Prompt # 6 - SHOR

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. How have you (or the classroom teacher) communicated in ways that demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to sociocultural and linguistic differences?

As I have said before, good behavior is valued in this classroom. Therefore, there must be some sort of connection between the teacher and the students to establish this behavior. There is a chart in the classroom with all the children’s names. Above the names is a green slip of paper. With each bad behavior (talking out, talking back, not listening) the child goes to the chart and switches their color (green to yellow, yellow to red). This encourages positive interactions in the classroom. If the children are behaving, and have a sense of discipline, this will encourage them to behave and therefore the classroom will run smoothly. If this was not happening, and the children visually did not see this colored chart, they couldn’t have a sense of discipline and therefore, would misbehave more frequently.

English professor Ira Shor believed in a problem-posing, critical, pedagogy. Critical pedagogy means questioning the way things are. In traditional schooling, the classroom is teacher-centered, and therefore, the teacher is in power. In a student-centered classroom, the students and teachers work together. This leads to individual growth, cooperation, and togetherness. Participation is the most important part of schooling. Children learn through interaction and experimenting. By giving children the opportunity to participate, allows them to be curious, and this is crucial to democracy. Therefore, democracy and participation go hand in hand. Endullment, or the lack of participation, lessens the child's opportunity to individual success.

Young children are visual and hands-on learners. Engaging the children in a lesson where they can participate with their peers and with the teacher is crucial. That is why, when Mrs. Berna introduced me to a game using their vocabulary words, I continued to play the game each week. Repetition is also the key to success at a young age. The more children see or do something, the more confident they become at it each time. There were two vocabulary word games that I used each week when I tutored my four students. One was a matching/puzzle-type game, and the other was a game, which evolved rolling a large cube. Game number one simply evolves flash cards of high frequency Spanish vocabulary words, cut in half. We spread all the slips of paper on the table. The children take turns finding 2 slips of paper to form a familiar word. The children like to do this and they all help each other. Once all the matches are made, each child reads off all of the words they have made! The second game is corporative and repetitive. Two large 6-sided cubes have 6 different words on them. The two cubes are identical. The children form groups of two. They take turns rolling the dice. They must read and tally which word they get by writing it on a worksheet. The game finishes when both groups have completed their tally charts. The children like this game because they get to work with a partner and get a little competitive!