Task 2: Considering the Community

1. Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

We plan to visit the post office and fire department for starters. We think this will give us a general idea of the community in Mt. Clemens. A post office is normally filled with many different people so that will give us a chance to see how people in the community operate and also interact with others since there will be both staff and clients in the building. The fire department will give us an idea of how emergencies are taken care of in the community and also allow us to see people who truly value their community (the firemen) as many fire fighters are volunteers and those who aren’t are still willing to risk their lives for the community. These 2 places will give us an idea of the general community and also people who are passionate about working for their community. We also plan to visit the library, as that is a place for all ages. We think the library is an important place for students and by viewing the library in our students’ community we will be able to better understand the access that they have to books and how we can interest them in the library and reading. It of course gives us the chance to see people of all different ages in the community interacting as well. We also plan to visit the Anton Art Center. I chose to go there because I think incorporating the arts in the classroom is very important and I would love to know the art that is displayed and available for my students to see in their community. Even outside of the classroom I think art is important for all students to experience and I want to know what is available right in their community! We also plan to walk around the downtown area of Mt. Clemens to get a general idea of the area and the people who live there. As a general comment, I think all of these places will help us the see people living their normal lives and going about their normal daily activities. This will be great for observing the community and how it works.

We went to the Mt. Clemens Library, Anton Art Center, and all over downtown Mt. Clemens. We ended up not going to the post office or the fire department because Anton Art Center is near downtown Mt. Clemens and we decided it would be helpful to explore that area instead.

At the library I noticed how welcoming the Children’s section was. It was filled with children’s work, colors, dollhouses, etc. I wasn’t surprised that it was welcoming and filled with colors as that’s a great way to encourage children to come to that are and read or check out a book to read at home. The receptionist in this area was also very bubbly and welcoming. I was surprised at her interaction with the people who entered the children’s area. I think she really wanted to connect with them and be sure that they were able to find what they wanted and encouraged to read. I think this is great for children! I was also surprised that the books were organized not only alphabetical but also by size. The receptionist said that’s so that the children can find books easier and smaller books don’t get lost amongst the larger books. I also surprised at the amount of children’s work that was displayed throughout the library, mainly the children’s section. I think it’s great that it is on display and there was so much to see! I think it makes the children feel like that truly is there place. I also was surprised that when I walked in the main entrance to the library, the first thing that I saw was movies. I understand that movies can be educational and it’s good to allow students to free their minds and watch movies; however, a library is usually meant to promote reading. I feel like it was promoting movies before reading by having the movies right at the entrance. In my opinion it would make more sense for someone to see books as soon as they walk into the library rather than movies.

At the Anton Art Center I noticed many different paintings. The ones that stuck out to me the most were the ones with geometric shapes. I tend to have a mathematical mind so shapes and geometry often pop out at me in artwork. I also noticed many different types of artwork. There was clay work, all types of painting (water color, acrylic, etc.), sculptures, moving art on TVs, etc. I was surprised at the amount of types of artwork at one art center, but it made it very interesting.

In downtown Mt. Clemens I saw many restaurants, pubs, small shops, and some large buildings. I was surprised that there were statues of people in the middle of downtown Mt. Clemens. I saw a statue of a man and girl playing chess together which I thought was great to see. It reminds people walking by to work with others even those who are younger or older. We can learn from everyone! I was not surprised to see some people just sitting around town with big bags with them looking very tired and lonely. It was sad, but unfortunately something that I expected from Mt. Clemens because it is an urban area. On the other hand I was surprised that a man came up to us to talk to us. He saw that we were talking pictures and told us of some places he thought were nice and might be helpful to us. I was surprised that he just came right up to us and wanted to help!

2. What do you expect to see? Spend some time thinking about common ARCHETYPES and BIASES present in your community.

As I stated above I expect to see people of all ages living their daily lives and following their normal daily routines. I expect to see all different kinds of people and people working many different jobs from high class jobs to low class jobs. A typical bias that I have heard from many people when I tell them that I work in Mt. Clemens is that it’s a bad area. I hope to see some nice areas of Mt. Clemens as I have some wonderful students and I know Mt. Clemens can be a nice place. At the same time I do expect to see people struggling to support their families and others who are well off but still working to support their families. I have been to downtown Mt. Clemens for a couple different events and I think it is a wonderful place so I expect to see some great things in Mt Clemens along with some not so great things.

