Week 7: Assumptions versus Reality

Herbert Kohl’s “I Wont Learn From You” has a very confusing language. I understood from the reading that educators misinterpret behavior in regards to comprehension. Some students will throw temper tantrum while other shut down.

In reading Jocelyn’s blog post response, she stated that some groups of students do not feel their voices are heard, educators may see this, as these students do not know anything. In reality these groups of students feel they should stick to their culture because of pressures they feel by many things, how they might have to learn or what they are learning or what they are not learning.

She continues on by saying that we all need to respect each other’s voices. I believe that it would allow students to feel comfortable making their opinion heard while they are in school or if they are outside school walls because how much do we really know when we make assumptions? In many cases we are aware of very little which is seen by the teacher experience with his 1^st grade student Barry.  “One Monday afternoon I asked Barry to come read with me. He looked at me and walked away. I picked up a book and went over to him. During this moment of this experience the teacher is assuming that Barry does not want to read because he is not comfortable with reading. The teacher continues to open the book before Barry can throw a temper tantrum, he asked Barry to read a page. Barry mumbles, “This is a bug, this is a jug. This is a bug in a jug.” Then he tossed the book on the floor, and then turned to one of the other children and said defiantly “see I told you I already know how to read.” Barry’s actions show that it’s not his lack of comprehension; it is some other factor keeping him from wanting to learn. One reason Barry might rebel to reason could stem from him not wanting to learn a new world of language with the fear of possibly forgetting how to speak another language.

 

Another student this teacher had told him that his grandfather would refuse any language lessons of English. This student’s grandchildren worried that he would lose his culture. His terrified that his grandchildren would lose sight of their background, their origins, why they eat what they eat, and the music they listen to.  This teacher and many other teachers label these students incorrectly, instead they must understand that if it looks like a student does not understand a topic or lesson it does not mean that is the case. Some student’s rebel through failing a test because they do not believe what they had to learn was right or they might be trying to say why can’t we learn something more applicable to all students.. There must be clarity between these groups because that is how students succeed in school; a student needs support from family but reassurance of comfort in learning.

 Comments:

Students of all colors are smart in at least one way; it takes a kind of intelligence to purposely fail. It shows that the student is thinking, maybe in a different way, which is not bad.

You cannot see the student through a piece of paper that is an accumulation of their grades; intelligence goes beyond the surface. Students must be seem in the class, how they react to others and what they learn.

We are like onions, we are all made of layers; it is all about peeling back each one layer slowly to understand who we really are and why we operate the way we do.

Is a "Good Job"actually "good?"

Five Reasons To Stop Saying “Good Job” was a bit shocking because we are supposed to give words of appraisal to young children so they begin to earn the feeling of appraisal.  Kohn tapped into this topic by stating how easily “good job” is said; it can be heard on a playground, a school and at home. Kohn states that the more children hear words of appraisal such as “good job” they expect to hear it more. Kohn observed how appraisal is sometimes used for adults for their own good instead of the child’s good. For example a parent saying “good job” to their child so the well being of the parent’s is calm instead of using appraisal when it is appropriate.

I understand Jocelyn’s concern because I asked myself a similar question, “How can I support children in a way that states “good job” without the constant usage of the word?” Kohn believes that an overabundance of complements is too much, but it is so easy to say “good job” instead using a negative remark, which can leave a more sullen response. Despite that, there are other angles of appraisal. For example, if you are a first grade teacher. One day you saw your student shared a color pencil during math time you could easily state what you saw. “That was so kind of you”, that student will figure out that this is something to do again from the upbeat response from the teacher.  Another way is to say nothing. It will cause the student to question him or herself, “Would that be a good action to perform again? In some cases, students can figure out if their action received appraisal by the subtle actions of the teacher, a wink of an eye or a smile.

Despite that it would be equally ineffective to say “good job” all of the time because young children seem cling on to that statement, they only want to see to remember the good.  It will cause them to never truly cherish moments of appraisal since it comes more than it should. If tactics such as talking less, ask more were used young children would grasp the idea over time. The child would see that he or she is getting attention for a job good they did. The child will strive for more appraisals, while they work for words of appraisal they will soon comprehend that it’s more valuable the less it’s stated.

Comments:

I do not understand why people forget the feeling of receiving appraisal is more worthwhile than the actual statement.

It is daunting in a sense because we forget how much we expense our appraisal compared to when we actually should say it.