Final blog question:
Due: August 10th, by 5:00pm
Scale: 8 possible points (abridged scale below)
8 points = well-written, cogent, highly reflective/analytical account of the ways that race was manifested/performed.
7 points = well-written, less cogent than 8 point paper...
6 points = fairly well-written, yet, fails to critacally analyze/reflect the ways in which race is performed and/or represented.
5 points = somewhat reflective, not particularly well-written, and, fundementally misunderstands (not disagrres with, as it is totally fine to disagree) the impact that race has on the dynamics of schools site.
1 point = argument is overly simplistic, e.g., race is good or bad, poorly written.
Minimum word count: 300 words (give or take); and not to exceed 700 words.
In light of the numerous and particularly thought-provoking and generative discussions we have had on race, please write a short essay regarding the overarching racialized dynamics you witnessed at your particular after school site. For example, you can discuss/analyze the racial spatialization of a given classroom, specifically, or the entire school site, more generally. Or, you may want to discuss the ways in which race informed your subjective tutoring experiences or, perhaps, how you witnessed race in the ways that other tutors or teachers interacted with particular students. Or, you may want to discuss/analyze the ways in which students acted out racialized stereotypes or, instead, purposefully resisted racialized stereotypes in their comportment and behavior. This assignment is meant to be reflective; so, please discuss what it is that you felt vis-à-vis what you observed.
I have been volunteering at St. Martin de Porres elementary school. This school is predominantly African American and Mexican (and/or of Latin descent). There are only about two Asian kids, who are siblings, and very little Whites. In all the times that I went to elementary school not once in the kindergarten class were the children segregated by race. All the children loved playing with one another and they did not have any problems sharing with someone of another race. I found it most interesting that the younger children had no problems with race however, when I went in the morning the older children I interacted with was the total opposite. The older children in third through fifth grades were not willing to play with someone outside of their race.
ReplyDeleteEvery morning there are always three African American boys who play a game called “knock out,” using the basketball courts. One of the boys did not know how to play so the other two taught him without hesitation, however the next day when a Mexican boy asked to play they all exclaimed that he don’t know how to play. They did not want to teach him the rules of the game and after about 10 or 15 minutes of back and forth of “can I play?, oh you don’t know how!” and ignoring the Mexican boy the African American boys decided to teach him. When they taught him the game they kept making it hard for him to learn by making him go get the ball and “knocking” him out very fast.
The little Mexican girls asked me to turn the rope for them so they can jump. They wanted to do double Dutch, but me being Asian I had no idea how to turn double Dutch. The reason why I mentioned my race is because growing up watching movies I have always associated double Dutch with African American. I didn’t grow up double Dutching, and only seen the African American people at my elementary school jumping like this. So I wasn’t sure how to turn the rope. I told the other roper on the other end (who is African American) that I would just follow her and she just smiled, I felt that she knew actually why I said that but I was not offended at all. The Mexican girls changed up the game and wanted to just jump using one rope. All the girls just jumped in all at once, disregarding the “wait til its your turn” rule. When an African American girl jumped in one of the Mexican girl standing outside getting ready to jump in automatically stopped everybody and asked the African American girl to leave. The Mexican girl exclaimed that “you didn’t ask so you can’t play,” I thought to myself “none of the other girls asked to play, but yet the only one being penalized is the only African American girl who jumped in.” I then told the Mexican girl to let the African American girl have a turn. The Mexican girl let her go a few times, but made her turn the other side of the rope the rest of recess.
The whole experience was wonderful. I learned a lot about the children I was working with and I hope to work with them again in the future. I do honestly believe that race is something that is learned through interaction with grown-ups and parents themselves. Children are not racist and don’t know about stereotypes unless they are constantly informed about it. Where they grow up is also a very important factor to take into account on how they develop their thinking and what they would become when they get older. I would like to continue to see similar patterns in the future, but for now this is what I have been noticing.
I volunteered at the St. Martin de Porres elementary school for about one month and total hours of volunteering was 30 hrs. I used to help kids in 1st and 2nd grades. St. Martin de porres elementary school students are almost African Americans and some are Latins and very few Asians and whites. Thus I could see the racial happenings well. Before I start the volunteering, my opinion about the race was there will be a difference in knowledge and cognitive awareness between races. In Korea, there are all Koreans, almost no foreigners. The places where I can see foreigners are attractions in Korea where tourists visit. Therefore my recognitions of race differences are built indirectly by media like movies, books, TV, and storytelling from other people. In media, like movies or books they used to describe blacks to bad people and whites to kind people. Blacks are poor and whites are rich. Blacks work for whites. I think this is because of the history that Blacks were slaves for several years and books or movies like to handle this history. Therefore in my recognition of race differences, Blacks would have less opportunity of education so they couldn’t learn thus they couldn’t have high class jobs and form a lower class of living. This could be the fact in the past because of the effect of “the slave history”. However, the phenomenon is changing these days. Blacks are becoming higher class of living. The most obvious example of the change is president Barack Obama. My perception was changed little bit. However, after volunteering in St Martin de porres elementary school, interacting with different kinds of races, my perception changed totally different. There was no difference between races. The only difference was just the color of skin, the appearance. The difference of knowledge and cognitive awareness was come from the surroundings of their growth not the race. If their backgrounds are opened to the education, then they can learn a lot. I will explain of my conclusion with my experience in volunteering. In 1st grade class, I managed a group and I had to do some math works with kids. In my group there were usually one white kid and 3 blacks and 2 Latin. When I teach them something, the most intelligent kid was not a white kid, but a black kid named Robell. He understand me fast and followed me well. He even did more complicated works. I supposed to tell them a time then kids had to express with the clock model. But they were 1st grade, so teacher told me to say only 15 min, 30 min, and exact time which are simple to express with clock model. There were some kids having hard time expressing with the clock model. Those kids were consisted with all races, not a specific race. From this phenomenon, I could recognize that there are no difference in knowledge and cognitive awareness between races, the difference is coming from the surrounding not the race. Robell was the superior kid among the group. He expressed the time not only the simple ones but also the difficult minutes like 34 or 14. He is African American, but he is the smartest kid among the group. This made me to be assured the enlightenment that there is totally no difference between races.
ReplyDeleteThe experience of volunteering in my site was so meaningful to me. I haven’t met many foreigners before so my viewpoints were so narrow. I believed the stories from movies and novels which described the difference between races. After meeting and interacting with different kinds of races, I could enlarge my viewpoint on races, and I got a belief that all races are same, they have same heart and same brain. The only difference is just the color of skin, the appearance.
Race did not have much to do with the environment or dynamic at Oakland Military Institute(OMI). Of the students I observed, both in the classroom and at the school, I do not recall seeing a single white student. There were white teachers and administrators, but there were an equal number of non-white individuals. However, due to the way that OMI is structured after a military environment and organization, racial stereotypes are not permitted. The students have a uniform that they must wear and it must be worn in a particular fashion or else the students are given demerits. There is structured code, again reflective of the military, which details how students will relate to each other and to teachers. This is not to say that it is a white culture that is being adopted. The practice of school uniforms and formations and giving demerits for infractions is not reflective of mainstream white culture. It is reflective of military culture which is an amalgamation of white, black, Hispanic, Asian and every other race which serves in the armed forces. The Colonel, the individual that held the highest rank from what I observed, although not the Principal, was an African-American, but he was representative of every military officer that I remember from back in San Diego. The military has a culture in which race honestly does not matter. That is not to say that racists and bigots do not exist in the military. However, when you have an environment in which survival depends upon an individual’s ability to trust that someone else will get a particular task or job done to specification, the significance of race evaporates. OMI does the best it can to replicate the culture created by that environment. When I was working with the students, I felt like an outsider, not because I was white and they were African-American, Asian, and Hispanic, but because I was not wearing the same uniform that they and the teachers were wearing. I found myself trying to replicate the uniform to the best of my ability by wearing polo shirts and a baseball cap and shaving. Overall, I think OMI did a good job of neutralizing race by creating a new identity that the students, teachers and staff could latch onto. No longer were students black or white or Asian or Hispanic, they were instead cadets at OMI and part of the culture of the military. This is partly reflective of the fact that the OMI drill team, a group of students organized to practice marching, formation, and other parade activities, won first place in the three categories they entered on July 4th. It is possible that race still had a role in the lives of the students at OMI, but if it did, it took place outside of the school enivironment.
