I thought that the ideas that Deckers & Zinga (2012) presented were very prevalent to my school situation. In the past few years, the demographic of our students has changed and a high percentage of them are English language learners. Since I have joined the school, this has always been the case, and I have found myself naturally adapting my lesson plans to better suit the needs of these learners. For some of the teachers that have been at my school for decades, this has been a harder switch. There is a push and pull between wanting to keep things the way they have always done it, versus adapting to current times.
Deckers & Zinga (2012) describe the challenges of transitioning to a Canadian school; language barriers, curriculum differences, societal norms, and peer relationships. These are all issues that I see at our school, though I have noticed that many students fit comfortably into their social circles based on cultural backgrounds, since there is a significant percentage of them. The bullying that occurs is less so based on race and ethnicity, but rather, on personal preferences and character differences.
Our school offers many different extra curricular options for students and their interests. As mentioned in previous posts, we have groups ranging from cultural clubs, events such as our community Mental Wellness day, and Multicultural Day. Something I think our school could work towards more is providing additional support within the classroom. The enrolment in extra curricular clubs are high, but students are not as enthusiastic about the in-class learning. Sometimes I have students coming in, disliking my music class before I even have the chance to prove that I structure my curriculum differently. I like to give my students choice and will ensure that the repertoire we study, discuss, and perform means something to them. This is almost always met with reluctance at the beginning of each semester. My students are not used to being asked for their opinion to best suit their learning, due to the experiences from their other classes. I have the advantage that music is a universal language and can still assess and evaluate their understanding of their instrument, even if they are not writing or verbally demonstrating the knowledge.
References
Deckers, C. M., & Zinga, D. (2012). Locating home: Newcomer youths’ school and community engagement. Canadian Journal of Education, 35(3), 30-47.
Toronto, 2017
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