Pre Community Visit - Christina

As a Shoesmith group we are planning to visit the local farm stand and market, pizza restaurant, bookstore, and we are going to walk around the neighborhood and see what it has to offer to the residents of Hyde Park. We will be looking for parks and small shops along with architecture and fun things for kids and adults to do on the weekends or after school – we want to know where our students come from and what they have to bring with them to the classroom. We chose these locations because many of the children in my class had said they loved playing outside at the park and a few of their favorite foods is pizza – so we thought it worked out great. The farm stand and market is where many of their parents/guardians go grocery shopping. As new residents in the area we wanted to see if there was a difference between the grocery stores we are used to shopping at (Meijer) differs at all from their local shops. The community is very small and many of the shops and restaurants are located on one of two streets.

I expect to see young students who attend school at the University of Chicago, as it is only a few blocks away, or elderly. The community is for the majority African-American but there are white-Caucasian, middle-eastern, and Hispanics also in the area. I would assume that many people would be working and not shopping when we visit since we are going Thursday during the day – I could be wrong however since Chicago is suffering from unemployment rates – which can also be a bias. As for the workers at these locations I expect them to all live around the area and assume that they would all live within walking distance. Since Hyde Park is such a small community I would expect to see the majority of the people out walking to-and-from their locations. Depending upon the times that we visit each location I would expect to see the children of the community playing at the local parks.

I would consider myself an outsider in this community as I am commuting from home – a town south west of the city, about 20 minutes. Therefore, I will have my “outsider glasses” on that I will try to look past, which will be hard because I am not able to experience my student’s community first hand – I wish I could! Before, teaching I would view this community different as I would now, however as I know the students in my class I could picture them going from place to place. I would have been possibly scared or felt like a minority if I did this activity prior to learning about my students and other teachers because I would be one of a select few white people walking around the area. I am now comfortable and barely see the difference in skin color after working with my students – we work as one. Now however because I can see the community through a different lens I think I will be better able to understand my students – which is what I am hoping for.

At the restaurant, farmers market, and market I would make connections between reading and oral languages. The customers must be able to read the menu and make a decision as to what they want to eat for dinner then communicate that to the waiter. Whereas, as the markets the customers must be able to read the price of an item and communicate to the cashier as to how much it costs. In the end both then connect to math as some form of payment must be made. Without literacy no type of sale could happen. As for being able to understand what the other person is saying you must be able to listen and understand the language along with reading body language and facial expressions. Communicating to those that live and work around you is very important – students use these skills that they start to use at a very young age in the classroom and being able to apply real-world situations will get them connected and keep them engaged in the lesson.

I expect the people that I see in these settings to be able to know how to read and speak in a way that is understandable to those on the other side. It would be great if I could see new literacies such as technology being used since it is considered one of the most powerful things that young children can connect and understand. I wonder how much my schema of the south-side of Chicago is going to change and if going into the community will really show me something about my students that I didn’t know – I am eager to find out! I am also curious to see how many people ask us what we are doing in the community (if we look like outsiders).