// Movement and Poverty \\

Week 2

The focus of the articles this week was on poverty and how deficit thinking can affect the classroom environment and the students academics. Although many people believe that poverty may affect their care for academics, their determination, their likely hood to be involved with drugs, and their language, it actually does not. All of these are actually mythical effects of poverty, and have shown to not have any correlation. However, when looking into a classroom, a teacher that may have these types of deficit thoughts may cause a students academics to decrease. This could happen because her expectations from that student have lowered, and her willingness to reach out to that struggling student may have diminished. Gorski provides teachers with strategies to could benefit students in poverty, with the reassurance that there is no one size fits all fix for every student. These strategies include: express high expectations, enhance family involvement, incorporate arts into instruction, incorporate movement into instruction, focus intently on student and family strengths, analyze materials for class bias, promote literacy enjoyment, and reach out to families early and often.

Jump-Turn-Freeze

Jump-Turn-Freeze

One of the seed activities that I tried this week at the Boys and Girls Club was Jump-Turn-Freeze. This activity is found in the dance and creative movement section, which encourages children to move with purpose. Gorse said to  incorporate movement into instruction can aid students in poverty because they are limited to their physical education time in school and healthy students fare better in school.The Boys and Girls Club was established as a place for families that need assistance in after school child care, but cannot afford other child care services. Many of the students that go to the Boys and Girls Club receive free/reduced lunches at school. I think that their set-up correlates with Gorski’s strategies. After power hour, the children are given a snack which may one of the only opportunities to have food for the rest of the day. After snack the students are on a rotation system that includes: art, gym, computer lab, game room, and prodigy (a dance program). The art, gym, computer lab, and prodigy relate to Gorski’s strategies in that they are providing students with art, movement, and technology that they may not receive at home or at school. Even during power hour the students are given opportunities to use the computer for any homework.

After interning in the fourth and fifth grade section of the Boys and Girls Club for two weeks now, I have had opportunities to understand some of the students on a better level. I have heard their positivity and pure enjoyment of being at the Club. Many of them find refuge in this club with their friendships because they face difficulty at school. It almost seems that the equality of SES of these students and the familiarity between each other’s backgrounds draw the children to each other forming a bond. I have talked to the students about the prevalence of art and movement in their classrooms, and unfortunately many of them have shared the lack of these. It draws me to the conclusion of why this Club is so important to them. However, even with this inseparable bond that many of these students have with each other, I was informed on Monday that the director of the Club has decided to stop picking up from two of the schools that many of the students come from due to the schools lack of students receiving free/reduced lunch. Regardless of whether the student receives this aid or not. When the student heard the break of the news, I could see the disappointment in many of their tones and eyes. Although I understand the director’s reasoning for the change, it is disheartening as well to know that some of these students will not be seeing the Boys and Girls Club after this year finishes out. This divide makes me wonder what Gorski would do in this situation.

 

// Alternating Fields \\

Week 1

When first signing up for the location that I chose, I assumed that the fifth grade students I had from my prior internship would be similar to the fifth grades in this new area. However, the boys and girls club arranges the kids in a different manor. They have fourth and fifth graders together, presenting a much more broad range of personalities, ages, and maturity levels. From my first two days of being at the boys and girls club, I can already tell that it’s going to be lively. Each one of the kids have such a unique and vivacious spirit, and the coach they have during power hour captures the students spirits in a way that gains their attention and respect.

The two articles (The Red Shoe and Why is This Child so Rude) both had to do with perspective. The Red Shoe presented a story about a child who tied a shoe the way her mother ties her shoes; however, because her mother doesn’t have arms, the little girl tied the shoe laces with her mouth. Since her teacher didn’t understand her background, she called her out by saying she was nasty. That lasting affect appeared to stay with the child for a long time, and I think that is really the take away from that article. Without getting to know a child and where they come from, certain things they do might seem strange, inappropriate, and abnormal, however, after digging deeper lots of things can be revealed that may suggest an explanation to that behavior. The same goes with the article Why is This Child so Rude. It gave a couple of different short stories that can explain a child’s behavior in class. For example, one student that may be called “lazy” because he sleeps in class can be explained by the work hours of his father. The child stays up late at night in order to spend time with his father, thus causing him to be sleepy in class.

Both of these articles opened my perspectives of understanding a child’s fund of knowledge in a way that I hadn’t thought about before. After being at the boys and girls club, I can already see that some of the kids my have similar stories as the ones in the articles. It made me think twice about going along with labels that people have given a child, it made me want to take that effort to really get to know a kid before incorporating a seed activity or making assumptions. There are a couple of kids that consistently call me over during power hour. Yes, they could be just wanting to be able to talk and take advantage of my help, but at this point I’m still getting to know the children and where they are developmentally and academically. These kids could just not receive enough attention at home and not receiving enough positive attention at school, thus creating a need for positive help. I have a soft spot in my heart for children who have a rough home life, and I think these articles provided me with not only a reminder but also new thoughts about what a “bad label” can actually be linked to. Especially being in an after school program like the boys and girls club, there are so many different kids from different backgrounds, school, areas, etc. that could be affecting the various funds of knowledge within each group.

This is my field notes from the first day. I linked the article that we had read (The Red Shoe) to try and understand why this child may consistently call me over.