I plan to make my visits sometime later this week, so here are my expectations ahead of time. One place in my school’s community that I would like to visit is the public library in Southfield. I want to find out what kinds of literacy resources this library has available for children in the community. Regardless of whether students in my class visit the library regularly with their families or not I want to know more about what they might find so I can talk about it in class and make connections and suggestions. Libraries also often have fliers and pamphlets available about events in the community which might give me more ideas about places I could visit to learn more about Southfield.
There is also a city park not far from my school that I would also like to visit. I believe that parks are good places to learn about a community because here I would be able to see families interacting and possibly sports or other games being played. This could be a valuable resource in learning about things students in my school like to do in their spare time. These could be possible experiences that I could draw upon when teaching reading comprehension or writing to help students understand a certain context or develop ideas for writing. I know that many students in my class play sports like football, basketball, or soccer so it would be a good idea for me to know where they often play games (maybe at this park I found or another one). The context of sports is something I could use as a connection or analogy to help them understand skills, strategies, or concepts in literacy.
Hi Lauren! I really like that you want to visit the library to find out what kind of resources are available outside of school in the community to the students. I also like the idea of collecting fliers and pamphlets to further your learning. I tutored all summer at two public libraries around my hometown in Waterford, and West Bloomfield and there is a ton of information available.
ReplyDeleteVisiting the park is another great place to learn about the community. It isn't very often that students travel far from their homes to play in the park, often times they live close enough to where they can ride their bike from home either alone or with an older sibling (depending on age/distance). I know my community has a historical downtown right by Walled Lake and a lot of places are close together and students are able to walk to certain places alone.
Taking the time to really get to know your students on a personal level is so important, especially when lessons are unique and relative to their lives, they feel important and want to engage in the lessons. I really think you are on the right track!
After my community visit: The Southfield Public Library turned out to be quite the exciting discovery. Their library is huge and beautiful with an enormous selection of many different books and resources. The children’s section of the library was especially exciting. This area includes several shelves of both fiction and non-fiction books, a cozy nook with a medieval castle theme called the “Dragon’s Den,” where all the picture books were located, and several computer stations and work tables. The whole room is very brightly colored with architecture that really seems like it would spark imagination, like the “castle” and an area shaped like a huge tree house. It definitely seemed like a very kid-friendly place. For some reason I didn’t really expect Southfield to have such a nice, new-looking library with so many resources, which made my visit a very pleasant surprise. This experience reminded me of the article by Compton-Lilly in which she describes her own surprise at the enjoyment of reading shown by her students’ families in an underprivileged community. (p. 451-452). Overall, Southfield is not underprivileged but there does seem to be great differences in the level of wealth across the city. As I drive around the city I have noticed a wide variety of home, from large extravagant houses to smaller, more modest houses, often in adjacent neighborhoods. My school is located in one such area. All of this aside, literacy must be considered a priority to many people in this community in order for there to be such a well-equipped library in the center of town. I should know never to make assumptions about a community and the resources it has to offer.
ReplyDeleteNext to the library is a large municipal park with a very nice playground, sports fields, nature trails, and a huge hill that looks like it would be a good place for sledding in the winter. This is another example of beautiful community facilities in the city of Southfield. I hope that my students and their families are aware of these resources and take advantage of them as places to play in and explore.
Another interesting thing I’ve realized about Southfield is the constant influx of families moving there from Detroit. There are several students in my class who are new to the school and their families just recently moved from Detroit. I’ve also noticed that all of the students seem to be very familiar with Detroit, both those who used to live there and those who have lived in Southfield most of their lives. I made this discovery during one of my CT’s social studies lessons in which the class was looking at a map of downtown Detroit in their textbooks. As she talked about things like the People Mover, Joe Louis Arena, the Renaissance Center, and Greektown, most of the students seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. There are parts of Southfield that border Detroit, so I shouldn’t be surprised that this would be a place my students would visit often with their families. I will have to keep this in mind for my own lessons.
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