Lisa O Task 2- Considering the Community

Prior to visiting the neighborhood of Bret Harte, I had envisioned a setting much similar to what I had experienced in inner- city Detroit. However, as I become familiar to the area, I begin to realize my accusations about the community were entirely unjust. I had envisioned a community consisting of filthy streets, broken down homes and poor school structures. After simply traveling to and from school, I have found the community to be clean, well established and completely different from the initial thoughts. I am excited to further explore the community of Hyde Park and investigate the surroundings and culture of my students at Bret Harte.

To become prepared to teach this community of learners, it is imperative that I become familiar to the larger contexts of the city and neighborhood of my school. Exploring the community will enable me to become more familiarized to social and cultural norms of my students. I will then be able to create conducive lesson plans that reflect such norms.

For inquiry one, I plan on visiting Washington Park and Medici 57 Restaurant. These settings are both well- known to the residents of Hyde Park as well as to my students. Washington Park will provide me with more insight about the people of this community, both adults and children. The students mentioned their love for parks and playing outside after school. From speaking to staff members, I was also informed of a well-known restaurant near my school that was famous for "feeding Obama!" After discussing the environment of this location, I thought it would be a neat place to observe both math and literary elements. I also hope to visit a local farmer’s market, observing interactions of community members as well as getting a better understanding of the community and events that students and parents may be involved in. This exploration didn't really go as planned. Being that it was middle of the day on Thursday, I had a hard time finding parking, easily become frustrated, and continued on my way without really seeing the park at its fullest. I, however, did spend a great deal of time at the farmers market, investigating interactions and culture while also the interactions with literacy and math. Here, I really focused on the diversity of the crowd, both seemingly in socio-economic statuses as well as culture, ethnicity and age. It was really interesting to see all the different people coming together and interacting. I really saw here what one teacher had discussed... "Hyde Park is like the melting pot of Chicago".

In the park, I expect to see a lot of physical activity of both children and adults. I expect to find children that are enjoying the park amenities as well as adults taking advantage of gorgeous outdoor scenery. I do not necessarily expect my findings to be parallel to the biases surrounding the “dangers of Southside of Chicago”. In both the park and the restaurant, I expect to see a range of literary and mathematical components, from street signs to menus, to prices and maps. As for the farmer’s market, I am really unsure as to what to expect. I am assuming there will be a great deal of signs and prices as well as a colorful assortment of food! I am expecting to find mostly women in this setting due to my own stereotypes. I am also assuming that there will be a wide range of economic status of customers at this farmer’s market. Overall, I expect to find rich cultural and social aspects of the community atmosphere as well as an abundance of math and literary components. I also set out to explore the community on foot, investigating life on the streets. It was very interesting noticing all the math and literacy that students get to see and deal with on a daily basis. For example, students are constantly consumed in a culture that deals with money, directions, reading, speaking, communicating and so much more. Looking within this community and really thinking about such contexts can help to create lesson plans that are meaningful and powerful for the students. Using examples and pulling from their daily lives can increase motivation in the classroom and make the lessons relevant for each student. I knew that once I had an eye to look for math and literacy, those contexts would not be hard to find. But I was shockingly surprised at how much literacy and math was really in everyday life.

Outsider? Been there, done that! I felt just as an outsider would have coming into a new school and new community. This area however allows me to adjust the stereotypes that may have formed previously around urban communities. Simply observing my surroundings, I have found the area around my school to be enjoyable and pleasant, and I would hope an outsider would say the same! Some outsiders, however, could look past the smiling faces walking the streets, the mother’s walking with strollers and rather completely focus on other characteristics of the neighborhood. For example, a white outsider would most likely immediately notice the black culture and thus, form bias conclusions on the area in general. As I become more familiarized with this new community, I feel less as an outsider. However, that feeling has not totally left me feeling confident with my surroundings. It may just take my all year to actually feel "part of the community", but I am getting closer. I am feeling more comfortable and more knowledgeable about the community in which I am teaching. This is important for all educators to understand the neighborhood in which your students come from. This can allow educators to create an atmosphere that is conducive to all students' learning and successes.

Throughout the areas I expect to find interconnections among reading, writing and oral language. In a restaurant setting, it is necessary to be literate in speaking, reading, writing and communicating as well as be able to understand the use of numbers and prices. In the park, I expect that visitors may need to familiar with a sense of direction using both numerical literacy and environmental literacy. I expect to find numerical literacy on buses, street corners, addresses, prices, etc. I also expect to find visual literacies everywhere from street signs to stop lights. I also expect to find cultural literacy as people are aware and familiar with the surrounding area. I hope to witness a community that is able to comprehend street signs, understand popular slang or other cultural realms of the neighborhood. I noticed a community that makes interconnections with reading, writing and oral language. Whether that be in a restaurant or on the street, everyone is interacting in one way or another. It may just be a simple hello, or a casual wave or smile, but residents everywhere are using communication. Before confronting a police officer a simple smile was exchanged. In order to comprehend such a gesture, one would use emotional literacy to convey as well as understand. When asking the local police officer about the community and how it differs for other communities, he responds by discussing its diversity. However, with this conversation underway, a resident hereby interjects and speaks with the police officer of issues surrounding the neighborhood and being how the community is being portrayed. This women voices her opinion to the police officer and expresses her concern with the "beggars" on the street corners. This is just one of the many examples of communicating in this area. This gesture did in fact surprise me. This women was genuinely concerned about the environment and safety of this neighborhood as well as businesses.

I am excited to get better familiarized with the community in order to relate more to my students. I hope that they will begin to realize my knowledge about the community as well as continue to inform me of their own lives and culture.

This community investigation has allowed me to become more familiar to the students as well as to the people of the community. It has allowed me to visit places that have been recommended by students and thus, has allowed me to see what the students may do outside of school. With this experience, I have focused on mathematical and literary contexts which will be helpful when doing my guided lead teaching. I will be able to reference to areas and places my students are familiar with and therefore yield higher motivation. I can now pull from such resources to include in my lesson planning. Compton-Lilly states that "looking beyond classroom walls is especially important for educators who work with children from diverse communities." For example, I am to be able to create lesson plans that expand upon and further discuss areas of their own community. I have learned that this community delves into matters of literacy and mathematics in their everyday lives. It would be beneficial to bring those strategies and experiences also into the classroom.

Contrary to what one may think and to the popular belief that “students are receiving little literacy tools at home”, I have recognized that students have been exposed to many literacy and math contexts. As mentioned in Compton- Lilly’s article, in which her own investigation “revealed that despite socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic differences, families in all three communities were engaged in meaningful and purposeful literacy activities…noting that even children who were considered deficient by school standards brought rich experiences and understanding to classrooms that teachers could build upon, access and develop.” This belief stood out to me and parallels what I have found by investigating the community of Hyde Park. These children bring knowledge from their day-to-day lives into the classroom. Therefore, students may be more apt to understand when activities are related to the lives outside of school. It is our responsibility to be the "detectives", locating and analyzing data in order for students to grow and further develop.