On page 193, they state, "So much is happening to children during their first 3 years at home, at a time when they are specially malleable and uniquely dependent on the family for virtually all their experience, that by age 3 an intervention must address not just a lack of knowledge or skill, but an entire general approach to experience." Many of our students come from varied backgrounds, and they each have unique life experiences. No matter what grade we teach, some of our students come to us ready and eager to learn, while others are lacking crucial social and academic skills. Though Hart and Risley champion early intervention, we realize that the achievement gap is so widespread that we must attack the problem at all grade levels.
What can we do as educators to truly equalize the experiences of children in the classroom, no matter what grade they are in, so that they can finally begin to overcome the language gap amongst socioeconomic groups?
The question of tackling the achievement gap before it has the chance to develop in a child, or a community, is complicated. No matter what interventions we put in place during the school day, the fact of the matter is that our students may not be receiving support or enrichment at home. This is not to say that parents aren't caring or involved in their children's lives. Rather, they may not have a sense of the kinds of activities that would level the playing field for their kids.
ReplyDeleteA young teacher in another course made a great point during a similar discussion. She spoke about the importance of providing adult literacy programs for parents who, despite their motivation, may lack the skills necessary to prepare their children for school.
I know that parent involvement is a weak point for my school. And, though I've done a good job convincing parents that it's important to do certain things at home (helping with homework, reading with their children), I haven't provided much guidance. When I get homework that is lazily done and incorrect, I assume that student's parents don't care enough to work with them. I think this teacher made a good point when she reminded us to consider supporting the parents of our students, so that they, in turn, can support their kids.
Chloe
As a kindergarten teacher, I work with children who are on the "early side" of the achievement gap. But as many studies have pointed out, the gap starts early, and is already apparent by the time that my students enter the classroom. While I don't feel that I am prepared to single-handedly erase the language gap that already exists between my students and their wealthier peers, I believe that as teachers of young children we must do our best to harness one element that (with my students at least--admittedly a very small sample) seems untouched by socioeconomic factors: an enthusiasm for learning new things. I've found that my kindergartners love nothing more than learning new vocabulary words, whether they are names of new animals or different synonyms for "loud." I think that one of the biggest things we can do as educators to "level the playing field" is to keep expectations high for our students. I firmly believe that a five-year-old can use the word "commotion" correctly in a sentence, and make it my job to expose my students to as many new words and their meanings as I possibly can. As teachers of low-income students, we need to put in a much greater effort to teach vocabulary than do those teachers who work with students who have been exposed to many more words by the time that they get to school.
ReplyDeleteHowever, while I firmly believe that we can make a big different in the classroom, Chloe's point really resonates with me as well. As much as we can do in school to try to counteract the language gap, we can make a much bigger difference if we find creative and effective ways to help parents help their kids.
The point that Millie makes about teaching her students different vocabulary words and synonyms really resonated with me. I often have discussions with my pre-k team about the lack of language our students have. We give them simple pattern books to "read" and it seems as if every animal they see is a dog. There are just SO many words that they don't know and have never had exposure to in the past. One suggestion my IST came up with, which may seem rather boring, was picture charts. She has seen other classrooms go over posters of different animals, fruits, vegetables, sports, etc. Students are able to see pictures of things and simply be exposed to new words. They go through these charts rather quickly, but the class is exposed to words they a have never heard before. For example, this IST taught a class of kindergarteners the difference between a lime and a lemon, two fruits that they could simply not identify.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've never tried such a direct lesson on vocabulary, I do find that my students are fascinated by learning these new words. But I am also fascinated by how many words they really don't know. With every letter my students learn, we look at four picture cards of words that begin with that letter. For example, when we studied Oo, there was a picture of overalls. All of my students, almost simultaneously, yelled out...PANTS! It took them the entire week to understand that pants and overalls were different clothing items. It just once again reminded me how important it is to expose our students to new and interesting words. How would my students know what overalls were if they have NEVER heard the word before? They just wouldn’t know. On a positive note, however, my para is very persistent on teaching out class to speak like mature students. For example, she has decided that she hates when students say that they need to "pee." Rather, she rather them say they need to "urinate." I am almost floored when my students approach me saying that they need to urinate. But it just goes to show that they can pick up these new words if only they are given the opportunity. Just some thoughts from a pre-k classroom!
Prior to becoming a Teach for America corps member, I worked for a non-profit organization called Jumpstart. The program involved college students working at local nursery schools to encourage early literacy. While the question for this post focuses on late childhood, it is reassuring to know that Teach for America is not the only program working to improve education by attempting to prevent the achievement gap before it begins. Katie’s post reminded me of an experience that I had with Tierra, a struggling writer at my preschool site. We worked with Tierra to help her write her name on a daily basis. She was beginning to understand how the letters worked together to form her name and seemed to be making progress. One morning during our name writing practice, she wrote “TiTi” instead of her name. She told us that it was her nickname at home. Although it was exciting to see her adamantly write her nickname repeatedly, it was also disheartening to think that we would have to work harder to help her understand that she should also write her full name. The influence of children’s experiences at home during early development can certainly have a lasting impact. Tierra learned from her parents how to write and while writing her nickname had positive and negative consequences, she still had experiences that many of my students did not.
ReplyDeleteVocabulary instruction is a constant battle in my school. As stated in a previous comment, parent involvement is low, which makes it more difficult to rely on parents to help with vocabulary acquisition. The general approach is to simply expose them to vocabulary words, but many of my students do not actually acquire the vocabulary unless it is used repeatedly and in context. We have several vocabulary programs that should work in theory, such as Word Generation, but are struggling due to inconsistent implementation. In my classroom, I do not have vocabulary instruction on a consistent basis. However, I do teach vocabulary words in context and REALLY celebrate with my students when they use language above their grade level. I try to help my students with understanding skills that will help them decode more difficult words easily. Hopefully, my students will be able to use the skills they have acquired in my classroom to help them in other classes.