Please respond to the following questions to the best of your ability. Be sure to read the responses of your peers and post any questions of your own regarding multi-cultural issues. We can learn a lot from each other!
1) Please describe the demographics of your school/classes and how you have modified your instruction to better meet your students' needs.
2) Please share how you identified any Limited English Proficient students in your classes and how you determined their special learning needs/accommodations. (Foreign language students: substitute heritage learners or novice language learners for applicable questions, as discussed).
3) Please describe any interesting anecdotes regarding how you dealt with your students' cultural diversity. Do not use student names.
4) Please share any pertinent information about how you dealt with culturally diverse parents.
5) Please share a way that you modified your teaching (teacher input) for culturally diverse students (if you have any).
6) Please share a way that you modified an assessment for your culturally diverse students (specifically LEP, if applicable).
7) Please share a helpful resource (if any) that you found in your school to help you improve your teaching of diverse students.
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ReplyDelete(Part I)
ReplyDeleteAshley IB Elementary Magnet School, where I completed the elementary portion of my K-12 Spanish student-teaching, is about 65 percent Afro-American, 30 percent Latina/o, and five percent European American/White. However, all of the European American/White students, as well as most Latina/o students, are in the dual-immersion classes. Thus, although lacking in high diversity, the students --at least the European American/White ones-- are segregated from the standard, non-dual-immersion classes.
This makes for an interesting dynamic which I have had to address in my second and third grade standard classes, my two second grade dual-immersion classes, and my second and third grade combined class for exceptional children. No matter the class and ethnicity of each child, chanting, singing, and the use of TPR (total physical response) to accompany vocabulary has been extremely helpful in addressing all children, from EC to AIG, from Black to White, from working class to middle/wealthy class. These chants and songs helped my students to learn the rhythm of the Spanish language outside of plain oral discourse. The kids loved it! I have also gained a lot from learning that it is okay to be silly and look like a dork in front of the kids because they will laugh and learn more. There is great pedagogical power in humor and music, no matter the content.
As the existence of LEPs is not necessarily an issue in the foreign language classroom, the fact that many of them are Spanish heritage learners (HLs) –students who either speak Spanish at home, lived in a Spanish-speaking country for an extended period, or hear it on a regular basis from people close to them-- most definitely does. In my experience at Ashley, my Spanish HLs are usually some of the most eager students (and in the case of Ashley, my dual-immersion students, no matter their ethnicity). They enjoy writing on the board and, in general, participating to a high extent. I try to push them further by having them work more on their writing, either individually or on the board, and to do harder tasks if I think they can handle it. Sometimes, I ask them to explain what a word means and to convey it to the class. This has made my HL students feel special. Many of them do not do well in the English-speaking parts of their day, as many of them are classified as LEPs, so Spanish class always gives them a sense of pride and a healthy boost of self-confidence. I have not had the experience where a HL has not wanted to share their knowledge of the language; however, as students get older, some may begin to feel embarrassed by their native language and cultures. I’m sure that I will see more of this in the high school level.
At Ashley, the students are VERY mobile. In the short amount of time that I student-taught there (about five weeks), I gained three new students and one student went back to Mexico with his family. Also, students are frequently absent. This had to be addressed constantly by getting students up to speed with the rest of their peers, or catching them up if they missed a lesson or more. This was one of my most difficult challenges because my new students were often reluctant to participate or felt ashamed. However, I was as warm as I could possibly be with each new child by welcoming him/her to the class and structuring in a frequent, yet brief, re-cap of the unit often using chants, songs, and TPR to catch the student up. This usually worked for me. In pair/group work, I would either put a student who I knew would be encouraging or myself with a new student. This also seemed to help as they loved the personal attention.
