Reflection 1: Our Own Styles of Communication

 
How does my style of communication affect my view of teaching, learning about teaching, and actual work in schools?
In my personal life I tend to be a pretty quiet person unless I know and am comfortable with you. I struggled with shyness and the tendency to become easily embarrassed all through the lower grades. When I got to high school I joined choir and learned how to ignore my anxiety temporarily. I think this early practice helped me later when I had to get up in front of a class to teach. I learned that when I cared more about what I was doing than how I might be embarrassing myself I stopped worrying about it.  

In my teaching life I try to be clear and direct while also communicating a supportive demeanor. I try not to do all of the talking in my classes although I know, I do talk too much. One of the biggest challenges that I want to work on in my practice is how to create a more student-centered classroom. I want them to lead classes and be involved in their learning, to not be afraid to question and collaborate. I'm not sure how my communication style affects my learning about teaching. I do know that try to stay open to new ways of teaching even if they are uncomfortable for me. I try not to dismiss anything straight out of hand, I always want to improve my practice and if that means going outside of my comfort zone then I'll do it. 

Because I know what it's like to be a shy, quieter person I am very sympathetic to students who are shy. I try to work on helping them overcome that shyness so that they can participate fully in class without embarrassment. I think that being a quieter person also makes me sensitive to my more boisterous students at times. I think I might need to work on being a little more okay with noise and a bit of chaos in the classroom if productive learning is taking place. I try to incorporate more than one style of communication when I am planning for class. I try to make sure that there are written, verbal, oral, symbolic, and other ways for students to take in knowledge and to demonstrate that they've learned and what they've learned. This is especially important since 1/3 to 1/2 of my classes are usually EL students. They need to have options when they respond in class and they need to have time and a safe place to "audition" their developing language skills.

GS - I noticed that the lesson plans focused on incorporating prior knowledge and building context before going into the challenging parts of the lesson. That is so essential for EL students. They (and other students) are so capable of learning if they are given the opportunity to see information presented in ways beyond huge blocks of text in a textbook. I also liked how multiple opportunities for the students to interact in different ways were built into the lesson. It is important for students to have the ability to rehearse and develop their learning by working with peers one-on-one, in groups, and with the teacher.

BHH - p. 3 - Alice Walker The Temple of My Familiar "Keep in mind always the present you are constructing. It should be the future you want" (Walker 1989). I liked this quote, it seemed like a call to mindfulness. I have been thinking a lot about the concept of mindfulness or intent lately. It seems to come up in situations in my life and in my reading for my various classes. The idea that we need to live with mindfulness or intent because our actions are constantly creating the future we will inhabit is a thought that is important on an individual level and also resonates for me when I think about my responsibilities as a teacher.
 
 

Reflection 1
How do our own styles
of communication affect our view of teaching, learning about teaching and
actual work in schools?
My preferred method of communication is written. I think I
enjoy the reflective process that goes along with writing. The fact that each
word has be chosen for its specific meaning. Perhaps this relates to my ESL
past. It was easier to read than to speak. It was easier to study and identify
humor in a static piece of text than in a 3 second conversation in the hall in
school. Even in college, when I was fluent in English there were still
instances where I could not quiet identify the register of a comment and decide
the intention of the joke, for example. On paper, however, there was more
evidence and time to decipher its meaning.
I learn best my sitting on my own and reading through a book
or working through an exercise. Even now, it is difficult for me to concentrate
when there are others around. In fact, in high school I did not even listen to
music while doing homework, I needed to be in complete silence (sometimes I
even used ear plugs…).  This preference
puts me in danger of expecting my students to do the same. For the most part, I
have avoided this. And fortunately, my students communicate very clearly,
through verbal or other means, what activities they like and don’t like. Their
ability to communicate their feelings about an activity has allowed me to
better measure their level of engagement during a unit. This feedback has been
invaluable as I work with them more closely and plan for future lessons. Understating
the nature of my own experience and preference with communication has made me
more aware of other individuals’ preferences. I have a few students that need
to verbalize everything, that process best through a conversation. Instead of
shutting them down, I try to engage with the conversation and set up group work
that will allow them to process with each other.
How do the readings
connect to our ideas and experiences with teaching and schools?
I really enjoyed the first chapter of the Grant Sleeter book
because it made me reflect on my own identity as a teacher. The statistic that in
1996 90.7% of those in the teaching profession were white reminded me that I am
still a rarity in the greater scheme of things. It also reminds me of the
various “rifts” that happen between teachers and students that are largely due
to cultural and sometimes even generational differences. I have heard many
stories from students who end up in trouble simply because of what seem to me
to be misunderstandings. I have witnessed some of these when I have a
substitute in our classroom. I also enjoyed the discussion in the first chapter
that acknowledges how quickly the student demographics are changing which makes
it increasingly important for teachers to be versed in working with a variety
of student populations. I’m not sure this need is being met and if teachers are
being provided with the appropriate support to be able to adjust as necessary.
Hypothetically, someone who began teaching at 25 in 1980 could still be
teaching and the demographics of students in LA have drastically changed since
1980. It is important for teachers to be supported in developing their
understanding of these changes so that they are better prepared to work with
their students. Additionally, teachers must maintain a drive to understand
their students and genuinely care for them.