ReplyDeleteAt SMDP, race was definitely present at the site. When I was playing jump rope with the kids during my first week volunteering at the after school session, I felt discriminated because of my race. I was turning the jump rope for Leah, Naya, and Shoben. They were all African American girls between the ages of 7 and 9. We were doing Double Dutch, and one of the girls would help me turn the ropes after her turn. This system was working for Leah and Naya. However, when it was Shoben’s turn, she turned to Pebbles—a middle school half-African American and half-Caucasian girl—and whispered something in her ear. Pebbles told her, “It is not nice to keep secrets away from people.” I don’t think Shoben reiterated what she told Pebbles verbatim because what she said didn’t sound like a secret at all. Shoben asked, “Can Pebbles turn the rope for me?” I was caught off guard by that question, but I immediately replied, “Oh, sure. Here’s the rope.” handing the ropes to Pebbles. To this day, I don’t know exactly what Shoben told Pebbles. I wasn’t close enough to Pebbles to ask her what Shoben said before Pebbles had left that day. Also, I felt that silence was the safest route rather than an awkward confrontation. Since I was going to see them practically every day, I didn’t want to create any awkward tensions between us. Honestly, I felt so disempowered even though 1) I was the oldest of the group 2) my role as a volunteer was technically at a higher authority than the students.
ReplyDeleteWhen I observed Leah and Pebbles turning the jump ropes, I felt the racialization hit me. Why didn’t Shoben want me to turn the rope? Was I not turning it “correctly” since I wasn’t African American like them? I didn’t fit the stereotype—only African Americans knew how to seriously play Double Dutch— as perpetuated by the media through movies such as Jump In. I hated to resort to stereotypes of African Americans and jump rope, but that was the only thing I knew about those topics from my own exposure to the media prior to this incident. Note, I am not writing this out of bitterness against Shoben. I merely want to analyze our interaction in a racialization context. Of course, I don’t think her intention was to discriminate me because of my race; nevertheless, her actions still made me feel even more racially alienated at a place where I was part of the minority racial group. In my perspective, Pebbles acted as an enabler of this racial discrimination. Rather than racial integration, I felt the barriers erected higher, illustrating racial segregation. In previous discussions, we’ve said that if we pursue more integration within our communities, it would hopefully alleviate the racial segregation going on in society. However, from that day’s events, I do not concur with this goal. When you force integration, ironically, you are also encouraging segregation (i.e. White Flight).
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ReplyDeleteI don’t have a solution to the unintentional/intentional racialization. Mandating schools to teach a multicultural curriculum with minority writings won’t solve the problem of our racial discrimination. Compelling communities to diversify their individual communities is only treats the symptoms of the inherent problem of racism. Logically, the only other option would be to treat the underlying cause of racism. What is the cause of racism? What is race? Who are the relevant parties? We are all relevant parties whether we are born in the U.S. or in another country. To be even able to tackle the cause of racism, first understand what is race. Race is an abstract societal fabrication. It exists in people’s actions although they may not have the intention of being racist. We all feel the effects of racism to a certain degree—alienation, lack of access to resources, etc—and rely on racist stereotypes. How can we change this? Change the media’s propagation of race. Get rid of the notion of race in society’s mentality. Eliminate the crux (stereotypes) we rely on when encountering a different ethnicity in society. Ghandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Nike said, “Just do it.”
The overarching racialized dynamics I witnessed at my school site Castlemont Community of Small Schools was that I witnessed racial spatialization in an English classroom, which this involved a high number of African American students mostly being identified as having learning disabilities in the classroom. My mentor teacher would usually tell me that they struggled with reading comprehension, had trouble spelling words, and they would also displayed difficulty in learning writing grammar, since then the teacher would usually give the class writing grammar worksheets, reading packets, and poems during class. Whenever they asked me for help about not understanding the directions to an assignment, I would usually have them read the directions to the assignment out loud to me. They would read slowly and had difficulty pronouncing some words, since then they would also still have difficulty summarizing back to me what they had read to me. On the contrary, they would have a problem spelling the words in their writing in which they would use text message abbreviations in their sentences. Furthermore, when I was correcting their work I would then solve this problem by showing them the correct way by first correcting the word that they had abbreviated and then showed them the correct way to write the word; however, this problem would sometimes continue on even after I helped them. Overall, I felt that there was something behind this that was causing a large portion of African American students to be identified as learning disabled in the class, since then I noticed that my mentor teacher would not identify any of the Latino students with any learning disabilities in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAfter my first week I had volunteered at Castlemont, I would remember that I had a conversation with my school site coordinator if Castlemont has a school library, which I would be informed that the school library was closed for renovation. I would then feel that by the school not having available school library, the African American students could not improve their reading comprehension skills because they did not have access to novels and vocabulary workbooks, as this would cause African American students reading comprehension skills to decline over time compared to their peers at other schools who had those resources. Later I also remember overhearing three African American students while I was tutoring them saying that they could not walk on certain neighborhood blocks away from Castlemont because they would get shot. After hearing this statement, I would then realized that it may be unsafe for them to also travel to their local neighborhood library, as this would also mean that the violence in their neighborhoods also made it difficult for them to even improve their reading comprehension skills at home or beyond school. In the process, I then understood the reason why that the text message abbreviations were showing up so frequently on their writing assignments, since then I realized that the students had adapted using these text messages as an alternative reading material and writing supplements in order to compensate for the lack of resources provided by their school. [Continues below]....
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ReplyDeleteI felt that this English classroom’s large portion of African American students with learning disabilities were created from the lack of school resources and from the violence in their neighborhoods, which this has affected their reading comprehension skills and writing skills over time. In addition, I also felt that their low reading comprehension skills also created problems with writing skills and spelling words, since this could have been easily prevented through the access to books and vocabulary workbooks. I felt that the school was also discouraging the students from going into higher education because the school did not allow the students to check out any library books while the library was being renovated. Also, these books were not being used and could have been brought into this classroom in order to improve the African American students reading comprehension skills during the summer. Furthermore, I also remember seeing a huge learning gap between the African American students and the Latino students in the classroom, which the Latino students would have higher reading comprehension skills and writing skills, and they did not use the text message abbreviations in their writing assignments. Finally, the racial spatialization was present in the English class with a large portion of African students being grouped as having learning disabilities and having low reading comprehension skills in their classroom. As a result, this would also lead to a small portion of Latino students being group with just high reading comprehension skills and no learning disabilities in their classroom.
Patti Shnell
ReplyDeleteFinal Blog Reflection: Race and the Stage
For my field work until I volunteered at the Theater Camp offered at the Oakland Community Center. This gave me the opportunity to work with children from backgrounds completely different than mine in a non-academic setting. This was nice because it afforded me the opportunity of getting to know these young people without all the formalities of the classroom and without the dynamics of the teacher-student relationship that seems unavoidable in such classroom settings. I was able to witness, without any associations with books or organized learning, as the students who took part in the camp discussed, through the stage, topics important to them. The informal setting of the theater camp and its successful emphasis of working together on the stage to present an individual’s story helped to create a deracialized space in which we were able to connect without any of the usual experience and social cultural boundaries attributed to race.
Ayodele (the camp’s director) placed a large focus on allowing the children freedom to let their creativity flow and supplying them with the tools to turn these outpourings into well-shaped, interesting stories. Each day we spent the majority of our time together watching informal skits the campers put together themselves. We would organize the children into rough groups, give them a few minutes to brain storm and come up with a scene, and then put them on stage and watch what they had come up with. This was a really fascinating process to watch unfold because each scene was like a small window into the minds of the group. Each skit, through its themes, actions, and story, spoke of the experience of the mind that had created it; each reflected the particular experiences of the individual who was sharing these with us through the stage. This ability to literally be able to see, up on stage, another’s reflection of the world as they experience was a really exciting entitlement that I would never had access to in a normal classroom environment.
This emphasis on working together to build creativity and pulling from what you know to create something new helped to build a space free of racial parameters. The stage served to blur lines between differences usually ascribed to different people’s races. In attempting to each help each other display our own specific realities, we moved through the lines and bounds of color and instead helped represent a campers skit, or story, through the means of our own, multi-racial community. The blurring of race, and even deracialization, that took place at theater camp helped to create a community bounded by a common pursuit of creativity and undivided by traditional boundaries, such as race.
