#6

My service-learning classroom doesn't have a ton of diversity. The class is predominantly white with only one child of color and as for as I know none of the children have any disabilities. 

Blog Post 5

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court where it was ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. The schools, however, were rarely equal. Colored schools were often held in cold damp basements with hand me down outdated school books from their white only counterparts. Thankfully now of days, all schools are integrated and everyone in that school has the same opportunity to learn regardless of the color of their skin.

The classroom that I am doing my service learning in is predominantly white but there are a few children of color. I luckily don't know how their education would have been different if this law was not passed but I do know that their social relationships would be. Beliefs and friendships start young, separating children only instills the idea that being different is a bad thing.

Engaged Learning

Engaged learning is the process in which students actively participate in their learning. This allows students to participate in real-life activities through collaboration, exploration, and discovery with peers. Some of the easiest ways to incorporate engaged learning are through the Five P’s: proactivity, participation, playfulness, patience, and passion. Proactivity deals with students seeking help when they need it and independently seeking extensions to their learning. Participation can simply be shown as students raising their hands and getting involved in dissuasions. Students can be playful as an engaged learning tactic by laughing in a friendly way and being eager to get involved in the class’s creative projects. Students can show patience in the classroom by being more willing to endure any transient boredom or slow progress and have a general vibe of an engaged class. Finally, one way to encourage engaged learning in the classroom is through passion, when teachers show genuine enthusiasm and a joy for the subject or activity the students will do the same.

In my service learning classroom, the teacher utilizes proactivity, passion, and patience the most. The students have a routine that they follow and are responsible for knowing when to move on to the next task. This is an example of proactivity in the classroom because they have control of their tasks and are encouraged to ask for help if they need it. I help in the classroom during the reading and writing portion of the class. Every student works at their own pace which means that there will be some students that finish with a good amount of time left in class which is where the patience comes in. Instead of complaining about being bored the students patiently wait for either the teacher or one of the aids to check off their work and tell them what their options are for free time.  The most important of the five P's to me is passion and this teacher agrees. During this period of the day, the teacher does the activity right along with the students showing that reading and writing are important and she isn't just asking them to do something that she wouldn't do herself.