Teaching
is all about communication. In the process of learning about our own
communication styles we will also learn about our own style of teaching. We
communicate what we want to our
class; they communicate their understanding (or lack of understanding) back to
us. It really depends what type of students we are working with in order to see
how our style o communication affects our teaching. During my student teaching
experience I have come to realize that my students are continually interpreting
my tone of voice and my body language, and responding to the messages I give. There
have been times when I notice how the class becomes more relaxed when I get in
front of the class to teach. I am not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. I
am starting to become more aware of the verbal and non-verbal messages that I
send my class.  We also need to be able
to reflect on everything we say and do, and the effect that has on our
students. Discover how to step outside ourselves  and see and hear how we appear to our
students. We have to develop a style that works for that specific group of
students. I am looking forward for the challenge next year when I have my own classroom. 

       If you would have asked me a couple years ago what it means to be a good communicator I would have said: A good communicator can talk clearly and get their point across. By this definition I would say that I was a good communicator. However, as I have had more and more experiences facilitating groups workshops and discussion I have come to understand that for me being a better communicator means talking, but also listening. I tend to listen very closely to what students or other people are saying, make connections in my head and ask challenging questions. I feel that this shows people I am listening; I value what they are saying and really thinking about it.
            There is no denying that everyone has different communication styles. I believe that our different communication styles create interesting, diverse and rich learning environments. It is when people do not understand or value these different methods of communication that tension and challenges arise in the classroom. I believe a major park of teaching is learning how to use various methods of communication to ensure that all students are able to understand and connect to the material being taught. We also need to be cognizant of how as teachers our non-verbal communication can affect the classroom environment. Often teachers are unaware how they expression, body language, and interaction with students send messages to their students. It should be the goal of all teachers to ensure all students feel welcome, comfortable, and free to express themselves in different forms of communication.
            When working in diverse classrooms it is important to understand the dynamics that are created when students from different backgrounds come together. The reading from Menkart and Okazawa-Rey, “Beyond Heroes and Holidays”, discusses the importance of teachers being continual learners. Teachers need to be comfortable with learning from their students and changing their communication and teaching style based on the needs and strengths of their students. In my experience, I have learned the importance of validating and building on the communication style of my students. It is also important to encourage students to see the value in the communication style of their peers. It has been very helpful in creating an inclusive and positive learning environment.

There’s a book I recommend called “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. It explains the 5
different ways to show love and receive love. The first love language is words
of affirmation, which includes compliments or hearing the words “I love you.”
Second is quality time, which involves giving undivided attention and being
there. Third love language is giving gifts, where the receiver appreciates the
love and thoughtfulness behind the gift. Fourth is act of service, which
consists of easing the burden of a person. Lastly, the fifth love language is
physical touch where a person appreciates hugs, holding hands, or a simple
touch on the face. According to this, the ways I like to receive love are acts
of service and quality time, but I see myself using all five methods to express
my love. I bring this up because these are 5 different ways to communicate love.
Using my example, the way I want to receive love is different than the way I
express my love, but the only way people will know that is if I communicate this
information with others.
 
Communication plays an important role in all types of relationships: communication between
spouses, siblings, friends, partners, and teacher-student. We all have
expectations in the things we do and the people we are involved with. These
expectations may be realistic or not, but to prevent disappointment, these
hopes must be clearly addressed. Similarly to how people receive love language
differently, students in our schools receive math language differently as well.
The way these students take in information may be different from the way they
show what they know.
 
