Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Adaptation
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Author:  Jaclyn Long [ Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Adaptation

When we had our small group discussions on Tuesday night, Julia and I talked aboutt adaptation. I am seeing that theme through the discussion posts recently. I know most of you heard me talking about an interview I had last Monday. The school is 60% Hispanic. The principal gave me the scenerio that it was my first day there and I was introducing myself to the class. I notice that half of the class is giving me blank stares and glazed looks because they aren't understanding a single word I am saying. The principal asked me what I would do. I was so caught off guard! She pretty much hinted to me that there are a great deal of students in that school who are billingual. I have no clue if I will be offered that job or not, however, after the interview I seriously thought about how I would adapt to that population. I think that it is important for teachers to be educated on adaptation. I don't think anyone can really be prepared for it, but I never went through any class at ASU (undergrad or grad) that really got into the topic of adapting to your students in that way. Any thoughts?

Author:  Ashley Tyndall [ Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:23 pm ]
Post subject: 

I haven't seen any classes at ASU or at Elon that involved adaptation. Like the Poisonwood Bible, we are heading into new situations when we change schools, so we have to adapt to that environment instead of fighting against it. I used to have the philosophy that when Hispanics come into our country, they must learn English or suffer the consequences. With the growing Hispanic population and the fact I have developed in my views, I believe we should try to learn some of their culture as well. I wanted to take a Spanish class up here in graduate school but could not take beginner Spanish because it is an undergraduate class. I think opportunities to learn other languages should be offered to graduate students and I think we should discuss diversity more in our classrooms instead of just how many types of students we will have. I have not been taught how to relate to these children of different cultures and I have no background in how to reach them with my leadership.

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