(Part II)
ReplyDeleteAs we have all been made aware by Dr. Baker’s class over the summer, a balanced amount of parental involvement in their child’s educational career has shown to be the most important statistic in ensuring a child’s success. However, at Ashley, many parents do not have the time as they have to worry more about supporting their families financially, many of them as single parents or guardians. Getting them involved can sometimes prove to be difficult. Sending home simple tasks for them to be involved with their child’s Spanish acquisition has proven rewarding. On the back of a half-sheet assessment where students filled in the blanks regarding the names of farm animals and their respective onomatopoeias, I printed the lyrics to the song for our farm animals unit, “Vengan a ver mi granja,” the culturally-relevant “Old MacDonald” song. Students were to sing the song to their parent/guardian and have him/her sign the back of the sheet. I only received about ten back, but those students were so very proud. They received a piece of candy for bringing back their Spanish homework… for which they know they do not get graded on their report card. Although, we like to pretend that they do! :)
My students were given unique assessments according to the classification of their class (standard second or third grade, second grade dual-immersion, and second and third grade combined for exceptional children). EC matched pictures of farm animals to sentences identifying the animal and what it says. They also created a class book where each child wrote a phrase either describing what the animal was (Es el gato. -- It is the cat.) or what the animal says (El gato dice, “Miau.” -- The cat says, “Meow.”) which they would then illustrate on the same page. My standard second and third grade classes completed the previously mentioned fill-in-the-blank handout and they also wrote about a “granja loca” (crazy farm) writing the animal illustrated on the page and the crazy onomatopoeia that was in the bubble (e.g. El pato dice, “Oinc.” -- The duck says, “Oink.”) following which they corrected it. Dual-immersion was read a story that I created about a baby chick looking for his father and given a story outline to complete. Each of these addressed student needs by class. Within classes, remedial students were often paired with higher-performing classmates, many of whom would keep the other student on task. Often, the lowest-performing students, especially my EC students, would work with constant one-on-one guidance from me.
Seeing that Ashley partakes in the international baccalaureate program, they have adopted a continental theme for the school, splitting hallways into certain continents upon which they would have painted maps, landmarks, and people on the walls. Not only visually appealing, but this would serve as a great resource to keep playing upon the IB themes, not to mention a continent/geography unit which I just started with my students today.
Ashley is culturally diverse, but not as culturally diverse as I wish. This is not excluded to race/ethnicity, either. I would like to see students of differing socio-economic status attend Ashley, as well as students of differing religions (there was one Muslim student of whom I was aware) and national origins besides those in the Americas. The students are each others’ biggest resource… they learn so much from each other, not just from their teachers. However, in the meantime, addressing each child’s unique sense of self and character has been a challenge and will continue to be one for the rest of my teaching career no matter where I am.
I am currently at Ronald Wilson Reagan High School. I have 3 sections of Spanish 2, 1 section of Spanish 1 and will be assisting with 2 sections of Spanish 3. The demographics of my classes are not that diverse. I have a handful of African American students in each of my classes and only 2 classes have any Hispanic students (3 students total). Most of my classes are composed of Caucasian students who are either sophomores or juniors. The SES of my students are mostly middle class. To many, this may seem an easy bunch to teach. True, I have few behavior problems. My problems come from looking out at my classes and seeing facial expressions which say: “please shut up” “I’m bored” “I don’t care” and “WHAT is going on?” It takes a lot to get these students to appear like they are enjoying learning and I always second guess my lesson plans and wonder if my students will think class is more boring than watching paint dry. These students require intellectual stimulation in every way. Therefore, I am very fortunate and thankful that every classroom in Reagan High School comes equipped with a mobi. I can use this in many ways. We play Pictionary, view and write over power points and write stories. Seeing, touching and hearing Spanish helps keep my students interested, and this is the main way I try to meet my students’ needs.
ReplyDeleteI have only 2 heritage Spanish speakers in all of my classes. Both of them have low Spanish ability and need extra help with spelling, vocabulary and knowing when to use accents. I take extra care to reinforce with them these errors to help push them to the next level of Spanish ability. Also, I utilize their knowledge of the language to bring another language resource to the classroom. I try to involve them actively so they do not feel bored with what we are covering in the class.
One anecdote that comes to mind stemmed from when I assigned a family tree project. After we had gone through all of the guidelines and regulations one of my students raised his hand and asked how you would make a family tree show that someone had been adopted. Baffled I stood there and said I didn’t quite know but I would look it up. When I looked it up, I found that there is no genealogical way to show adoption and that it is usually just noted or written in. I felt a little silly that I had overlooked this possibility. When I told the student he didn’t seem upset, but I told him he could represent it however he wanted and that he also didn’t have to show it at all if he prefers to say that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. Other than this instance of modifying the project I have not had to overtly modify any teacher input. I try to foresee any issues that may arise and avoid negative connotations or undertones from resources, myself or my students.
