The neighborhood that we observed was a nice neighborhood. The houses had approximately two to four bedrooms with one story. All the homes were nicely painted and the yards were kept up with green grass and flowers. A few of the yards were cluttered with toys, and there was one home with a broken down Volkswagon Bug in the yard. There were very few children out playing at the time we went.
The cars consisted of a Ford Tempo, an older Ford F-150, a Ford Escort, and a taxi cab. The neighborhood was quiet and slow except for the jets that flew over and the clucks of some roosters. One consistant quality was that all the houses had bars on the windows. There was one house with a satellite dish in the backyard, and another home that had grafitti on the fence.
We interviewed one man, Taj, who had lived in his neighborhood for twenty years and had a lot of experience with O'Farrell/Morse students. He had one daughter who graduated from both O'Farrell and Morse, and he had another daughter who graduated from O'Farrell and is currently going to Morse. He believes that the community has definitely improved over the years, and he has seen a dramatic change in the schools. He says that O'Farrell is a great starting block for motivated individuals and offers a variety of great programs to keep the kids involved in school. Taj likes the the community but does admit that it has improved. He says that neighbors all look out for each other and for their children and that the community is close knit.
As future teachers, Taj thinks that we need to keep involved in the students' lives, and keep them interested in school.
POST SCRIPT SEVEN MONTHS LATER
Our opinion of the neighborhood has not changed over the months. The neighborhood is still fairly quiet and is still cluttered, but now we feel that we have a better understanding of the families and how hard they are working in the neighborhood. Several times we have had the opportunity to drive students home, and now we view the neighborhood not only as an outsider but also as an insider. We have had the opportunity to visit the homes and families of the neighborhood and feel that has been a valuable experience for all of us. The families are generally pleasant and hard working, and we feel as though we have more of an understanding of where our students are coming from. This enables us to have a better rapport with the individuals we are teaching.