As a resident, I need to provide different methods of teaching to accommodate the different
learning styles of my students. In the beginning, I found myself trying different
techniques and using variety of tools/resources to see what the best way is to
teach my students. What I learned is there was not one way of teaching, but
multiple ways. After building a better rapport with my students, I found it
easier to figure out how each student best receive information and express
their learning by communicating with them individually. Having my students
write down their preferred ways allowed me to change my curriculum and
integrate those methods.
 
Brett was a great resource and I’m glad he was able to come in to speak with us. He shared
with us his experiences as a teacher and the different methodologies he uses in
his classroom. What I was most interested in was the work he has done with parent involvement. I am doing my action research on parent support and how it
affects student achievement in my class. I will definitely try out some of the
strategies he has done so far. For example, I want to start emailing parents with
updates and/or an overview of what is and will be going on in the classroom.
Also, I love the idea of holding a session for parents to get together to learn
the current content so they are able to support their children at home. I feel
that communication with parents is important and very beneficial for student
achievement.
 
In “Beyond Heroes,” it describes the importance of communicating the racial issues and
equality in education. It provides several teaching principles that
teachers can implement in addressing these issues. The principles include:
using variety of materials as “text,” employing a variety of activities,
relating course work to everyday life, asking critical questions, requiring
students to work in groups, and applying democratic principles in the
classroom. These principles can be used in my own classroom to communicate current
events and issues my students are facing today or not aware of. 

In terms of communication, I usually listen to all my peers’ perspectives before sharing my own.  Similarly, I have found that I impose a standard on my students that requires them to provide their undivided attention to their peers and that it is disrespectful when one does not actively engage in listening to what their peers are saying.  As outlined in Beyond the Heroes, respect is one important aspect of successfully supporting multicultural education.  Students that can respect their peers’ thoughts create a classroom environment that supports students’ individuality and the diverse ways of thinking.  As I continue to create this type of environment, I must be mindful and eliminate stereotypes and cruel behavior that hurt the feelings of other students, which was outlined in the Humans Relations Approach in Turning on Learning. 
I have had to eliminate stereotypes during my instruction at Wilson HS.  Since Asians comprise a very small percentage of the student body and faculty at Wilson HS, my students have not interacted with Asians at the school.  I found that students are not familiar with the different nationalities under the Asian “umbrella”.  Students associated me with being Chinese, but as they discovered that my last name was Spanish (Francisco-Flores), they assumed I spoke Spanish.  I have received remarks before on my nationality, but the language association with my name was something new.  Nevertheless, it will be an ongoing process of educating students about my origin as well as the other nationalities that are represented in the classroom.  This week’s assigned reading on multiculturalism and racism has made me realize that learning occurs bi-directionally-between teacher student and among students.  Lastly, in addition to creating a classroom environment of respect, teachers and students must promote tolerance or endurance of differences and acceptance of diversity.  I feel that most of my students tolerate the differences among their peers and are accepting of others. 

Communication styles play a large role in teaching and
learning about teaching because we get a different response from varying
communication styles.  Depending upon how
my students perceive my communication style, I may be able to clearly and
effectively communicate my expectations or I may make statements that leave my
students feeling confused and unsure of what is expected of them.  In general, my communication style is very
direct.  I do not spend time emphasizing excess
background information and details usually because I do not want the main point
of what I am trying to communicate to be lost in translation.  There are some cases where this style of communication
is appropriate, but in teaching, there is a need to modify my communication
style to meet the diversity of students in my classroom.  Some students need more firm and direct
communication while others need a more softened, guided approach.  I try to be cognizant of the type of
communication that my students need.  The
style of communication also varies depending on the situation.  I have a very different style of communication
when I am leading instruction as compared to when I am giving my students a
serious talk.  Regardless of the style of
communication, there are necessary elements that need to be in place in a
school or classroom to allow for clear and effective communication. 
Just as there are different levels of communicating there
are many areas where proper communication needs to be addressed.  In education the theme of tolerance is often
addressed, but “to tolerate differences means that they are endured, not
necessarily embraced” (Lee et al., pg 21).  In a school of diversity, we need to focus and
communicate that focus on embracing cultural differences instead of merely enduring
the presence of those differences. 
Another facet of communication is the element of
respect.  “When differences are
respected, they are used as the basis for much of what goes on in schools” (Lee
et al., pg 24).  Establishing a
foundation of respect allows for communication between the instructor and the
student to be more fluid because the student will feel that the instructor has
their best interest at heart.  I often
see my students struggle with following instructions from substitute teachers
because that level of respect has not been established. 
Establishing respect and embracing cultural differences comes
along with building relationships with your students.  “For many students, a caring relationship
with the teacher is a prerequisite to learning. 
If the teacher does not seem to like the student personally, some
students will not try in school” (Grant and Sleeter, pg 17). 
Experience in my classroom has shown me that my students are
more apt to do the class activities when they understand that I am teaching
them because I care about them as individuals. 
This is shown by communicating my expectations and simultaneously
developing relationships where I learn about my student’s cultural backgrounds
and the hardships that they encounter as children in low economic neighborhood
and a failing school system.  Developing
this relationship and understanding of culture, the way one lives their life
and it’s included components, allows for my students and I to have a fulfilling
relationship where we can also accomplish the learning objectives of Chemistry
and build necessary life skills. 

