Well we are a learning community of 20 for the fall semester 09 (19 students and 1 prof.). Isn't that great! For our next face-to-face encounter on Monday, September 21st you are to bring an object to class that describes your philosophy of life. A philosophy of life is your believe about how you live your life. It guides your decisions, attitudes, and actions. You will be required to make an oral presentation to the rest of us about your belief system concerning life. This is a higher order thinking assignment with points assigned so be creative as you ponder your beliefs about life and then select an object to demonstrate your paradigm. Most of you have commented on the first post concerning the history of your name. Check those out since these are the members of our learning community and if you have not added to the post make sure to do that ASAP.
Read: His Name is Michael from Charting a Professional Course. Why do you think names are important for human beings especially in the case of David? Select one of the questions from the Think About This section and share your thoughts.
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Names are important for human beings because it gives them an identity. Names give people the sense that they are important to others. In the case of David, he didn't really fit in as it was. He really didn't feel he belonged any where since he moved around so much. He felt he had to accept what others said and did and that he wasn't worthy of getting the respect he really needed. He really had no sense of self worth. I will use many strategies to get to know my students. Students respond differently to situations so it is important to make each student feel comfortable so they are able to let their guard down a little so that everyone can get to know each other. I will use questionaires, games, and communitity circles so that I can get to know my students within the first couple days. I will make sure each student feels welcome so they know they can be themselves and be accepted for who they are.
ReplyDeleteAshley thank you for providing such excellent strategies for how to get to know your students better. Questionaires, games, and community circles are wonderful ideas. People hunts and interviews are also strategies that can be utilized in classrooms.
ReplyDeleteA name is important for human beings because it makes everyone an individual. Although some people may have the same name, not everyone is being called by the same thing. It makes people see that they are important. A name gives a person identity and individuality. It helps people be recognized by others around them. Language played a major role in David's situation. Since he did not speak the same language as everyone around him, he felt like an outsider. He felt like he did not belong in the classroom with English speaking children because they did not understand him and he could not understand them. A monolingual teacher may have difficulty communicating with a student who does not speak the same language as the rest, but the teacher could try to learn pieces of their language as well. If David's teacher would have simply learned a few sentences in Spanish, David may have felt more welcome in the classroom. He could see that his teacher was trying and they could have worked together to make their situation work for everyone.
ReplyDeleteNames are important because they give you a sense of belonging. You feel as if you are supposed to be in this world because you have a name. Some people may be proud of their name while others may look down upon theirs, but either way, you should feel like you belong. Over time, we've noticed that knowing more than one language is very important especially in the workplace. It's become very important in education. In David's case, he probably hasn't had very many conversations with people who speak english and for a young child, this can be very difficult. Especially when being thrown into a new school with a bunch of strangers. So when the teacher addressed David, his name was probably the least of his worries and was more concerned with keeping up with everything else going on around him. I think that monolingual teachers need to learn basic words and maybe small phrases to be able to work with the foreign speaking students.
ReplyDeleteA name gives you individuality. It may even give you a sence of confidence. If these qualities were taken away from you it could be devestating. Sometimes in an educational system, or any "system" for that matter, people are treated like cattle. They are ran in, sent through the process, and ran out. Few people in the system take the time to view individuals and their unique situations. I beleive that when a system is ran with little to no personal one on one interests it fails to provide help and proper assistance and this would make anyone feel discouraged and degrated. People thrive to feel unique and special.
ReplyDeleteDavid came to the school and classroom with a disadvantage: not speaking English. Language was a huge barrier for David, because he was not able to talk to others or express himself. The administration, teacher and other students thought his name was Michael and he had no way of correcting them. Teachers who only speak English and have a student who speaks a different language can talk to another teacher who does speak the students language. The teacher can also do research and learn some of the main words in that childs language. By learning some of the basics of that language, the teacher can then have some type of communication with the student, even if it is minimal. Also, the student can begin to feel comfortable if he/she can speak with the teacher or another teacher.