3. What do you think an "outsider" would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?

I work in the community so I now have a general awareness of the community but until I fulfill this project I still consider myself an outsider since I do not live in the community that I work in. So I think that my biases and archetypes are similar to what many “outsiders” would see. Along with what I spoke about above an outsider would see Mt. Clemens as a big downtown area that is filled with big buildings and a great place for nightlife especially on the weekends. They would probably see parts of the community as rundown and tough areas. An outsider would see Mt Clemens as an urban area where many of the members of the community live in low income or 0 income households. They may not see past the looks of rundown houses to realize that the people of the community are just like every other person; working to support their families however they need to do so.

Mt. Clemens is also known for the Mt. Clemens General Hospital so they may see the community as a place to go when a hospital is needed which gives it the look of a helpful place.

I think some of this is what I will see but some of it is different. I think Mt.Clemens is often thought of as a downtown party place, a place that has a good hospital, and a place of poverty and can be dangerous as well. I think I will see that it is more than that. I think I will see more than just a downtown area and a hospital because I know that Mt. Clemens is a big city and has more to offer. I think by going to some of these places that I will also see that the people of Mt. Clemens are just like people of other communities even though they may live in more rundown areas.

It was nice to explore downtown Mt. Clemens during the day. It was far from the party scene that people often picture with Mt. Clemens. I was surprised at how pretty the city was. There were statues and sculptures and there’s also a very big clock. I think this makes it feel like a more comfortable welcoming community than most outsiders think of it as. We did see people of all types from people who were working hard to people who were just lying on a bench staring at the sky. This shows that some members of the community do live in low income or 0 income homes as some people don’t have jobs or maybe even homes, but there are others who have high incomes and work hard all day. I was a little surprised at how well the town is kept.

By visiting the community that my students live in I am now able to better understand my students. I am aware of the area that they come from and the resources that they have and don’t have in their area. Along with visiting the community I also have been filing the reduced lunch forms that my students bring in which has allowed me to understand more about my students family backgrounds and the types of jobs that their parents have or don’t have. My visit to the community also helped me to realize how great of a school we have. Our school has students who come from all types of backgrounds and the school works very hard to accommodate all of these students. My students receive free breakfast every morning and starting this week they will also receive a free snack later in the day. I think it is great that the school works with the families so that they students have what they need to be successful learners. I also now know that the library in Mt. Clemens is a wonderful library so for some of my students who may not have the money to buy books to read at home they have a variety of options at the library and that is something I can suggest to them now that I know more about their local library. Our school did a “Seminole Library Night” to support the use of the library, which I think is a great thing for my school. Also, the library gives passes for museums near by so that students can visit them for free and I think that is something else that I can suggest to my students or families of my students since I’ve learned that many of them can’t afford extra payments.

4. Florio-Ruane (2010) explains, "The ecological view of literacy asserts that reading, writing, and oral language cannot be separated in their learning and in their use to learn subject matter. They are interrelated because they are all part of communication and are meaningful within social groups, contexts, knowledge and activities" (p. 2). Think about the setting/event you will visit as part of your Inquiry 1 investigation, and jot down some notes about the types of interconnections you are likely to see among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies and how they might contribute to communication in that setting.

I think there will be many interconnections between reading, writing, oral languages, and other literacies as we visit the community. Throughout the community as a whole and the downtown area we will see and hear people conversing with each other, asking questions and responding, etc. We will also be able to see the communication between customers and clients at places like the post office and library. This will allow us to see both informal and formal communication. We will also see visual literacies, as people will have to read signs such as stop signs and handicap signs as they walk and drive through the community. In places such as the post office there will be signs for customers to read so that they know what they need to do in order to be prepared when they reach the front of the line. There will also be writing, as they may need to fill out an envelope. In the library there will certainly be reading and possibly some writing and of course communication between people as well. There will also be technology as people use the computers and are reading on there as well. The art center allows for a lot of communication about the art displays and also visual literacy as the people will have to view the art and read it based on what they see. There will be reading, writing, oral language, and other literacies mixed together as we go from place to place in our school’s community.

