Connections & Relationships by: Christina D'Ambra
"Kids don't care what you know until they know that you care."
Confianza
I believe effective teaching begins with learning about our students. Building a climate of care in the classroom "culture" between myself and students sets the foundation for learning. I believe in the importance of knowing my students, not just who they are academically, but who they are as people. Realizing how much or how little I know about my students' cultures can be a first step toward culturally relevant teaching. My beliefs are my Why? As Sinek stresses the importance of knowing your Why to attain success from your belief.
Wesch's Ted Talk, reinforced the importance of building relationships with students. Building relationships with students grows from genuinely caring about them and wanting them to succeed in all areas of life. We want to understand the people we interact with in our daily lives and we want to be understood. Empathy enhances the classroom community. Relationships are one of our core needs in life. Identifying first, how we can find the commonality even when we are different.
What do my students think when they see me standing in front of them? They see a white-female monolingual teacher. They do not see themselves. How can I overcome what research shows? Research shows that students benefit when teachers share their same race and gender. How can I convey to my students: I value them, I see them and I want to hear them?
The power of Story - it's the personal stories that are often lost in the conversations we have with our students. It is my hope to use storytelling to build a bridge TOGETHER not a wall to keep us apart. Storytelling gives students the opportunity to tell their story about culture, language and their countries. It is my hope to bring storytelling into my classroom this fall. Storytelling gives voice to students identities that take the form of what matters most to them. Identity could include their family's immigration story or the rights, roles, and responsibilities that shape their identity. Learning their experiences can open up my eyes to a world I've never seen or lived. When the story of nearly 5 million English Language Learners (ELLs) is absent from the education narrative in the United States so is the context through which we learn about our students. We need to build empathy and truly understand what our students need to be successful.
I was born in 1971, this defines me as a Digital Immigrant as Prensky has taught us. I am from grandparents who migrated from Italy (Sicily, Tuscany & Naples) and Scotland. They made their home on Federal Hill in Providence, RI. The story begins on 15 Slocum Street, Providence, RI. This is where I was born and lived with my parents, siblings, maternal grandparents, paternal grandparents, great-grand mother and Aunt Evelyn for many years of my childhood. My relationships with each of them molded who I am today. While I grew up among the public schools my students attend today, I went to catholic schools from K-12. The catholic faith was the core of our family. My early years, were filled with hearing Italian and English. I am from: young ladies should be seen and not heard, sit up straight and hold your shoulders back. I am from: cooking, sewing, crocheting, and gardening.
Fast forward, to attending Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School and being the last class to learn how to type with a typewriter. Yes, the Digital Immigrant in me is shining through. Later, graduating from Rhode Island College with a B.S. in Elementary Education, getting married and beginning a family. I only was a substitute teacher for a couple of years before the birth of my first child. I was a stay at home mom for 14 years. When my youngest son went to full day Kindergarten, I returned to substitute teaching in Providence. I was filled with anxiety to return to teaching where many changes have occurred. My path lead me to become emergency certified to teach English Language Learners. Leading me to pursue the TESOL graduate program at Rhode Island College. Along my journey with my learners, it is the relationships that I build with my students that got me through.
What matters is, I learn about my students, respect them and their communities, and demonstrate this with respect in curriculum and pedagogy. Learning English does not mean that students need to abandon their home language in order to succeed. Digital storytelling contributes to providing a safe environment for students to share their cultural experiences and personal stories. In addition, it creates a classroom where students gain confidence realizing it is valuable to be proud of who you are. I plan to begin incorporating digital storytelling through Book Creator. The Book Creator app allows users of all ages to create and publish ebooks in several different formats. Users can create ebooks with multiple pages and incorporate photos and videos from their camera roll into the page. Students can record sound bytes for each page. Book Creator gives students the tools to upload important images, videos, text, and or sound that will bring students identity to life! Students are given the choice of how to express their ideas being allowed to embrace different learning styles and strengths. Book Creator affords students the opportunity to express themselves in different forms: visual arts, drama and music. As of now, the subject of student books can be nearly anything, as long as it addresses some aspect of the student's identity. Students might share about a specific cultural tradition, tell the story of a significant event in their life, relate their experiences as immigrants. Book Creator gives many options for students to be creative expressive and authentic. This is what Robinson is calling for....recognizing each student as individuals with their own identity. Robinson believes in the value of embracing the arts in education. We just need to find ways to harness it within our classroom.
Technology integration doesn't mean using technology all the time, it means using it purposefully as Turkle would agree. Using technology to effectively support student learning in all forms and continue to build relationships. As Wesch believes, use technology to allow students to communicate and collaborate more effectively and more seamlessly. Break down barriers and create the best conditions beyond the classroom into the world so they can make connections between ideas, share thoughts and question and learn from peers. Students become multimedia storytellers, honing their skills in critical thinking, writing, and communication, which are critically needed for future success. Developing critical social and emotional skills of empathy, self-awareness, and teamwork, which can change classroom dynamics. There is a lot of behind the-scenes work that is needed before students final project is produced. Within this project, Mitra's dream can also be fulfilled. Along the process, students are given the time to explore and figure things out, and they become problem solvers and creators. This project moves away from the traditional teacher-centred classroom to child-created. When we invite students to bring their stories into the classroom what happens? It provides new spaces for them to engage to bridge stronger connections and experiences lived outside of the school building. It challenges the relationship and power dynamics between teacher and student, which interrupts this traditional narrative. We allow students to bring in important information and knowledge. Mitra believes learning happens when teachers are their to facilitate questions and the students collaborate together.