I volunteered at two different school sites, Castlemont and Saint Martin, and saw only some small differences between the two locations. The two sites were very similar in their racial makeup. At Castlemont, the vast majority of the students were either of Latino or African American descent. I did not see any students of Asian or Caucasian descent, and only one Middle Eastern girl. At Saint Martin’s the racial distribution is very similar although there are two Asian students and one Caucasian boy.
ReplyDeleteWhat I thought was remarkable was the distinct self-segregation for the most part and the hyper-racialization of the schools. At Castlemont for example both of the dominate groups, the Latino’s and the African Americans tended to divide themselves into two distinct groups and tried not to intermingle when possible. In the math class I volunteered in, the African Americans sat by the windows and the Latinos sat by the door. Here the teacher tried to desegregate the classroom by creating a seating chart, but the students sat together in their groups and ignored it. In the biology class I helped in, the same thing happened when students were given the choice of partners, but here they respected the teacher enough to sit in their assigned seats. At Saint Martin, I would agree with Tuyet that there was racial division among the older children. On several occasions I saw children being excluded because they were African American or because they were Latino.
I also witnessed a hype-racial environment. What I mean by this is that most of the students tried to distinguish themselves in some way from the “other.” At Castlemont, it took the form of comments like “Hey look, only the brown people are following directions” or comments how it’s a “black person’s turn because the mark is black not brown.” At Saint Martin, students did this to a lesser degree, but comments like “stop being a stupid nigger” (a Latino boy to another Latino boy because one of them was annoying the other) can be heard.
I would argue that these scenarios are the product of our racialized society and are an effort to distinguish from the other in the absence of the majority. Because of this I believe that it is the responsibility of the teacher to create a sense of community within the classroom where everyone respects each other. In the two classrooms at Castlemont, the teacher who had the respect of her students and who made an effort to integrate her classroom from the beginning proved to be more successful and there was a dramatic difference, no racial epitaphs were used while I was in the room, and the class seemed to get along better. At Saint Martin the staff make an effort to bridge the racial divide by addressing racial incidents like the “stupid nigger” comment and by encouraging students to be open minded by getting students of different ethnicities to help one another. Based on my observations, in order to create a safe and productive classroom, a teacher has to make an effort to address racial issues to diffuse them while in the classroom to promote a sense of unity among the students to better the learning environment.
Previously all I read from books was that the Africa American had a reputation of casualty, having no discipline, etc; the Jewish people are good at doing business. However, after I really have a contact with these people, I noticed that there were some misunderstandings in it. And although we’ve been appealing abandoning racial discrimination for many years, there is still the phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteI want to talk about the race in the school site that I volunteered. The site that I volunteered after school was St. Cornelius Catholic School, and the kids were from the kindergarten to the 8th grade. When the first time I went there, I was with kindergarten children. The teachers at the St. Cornelius Catholic School brought us to the playground where we could meet all the kids. Nearly all of them were playing, and I started to observe these kids. There was a girl called Noah that was different from others. She was an Africa American girl. Although she was a thin and little girl, she had this huge energy inside her body that she was super active in playing. And sometimes when she carelessly fell down, kids around her would help her up and asked her whether she was fine. I thought these kids were kind and they hadn’t been installed the idea of race and discrimination. During the later dancing party, I found that it was Noah’s favorite interest. She liked dancing very much. This time, the dancing party was to stop when the music was off. And those who didn’t stop would be eliminated. It was a heat competition and there were final two, one was Noah. But unfortunately, she lost at the end. I saw her walking to side of the gym and looked depressed. I knew that she needed comfort and I went towards her. However, before I went there, I suddenly realized that there was the teacher Miss Marissona and several other kids were with her already. I felt that there was no “discrimination” at all! The teacher at the school treated each kid equally and gave each of them care. I went to Noah and asked her whether she was fine. She said that her earring made her ear hurt so I took her to Miss Victoria. She carefully examined Noah’s ear and gave her a tissue and an ice bag. I could sense that teachers at the school wanted to establish a healthy and harmony environment for the kids to grow up. They knew that the existence of race and discrimination, however, they tried to educate kids the right concept of communicating with others and value. As we can see, race didn’t mean anything here. It had no relation with environment here.
The second time I went to the site, I was in charge of a higher grade. What they saw and heard had gradually formed their view of the world. There were two boys, one was called JJ and the other was called Anthony, they caught my attention. When I asked Anthony to draw his own paint, he made fun of me. When I turned back, for an instant, I saw him made a gesture; he shafted his little finger at me. I immediately asked him what it meant. At first, he changed his gesture and shafted the thumb at me, saying that he was complimenting me. After I emphasized my tone, he said that it was the Chinese finger. What was it? I totally had no idea. And he added that, when it was an Indian person, he would shaft his thumb. I asked him why he did this and he just laughed and didn’t tell me.
These days, I was reading the Steele & Aronson, it described several experiments concerned with black people, Jewish people and white identity. In this article, the author pointed out that many people concerned Jewish people as “smart”, for they are good at doing business. Due to this reason, there were misunderstandings about them. From my point of view, I think race and discrimination has reduced a lot. And it shouldn’t be related to the environment. The St. Cornelius Catholic School spared effort to create a harmony environment for the kids.
I have been volunteering at Sr. Thea Bowman memorial summer theater day camp for the past five weeks. The first thing I noticed was the obvious demographic of the children, everyone attending the camp was either African American or Hispanic, or that was I gathered them to be. Prior to the day camp, I have had zero or few interaction with African Americans since I grew up in a fairly Asian and Hispanic neighborhood. I actually started volunteering with the mindset that all races are equal, especially for kids and never gave much thought towards racial differences I might face. From the children, I experienced firsthand how my initial thought was correct. Kids will be kids, regardless of race. Sure, there might be cultural differences like family background, interests, the way they talk, and more, but the bottom line is that they are just as capable of learning the material as other races, which is that the day camp offered. Each day the kids were given the opportunity to run wild with creativity shown in the form of a skit. They all take turns to be directors of their story: creating the setting, characters, problem, and solution. On stage, there is no such thing as race everyone could be anyone or anything they wanted to be. The day camp setting was a safe space for children to be expressive, there was no structured authority, and everyone was address as short people or tall people, but overall just people.
ReplyDeleteThis side of the camp was great and I wish it could be true in every situation such as academic or school settings, but what surprised me the most was actually the amount of effort Miss Ayo (the camp director) put in to create this safe haven. The first few interaction with Miss Ayo, I was constantly reminded of race. I would be asked to notice little things such as how well the children can focus, their ability to control themselves and self correct, and the stuff they can do with imagination. She explicitly told me because society has set a low expectation on people of color, there is nothing children can strive towards. However, this camp negates the low expectation, bad behavior is never accepted and everyone is expected to be his or her best. I could imagine why Miss Ayo felt the need to stress the importance of their ability, due to how African American is portrayed in the media or other social structures, but I wish she did not have to. Race is a concept that exists in the mind, not in reality. Although children can play in a place free of that concept right now, I feel that when they become older, it would become apparent just how big a part race plays in their daily lives. The thought of it depresses me, yet hope exists within me because I know for a fact they will grew up embodying the concept of equality and what they can amount to when they set their mind to it.
I volunteered at St. Martin De Porres and St. Cornelius elementary schools. At these institutions, I noticed nearly homogeneous racial distribution within the student bodies: the largest part of the student population at St. Martin consist of African American students, while majority of the student body at St. Cornelius is made of Latino students.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the demographics of the schools are as such, they did not appear to interfere with the interaction of students. At St. Martin, minority (consisting of a few whites, Asians, and Latinos) mingled well with the majority (African Americans). They cooperated – talked to each other in classes, shared snacks and food during lunch, and played together during playground sessions. The same applied to St. Cornelius.
In my case, the issue of race was not quite an issue. However, I was more intrigued by gender differences in relation to academic performances and social interactions.
Immediately when I walked into St. Cornelius on my first day, I noticed an immense difference between the students: most of the girls sat upright in their seats and followed instructions of the teachers. They were able to successfully execute most of their work on time and help each understand their lessons. The boys, on the other hand, seemed to care minutely about the assignments, if they cared at all. They teased one another about things not relating to the instructions. They barely completed their work, and for those who did, it was a matter of poor execution. More interestingly, however, I observed that the boys who sat with the girls were able to pay more attention to their work and do their assignments, as opposed to the ones who sat in groups, in isolation from the girls.
