The culturally competent teacher involves and works with families and community resources, understanding the differences in families, the important influence of family participation in students’ learning, and the benefit of collaborating with the wider school community.
Over the past couple of weeks I have seen Mrs. F try and call parents while on a break, walk out to the school yard in the morning to try and see parents, ask students if their parents had gotten her message, and send notes home in their “Friday folders”. Many parents never answered or called Mrs. F back. Those who did make appointments hardly ever showed up. Mrs. F told me that periodically the school will hold after school functions and supply food. At these meetings many parents arrive with their children for the food and teachers will meet with the parents while they are “trapped”.
One week a student I typically work with, Christopher, was extremely upset. He didn’t want to work, he didn’t want to behave, and he was extremely snappy especially with the teacher. This was not Chris’s typical attitude he was normally kind and well behaved. I wondered why Mrs. F had not corrected his attitude since she had normally not stood for this type of behavior. What I didn’t realize was that earlier Chris’s father had lost his job and Chris might now have to live with his grandmother in another state because his father couldn’t properly care for him. Luckily Chris’s father is very involved in his education and Mrs. F knew and understood what Chris was going through.
This reminded me of the article we read by Brown. The students felt that the teachers didn’t understand them and that they were being misunderstood. Had Mrs. F not understood Chris’s situation she could have made things worse by pushing him to tell what was bothering him, by scolding him for not behaving properly. Had Mrs. F pushed him she would have made him more upset and Chris could have completely shut down. By the next week when I got there Chris was back to normal and Mrs. F had found a school councilor for him to talk to so that he could release his anger with someone he felt more comfortable.
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Hi Karleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such a poignant story. Chris's situation reminds us that we must be attuned to our student's lives in order to make academic learning meaningful. Sometimes a student's private life makes academic learning nearly (or really) impossible.
Your connection to Brown had promise but needed to be developed. Inform your readers about Brown's argument; that way, they come away with knowledge of a theoretical framework and a story that illustrates it.
Keep thinking on these things,
Dr. August