Webster Elementary/Hazel Park Community

Before I visit my community, I am feeling strangely disconnected from my surroundings.  My entire life I have lived only about 4 miles from my school, and yet this community is completely foreign to me.  I feel like I had these terrible misconceptions about Hazel Park before I ever even explored it.  I am quickly changing my thoughts and straightening out my act!  My school has an amazing sense of community, and though even the school district is struggling it feels like one big family.  My school also has some great resources due to scholarships that the teachers can apply for.  We have an ELMO as well as a SmartBoard that we share with another classroom.  We also have brand new Mac computers throughout the school...how fortunate is that?!  These resources are not what I expected in a low-income community, but it just goes to show how so much can be made from so little.  

1. What/Where will you visit and why?

A couple of the places that I plan on visiting in Hazel Park is the library, the community center, some of the different residential areas, and the race track.  I chose to visit the library and community center because I know that is a place that alot of the students in my classroom spend their time.  May of them are involved in dance classes, karate, or even boy scouts at the community center.  Others go the library after school or on the weekends.  I have heard my students talk about these places.  The different residential areas show alot about the financial differences in the city.  I know that there are vast differences from one block to another, and I want to see exactly the type of neighborhood environments my students are experiencing.  The race track is a Hazel Park staple and something the city is well known for.  This is part of their community, and so I feel like I should check it out (maybe it will be a lucky visit!)


2.  What do you expect to see?

I am expecting to see a lot of community programs in the community center and library since I have already heard about some of them from my students.  My archetype of these centers is that they are providing students with resources that they would not normally get at home, like technology or athletic opportunities.  I am also expecting to see neighborhoods of nice houses, and neighborhoods of vandalized/abandoned houses.  This, I admit, is a complete bias on my part.  Hazel Park borders 8 mile, and I have an inclination that there will be lower-income families living in this area. 

3.  What would an "outsider" see?

This question is really not fair in many ways.  I grew up near 12 mile, and though I love my city it is pretty obvious that there is larger stigma when you move close to 8 mile.  An "outsider" such as myself is coming into the community when bias's that have been implemented by the media and surrounding community.  However, Hazel Park is a nice city with some great resources, and an "outsider" who doesn't experience this in his/her own community would see these very positive qualities.  To me, Hazel Park represents this gray area between urban and suburban.  Depending on where the "outsider" is coming from their view is going to be different.

4.  What types of literacy will you find in the community?

I think that most of the interconnections will be through areas that are devoted to literacy.  The library, schools, and community centers, for instance, will most likely focus much more on using different types of literacy.  There isn't really a central location, or downtown, in Hazel Park.  The other building are mostly local businesses or offices.  I do not anticipate in seeing an abundance of these things in the community.

REFLECTING ON MY INVESTIGATION!

1.  What did you notice?

I noticed a lot of differences in the community.  There are some areas that are clearly not struggling as much as the other areas.  I also noticed the difference in surrounding cities.  It hadn't occurred to me to think about the cities surrounding Hazel Park.  On one side, for instance, you have downtown Ferndale.  This is a really up-and-coming area full of shops, restaurants, and bars.  On another side you have Detroit and much  more vandalized property and less restaurants/businesses.

2.  What surprised/did not surprise you?

 I went to the rec center because I had heard from the students in my classroom that they do lots of extra-curricular classes.  I was surprised at how small the rec center was.  There was one gym and a few other small rooms.  There was also a room where some students go after school with games and such.  In my mind I was hoping this was a place where students could go and get access to some really great resources that hey might not have at home, like maybe computers.  However, I didn't see this here.  I don't think that is a bad thing, it just didn't have the function that I was expecting but still could be very useful for the community.

3. How has this help you learn about your school/community?

If anything, this helped me realize what a great job my school is doing in giving students access to resources they dont see at home.  Technology is huge in this, since there wasn't very much outside of the school, and  because the school has provided some great technology.  It also made me think more about the levels of my students.  My classroom has a large amount of high student, smaller amount of average students, and a large amount of low students.  This vast difference between high/low is represented in the community, where one street has very nice houses and the other has trailers.  It was just interesting to see this reflection, even though I understand that not all of my students come from trailer parks and vice versa. 

4. How will this help you in your teaching?/How does this help you see them as literacy learner?

This will help me in my teaching to relate to my students and think about how their time in school is influencing them.  Some of my students do not every do their reading homework at home and my investigation told me that there is not an abundance of literacy around the community.  This means that their time is school to read is really, really important.  It also made me think twice about passing judgments on some of the families.  Even the trailer homes were just that, a home, and I need to remember that these kids are the best they can be at this point in their learning!