I suddenly took interest in the matter and observed (closely) what would become a perpetuating issue.
My observations aroused my curiosity, as I am
now interested in investigating gender differences in academic and social performances. Unfortunately, my time at the institution was not enough to collect data to establish a general theory; so I will postulate what I will refer to as a sketch theory to attempt to explain why the boys who sat with the girls performed better than those who did not.
It is often said – “We are the products of our environment.” And I believe this statement to be applicable in terms of my observations. I think the boys who sat with the girls performed better because of the influences and motivation they received from the girls. They were in the midst of groups of young ladies, who were quite focused on what they were doing, and it only seems natural they would follow the trend of their settings. The others, on the other hand, did not have immediate motivations to push them to do their work. For everyone within their cycles, it was a matter of joke; there was not anyone within their groups to make them see the importance of staying focused.
Conclusively, I realized that while a group of people (classmates, in this case) may share a general space or environment, there are little environments that exist within a general environment that heavily influence the performances of students. Thus, rather than focusing solely on a general environment and screaming across the room to quiet students, it is important to observe and arrange students into groups that will impact their learning experiences.
During my volunteer experience at St. Martin De Porres, I had the opportunity to witness the intellectual, social, and mental development of a number of students that I worked with. In terms of the racial spatiaization at this school, the school predominately serves low income minorities including Latinos, African Americans and SEA. One of the key things that I noticed at the SMDP in the academic classroom was that if students were asked to form their own group for a project or activity, they would generally find another student of the same ethnicity. I would attribute this to the fact that the Latino students often felt more comfortable around other Latinos because of the language similarity. However, when the teacher assigned students to work in groups that were more diverse and all-encompassing, the students generally worked very well with one another. In other words, race was not something that prevented the students from working together or accomplishing their goal of completing an assignment. I was also able to observe how the Latino students would play soccer with one another during lunch and the African American students would be playing basketball on the other side. What was more interesting and eye-opening for me was that the girls did not hang out with the boys and they generally stayed together either playing jump rope or tag. For example, there was one girl who wanted to play soccer with the guys and she was told that that it was only for boys. However, I was eventually able to convince the boys to allow her to play and they were rather surprised by her soccer abilities.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first arrived at this school, I had the preconceived notion that the students were really struggling in school and that they it would be a struggle for me to even begin to tutor and assist them in their work. The purpose of our field work was to be able to work at a disadvantaged community school where students come from poor families and do not have the adequate resources to be up to the academic standard set up by the California School district. I had the impression based on the description that the students were underserved and that they were either not as motivated or at least up to their level academic skills. However, I realized that my subjectivity was challenged when I began tutoring the students and I realized that they were very ambitious and intelligent students. I would argue that they are just as motivated and academically skilled as White students attending Piedmont Elementary school and the only thing that separates them at this early point in their childhood is their socioeconomic status. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all cultures emphasize the importance of going to school and it is the socioeconomic conditions of many of these underserved students that prevent them from exceling in the future
I would also like to argue based on my observations that the students resisted the racialized stereotypes perhaps in a way that at least appeared to be purposeful. There was one African American student who was extremely gifted in drawing dragons. While the other students of diverse backgrounds were outside playing basketball and soccer, he refused to do so and continued to draw in the art class. I eventually had the opportunity to help him make his creations come to life by creating a miniature model of a dragon using cardboard. The reason why I perceived his refusal to play basketball as a purposeful resistance towards racialized stereotypes was that he told me that “I don’t wanna play that.
This is KElly TCHE JS Class TUTH
ReplyDeleteDuring my volunteer experience at St. Martin De Porres, I had the opportunity to witness the intellectual, social, and mental development of a number of students that I worked with. In terms of the racial spatiaization at this school, the school predominately serves low income minorities including Latinos, African Americans and SEA. One of the key things that I noticed at the SMDP in the academic classroom was that if students were asked to form their own group for a project or activity, they would generally find another student of the same ethnicity. I would attribute this to the fact that the Latino students often felt more comfortable around other Latinos because of the language similarity. However, when the teacher assigned students to work in groups that were more diverse and all-encompassing, the students generally worked very well with one another. In other words, race was not something that prevented the students from working together or accomplishing their goal of completing an assignment. I was also able to observe how the Latino students would play soccer with one another during lunch and the African American students would be playing basketball on the other side. What was more interesting and eye-opening for me was that the girls did not hang out with the boys and they generally stayed together either playing jump rope or tag. For example, there was one girl who wanted to play soccer with the guys and she was told that that it was only for boys. However, I was eventually able to convince the boys to allow her to play and they were rather surprised by her soccer abilities.
When I first arrived at this school, I had the preconceived notion that the students were really struggling in school and that they it would be a struggle for me to even begin to tutor and assist them in their work. The purpose of our field work was to be able to work at a disadvantaged community school where students come from poor families and do not have the adequate resources to be up to the academic standard set up by the California School district. I had the impression based on the description that the students were underserved and that they were either not as motivated or at least up to their level academic skills. However, I realized that my subjectivity was challenged when I began tutoring the students and I realized that they were very ambitious and intelligent students. I would argue that they are just as motivated and academically skilled as White students attending Piedmont Elementary school and the only thing that separates them at this early point in their childhood is their socioeconomic status. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all cultures emphasize the importance of going to school and it is the socioeconomic conditions of many of these underserved students that prevent them from exceling in the future
I would also like to argue based on my observations that the students resisted the racialized stereotypes perhaps in a way that at least appeared to be purposeful. There was one African American student who was extremely gifted in drawing dragons. While the other students of diverse backgrounds were outside playing basketball and soccer, he refused to do so and continued to draw in the art class. I eventually had the opportunity to help him make his creations come to life by creating a miniature model of a dragon using cardboard. The reason why I perceived his refusal to play basketball as a purposeful resistance towards racialized stereotypes was that he told me that “I don’t wanna play that.
Im not finished yet there is more at the bottom. it wont let me paste ac ertina amount of text or else it goes over the word limit
2nd part KELLY TCHE JSIMs CLASS TU THU
ReplyDelete. I want to do something different.” When he said this, I immediately knew that he felt that he wanted to be different from the rest and not follow a certain trend that other students may have gone towards such as playing basketball for fun. He enjoyed his hobby of drawing dragons, and I would say that it was his way of saying that he wants to be viewed differently. But then again, I may be wrong because he is just a kid and it would be absurd for me to assume that he could think that deeply and critically. This experience not only challenged me to look beyond the stereotypes and binaries that permeate through our society, but it also taught me to appreciate the fact that we all share this world together and it is in the benefit of all people to unite and work towards the common cause of human progress, regardless of creed, ethnicity, religion, color, etc.
One of the sites I visited was St. Martin de Porres. This school is predominantly African American with a few Latino students and very little Asians or Whites. Through my observations, I noticed that while the children intermingled pretty often between races within the classroom, racial barriers became much more salient in the playground.
ReplyDeleteIn my analysis, I will focus on Therese, a petite third grader of Chinese decent, (and possibly one of the only Asian students at St. Martin de Porres). Therese has no trouble socializing with other students within the classroom. She often jokes around with the boys at her table and engages fully in the classroom activities, raising her hand (like many of the other eager students in Mr. Pitri's third grade math class) whenever she was given the chance to answer a question or to go up on the board.
In fact, she appeared extremely well-liked by both students and the teacher. For example, during one activity in which students were called two-by-two up to the board in a race to finish an addition equation, Therese had trouble computing the answers quick enough to win. When this happened, Mr. Pitri told her during numerous occasions she could stay at the board for a second try--something he did not do for the other kids. When Therese was able to finally win a round, I was surprised to see a faint congratulatory clap erupt from the entire class (the clapping I believe led by Cameryn, an African American boy Therese sat with).
The ways Therese fit into and diverged from the "model minority myth," I believe, worked in tandem to provide her with social favorability. Although active in class, Therese was also rather soft-spoken. She didn't talk out of turn and I noticed that she always pushed her chair in every time she got up to go to the board. By normative classroom standards and the expectations of the model minority, she was extremely well behaved--this perhaps playing a role in the bit of special treatment granted to her by Mr. Pitri. On the other hand, Therese did not fit into the mold because she was not extremely good at math. This also worked to her benefit socially because strongly held racial perceptions dictate that Asians who are bad at math are cool while those who are good at it are nerds.
