Introduction
As I walk past the outside of schools, police stations, fire stations, courthouses, national monuments, state parks, and many other buildings in America there is a common symbol waving through the air in front of each one: an American flag. What exactly does this flag represent? Millions of school children each day place their right hand over their heart, look at a flag with pride in their eyes, and in unison they begin saying the words, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…” Staring at the flag and learning the words of the Pledge of Allegiance has been a tradition for American school children dating back as early as 1892.
For students at my school, however, this is not a daily tradition. As the school bell rings, my students scatter through the halls making their way to their classrooms to instantly begin instruction. No morning announcements, no recitation of the pledge of allegiance. As we prepared for Memorial Day, I asked the students how they celebrate the day. One student raised his hand and said, “We usually barbecue at my house, but why do we see so many flags on that day? Are the flags shown to let us know it is a holiday?” As I began to explain to him why we see flags on Memorial Day and the importance of the flag, I made reference to the Pledge of Allegiance. “The Pledge of Allegiance, what’s that?” he asked. My mind began to wonder. How could I have been with these students all year and not known the majority of them had no clue what the pledge of allegiance was? I could also assume they did not know the meaning of the words. They were not aware of the meaning of the flag. They were clueless about these patriotic symbols. As a school we had failed to teach them these concepts.
I have taught at Randolph Elementary School for six years and will continue in the fall. I am currently a first grade general education teacher. During the course of a day I give my students instruction in the areas of English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. I usually have between twenty-eight and thirty-two students in my classroom. Randolph is located on the south side of Chicago in the Englewood community. As a Literature and Writing Academy, Randolph offers a comprehensive gifted program to students in Grades 1-3. We use Guided Reading to ensure that all students receive differentiated instruction in Reading. Randolph students have daily access to our 3 mobile Internet labs, our newly added classroom lab and iPads.
We have 500 students in grades K-8. Over 98% of our students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Students who receive free/reduced meals are provided breakfast and lunch. If those students participate in after school programming, they are also given a snack after school. 95% of our student population is African American and 4.6% of the students are of Hispanic descent. We have a substantial number of families who are displaced, residing with family members, friends, or in shelters. The school is located in a high crime area. Englewood is ranked 4th among Chicago’s 77 community areas for violent crime reports.
Comments: