Class

Class

Kelley TottenMichelle Barrington

Jordan Raper

1. Goal of instruction2. Role of the home language3. Instructional materials4. Classroom management and

interaction with students5. Relationship to the community6. Instructional methods7. Assessment

Literacy in the Classroom

Class is not really about how much

money someone makes.

What might look like a child of poverty is really an intricate mosaic of different attitudes, behaviors, capacities, and experiences.

What Class Really Means…

Jones, Stephanie (2006). Girls, Social Class, and Literacy: What Teacher’s Can Do To Make A Difference. Portsmouth, NH: A division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

Perceptions of students from working-poor families are often formed through vision that has

been “hindered”, a narrow seeing that encourages middle-class people to designate children and

families as other, different, and deficient.

Children With Differences


When critical literacy engagements are

embedded in students’ lives and driven by their observations and comments,

than students will find such work interesting, motivating, and deeply

stimulating.

Literacy in the Classroom


Invite students to attach themselves to school

without rejecting their family or shedding identities

Such work in the classroom, however, could not be possible without the in-depth understanding of lives and the ways in which class, gender, and race come together to shape the social, psychological, physical, and academic lives of the young people with whom we work.

Teaching Approaches


Instead of generations of children

continuing to be raised by and compare their lives with images and books

representing perfect lives, readers need basic repertoires of practices to ask

critical questions of texts, creators of texts, and of themselves as readers of

texts.

Teaching Approaches


Students of Diverse Social

Classes

The child gains everyday concepts through

daily life The child learns scientific concepts through

formal instruction and schooling Students can gain academic knowledge by

building on the foundation of personal experience

Social Constructivism

Au, Kathryn (1998). Social Constructivism and the School Literacy Learning of Students of Diverse Backgrounds. Journal of Literacy Research. Volume 30, Number 2.

Each student comes from a different culture

group, which has formed their perspective on life.

Links among historical, cultural, and individual conditions are formed when children are learning to use language and literacy.

Use examples from every culture when teaching lessons so each student can relate

Teaching Approaches


Explanations for the Achievement Gap

Linguistic DifferencesCultural Differences

DiscriminationInferior Education

Many students of diverse backgrounds speak a

home language other than SAE.

Decreased opportunity to use existing language skills as the foundation for learning to read and write

Teaching Approach: Let the students write some stories in their language and

others in SAE

Linguistic Differences


Students have difficulty learning in school

because instruction does not follow their community’s cultural values and standards for behavior

Teaching Approach: Talk story-like reading lessons

Students could collaborate in producing their own stories using ideas from their culture

Cultural Differences


Disproportionate numbers of students of

diverse backgrounds are labeled as poor readers and placed in the lowest reading groups in the classroom

Teaching Approach: Evenly distribute the students into groups

where race/ethnic group does not place a factor

Discrimination


Urban schools with a high proportion of

African American students frequently have deteriorating buildings, outdated textbooks, inexperienced teachers, and surroundings that expose students to violence

Teaching Approach: Bring in updated outside resources that the

students can use

Inferior Education


General

Middle Class Cultivation

Parents involve children in multiple organized activities, such as sports, music and dance lessons, and arts, crafts, and hobby groups

Working Class Accomplishment and Natural Growth

Children “hang out” with siblings, friends, and relatives while parents involve themselves in a minimum of organized activities

Spring, Joel (2010). American Education. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Speech

Middle Class Cultivation Parents reason with

their children, allowing them to challenge their statements and negotiate


Parents issue directives and seldom allow their children to challenge or question these directives


Dealing with Institutions

Middle Class Cultivation Parents criticize and

intervene in institutions affecting the child, such as school, and train their children to assume a similar role


Parents display powerlessness and frustration towards institutions, such as school


Results

Middle Class Cultivation Children gain the

social and cultural capital to deal with a variety of social situations and institutions


Children develop social and cultural capital that results in dependency on institutions and jobs where they take orders rather than manage othersSpring, Joel (2010). American Education. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

In Summation…

~Imagine the life of middle-class children -parents chauffer them to events and competitions-parents deal with teachers and coachesCultivation can lead to children and later adults

feeling comfortable in a variety of situations~Imagine the life of working class children-children spend unstructured time with friends in

local parks and yards-parents command what children do and don’t doAccomplishment results in skills of the technical type,

but not with managerial skillsJones, Stephanie (2006). Language with an Attitude: White girls performing class. Portsmouth, NH: A division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

WHAT CLASS ARE YOU?

(according to PBS)

http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/games/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/games/index.html

Who would you sit by on a bus?

1(on left) 2 (on right)

http://www.obtain-wealth.net/Farrah_Gray.html

http://man&docid=b4bw29LBFodaGM&w=600&h=800&ei=P2RlTozQOc6ftweD0L2bCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=134&vpy=-6&dur=357&hovh=102&hovw=77&tx=96&ty=245&page=3&tbnh=102&tbnw=77&start=18&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:18

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/01/08/top-ten-richest-people-in-the-world-by-2011/http://www.google.com/imgres?q=homeless+man&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DBk&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=797&bih=323&tbm=isch&tbnid=I5m-xVpvqDduBM:&imgrefurl=http://www.digital-photo.com.au/tag/homeless-

man&docid=b4bw29LBFodaGM&w=600&h=800&ei=P2RlTozQOc6ftweD0L2bCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=134&vpy=-6&dur=357&hovh=102&hovw=77&tx=96&ty=245&page=3&tbnh=102&tbnw=77&start=18&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:18

http://technorati.com/politics/article/the-stupid-things-conservatives-tweet/page-2/

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1351/162/98/1265806044/n1265806044_30216224_4762.jpg?

dl=1

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