This is the model reflection I offer my students prior to their completing the Formative Unit assessment for my EDP 370: Applied Child Development Course. This reflection models several different 'strategies' for integrating data about their field sites (from the State Department of Education websites, Census data, community partner websites, or their own observations). Students general select 1 form of the data listed above to integrate in their approximately 3 page field report. This course is taught as a 'hacked' course. Lectures are prerecorded for students to listen to at home, we complete activities in-class. The culminating project is the Children's Thinking Project (adapted from Penelope Oldfather & West, 1999). Thus, we integrated a series of interviews from American Public Media: Dick Gordon's The Story radio program into the pedagogy for students to develop their interviewing skills. Flipped Videos can be accessed via the course ebook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/edp-370-handbook/id705427002?mt=11

1. DeLeon*: “Its’ not Fair!”
* Name has been changed to a pseudonym
I began tutoring at Wiley Elementary two years ago – when my daughter Hannah was in
Kindergarten. I began working with DeLeon,* as his “Wiley Partner,” at the beginning of
his first grade year. At the time, his family was living in the Legacy Park* subsidized
housing project about four blocks from my home. DeLeon is oldest of four children and
he often struggled to get the attention he needed from his mom at home. A single mom,
DeLeon’s father was in jail and she relied on her family for as much support as she
could get.
During our first year, it became clear that DeLeon was a struggling reader. When I met
him, he didn’t know his alphabet and could not match letter sounds. When doing word
sorts he often appeared not to ‘hear’ the difference between beginning and ending
sounds (“b” vs “d,” “m” vs “n”) and he would get upset when he was asked to sound out
words. His strengths were in mathematics / science – he could easily add and subtract
with manipulatives and understood the concepts of “property” (of a shape, a rock etc.)
and “pattern.”
His teacher, Ms. Chance, developed a 30-minute routine for us: three 10-minute tasks
beginning with math, moving onto a word sort, and ending with a reading-game.
Progress was slow – DeLeon was easily distracted and learned quickly that he could
‘side track’ me by asking me personal conversations or telling me about what was
happening in his family. About mid-way through the year, Ms. Chance and I decided it
was time to push him more during our sessions. We changed up the routine to include
reading a book at the end of the session. Unfortunately we quickly encountered
problems. DeLeon would refuse to read the books. He would refuse to sound out
words. None of the strategies I tried seemed to work – reminding him of all the
progress he’d made and encouraging him to be confident and take a risk. He would try
to negotiate to do something else and when I set a boundary he would get so upset that
he would cry. It felt awful.
On the way to school one day, I decided to make a change. Hannah had been doing
reading activities on a website called Starfall.net. There were activities that emphasized
sounding out words and reading comprehension. I also was familiar with the activities
on the PBSKids.org site too. I shifted reading the book to the middle and decided that I
would see if he would complete the reading in order to do activities on the computer. At
first it worked like a charm. DeLeon was so excited about the prospect of ‘playing’ on
the computer, even though he declared “I don’t like Starfall” that we got into a routine of
completing his math activity, completing a reader, and playing 1 or 2 ‘games’ on either
Starfall or PBSKids. It worked until the readers got challenging. As children
demonstrate proficiency on a reading level, teachers present them with more
challenging texts. The jump from Level 1 to Level 2 felt enormous. There was still
repetition and rhyme, but the shift from simple three letter words to four letter words
made ‘guessing’ based off the starting sound and the rhyme difficult. DeLeon would
have to attempt to sound out words. Our sessions started to last longer – 40 minutes –
Heather Davis 9/13/11 8:24 AM
Comment [1]: In
the
next
section,
I
provide
a
lot
of
information
about
DeLeon.
You
probably
won’t
know
that
much
information
about
the
children
you
are
working
with
yet.
So,
it
is
appropriate
to
focus
your
first
field
report
on
what
you
observed
during
your
first
visit
about
the
program
/
school.
What
kind
of
culture
/
climate
did
you
perceive?
How
does
it
relate
to
providing
an
“optimal
cognitive
culture”
according
to
one
of
the
readings
we
have
completed?

