Week 10: Michelle Prinzo

I am headed to Nashville in one week to begin my teaching career!

This is a photo I took from a page in a Dr. Seuss book. This picture is a pretty accurate depiction of the chaos and stress that I am feeling as I head to Nashville, which is conveniently located somewhere in between Wabash and Tokyo ;)

What have I learned?


One of the things that I like about service learning (and really all service opportunities) is the opportunity to learn from people outside of the "ivory tower". Learning comes from doing, seeing, and interacting. I enjoyed working with the children at AMIS. Beyond learning about the children, I learned a lot about the Cincinnati Public School system. AMIS is the fourth CPS school that I have been involved with. I have seen the 'good, the bad, and the ugly' at all of these schools. All have improvements that need to be made---some more than others, but at every single one of these schools one thing was the same---there were children who needed and wanted to be supported, treated with respect, grow and learn. How do you do that? One of the things I have learned through our coursework and through working with CPS student is to learn about them.

In my last class today our professor said, "A teacher that I would trust to work with students--a teacher that I would hire--is one who can show and demonstrate a respect for children. It is not enough to say you love children. You have to respect them." I believe this directly relates to what we have learned this quarter. We need to respect immigrant children. We need to believe that they can learn and be as successful as any other child in this country. We need to respect the families of the children--even if their values and beliefs significantly contrast with our own. We need to respect the culture of the children we work with and most importantly we need to SHOW the children we respect them by listening, trying new things, and supporting them in any way we can. As a new teacher I know that there will be times when I will be under a lot of pressure to perform, to show significant progress in my students. I cannot let this pressure compromise what I believe to be a fundamental part of learning--an open classroom environment. For this reason I really identified with the Igoa text. It was easy to see how much work she put into creating a classroom environment. She let the children learn and open up at their own pace. She knew that children, especially those making the transition to a new country, needed to work at their own pace. This is a lesson that I will apply to my first year (and hopefully throughout my career).

Ironically, the very first page of the Igoa book (in the praise section), sums up alot of my learning in this course--the idea that immigrant children are individuals from complex backgrounds. To find out about them is to learn about many aspects of their lives--as we said in class, "What ISN'T important to know about working with immigrant children?" Jim Cummins presents my thoughts on this quite eloquently:

" ...at some level, all teachers of immigrant/culturally diverse students must become researchers if they are to teach effectively since no theory can supply the answers to the range of issues teachers are faced with in our increasingly diverse schools."

Week 9--Michelle Prinzo

Rethinking Immigration:

Helping my students share their identity with children in Africa

My students working on pictures to describe their life in Cincinnati

This year has opened up my eyes to issues related to immigration. As I have mentioned in previous posts, many of my students are immigrants, children of immigrants, and/or have a strong connection to another country/culture. My students, as well as the students at AMIS, have shown me how important it is to integrate their home culture and experiences with those of American/Cincinnati-an culture. Helping students to better understand their identity and allowing them to share their cultural differences is one way to support this integration. In the photos above my students and I are learning about children in Otho Abwoa, Kenya and comparing it with our culture through UC's Engineers Without Borders Visual Pen Pal Program. My students showed exceptional maturity as they discussed the similarities and differences between the school children in Otho Abwao and many of them drew upon their immigration and travel experience to enrich our discussion. 

My students demonstrate the direction that I would like to see views and policies on immigration move in. The children in my classroom are excited and curious about other cultures. They ask questions and they learn from one another. Through this exchange they have built a unique classroom culture and have developed a strong set of shared characteristics. Their actions and behavior provide a positive "ethos of reception" for the immigrants and children of immigrants in our classroom. As described by Suarez-Orsozco and Suarez-Orozco, an ethos of reception is a significant factor of the experience of immigrant children that is shaped by "general attitudes and beliefs held by members of the new society about immigration and immigrants" (36). 

I believe that if public opinion begins to view immigrants as a cultural asset the immigrant experience will improve. As the immigrant experience improves, immigrants and children of immigrants will become greater assets to our society politically, socially, culturally and economically. 

Michelle Prinzo, Week 8

Breast Cancer Awareness T-Shirt Design

Do you love boobs? Over 200 college students on the University of Cincinnati's campus love boobs enough to wear this shirt. Some of them think its funny, some identify with the breast cancer awareness message (more clearly visible by the pink ribbon on the back of the shirt), and some of them bought the shirt to support the mission of the American Cancer Society. I personally fall into all three of these categories. So what does this have to do with culture and health?  I pulled this picture out of my Relay For Life fundraising files to give an example of how peers can influence one anothers' beliefs on health. The mission of CAC, the organization responsible for these shirts and the self examination shower signs (below) is to help our peers become aware and encourage the practice of self- examinations. Will this approach work with our peers? It seemed to. Consistent with Mandala model of health shown in the Vaughn text, our organization was attempting to influence our peers lifestyle through a cultural and communication context. Would this approach work for people of other cultures? I doubt it. I think that this approach could be seen as embarrassing and socially unacceptable in other contexts. For example, I would NEVER dare to wear my shirt or distribute such information to the residents at my grandmother's independent living home, nor would I think it was appropriate to wear such a shirt in front of my first grade students. I would take very different approaches to educate these populations about cancer prevention. 

