For our community visit, the other interns at Woodlawn Community Elementary asked our kids where they liked to go when they weren't at school. My 3rd graders responses were: "The beach", "the park", and "my grandma's house". Not the most helpful for my project but still great responses! The other interns received a little more help such as the local bowling ally and a couple restaurant suggestions. We split up the locations by twos. Myself and Lizzie chose to visit the local bowling ally as well as the restaurant Medici 57. We did this so we could all go to 2 places and report back and get a wide variety of examples for the project. Lizzie and I chose to go to the bowling ally and Medici 57 because we figured these would be great places to spot examples of literacy and math, as well as get a feel for how the community is. A bowling ally is a great place to see people of all ages interacting and enjoying themselves. Medici 57 is a restaurant that a few students recommended. We figured it would be a great place to see members of the community interact as well as examples of literacy and math.
I expect that the bowling ally will be filled with families as well as adults my age since it is located in the University of Chicago campus. I expect there to be lots of examples of literacy and math (food menus, signs, bowling shoe sizes, bowling ball weights, etc...). I assume that since we are going during the day on Thursday that there will not be too many people bowling (except perhaps college age adults and older adults not working). I do expect there to be more African American people there than white people due to the demographics in Hyde Park. I also assume there will be more males there than women due to my own stereotype of bowling allies in generally appealing to more males than females. As far as the restaurant goes, because it is closer to our elementary school, I figured the demographics will be the same as the school (mostly African American) and perhaps lower income families enjoying a Thursday night dinner. We figured we could go and perhaps even see students eating dinner there. There would probably be lots of literacy and math examples (i.e. menus, interaction with the waiters, signs, prices, etc...).
In a way I consider myself an outsider since I do not live in the exact community as my students do. Then again, because I have been around it and part of the community for a while now, I think I may not considered an exact outsider anymore. I think if I brought a friend who had never been to Hyde Park before or experienced the Woodlawn community, I think they would feel uncomfortable in these settings. Perhaps mostly because of the demographic. We see skin color first and if you notice you are the minority somewhere it is going to affect how you interact or feel in that particular setting. I think at the bowling ally an outsider would feel more comfortable and not like an outsider because it is located in the University of Chicago campus. At the restaurant though, I feel because it is a smaller venue and more of a known hotspot for the community they may not feel as welcome. Perhaps everyone knows each other or that the demographics may be more apparent because of the smaller, more intimate setting. I don't know if it is because I am used to being the minority at school or if it is because I don't notice the differences in skin color anymore, but I feel that I won't be as intimidated by being in these settings as much as an 'outsider' would.
I expect to see many different types of literacy. In the restaurant, I expect to see people ordering food and knowing how to do so. They should be able to order and pay for their meals. It will be interesting to see how the people there interact with one another. Will it be different than in a restaurant closer to where I live? In the bowling ally, I expect people to know how to rent bowling shoes and pick out a bowling ball. What will the groups of people be like? Will kids be there on a school day afternoon? Are there signs around the bowling ally or restaurant for customers?
Will post again after I go to these places!
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