Celia Suraski FNED 346 Spring 2019 blog

Last year, I spent two hours everyday in a first grade classroom at Nayatt Elementary School in Barrington, RI. That experience was very different from being at Pleasant View Elementary School this past semester. Nayatt had everything a school needs. It had an amazing playground, materials galore, amazing teachers, and lots of support staff. They had a teacher for just social and emotional learning and I found that was super helpful with many of the students who had trouble expressing their emotions. The classroom I was in was probably 80% white and really did not have that much diversity. I truly loved being at Nayatt and thought that I would definitely want to teach in a suburban school district. Going to Pleasant View was very different. The classroom was so diverse and I loved that because I should not just be in a classroom full of students that look like me. At Pleasant View, there is no true playground. The children sometimes play outside on the concrete in front of the sch...

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YqDyLF8YLmQpRNgi9TNlC0fqEmN--ge3ub-VYkExKn4/edit#slide=id.p

What kind of teacher/youth worker do I want to be? Given everything you have experienced this semester, write a journal entry about yourself.  What can you take away from this experience to use in your own classroom or youth setting someday?  What kind of teacher/youth worker do you want to be? Be specific about how you will act on those ideals in your practice. After being in a kindergarten classroom this semester, I know I want to teach younger kids. I would love to teach first or second grade. There are so many things I have learned this semester that I want to use in my future career as an educator. When it comes to race and gender, I know not to encourage stereotypes. I know not to say “boys and girls” because there may be some students that do not feel like they fit into one specific category. I have learned that children can wear any color they want, play with any types of toys, and dress however they want. If I have a male student who wants to wear dresses, I...

*to type on this form, MAKE A COPY (under file) to save to your own google drive Alfie Kohn: What to Look For in a Classroom Good Signs Possible Reasons to Worry My SL Classroom Furniture Chairs around the tables to facilitate interaction Comfortable areas for learning, including multiple "activities centers" Open space for gathering Chairs all facing forward or (even worse) desks in rows Chairs around tables. Two different carpets for students to sit on. On the Walls Covered with students' projects Evidence of student collaboration Signs, exhibits, or lists obviously created by students rather than by the teacher Information about, and personal mementos of, the people who spend time together Nothing Commercial Posters Students' assignments displayed, but they are (a) suspiciously flawless, (b) only from "the best" students, or ( c) virtually all alike List of rules created by an adult and/or list of punitive consequences for be...

After your first day in your classroom, write a vivid description of your school and classroom. What is the neighborhood like?  What do you see when you walk in the school building? Describe the cultures, languages, and other sociocultural characteristics of the students in the classroom in which you are tutoring. How do you feel being here?  Is this environment like or unlike your own K-12 schooling experience? Pulling into the parking lot at Pleasant View Elementary School frightened me a little bit. I could see the school. It looked grey and dull. All the windows had metal bars on them and were all covered so no one could see in or out of the classrooms. Growing up, I had been to school in three different countries and been to twelve schools but the bars on the windows still scared me and made me think this school might not be safe. The neighborhood this school is in is not bad or unsafe, though. The school is just a couple minutes away from lots of houses that see...

I attended Laverne Cox’s talk at Rhode Island College. I learned so much about her life and what growing up is like for an African American, transgender person in the south. Laverne Cox felt like she was a mistake growing up. She was ashamed of who she was because it was not the norm, especially in a place like Mobile, Alabama. She was bullied for her gender expression and for being herself. Cox knew from the beginning that she was not like other kids. In third grade she was sent to a therapist because her teacher had told her mom something was wrong with her. The therapist asked if she knew the difference between boys and girls. Cox said, “There is no difference.” Because of hearing that, I learned that children do not grow up thinking about differences based on gender until society starts imposing them. Laverne Cox says we need safe spaces for today’s youth to express their gender identity. Young people today have more examples of gender expression in society but not enough. “C...