 The example I used above is fairly simple, but I  the affect culture can have on health is personally one of the hardest contexts to understand-- specially in situations in which people deny or go against what I believe to be best practices in medecine or patient treatment. After reading this week's chapters, I have a better idea of how much culture affects health. 

Week 7: Michelle Prinzo

The best part of fall: Bearcat Football!

SELF: I never thought I would become a football fan. Ten years ago I would "watch" football with my parents (aka Read while they watched the game) and complain about what a strange and pointless sport football was. In high school I went to every single football game. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I actually saw more than five minutes of the game. Football in high school was a social event. As I entered my senior year of high school, I became better friends with a few people who were huge football fans. They wanted to watch the game, so I learned to watch. I asked questions until I figured out what was going on. Fast forward to my four years in college. I was a member of an organization called RallyCats, a spirit organization that is represented at almost single varsity game on campus (and quite a few away games). I became a fan-- a true fan. Football is not the most important thing in life, but I think it is a great example of how peer influences shaped my interests. I would even argue that this organization of peers, along with other experiences at this university has helped ingrain an important aspect of my identity--as a UC Bearcat. Today I was at a recognition ceremony that was closed by the singing of the Alma Mater. I sang the words to the song and it was automatic to do the "fountain" "tower" and "rock" motions. My mom next to me was laughing and I was very offended. Then it occurred to me...4 years ago, I was laughing at the motions too. Now, I embraced them. This is a strong illustration of how my peers and education have helped to formulate my identity.

OTHER: In the Vaughn text she states, "identities and styles of adaptation are powerfully linked to context and social mirroring (103). I believe this to be very true of my mentee. From our conversations and activities, she clearly has looked to her peers and popular culture to find interests and I would argue identity. In the picture below, you will see a drawing we created together. She had seen some of my doodles in a notebook and asked how I made them. This page is our practice together. I noticed that in her drawings with me she almost always draws something that she sees me draw or similar to something her peers have drawn. I would speculate that other aspects of her identity would be formulated through social mirroring--as it is for many children her age.

Week 6: Michelle Prinzo

Are you culturally competent? How do you know?
According to the Vaughn text, cultural competence is,"the ability to apply knowledge of your own and others' cultures. What you do before and after, are as important as what you do during, an intercultural interaction" (105).  So am I culturally competent? If I had to grade myself I would give myself a "B-". But, I am still learning. I think I have a strong understanding what goes into an intercultural interaction and how to evaluate my interaction and make changes. The actual interaction is still often very tricky. I feel that I have drastically improved my cultural competence in the past few years. I would attribute this mostly to being lucky enough to interact with people from so many different cultures and backgrounds and my coursework in Communication. I came from an area that was fairly homogeneous culturally. The majority of my interactions were with people who looked, talked, and came from similar backgrounds to me. I knew that every person was different, and everyone had a diverse background that could be shared, but there were enough apparent similarities between us that interactions and communication came easily.

Late night fun with Krysten and her sisters

Towards the end of high school, I became really close to my now best friend and her family. Krysten's mom is a Mexican immigrant and works in the city of Akron as a translator. While Krysten had an upbringing very similar to my own, many of her mom's relatives and the families she worked with were at her house. The more time I was over there, the more people from different cultures I interacted with. The more intercultural interactions I had, the better I got at it. These interactions provided me with a foundation to come to UC--a school and a city in which I have had the opportunity to interact with so many different and wonderful people.

How should you interact with someone of a different culture?

The artwork my students made to share with Relay For Life participants

I personally think that you should interact with someone of a different culture the same way you interact with someone of the same culture--by treating them as an individual. Listen to them, learn about their background, observe their habits, and share with them. I really think that is what many of the strategies in our texts have tried to convey. The more you interact with an individual, the more you can understand about them, and the better your interactions will be.

The picture above represents this understanding for me. In the picture the banner that is along the windows was created by my students (first graders at Fairview-Clifton German Language School). In my classroom I taught 20 individuals. Each student has his or her own background, but together we created a classroom culture. The banner has the word "hope" translated into 8 languages (I know you can't see it, you will just have to trust me)---the eight different languages children in my classroom speak in addition to English. Additionally, the banner has pictures of the Relay For Life symbol and our theme: "One world, one hope, one cure". This represents a part of my identity and culture that I shared with my students. My students loved to learn what it meant to be a college student, and many of them exhibited a very mature understanding of what cancer is and how it has affected my lives and the lives of many other people both inside and outside of the classroom. Most importantly, this banner is a piece of collaborative work--it shows how all of us interacted with one another. The longer we spent together, the more we learned about each others backgrounds, heritage, tendencies, and habits and the more effectively we were able to communicate.

