Culture as it Reflects Student Learning
Artifact 1 – Philosophy of Teaching Statement
Artifact 2-An Activity Involving The Great Gatsby
The artifacts that I chose for Standard 2 (Culture as it Reflects Student Learning) were my philosophy of teaching essay and a sample lesson on parsing and segmenting a culturally challenging text, The Great Gatsby. Rereading both responses brought me to a different perspective than the ones I had when I wrote them. Part of it comes from looking at both texts a the same time. One is very granular — a specific assignment on a specific text focusing on individual words– while the other is just the opposite: a grand philosophical statement. Both are important and when taken together provide additional insight. When I look at the text of The Great Gatsby, I see the tremendous challenge of teaching a text that not only has very long and complex sentences, Tier 3 words, a required knowledge of literary elements, and also a wealth of cultural touchstones that the average high schooler doesn’t have, let alone a student who only recently arrived to the country. After rereading my philosophy of teaching statement, where I expound on the importance of valuing all cultures and putting the student’s culture first and foremost, I am led to question the usefulness of teaching The Great Gatsby. Is it a book which showcases the diverse cultures of the United States or the cultures that New York ELL students are likely to come from? Certainly not. It is a book about an elite insular group of “old money” white Americans. But on further reflection, it does have many touchstones for the students who are less familiar with “American Culture” in its most hegemonic and traditional forms. It is the story of an outsider trying to get in and the many conflicts and challenges they must face. It also makes us aware of and question the value of the “American Dream” of self-made wealth. It is not the first text I would choose to teach ENL students, but in a scaffolded and selected version I think it can be made to be very accessible and touch on a theme which they are sure to encounter again both in and outside school.
Looking more closely at my activity of selecting and preloading vocabulary, I also see the difficulty for teachers and students in the sheer volume of new vocabulary ELLs must confront. But the greater problem still lies in the cultural context that students need to know to understand the text. In some ways, this is more easily solved than working with the vocabulary. If students know the simple premise of the novel, that Nick Carraway is an insider and Gatsby is an outsider, and it’s because of where they come from; then much of the book is easier to understand, particularly the passage selected. Instead of students needing to understand the passage without context, giving students the cultural subtext of the novel allows them to narrow their focus so they can look at the text and ask themselves “What shows that Nick is an ‘insider?’” Students may not know what “Teutonic Migration” might mean, but when I have already explained the significance of “old money” they can look for things that have to do with time and wealth like “three generations,” “Civil War” and “founder of my line.” If they don’t know what these things are because of vocabulary or other linguistic difficulties, then at least sharing the cultural subtext provides one less barrier between them and understanding and makes it easier to explain these concepts.
When I examine the philosophy of teaching statement alone, I see that if I want to use it in format intended, which is as a letter from a prospective ENL teacher candidate to a principal, I would both have to tone down the high-minded idealistic parts, or at least shorten them; and add more specific technical demands. One thing I have read that is often complained about in education is a vision that doesn’t connect with the ground and that is true in this case. I think the theory behind many concepts taught in class, national standards, and school principals are fine, but they all suffer from existing in isolation. A school can benefit from tying this concepts together pragmatically with a plan for a curriculum that addresses these goals, and a plan for integrating a culturally responsive school with the books that are taught, while also addressing the challenges of national and state standards for English Language Learners, and an ENL teacher can help knit that further together.
