November+2,+2009+Class+notes

key terms from the readings: sociocultural approach: funds of knowledge what is "culture"? deficit acting White conductor vs coaches (table 2.2--Dreamkeepers)
 * teaching to someone that incorporates their realities from their lives
 * teaching from someone else's frame of reference--(talk-story)
 * a way of approaching instruction so that the students' knowledge and experiences are the BASIS for the instruction
 * things that people are good at, that they've learned from their culture
 * accumulated bodies of knowledge (historically accumulated)
 * can't put people in boxes--have to take into account culturally where they come from but also socially where people come from (ie, lived histories)
 * incorporating multiple pieces from a person's history
 * it's not just culture
 * ethnic membership
 * peer
 * school culture
 * language culture
 * what defines a culture: shared practices, habits, rituals, routines that are "normal" in that group
 * SES
 * difference is not deficit
 * something is wrong with YOU
 * deficit vs disadvantage
 * differences students have from the way you're trying to teach them: important not to see their differences as a deficit but rather turn them into their strengths--something your students can teach you about a different way to teach, the way they see things
 * not see differences as a problem
 * acting like how "the rest" of the people act--in a predominantly White school
 * social norms, what's ok to talk about, how to talk
 * trying to fit in?
 * in acting White, need to set aside who you are or blend--either way, you're changing who you are
 * different things are valued--doing well in school?
 * assimilation
 * where does this come from? where does the shift happen? how does doing well in school become a white thing?
 * dominant society--rebelling against it
 * conductor: "fishes for them"--
 * coach: shifts responsibility on to the student?

What did the teachers do? Self-esteem? In relation to their communities? How are they artists? How do they show that they expect all of their students to succeed?
 * what was it about your favorite teachers that made them memorable? Did they have any of these characteristics?
 * super high expectations--learning a lot and having fun at the same time
 * teachers who highly valued their profession--made you feel that what you were studying was important
 * related school to real life--complex, authentic projects
 * connecting to family/personal history
 * passionate about their subject
 * cared about what students thought, valued students' funds of knowledge
 * digging out funds of knowledge
 * asking "why"

what happens when you have LOTS of cultures in your classroom? sneak it in--to find out more about THEM how THEY learn, how they interact amongst themselves not to duplicate it but to feed into it

for future: meeting autistic needs?