Anna-Sumi's+First+Day+of+School+Ever

Literary Analysis:

Anna Miller December 1, 2011 Article Report

The article I chose to read was titled //A Change in Focus: Teaching Diverse Learners Within an Inclusive Elementary School Classroom// by Mary McMackin and Elaine Bukowiecki. The article presents a multitude of statistics regarding the growing level of diversity in schools, specifically at the elementary level. Budget cuts within schools have made classroom settings difficult for both students and teachers. For instance, students with language barriers are sometimes still kept in the classroom without an interpreter and many students with certain learning disabilities are being kept in the normal class setting instead of being removed from the group. The article is written to devise new courses and offer new ideas to help prepare teachers on how to deal with these growing diverse classroom situations. The specific students the article refers to when compiling ideas for the new course are: special needs, second language, cultures outside the “normal” society (homeless, bad homes, single-families, etc.) The two authors are professors for a graduate program and the majority of the article focuses on a variety of case studies that these graduate students created. This portion of the article was extremely interesting because they were able to offer suggestions and problems they saw in a completely non-biased way. They took into consideration the struggles faced by both the teachers and the students then proposed ideas that could benefit both parties. The article offers general education modifiers and also a more specific subject-based list. The lists suggested things like having students do peer work where they are able to work through things together or having the teacher give students different tasks to work on depending on their skill levels. The article’s main point is that every curriculum needs to be adjusted to every individual student’s needs, not vise versa. I think that is an extremely important part especially considering the wide range of diversity that exists in classrooms today. I thought this article was extremely similar to many of the topics we discussed in class. The purpose of our class is to gain knowledge of the variety of students we are going to have in our own classrooms someday, but briefly touched on //what// we should do when dealing with these learners. This article was interesting because it gave a detailed list of suggestions that teachers can use to help their students learn better thus creating a much more effective learning environment to be in and to teach in. Although I am hoping to someday teach high school students, I thought this article was still very beneficial to read, even if it addressed elementary-aged students. It seems that diversity levels within classrooms is increasing dramatically over time and is an aspect to education that will probably never go away. Therefore the ability to learn as much as possible about how to reach every student equally is essential knowledge to any current or future educator. I liked the article best because it gave teaching suggestions that were different than the conventional – sitting in a lecture, taking notes, taking an exam. It offered different ideas like: small groups, pair editing, video, audio, etc. Again, many of these ideas were geared towards elementary-aged children, but I feel some of them can possibly impact my classroom if I take the general idea of them and apply it to an older group of students.

McMackin, M., & Bukowiecki, E. (1997, April). A change in focus: teaching diverse learners within an inclusive elementary school. //The type of document (e.g., report) or publication medium.// //Reports – Descriptive, 30//(1), 32-39.

Work in Progress -- 9/25/11 Completed -- 9/26/11

Sumi’s First Day of School Ever Soyung Pak

Sumi’s First Day of School Ever is written by Soyung Pak. It is a children’s story about a girl, Sumi, and her first day of school. Sumi, however, seems to be facing a speech barrier in her new school. In the beginning of the story, Sumi’s mom prepares her to understand how to say her name if someone asks her, which is our first indication that Sumi may not know English. Then, at school, Sumi has to depend solely on people’s actions towards her to understand how they are feeling or what they are “saying.” The story continues as Sumi decides school is scary, mean and lonely. When she makes a friend at reuses, she decides school is a friendlier place.

This story does a fantastic job at introducing diversity in a simple way for children to understand. Like the author, Soyung Pak, Sumi is a Korean child. She is placed amongst other classmates who do not speak the same language as her in her new school. The story focuses on the importance of accepting minorities and how that scared someone like Sumi can be in an unfamiliar environment. It also focuses on overcoming uncomfortable situations if you are the minority, like Sumi’s character.

I think reading this book changed my perception of students who may be in my classroom someday because it made me more sympathetic and understanding of these types of students. I have never been in a situation where I was totally blind like Sumi had to deal with on her first day of school. Even though the story was a children’s book it showed the emotional roller coaster that anyone in a situation that is foreign to them goes through.

Again, reading this particular story enhanced my cultural awareness in a multitude of ways. It was beneficial to see things from Sumi’s perspective. Based only on the gestures done by a student (sticking his tongue out at Sumi) she knew that boy was being “mean.” This made Sumi instantly view school as scary and lonely place. However, based on another gesture done by her teacher (smiling at Sumi until she smiled back) she knew that the teacher was being “friendly.” This made Sumi begin to view school in a more positive light. It was also beneficial to watch Sumi’s emotions and perceptions change as the situation changed. This expanded my understanding for diverse groups and how easily individuals are influenced and affected by certain things. The story allowed me to understand the effort needed to help those who face barriers like Sumi did as a minority in her school.

This story was relevant to the community and specifically to my future teaching practices because, as mentioned above, it gave me the desire to help students in Sumi’s situation. Each teacher’s classroom should be a safe environment where anyone, regardless of race, gender – whatever – can become educated. Although Sumi was in an unfamiliar situation she was still affected by the gestures and actions of those around her. She felt hurt when a student stuck his tongue out at her, but she felt welcome when she and another classmate drew pictures together in the dirt. This is another beneficial idea to understand – even if a diverse group is in an unfamiliar situation, it does not mean they are not being influenced and effected (either positively and negatively) by the actions around them.

I would recommend this book to others who are aspirating to become teachers, like others in this class as it gives a simplistic way to understand and accept diversity. Although written for a child, it describes how anyone in a foreign situation can feel.

While I thought it was beneficial to read, I would probably not use this book with my own students. I am striving to teach high school someday and believe a more “grown-up” book on diversity would benefit their understanding more.