So, after re-reading Chapter 2 for this week's assignment, I was amazed at what I didn't see before.
What is all this information about word poverty? It appears actual poverty and word poverty go hand in hand. Of course, I totally agree. It does make sense for a less-educated person to remain in poverty, and as a result, for their child to enter school less-educated. Of course, I realize there are exceptions to the rule.
I do love the quotation on page 32, It is simply not a matter of the number of words unheard and unlearned. When words are not heard, concepts are not learned. When syntactic forms are never encountered, there is less knowledge about the relationship of events in a story. When story forms are never known, there is less ability to infer and predict. When cultural traditions and the feelings of others are never experienced, there is less understanding of what people feel. Yet, despite the research that indicates impoverished children are already behind in school, we still expect these students to learn, maintain, and establish the same information as their more well-off counterparts. Basically, we expect students to start off at different levels and to all learn the same amount. In other words, we want and expect the students who are behind to learn twice as much of the material that is already more difficult to them. And, then, we get mad when they cannot perform. We expect Title 1 schools to perform at the same levels at the same times as those with more well-off, better prepared students. Is that fair? I don't think so.
And, then, we punish schools when students cannot perform - even though they are making progress. Yes, word poverty is a problem. But, I venture to say that word poverty without help is an even greater problem. We need to recognize progress and not belittle it. We need to commend schools who help students that are behind... and not punish them when they cannot meet AYP because they have greater challenges to start with.
I agree with you Mrs. Dana. What the heck are we doing here? These kids are expected to know what they have not been exposed to and by the time we see them in high school they are so far behind it is depressing. Teaching our students for tests just to cover all of our own selves is what we are really doing. That's what happens when people who do not teach and are not on the front lines make the rules. We are punishing teachers who are trying to help kids at schools where some people do not dare roam the most and this is the part of all of our communities that need the most help. It is so sad how do they expect to attract 'qualified' teachers this way. Oh well have a nice evening, Keri
ReplyDeleteI love your passion in this comment. I agree with you and with Keri's comment entirely. We cannot expect the people in charge to make rules that will be relevant and impacting in the most positive ways. That being said, I have recently been thinking about how to address the problem from other angles. I don't believe that voters will one day wake up and select a leader who makes good choices for our schools. It will take a great deal of time, such as one or two (or more) generations in order for this problem to be fixed. The problem is that the likelihood of failure is almost culturally ingrained into the people we are failing. So how do we change that cultural mindset? How can we win the hearts and minds of the families of these failing students in order to see them desire to change themselves? I am meditating on this a lot, and I feel that if we address our students and their families from this angle, then we will benefit our students in the long run. Maybe I am being hopelessly optimistic and naive. Oh well, much love, B.
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