POST #10: Looking at the Semester

Looking at the Semester 

When I think of all of the readings we have completed throughout this semester, there are a few that stick out the most to me that I have been able relate to my service learning experiences. Service learning had been an aspect of the year that I had felt nervous about jumping into. I did not know what to expect when first going to my assigned location of a third grade classroom. I can say that now, since I have completed my service learning hours, it has impacted me greatly in my understanding of the classroom experience.

In describing my experience, the readings by Delpit, Hehir, and Finn best relate to the interactions and situations that I witnessed. I feel that most educational institutions reflect the words of Lisa Delpit and the culture of power that she describes. This culture seems especially prominent when looking at the complex relationship between the administrators and the educators at my assigned school. It appeared to me that these two groups seem to be at odds. For example, because the test scores at this institution have been very low in recent times, administration is pushing more standardized testing for the students. On the other hand, teachers feel that spending so much time on standardized testing only takes away from instruction time. Since the administration is the authority group in the situation, they still make the rules that these educators have to follow. 

I have seen Hehir in my observations due to it being an inclusion classroom. Because of this, the room has two tables set aside for students to work privately with another professional for extra assistance, or for specialized assignments. I was fortunate enough to see some of the helpful visual methods that this teacher used to make the content easier for these students to understand. 

Lastly, I have seen many elements of Finn in this classroom, mainly when thinking on the study he focuses his writing on. The school that I was placed at would be labelled as a working class school in Finn's view. The classes are very structured, and not really focused on out of the box creative thinking. I can see that the educators truly care about helping these students to learn, however, it is already a struggle to teach some of them the very basic foundational content that they need to know. Many times, students need to be told, not asked, to do certain things as well. I can also see some elements of a middle class schooling as well, due to the fact that students are heavily reliant using books to support their learning. Everything is completed from their work books, including homework and assessments.