First Few Visits

The first time I went to my school, I got lost on the way there. This just tightened the knot in my stomach even more. I’m always a little nervous going into a new place. After asking a few crossing guards where to go, I finally found the school, and to be honest, it looked a little intimidating. It was a large brick building with not many windows facing the street, and I have yet to see a playground. The surrounding neighborhood consists of small shops, older houses, a hospital, and a few other schools. I was surprised to see how quickly the neighborhoods changed from street to street. One street may be lined with run down houses and old cars, where as two streets down you find upscale houses with BMWs parked in gated driveways. Another observation I made was that many of the parents were walking their children to school instead of driving them, and most of these families were Black or Hispanic.

First going into the school I saw many colorful murals on the walls, along with the student’s artwork and posters written in both Spanish and English. Despite all the color and pictures, my first impression of the school was that it wasn’t very welcoming or nurturing, I got this feeling because of the locks on the doors and the way the secretaries in the main office barked orders at the kids coming in. This feeling changed after being introduced into the classroom, and also after reading Lisa Delpit’s The Silenced Dialogue, learning that everyone has a different way of showing authority over their children. Delpit suggests that African American mothers have a more direct oral style than say a white upper-class mother. So what I interpreted from the secretaries as the harsh yelling of orders at the children, the children may have seen just as someone with authority telling them what to do. If I had been spoken to that way when I was a child in a predominantly white elementary school in South Kingstown, RI, I would have felt as if I had done something wrong or that the secretary was upset with me. But because these children are accustomed to this type of command, they may not have understood it if it was phrased differently.

The classroom was filled with colorful pictures with letters and numbers. There is a reading area where the kids sit on the rug and the teacher reads to them, and there is also an area with tables that have colorful nametags on them where the children do their work. The students were mostly African American and were all very excited to have a visitor in their classroom. I noticed that one girl was wearing wedge high heel shoes which I thought was strange for a kindergartener. Another little girl with her hair in dangling braids with beads on the ends was dancing around like she was in a Beyonce video. All of the children were very attentive to the teacher when she was talking or giving instructions. This made me think that discipline and respect for authority was valued in this school. During the time I’ve been in the classroom I’ve never witnessed a child disobeying a teacher’s command or request.

Although I’ve only been in the classroom twice, I have gotten an overall good vibe from the school, from the teacher, and from the students. Each time I go I get more comfortable with being in the classroom, and can’t wait to see how I feel, and how my feelings have changed toward the school at the end of my time there.