Danielle Vachon

Essay #1
EDUC 942
9 February 2015

A sociocultural perspective on education assumes that educational practices

are under the influence of broader societal and cultural goals. Societal and cultural
goals have been around for as long as education has been around and have been a
big influence on childrens lives.
Societal values and goals have contributed to my early education in many
ways. After talking with my mother about my early childhood experience growing
up she shared with me a few things. My mother first had me when she was 23
years old, which is rather young. Being born into a family with young parents can
have its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that they were young,
had more energy, and more time to take care of me. However, my parents soon
realized that the economy wasnt going to allow them to feed another mouth
without them working for it. They both had to get full time jobs and find a
caregiver for me during the day while they both worked. The advantage of this
was that my Grammy had a daycare center that I could go to during the day. My
mom expressed that this was very convenient for them and I got to spend lots of
time with my Grandparents and Aunt who worked at the center. It was a small
center, so I got lots of one on one time with them but also had personal
connections with each of the children that went there. I loved going to my
Grammys daycare so much that when it was time to get picked up by my parents,
I never wanted to go home. This experience was a really positive one for me
because I had the comfort of being with my family all day and my parents knew
that I was in good hands while they were working.

Once it was time for me to start school, my mom signed me up for every
extracurricular activity that was out there. My mother told me that when she was
growing up her family didnt have much and couldnt afford to sign up for extra
activities after school, during the summer, or on the weekends. She told me that
she promised herself that when she had a child that she would give them every
opportunity to feel apart of the school and community. For me, I was a very shy
child so having to go to a new activity always scared me. I would much rather stay
at my house or my Grammys center then venture out and try new things. My
biggest adjustment growing up was going to half day Kindergarten in the
mornings for a few hours.
Looking back at my Kindergarten report card was really interesting for me.
The goals seemed to be a lot lower for Kindergartners back in the day. At the end
of Kindergarten, the goal was to learn your numbers 1-20, upper and lowercase
letters, and begin to recognize some words. My day as a Kindergarten student was
non-stressful and fun. We played for a majority of the day and then would work
for 1-2 hours on literacy and math. For children with any socio-economic
background, this was an inviting, home environment that every child wanted to
attend. I was not expected to work at a first or second grade level, my goal was to
work at a Kindergarten level and learn some skills along the way.
Looking at present time, I think the cultural influences on early educational
practices have remained the same in some areas but differ in others. One of the
cultural factors that I believe that has stayed the same during early childhood is the

attachment issue. Depending on how a child is brought up or what they were

surrounded with as a child affects them when participating in new activities and
showing their true potential. Like me, I was always with a familiar face in my
family, so when it came time to broaden my horizons, it was really hard for me.
Likewise, a child who comes from another culture it might be normal for them to
always be with their parents, night and day, and when it is time to be in a
classroom environment, they could receive culture shock because they are not
used to that situation. Another cultural factor that I believe is still prevalent is
participation from families. Growing up, I was lucky to have had the opportunity
to be put into extracurricular activities that my parents could attend. However, I do
remember my parents not being able to come in for class field trips or volunteer
opportunities very much in school due to their work schedule. This goes for a lot
of working parents because unless they take time off to go in and participate, they
are not going to be seen very much in the school and community. With this being
said, there are some parents who go into classrooms all the time and volunteer.
The parents that are frequently seen in the classroom are those that dont have a
consistent work schedule or dont work at all. Not that that is a bad thing, but it
gets to children after a while when they see so and sos parent coming in every
Friday for 1 hour and never seeing their parent. I think that this gives teachers a
perspective on certain families too. They associate the families who are always
coming in and volunteering as supportive and involved in their childs education
and those parents who never come in or communicate with them as uninvolved

and distant. The biggest cultural influence on early education today is educators
making assumptions about different cultures and religions in and out of the
classroom. America is a melting pot of cultures, and even those of us who
experience the same culture still do things very differently. Its important to keep
an open mind as an educator and accept all differences.
Societal goals have changed as well in the classroom. Looking back at my
schooling in Kindergarten, things were a lot less stressful and more of a play
environment. Now a days, children are expected to know so much and there is
hardly any play going on. Children who come from different socio-economic
backgrounds sometimes think of school as a sanctuary compared to what they are
used to at home. This added stress for knowing even more cannot have a positive
impact on these little learners. Kindergarten standards are now bumped up to the
first grade curriculum. Kindergartners are expected to know their numbers 1-100,
all upper and lowercase letters, know how to read and write sight words, read short
books, write sentences, etc. This type of learning environment could make or
break a child depending on how much they are willing to take during one day.
This teaching approach is causing teachers to ask for more classroom volunteers,
resulting in the same parents coming in each week.
As stated above, there are many cultural influences in education today. In
my work in the future I am going to try to address and resist some of these
influences. The first thing I will address in my classroom is getting to know each
family on a personal level. I want to know what their goals are for the year and

how they want their child to accomplish them. After finding out what each
families goals are for their child during that year I will then sit down the their child
each month and set up literacy, math, and personal goals for the month. At the end
of each month I will take each child in my classroom and have them reflect on
their goal to see if they achieved it or are still working towards it. I will send these
goals home for parents to review and see their childs progress if they are not able
to come into the classroom. I want to find out each families personal schedule at
home and understand how their lives are so that I can take that information to
better their childs education. I want to let each family know that volunteering is
not a mandatory thing in the classroom and not to worry if they are not able to
come in. I will let them know that I am very flexible and I am willing to fill them
in with how their child is doing through a phone call, e-mail, or parent-teacher
journal. Each week I will send home a newsletter of what we are working on in the
classroom with pictures attached. This will give those parents the satisfaction of
seeing their child in action in the classroom if they are not able to come in to
volunteer.
In my future classroom, I will resist making assumptions about certain
children. All children are to be treated the same, even though they may have many
differences. They all have the same purpose though, to come to school to learn. I
will welcome all opinions and questions into my classroom. I want all children to
feel comfortable and free to say what they feel without being judged. I want to
welcome play into my classroom as well. I feel that play influences social

interactions of those children with different cultures and brings them together.
Children learn a lot through play and I think this will bring down the level of stress
and anxiety to drill students with information. I want my learners to learn the
material through fun, memorable lessons and materials. I want to be a teacher
where every child feels safe and wants to come to school no matter their
background.