In the playground, however, Therese was often by herself. While supervising the yard during snack one day, I noticed Therese wandering the field on her own. I approached her and saw that she was collecting watermelon seeds scattered on the ground from snack. She explained to me that she wanted to take them home to plant. She didn't seem bothered by the fact that she wasn't playing with other kids--almost as if it has become something she's used to.
I saw this with other groups of students in the yard as well. One of the White students I noticed, Usher (second grader), was usually by himself as well--either that or I would catch him playing with the kindergarten or first graders. Latino and African American students played with one another but their best friends were usually of the same race, though not without exception. But that's just it. Mixed raced bonds appeared to be the exception in the playground even despite the students' abilities to work excellently with one another in the classroom.
What I conclude from this is the importance of the classroom setting, not only in teaching academics, but also in providing an environment where diversification of student bonds can be cultivated. We often tend to latch onto the familiar making it a lot easier, for reasons of linguistic commonality, shared traditions and customs, or whatever else, to make friends with someone of the same race. What the classroom offers is a place where the fourth "R"--relationships--(Mendoza) can be fostered bringing students who would not normally interact with one another into the same space.
^ Anna Wu
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did grow up in an inner city neighborhood, my interactions with people of other races has mainly been peripheral. I have tutored kids my own age at my high school and helped out at a summer camp, but these were mainly white upper to middle-class kids. Working with an all black and Hispanic group of children this summer and solidly investing my time in learning how to teach children has led me to continually ask myself, how much of what I experience has to do with these kids in general, and how much of it has to do with these kids?
ReplyDeleteFor instance, we took a field trip to Fairyland in Downtown Oakland on Tuesday, and I had the distinct feeling that we were being watched by all the parents, like the kids were some kind of exhibit. The families at Fairyland all seemed to be white and middle class (I’d call them yuppies) and their kids all seemed to be generally well-behaved, able to be peripherally watched by their parents (often reading newspapers or talking) without running off of doing anything offensive. At first I was walking around with only one young black girl (who lived nearby and had been there a hundred times) and I kept getting looks of shock from people like, “Is that your daughter?” and honestly, it felt like being a parent for the day. I felt like I could put myself in the position of a mixed-family unit, and I felt not only gawked at, but judged, by the other parents.
Later, I was with a group of three girls who wanted me to play tag with them in one particular Ghost Town setup with multiple stories, low ceilings and narrow stairs. The kids were excited and were starting to get out of hand. They were screaming loudly, running into other kids, running up the slide, blocking path ways for the other kids etc. At one point, one of the girls named Maraya ran into another kid, and for a second all the parents got quiet and stared. I continued to play with them but then Nickya (a problem child) decided to just start spitting down from the top story, and wouldn’t listen to my verbal commands to stop. At lunch, the kids were all climbing in the trees, scaring pigeons and talking about how they were going to poop on them. The whole day I felt like we were a spectacle for the white observers, like we were another exhibit in the park.
I can’t say with certainty that race factored into the dirty looks and stares I got from other parents, but I can admit that being on the other side observing, race would have factored into my observations and assumptions about the kids. But suddenly I felt offended, I felt hostile and self-righteous. What right did these parents have to judge us? I think this is the closest I’ve coming to experiencing racism through the eyes of another race. I can’t say for certain that race, and not socio-economic class or general misbehavior was the reason I felt like we were being judged, but I feel like I have gained empathy for those of color, and realized that my whiteness does afford me a lot of privileges, such as being anonymous (or at least not stared at). I used to think it was an exaggeration when black peers would say that they were always followed around by store clerks or treated differently in various situations, but now I understand that when you do get the occasional look, paranoia sets in and suddenly everyone is staring and judging. And it’s a horrible feeling.
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ReplyDeleteASTRID ACKERMAN
ReplyDeleteRace is a social construction reproduced and legitimatized through ideological state apparatuses. Although races are a human creation, an illusion, its implications and consequences are real. Schools are weapons of the state and within them the consequences of racial divisions can be felt and seen.
I volunteered at St. Martin and St. Cornelius. The former is located in Richmond and the latter in Oakland. These cities have big rates of poverty and crime and the majority of the population consists of African Americans and Latinos. Richmond and Oakland, as any other segregated neighborhoods in America, were created by the state, primarily, to maintain Blacks and, more recently, Latinos as part of the underclass. The majority of these kids’ families do not speak Standard English. All of these factors influence the children’s academic achievement. Private schools, such as St. Martin and St. Cornelius, offer a better education than public schools but there is still huge disparities in educational opportunities in these underserved communities.
Firstly, talking with White teachers, after-school and, volunteers coordinators about the behaviors, attitudes or problems that students had, I heard over and over again these kind of statements: “because you know... this is a special population”, “ these kids are different, that’s why”, “ St. Martin and St. Cornelius, they have the same kind of demographics, right?” They were a ttributing academic problems to their different racial/ethnic backgrounds. I am not sure if they are conscious that the structures and systems outside of these communities are the ones that create the problem. Judging only their words I believe that they are not. It seems that they are not sure about what the real problems of this “special population” are. In addition, the art teacher in St. Martin, who also works in a public school in Oakland, explained me that she does not get paid by the school. She won a grant to run the art project in Oakland. This is evidence for the lack of resources in communities that needed them the most.
Secondly, I remember that one of the soccer coaches, a young Latino, in St. Martin joking said to one African- American twelve year-old girl that if she misbehaved he could hit her with his wallet chain. The girl, going on with the game, told him that he could not and then he went on and said: “Yes, I can, we’re in Oakland, right?! You have no rights”. Everyone that was there understood that it was a joke but I believe that it is still very telling of the place that race has in the minds of the kids. Although sometimes joking is a way to cope with realities that are too hard to handle seriously and are telling of what is in the mind of the children. This evidences that they knew that they were not valued as every other person in society. They knew what it meant to be from Oakland. Furthermore, they know their position in society and they know that society does not value them.
Race intersects with the educational system and this system is dependent on the government. Communities with a majority of ethnic minorities remain underserved because it is in the best interest of the state to keep them like this.
Chinyere Okereke
ReplyDeleteFinal Blog Reflection
The site I volunteered at was St. Cornelius Elementary school, in Richmond, CA. St. Cornelius is a Catholic School, and the kids were from the kindergarten to the 8th grade. After being there for ten minutes I quickly noticed, it was not racial diverse. The demographics of the student population was not mixed at all, majority of students were of Latin descent.
I spent most of my time working with the younger students from kindergarteners to students going into the fourth grade. There did not seem to be any influence of racialized stereotypes, at St. Cornelius, maybe I did not observe any of that because I was placed with a younger age group. I recall in a class discussion we talked about our first experience with race and identity in schooling. Most people had their first experience in the third grade or later. Observing this age group there are only slight differences between the behavior of the students. There is definitely a difference between the interactions, behavior and reactions of students based on gender. Although there was one time when certain students clung to Astrid, but it could have been because she spoke Spanish and those three students only spoke Spanish, not just because they shared the same racial background.
The students at St. Cornelius Catholic School are very supportive of one another, despite race. There has been many times where I have observe students of different racial backgrounds helping each other. Sometimes helping one another when working on art projects, or when using the web rangers program, or when they fall down playing on the play structure. On the playground there is no separation based on race, only some separation between gender and age. The boys at St. Cornelius tend to hang out and play on the blacktop with other boys, and the girls with other girls. The idea of sticking together (hangout, friendships, etc.) goes for students of different age groups.
The conduct of male students is very different in comparison to that of female students. During my site visits I noticed that male students were very loud, rowdy, and did not really follow directions; while female students sat quietly, were soft spoken, and listened to authority figures. All of the students were very friendly and playful. Overall they listened it just took more effort to make the male students focus oppose to the female students.
The environment at St. Cornelius Catholic School provides is very safe and friendly, with no signs of discrimination. Like I stated earlier I did not observe any racial spatialization, which could have been due to the young age group I was working with as well as the school being a catholic school.
Throughout my life, I never really took the time to understand and to reflect upon neither the meaning of literacy nor my own journey of obtaining “literacy.” Never have I realize how one can radically redefine what it means to be literate. Through contemplation, one is able to realize how the true meaning of literacy is light years away from one’s initial definition; literacy is not given simply within a classroom, but it fuses and intertwines one’s culture, language and environment. Growing up within a community that is predominately Chinese or Asian, I never really took the time to think how it would change if I were to have been in a different social and racial/cultural background. After going to my high school, which mainly consisted of under represented students, I started to understand the inequity of our educational system much more. Coming to Berkeley, I thirsted for more knowledge pertaining to this certain situation and I found myself in Education 140.
