I am at Shoesmith Elementary on 50th Street in Hyde Park, and have come to find that the majority of my students live in walking distance to the school or somewhere in Hyde Park. Myself and the other Shoesmith interns have decided to stay close to the school and explore various places our student frequently visit. One place is the Hyde Park Produce store on 51st street because it is a store where most families that live in the area seem to shop at. A grocery store is a great example of where my students may interact and be exposed to literacy. As young children walk through a grocery store with a parent they frequently ask for the parent to buy them something. In this case they child would have to read the print or look at the pictures on the cover of a product as well as read the price of the item. Another place we plan to visit is Leona’s Pizza right on 51st street. When I asked my kindergarteners where they like to eat many yelled out “Pizza!” This is a restaurant with quite an extensive menu with a lot of variety. This will be neat to read what the students in our school read when ordering here. We already visited the Farmers Market last weekend and we also plan on visiting Cleopatra’s hair salon on 51st.
At the farmers market there seemed to be a lot of mothers with either very young girls and boys or older girls. There were not many boys under the age of 10 it seemed. I expect that the Hyde Park Produce store will be about the same. At Leona’s I expect to see families with children as it is a pizza place. Literacy will be very apparent at the restaurant because children tend to look at menus as they know it shows the food they will be receiving. I visualize Cleopatra’s with a majority of African American customers because the demographic of the Hyde Park neighborhood seems to be having a large concentration of African Americans.
I live only three blocks from my school so at first I felt like an outsider because I didn’t know the area at all, but over the last few weeks I have grown to become very comfortable in my new neighborhood. So while I feel as if I’m not as much as an outsider anymore I often wonder, even though I live in the neighborhood and feel comfortable living, if the community as a whole considers me an outsider. Personally when going to the farmers market, grocery stores and restaurant in my new neighborhood I don’t feel like an outsider at all. Although, there are places that if I were to go to, I would feel like an outsider. One of these may be Cleopatra’s Hair Salon. Hairstyling is a very intricate and important part of the African American Community, and because the make-up and texture of my hair is different than those who may have their hair done at Cleopatra’s I would initially feel like an outsider.
I really like this idea that is asserting that reading, writing and oral language are all interconnected in the learning process. I think that at any grocery store all of these can be interconnected. For example you may write a grocery list to buy all of your products and while at the grocery store read the list as well as read the labels of each product to see what it is, and perhaps even talk to someone with you to see if that’s the product to buy. Now that I think of it, it would be very beneficial for a parent to go through this process with a child that is developing in order to have them go through an interconnected literacy process.
In our classroom we have a decent sized area store where there is a kitchen with many appliances as well as a shopping cart and play food set up as a store with the cash register and fake money. It would be a great lesson to have the students create a grocery list and go shopping. They would have to read from the list the created to buy their food, and talk to store workers about how to find the products on their list. This would be an excellent way to utilize three types of literacy in one lesson as well as math. This lesson would also connect the student to their community with literacy in mind; to the point where when going to the grocery store the students would think about what they did in the classroom!
As we toured the community I noticed right away how friendly people were. Everyone was smiling and saying hello as we walked by. I moved into this community about a month ago and I had this impression right away, but I still had fear associated with the south side of Chicago. Just walking around the community helped to combat these fears.
ReplyDeleteThis community experience helped very much in learning about my school and family units of my students. Shoesmith Elementary is a very community oriented school that is very focused on the neighborhood as a whole. At school it’s almost as if everyone is one big family. All of the staff is very helpful and friendly. The family units of my school are all very close. I have found that many of my students talk about cousins and brothers and sisters frequently and some of the students in my class are cousins as well. “They found that despite economic challenges, parents found ways to support their children with reading and writing” (Compton-Lilly, 450). I had a major stereotype about low income families and their interactions with their children. Touring the community and being a part of Shoesmith Elementary had quickly changed this stereotype. The majority of the students in my classroom have been approved for free lunch; but the majority of the parents are very supportive and concerned about their child’s education.
Before going into the community I had never thought about math or literacy as part of the community. Of course we use in our community everyday but pointing it out and realizing we do it is another story. This really opened up my eyes to the ways in which we encounter math and literacy in the community. This experience motivates me to talk with my students about the community the live in and have them think about the ways they use math and literacy in their everyday lives.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI found your comment about being an outsider of some interest. I completely feel the same way. Even though you feel comfortable in your school community, will they accept you as a member, or will you still be viewed as an outsider? I think that this can go two ways. If you view yourself as a member of the community I think you will in turn be viewed by others as a member of the community, despite apparent differences. This is what makes communities so diverse. Also, I think based on your presentation, you were welcomed into different areas of the community that might somehow feel foreign to you. For example, with the hair salon, you mentioned in your presentation that they were welcoming and interested in showing you around. Since you are interested in viewing the community with an open mind as well as seeing yourself as a member of the community, I think that you automatically become part of the community. It would be different if you judged the community or if they in turn judged you, but it sounds like you are part of a welcoming area which embraces newcomers.
I really like your idea of taking the fact that many of your students might have had experience with a grocery store and bringing that into the pretend play area of the classroom. You could incorporate math and literacy into this area. You could post new signs, have students come up with prices, lists and advertisements. You could even give them a story problem and have them act it out. I think this idea is excellent.
I enjoyed reading your blog post and comments. Your post was thoughtful and insightful.
-Allison
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI only live about 2 blocks away from my school as well, and like you, I also felt like an outsider. I noticed right away how friendly everyone was, and I immediately felt like I was part of the community because of this. On my way to school I see the same crossing guard and a few people walking to work and we always say hello to each other. :) It feels like a little neighborhood, although we're living in a big city!
I love your grocery store lesson idea! I think kindergarteners would be really engaged with this lesson, and it would be a great way to show students how we use money in our everyday lives. Not only will you be teaching a math lesson, you can integrate literacy (as you stated) by having the students write their own grocery lists. You could even take this further by introducing students to simple coupons, such as a buy one get one free coupon, and having them use this in your grocery store lesson. Do you think you'll have an opportunity to do this during your Guided Lead Teaching?
It was wonderful to read your experience with the community. You had some great ideas on creating meaningful lessons for your students.
- Michelle