Cityscapes: Eight Views from the Urban Classroom

[Allie Eckert]

Check, J., Peterson, A., Ylvisaker, M. (Eds.). (1996). Cityscapes: Eight views from the Urban Classroom. Berkley, CA:National Writing Project Corporation.
       

After finishing up the ISI, I decided that while I felt that I had some information on using culturally relevant instruction in order to help students to better learn, I was interested in what other teachers were doing in their classrooms.  Luckily, I found a book written by the National Writing Project Urban Sites Network.  This book is much like Breakthroughs in the fact that it shares the ideas from different teachers that are working to better their classroom instruction.  The difference however is that the teachers featured in Cityscapes are those that are going through the Inquiry process in order to help reach their diverse populations. 
While all of the stories featured in this book were unique and intelligent in their own way, there were a few that I felt were very relevant to my teaching.
The first of these discussed how to run an inquiry in one's classroom in order to truly help all of your students.  This teacher, decided that in order to figure out the positives and negatives in his classroom he would need to look not at his classroom as a whole, rather choose one child to document and follow throughout the year.  Rather than looking at an outspoken highly participatory student, he chose a very quiet student who seemed to keep to herself.  Through data along with oral conversations and formative assessments (both data and conversationally driven) this teacher was able to figure out what was going well in his classroom as well as what wasn't, in terms of interest and growth.  This allowed him to alter and gear his instruction to meet the needs of all students, not only those that constantly participated and responded in class.
The second account that I really connected with looked at using multicultural literature to promote academic achievement and cultural understanding.  As many of us discovered throughout the ISI, it is essential that students are able to see themselves in the curriculum.  In that, this teacher found that in order for her inquiry to work, students would first need to connect with the curriculum culturally, racially, and linguistically, and second, students would need to move beyond their culturally shaped point of view to entertain new perspectives.  Through the use of literature that explored a variety of different cultures, students were able to make connections between their culture and others, and thus improve their skills as critical readers and thinkers.
The third account that I found incredibly powerful looked at involving parents in the curriculum. While this looks very different in an urban setting, 2 of the teachers noted in this book had excellent ways of involving the parents and the community.  The first is that a phone call was made at the start of the year to each and every parent.  This was a way to involve parents prior to the year even beginning.  By making a simple phone call, she was able to open the lines of communication for the remainder of the year.  Also, she had students go home and discuss with their parents a story that has been told or passed down.  This was to be discussed and written together as a family.  Along with this, parents were invited in throughout the year to share stories that were appropriate to that which they were reading in class.  By reaching out to parents, there was not the distinct barrier that seems to exist between parents and teachers at urban schools.
While these are only three of the accounts mentioned in this book, it was great to see that other teachers in cities around the nation are struggling with the same problems that I am in my classroom.  Along with this, it was inspiring to see that through inventive thinking, they were able to solve these problems.  My hope is that through the continued use of the inquiry process, teachers will be able to find ways to better connect with their students and in this better their curriculum.  This book gives hope to the fact that one teacher really can make a difference.

Discussion Questions:
1. How can you structure an inquiry in your classroom in order to better your instruction? (Essential Question, data, whole class or individual?)
2. What are some books you can read in your classroom in order to help students connect culturally while thinking critically in order to understand and make connections with other cultures?
3.  What are some ways that you can help to involve your student's parents with the curriculum?

[Sara Kwasna]

1. The inquiry that I am going to continue this year is with using the culturally relevant texts in the Read-180 library. I feel that my work and the end of the last school year was just the beginning and I will use this year to really see how I can build upon and improve the writing portion of the Read-180 program. However, I am only going to be teaching 2 sections of Read-180 this year, so I think that I will use those 2 sections to compare and contrast different approaches to teaching writing and using the culturally relevant texts that are available to us. I also think that I am going to keep a journal of my own to document this inquiry along the way.
2. I am going to focus on the cultural texts in the Read-180 library: Forged by Fire, Tears of a Tiger, Romiette and Julio, The Skin I'm In, Esperanza Rising, and others. I intend to do read-alouds of chapters or excerpts and a lot of whole-class analysis of writing style/ craft.
3. Your third question is one that has always been a struggle for me, and probably most teachers. I think that this becomes increasingly difficult with parents that don't speak English, parents that work evenings and multiple jobs to support their families, and those that often don't have a working phone. I don't know how realistic it is to call every single parent at the start of the school year. While that is a nice idea, I know that I don't have the time and that when I do call homes, I often get more answering machines than I do actual people. I do make my Read-180 kids do an oral fluency assignment once per semester though where they have to read a leveled passage to a parent and the parent must give them a score on a rubric that I provide. I think that has been one way that I involve parents. I think I might have my kids write a letter to their parents this year also with some of their goals for the year and then have the parents write a response. It would be nice to just have all the parents show up at open house night. I liked some of the ideas in Breakthroughs where the students just had to have conversations with their parents on certain books or concepts and then write about their conversation. I definately want to be better at getting the parents involved so that will certainly be one of my goals this upcoming year.