ReplyDeleteVolunteering at Saint Martin and Saint Cornelius, many of the stereotypes that I grew up with were radically redefined and annihilated. One particular example that I found most interesting is my interaction with one student: Tilik. He is a very special student that I found really exemplified how many African Americans are wrongly perceived. In the classroom, he was labeled as a rebellious and misbehaving student but I think contrary to that label. He would not speak a word and not volunteer at all during class but during dance class, he would be the one who would be most eager to dance. When the song “Look at me Now” by Chris Brown came up on the stereo-system, there is a specific rapping part that I need to hear 5 times in order to even catch what the rapper was saying- it was ridiculously fast. He would recite the verse completely and clearly when he was dancing. This perfectly represents what Professor hull mentions within her research; people are so focused on conventional methods of expression or being literate within the stereotypical methods that they neglect and belittle alternative methods. Tilik rapped and danced with passion and deep conviction. The student that I saw during the dance workshop was completely different to that of the one in the classroom. The stereotype of belittling certain races because of their capacity of the conventional definition of literacy is most definitely proved wrong within my experiences at Saint Martin de Porres. I observed so many aspects of this school that dynamically redefined what I grew up being told. Race is simply a social construct and I am glad that I was able to firmly embrace this idea through the discussions in Education 140 and my experiences and interactions at Saint Martin and Saint Cornelius.
The art classes at St. Martin de Porres Elementary school are unusual because each class has students from several different grade levels, compared to a subject like math, where a class is composed of a single grade level. In general, older students prefer to spend time with each other, and likewise, the younger students keep to themselves – many do look up to the older students, but know that their friendship is not as valued. I did notice several exceptions to this trend, and unfortunately in each instance race seemed to be the key factor.
ReplyDeleteWhile some students did work on their own, most would gather in groups of at least two, with groups of three or four probably being the most common. The youngest groups were typically more racially integrated than the older groups, although there were still exceptions. I remember observing a younger group of three Latino students, along with a single Caucasian student who was trying to fit in to their group. He clearly wasn’t welcomed into the group, and was marginalized for being white. When something funny happened that the group would laugh at, one of the Latino students would mockingly imitate the Caucasian’s laughter, and the other two Latino students seemed to find this entertaining. Although he clearly didn’t enjoy the humiliation, the Caucasian student still made an effort to be part of the group, perhaps scaling back his presence to fit in more easily. The school is mostly comprised of African American, Asian American, and Latino students, so a Caucasian student is almost forced to try to join another group in this situation – he has no ‘white’ group to turn to, instead he has to come to terms with being marginalized.
Situations such as this are also uncomfortable for me as an observer. If the group had been predominantly white, with a Latino student being the one marginalized, it would be much easier for me to chastise the students who were doing the insulting. In that case, I think I would be perceived as part of their group, despite being older and being in a position of authority. As it was, the group had already made it clear that they didn’t really want me around. By speaking up, I felt that I might put the marginalized Caucasian in a worse position, which was not a good feeling. Unfortunately, I think it is much more difficult to criticize someone of a different race, especially with regards to being racist or exclusive. I see many more people flaring up in these situations, where they might have been more receptive had the criticism come from someone of their own race.
Growing up and attending a predominantly “Armenian” school and environment through most of my childhood it was very interesting experiencing an elementary school with predominantly African American and Hispanic orientation. The interaction between the African American and Hispanic kids was very interesting and similar to what I experienced in my Armenian school. Although there is no difference between two people of a different race there is always some sort of an inexistent bond due to culture and perhaps even location culture. It was very interesting watching and analyzing the games the children were playing. When I was young the common games to play were certain Armenian games. One example involved ropes and balls; A person would throw a ball and two people would be moving the ropes and the ball was supposed to miss the rope and hit the wall. This was interesting because the kids played games that I was under the impression kids never played anymore such as jump rope and hopscotch. Of course, Basketball and soccer were common games as well and it was interesting to notice that the kids fit the stereotypes. The common stereotype I noticed was that the African American kids were more commonly playing basketball and the Hispanics were predominantly the ones playing soccer. This was very interesting to me; of course there was also a mesh in the races as well but not a huge one. Also, I noticed a very clear-cut gap in gender; the females were mainly playing with jump rope as well as, arts and craft activities specifically scarf making and hop scotch. While the girls played those games, the boys were mainly involved in playing basketball, soccer, card and sometimes trying to sneak out their video games from their backpacks (until “teachers” would notice). There were a few clashes however they would make fun of the boys who wanted to “jump rope” and the girls who wanted to play basketball. I also noticed a pretty good mesh during the “dance class” that I helped out with other Berkeley students. Some of the boys hesitated a bit more during the dance class and some even refused and were too shy. A boy even told me “I’m good at dancing but when I’m alone or with my friends.” It was an amazing experience working with these children and analyzing their behaviors. I will always use this during my future as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteAt Saint Cornelius it was difficult to witness overarching racial dynamics considering how the vast majority of students who attend the school are Latino/Latina. In the duration of my volunteer experience only five children I observed differed from the dominant racial group. I only had the opportunity to interact with a Caucasian girl, an Asian American girl, and the rest Latino/ Latina students. Through my observations, the children did not seem to differentiate between the races or even notice that girls looked different. The children’s lack of racial spatialization on the playground greatly intrigued me because my previous experience with children is that they are quick to point out differences among their peers.
ReplyDeleteFor my analysis, I would like to focus on an Asian American student named Emily. I was able to spend an ample amount of time with Emily and her group of friends, which allowed to me to perceive the situation from an insider’s point of view. Rather than Emily being an outcaste among her four closest friends as a result of her different physical appearance, she intermingled with the group flawlessly. In fact, Emily was the obvious leader of the pack and took control of almost all of the activities the group engaged in while on and off the playground. Looking back on the interaction between the girls of Emily’s group, there tended to be a power struggle between Emily and her best friend Brianna, a Latina girl of the same age. Emily’s strive to maintain power among the group using her strong personality may have been a defensive move to ensure that she would continue to fit in. Sometimes there was some slight competition among the girls due to the conflict of control, but it never escalated to fight, allowing Emily to stay in the position of power.
Opposed to some kids who would consistently under the watch of the supervisors, I cannot recall a single instance where Emily had been disciplined. The racial diversity of the staff at Saint Cornelius consisted of two ethnicities, Caucasians and Latino/ Latinas. The Latino/ Latina teachers never took on the disciplinary roles towards any of the students, whereas the Caucasian teachers and staff were constantly punishing children for one thing or another. I have to wonder if there are deeper reasons as to why Emily never seemed to receive a punishment, when every other student I had come to know had been disciplined at one time or another.
To investigate the stereotypes of Asian Americans, that they are smart and disciplined, may have been a factor in the faculties treatment of Emily in comparison to they way they had treated the Latino/ Latina children. The stereotype of Asian American women, who are supposedly very meek, could have also been a deterrent from accusing her of bad behavior. For example, there had been an instance where both Emily and Brianna were not actively participating in an exercise class hosted by a guest coach. One of the Caucasian instructors, who had been supervising the class, yelled to Brianna to sit on the sidelines of the gymnasium disallowing her to participate in the activity because she was being a disturbance to the rest of the class. In reality Brianna was just following Emily’s lead, and even more so, Brianna stayed silent whereas Emily was rather loud. Emily diverged from being a “model minority” student, but yet she continued to be treated as if she could do no wrong. I did not have the chance to be in a classroom setting with the students but I would have been curious to see if Emily, or any other student who was racially different from the dominant group, would be treated differently. In conclusion, the experience of volunteering has taught me a lot in terms of the differential treatment of non-dominant racial groups. The responsibility of equal interaction among all students lay in the hands of the instructors and administrators. It is important that they set the example that all people, regardless of race, be treated fairly and equally.
