Monday, April 6, 2015

"Literacy with an Attitude" - Finn

For this post, I decided to do a reflection comparing my service learning to Finn's explanation of Anyon's study. This study focused on differences in the classrooms based on socioeconomic status. The results were labeled: executive elite, affluent professional, middle class, and working class. For my service learning, I am volunteering in a school that would fit into the working class category. Despite the results Anyon produced, my classroom does not follow her description. This may be due to the teacher I am working with or the school environment, but I am hopeful that this may be a sign that these types of unjust situations are becoming better.



"In the working class schools, the dominant theme was resistance" (Finn 12). This line did not describe my students or classroom in my opinion. "Knowledge in the affluent professional school was viewed as being open to discovery" (Finn 16). Though this describes the affluent professional school, I felt that this described my classroom environment much better. Also, Finn says "Control involved constant negotiation" (17). This also described the affluent professional school, but I found it very apparent in my "working class" school. The teacher is very concerned with negotiations and getting the students input on situations. She allows them to dialogue about problems they are having to find solutions or give consequences to students that deserve them.

I thought that this article, especially the Anyon study, related to Kozol's "Amazing Grace." Both spoke of the unbreakable cycle of poverty and social class and the struggle to change social classes since society is determined to continue the status quo. Finn said that these segregated schools teach students how to survive in their social class, not how to change it. The idea of continuing the family business or trade was described as keeping people in their rightful class. This is obviously unjust, but it is happening and making it so much harder for people to release themselves from their labeled social class.

Talking point: Does anyone else notice differences in their volunteering experiences or do your classrooms go along with the descriptions given in Finn's arcticle?

6 comments:

  1. My favorite part of the reading was the Anyon's study as well. I liked how you related this to your service learning experience. Good Blog! P.S. I like your colorful words. :)

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  2. as always you do an excellent job on your blog, I also like the connections that you made between this week's article and your service learning bravo!!!

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  3. I really liked how you said that your service learning didn't really relate to what Anoyn described and how it might be getting better. I never thought of it like that and I really liked it! I also really liked how you connected it to Kozol. Nice job :)

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  4. I find that my service learning would also fit into the working class category, and that a lot of the affluent professional school descriptions fit my classroom environment better as well. I also hope this means that things may be getting better!

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  5. I really liked reading about the Anyon study. I think you did a great job connecting the study to your personal experiences and Kozol. Also, I like how you are hopeful that things in schools are getting better since yours didn't match her description. good job

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  6. I really liked how you chose to compare your service learning to Finn's explanation! I agree with Jenna's comment since we're in the same classroom too. Overall, great work!

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