Date Significant Observations from Field Notes EFRT 460 Course Content
from 1/27/17 to 3/17/17
I did my field experience at Ridgeway Community B) How do Personal/Cultural Knowledge
School, located in Ridgeway, MN. The school is right or Popular Knowledge shape the at the edge of the town, which is very small. It is about racialization (pronounced RACIAL 20 minutes, or 18 miles, from Winona. The school is ization) of the white student(s) you will small, with only 100 students attending the school, be working with in your clinical setting? and only grades pre-school through fifth grades are (You are REQUIRED to cite the definition taught. After fifth grade, students go to middle school of racialization on the second to last page in either Winona or La Crescent. To enter the school, of the Graphic Social Constructs of visitors have one door to enter through, which open up Difference and use any of the materials in to a small hall. The building uses the hallway to post the D2L section titled: White Students announcements as well as students artwork and Racialization Remember white students projects. The school uses some technology in their are racialized also. coursework, including giving each student an iPad that I grew up in a small town that was predominantly they can only use in the classroom. white. There were two students in my high school that were African American and two students that were Asian, but the other 495 students were white. Ridgeway Community School is made up of 100 However, my mother was married to two African students: 96 are white, 1 is Native Hawaiian/Pacific American men in my childhood, so I had a more Islander, and three are two or more races. It is pretty diverse household than many of my peers. Culturally, clear based on this data that Ridgeway Community at least in my observations, we as a society view school is not very racially diverse. However 32% of people of color differently than we view whites, the students receive Free/Reduced Priced Lunch especially if they arent Christians. In the news, we (FRP), which shows that a significant amount of the see crimes committed by non-whites portrayed as schools population is at or below the poverty terrorist acts by the news, while whites who threshold (Minnesota Report Card). commit crimes are given excuses, such as, he was mentally ill or he was abused as a child. As Student A is an only child who often gets his way at teachers, we need to be aware that our culture home. On my first day, he presented several defiance glamorizes whites and stigmatizes people of color. I issues and problems listening to authority. I observed think that it could be very easy to let personal/cultural that he was in time out three times over the course of knowledge or popular knowledge shape our ideas of the three hours that I was there, and I noticed that his students, but if we get to know them and truly learn defiance wasnt just with one teacher; rather he was about our students and their cultures and ethnic defiant toward anybody regardless of age and gender. backgrounds, we can help to end stereotypes. I He ignored his peers requests to stop a behavior, and believe that one of the main reasons that people walked away from teachers. I later learned that this commit crimes and become addicted to drugs and behavior was improved from the beginning of the alcohol is because we as a society tell certain people year, when he presented teachers with full-blown that they are worthless or that they are nothing but tantrums. His behavior was improved with the help of troublemakers. As far as working with students in my Miss Sally*, who told me that she worked very hard clinical setting, I feel that I let some perceptions with him on his behavior and listening issues. cloud my judgment at times. An example of this would be that if I was made aware that Student A has a difficult home life. Therefore, I discipline Student A differently than I would a student who has a more traditional home life. I tend to let Student A get away with more than I would let other students get away with because I know that this student doesnt get a lot of attention at home. On the other hand, Student B is an only child who isnt disciplined at home, so I was harder on this student and didnt let them get away with as much, because I know that Student B runs the show at home. Both of these students are white, but there was only one student in my clinical setting that were of a different ethnicity. I didnt interact with that student very much because that student was more independent; she and her friends entertained themselves and were responsible enough to follow *Name Changed the rules and get their homework done.