Prompt #6

The culturally competent teacher communicates in ways that demonstrate sensitivity to sociocultural and linguistic differences, using a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques that encourage positive social interaction and support learning in their classroom.

For my service learning project I was assigned to the reading buddies program. During my time there the students and I read many wonderful short stories and worked on many worksheets that helped them relate what they had read. Many of these students have problems reading due to the fact that many of them do not have books at home. These children also struggle with reading because unlike myself they were not read to as a child. Due to this fact many of the students have problems identifying words and have tremendous problems trying to sound out the words. These get extremely discouraged when they cannot figure out a word by sounding it out and therefore “shut down”. Mrs. F has recognized that many of these students have problems sounding out words and has found a way to teach the students so that they are having fun while learning. The students spread shaving cream over the top of the table and with their finger write the sounds they hear. The students have fun while learning and helping each other to learn as well.

Mrs. F was sensitive to the fact that students get discouraged and don’t want to learn but she was also aware of the different cultural ways her students learned. I was able to relate this experience to what we had learned from theorist Lisa Delpit and her communication across cultures idea. Although Mrs. F’s sociocultural and linguistic background was different from that of her students she was able to find a way for her to easily communicate with her students so that they could fully understand the concepts she was trying to teach and was able to help them with a skill they would need throughout life not just in school.

I really enjoyed my time at my serice learning school. I had a great time getting to know the students and my teacher on a personal level. After only being there for a couple of weeks it was amazing to see the progress that these students had made in their reading. My favorite part of this experience was being able to see the students smiles when they were chosen to work in the "special gorups" each week. It was evident that just by being there and giving them one on one time you were making a difference in their life.