Community Exploration

I have no idea why all of my post are #1 but here we go...

1. I chose to go to the Wixom Farmer’s Market. This is only a few miles from Maple Elementary and because Walled Lake Consolidated School District is so large, I am assuming that many of our students travel to this market because it is so large. 

1. Going to the Farmer’s Market I believe I will see a diverse group of individuals. Going off of the ethnicity make-up of Maple Elementary, there are individuals with Chaldean, Japanese, German, Lithuanian, Chinese, and Korean. With such a diverse population, I am assuming that the Farmer’s Market population will be diverse as well.  With a diverse group, I am sure that I will hear many individuals referring to items  in a different language or they might possible call an item by a different term. There is no definite or correct term for an item and therefore, I believe I will learn how other cultures refer to different things. I also believe I will learn more about the community around my elementary school and I will get to experience what my students may experience on a daily basis. 

1. The market, I believe will not be as diverse as I expect. I believe that this will mainly be because of the time that I will travel there which will be right around dinner time. Everyone that I encountered during my math exploration spoke English and referred to the different items using the terms I am used to. I am somewhat disappointed by this encounter because I was hoping the community outside of my school would be as diverse as my school community. I do believe that the market will focus on the English language with their signs and will maybe not be inviting to those of another culture or those that speak another language. However, I will be extremely cognisant of what my English Language Learners may feel like when traveling to the Farmer’s Market. It will be somewhat disheartening if the English language is so abundant because I know how rich my little elementary school is in different languages. It will be wonderful to see more diversity or at least more acceptance of those with different backgrounds.  

1. In order for students to make self-to-text connections, they must draw from their different experiences and personal life. Traveling out into the community, it is apparent that the English language is the primary focus knowing that Maple Elementary is made up of so many diverse individuals. I believe it is important as an educator to become familiar with the world outside of school that our students are apart of in order to make better and more meaningful connections to the literacy promoted within the classroom. In regards to the Farmer’s Market, students will be mainly be sharing in oral text. Learning how others refer to a tomato or cabbage is extremely educational. Also, discussing the different ways the items at the Farmer’s Market are used can provide students with more background knowledge about different the different characters in narratives. I expect that oral language will be the main literacy element seen at the Farmer’s Market. Small signs and different billboards will probably be present but I do believe that these will focus on the English language.  A question I may pose depending on the market would be, where do those of a complete different language shop or how do they interact in a predominately English community? I know that many parents at Maple do not speak any English, so I am wondering how a literacy connection is created in regards to signs, language, etc. 

1. I know that this is not really apart of the post but as I was thinking more about literacy and the ways I could incorporate the Farmer’s Market into the actual classroom. For examples students could participate in sharing in their backgrounds of different language will allow for sharing and learning to take place. A story encouraging the use of a variety of languages could be used as traditional literacy upon returning from the Farmer’s Market. This could be similar to Esperanza Rising in which Spanish is sprinkled in throughout the book and a glossary of Spanish terms is given in the back.