From my volunteer experiences, I find that what matters for the young kid to judge someone or choose someone as a friend is often his or her characters, which has little to do with some racial stereotypes. I volunteered in St. Cornelius Catholic School where the kids were from the kindergarten to the 8th grade. The first time I went there, I was with kindergarten children aged around 7 or 8 years old. We are brought to the playground where we see all the kids playing. I paid a special attention to a little black girl called Noah who was very energetic and outgoing. She looked always very happy and really enjoyed herself in playing with other kids which include those of different race to her. In the later dancing party, I find out this lively girl is really into dancing. Before the dancing party began, she did the big splits without any difficulty in front of us. I could see at that time she was very proud of herself especially when hearing other kids clapping for her. But after the last game of the dancing party called the free-dancing competition in which she was almost to win but finally lost, she was very upset. I saw her walking to the side and sat down quietly. I knew she must need comfort and tried to approach her. But I soon realized there were several other kids around her already. Since the dancing party was finished, these kids were supposed to leave the gym. But some of them did not leave and they were still worrying about her. Mary and I went towards them and saw she was crying. I realized there must be other thing more than just losing the game. She then told us her earring made her ear hurt. We then let other kids leave first and brought Noah to Miss Victoria.
ReplyDeleteThrough the example of this black girl, Noah, we can see children around her no matter of the same race or the different race would like to make friends with her and care about her, just because she is such a lively and happy person. This is nothing to do with the racial stereotypes and associated racial discrimination ( Of course, maybe they are just so young and know little about that.) In most cases when I was wandering around these little kids, I felt strongly that they tried to communicate with each other equally. I also saw a black girl and a white girl who were best friends since they were very young.
However, there is no denying that stereotypes can create prejudices which can be the root cause of racial discrimination. As individuals become increasingly exposed to the society especially in such a diverse-racial context of the U.S., I think young children cannot escape from becoming exposed to stereotyping and discrimination. Indeed, it may be hard to remove racism intrinsically from our part of the world but we can make things better for the children, especially by creating a harmonious and friendly growing-up environment for them.
I went to St. Martin de Porres elementary school. It’s located in Oakland. I know that many African American and Asian American lives in Oakland. As I supposition, most of the kids were African American. Second highest stereotype was Mexican American. Also there had some of Asian American and whites. I spent 30 hours to volunteering at St. Martin de Porres’s Kindergarten class. As I assumption, Kindergarten kids are in age of 6~8. I didn’t find much problem between different races kids. All of the kids were playing with everyone. I think the reason of this is they are very young and have not much experience of racism. I could see lots of racial happening during the retreat. During the retreat, every grade student comes out to playground. There are bunch of groups hanging outside. They gathered one place and have a chat or play some games. At the first, I didn’t pay attention to members of each group. However, I realized that most of groups’ members are with same race. I am a foreigner, I have live entire life in Asia. Thus, I am not sure this is racial problem. I saw racial happening from the media texts. It was similar what I saw from the media texts.
ReplyDeleteI can say that there has no racial happening in my Kindergarten class, but I saw one white girl in the class. Every time I saw her, She was very shy and lethargy. I have not asked her about why is she so shy and lethargy, but I’m pretty sure that she thinks she is different from others.
Every experience I have had at the St. Martin de Porres elementary school and in the Education class was very valuable. This was first time I am volunteering on something. I loved it and I would love to experience this kind of volunteering again.
My experience at Saint Cornelius has been as informative as it has been fulfilling. Whether I found myself playing duck duck goose with the Kindergarteners, playing kickball with the 5th graders, or hanging out on the school steps with the middle schoolers, I discovered that I can learn from the subjects I’m researching equally as much as they can learn from me. It is through this reciprocal process of sharing and learning that I grew as a person and became more conscious and analytical. In doing so, I began to realize the key aspects of interpersonal racial relations.
ReplyDeleteThe demographic of Saint Cornelius is primarily ethnic – by this, I mean that the student population does not reflect the dominant, “white” American culture. Students ranged from African American, Mexican, mixtures of Hispanic ethnicities, and an occasional (though very rare) white person. One 7th grader, Ariana, described herself as German, Welsh, English, Puerto Rican, and 1/16th Black. I questioned her about this, asking, “Wait, you’re 1/16th African American?” to which she replied, “Yup!” This came to me as a surprise because she (at least by appearance) seemed notably and visibly Caucasian. Here began my conceptualization of race at St. Cornelius.
As my hours abounded and my time spent with the children became increasingly more meaningful, I began to acknowledge and understand the polyracial and polycultural atmosphere surrounding me. The Hispanic children would hang out with the black children, and the white children would hang out with both groups. This was clear through all grade levels. To be honest, it completely surprised me! Here – at Saint Cornelius, it didn’t matter if you were multiethnic or 1/16th Black; all that mattered was that you were accepting of others and friendly. In younger students this is the typical “norm” observation, but as students begin to age, they begin to align with their own cultural identity and in reaction, hang out with members of their own culture.
PART 1: Nicolas Robinette
As I previously stated, this was not the case at Saint Cornelius. The students embraced each other regardless of race. This became clear to me for the first time when I noticed all of the 7th graders playing 4-square together. There was no act of exclusion, no prejudice, and to my amazement, a fusion of cross-cultural, racial identities mixing through a simple game. The rules were the same for all involved, myself included, and if somebody got “out” they would return to the sidelines to await their next turn.
ReplyDeleteRemaining with the 7th graders, I became even more vigilant when I realized that they all hung out together. Generally they would not include themselves in games that involved the younger children and preferred to stick by themselves, but what was so striking about their behavior was their collective bond. It became quite evident to me that these students genuinely cared for each other. At most schools, this is not the case even when racial identities are the same. At Saint Cornelius, it was. Fostered and reflected by a multiracial staff (the head administrator being white, whereas the teachers and faculty were multiracial), the students could effectively bond to and understand the teachers well. One of the teachers, Mr. Oscar, could actually speak Spanish, thereby assisting some of the native Spanish speaking children with their assignments.
It’s through bilingualism, multiculturalism, and a concerted effort by both teachers and students to adapt to – to be flexible to- each student’s unique culture, race, and identity. Having grown up in a predominantly “white”, upper middle-class town, race, or more importantly, conceptions of race as being problematic and possibly even exploitative to minorities, had never entered my consciousness. After having volunteered at Saint Cornelius, my experience and overall conception of race has drastically changed. I now realize it’s best to acknowledge race, but to be sympathetic and attempt to understand the underpinnings of why it exists and for what purpose. Is it for self-defense against slander? Is it for group membership? Is it to exile certain groups from particular activities? Or is it a means of survival?
In sum, I have learned the most crucial point of racial conceptualization, and that is that racial ties can be binding, and it can be quite easy for one to want to align with their own race. Yet there is a great, latent potential for race. If, indeed, people within racial groups shared their experiences with others, intercultural and interracial understanding will result. As a volunteer, a student, and most fundamentally, a human being, I believe it’s my responsibility to cater to the acceptance, understanding, and eventual cross-cultural interactions between myself, my groups, and those I meet in the future.
PART 2: Nicolas Robinette
Through my whole life, I had not met such many different kinds of races. After coming Berkeley, I met and lived two months with many different kinds of races, so it was a special experience to my life. At first, everything was marvelous because Korean society is consisted of only one race. In addition, Education N140 class gave me another chance to interact with other races closely. Before visiting the Saint Martin de Porres I have some prejudice to African Americans and I did not have much interest in young kids. However, after visiting and volunteering in this school, my point of view has been changed to children and African Americans. To be specific, I did not know how to play with kindergarten children so I had some kind of nervous before meet all the kids in the class. Because of this reason I hesitated when the teacher in Saint Martin de Porres assigned me to the K-1 class at first. But in my opinion, I did good job rather than my though before going there during the whole voluntary work period. Also I had negative prejudice to African American. However after spending hours with African American kids my prejudice toward them started to eliminate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found something different between Korean kids and American kids. It might not be the children’s problem. I think the difference between American and Korean parents has caused this difference. In Korea, parents want to give much quantity of education to their kids, so even though they are kindergarten age, the kids get many education such as math, English, piano, art, music. However, it seems like American kids do not get much private education as Korea kids do. The kids in the school I volunteered looks like enjoy their life and they seemed like having more free than Korean kids. Unfortunately, Korean kids are much suppressed so they do not have much time to play with their friends even though they are young. I am not sure which one is better way to educate our kids. Exactly, there might be no answer about this question. However, in my opinion they should play more instead of studying in that age.