Books and other resources serve as both mirror reflections and of one's own world and window providing the entry way into the world of others. What's the problem: imagine every day you go to school, you are asked to read or listen to something that is not representative of who you are, of your family, or of your community. The books put in front of you just don't reflect your interests or your life in any way. Imagine being told to remain silent as these books are shared. Sounds absurd? What would you do? Time out? Daydream? Talk with a peer? Misbehave?
Within my classroom there is a need for more multicultural books. Having a handful of multicultural books is not enough. It is my responsibility to empower my students with the tools to know they matter. If we want children to develop as successful learners, we must communicate that they belong in our classrooms. They need to see themselves, their cultures, their families and their communities reflected in the materials and resources they find there. It is my hope to begin to build my classroom library along with online tools to support this change. Epic online reading program also has multicultural online books. We know, that children's engagement and reading performance improve when they read books and engage in a range of classroom and community practices in which their stories are told and honored. I believe children must see themselves in classroom texts so they can affirm their identities. To honor their stories, another amazing online resource I discovered for multilingual students to make connections between their home and school while building skills of their future is Write Our World.
Write Our World allows students to make connections with others through shared experiences. It inspires them to be the author of their own personal story. I believe an education means believing in the power of education to expand minds and open hearts. Write Our World honors students stories with diverse texts to read. Write Our Worlds - Vision: Envision a world in which every child's story matters. Mission: To empower multilingual youth worldwide to embrace their languages and cultures while building skills for their future through ebook authoring. None of this would be possible without Book Creator. Their unique software gives voice to kids far and wide, and is constantly evolving to better meet the needs and desires of educators. A membership to Write Our World library provides access to the complete library and selection of teacher resources. Write Our World.org envisions a world in which every child's story matters. These books allow multilingual youth to embrace their languages and culture. In addition, this site offers English Language Development lesson plans to offer students of different ages learning experiences that build their sense of cultural identity as well as their linguistic skills. These lessons are aligned with the Common Core State Standards and include language supports for students at all WIDA levels. These lessons can serve as a starting point for ebook authoring. Through the use of technology, students are empowered learners by sharing about themselves and their culture. Some books are biographies of parents, others describe cultural traditions such as recipes, clothes, music and dance. Some are simply narratives from the author's life, sharing an important event such as an immigration story. It is a way for students to see their ideas represented in both their heritage language and in English. As a teacher, you do not have to be able to speak students' languages for identity texts to be created and used in the classroom. All the books are created with Book Creator, are both written and recorded bilingually, and include original illustrations, photography or video. They are then submitted to be published in the Write Our World library. I believe in my heart, every child's capacity to think at high levels and engage deeply in learning. It is vital that students tell stories, see visuals and most importantly, read and listen to books that represent them and are authored by people who look like them.
Digital media is reshaping the power of storytelling. What would it be like to have an online space where kids around the world could learn about human diversity directly from one another? What if they could revitalize their own languages, develop biliteracy and deepen a positive sense of identity in the process? Better still, what if they could create a body of diverse reading materials in low incidence languages that could serve as an educational resource and cultural archive at the same time? My plan is to incorporate Book Creator (Storytelling) with Epic Multicultural Books and Write Our World ebooks by kids for kids to make Connections and Build Relationships in my classroom. It is here where Boyd's message resonates with me. Students need my assistance with navigating through this process even though they are "Digital Natives" as Preskey would indicate. There is no doubt, that I am a Technocrat according to Noon. However, I would say I posses some elements of a Techno-traditionalist because I use an electronic grade book, email, and google classroom, slides and forms; however, not proficiently. As educator, I will always continue learning. I am hopeful to make my way toward becoming a Techno-constructivist as the year progresses.
Lastly, teaching students to critique text. Opening their minds to be critical thinkers, to hear other sides of stories, and different point of views. As Christensen pointed out, textbooks include serious distortions of history and contemporary issues on topics. In all subject areas, what we teach in schools is permeated with culture, and all curricula represent a particular way of seeing the world. Students of color make up over 50 percent of the population in today's U.S. schools and this percentage is expected to continue rising. Yet, adopted curricula rarely include or center on the histories and experiences of minoritized populations. Children are cultural beings with amazing histories and practices and no two children are the same. Efforts to "normallize" curriculum and "standardize" learning would seem to suggest the opposite. Standardization of schooling leaves some children perpetually peering out of windows and other gazing into mirrors.
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view .....until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" To Kill a Mockingbird
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