This blog contains comments from EDUCATORS who find themselves on the front lines of a war that has been waged against public education across this nation since the landmark decision in 1954 of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka. Herein are the thoughts of Educators who serve young people across America today. While the daily challenges to increase student achievement have been discussed in circles across this nation, few of those voices include those who are the true soldiers in this battle to educate young people.
The lessons taught to students, present and past and their reactions to various assignments, can serve as a mini-lesson for those adults who are responsible for raising children. We are particularly concerned with those students who are being raised in one of the many poor and segregated urban centers across this nation. This blog serves as an authentic assessment of where our young people are in relation to what is expected of them and it will enable the reader to visit the urban classroom to gain insight into....THE CHRONICLES OF AN URBAN EDUCATOR....
I was assigned freshmen students at the beginning of this school year, and having taught upper classmen, being able to relate with them, I thought it best to get to know my ninth grade students before delving into lessons on a pacing chart designed by a school district that believes students are pieces of machinery to be pieced together on an assembly line. I opened up the year with a discovery portfolio. Students were instructed to complete questionnaires and online surveys that determine the way they learn best. Not surprising, approximately 80 percent of my students are musical/ kinesthetic leaners--- rap/hip hop and street dancing learners. Not that there is anything wrong with this, however, what college am I preparing them to go to if the only way they CAN learn is through hip hop music and shaking “what their mama gave” them?
Contemplate the ramifications of generations of young people who assert that they learn best through music and dance rather than the traditional model of books and paper. Consider what that means for the Urban Educator in general and to the larger community more specifically?
It is a good thing that the young people have someone like you that would even take the time to explore and identify how they learn. if the youth learn through music and dance then we that are educators must take the time to adjust our methods and find creative ways to help them absorb the information that they need to be successful in society. i am not surprised that a majority of them learn kinesthetically. Being a product of HIP-HOP I know the power that it has and try to incorporate my lessons so that young folks as well as olders can get it.
ReplyDeletekinesthetic learning also means that these young people learn by doing so we have to focus more on getting them doing rather than just listening. I know this is hard but it is not to hard for those of us that have done the impossible. many of us made it through institutions of higher learning with the same learning styles as our kids. we need to ask ourselves how did we do it, and incorporate those methods into it. we need to challenge our young people to use what "they momma gave them" to conquer the basic skills that can help them succeed in spite of a system that looks at them as future widgets in a lifeless machine.