote is short, but I think it speaks strongly and is a fitting end to what we’ve spoken about throughout the semester. Every one of our students can learn. Every one of our students deserves an equal education. And every one of our students should be looked at for the best that they are. Continue reading Let’s see the best in them →

The recommended changes move beyond single points of recognition and celebration of diversity to a depth of understanding through vicariously experiencing different cultures (Yull et all, 2014).

Sometimes it is still nuts to me that we have to actively search and change curriculum to reflect more than just eurocentric themes and concepts. But then I think about the fact that this is a system that has been erasing anything other than eurocentric knowledge for centuries. I am grateful for this participatory study and for curriculums across the nation that are pushing to add more than just ‘diverse representation’ in the classroom.  In addition we must also be honest and transparent with our students about that push. We must speak it out loud and acknowledge why. It is powerful  to acknowledge that we are trying something new, that we want to offer more than we were offered as students, and then explain why. Why is it important that we include multiple perspectives in the classroom? Representation and visibility is not enough, we must contextualize all of the stigma that comes with these representations and ask why they are there. Discuss why it is so difficult to talk about race, sexuality and gender, and acknowledge our privilege to our students. This does not weaken our position of ‘authority’ – it strengthens it, by letting our students know we may have blind spots and we may need to ask for their help. We, teacher and student, can keep pushing toward a more equitable system of education.