Matar dos pajeros con un tiro! I start
out by saying that because either by destiny, luck or divine intervention, many
variables are coming together to aid me in my research. My teaching and Exploration physics class conveniently requires that I observe local high schools science classes for a few hours a week. Today was my
first time and it helped me better understand physics teaching but it also proved extremely beneficial for my research project.
Today I visited Marcus Mayntz’s physics
class at Provo High. He has taught
physics 14 years, seven in Florida, and seven in Provo. He has had experience
with a wide variety of foreign students and has a sound understanding of the
different cultural habits they bring to the classroom. His students were
working on a lab and I was allotted a good portion of time to ask him a few
questions.
I first asked him what he had experienced
with students from foreign cultures. He told me more often than not, foreign
students feel the American students are very disrespectful to their teachers. One example he related was about a student
from Nigeria. The student explained that there the teachers hold more of a
monarchy over the classroom. What He says goes. The students even stand as the
teachers enters the classroom and only sit back down when signaled. The Nigerian
student even felt obliged to apologize to Mr. Mayntz for the behavior of his
classmates, though to Mr Mayntz their behavior was nothing out of the ordinary.
Our conversation eventually
arrived on the Hispanic culture and how if differentiates the Latinos learning
styles from the natives. He told me that as Americans we focus on benchmarks
and due dates, and when assignments are turned in late they are penalized. Whereas the Latin ideology, as he said it, is,
“It will get done when it gets done.” One can clearly see that unless they abandon
that philosophy, their grades will be penalized. I wonder how fair it is to
assume they can adapt immediately.
Another unique behavior is that Latin
culture is very community based, they enjoy working together. This can cause
problems because they don’t feel it’s wrong to asking a friend for help during
an exam. Mr. Maytnz told me how he’s had to explain a few times that an exam it
meant to test a student’s individual knowledge, not that of the entire class.
Marcus Mayntz also mentioned a
few advantages to the Latin culture. He said because they are community
focused, they feel no shame in asking for help; whereas many American students
take pride in struggling through a problem until they figure it out on their own.
He also said that the Latinos seem to get more excited about labs and
experiments then the American kids. I assume in their local schools they are
not so accustom to hands on activities.
When I asked him if Hispanic
students struggled more than the average student, he replied, “It’s hit and
miss. Some come from Mexico City or Guadalajara and were the education is
really good, but others come from rural communities where the only reason they
went to school was so their family would receive a grant for their school
attendance.” He said that those students from the rural communities were always
very far behind, sometimes up to eight years. That was very significant to me
because that is what I will be studying, rural education. I asked him if Provo
High provided any special help for those kinds of students. He said they
started a program called Latinos in Action:
a student run service by bilingual Latin students to tutor ESL and work as
translators for the teacher-parent conferences. The meaningful service seemed
to promote a greater motivation and self-worth among the students. I plan to
research much more about the success of this program.
To sum it up, I know as I visit
local schools I will learn a lot of important information about Hispanic
culture and their education, as demonstrated. This will help me narrow down my focus for my
research in Mexico so I can take greater advantage of my time there.
No comments:
Post a Comment