As of right now, I have not had to modify any assessments for culturally diverse students. I only have 2 students with IEPs and those both only require extended time which must be provided upon request.
The biggest resource I have found at my school has been the other faculty and students. I use fun and creative ideas from other classrooms and try to modify them and make them relevant to Spanish class. Also, I try to incorporate students’ knowledge and experiences from other classes and from their extra-curricular activities in to class on a daily basis. I feel this helps add relevance for students and a sense of importance to what they are learning.
1. My classes are 90% African-American and some are >90% African American. I have an Algebra 1 inclusion class where more than 50% of my students have an IQ of below 70. I use graphic organizers and guided notes for my inclusion class and my regular section of Algebra 1. I have found that graphic organizers that have diagrams and pictorial representations help many students. All the strategies that I use with my occupational students are very helpful to my non-EC students, so I have adopted them in my other classes. Providing a step-by-step breakdown of problem solving assists all students.
ReplyDelete2. I only have 1 student who I believe has Limited English Proficiency. This student is currently being tested for his level of proficiency. It was apparent that he had problems based on his inability to understand written directions. He can speak English fluently, but I do not think his English reading skills are strong. Although he does not have an IEP, I announce to all classes that if they have questions or want something read to them, to please raise their hands. During lecture I will always ask for a volunteer to read the instructions out loud or I will read them. During Algebra 1 tests, I will circulate around the room and ask each student individually if they have questions. He will usually raise his hand to ask me to read him questions, but when I ask him one on one he will always ask for my assistance. I am not sure when his test results for LEP will be done, but in the meantime I am trying to accommodate his needs as best as possible.
3. I created a Pre-Calculus project that exposed students to internationalism, the arts, and trigonometry. Students were asked to pick a foreign country and create a PowerPoint presentation. Within this presentation students were asked to provide facts about the country, explain one cultural item of significance, and finally choose a mountain in their country in order to write and solve word trig problems about the mountain. Many students choose countries that reflected their own heritage. This allowed for some great storytelling by the students. A few students have traveled abroad and shared their experiences. Another student sang a Polish lullaby to the class that his grandmother sang to him as a child. It was a great way for students to share their background if they were so inclined, and we were able to tie it to mathematics too.
As I previously mentioned, most of my classes are predominately African- American. One of my students was singing a song in class while I was lecturing. I just continued writing my equation and told him, “Mr. X, no Trick Daddy in class.” The entire class erupted for about 5 minutes. They were so shocked and excited that I knew something about rap/hip hop. I rarely stray from math, so it allowed the students to see that I am human and have something in common with them.
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6. Whenever possible, I draw diagrams. As I previously mentioned, I will provide students guided notes. These guided notes are to serve as a map for the students as they go home and attempt their homework. By providing step by step instructions, it allows students a format to follow when problem solving.
7. I have just found that working with my PLC is very helpful. Each teacher has a large variety of resources that he or she has accumulated over the years. It is helpful to have a variety of assessments, and I have been using my colleagues as much as possible.
According to the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools First Month Demographics, Mount Tabor High School is 48.5 percent Caucasian, 41.85 percent African-American, 6.67 percent Hispanic, 2.88 percent Asian, and 0.11 percent Indian. The school’s diverse population is well-represented in my three classes of Spanish II and two classes of Spanish III. Like Eleanor, I have had very few behavior issues, and also like Eleanor, I have had to work very hard in order to engage the classes in learning Spanish. When I first arrived, the most recently-invented piece of technology in my classroom was an overhead projector. Luckily, there was an extra projector in the media center that the media specialist is allowing me to use for the semester. I have used the projector to show authentic materials from many different Spanish-speaking countries and images of famous people of all different cultural backgrounds. This has helped to spark conversations not only about the cultures of various Spanish-speaking countries, but also about other cultures around the world.
ReplyDeleteIn all, there are seven heritage learners in my classes. Although they can communicate well orally in Spanish, their written ability in the language is weaker. Therefore, I try to use as much oral and written reinforcement in my teaching as possible. I also try to elicit communication from my heritage learners in class whenever possible, especially when comparing diverse cultures. However, unlike John’s experience in which all the heritage learners in his class enjoyed sharing their experiences, one student of Mexican descent completely shut down when I asked her about a cultural topic in order to compare it with that of Spain. She was not disrespectful in her response, but her body language made it very clear that she was uncomfortable discussing her culture with the class. The other heritage learners in my classes are very willing to share cultural information. I have also invited them to tell the class if they know of a different word to use in place of a vocabulary word that we are studying. For example, this week in Spanish III, the class is learning the expression, “hacer caso,” which means to pay attention. I asked a heritage learner if she had heard “hacer caso” or “prestar atención” more, and she replied that, while she had heard “hacer caso” used, “prestar atención” was much more familiar to her.