ReplyDeleteNames are extremely important and in David’s case, it was really his only way of connecting with anyone since he didn’t speak English. Sadly, he probably felt like an outcast and the school administrations inability of trying to personally connect with him by introducing themselves, just pushed him further away socially. As was stated in the passage he was taught to obey authority and so he just went along with everything. On the first day of class, I would have students introduce themselves by stating their name and something interesting about themselves. I would then have the class say hi and repeat that student’s name. I would also try to do this when a new student arrives in the middle of the year.
ReplyDeleteAs most of you have said, I too believe that the main function or importance of a name is to provide a source of identity or belonging. In the case of David it's quite possible that being called by the wrong name made him feel unimportant as well as disconnected from the rest of the class as a group. Add in the fact that he was verbally unable to communicate his thoughts, needs, and ideas, and I can totally understand his displays of alienation. Reading this story really supported my already exisiting opinion that teaching is just as much about building supportive and strong relationships with students as it is about the actual subject matter. Some strategies I will implement in my classroom include a lot of individual sharing time where students get to share their feelings and thoughts, as well as a lot of team building activities to encourage positive group dynamics.
ReplyDeleteHaving a name is very important in someone’s life. We all have a name; it gives us and identity and makes us feel important. Having a name also makes us individuals. Having a name also makes you feel like you belong, your name is a part of who you are. David came into the classroom afraid, I’m sure he wasn’t too worried about having everyone giving him a different name. Yes, I’m sure he was confused and felt left out because of it, but I also think that he was afraid of just being there and having no one else in the room speak any Spanish at all. I’m sure he felt left out of the classroom students since he could not understand any of the students or teacher and no one in the room could understand him either. I think the teacher should have tried to learn a few sentences in Spanish so she could communicate with David better. If she would have learned some Spanish sentences then David would have felt more welcome in the classroom, he would have felt like he was part of the class. I just think the teacher should have been more willing to communicate with him.
ReplyDeleteA name is given to all of us at birth. The name becomes who we are and we become the name. It identifies us as an individual and it sets us apart from others. I think Mrs. Marriott did all the normal thing that teachers do when they have a new student arrive. They played a name game, had a tour of the room, let him sit on the couch out of turn, and gave him a buddy with everything he did for the day. I think that Mrs. Marriott should have tried to be a positive role model in this class and tried to become his friend. She could have kept him in for a recess and had a conversation with the child. Even if she had to have the bilingual resource teacher help her. I think this teacher should have shown the kids how to become his friend. She could have started incorporating a few Spanish words to make David feel more comfortable and welcome. I think he would have been more willing to open up if he had felt more welcome and like a member of the class instead of an outsider.
ReplyDeleteI hate to beat a dead horse here, but as nearly everyone has said, a name is individual, special, makes you unique, seperates us from non-domestic animals and so on. As said in the reading, perhaps David was raised to "be good" in school and allow whatever happens to happen, perhaps he was extremely shy, but whatever the true reason is/was, having a large amount of people refer to you in a name that isn't even remotely close sounding to your actual name, could be very tough. David couldn't speak English and Mrs. Marriott couldn't speak Spanish. By knowing those two tiny facts, you can foreshadow that something is not going to work out. By not having any other students' or faculty that spoke Spanish, David was sort of unintentially forced to be a loner and in his own sort of world. Friends are extremely important in anybody's life, but learning how to make friends and having them to talk to, hang-out with, or do whatever, is something that everyone young person should have. Well, a monolingual teacher could try and communicate with the student somehow and there's many ways. The teacher could attempt to learn some phrases in Spanish or just bring in a translator in most extreme conditions. There are also many web-sites that translate from Spanish to English and vice versa. By communicating with the student, you are making things much easier on you, but more importantly on the student. The student may not have felt as poorly about himself if the teacher just attempted to communicate.
