Angelica and educational equality

One of the little girls I see at Banneker every day is not completely Deaf. She wears a hearing aid, reads lips very well, and if you say her name loudly she may turn her head. Her speech has the structure of English, but many of her words don't sound like words. Her grandfather says she went to a pre-school for the Deaf where she learned to sign and that her mother signs, but he and most of her family know only a limited number of signs. As far as I know, she is in a classroom with hearing children for most of the day. The other children in the after-school program cannot sign. I asked my supervisor if Angelica's teacher could offer any suggestions as to how to communicate with her. The response: "do the best you can."

I face two challenges with Angelica.

First: The group dynamic among these girls, one Deaf and three to four hearing, is incredibly frustrating to me. I can tell that Jonkel, Kayla, Rodrika, and Mya are old enough to understand that Angelica is different. They know the word "deaf" and when it comes to her other anti-social behaviors (like growling, for instance) they roll their eyes and tell me Angelica is weird. They are not matured enough to understand what that difference means. Today Angelica tried to ask Jonkel for help. She pointed at Jonkel and tried to say, "help." It came out more like, "hee...l" which I guess sounded like "hoe." Immediately all the girls at the table said "oooooh" the way that 2nd graders do and, even though I was sitting right there when it happened, all three girls tattled at the same time. "She cursin' Jonkel out, she evil." Angelica then signed "help." I recognized the sign because I've been using this site, http://www.signingsavvy.com/, to build a basic vocabulary to communicate with Angelica. After I explained to the girls what she was trying to say Kayla's response was, "Why she couldn't just say it instead of the other word?" So you can see how simple peer-to-peer communication would be frustrating for Angelica. She is most likely very confused as to why her friends react to her with laughter or anger.

The second challenge (and I say second because if our table can't jump that first hurdle for the day, we'll never settle down and finish the homework) is actually explaining the assignment. I can get her through spelling and math. Reading comprehension is just a task her mother will have to help her with. Judging from the contents of her school folder, it seems that her teacher holds her accountable for the same level of work her peers are doing. She should be performing at the same level, I'm not asserting she shouldn't. What I am curious about, is how this teacher is teaching Angelica. Angelica, even when she reads instructions out loud, doesn't seem to understand what she is being asked. I have seen understanding on her face, it usually follows my pathetic attempts at ASL and many questions back and forth. That expression, which I love to see, just costs me too much time. I can't neglect the other girls for one student. Angelica needs a different approach, she does not learn the same way her classmates do.

So when it comes to education, is it really reasonable to imagine compete equality within one school, let alone among all schools? Back to Angelica, I can easily see that she would benefit from a classroom where signing is common practice, where her classmates are sensitive to her impairment, where her teacher can adequately convey concepts. However, a separate education is "inherently unequal" (Brown v. Board of Education). We can easily apply this concept to racial segregation because race is no factor in intellectual or academic capabilities. It is not so easy when it comes to other differences among humans. The Deaf obviously must acquire academic skills differently than do those that hear. Should Angelica and other hearing-impaired students be segregated? Or what about more minute differences, 'gifted' children? An even more compelling idea that Professor Bankston brought up, what about differences in learning/teaching styles among socio-economic status??

I am struggling with a conclusion to this funnel of thoughts because I'm not quite sure how to say what I want to say sensitively. Allow me to think a little more about educational segregation, the forms in which it still exists today, the functions different types of segregation could possibly serve, and the problems it can create.

Perhaps my next entry will be that giant paper I have to write....

Lafayette Academy, day 2

Friday, I spent some more time in the Reading Room at at Lafayette Academy. When I pulled Kevin from class he immediately said, "I thought you were coming Thursday!" It made me realize that the time I spend in that Reading Room is more than just a fulfillment of Tulane's public service requirement.

I didn't get much time in this week; class, work, and other appointments kept me away until Friday. On Friday, I had 2 hours available but could only stay for one hour because the kids had to go to lunch. I'm sorry that I didn't get to spend time with Johnny this week. I did ask Ms. Loewy if I could go to the Reading Room more than just once a week because I'm concerned about earning all 20 hours. Spring is a strange time in public schools with standardized testing and multiple breaks. She said that was fine. So, Tuesday I plan to read with Johnny first. I hate to imagine him being disappointed that I failed to hang out with him this week.

Friday was sort of a "fun day" in the Reading Room. First, Johnny and I read a Magic School Bus book. He told me he likes these books because he has seen many of the movies. His favorite part is when the bus spins around really fast. Kevin very much enjoys reading. He doesn't look upon it as a chore. He even likes to look through a book before we start and say, "you read this page and this one and this one, and I'll read these two and this page..." It's really pretty adorable. After we finished the book, Kevin was eager to play Sorry. Most days the kids may only play educational board games after reading. Occasionally, though, the shelf of other board games (like Sorry, Guess Who, Monopoly..) is open. We played with another student and his Reading Buddy. The two boys were competitive, and once there were tears in Kevin's eyes because the other little boy had sent Kevin's piece back to Start. However, neither of the two raised their voices or said mean things to the other. A big part of my job at Banneker is peace-keeping. I was relieved that Kevin and his friend could play this game civilly.

This is the reading room. You don't see any students because they had all gone to lunch at this point. I asked for permission to take photos of the room and of the kids. Ms. Loewy told me that most students' parents had granted permission for them to be filmed and photographed and that as long as I was not planning on selling the photographs it would be alright to snap pictures.

