Prompt 2

2) The children in Mrs. Smith’s second grade class at Led Zeppelin Elementary share similar linguistic characteristics. The number of students present in the class has varied throughout my visits. On average, the class has around fifteen to twenty students. Based on my observations of the classroom, all of the students speak, read, and write in English. Furthermore, the four students I have consistently worked with, Mac, Denis, Frank and Charlie, all speak English very well. The tutoring sessions have focused on reading and writing skills. Communication with their tutors and their teacher, Mrs. Smith is not an apparent issue. Furthermore, I have not heard any students communicate in any language other than English. According to Infoworks, the district of Providence has 24,494 students in its school system. Of the 24,494 students, seven percent use English a second language, and eight percent of students are bilingual. Infoworks displays that, one hundred percent of students are nonrecipients of bilingual education services at Led Zeppelin Elementary, showing that zero percent of students are bilingual or use English as a second language.

The students in Mrs. Smith’s class share similar ethnic characteristics. During my visits to Mrs. Smith’s class, I did not see one Caucasian male or female student. Interestingly, as compared to my experiences as a second grade student in a Providence public school, I was not the only Caucasian in my class. The classroom population of Mrs. Smith’s contained not one Caucasian student. The concept of student isolation in Apartheid schools as described by Jonathan Kozol, could be applied to Mrs. Smith’s classroom. Kozol defines an Apartheid school as a school in which ninety to ninety-nine percent of the student population is Hispanic and black. Based on my observations, one hundred percent of Mrs. Smith’s class consisted of Hispanic and black children. Is this a case of extreme isolation? What is certain is that their tutors and their teacher are white. Do the students view their class as being controlled by a white person, or does the idea not even register to them? One may wonder if these children will ever question their past educational environments. Infoworks displays that at Led Zeppelin Elementary, fifty-nine percent of students are Hispanic, twenty-seven percent are African American, six percent are Asian, and eight percent are white. These school demographics coincide with the observations I have made in Mrs. Smith’s class, which consisted of Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans.

Mrs. Smith’s classroom consists of an inner city sociocultural background. I am not aware of what any of the students’ parents do for careers. Furthermore, as far as family structures, I have heard some upsetting situations as described by Mac and Charlie. Mac does not live with either of his parents. Instead, Mac lives with his grandmother, and sees his mother on occasions. Mac’s classmate Charlie is from another country, and lives with foster parents. His foster parents changed his name to Charlie from his original ethnic name. More importantly, Mac, Denis, Frank, and Charlie, along with the rest of class, look like normal eight- year old kids. They all dress in clean clothes, they do not smell un-bathed, and they are respectful to their teacher. This contradicts fallacies that inner city students are dirty, smelly, and disrespectful. Before entering the classroom on the first day, I was warned to beware of children with lice. I have not encountered this to date.

The best insight into the students’ sociocultural background is provided through the data on Infoworks. According to Infoworks, throughout the Providence school district, eighty-two percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Infoworks displays that at Led Zeppelin Elementary, ninety-three percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. To put this in perspective, for a family to be eligible for free lunch, their yearly income must be at, or below one hundred and thirty percent of the current poverty level, (www.ride.ri.gov). In essence, a family of four earning a yearly income under $30,000 is eligible for free lunch. A family of four making more than $30,000, but less than $41,000, is eligible for reduced cost lunches, (www.povertyinstitute.org). According to Infoworks, ninety-three percent of students’ parents fall under this bracket.

According to Ira Shor, “education is a contested terrain where people are socialized and the future of society is at sake,” (Education is Politics, 13). The students in Mrs. Smith’s classroom contain a rich cultural capital to contribute to society and democracy. Mrs. Smith’s class functions as a socializing environment for her students. The students work on word searches together, participate in arts and crafts, and sing songs together. The students also analyze stories that Mrs. Smith reads to them. For example, the moral of one story Mrs. Smith read to the children was that all members in a household had to cooperate to maintain a functioning household. Shor expresses the importance that students are empowered during education through a student-centered pedagogy. While reading the story, Mrs. Smith, asked the students questions, empowering them to figure out the moral on their own. I was very impressed at the questions and answers the students revealed. Through such a method, the students realized the moral of the story themselves. Such a method is a reversal of what Ira Shor describes as non-participatory classrooms which prepare children for an “authoritative work world and political system,” (Education is Politics, p.19). It could be argued that Mrs. Smith’s students are being prepared to change the American status quo through a student-centered pedagogy. This could be their contribution to democracy.