Lets do this =)

Pre-Visit
Upon embarking on this project, my group and I asked our students (K, 3^rd grade, 6^th

grade) where they spend their time, where their parents shop, etc. We did this in hopes to find places that our students regularly surround themselves with. My group has chosen to visit a local restaurant, a hair salon, a farmers market, and a produce store.

I expect to see a diverse group of people in Hyde Park. I am expecting to see students, faculty and family from the University of Chicago, as its location is in the heart of Hyde Park. I also expect to see the culture from my school, shoesmith, present in Hyde Park. Shoesmith is a neighborhood school, so much of the student population live in the greater Hyde Park area. The culture at my school is mostly African-American, with a very small percentage Caucasian/Latino/etc.

I think that my views, being very limited as a Chicagoan and especially as Hyde Park resident, may be close to the same as an “outsider's” views may be. South side Chicago can be seen as a very dangerous, and scary place from an outsiders point of view. For Hyde Park, I know this is far from true. The area surrounding our school is beautiful, and seems to be a very friendly area. From what I have observed from my limited time being in the area, is that the community is very family friendly and open.

I think that depending on which location we visit, we will see a variety of literacies, including differences in oral language, and written and spoken language. For example, at Leonas, a restaurant, I expect to find formal communication, along with some sort of music in the background. I also expect to see mathematical aspects such as prices in a menu. This will most likely be the same for the Produce store, as formal communication is shared between the customer, the store, and the workers. I have never visited a farmers market before, but I expect to see very informal communication in language, oral and written literacy.


Post-Visit

This community experience has helped me learn much about the community in which my students have been raised. As noted earlier, I had the belief that our neighborhood was a very friendly, open, and diverse place and it was just that! The community that we walked through was friendlier than most places I had ever visited. The people on the streets all seemed to be happy, enjoying the company of those surrounding themselves. Even workers at stores waved happily from the inside as we peered inside the store from the streets.

This experience will help me in my teaching in many ways. Not only am I now more aware of the environment that my students are surrounded by on a daily basis, I am aware of the type of literacy's that the students are surrounded by. This will aide me in creating real world situations for the students to learn in, instead of questions and situations that they are not able to relate to. Students are not coming to our classrooms with a blank slate, they bring with them their own experiences, and understandings of the world around us. This experience allowed me to see a bit of what my students may bring to the classroom. Literacy is everywhere in this community, and is embedded into every part of life. Whether it be written or oral, literacy is a part of life for everyone and is diverse in its attributes. Children are seeing both formal and informal literacy in their surrounding community.