Week 5: Michelle Prinzo

Self: The Influence of Culture on Education

As an education major I have put a lot of thought into student motivation, behavior, and achievement. I have come to the conclusion that much of a student's performance in school can be attributed to a child's family, community and culture. In Psychology and Culture, Vaughn affirms my thoughts as she states, "educational systems are strong socializing agents and there is an intimate link between culture and education across many areas: language, school systems, parental and familial values, teaching styles and student-teacher relationships, different ways of learning, attitudes and appraisals of students" (166). The picture above is from my high school graduation (sorry for the quality of the picture...I had a terrible camera at the time!). All of the girls in the picture are from the same community, all of us had parents who were either highly education or wished that they had had the opportunity for further education. Above all, all five of us were socialized to value education. Graduation and a college education were expected in our families. What I did not realize at the time was that my achievement was influenced by my family and friends, but culturally I was taught what an education should look like--what I should be learning in school and how I am taught. Next year I will be teaching in a community in which I know my educational experiences will be vastly different then the people of the community. I am interested to see how my views and ideas will blend with the cultural practices of where I am going. 

Other: Keeping Culture Alive

I find the traditions, celebrations, and customs of different cultures fascinating. Last week my mentee and I talked a little bit about how she celebrated Easter. As her family seems to be very westernized, I was not surprised to hear that she celebrated with her family, an easter basket, and an egg hunt. It seems that her family has taken to a very American way of celebrating the holidays. So what does this have to do with the picture below?

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. Halloween is a celebration that is celebrated in many cultures around the world, but in many different ways and with many different customs. The only reason I thought to ask my mentee about how she celebrated the holiday was because of an experience that I had with one of my internship students. This student moved here from Germany about 2 years ago. He has assimilated into American culture very well--which I believe has a lot to do with the fact that his mother is a Cincinnati native (his dad is a German citizen).  Both he and his parents are bi-lingual and this student is very excited to share his German culture with the students in our classroom. Many of the readings dealt with how immigrant children often have  conflicting views with different cultural practices and how parents often try to keep their home culture alive for their children. The student I have told you about experienced this as well. His mother, an American immigrant in Germany, used to try to keep many of her cultural practices alive in her family. One example of this was during holidays. Her favorite holiday was Halloween and even though people in the part of Germany in which they lived did not celebrate Halloween, my student was dressed up every year and his family trick or treated throughout each room in their home!

I am curious to know about what holidays my mentee celebrates...This will be a fun conversation next week when I see her again!

Week 4: Michelle Prinzo

Self Reflection: How does culture socialize people?

Is the woman in this portrait beautiful? If you were to meet her on the street or in a bar would you think she was beautiful? Pretty? In our society, many people would answer "no". Some people might say something like "she has a pretty face" or "if she lost a few pounds then maybe she would be beautiful." I can even imagine a comment like, "Has she ever even seen the sun?"

In all likelihood this woman would not be featured in today's fashion magazines. In chapter 4 of Vaughn's text, she says that, "perceptions are relative and become distorted easily based on sociocultural factors....We now know that based on different cultural practices of socialization and acculturation, people learn to sense certain stimuli and not others and have preferences for familiarity with particular cultural-related images,  smells, tastes, and sounds" (81). What people perceived as beautiful during DaVinci's time  and what we perceive as beautiful now is very different. Girls and women in our society feel pressure to be thin, to be tan, even if it is not a healthy thin or a healthy tan whereas  in the past women who were heavy and fair-skinned were perceived as having the ideal bodies.

Perceptions of beauty are not only between the past and present, but they vary between cultures. Cultures world-wide have differing perceptions of beauty. We hear stories of women who put rings around their neck to elongate them or women who bandage their feet to prevent them from getting bigger. Vaugh affirms this idea as she states, "Peception of what is beautiful offer differs greatly across the globe. Some fads and fashions start at a national level and quickly spread internationally. Other cultures limit the media and thus beauty is often defined for the people without the freedom to choose" (85).

Perception, of course, is not limited to only beauty. If affects every aspect of life. People who are immigrants often face internal (and at times external) conflicts based upon differences in perception. I have chosen to focus this posting on beauty because my mentee is fascinated by fashion and clothing for women. She loves to hear about my purse and my make up and asked me if I would bring magazines for us to look through and use as inspirations for our drawings.

This leads me to the second part of my post: How does a culture socialize people?

My mentee is the child of an immigrant. We have only met twice, but from what we has talked about it seems that she (and likely her parents) have assimilated into Western culture. English is her first language, and the experiences she tells me about---birthdays, bunk beds, make-up-- and the things she draws--peace signs,  flowers, dresses, and fashion accessories-- seem to indicate that her upbringing has been very influenced by American society (and a teenage sister in high school). As she is a very shy child, I am interested to learn more about her home life and family background. Perhaps she focuses on these things to relate to me, or is unaware of differences between the culture her parents are from and the culture she has grown up in. My hope is to explore these areas further as we get to know one another better.