The teachers in the Foreign Language Department at Mount Tabor have been especially eager to share materials that have been successful in their classes. I have used multiple PowerPoint presentations and authentic works of art sent and recommended to me from other teachers in my lessons that have helped to elicit conversations about diverse cultures.
As Amy mentions above in her post, Mt. Tabor High School is very diverse, and my standard-level U.S. history classes reflect this diversity: mostly African-American students, as well as several LEP students (two have Spanish as their first language, and two speak Chinese as their first language).
ReplyDeleteMy cooperating teacher is not big on technology and never used PowerPoint or other visual aids with his classes. I was surprised and happy to find that when I began teaching and put notes and pictures up on the screen in my Power Points, the students—especially the LEP students—were very grateful. In their student evaluations of my teaching, more than a few students made it a point to thank me for putting the notes up on the screen. “You put notes on board to help learn,” one of my LEP students wrote. I have also found that video clips and group activities are helpful to break out of the “boring history lecture” mold and meet the needs and learning styles of a diverse set of learners.
I identified my LEP students by talking with my cooperating teacher. He went over their needs and accommodations with me and shared some ideas for helping meet their needs when I taught them (for example, we make photocopies of the notes for one student who does his best to take notes on his own, but benefits from having the completed notes to study for quizzes). One of my LEP students moved into the area midway through the semester and suddenly showed up in my class one day. I did not know she had a difficult time with English until I realized how quiet she was and how she had a confused look on her face for much of the class period. She also put her head down on her desk as if she was tired and confused. I talked with her guidance counselor and also talked with her before class the next day to better assess her needs and I found that checking in with her daily and making accommodations as needed each day was the best way for me to help her learn in my class.
I had a shocking but valuable conversation with one of my students during our unit on Reconstruction. On this particular day, our topic had been the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the students were completing an activity where they read a real-life account of a KKK victim and wrote a newspaper article about what had happened. While this activity was going on, one of my African-American students called me over. She did not seem at all outwardly upset, but clearly wanted to tell me something. She told me that her grandfather had been killed by KKK members in Alabama when she was very young, and that was why her family had moved to Winston-Salem (this was a reliable student; I knew she was telling the truth). I expressed my deep regret to this student, and also thanked her for sharing her story with me and let her know that she had taught me something important. I knew that the KKK was still active but did not know just how active and dangerous they still are. This incident showed me how much that I, as a teacher, can learn from the diverse backgrounds of my students, and how careful I must be in teaching this culturally-sensitive topics because my students could very well have been personally affected by these issues.
I mainly follow the accommodations that my cooperating teacher uses for his LEP students: taking tests in a separate setting, with more time if needed, the use of dictionaries/translators, giving a copy of the notes to students who need them, and allowing our student with very low English proficiency to use her notes when taking daily assessments (mini-quizzes). I have also tried to vary the types of assessments I use to formats other than paper-and-pencil tests: poster projects, journal projects, group activities, etc.
I found that examining a students’ cumulative folder helped me immensely in understanding their home and educational background and what needs they might have in the classroom.
1) While East Forsyth High School appears to be relatively diverse, there is a radical difference between the standard and seminar (honors type) English II classes I teach. The standard classes are much more diverse than the seminar classes, which are, with the exception of one student, entirely white. In the standard classes there are African American students as well as a few native Spanish-speaking ESL students. Although this is perhaps not the type of demographic we think of, the male-female ratio in the classes is also a huge factor in the way the classes work. The standard classes are largely male, in one case, overwhelmingly male (25 boys, 9 girls).
ReplyDeleteMy classes depend largely on discussion, and the students are accustomed to sharing their perspectives. I open lessons asking them to share their experiences in a certain situation or their opinions on a topic either verbally, with the class, and in written form, so those students who do not like to speak in class have the chance to share. Their diverse backgrounds and experiences (or sometimes in the seminar classes, the lack thereof) often form the best segue into topics in literature like adolescence, politics, equality, and ethics.
