Frames of Reference

Urban Schools and Me

Frames of Reference

As an undergraduate, I only took one class on anthropology. The teacher loved to talk, and I frankly didn’t understand much of what he said (or find it interesting, hence the one Anthropology class.) One thing did stand out: the concept of the frame of reference as a descriptor of how our previous experiences and prior “knowledge” skew how we see things and contribute to our expectations of others, other situations and therefore shape our actions. Gee applies this same concept to what he terms “discourses” or literacies specific to one group (with their own vocabulary, accepted processes/customs). We belong to multiple “discourses” all of which add up to our total being.[1]

There is no way that any two people, their personal experiences being unique, can ever see the same situation in the same way. Even if every descriptive factor (age, sex, religion, country of origin, country of residence, etc.) was the same between two people, they would never see something in the same exact way. Ironically, this in turn changed my own personal frame of reference and any paper I wrote since them, I looked at critically to see if my personal beliefs clouded my objectiveness, thereby negating the real truth of my writing. As such, I understand that all of my beliefs (those based on assumptions and those based on personal experience) are not 100% true, and many are just flat out wrong. I know, that these beliefs and assumptions shape the way I affect my classroom, my classroom affects me, and the teacher I am as well as the teacher I am to become.

In the City

To understand how I feel about urban schools, I must first explain some beliefs that I have about urban centers themselves. I must first start out by saying that I was born and spent a good part of my young life living in an urban center and harbor no ill will towards them, rather I feel a sort of kinship with them.

I believe that the fundamental nature of the role of urban centers has not changed. The Senior Fellows at the Annenberg Institute hit the nail right on the head when they stated that “Cities are civilizing forces…Cities bring together vital aspects of social, cultural, aesthetic, political, and economic activity.”[2] From the time of ancient Greece, when the first major “cities” developed, this has been the role of urban centers. Along with this constant role comes a constant set of problems; with a wealth of opportunity comes a wealth of people seeking that opportunity. Therefore, while on one hand urban centers are beacons of human achievement, they are also home to some of the poorest populations in the country, rivaled (if not surpassed) only by those in very rural areas. This is supported by Hodgkinson’s data as he leads into his paper on demographics.[3]

The urban center is a unique entity. Manhattan and Buffalo, though across the state of NY, they have much in common because of their status as urban centers. As a unique entity, urban centers are subject to stereotypes much the same as many racial/ethnic/economic groups. I believe that the stereotypes and prejudices against urban centers as well as the socio-economic groups, which reside therein, are a major cause of the problems that urban centers face.
Finally, with respect to the urban centers themselves, I agree with Hodgkinson’s affirmation about the highly transient populations that dwell within these urban centers.[4] That is, both from preconceptions about urban centers and my experiences working and living within them, I believe that the populations, more specifically the lower economic rungs, are prone to moving around based on the ability to capitalize on opportunity (e.g. available jobs, changing custody of children to place them in better schools because of their location, etc.)

School Days

I begin this section by addressing the question of how my beliefs are shaped/ where they come from. As previously stated, I believe that our frame of reference is an end result of our collective previous experience leading up to the moment of thought/action. But what does “previous experience” mean? Many factors contributed to my belief system; how I was raised by my parents (their thoughts/belief systems, what they taught me, what they provided for me, etc)exposure to information through the world media outlet, assumptions based on no/not enough evidence to make an educated guess, my higher education (going to a more liberal university for a degree in history I’m sure leaves one with a much different perspective than someone who went to a more ‘conservative’ school or even someone who has studied abroad.) Finally, and probably most significantly, are the actual experiences I have lived through.

Most of my disillusionment with the educational system in urban centers comes from my personal experience living on an urban center and going to school within such a system. Living in an urban center in NY, I did not have the most inspiring of teachers. I went from an enthusiastic reader and student who did 6th grade math in kindergarten to a 1st grader that they wanted to put in self contained classes. When my parents saw what a negative impact the schools were having on me, they decided to move to an area where I could receive a better education. Day 1 at the suburban school, my parents received a call suggesting I be skipped ahead a grade. (If I wasn’t so short, they might’ve said yes.)

That said, I believe that it is easier to receive a good education outside of an urban center; harder, but not impossible to receive one within an urban center. This is excluding charter and magnet schools, I believe that there are some truly outstanding urban schools out there, but to find one and receive a great education from one are two separate and difficult tasks. I believe that the prejudice against poor and ethnic populations, lack of proper funding and resources (which I feel is the primary cause of burnt out teachers), an institutionalized educational process with players unwilling to change[5], and national education policy which favors already successful schools all play a role in causing this problem sometimes identified as the education or achievement gap.

