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Culture

The children within Mrs. W’s class have a very similar culture to one another. Culture can be defined as the “system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to interact with their world and with one another” (Neito & Bode, 2012). Students are very loyal to one another. In relation to justice, the culture appears to have an “eye for an eye” mentality. Thus, when someone hits them, they hit back. While the scholars experience conflict, they also experience joy with one another. For example, they love to dance. Every child has been seeing dancing at one point or another. When the students are excited, they stand up and bust a move. Even when the scholars are walking through the hallway, many students begin to dance, as if music was playing.  Also, for the girl students, most of them have weaves of braided long hair.

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Race & Ethnicity

Within the classroom, 27 of the students are African American, and two student is half Hispanic and half white.

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Social Systems-

Peers & Family

 

By discussing the social systems within classroom with Mrs. W, the breadth of the students microsystem was revealed. Mrs. W explained that the majority of her students lived with a single parent. Nevertheless, the extended family support was immense. Most often the grandparents would either live with the single parent, or be a reliable resource for the student. In addition, at River City, many cousins attend the school together. Through grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles, the family support is a resource within the students lives. The interaction between the parents and extended family gave the scholars a mesosystem full of interactions.  

Through observation of Mrs. W’s classroom, the microsystem of  peer relationships are highly valued in their culture. Once students are friends, they are friends for life. This tight relationship was exemplified when some girls became very upset when their friend was hit by another student. These students acted as her bodyguard and threatened to hurt those who hurt her. They protected their friend. On the other hand, hugs, laughter, and jokes are constant among the students as well.

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Moral, Spiritual, and Faith Development

The moral level of the scholars  has been evident within the classroom. In the classroom, it has been frequently seen that students will copy each others answers. In one instance, two students made the deal that if Sam gave them the answers to the last three problems, the Jack would give him a cookie. These actions emphasize that these students do not think that it is morally wrong to copy answers. Mrs. W also informed me that this fifth grade class has many strong personalities, which can lead to verbal and physical conflicts. Some of the children bully the others. While these students may comprehend that what they are doing is not morally just, these students give to others what they give at home. Hurting people hurt people; hurting parents hurt their children and hurting children hurt their peers.

While no specific spiritual development has been seen, church has been frequently been talked about amidst the students. several students have told a story about church. More than anything, I have heard students say, “I have to get up really early for church.” It is assumed that some students attend church because their guardians attend church; it is unknown if the students have any personal passion for church.

 

 

 

 

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Attention & Memory

Mrs. W’s 5th grade scholars have a strong short term memory, and a weak recall and access between their active and long term memory. After Mrs. W give the students a task to complete, she will ask the students to repeat what she just said. 80% of the time, the students correctly remember what Mrs. W stated. While the scholars have a strength in short term memory, recall and reconsolidation is a weakness. Mrs. W asked the students to write down one cause of the American Revolution, in which they have been studying for the past two weeks. After the students submitted their answers, she realized that more than half of them had little idea of what they were learning.

Reflecting on the “All Kind of Minds” module, the scholars have definite weaknesses and strengths within attention. A weakness that has been observed in the classroom is the sleep/arousal balance. Many students lay their head on their desks throughout the day due to the fact that they have a hard time sleeping, or simply stayed up late. The students have a strength in alertness. For example, during an assembly where the whole school was present, the fifth graders remained focused on the speaker, rather than being distracted by the other students.    

Language

Mrs. W stated that all of the students within her class have English as their primary language, and only know and use the English Language. The 5th grade students are monolingual. However, the students have a unique dialect due to their culture. For example, phrases such as, “you is right,” and “who do you think you is” are used often in the class.  “Ain’t” is another word that is frequently used between students; for example, “you ain’t my momma.”

 

Motor & Spatial/Sequential Ordering

By grading the students papers, their motor and spatial/sequential ordering were apparent. 50% of the students had rather difficult handwriting to read, 40% was legible, while 10% had very neat handwriting. Many of the students did not correctly place spaces between their words, which lead their sentences to appear as one long word. Nevertheless, the scholars within Mrs. W’s classroom display great fine motor skills in drawing. While observing an art class, it was extremely evident that these students had gifts for drawing. While creating their self-portraits, the students either had a style of their own, or drew themselves as anime characters, which was rather intriguing.

Higher Order Thinking

Higher order thinking is a goal that Mrs. W achieves within her classroom. Mrs. W often asks her children to support what they are inferring from the text. For example, when the scholars are writing down their answers to a worksheet question, she will have them record where they found it in order to support their argument. Mrs. W also uses project based learning, especially with social studies. At the end of many of her history units, she will have the students create a project or a poster to generate something new from the understanding that they gained from the lessons.

Ability & Disability

Within the classroom, 8 of the 28 students are engaged in some support program. For example, one girl meets with a speech pathologist once a week. Many of these children have been diagnosed with ODD, ADD, and ADHD. One student has a disability. With the range of ability and disability within the classroom, Mrs. W does a remarkable job treating her students equally and holding them all to high academic and moral expectations.