Community Language and Literacy Mapping Project Dr. Jane M. Saunders
Robert Leal Reading 5331 • San Marcos Adventist Junior Academy • June 16, 2012
Robert Leal • email: rbl24@txstate.edu • San Marcos Adventist Junior Academy
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Community Mapping Project RDG 5331 - Summer 2012 ROBERT LEAL
Front view of the San Marcos Adventist Junior Academy
Introduction My family and I moved to San Marcos last year in order for me to attend graduate studies at Texas State University. Before that I had worked two years at Hawaiian Mission Academy in Honolulu as the Head Dean, Athletic Director, and teacher. That was my Birst teaching experience and the beginning of my second career. In 2009, I had retired from the U. S. Marine Corps after 22 years of active duty service and had earned my B.S. in Secondary Education (Social Studies) from Chaminade University of Honolulu while attending evening courses. Early this year I interviewed for a teaching position at San Marcos Adventist Junior Academy (SMAJA) and was hired to teach a variety of subjects in grades 7 through 10. Although my schedule looks and sounds crazy, I am really looking forward to teaching this upcoming school year. One of the things I had planned to do at the beginning of the school year was to conduct my own surveys and interviews with students and their parents. I saw this a s great way to gain some background knowledge about my students and to see what areas of interest and/or challenges might lay ahead. This assignment helped to begin that process and to open my eyes to some improvements needed by my new school.
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Before addressing my Bindings about SMAJA, I should probably provide a brief review about Seventh-‐day Adventist education as a whole. SMAJA is a private Christian school run by the protestant denomination of Seventh-‐day Adventists. In the 1870s, founders of the Seventh-‐day Adventist church decided to focus on initiating a worldwide system of parochial schools. While colleges and similar institutions were the Birst to be established, a number of K-‐12 schools soon began to open in the early 1900s (Greenleaf, 2005, p. 10). The Adventist education system has grown considerably through the years and now boasts the second largest denominational education system in the world, only behind Catholic schools. “Today the worldwide Adventist church has over 15 million members in more than 200 countries [and] operates [over] 7200 schools worldwide with nearly 1.5 million students” (NAD Education, 2012). Rationale
My wife and I are products of Adventist education. As a matter of fact, we met at Valley Grande Adventist Academy in Weslaco, Texas as high school students and married soon after we graduated. While my wife was fortunate enough to receive financial support through her church for most of her school years, I was able to afford tuition only during my high school years. But my short time in Adventist education made one of the biggest differences in my life. I was not only challenged to become a better student, I was also encouraged to become a better person. Since Adventist schools are private institutions, they can focus on spiritual as well as social, physical, and academic aspects. It is this combination that enticed me the most and helped me decide to teach at Adventist schools. However, just like any other school system, Adventist schools have their share of problems too. There is room for improvement, and in the course of my research, I found a number of areas where SMAJA should refocus their efforts.
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Findings Since the school year is over and many of SMAJA’s students and parents are gone for the summer, I was limited in the number of people I could contact. Nevertheless, I was able to interview people from three different points of view: a school administrator, two parents, and one student. My Birst interview was with the school principal, Mrs. Nichols (see all interview questions here). I began by asking her about the school’s history. According to Mrs. Nichols’ best recollection, SMAJA was originally established circa 1965. It was mainly started by several inBluential church families to provide their children with a Christian education in the local area. From its early beginnings to up until 2006, SMAJA averaged just around 20 students per year. By 2008, a new Adventist church had been built and
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membership subsequently increased. As new members arrived, many enrolled their children in the school. Since 2007, enrollment has increased approximately 5% each year, and the past school year (2011-‐2012) saw the enrollment reach its highest total of 54 students. Unfortunately, except for gender, diversity has not grown equally. The school is mostly composed of white students ranging from middle to high socioeconomic status. While Hispanic students are increasing in number, there are no African-‐ American or Asian students. Consequently, when asked if the school had an ESL or ELL program, Mrs. Nichols admitted there has never been one at SMAJA. She also conceded that the school’s reputation has suffered among the local Adventist Hispanic community because the school has been unable to accommodate past Hispanic students who needed assistance with English language skills. Asked if the school is presently doing anything to rectify this problem, Mrs. Nichols stated the
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school now has two Hispanic teachers (Ms. Chong and I) that could better deal with such issues. Surprisingly, however, she also stated the school was not actively reaching out to non-‐English speaking families and had no plans to implement any diversiBied language program. On the positive side, the school does have a Hispanic professor from Texas State University who volunteers to teach the school’s Spanish curriculum.
