Blog #5

Milwaukee has been called one of the most segregated cities in the nation and the “Selma of the North” because of its extreme divisions based on race. I am from California so I was really surprised when I got here to see so many divisions. I had never really thought about race and schooling at this point. When I was preparing for going to my service learning I went to Windlake Elementary, I asked a person who is from Milwaukee about directions on how to get there and about the busses since it has been a while since I used a bus (in California there is virtually no public transportation). She said to be careful since that part of town was the “Mexican ghetto”. This remark really surprised me, I haven’t really seen race this divided in California. A lot probably has to do with my upbringing as being very inclusive and diverse with many of our family friends being of different races and my girlfriend being Cambodian.

The second shocker that I faced was the forum on housing for my action hour paper. I never realized how segregated this city is and how the policies of the city and unwritten rules affect people of color that live in Milwaukee. The Fair Housing Council of Wisconsin played a few phone calls with blatant racism where the realtor specifically said that a African American person could not purchase a home. I could not believe that racism like this could still exist in our society.

These racial divisions probably have a large effect on how the students at Windlake view their community. I think that many of them feel trapped by where they live and their race. This is why the school encourages them to think about college from such an early age and to set their goals high. In Warriors don’t Cry Melba felt a lot of desperation from how she was born.  Other students like her must have had so many high goals that they wanted to achieve but had no real way of getting there because of their race. I have always thought that it isn’t fair to categorize people on something that they can’t control and to give everyone a chance to prove themselves. As a nation we need to focus on making sure that everyone feels comfortable at school and has an equal opportunity to succeed.

Blog 4

I have just begun to get into reading my teacher story book over fall break and I can already relate to the experiences from my service learning. I am reading Holler if you Hear Me by Gregory Michie and I can specifically relate to his experiences of classroom control. In the chapter Terrible No Good Very Bad, Michie relates an experience where he has no control over his class and the students get out of control. I had a similar experience when I did my service learning. First most of the students at the school had a soccer game that afternoon that was one of the after school programs that they were in, so none of them could focus on any school work. Then they had to read a lot and get through two chapters of a story. I worked with about half of the class in the lobby of the school while the teacher worked with the half in the classroom. We did popcorn reading and literally every time someone walked by their attention was completely distracted and then two of the boys started messing with each other. I need to work on taking control of a class otherwise these students are going to figure out that I am “soft on crime” and then I will never be able to regain control.

I need to work on “reflection in action” to adjust the way I am tutoring because situations may change. For example a student that I may be tutoring might not be understanding so I need to be able to switch and identify the best way of working with the student.

But the best part about service learning so far has been working with one student who has a hard time focusing and is probably the lowest performer in the class. He was learning the metric system and was not getting it. On a quick aside this student is in a fifth grade class and I didn't learn the metric system and conversions until 7^th grade so I think its perfectly reasonable to not understand fifth graders. So we worked through a few problems and I taught him one of the tricks that I used last year on the Advanced Placement to remember the metric system and he got it. It was amazing to see him finally understand what he was unable to understand it, his face just lit up and he had a huge smile. That was probably the best part of service learning that I have had so far.

I also tutor 8^th graders in math at Windlake. I have been helping them correct problems on their tests and mainly force them to do the work. I was going to give my email address to them if they had any questions about Algebra homework that I could answer over email, because I am away from my phone a lot. I was very surprised about their response. Most of them said that they didn't have computers at home. I was astonished. I had grown up my whole life around computers (mostly because my dad is a nerd who works for HP) and I don't know how it is possible to do homework without one. I think that over the years education will be heavily impacted by the advancement of technology. But we must remember to make sure all schools have technology or we risk creating greater disparities in education than those that exist today.

Blog Post #3

I do my service learning at the Windlake Academy, working with a 6th grade class for 30 minutes and a 5th grade class for the next hour. I was a little nervous getting there the first time as I had my orientation at a different site. I really didn’t know the neighborhood that well and I was a little concerned about getting back to my next class on time. I didn’t know what I was going to be doing when I got there.

I observed a math lesson when I first got to Windlake. I enjoyed it and I actually had to remember some math that I did in elementary school when I helped some students. At 10:00 I helped out in a 5th grade classroom with reading. I ended up working with a small group of boys who had a very hard time focusing for more than 15 seconds. We were able to get through a few pages of a new book, as I attempted to make the book interesting for them. The kids that I worked with were some of the lowest readers between the two fifth grade classes, so that was a major challenge. I enjoyed the challenge and was able to be a good role model for these students.

The book that we were reading was about a teenager who had to shoot a bow and arrow and hit a target. When I asked my group of students why they thought he would have to hunt, they thought that it was because he was poor. They were connecting their experiences coming from a low income community and I realized how hard it is to leave some of the baggage that we face at home. In Warriors Don’t Cry Beals has a hard time facing the academic challenges because she has to deal with all of the attacks and harassment of the other students. It has to be difficult for these students to deal with all their problems going around them with the neighborhood that they are in.

When I first went into the class a lot of students wanted to know where I was from. I explained to them that I was from Marquette University and they thought that was the coolest thing. I hope that I will be a great role model for them and that maybe in the future there will be a few Marquette students out of that class. I absolutely enjoyed my time at Windlake and this experience may get me to reconsider my finance major or at least consider Teach for America.

In Chapter 10 Beals relates her story of her first day of classes. She is attacked and bullied throughout the day and by the end of the day all the African American students have to be evacuated for fear of their safety. Student safety is still a concern today. How as educators can we protect students from bullying, harassment and violence?