Best Practices for Diverse Learners: African-American Students in New York Citys Harlem Neighborhood - Essay Example

?BEST PRACTICES Best Practices for Diverse Learners: African-American in New York s Harlem Neighborhood Word Count 820 (7 pages) I. Introduction It’s important, in order to be an outstanding teacher, to be firm, fair, and consistent. Students in urban schools need more structure than ever. It is quite understandable what is the necessity of today’s teachers having to be firm in the classroom. Also, it’s important to understand students’ keen sense of fairness and make appropriate executive decisions as a teacher—oftentimes at a moment’s notice. One has to be dynamic with the snap of one’s fingers, and consistently be a good role model for these young people. This is especially true with diverse learners. It will be herein attempted to examine the needs of the diverse learner as it relates to the underserved and socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are African-American young people living in Harlem in New York. Children today really need someone to give their life meaning and orderliness. Teachers can provide that by using their pedagogy, their teaching style, their knowledge of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, and the knowledge that not every student learns the same way—in order to foster a more engaging and creative work environment that is student-friendly and challenging for students of all ability levels. Students must feel that they are valued. If students don’t feel that their participation is a necessary part of the learning process, they will feel alienated. It is the teacher’s responsibility, at least partially, to motivate students to want to learn and to be inspired by the awe and joy one can find in the learning process. Manhattan and Harlem have history. Here it will be attempted to perform a comparative analysis of the Black student’s neighborhood versus the predominantly white student’s neighborhood, which are both within the same borough in New York based on the following criteria: race and ethnicity of the neighborhoods; political-economic structure or social stratification of poverty or wealth; school performance (as it relates to property value); employment and unemployment rate and crime rates; and who lives in these neighborhoods, what their professions are, and what social class they belong to as well. ? The point that will be made is how the students in these neighborhoods exist next to each other and have more in common than they potentially realize, and how they benefit from each other. It will also be examined how Columbia University benefits from being next to the ghetto. However, for all practical purposes, herein we are going to talk about how students from Manhattan and Harlem both coexist within the same borough or neighborhood. II. Race and Ethnicities of the Neighborhoods Every city in the world has a wide disparity among its neighborhoods and people. No city has an equal level of poverty or wealth maximization and consists of the same kind of people living everywhere. All over the world, there are different kinds of neighbourhoods with different kinds of people living within them, and that includes diverse learners. Two such neighbourhoods are Harlem (where the population of diverse learners live, in this example) and Manhattan in New York City. These neighbourhoods have stark differences between them with respect to poverty and wealth, race and ethnicity, and social as well as economic backgrounds. Harlem has been a major African-American residential area with a great amount of culture, whereas Manhattan is the more densely-populated, high-lifestyle city area of New York City. This paper helps to provide an analysis on the basis of a comparison on the two neighbourhoods that might exist next to each other but in reality, have very different lifestyles being led by the students who live there. Harlem was attached or annexed to New York City in the year 1873 and consists of very significant ethnic shifts. During the 1910s, a large number of Black people began to set up their homes in this part of New York City because of the Great Migration and thus began the Harlem Renaissance as more and more black people began to establish their work culture, education as well as residential places in this area. As the 1950s came into view, the area became predominantly Black, with very few white people living in and around the region. The city ranges from the East River to the Hudson River and consists of a number of smaller districts. Manhattan on the other hand, begins at the mouth of the Hudson River and consists of a number of smaller islands. It was annexed between 1874 and 1898 and is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States of America. Manhattan is one of the most culturally sound, financially stable as well as economically and socially advanced cities in the world and houses some of the world’s best fashion, cinema as well as music in the purview of the arts community, with some of the most intellectual people in the area of finance, law, and other backgrounds. So, obviously, students who come from Harlem are more likely to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage than those who woul be coming from Manhattan. Therefore, according to Heacox (2002), the best practices strategy for students might include Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, by providing a wide variety of activities that can be completed in a unit (pp. 84). III. Political-Economic Structure or Social Stratification of Poverty or Wealth Students who are diverse learners are also affected by their socioeconomic status. According to Risko (2001), “[C]ollaboration is one potentially powerful way to meet this challenge [of increased cultural and linguistic diversity” (pp. 393). The socioeconomical political structure of Harlem can be noted just by how well its hospital is equipped—indicating that there is more violence there than there is in Manhattan. According to Williams and Rivers (2006), “Harlem Hospital also has one of the finest trauma teams in the nation” (pp. 254). Poverty has generally been associated with Harlem. As most immigrants started out very poor, they eventually made something of themselves. Once those immigrant communities left, the Black community moved in. According to Johnson (1991), “Harlem is today the [Black] metropolis and as such is everywhere known. In the history of New York the name Harlem has changed from Dutch to Irish to Jewish to [Black]; but it is through this last change that it has gained its most