While discussing this weeks topic with teachers, students and my co-op, I have found myself thinking in a new direction. Part of the race/class issue is teachers ability to teach to the students and the students worlds in their classroom. This week my own perceptions of "word to World" have changed. Questions I asked the people I discussed this topic with included, "Does the different races of your students affect your class?" "Do you find yourself teaching differently or making accommodations to certain students?""Do the students you are making accommodations for all fall into a similar social/economic class?" "How do you connect the material in your classroom to your students lives?" "Do you find incorporating and connecting the present to the task at hand helps student understanding?"
Some of the answers to these questions from teachers really shocked me, considering the 2 non music teachers did not understand the idea of connecting the material at hand to the students world. I know this seems unholy to someone from WCC but they felt that in their field (one French, one Math) it wasn't necessary for them to plan in such a way. One quote that particularly got me thinking; "My students are not French, and unless they go to France this will not apply to them in 10 years. I would be lucky if all of my students had the opportunity to travel and use what they have learned, but that isn't an option."
Here is my problem.... How SHOULD teachers of subjects like Math and French incorporate the Students world? Especially at a basic level in Foreign language, its difficult enough to learn the sounds and vocabulary, let alone the context and connection of Language to life.
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I think the concept of the French teacher not thinking the subject is 'personal' is really interesting--how can language NOT be a personal thing? I don't mean necessarily that the teacher should assume all of the students will hear/speak French 10 years down the road (just like we don't assume everyone that comes to the music classroom will become a musician) but there are still ways to connect the new information (French) to what the student already knows. For example, I remember in high school French we had French pen pals; they would write to us in English and we would respond in French--we got to choose what we wrote about and made the class about more than verb conjugations.
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