Culture

What to Look for in a Classroom and Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Kohn

Samantha Marsella 

Reflection

    When reading the page about What to Look in a Classroom it made me think about what my classrooms were like in elementary, middle, and high school. Most of my classes were set up where the desks or tables faced the front of the room. So that we could all see the teacher at the front of the room. They didn't make it very engaging and honestly, I didn't feel the need to talk to my classmates sitting that way. I love that in this class we are either in groups or a circle and this makes it more fun and makes me want to talk to other people. I have never felt so comfortable to talk or engage in a class and that's why I love this class. Another thing that I loved in elementary school was seeing my work on the classroom walls. Any art or science projects, it didn't matter how well you performed on it everyone's work was up. But as the years went on in high school, teachers would take pieces of writing or work that students did and show the class how well they did on it. The intention of showing kids how something is supposed to be done is fine, but it made kids feel bad if their work was never shown in the class.

One thing that really stood out to me in the Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy video was them saying that the schools expect the children to adapt. Instead, the schools need to adapt to the children. One example that comes to my mind is adding special education classes to help children that need a little more help in classes. When I was in middle school, I was not good at comprehending the things I read. My parents had contacted the school to test me and see if I needed help with certain things. I went down to guidance one day and they made me do a bunch of tests. But when the results came back I didn't have anything wrong with me. They figured out though that I couldn't remember long stories or lots of information. My teachers were right there when I needed them and let me stay after school with them to help me understand better.

    

Why do schools think that all children are going to automatically meet the requirements? Going into a class the teacher doesn't know how you best learn or what subject is your strongest suit. This brings us back to people assuming things about others and their culture. Because what if a student was from a different country and just moved there. We don't know every student's story and won't know it until we get to know them.

Below is a link to show people there is a lot more meaning to just what a classroom looks like.

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