2. in order to get all three tasks completed. He took the first time we ran out of time
reading and were not able to get on the computer like a champ. I reassured him that it
would be better next week and we’d have time for the computer. And, we did get to the
computer the following week – but only for five minutes. When the bell rang and it was
time to go back to class he appeared to shut down. He put his head on the keyboard,
began to cry, and wouldn’t leave. He repeated over and over, “It’s not fair.” The
Principal came across the hall, reminded DeLeon of his ‘choices’ (part of the Positive
Behavior Management plan) and helped calm him enough to walk back to his
classroom. When we got back to Ms. Chance and told her what happened, he shouted
at us both, “But it’s not fair!” Ms. Chance calmly replied, “Of course it’s fair, DeLeon.
School is for learning and your time with Ms. Heather is about learning – not about
playing on the computer. If the computer is going to be a problem, it won’t be part of
your time together.” The tears streamed down his face – but he said nothing. “I know
you had a tough day today, but I know you’ll do better next week. Can you apologize to
Ms. Heather?” DeLeon hung his head and said “sorry.” I gave him a hug and said that I
look forward each week to seeing him and that I would be back. He wiped his tears and
walked back into the classroom.
Sometimes it is hard for me to get my head around the difference between “contextual”
factors and “cultural” factors that affect development of children in poverty. On the one
hand, DeLeon has fewer resources. He has one parent to provide daily support and he
must share her with three other siblings, including and infant, each of whom also have
pretty pressing needs. When I think about the contextual factors on the development of
his reading skills – I think about differences Nesbitt (2008) describes in vocabulary
between middle class and low-income families. By the age of three, professional
parents tend to have exposed their children to over 30 million words, 10 million more
than working class families. It’s hard to know what kind of support he gets for reading at
home including how many books he has access to and the extent to which his mom can
make the time to read with him and his siblings (Nesbitt, 2008). And it is clear he
doesn’t have a computer at home – which probably affects his desire to be on a
computer but also his abilities to regulate his own behavior when he has an opportunity
to use a computer. These kinds of contextual factors (i.e. where you live, the “amounts”
of support you get, and the kinds of resources you can draw on to solve problems)
affect children’s development because they 1) constrain the opportunities to learn and
/or 2) present opportunities to learn ‘different’ skill sets not valued by school. Nesbitt
(2008) also describes how cultural factors – the ‘habitus’ or ways of being – affect
working-class and low-income children’s success in school.
In 1996-1997, Wiley was recognized for ‘Exemplary Growth;’ their 4th
grade reading
proficiency was at 75.4%, math proficiency was at 77.2%, and Writing Proficiency
59.6%. These were way above the state and district averages. Wiley is one of the
many magnet elementary schools in Wake County. The magnet school program was
developed 30 years ago in-conjunction with the student assignment program when City
of Raleigh Schools were united with Wake County Schools. The purpose of the two
programs was to eliminate high poverty schools; that is schools that had more than 60%
of their population living at or below the poverty line. The goal of the programs was to
Heather Davis 9/13/11 8:32 AM
Comment [2]: In
this
section
I
try
to
make
a
direct
connection
between
my
observations
with
DeLeon
and
some
of
the
data
/
insights
that
affected
me
from
the
Nesbitt
(2008)
reading.
Notice
how
I
included
some
specific
details
from
the
reading
to
highlight
the
points
I
was
making
about
how
contextual
factors
may
shape
his
reading
development.
Heather Davis 9/12/11 2:15 PM
Comment [3]: You
are
not
expected
to
know
data
from
1996/
1997.
But
I
think
this
was
important
that
in
the
past,
average
rated
were
enough
for
schools
to
get
exemplary
ratings.
Now
schools
need
to
disaggregate
their
data
and
demonstrate
proficiency
and
growth
across
groups.

3. ensure that no school in Wake County had a population of low-income students greater
than 40%. The philosophy underlying the unification of the two school districts was that
improving the academic quality of city schools would contribute to an urban renewal for
downtown Raleigh and, in turn, improving the quality of life in the county. It is important
to remember that in Raleigh, like many cities in the United States, income level
correlates strongly with being non-white. Thus, the direct benefits of improving Raleigh
City Schools were directed at serving historically marginalized populations (African
Americans and later Hispanics) in the city.
Magnet schools tend to be theme-based and offer alternative programming compared to
traditional schools. Their mission statement emphasizes values that stretch beyond
what are traditionally considered a teacher’s / school’s responsibility:
“Wiley's International Studies Magnet Program is designed to develop
responsible, respectful citizens of an interconnected, interdependent
world. Twenty-first century tools assist students in learning about the rich
world around them and various means of communicating across cultures.”
“We believe that students should have a balanced menu of electives that
include courses from each of the following three areas: Core Subjects
(Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Media,
International (Foreign Language, Cultural Studies) Arts (Visual,
Performing and Contemporary).”
However, like many of the schools in the County, Wiley elementary has continued to
struggle to meet the needs of its’ low income and non-white populations. For these
reason, the student assignment program and magnet programs have come under
scrutiny for their ability to meet the needs of historically marginalized populations. Look
at the table below. Notice how presenting ‘average’ proficiency rates can obscure the
challenges a school is facing to meet the needs of ALL of its students.
2009 Percentages 2001 Percentages
(# Proficient, # Taken, % Passed)
4th
Grade Math
Black 11 18 61.1% 9 19 47.4%
White - 40 >95% 36 38 94.7%
4th
Grade Reading
Black 8 18 44.4% 6 19 31.6%
White 37 40 92.5% - 38 >95%
DeLeon is an example of one of the children, the school struggles to serve. The
students in Wiley’s base are largely drawn from the 27603 and 27605 zip codes. When
looking at the census data I notice how the 27603 zip code boasts higher percentages
of African American (21.5%), Hispanic (8.4%), and families living below poverty (11.1%)
compared to the rates for Wake County. I also notice how the 27605 zip code boasts
60% renters in the area. In both zip codes, the median household income appears to
be what Woolfolk would consider middle class ($41,979) but the per capita income for
the area suggests it is not a very wealthy area to live 21,307. I wanted to understand
Heather Davis 1/30/12 9:57 AM
Comment [4]: Here
is
where
I
describe
what
I
know
about
the
context
/
culture
of
the
school.
Consider
incorporating
the
school
/
program
mission
statement.
What
does
it
communicate
to
you
about
the
school’s
values?

