Prompt 5

My classroom is very culturally diverse. Most of the students do not speak English when they are home because their parents do not speak it at all. because of this, my teacher will always ask them what language their parents speak, in order to send them home with notes or papers in a language their parents will be able to read. my teacher is very involved with the students and their families, well as much as she can be. i was surprised to learn that most of the parents of the children do not want any kind of involvement with their children's schooling experience, they simply are not involved. for the students that have some behavioral issues in the class, the teacher keeps a weekly progress report than she sends home with them at the end of the week. the thing that is so frustrating is that it is impossible to know if the parents are even looking at the report. most of them are just not involved enough to look.
mt teacher gets frustrated with the lack of parental involvement with the students. there is only so much she can teach them at school, and its hard when they go home and have no support. of course i am sure it is not like this in all of the students lives, i am sure there are parents who help their children at home and encourage them. but the few (or many) that don't get the extra work at home, are clearly more behind and suffering more in their work.
the school also have community involvement in the students lives which i think is very important. every Tuesday the students get a different kind of fruit to eat while they are at school, they do this to promote healthier eating. also for some of these kids this is the only type of fresh fruit they will have all week. the school also offers a breakfast for students, they can come early and have a free breakfast if they are not getting one at home. one of the days that i was there, a dentist was as the school talking to the kids about brushing and how important it is. i think all of these things are great to have, in a poorer school like the one i was at, most of these kids need these extra things that they are not getting at home. again i am sure that some of the kids are getting this at home, but i would say that the majority of them are not. when i saw these things going on in the classroom, i was reminded of Kahne and Westheimer. i know this is a strange theorist to think of, but i was thinking of the change v charity models. the change model is the one we are supposed to striving for and teaching the children, but in this case i saw the charity model. the school seems to be more concerned with giving the students free things than teaching them how to think and see things. granted i was in a 4th grade class and this is young for the students to be realizing in depth learning methods, but i think teaching them to question things at an early age would eventually better them as adults. i do think it is great the school helps these kids, but is it really helping them in the long wrong? i think Kahne and Westheimer would think not. by just giving the students things without explanation and questioning is perpetuating the status quo and ultimately doing these kids a disservice.
if i was the teacher in this classroom, i do not know if i could really do things much differently. if the parents do not want to be involved with their students schooling there is only so much that you can do. being available is the main thing, at least the parents know that if they have questions or want to talk about their students progress, they can do so. most of them however are just choosing not to. i am sure some of these parents choose not to because maybe they cannot speak English or they never had the opportunity to go to school and they do not know how to speak with a teacher. whatever the reason, think my teacher is doing everything she can by keeping the parents involved , and if the choose not to be that is up to them.