Culturally Relative Practices & Waiting for Superman / First year teacher

Some ideas of culturally relative practices toward my content area of art are:

1) Having students make a comic book based on cultures that they choose; one subject could be about family. The finished comic books will be shown at the school library, a local library and/or an art museum.

2) Having students pick their own artists to research. They will make an artwork based on what they've researched about their chosen artists. They will then present their artwork to the class describing how it is influenced by the artist and his/her works.

3) Working with students to make a class book on artists that is chosen by the students. They will need to research information about the artist they chose and will need to provide facts and visuals for the book. The students will have a section of the book to work on and at the end, everyone's sections will be put together. The book will be shown at the school library and enough copies will be printed for everyone in the class.

4) Going outside to draw nature. Have students draw their neighborhoods.

5) Designing their own game and setting up a carnival night for everyone in the school to attend. Posters and decorations will need to be made as well.

6) Having students walk around their neighborhood to look for artworks; i.e. graffiti. They will need to make a list with a description of what they saw, list any facts about the artwork, where it was found, and how the artwork impacts the community and him/herself.

For the second part of the assignment, we were told to watch a documentary about education. I decided to watch both Waiting for Superman and First Year Teacher. I didn't find many examples of culturally relative practices. In one part of Waiting for Superman, one of the teachers said that she found that her students responded with more interest in a rap song about math rather than just memorizing the information. In another part of the film, there was a video showing a teacher reading a newspaper at his desk while his students are passing notes and talking rather than being taught by the teacher.

One of the points that was discussed in class was that the documentary, Waiting for Superman, talked about "bad" teachers, but they do not explain how the teachers are bad nor how they can improve to become "good" teachers. If the Kipp schools are so much better than the public schools, why then can't the state make the standards for public schools the same as those for Kipp schools? Why do we need alternative schools where students need to go through a lottery process when public schools are already available? I mean, if public schools are mostly bad, then maybe it's better to just get rid of them and open magnet, charter and Kipp schools instead.

A comparison that I can make between the teachers mentioned in both documentaries is that the one in First Year Teacher put in so much effort to make sure she connects with the parents as well as the students. However, one of the teachers in Waiting for Superman didn't even respond to one of the parent's phone calls, and just said that her child was having difficulties reading without showing the effort that she would like to help him improve.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to "good" and "bad" teachers. But, I think that if we work together to clarify the distinctions between a "good" and "bad" teacher, we may see more effective teachers in the classroom.