Kindergarten Graduation
She has two children currently enrolled in the school and encourages all of her students to respect different cultures than their own. I have also witnessed how Ms. Chong (she was my son’s kindergarten teacher this past year) integrates special activities dealing with Spanish into her lesson plans. Regrettably, though, I found no books, magazines, or other types of foreign language literature in the school’s library or classrooms. This is deBinitely an area of concern and one that will need to be emphasized if we are to provide equality in literacy for all our students. I also conducted phone interviews (see questions here) with two mothers who each enrolled two children at SMAJA this past school year. Both were very forthcoming about their thoughts and opinions of the school overall, however they could not elaborate speciBically on the issue of literacy within the school. One possibility for this is that both ladies are white and come from stable socioeconomic status families. It did not seem that either parent had considered the school’s literacy issues outside of their children’s needs. Nevertheless, each mother is very involved in helping her own children outside of the school environment. They both read to their children and take them to the public library routinely. They encourage their children to excel academically and, as one parent emphasized, to become critical readers. There was one notable
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difference between these mothers when it came to exposing their children to the Internet. One mother allows her children to freely access many Internet sites as long as they are appropriate (she apparently sets parameters ahead of time). The other mom does not allow her children to access the Internet at all at home. This fact is signiBicant to me personally since one of her children will be my student next school year. I have a large number of assignments and projects involving the use of the Internet, and I had not considered alternative methods for students who are not allowed Internet access at home. I will have to be creative in order to provide students in this situation with the same quality and enrichment opportunities. The student I interviewed (see questions here) happens to be the child of the mother above who allows her children access to the Internet. This student is a white 12-‐year old girl with a spirited personality. She loves to read almost anything although her favorite genres are fantasy, Greek mythology, and action adventure. She is a voracious reader who goes through books faster than her mother can stock them. This was her Birst year at SMAJA and, while she enjoyed making new friends and reading in some of her classes, she also admitted to being bored a great deal. Her main complaint centered on doing worksheets as the main activity for many of her classes. She believed worksheets were not only unnecessary, but that they also gave an unfair advantage to those students who could Binish quickly and then spend their free time doing something they actually enjoyed. She impressed me with her insight and so I asked her what she would change in her classes if she were the teacher. To this she answered that she would try to match books to the personalities of each student so that they would want to read more. This girl has teacher potential written all over her!
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The last question I asked her was regarding literacy outside of school. At Birst, she answered that she normally didn’t pay attention to things around the community, but then she replied that at times things with bright colors or goofy pictures caught her attention. This got me thinking about what I could Bind around the local community, and the following photos are examples of what I found within half a mile from the school grounds. ! !
The!sign!for!this!coffee!shop!definitely! caught!my!attention.! ! !
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Pictured!above!are!several!signs!indicating! what!is!offered!inside!the!gas!station!store.!! They!made!me!hungry!and!thirsty!! !
Conclusions I am very grateful for the teaching position at San Marcos Adventist Junior Academy. It is a great little school with much potential. We even began construction on a new and bigger school facility early this year and should be in it by the beginning of this school year. This should increase the school’s visibility in the local community and possibly lead to an even larger increase in student enrollment. Things are looking up and I am proud to be a part of it.
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As I noted before, there is still some room for improvement. I was dismayed by the school’s lack of commitment to have a program aimed at English Language Learners or to reach out to the large local Hispanic community. There is also a misperception of the school’s academics as expressed by the student and parents I interviewed. The challenge to make signiBicant changes will be difBicult, but I am sure the rewards of seeing this school help students the same way I was helped many years ago, will certainly be worth it. I can’t wait to start!
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REFERENCES
Greenleaf, F. (2005). Timeline for seventh-‐day adventist education. Journal of Adventist Education, 10-‐15. NAD Education. (2012). About seventh-‐day adventist education. Circle Adventist.org, 1. Retrieved from http://circle.adventist.org/services/info/?topic=adventist_ed.