ReplyDeleteNames are important because they are a symbol of our individuality. While I know that their are people out there with the same name as I have, my name still gives me one of my first identifying characteristics. Some names are full of meaning, while others are just something your parents liked. Either way, your name is a big part of who you are. In the story, David probably felt isolated because one of his main identifying qualities was lost. The educational system failed him by not taking the time to look get to know who he really was. They just went through the motions, never asking any questions. Teachers should take the time to know their students, to know their backgrounds, to know what their family life is like. This way, they can help them to excel. By truly knowing who you the students are, teachers can help them find their nitch in the classroom and make them feel excited about being in school.
ReplyDeleteI think names are important because they are something that identifies that person and makes them different and unique. Your personality can change your outside look can change, but your name will stay the same (except for certain circumstances). My name is part of who I am. It's how people know who I am compared to someone else. The educational system failed David by making him feel unimportant. They didn't even get something simple like his name right. It made me so upset. They made him lose self cinfidence. He was in the class for over a month and everyone just called him the wrong name. If the teacher just would have asked him to introduce himself things would have been different. Even if she didn't know spanish, they make dictionaries to translate she could have learned a few things to adapt to the needs of a student. All students are important individuals. I would never let that happen. I will make sure I have one on one and group introductions with each student because I want to get to know each and every one of them.
ReplyDeleteName are important for us because they help set us apart from everyone else. They give us our individuality, our identity. For David, his name lost it's identity. This is horrible. Unfortunately David's background taught him that superiors are always right, don't argue, just accept what they are doing. This is an awful lesson for young children to learn, it will cause them to lose themselves. I am choosing to answer question 4. A strategy that I think will be beneficial to students is a name game. I can do this at the beginning of the year as well as when new students arrive. I would want the students to get into a circle and say their names and some fun fact about themselves. I would invite spanish speaking students to introduce themselves in spanish, this would give english speaking students an experience with the spanish language. A lot of classrooms and classes that I have taken use this strategy. Our class did something similiar to this and so did my tennis team one year. It's a fun way to get everyone included and participating. Everyone would learn everyone's name and new students would be able to speak for themselves. It would also get students more comfortable speaking in front of each other.
ReplyDeleteNames are important for human beings because it gives them a sence of individualism.Names are a persons identity and the foundation of your life. Usually peoples names tell stories of where they come from and where they have been. The very first thing that you are given when you arive on this earth is a name. A persons name means everything.
ReplyDeleteYour name is your identity. I think that it is very important to have names. In the case of David it was very sad to think that no one knew his real name. If someone calls you the wrong name, for example, you feel a little hurt by it or atleast I know that I do. I think that the educational system in this case really did fail. I think that it is important to gather the right information for every student to prevent situations like David's. It seemed as though they didn't take enough time or effort to finding out who he was. David coming from a different background especially I think deserved a lot more attention because of the language barrier. I think that in order to prevent these situations; teachers need to spend more time getting to know their students. They need to give each individual student one on one time. I believe this would make the students more comfortable in their environment and will let them be able to share more of what's on their minds.
ReplyDeleteYour name is something very important to you. I mean why you have it and the story behind it mean something to everyone. The education department failed to have his paperwork in, to give him some form of a translator, and to even let the child get to know the school and understand. He was just there day after day, with the wrong name. Yes, he had a buddy but they couldnt help him totally understand. Teachers can try their best to make them welcome. To ask their name, just to have the student tell you so they feel like they matter. Making the student feel confortable is probably the biggest thing.
ReplyDeleteNames are very important because they are the source of our identity and individuality. Names give us the foundation to develope our confidence as human beings. In David's case the teacher could have more effectivly gotten him to participate if he recognized her as calling him by his actual name. To be willing to participate a student must feel confident that what they have to contribute will be accepted, not just what they think you expect them to be. Being different makes people feel less approved of until they realize the significance of individuality. In the future the teacher may advantage from taking the opportunity to learn atleast enough Spanish to avoid this situation in the future.
ReplyDeleteNames are important because they distinguish us from other people. Of course if you have the same name as someone in your class, then somtimes it can be a bit difficult to know who is being addressed. But he person brings their own identity to their name. David's teacher could have taken the time to ask him what his name was after she realized the name the secretary gavce her was wrong. She could have played a name game with the children and then she would've known his name was David
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