Blackboard Readings

I feel like after my practicum experiences I can really relate to a lot of what these chapters had to say.  I spent over 50 hours working at Kankakee Junior High where there is a lot of diversity and a lot of the students come from lower-class families and really fit the stereotypes these readings mentioned.  When Ladson-Billing described the teacher as giving her student "permission to fail," I really understood that concept (110).  In the classroom I was in there were certain students that it was very obvious the teacher had given up on.  The teacher was all over the students that didn't do their homework, but for a few certain students, she did not even say anything.  They had pushed her to her breaking point and did not care anymore.  She was so tired of trying to get them to do something that she quit.  I think this is a really common thing, but it is overlooked a lot.  The idea of thinking what does success look like for each individual student is important to remember (Ladson-Billing 112).  Success means something different for each student, but the teacher has to remember to have both overall goals for the classroom, but still keep individual goals.  This is one thing that the teacher I worked with was not so great at.  She seemed to only care about the students who were willing to put an effort in.  The problem with that is that the less attention the "trouble" kids get, the more the act out.  Even if they act like they want to fail, they really don't.  You have to keep pushing them.  I think that literacy knowledge is another thing that too many teachers do not take into consideration.  Knowing about Language Acquisition and how children learn and understand language at different rates is important to remember.  As Purcell-Gates explained, "Children do not behave in tat let us know that they have learned and are learning about written language" (125).  A lot of the time children do not understand the full concept of reading and using language because of their backgrounds.  Family life really effects what children learn when they grow up.  If a student is coming from a middle to upper class home where the parents engage in educational discussions a lot, the students have a much higher chance of coming to school with more background information on language.  It is important to keep in mind that parental education has an effect on the student's own education (Purcell-Gates 126).  I think a lot of teachers just expect students to all be on the same page when they get to school, but there are many advantages and disadvantages for each student.