widespread fame” (pp. 3). So, even though several communities have come and go, Harlem retains the old beauty of the promise of the American dream—that anyone can succeed with hard work and perseverance if they try. Hopefully, collaboration will help the students in neighborhoods like Harlem to succeed more in the classroom setting. IV. School Performance Manhattan’s real estate is a very real indicator of the performance of its schools. In fact, The gentrification of Harlem could mean better opportunities for diverse learners living in the neighborhood, as, according to Risko (2001), “students still voiced a certain pejorative assessment of [their] school neighborhood[s]” (pp. 246). According to Otis (2007), “[N]ow, thanks mostly to Manhattan's inflated real estate market, Harlem, with its wide boulevards, historic churches, and gorgeous beaux-arts facade buildings , is back on top” (pp. 17). Columbia University is a stellar example of this real estate market boom. According to the Columbia University (2011) website, “[Columbia was f]ounded in 1754 as King's College by royal charter[;] it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the State of New York[, l]ocated in New York City and a member of the Ivy League” (pgh. 1). Being an Ivy League school, Columbia brings Manhattan real estate values way up. However, Columbia has been criticized recently for having acquired much property in terms of real estate wealth, and having changed much of the area on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, stretching into Harlem at 125th and Broadway. According to Bradley (2009), “‘[T]he government…has a definite responsibility to curb the power of private governments—like Columbia—to remake a whole area of the city” (pp. 36). There was significant improvement in real estate investments, but this only led some to wonder if this meant that the University would gentrify Harlem even further. According to Hanlon, Short, & Vicino (2010), “[T]he upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone comprising Harlem did lead to increased investment” (pp. 67). V. Employment and Unemployment Rate and Crime Rates The unemployment and crime rates have always been statistically higher in Harlem than in Manhattan. The crime rate is obviously higher due to the mortality rate, because, where there is more crime, there is going to be a higher death rate. According to Greenberg (1997), “For blacks, the general death rate in 1925 was 18 [in Harlem]; for whites, 11.2 [in Harlem and in] Manhattan: 14.3” (pp. 255). Harlem does have some room for economic improvement, however. According to Taylor (2002), “While Harlem as symbol exerts a powerful pull, the history and meanings these newcomers are drawn to are idealized and revolve around Harlem's past promise. To Harlem's black gentry, the place continues to stand for racial pride” (pp. 76). Part of what is hoped to be part and parcel of Harlem’s economic future is the hope that the neighboring Columbia University in Manhattan might seek to revitalize Harlem in the midst of its all-encompassing gentrification plan. According to Schneider and Susser (2003), “How, we ask, will Harlem continue to sustain a political movement…? In what ways will it once again make history?” (pp. 173). VI. Social Class Differences Harlem inhabitants have mainly been classified as living in poverty, African-American, and having little or no education—except in the upper-middle and upper class. According to Jackson (2003), “A certain reading of Harlem's past is often utilized to create a teleological and naturalized tale of how Harlem became black Harlem. However, the very same ‘blackness’ that frames representations of Harlem and its history is tied up with…various sites of hierarchization hardly reducible to strict racial distinctions” (pp. 54). Unlike Manhattan, people have historical ties to Harlem, many times reminiscing about throwbacks to the Harlem Renaissance. However, Harlem is no longer an enviable place to live. Manhattan’s social strata include wealthy, white, highly-educated people—in contrast. According to Christensen and Levinson (2003), “People from all over the country (and even the world) link their identities to Harlem and the notable landmarks within it. People cite Harlem's past as an iconic story, one of the quintessential tales of black American celebrity and advancement” (pp. 577). It is hoped that, similarly, children who live in Harlem will be able to rise out of poverty through being educated as diverse learners. VII. Conclusion Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, school performance, employment and crime, and who lives in Harlem and Manhattan, respectively—have all been discussed here in terms of its past, present, and future—and how these issues affect diverse learners. These factors all have impacted how one sees Harlem and Manhattan today in terms of making comparisons in respective areas with regards to the socioeconomic disparities suffered by students who are from a more underserved neighborhood and/or population. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bradley, S.M. (2009). Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black student power in the late 1960s. US: University of Illinois Press. Christensen, K. & Levinson, D. (2003). Encyclopedia of community: from the village to the virtual world, volume 3. US: SAGE Publications. Columbia University website. (2011). Available: . Greenberg, C.L. (1997). Or does it explode?: Black Harlem in the Great Depression. US: Oxford University Press US. Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating instruction in the regular classroom: how to reach and teach all learners, grades 3-12. US: Free Spirit Publishing. Hanlon, B., Short, J.R., & Vicino, T.J. (2010). Cities and suburbs: new metropolitan realities in the U.S. US: Taylor & Francis. Jackson Jr., J.L. (2003). Harlemworld: doing race and class in contemporary Black America. US: University of Chicago Press. Johnson, J.W. (1991). Black Harlem. US: Da Capo Press. Miller, B. (2006). Cultural anthropology (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson Education, Inc. Otis, G.O. (2007). New York. US: Lonely Planet. Risko, V. (2001). Collaboration for diverse learners: viewpoints and practices. US: Psychology Press. Schneider, J. & Susser, I. (2003). Wounded cities: destruction and reconstruction in a globalized world. US: Berg. Taylor, M.M. (2002). Harlem between heaven and hell. US: University of Minnesota Press. William, L.A. & Rivers, V. (2006). Forever Harlem: celebrating America's most diverse community. US: Sports Publishing LLC. Read More