We saw interactions in the library among parents/adults and children, the receptionist and people checking out books, the children’s receptionist and the people in the children’s area, etc. I saw saw interactions between friends and family as they walked through the library discussing their day or what book they should check out. There was also interaction between people and the computers.

At the Anton Art Center we were the only people visiting the exhibit while we were there so the only interactions we saw were amongst the 4 of us who went together for the visit. We talked about ways to connect what we were seeing to our classrooms and we also discussed what we saw in certain art pieces. There were also interconnections as we individually looked at the artwork and interpreted it; visual literacy.

We certainly saw interconnections between people in the downtown area as they were conversing with each other; thinking, talking and responding. We also saw visual literacy as people read street signs, handicap signs, stop signs, etc.; visual literacy and reading at the same time.

We were involved in most of these interconnections as well.

5. Think about the connections you could make between and among contexts such as your school, classroom and the community. Literacy can and is found in all of these contexts, though they are not always as "obvious" as they are in our classrooms.

I think it is very important to make connections between school and the community. Many students ask why they’re learning certain things and if they can see a connection of what they’re learning to their community and daily life I think they would better value their learning. Students learn better when they see what they’re learning is actually being used in the community and will be a part of their lives.

Also I think connecting school and the community makes learning more interesting for students. Personal connections are always good for students. We can remind students that they need to read directions to get places, read signs, read menus, etc. We can also have students write poetry or stories based on what they see in their community, art at the Anton Art Center, pictures and architecture at the library, pictures from books they read at the library, etc. We could even have students write descriptions of their communities or how-to papers on how to mail something at the post office. Students also need to know their grammar so that they can speak correctly when they’re at a store, restaurant, post office, etc. We can also read stories to students and have them relate what they learn about in the stories to their community through text to self connections and text to world connections. I hope that students understand that their communities are important places and are learning environments too. I want my students to be able to connect what they learn in the classroom to what they experience in their community outside of school.

This experience will help my teaching in many ways. I think that relating what the students are learning to the real world is very important. As I said above many students ask why they’re learning certain things and if they can see a connection to their community and daily life then they’ll better value their learning. I also think that kids find learning more exciting and interesting when it relates to them personally. Now that I’ve experience the community that my students live in I will be able to relate my teaching to their lives and their community, which will engage them more. I now have many ideas of how to incorporate art based on the Anton Art center into my lessons. The Anton Art Center is something the students can visit and I can also show pictures of artwork from there and use them in all different kinds of lessons, especially math and literacy. Also, I could have students write stories or poetry about their lives and where they live and I will be able to understand their writing better and connect more with them. I feel like understanding my students’ community will make me a better teacher or all of these reasons and also because I feel that I understand my students better now that I’ve seen the community that they live in and what surrounds them on a daily bases.

My investigation of the community has influenced how I think about my students as literacy learners and users because I now know more about what is offered to them. I’m now informed about the resources that my students have access to. I know that they are able to check out books from the library for free and also receive free passes to museums through the library. They can access literacy through the library and as a teacher I can give them literacy assignments that they will better relate to which in turn will help them to engage in their learning.

The Learning Alongside Families PowerPoint talked a lot about teachers perspectives of their students’ parents and how we perceive students an their parents. I found myself realizing that all parents are human and no one is perfect. Just because they may come from a low or 0 income house does not mean that they don’t care about their children. They may want to be involved but don’t know how. As teachers we need to invest our parents and make them involved in their children’s education/academic lives and also the classroom and classroom activities. We can do this by asking for parent volunteers for group activities and field trips, by sending home letters on a normal basis to inform parents, by emailing parents to tell them about their child, etc. The more we stay in contact and gain a positive relationship with parents the better. Yes, there will always be parents who don’t want to listen to the teacher or be a part of their child’s classroom, but that does not mean we should stop trying to connect with our students’ parents.

I relate to the second teacher in the video from the PowerPoint. I certainly had assumptions about parents and how their students’ act and how that plays a part in how their students act. I often think that certain parents will never be involved and I shouldn’t think that. I should try to find more ways to involve the parents and get them to care about their children’s academic success like I discussed above. I should never judge a family, but like this teacher in the video it has happened to me. It’s something that I will truly think about and do my best to work towards involving all parents as much as I can.