Schools as Communities of Care - Task 1

A. Identify three videos from the attached “Task 1 Video List” found in the Supporting Documents section. Video 1: “Analyzing American Literature through a Fish Bowl Discussion,” 11th grade Video 2: “Determining the Influence of Media on American Culture and Stereotypes,” 12th grade Video 3: “Developing Drug Awareness and Resistance Skills,” sixth grade Note: When selecting three videos to observe, it may be helpful to read the description available on the web page for each video. You will want to choose videos that will give you enough relevant material to respond to parts B1–B5 . B. Reflect on your video observations by doing the following: 1. Discuss specific examples of how the teachers in the videos effectively incorporated the needs of individual learners within their learning environments, including at least one example of each of the following from any of the three videos: • cultural needs -During video 2 the teacher was making the students more aware of the Disney culture we have. This discussion allowed to students think and discuss how Disney doesn’t fully display the culture of Arabia in Aladdin, and how the good guys were white and they bad guys looking like they are from the Middle East. The students thought it was wrong for Disney to do this and they should have kept their culture in place. • social needs – During video 1 when they were talking about the Great Gatsby, the teacher asked a few questions about the social aspect of the book (the east and west side, Daisy and the reason she wants her daughter to be a fool). The students had to think about the time the book took place, the setting, and what was the norm back then. • emotional needs – During video 3 the teacher had the students look at different tobacco and alcohol ads, and then asked what the ads are trying to say. One of the ads was about drinking and driving. The ad was trying to show drinking and driving was cool. The teacher asked students what the ad was trying to infer and was showing them the emotions, the ads are trying to make us feel to use their products. 2. Discuss ways that the teachers could have more effectively incorporated individual learners’ cultural, social, or emotional needs in the learning environments. In video 2, I think the teacher could have more incorporated the student’s learning environment by sharing what the culture was like in Araba during the timeframe of Aladdin, to show the students the difference between the two. The few students did point it out, but what if not everyone knew what the culture was like during that time. In video 3, I think the teacher could have more incorporated the student’s learning environment by giving the students examples of what could cause someone to do tobacco or drugs outside of the influence of ads. This would add to showing schools are accountable to the community by sharing what factors in a community could help influence someone to try these products the students are looking at. 3. Discuss two culturally sustaining pedagogy strategies you learned from observing the videos that you could incorporate into your future practice as a teacher. In the “Determining the Influence of Media on American Culture and Stereotypes,” video the students were looking at an article about Disneyfication of children’s culture. The students were mainly looking at Disney’s Aladdin, during this discussion with the students they notice Disney did “whitewash” the good guys, kept the bad guys looking like they are from the Middle East, and in addition the students noticed Disney incorporated the entire Middle East’s culture in the video, but the setting of Aladdin is Arabia. In this video the teacher used a nontraditional text in the class. It isn’t talked about much how Disney “whitewashes” their movies in the past. In the “Developing Drug Awareness” video the teacher is showing schools are accountable to the community, by teaching her students the way Ad’s can appeal to you but the product is still bad. a. Explain how you can apply the two strategies from B3 in your future classroom. I could do a lesson in my science class about scientific advancements in the countries that are not talked much about, like the Middle East. We know of all of the scientific advancements from Europe but not much about what came from the Middle East, and how those advancements there influenced the advancements in Europe. In addition to this I could have some articles around the classroom available to the students to take if they would like as well. In any math or science class they are teaching students critical thinking skills. I understand not every student is going to use physics or calculus in their future but knowing how to solve tough problems and looking for different ways to solve a problem would be showing schools are accountable to the community. These students will be our future doctors 4. Explain how you could involve your students’ caregivers in the execution of the strategies from part B3, including specific examples. In the classroom I could have the students write a paper or give a presentation about scientific advancements in the countries that are not talked much about. This will allow them to be able to think more deeply about the subject, and maybe they will share what they are learning with their friends and family. Applying science or math to real world problems would help students better understand why something is being taught. I would make sure throughout the year I would have real world examples for a various amount of different career options, hopefully to show the students that they might need to know this one day or give them more of an understanding why we are teaching this. 5. Explain how you could involve the community in the execution of the strategies from part B3, including specific examples. Sharing non-traditional texts in the community is easier now than before. With social media at everyone’s fingertips we could share unpopular opinions and nontraditional texts with our friends, family, and peers. I would volunteer for positions at the school that work with the community to help show schools are accountable to the community. In addition, I would find ways my local school or school district are helping the community and share it with others to let them know what is going on in the community.