My School and Its Culture

My School and Its Culture

EDU 692 Creativity, Culture, and Global Contexts in Education Decision Making

At my school I had good experiences with the elementary school that I attended. It was not necessarily the “school” that that caused me to have good experiences with, but one teacher that was a part of the school’s staff. Sometimes the smaller things in life can make all the difference in the world.

Describe your selected school experience that influenced your personal identity development

My school experience was pretty much going to school every day to spend the day with my 3rd grade teacher. She was a big influence throughout my time in elementary school. She always made herself available as if she was all I needed. She made my day and life full of joy because my life at a young age was never easy for me due to situations with my mom and dad that I should not have had to experience. My 3rd grade teacher was a special person that made me feel like no matter what life presented to me I can always accomplish anything I put my mind to. Every day that I left her I felt like I was able to accomplish anything I set my mind to. So now in my early years I try to always reach for the stars with everything I do. I also raise my children to believe that they can do anything. There’s no task too hard for you unless you put a gate around your mind.

Describe the school where your experience took place including (a) school characteristics, (b) student population characteristics, (c) socio-economic background of the families affiliated with the school, (d) the family structures represented, and (e) values, behaviors, and symbols that would be considered normal in that community (microculture).

My school setting was in a low-income area of town. We had students of all ethnicities however the school have predominantly minorities. It was an average size school approximately 600 to 700 students total for a school that had kindergarten to 6th grade. There was not many after school programs that were available for the students. Most of the families in the area where low income and dealt with a lot of everyday struggles as well. So, it was easy for the students to get along because a lot of them were dealing with the same issues. Most of the families lived with grandparents or someone other than the students’ parents. So, this created for a lot of the students to have to take care of themselves. Whether their caretakers were at work, not there, or any other situation. So, a lot of the students in the neighborhood dependent on each other, as opposed to depending on their family. In the community the student’s value being together in being able to play outside with their friends and not worry so much about someone trying to kidnap them. Sometimes that behavior of the students was not good behavior because they had basically taught themselves how to live. I believe that in the community that we were in a lot of the parents did not pay attention to the family structure or the life of their student if things were being accomplished. If the parents still had a job and was able to “provide” their life was ok.

Explain the influence that your family’s “funds of knowledge” and social capital had on your ability to succeed in your school; address your success in the following three areas: academic success, social success, and emotional success.

My family’s funds of knowledge and social capital was nonexistent. I got more funds of knowledge and social content through programs like girl scouts, and sporting teams. Although my guardian would show up for events, they were never involved with the functions of any activities happening. My academic success for me came from will and determination. Not wanting to be like my parents and learning that I needed to finish what I started. I was never sociable. Even now it is hard for me to be sociable with people. I have gotten better, but not where I should be, and it hinders when I must do an oral presentation or something like that. I found that my emotional status was hard for me as well. It would be up one minute and down another. That caused me to not want to deal with very many people during school.

Explain, using specific examples, how educators could use information about culture and individual student identities to make effective instructional decisions. 

” Research has shown that children living in poverty have much higher levels of cortisol than children who do not live in poverty. High levels of cortisol are linked to the depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obesity, and diabetes, along with delayed and even retarded brain development” .( Wardle, F. (2013). )  We can see through research that  our environment plays a big part in our development. educators should be able to obtain this information and find useful ways to help each student that crosses their path. Each educator must be aware each student is different and deals with different daily life situations. I believe that creating a trusting relationship with those that you encounter whether they be students or parents will allow for a door to be open so that effective instructional decisions can be made for the student. Making yourself available as an educator for after school activities, girls’ group, boys’ group, things where the children can be put together with other likeminded students. Giving them away to express their feelings with others that may understand what they’re going through, because they are dealing with similar situations. Specifically knowing where you are in the demographics in what cultural encounters you may be presented with will allow you to be able to give effective instructional decisions to the students that you deal with daily. Sometimes you may have to alter given the situation that you’re presented with.

So, in conclusion, we learn that every environment creates a different demographic for students in that area. A lot of things change, in a lot of things are brought into play such as culture. Educator should be there to plant a seed.  This is their way to be able to make a mark on the world. Those that are being educated now is going to be our next generation, and they too will look back and say I remember when Miss Thomas took the time and built a trusting relationship with me. Even though as its educator things may feel uncomfortable and you may not be wanting to compromise to do it, educators must keep in mind that they must have the skill of adaptability in order to be an  educator.

References

Wardle, F. (2013). Human relationships and learning in the multicultural environment [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), pp. 132-141.