008. Literacy and Hybridity in the classroom

"Seize the teachable moments!"

The above tagline is not uncommon to many in the teaching profession. This point has been told to us by our lecturers, Cooperating Teachers and supervisors and it seem to be reinforced in Gutierrez's article in his concept of third spaces in the classroom.

The classrooms of today are more diverse than ever, especially so with widening income gaps among the SES levels and influx of foreign students who bring with them their cultures. As such, we can see that the background of each child is different and this has a bearing on their perspectives of their worldview and learning abilities. There are times when these differences may cause conflicts or embarassing moments in the classroom and instead of just solving the conflict at hand, the teacher can turn it into a teachable moment for the class. For example, there was a boy from Bangladesh who joined my class mid-term. His caregivers at home do not speak English and he could barely speak a proper sentence in English. This gave him much difficulty in communicating with his classmates. To add on, there was this particular way of moving his head as he speaks which caused him to the subject of ridicule from many of his local classmates.

Looking back at this scenario and if I have read this article then, the concept of third spaces and teachable moments can be applied. His friends ridiculed or avoided him because they did not have a proper understanding of his background and cultural differences. I could have created a 'space' for that understanding to occur by asking him to share about his life in India and practices that are different from the local practices. In this case, both parties of children gain new insights and understanding, and hopefully learn to accomodate each other in the classroom.