Think Piece #7

For this week’s think piece, we were to read Gerald Campano’s Immigrant

Students and Literacy. I didn’t really enjoy this book.  It was not an easy read and although you learn best through experience, reading all of his experiences didn’t help me much.  I think the overall point of this book was to stress the importance of incorporating culture into the classroom and showing respect and acceptance for all cultures, especially those different than our own.

 One story from Campano’s book that I enjoyed was Ma-Lee’s Story of Migration: “I want to be part of both cultures.”  It was a story of a student who was extremely quiet in class and rarely spoke voluntarily.  She left an essay on Campano’s desk one day.  I really was impressed with her last words: “I feel about culture is difficult for me and maks me confused.  I don’t know what to be But think I want to be both cultures” (p66). 

Ma-Lee’s feelings towards the American culture may be like many other young immigrant students, but teachers are unaware of this because they don’t take the time to talk to them and figure and the student out.

I have not had much experience with immigrant students, growing up in my own school or as a teacher.  My main experience with incorporating culture into the classroom is through my teaching of my content area—French. I teach more than vocabulary and grammar, I incorporate the French culture—holidays, fashion, foods, traditions, etc. I think this shows my students that even though people live differently than us, it doesn’t make their views wrong.  All cultures should be embraced and respected.

One experience I did have with ELL students was when I subbed for an ELL teacher one day for 3^rd and 4^th grade students.  Each student had a booklet of his or her writing from Kindergarten up until this year.  At first, the “writing” was more drawings, but as time progressed, the students began to form sentences.  The stories were about the student’s personal lives—what they liked to do, what they had done the previous weekend, etc.  It is a great memoir of their lives and it has helped make the writing authentic.

Another point that I agreed with Campano on was: “From the very first moment we begin teaching, we bring our life histories to bear upon our practice. Our presence in the classroom is ineluctably animated by our own experiences as learners, our implicit and explicit notions of what constitutes knowledge, and what it means to be an educated person” (page 91). It is evident that our teaching styles reflect who we are as people and our past experiences.  I know I have learned a lot from my past teachers and tend to incorporate their techniques and beliefs into my own style.  It is also about more than teaching-- for example, the traditions my parents have taught me will be continued into the future because I have grown accustom to them and respect them.