Prompt 1:

Poetters quote, Schools should look and act more like the communities that they
are and can be as opposed to the mere organizations they have become in so many
cases, especially in the public sphere" (P.70) means that in the classroom, the
teacher should create an environment where the students feel safe and the values,
goals, and lessons are based off of their lives and experiences that are meaningful to
them. Poetter explains that teachers should help students learn to be effective in
their relationships at school, home, and in their community so they can participate
and have opinions, actions, and values that matter to them. Students have a better
outlook and relationship with school if you connect their lives to the lesson and make
them have a say about what is going on and what they learning.
This connects to many of our readings on race. Setting high expectations for all
students, planning for teaching, creating and nurturing a culturally diverse setting for
learning, and teaching democracy are all factors that contribute to students feeling
welcomed and creating a sense of community (Poetter, p. 75). Michelle Wesler states,
All kids are smart and have the ability to learn and I need to always remember that!
(Poetter, p. 75). I believe we sometimes make lower expectations for some students
who are in poverty, disabled, or a minority. A way to incorporate different cultures
and ethnicities in the classroom is to use it as examples in all subjects. Gay explains
in The Importance of Multicultural Education, that students can apply such major
academic skills as data analysis, problem solving, comprehension, inquiry, and
effective communication as they study multicultural issues and events (p. 3). This will
make all students feel apart of the learning and have that sense of bonding and
community when they are in the classroom.
I have not ever been in a classroom where they directly speak about race. I would
really love to observe a teacher who values a strong sense of community and
multiculturalism. My students do have booklets that they made for each other. Each
day there was the special helper and they would learn their name and how to spell it.
Then they would have the student stand up and the teacher would have the students
talk about that color they would use for their skin, eyes, and hair. I thought this was
very interesting but it only lasted a certain amount of days and nothing went further.
My teacher has morning meetings and has the students meet on the carpet a lot
throughout the day. I really enjoy that they do that but wish they had more time to
just talk about themselves or what is going on in their lives.
Prompt 2:

The goal of the public schools should be to prepare all students,

regardless of race, gender, or class, to participate equally in a
democratic way of life (Meier, p 15). I believe this article has many
connections to Poetters chapter in Teacher Leadership about creating
a classroom community. Poetter states, Teachers need to teach things
that have to do with life and with building effective relationships
among the school, community, student, and teacher. Maybe the
bottom like is helping students to see how their present and future
lives have to do with participating wholly in a democracy where
individual and community opinions, positions, commitments, and
actions matter to themselves and to others over the short and long
terms (p 74). Students need real life experiences and interactions with
all types of humans to learn from and deeply understand concepts that
will stick with them forever. This is why the idea of how we assess
students should be more about their decision-making, voicing their
opinion, and responsibility. Ayers says that to become a wonderful
teacher you always need to be dynamic, growing, learning, developing,
and searching for a better way (p 160). This means that just because
you have a lesson that works for one classroom, doesnt mean it will
work the same way for your next class. It is important to learn from
your mistakes and new experiences so that you can keep achieving
wonderfulness.
In my field classroom, I believe the power of choice and seeing each
student, as a whole is what is missing. My students are expected to
complete the same tasks and work sheets throughout the day and the
only time they receive more help is when they are pulled out of the
classroom. I also feel like there is a never a chance for me to just talk
to the students or have them talk about topics and experiences that
they want to. I believe if they had more time to share, there would be a
stronger sense of community and the teacher would have a better
connection with each students individual needs.