Video Blog Response

• Discuss one question, confusion, or "I wonder...." you have from watching the video.

- From watching the video, I am curious about the period of time that elapsed from when they first introduced the Lonnie and James, to when they received their report cards? Was it a year or a couple of months?

• Are Lonnie and James very different children? How do their environments affect them?

- Lonnie and James are indeed different children. They have grown up into two totally different environments that have shaped them into the individuals they are today. James grew up in a more "safe" environment where he could attend school and excel in his studies. Being from Riverdale, a suburb of NYC, he had more opportunities to succeed in school compared to Lonnie. Lonnie grew up in the inner-city of NYC, where he attended South Fordham. He mentioned that he was scared to go to school because of the violence that existed there. He also said that admired those students that had houses and didn't have to live in the housing that he did. I think these are some environmental differences among the two children, that played important roles in their education.

• What is different or unequal about the two schools? How do opportunities to learn differ? How do teacher expectations differ? How might these contribute to the achievement gap?

- James is from a school, where funding and money is not an issue. There are materials available for students to use where they can learn and experiment with in different subject areas. At Riverdale, the teachers are all certified in their areas and have experience teaching their specific subjects. For Lonnie, his school is much different than James'. Money is a major issue in the funding of supplies and learning tools for students. Many science experiments used materials that were readily available to students, where James used microscopes and other advanced scientific equipment. Also for Lonnie, the teachers were often no educated and the specific subject area and were teaching up to 3 different subjects. I feel these differences among the two schools helped contribute to the overall success of the students' education.

For Lonnie, the teachers expected him to come to class prepared, on-time, and do his work to the best of his ability. They also expected him to behave and treat students with respect. Lonnie's science teacher mentioned that out of the 40-minute class period, he would only spend 15 minutes teaching because he had to constantly discipline the children. For James, the teachers still expected him to be prepared for class, on-time, and for him to do his work to the best of his ability. They expected good behavior and discipline in the classroom. Although the teachers from both schools experienced different environments, they had similar expectations. For Lonnie's teachers, they had to work a lot harder to teach, be creative, and motivate students to learn. As for James, the teachers had tools they could use to help facilitate learning and did not have to go to the extent Lonnie's teachers did to discipline students. The fact that many students at Lonnie's school were misbehaved, disrespectful, and violent may have something to do with the lack of parent involvement in their education. Although Lonnie's mother was involved in his education, you could tell from the classroom environment that not all parents of South Fordham were involved in their child's education. For James, his mother was highly involved in his education as well as the teachers. Since they spent less time dealing with disruptive students and disciplining them, they could focus more on teaching and educating students. This difference in schools significantly effects the overall success of the students and their learning capabilities. If teachers at South Fordham are only spending 15 minutes teaching students vs. Riverdale where they spend 40, this effects what and how much students will learn. I feel the opportunities Riverdale has over South Fordham positively impacts the success of the students and their future endeavors. South Fordham is an unfortunate situation that is in need of serious help. It is sad to see the large difference of opportunities for students to succeed in the 2 schools. Although Lonnie and James came for different environments and school systems, they were both motivated to attend college and make something of themselves.

• Based on what you know about motivation and learning, why might students from Riverdale be more likely to succeed academically? What can you see happening to Lonnie in the video (especially towards the end)?

- Students from Riverdale are more likely to succeed academically because of the educational tools and resources. When students can participate in hands-on activities using different teaching aids, they are able to better engage them in learning. At South Fordham, the students were limited to what they could do based on lack of resources and issues the students brought into the classroom (lack of discipline, violence, etc.). I feel the environments of each school played an important role in the level of academic achievement of the students.

At the end of the video, you can tell Lonnie is less motivated because of his poor grades. Although from the beginning he did not want to go to school because of the violence, he really expressed his opinion that he was not going to return to school the next year there. I feel like him not succeeding to his potential/expectations discouraged him. The fact that only 4 students in his science class did the homework may have influenced his decisions to not do his homework as well. Peer influence plays a significant role in a child's life. Also, the lack of resources Lonnie had may have contributed to his poor academic achievement. He mentioned he was bored in class in the video. Even though he was not getting good grades which the counselor thought meant he could not be bored is not necessarily the case. If the teacher is constantly focused on the students that are disruptive and undisciplined 25 minutes of the class out of 40, could have made him bored and unmotivated to learn/do his work. Although his mother was involved in his life and learning, there were many negative things going on in his environment that played a major role in his overall success.