I’ve noticed that when I teach my
students I incorporate many visuals and video representations that
reinforce the content. For instance this
week we did a lesson on galaxies: the three shapes, ages, properties and
brightness. In my activity I had a large
bucket filled half way with water. I
poured glitter over the water in a scattered formation. I then asked the students what kind of galaxy
the glitter in the water represented.
They unanimously responded “irregular galaxy.” I then used a spoon to stir the water in a
circular motion, creating a spiral galaxy.
Then it finally ended in an elliptical galaxy. After the demonstration we went on to discuss
the age of each galaxy and how the bucket simulates the three ages of a
galaxies life.

This kind of activity represents
overcoming an obstacle. In our
classrooms many, if not most, of the students have difficulty accessing the
immensely convoluted literature in the textbooks. This kind of approach can be daunting.
Either for reasons of English language or academic language barriers, my
students fail to comprehend concepts and vocabulary. As a reflective practitioner of education, it
is important that I create lessons with activities that are accessible to my
students. In South LA, my students come
from lower income households were parents have little to now formal
education. Many families are new
arrivals from other countries where the language and education are different
from the States. So off the bat my student face theri first obstacle of little support at home.

It's beginning to be more apparent to me that personality has a lot to do with teaching.  Every single good teacher that I know of, has a distinct and unique personality--one which is utlized to bring the content to life in the classroom.  To this day I still remember Mr. Strinden, my multi-variable calculus professor who would jump on top of swiveling chairs to demonstrate the curl of a vector.  Or Dr. Shi, my lower division physics professor who delivered every single lecture with such precission and sophistication fit for a magnum opus.  All of these teachers have found their essense, so to speak.  And although their performance is a spectacle to behold, perhaps this task of finding one's essence is the more surmounting of the two.
I remember back in high school when I took the Myers-Briggs personality test and scored an INTJ, which stands for "Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging."  Wikipedia states that this is "one of the rarest of the sixteen personality types, and account for about 1–4% of the population."  That probably explains a lot of things.  But taking this account to my profession as a science teacher, I must say that I'm grateful for the last two traits--the "NTJ", which essentially states that I'm good at seeing things in the abstract, am more incline to "Think" rather than "Feel," and enjoy planning things ahead of time.  These are all, in my view, essential qualities of a good science teacher.
It is only the first trait--the "I"--that seems to get in the way of teaching.  Being an introvert, it is difficult for me to be outgoing for eight hours straight in a day, to be able to be constantly aware of my surroundings (having eyes in the back of my head), or to be able to reprimand a student who is disrupting a class.  These are all problem areas that Ms. Sork has identified in my practice as an educator.  
And yet perhaps it is so for the majority of teachers, notwithstanding the greats. I still remember Mr. Clay's lesson to us in the Bethune auditorium.  With his booming voice and powerful posture, I was taken aback when he said, "I wasn't always like this. I did not always have the confidence to lead my students.  I had to dig deep and hard in order to find this personality within me."  And if this is so, then perhaps we all have some digging to do.  Yet where to start?  There is no textbook out there that has the answer.  Which is precisely why I believe  that teaching, although subject to the rigors of scientific research, is, first and foremost, a form of art.