Finally, I believe that this fact is a reversible one through hard work, dedication and public policy designed with the children in mind, and aimed at figuring out why there is such an achievement gap and how to erase it, not policy that directs practice through the carrot and stick.

Between You and Me

I don’t know if one can measure to what extent that their personal belief system affects their interactions with the people they work with and the people they interact with on a daily basis. The easy answer is that they affect such interactions both subtly and intimately. Every conversation you have, every impression you make or is made on you is predicated on your expectations going into a given situation. These are inexorably linked to your belief system, a.k.a. frame of reference.

Based on what I thought I knew about urban schools, only fueled by my summer at a teaching “training institute”, I expected to find a school full of burnt out teachers, locked into the system who didn’t care anymore. To combat this, my strategy for my initial interactions was one of mixed trepidation and skepticism, thinking I already knew a better way because I had a mission and my mission was true. To say that I was quickly humbled would be an understatement, but did I inadvertently burn down some bridges in the process? Only time will show the outcome but it is a further effect of my ever-changing frame of reference.

Similarly, my classroom was to be a “safe-haven,” a “last refuge” for my students to learn before they were kicked out of middle school in to the harsh cold waters of high school. I knew, not thought, that my students would be more than grateful for a teacher who pushed them hard, expected more out of them and truly believed in them and their potential for success through hard work. Boy did I miss the ball with 14 year olds. (Not about their potential, but with their gratitude to be challenged with hard work and be held to such high standards. [Though some have risen to the challenge.]) How many students did I “lose” when I pushed so hard, so fast? Again time will tell, but I know that my personal beliefs and opinions drove my actions.

As I am faced with thoughtful, caring and dedicated teachers/staff and a student body constantly posing new challenges, my frame of reference continues to shift and my interactions with students (it turns out I am more of a disciplinarian than I thought I was) and teachers (I don’t know if it is fortunate or not that I have seemingly already found my niche within the school) continues to change as my perceptions of the people around me change as well through my daily experiences which add to my collective experience and around and around.

The Future

I am a goal driven person. I find that much like a maze, it is easier to start at the end and work backwards. Again, my summer spent “learning to teach” has strengthened my faith in “backwards planning.” Because of this, my frame of reference will significantly impact and shape the type of professional I will become. Through my assumptions, I will form my expectations about what my goals need to be. Based on that it will influence my course of action, my decisions, and what I anticipate my professional career will be like. Aside from the disillusionment one feels when expectations and reality aren’t in line (I am dealing with this now) actions have consequences; and as stated throughout my self-investigation, these consequences will impact my professional “alliances” (it’s not just the students who are cliquey in schools) and my experiences in the classroom, both of which are in my mind the primary factors in shaping/determining the type of professional I will become.

Exit Ticket

It is slightly different for me to write this paper as I have been in the classroom for almost a month now. This has given me in one way an edge in that I can see how my perspective effects how I develop as a professional and how my perspectives change/ have changed. On the other hand this is, in a way, harder for me to write since my perspective has changed since I began.
The issue is that I can’t tell just how much my perspective has changed, how much my frame has shifted. How many new “discourses” do I have? (My Spanish has definitely improved, and I am learning slang.) How many “discourses” have I pulled away from? All of the possible outcomes addressed above are still up in the air, how will they turn out? The process of change/development, my metamorphosis has been so fluid so organic, that I honestly cannot remember just where I started compared to where I am now.

There is no question for me that my frame of reference is an important factor in shaping who I am. Not just professionally, but in every aspect of my life. I am the accumulation of my experiences, and each experience is shaped by how I approach it (which is based on my previous experiences.) It is the hidden, yet inescapable, loop that we are all caught in. The biggest question is just how much will it affect who I am and who I become as a teacher?




[1] Gee, James Paul. “Reading as situated language: A sociocognative perspective”. The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. May, 2001. pp. 714-725
[2] Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, “The Promise of Urban Schools” Brown University (Providence, RI) ©2000 p.1
[3] Hodgkinson, Harold. DEMOGRAPHICS: What teachers should know. “Educational Leadership” ©December 2000/January 2001. pp. 6-8
[4] ibid
[5] Haberman, Martin. “The Pedagogy of Poverty Versus Good Teaching” Given as a lecture at the “Curriculum and Instruction Leadership Symposium” (Pacific Grove, CA) ©2005