4. where students were being drawn from so I searched Google for a zip code map and
discovered that 27603 is very large zip code compared to 27601 (downtown Raleigh).
In the map below, 27603 is represented by the brown area. It stretches from downtown
out into Garner. Thus, poverty associated with the living in one of the housing projects
in the city might be obscured by some of the residential data from Garner. DeLeon lives
in a housing complex that is on the boarder of 27603 and 27601. In some ways, the
‘data’ from the census obscures an accurate picture what the ‘micro-context’ of his
housing community.
DeLeon’s school has a variety of programs that are designed to support the
development low-income children. They partner with the YMCA to offer before and
afterschool programming for all children and developed the “Wiley Achievers” program
for children identified as “at risk” for school failure to work with teachers and tutors.
They also developed and in-school tutoring program, “The Wiley Partners” program to
provide additional 1:1 instructional time and support.
So, what does he mean when he says “It isn’t fair.” I learned over the last two years
that when DeLeon says, “It’s not fair,” he’s making a direct commentary on his life. It
isn’t fair that he often misses play-time to work with tutors. It isn’t fair that he doesn't
have a computer at home to “play” with. It isn’t fair that when he gets computer time, it
is constrained and he cannot “play” the games he might play if he had one at home.
And it isn’t fair that his time on the computer is (often) dependent on whether he
successfully completes academic tasks. DeLeon is a ‘smart’ boy – he is able to look
around at what the other children who attend Wiley have and notice what he does not.
Despite it’s mission statement to provide a global education and to develop 21st
century
students – DeLeon is caught in a cognitive culture (Nesbit, 2008) of remediation. His
school time is filled with messages about what he cannot do, and fixing it. In their case
Heather Davis 9/13/11 8:40 AM
Comment [5]: I
don’t
expect
you
to
be
able
to
analyze
with
this
depth
the
data
from
the
census
and
the
school;
but
I
do
expect
that
you
‘ask
good
questions’
when
you
look
at
the
census
/
school
report
card
data.
Ask
yourself:
“What’s
missing?”
“What
can’t
I
learn?”
Heather Davis 9/12/11 2:17 PM
Comment [6]: You
do
not
need
to
look
at
the
zip
code
map
–
but
it
might
be
helpful….
I
found
this
by
plugging
in
the
keywords
“zip
code
map”
into
Google.

5. study of four teachers Stodolsky and Grossman (2000) also found some of the teachers
held ‘deficit’ views of the ‘new’ population of minority children entering their school.
These deficit views shaped their relationship and their selection of pedagogies. My
colleague Marc Grimmett who studies the development of African American males often
asks: “What would schools and teacher-child relationship look like if we all believed the
Black-male child was whole and complete and perfect?” Would DeLeon be pushed to
be in technology electives and foreign language classes in lieu of tutoring?
What I learned from this unit is that schools / teachers may have a challenging time
impacting the contextual factors that shape the development of low-income, minority
students. We may have to be creative about how to 1) develop partnerships to get
needed resources (computers, books, learning toys) etc. into the family contexts so that
low income children have the opportunity to interact with tools their middle class peers
do. 2) We may need to develop partnerships with parents to help them develop the
confidence and skills to play with and read with their children; that putting the resources
in the home (Nesbitt, 2008) may not be enough. And 3) that we may need to rethink the
nature and purpose of ‘enrichment programs.’ Do the programs we design for low
income, minority children send them the message that they are “whole and complete”?
Or, do they reinforce the cultural messages they already receive that they are behind
and lacking?
Heather Davis 9/13/11 8:58 AM
Comment [7]: Here
is
where
I
try
to
take
what
I
learned
from
the
activity
and
think
about
the
implications
of
the
work
I
do
at
Wiley
and
with
other
schools
/
programs.