[Julianne Dillard]

What a terrific book to fit in with the themes of your presentation (and the class!). I'll take a stab at the questions in the meandering way I seem to have tonight. :)
1) How to structure inquiry in my class? That idea of using a "case study" individual rather than the whole class was interesting! I hadn't considered that. I suppose I could focus on a few students, attempting to include some diversity in the sample. I'm starting to play with the concept of writer's notebooks for gathering ideas in the creative writing class I teach, and I think that could work well--focusing on depth over breadth of sample.
2) Books for cultural connection? In the reading I've been doing this summer (lots of YA and middle grade), it struck me how almost every book exposed me to a new culture, even if not in a traditional sense. Spanking Shakespeare offered insights/connections with a male perspective, Maniac Magee had the small town culture, and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes focuses in on the culture of rejection... I have some more ethnically diverse stuff on my stack, I swear, but I'm feeling jazzed about how each book is a leap toward connecting somewhere.
3) Ah, parents. I'm not sure there--just hoping to encourage (a la that article from Breakthroughs about the dinner conversations?) some shared literature discussion. I kind of hope that if students see parents model how they process challenging pieces, it will be good for the students (as in Ron's text!). I'm not sure how to begin the experiment, but I've got, what, two weeks to perfect the plan? :)
So good to hear from you, Allie! See you soon! Julie

[Rose Whistler]

1. I hope to join in the inquiry structure this year. I started it at the beginning of my Master's program, observing 1 struggling student for a period of 6 weeks, collecting data and trying to zero in on his needs and how I could help him be successful. It went pretty well, but with all the work I had to do, I feel like I needed more time. Now that I have the time, I want to continue this process, focusing on small group instruction to meet the needs of the students who just seem to struggle so much for the first 4-5 months of first grade. I see this year that we have 5 children entering our class who are still 5 years old, and about 7 who are about to turn 7 years old. There is such a gap, and at this age it has big ramifications for those who are so young. What I wonder is how does age and development affect learning? I believe I already know the answer, but I would like to have the data to prove my assumption.
2. The culturally relevant literature in our classroom is prevalent in both the illustrations and the themes of many read alouds, shared reading and independent reading that we do. Books like My Name is Yoon, Martin's Big Words and Through My Eyes Ruby Bridges have culture as their themes. We also read books like Jamaica's Find, Amazing Grace, Gathering the Sun, the Gullywasher, and different Tomie de Paola books that are set within different cultures. Many of the characters in the HM Reading series use multiracial characters in the illustrations. I like to ask questions such as what is the purpose of this book, who is the author, and can it stand alone as an example of a particular culture when choosing books in my classroom.
3. We are lucky at Lenz to have an abundance of parent involvement. We try to use volunteers very specifically by having a beginning of the year sign-up for days and times, and we are always prepared for them when they arrive so there is little time wasted in answering questions. We also invite parents in for specific projects, field trips and we welcome them at any time if they have a free moment. Parents receive a weekly newletter, and a weekly behavior note which they sign and return on Mondays. We call parents a lot and are open to answering any problems or questions that arise. We ask that they send an email, or call so that they don't disturb learning time.

[Karen Pedersen]

Hello, Allie:

Your journey is so inspiring to me. I have really been focusing on a more diverse library for my 5th grade students, and am excited to incorporate some great Native American works unique to our region and valley.
Thanks!