Walking through the halls of Lafayette Academy, I notice that the students are much more talented at walking in lines without making much noise than students at Banneker. The teachers at Laffayette do not raise their voices as often as teachers at Banneker. I have not spent nearly as much time in Laffayette Academy as I have Banneker, so I cannot make a true comparison. On the surface, though, Laffayette's students seem much more well behaved. During a short conversation with Ms. Loewy, she told me that Laffayette strives to instill in their students a strong sense of discipline. This enhances the learning environment and the school truly seems a peaceful place to learn and play.

apparently, Robert Meachem paid a visit to Banneker

And I missed him by an hour or two :(

When I got to the school, the entire cafeteria was dancing to the Ying Yang Twins and singing the Who Dat chant. Saints fever will never dissipate (and it shouldn't).

Back at Banneker

Today I returned to my old position with the after school program at Benjamin Banneker Elementary. I was delighted that nearly all of the students I worked with last Spring and Summer remembered me after so many months. I wasn't able to work last semester because I had to take some classes that met during the after school program. I have missed those kids!

These girls, Rodrika and Kayla, were in my class this past Summer. I am working with them again, along with two other sweet 3rd grade girls. My job is pretty fun. After a short snack, we pull out the week's syllabus. Their teachers have broken down their assignments for the week by days and subjects. Today we studied for a spelling test, practiced vocabulary words, talked about adjectives and circled them in sentences, and completed a page of a math packet that focused on fractions. The homework seems easy for these girls; they breeze through the tedious tasks of writing spelling words five times each and matching words with definitions. The only fraction we worked with today was "1/2" and the girls had to draw lines through various shapes to divide the shape into halves. I help them stay on task more than anything, and I wonder why they aren't challenged more.

I will be at Banneker every evening from 4:30-6:30. This is important because I can really build relationships with the children. At Lafayette Academy, I am only given one hour a week with one student at a time. Working at Banneker has a different flavor because I'm interacting with 4-5 students during homework time, and then during the hour of recreation time I hang out with all ages, from 1st through 5th or 6th grade.

But more importantly than the help I can offer with homework, I feel that I am called to be a friend. I have no idea what these children are going home to. Today the teacher I am replacing, Rhonda, (she will be heading up a new after school program at another location next week) mentioned that she strives every day to give the students at least 45 minutes of outside playtime because most of them do not have much supervised playtime. It is important to get a game of dodgeball or basketball going, or play hop-scotch. It is important to let little girls be little girls and let little boys be little boys. Sometimes I'm astounded at the level of understanding these kids have of mature subject matter, and I'm glad that at least in this environment they can run and braid my hair and talk about how cute the Jonas Brothers are.

Lafayette Academy, day 1

I went to Lafayette Academy's Reading Room once a few weeks ago, but because my folder was missing I could not meet the students I have been assigned to. Last week, everything was in order and I was able to meet Kevin and Johnny.

Kevin was a tiny ball of energy. He was very eager to tell me all about his sister, his Momma, the Mardi Gras parades we went to, and the pancakes he ate for breakfast. His enthusiasm for reading really put me at ease. He probably helped me more on my first day than I helped him. His folder had been poorly logged and I didn't have a clear idea of what his reading level was, so I pulled three books from three different levels. Before we read, we played with a set of Bananagrams. The rules of the game are a little too complex for third graders, so I had him spell words about Mardi Gras. I wanted to get an idea of the kinds of words that are in his vocabulary and how well he could spell them. This was a successful activity for him, and I think I will begin most sessions with a "themed spelling time." We read two books after that. Just as Ms. Loewy suggested, we took turns reading to each other. He was very attentive when I read and he seemed to comprehend the story very well. Periodically I would stop and ask him if he know what a long word meant or ask him questions about the plot to make sure he was comprehending what he read. In my experience with third grade students at Benjamin Banneker Elementary, kids will often be able to read through a story but fail to understand what they are reading.

Johnny was much quieter. I tried the Bananagram exercise with him as well, but he needed a lot more guidance as to which words to spell. Perhaps he is just a shy boy and it will take a little time for him to open up to me. I was concerned at one point while we were spelling. I asked him if there were any words he would like to know how to spell, to which he replied 'prostitute.' This was the first time I've heard inappropriate language at Lafayette. The students at Banneker have very dirty mouths and I'm used to guiding conversations away from inappropriate topics. I didn't want to embarrass him, but I did tell him that was not a cool word so we spelled some animals and then read a book about animals. The book I had pulled for him was sort of plot-less, but it touched on a concept that I don't think he understood: predator-prey relationships among animals in the forest. We had a small discussion about how some animals are hunters and some animals are hunted, and sometimes hunters turn into prey and prey turns into predators. Johnny told me at the end of our hour that he thought the book was too easy and he wants to read a chapter book. This may be a good idea, to have a book that we keep coming back to week after week. This week, I plan to get to the Reading Room a little early so that I can pull two or three chapter books and have him decide which one he would like to read.

I am very excited to be working in Lafayette Academy and I look forward to building relationships with these two little boys. Also, I was called this week to return to my job as a tutor for Kedila Family Learning Center. They run an after-school program at Benjamin Banneker Elementary School. This school is a Recovery School District school and the dynamic is much different compared to Lafayette, which is a Charter School. It will be interesting to compare my observations between the two schools. I start back with the after-school program today!