Below you will find a checklist of culturally relevant practices that may be used to one's benefit when teaching social studies in Paterson Schools.
1. For a lesson on immigration students will interview someone with a cultural/ethnic background other than their own. Each student will present what they've learned to the class, and bring in an item significant to the culture they've studied. These items can be either an object or a popular snack/dish (must be cleared with me for allergies).
2. Using a popular song to create a pneumonic device for memorization of certain topics (i.e. countries, capitals, presidents, amendments, etc.).
3. Having each student bring in an item, song, or tell personal anecdote that will better help us understand each other. This can be something tells us more about your personality, or more about your culture.
4. When choosing which novelists or essayists to use for class assignments, try to use those who may identify with who I am teaching. Paterson has a large hispanic community. To teach about Spanish history I may choose to include an excerpt from Don Quijote.
5. I can use historical artwork created by say a Peruvian or Dominican artist to help students use artistic clues to uncover details about the past.
6. Using a game they are all familiar with to help them study before a test. For example, growing up we all new what Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was, so our teachers often used it to help us study. In paterson. Students can even create their own game to help them learn the material, while having the opportunity to have fun as well.
7. Spending time on topics that are often brushed over. When discussing each time period, it can be beneficial to get various perspectives on the period. To teach about the civil war era, for example, I may provide 5 or 6 diary type entries or excerpts for class discussion. Each of these excerpts will be from a different type of perspective (a white plantation owner, a slave, a former slave, a hispanic member of the union army, and a hispanic member of the confederate army, and a native american). We often get perspectives of whites and blacks, but people often forget there were others here at the time.
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After viewing Waiting for Superman, I can honestly say I was crossing my fingers for these kids as they waited to hear their names called aloud during the lotteries. There were some tears, there was some laughter. What seemed to bother me most was the situation that occurred with chancellor Rhee in D.C. Many teachers believe they have a right to sit back an do absolutely nothing once they're tenured, and its part of the reason their students may struggle to succeed. Rhee sought to pay teachers what they were worth while eliminating tenure. If you do what you're supposed to you should be able to keep your job. Why should someone who does nothing maintain a job when their may be someone unemployed, who'd get the job done with greater success and commitment? I agreed with Rhee, and wished the union gave it a second thought. I saw it as a great way to weed out the useless. Money is wasted to keep these poor teachers, money that can be used for better teachers and better programs.
Below are some of the practices that caught my attention when viewing the film.
1. Reading a magazine when you should be teaching. ----BAD
2. Teacher Harriet Ball in Houston, teaching her students math terms using a rap song-----GREAT
3. The clips from the Simpsons and School of Rock----BAD
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