1. I am going to work on really incorporating essential questions throughout my instruction. I have come to realize that when students are motivated to investigate, inquire, and explore the material becomes more relevant. I am new to the 5th grade this year and have been out of the classroom for three years, so this is going to be a journey for me. One of the areas my incoming students scored low in is number sense, so i am thinking of starting the year off with some inquiry into undersanding the value of a number based on its location on the place value chart. I am going to start with the number 1 by having it up on the smartboard in various values. the question: (What is the value of one? What happens when the 1 changes places?)
So, the essential question: How do we know what the value of numbers is? Does that makes sense?
These little guys have no number sense at all, and have struggled, so I am working on closing that gap.

Writing is going to be integrated throughout the curriculum and content all day. Students will be journaling in math, so they will have explaining to do every step of the way.

2. Yerington has a large Native American Population in addition to Hispanic population, so I have been really working at finding culturally relevant books. I have several novels that look engaging for my Hispanic population. Some great stories are: Esperanza Rising, which is a story about a young girl who immigrates to America after her father dies. She comes from a wealthy family in Mexico, but ends up as a migrant worker in Las Angeles area. The story really highlights the beauty of the Hispanic culture and traditions as well as the problems encountered in America. I am also a big Mildred Taylor fan; she is one of my favorite authors. Her stories speak to my students and seem to break barriers because my students really can relate to the characters. I have also come across some great literature from our local Piaute Tribe in regards to legends and fables about our valley. I am excited to integrate these into my instruction.
There are many more books I have come across, am sharing with colleagues, and have found.
I know my students will appreciate having their cultures honored and recognized.

3. I am one of those teachers that calls home at the beginning of each year to touch base with parents, give them my phone number, and ask them if they have any questions or concerns about this upcoming year. I also ask them if there is anything unque about their child that will help me connect with them more in the classroom. In fact, I just phoned my 22 parents last night. I also use PowerSchool, as a way to keep in constant touch with parents. In addition to typing in the assignment, I also include at least 3-4 things parents can do at home to support their child with the homework assignment. Opening dialogue with parents is vital in my classroom. I don't always get 100% support because many parents are busy, but I am always working toward that. I hope my parents understand and feel how important they are to me.

Thanks, Allie. I will see you on the 11th.

Karen

[Jennifer Reynolds]

Allie:

At a higher socioeconomic school than some in the district, I did not notice many of the concerns that I had in the past at an "urban" school. Until recently, I considered parental involvement as more about parents concern with student grades and cultural relevance was less of an issue because I had a lot of kids from the same culture, but now that are school is changing it's demographics, I realize that parental involvement is more than about just checking grades and multi-culturalism is not just reading culturally relevant literature. It has been a shift and I feel like these two pieces of student engagement are two of the most essential parts of teaching. I think that they will most likely be a process of inquiry throughout my entire career because society changes so much. I think that your topic of inquiry will have far-reaching results in your classroom.

1. I think that you can structure an inquiry by looking at different populations of students to see how your data changes based on high-medium-low. For your inquiry, you might be able to base those categories on different cultures. I think it is more manageable and you might find more reliable results if you are looking at a few individuals or populatioins of students.

2. One book that I read to help me better understand student populations was Ain't no making it. It is a teacher book, but it might help with some of your research. I think that the idea of doing excerpts is more effective than full novels because you can hit more cultures and authors. You can also take a book that is not culturally specific like The Giver and ask students to compare it to their own cultures.

3. I have seen a few people do this very successfully and I wish that I was better at it. One team I know of does a cultural unit where students share their cultures with one another in a show and tell way and they have a day where each student brings a food of their culture and they share with each other and create a cookbook. The parents are invited to attend and share in the experience. I do a unit on heritage where students pick a family member to interview and must create a poster and then create a sort of eposidic writiting about the person they have interviewed. I also have interview questions for each novel that we read that relate to the themes in the novel. Students ask those in their lives what they think about universal truths instead of me explaining what the theme is in a piece of writing. Any assignments that open the communication on learning between parents and students is more effective than just grade monitoring. I also think that it is very important to have community involvement because some students need a parent figure. In eighth grade we make a professional grade book and read to retirement homes. Many students go back to visit in the future.

I think that one teacher can make a difference, but it is much better if we can foster as many relationships as possible in a student's life.