I believe after finishing EDU N140 session, I became to understand other kinds of people and culture than ever before. Volunteering and being a mentor in Saint Martin de Porress was a great experience to me. I strongly believe that this valuable experience will affect positively to my future life.
There are 4 mixed, 4 black children, 7 Latino/Spanish speaking, and one white girl. Their ages range from 15 months to 4 years old. The children play together in perfect harmony. You can tell the children do not gravitate towards one another by race or even language. I find this extraordinary. They really do not have a care in the world. I believe this is what true peace could look like. The children show positivity towards each other everyday that I come with an exception of one violent child and even then most children ignore him. The positivity exhibited in this setting is a very natural action that takes place amongst all people in the environment. The children and all the women working in the center are very warm and inviting, they take on the motherly characteristics that each child receives from their mother. Across cultures the matriarch has the same attributes. The mother is the protector, the consoler, and the provider of love, food, and laughter. "The women of the center" is the title I give those whom work at the center whether the director, teacher, teacher aide, or volunteer. The women of the center are from various of races/ethnicities being that I am unsure of the specific country the women are from will give the generic American classification. They are black, white, Latino, Muslim, and Southeast Asian. The women of the center who are bilingual expose the children to their language daily through communication and song. Obviously, the Spanish-speaking children have the privilege to continue their bilingual learning at school and for those who only speak English are exposed to other children's culture through language from teachers and students. Due to the fact that there are not any Muslim and Southeast Asian children at the center; all the children are exposed to the language through the teachers and especially through song, the children pick up lyrics in turn phrases.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, based on a study that found that white children being Kindergarten with a substantial amount of vocabulary over children of color; I would have to that it has nothing to do with race but everything to do with resources. I think that those who acquire the necessary attention and resources can be just as prepared as his or her white counterpart. The center has shown such is possible. Although the center lacks in resources they make up in love and attention. Within the my short 2 weeks, the children have amazed me with there advanced communication skills and use of the language especially those who are dual language learners. For example, I was blown away by a 2 year old that counted correctly 10 using English and Spanish numbers. I actually tried to do count in the same way and I kept stumbling over my words and was not as instantaneous as the young girl.
Race is not an issue or a factor at the center. Everyone is treated the same. All the children play in perfect harmony. Color, age, and language are only the signifiers of their identities, but this stage the children are just children or babies.
I volunteered at St. Cornelius elementary school/ summer camp. The students at that site are a mix between African Americans and Latinos. The Latino student population was larger than the African Americans and any other race. There were maybe one or two white students and only one student that was full Asian. During my volunteer experience there, I worked with students of all ages and with different racial backgrounds. I would say though, that the school being predominately Latino students, it was quite difficult to sense any racial discrimination of any sort. All the children and all the staff and teachers got well just fine. There were some students though that spoke and understood only Spanish and little English. Those were the students that I had most trouble interacting with because I only knew basic Spanish words that I learned from Spanish class back in high school 4 years ago. Race never became an issue because all students worked together and played together like they were one. Even during break times and lunchtime, there were not any groups that were distinctively only one race of students. I did however notice that certain students would stick to volunteers and teachers of their own race.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, on the first day of volunteering I pictured that I would find one student that I really liked and or vice versa, and they would become my favorite student, however I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t click with any of the students right of the bat. However, when my classmate Chinyere walked in the first day during orientation, a young African American girl (Naya) quickly grew attached to Chinyere. Naya complimented Chinyere on her hat and clothes and you could tell that she was very excited for when the next time she would get to mingle with Chinyere again. I don’t think the students’ do this on purpose, they just feel more comfortable hanging out or being around people of their kind.
I particularly liked it when we had arts and craft projects because I did most of my observations there. For example when we were making friendship bracelets, I noticed that the color strings that most of the Latino students picked out were red, white and green: colors of the Mexican flag. The African American students on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind much about their racial backgrounds and just picked whichever colors pleased them. I also noticed that the teachers and staff members at St. Cornelius were mostly all Spanish speaking. Throughout my volunteering hours, I would hear a lot of Spanish, and most of the time it was when they were scolding a student when they got in trouble. I guess that they spoke to them students in Spanish so that the students would understand better why they were being punished and what they did wrong. But no student was ever discriminated by the color of their skin. St. Cornelius treated all their students equally and fairly. They also came up with lesson plans and school wide activities that all students can share common similarities with. This brings out Mendoza’s point also about the fourth “R” relationships by having children interact in classrooms. One major thing I liked about the school was that they didn’t separate the grades out by just numbers (ie. 1st, 2nd graders) they used a different theme each week. Themes like animals or Indian Tribes were used, and themes like those made sure that no groups of students were being discriminated.
I volunteered at the Sister Thea Bowman Theater Camp in the backyard of the Prescott-Joseph Center. The racial make up of this camp was all African-American and Latino-American. I did not observe any negative phenomenon regarding race. Ayo, the camp director and main teacher ran a tight ship, so the children misbehaved in vain, I quiver to imagine what would happen if this issue had anything to do with race. In a conversation with Ayo about her camp she told me that one of her main goals is to combat the low expectations that are commonly held for students of color. She has worked hard to build a community where everyone is welcome, big people, small people, white, black, green, and orange people; everyone can play. She encourages all of her students to think for themselves and creatively. She uses the camp as an opportunity to empower these children and show them that because they can play strong characters on stage they can be strong characters in life as well. The only racial dynamic I ever felt was in the children’s interaction with me. It wasn’t negative by any means, only a tangible example of racial differences that always exist.
ReplyDeleteAs a particularly white woman I stand out in almost any crowd, but in West Oakland more than usual. I am often stopped so that yet another person can tell me how blonde my hair is, or inquire to its legitimacy. But when a group of African-American girls sat down next to me, started stroking my head and asked if my hair was gold, I stopped and thought a little more than I usually do. None of the other children at the camp had blonde hair; none of the teachers or volunteers did either. I assume that she lives in a neighborhood where blondes aren’t seen very regularly as well. I felt a little uncomfortable at first I will admit. But after some thinking I decided to relax and take pride in being able to give these children an opportunity to get to know someone who looks different than the people they see on a regular basis. Racial differences don’t have to be a bad thing, and the more we can show this to children in a positive, learning environment the better.
Anna Kite
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ReplyDeleteI worked at two sites this summer. Of the two, more racial spacialization was apparent at St. Cornelius school. When I first started, I did not notice anything at first. In fact, I didn't note it in my field notes. What I saw however, was a space created around the Spanish speaking students in which their first language was Spanish. It was apparent on the playground during snack time. One of the girls came up to Teacher Marisol and told her in Spanish that one of the girls wouldn’t let her play with girl #2. All three girls involved in the situation were Spanish speaking. The girls retreated back benches lining the playground area. I didn't think about the gravity of the situation then until a situation with a first grader named Ana came up.
ReplyDeleteOn one occasion, the kids were eating their snack of string cheese and I saw two first graders, Analea and Ana sitting on the steps. Analea is a girl who loves to come out as the “know it all,”, you could say. I sat next to them and heard Ana give a wheezy cough. It sounded really phlegmy and almost like bronchitis. “Wow, everyone seems to be getting sick, huh?” I remarked. Ana didn't even to get to reply back before Analea snapped,”No, she's not really sick! I'm sick! She's just faking it.” I was stunned by her remark because as she was saying it, Ana was congested and coughing. This poor girl was suffering and even answered back to Analea saying that her mom said she was sick and Analea replied that her mom was lying. Once Analea walked away, I whispered in her ear in Spanish saying,”Don't worry. I know she's lying.” She smiled at me as we got up to line up for class.
I then realized that Ana and Analea were not friends. They were from different worlds and perhaps this is why Analea was openly calling Analea a liar. She didn't respect her and they came from different worlds that the other could not understand. These Spanish speaking girls were different from the other girls because of their Spanish speaking and perhaps even “Spanish speaking appearance.” During my encounter, Ana was looking at the ground a lot and seemed uncomfortable with Analea sitting next to her but when I later saw her on the playground near other girls that spoke Spanish, she seemed content and was playing with them and even communicating in Spanish.
I would hypothesize that this all comes down to communication. It is essential to socialization. In a child's early years, playing on the playground requires a certain proficiency, or literacy in socialization. If the students are not able to communicate well to another as the Spanish speaking children to their English only speaking classmates, this may create roadblocks in their need for socialization and may lead them to cling tightly together.