Task 2 and Edits

Wadsworth Elementary is in the Woodlawn area of Chicago. Our school is located on Woodlawn and 63rd. Prior to visiting places of our community, I decided to research the history and dynamics of Woodlawn. Woodlawn is 98% African American and over 1/2 of its residents are on some sort of social aid (Wikipedia). Honestly, knowing this information prior to visiting areas of the community did give me some feelings of anxiousness. I was not sure what to expect. I am from a small suburb of Detroit and I was from a mainly white community. At first, stereotypes of the homeless and people living in poverty came to mind. What would I see as I visit a place where half of the people are on governmental aid and 93% of my students are described as "low income?"

Before visiting places around my community the other interns in my school cohort asked the teachers and students in our school where they liked to visit in our community. We inquired about restaurants and after school "hangouts." Some of our teachers said that it was not safe to go to ANY restaurants around our school. Our students said that they typically went to Giordano's in Hyde Park, the YMCA after school and the grocery store down the street. These are the three places we choose to visit. We figured that the restaurant was something that the students might visit on a special occasion, the grocery store might be something that the do with adults at home to get food they eat on a more regular basis and the YMCA is something that many of our students do as a social event or after school.

I expected to see a grocery store that is typical of the chain grocery store, Aldi. From my experience, Aldi is a grocery store similar to L and L or Jewel Ossco. I expect to see children and adults shopping for food because we plan on visiting after school. (Edit: The grocery store was much smaller than I expected. There were about five isles, and there was no deli and a very small produce section. Based on my experiences at Aldi prior to this, I am surprised to see such a small store serving this community.) At the pizza restaurant, I am expecting to see a restaurant typical to Italian eateries. At the YMCA I am expecting to see a recreational center with a pool, possibly a play area outside and children participating in after school activities. Based on my research of the community, I guess in regards to biases I expect to see many African Americans who seem to be struggling financially. I am not sure what this might consist of or if it will be the case. (Edit: At the grocery store, I did observe a man and a woman arguing over the price of something, saying they could not afford to buy so many groceries. This does not necessarily mean that they are poor or reflected by the statistics of the community, however it shows that these families are aware of a budget and possibly watch watch what they spend. At the restaurant, I saw families of many different ethnicities dining out together. This also shows that there is still a disposable income within the residents of this community and they are able to go out and spend money on leisure such as eating in a restaurant.)
I see myself as somewhat of an outsider, however based on my experience at my school with such a friendly staff, I have become somewhat "used" to being a minority in my community. Other outsiders might find this intimidating at first (I know I did). (Edit: Outsiders might be surprised by the small grocery store or by the lack of families shopping there after school hours. I was surprised to see there were no children and about 10 adults shopping at this time.)

I expect to see many types of inter-connections between reading, writing and listening at the places we are going to visit. For example, I plan on seeing people reading and writing grocery lists, reading labels and prices and listening to store announcements, cashiers and other people in the store. (Edit: I did hear a couple arguing about what to buy and prices, they were required to read the prices and listen to each other speak about it. I also saw cashiers reading prices and discussing the amounts with customers. I also saw three customers on their cell phones. This is an aspect of literacy that is new and might be relative to students we teach.) At the YMCA I expect to see children and adults reading signs to see where to go within the building and listening to directions that are given. At the restaurant I expect to see people listening to each other speak, reading the menu and discussing it with the wait staff and writing their name on receipts. (Edit: These were present at the locations!)

( Task 4 Edit: I have definitely learned a lot about my community throughout visiting these places. I know that my neighborhood is not very safe and the crime rate is high. I teach/work in this environment and these families live in it. However, I see that there is literacy and math present in many aspects of the community despite the fact that the community does not have many funds and might not have state of the art buildings or facilities. I have learned that each school, community and family brings different experiences to our school learning community. I think as a teacher it is important to help students see that they are learning all the time, whether it be at the grocery store, eating out or at the YMCA after school.

Much of the Compton-Lilly article was about connecting home to school experiences. I think that the funds of knowledge idea could really help out in my school community. For example, in my school at least in my classroom, there is a lack of parental involvement. This is sad because they really have a wealth of knowledge and can lead us to learn about their child and help us understand their development thus far. It might be hard for a teacher to do home visits, as the teacher in Compton-Lilly did. However, a neat solution might be to send home a questionnaire for parents to fill out on bright colored paper and offer that the returnees will be entered in a drawing for a certificate to a store in the community. This might involve parents and help encourage them to help us learn more about their child and their own personal experiences that they can contribute to the classroom.)