2) I asked my cooperating teacher about the ESL students in the classes (after receiving a visit from the ESL teacher) and learned that they are all highly proficient in English and that their primary struggle is not comprehension but written expression. I had every student complete a short written assignment for me so I could learn who struggled and who felt more comfortable writing. I learned that the ESL students are completely capable of expressing their ideas in a comprehensible way, but sometimes struggle with grammar. It is important to note, though, that their native English-speaking classmates have similar struggles, so all of them benefit from reinforcement of writing and grammar skills.
3) i have taken every opportunity possible to talk to the students one-on-one to find out more about them, something made possible by the nature of teaching writing in class. While the students developed grammatical, arguable theses, my cooperating teacher and I walked around the class to help and I had the chance to talk with almost every student one-on-one and relax the teacher persona a little. I learned about their interests in music, sports, television, world issues, and school, all of which have helped me connect their experiences with the lessons I teach. One of my favorite one-on-one moments with a student, a brilliant ESL student who works hard to develop his English, was sharing with him the fact that I majored in Spanish as well as English and saying something in Spanish to him. I still do, every now and then, and he corrects me when I mess up—a nice reminder that learning another language is never easy.
In the seminar classes the struggle is that there is so little diversity to draw upon, so I had them come up with their own guide to American culture to lead into our discussion of African culture in Things Fall Apart. One of the aspects they had to describe was an American legend or tale; one of the groups named Santa Claus and gave a very sarcastic description of American Christmas celebrations and Santa. I took it to the extreme, and described exactly what Santa Claus would sound like to someone who did not know our culture. He is an old, fat man who knows everything we do, lands his reindeer-led sleigh on our roof, sneaks into our houses at night to steal our cookies and drink our milk and ultimately leaves mysterious, unlabeled packages in our living rooms…oh, and we allow our small children to sit on this strange man’s lap when we go to the mall. Right. They all laughed and added ridiculous details onto my description, but we have made a pact that when something happens in Things Fall Apart that they think is bizarre or in some way wrong, we will call upon that description of Santa Claus and remember how strange our own customs sound out of context.
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ReplyDelete5) I have not modified my teaching very much because the students are highly proficient in English, but I make sure to write directions as well as read them a few times for the benefit of all the students, not just the ESL ones. I also frequently have the students work in groups, and I try to pair ESL students with stronger native English-speakers. During the writing process the students also work in pairs, and I noticed that the ESL students take that opportunity to pair up and help each other.
With the seminar classes my goal has been to introduce more diverse cultural perspectives into the classroom before trying to jump into the very distinct culture that they’ll find in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart which takes place in Africa. We have spent a lot of time reading contemporary accounts of imperialism in Africa, current events articles from Libya and Egypt, and watching film in order to help gain some perspective on our place in the world compared with that of the African continent.
6) I have not given a formal assessment yet. The only assessment that they have had has been informal quizzes on the steps of the writing process, where students are given a structured outline and fill in the appropriate terms. The outline helped all of the students, not only the ESL students.
7) I have not found any resources that I have been able to use directly, but I have found that the ESL teacher at the school is very helpful for advice and has been useful in learning about those students.
1) As Grace mentioned, the demographics of my honors English II classes at East Forsyth and my standard classes are radically different. I have very few minorities in the honors classes. My standard and inclusion class are over 50% African American, with a handful of Hispanic students. I have differentiated instruction for my standard classes. I use the material from the honors classes, but I ask the questions in a different way (much more who, what, when, where, why questions). Therefore, the heart of the material remains the same, but I change the way I get to the important parts. I also ask many more personal experience questions for my standard classes as they seem much more eager to share what they have been through.
ReplyDelete2) I do not have any LEP students in my classes. I discovered this after asking my cooperating teacher.
3) I have one Hispanic girl in my honors class. She is a brilliant writer – possibly the strongest in the class. However, she struggles with certain vocabulary and grammar. For instance, in one paper, she referred to “fire fighters” as “fire fires.” It took me a while to figure out what she meant. I spoke to her about this mistake and after she began laughing about it, I feel that she has become more comfortable in class since I reached out to her first. I now proof her writing carefully and know that she is receptive to help.
4) I have e-mailed the parents of an African-American student in my inclusion class. This has been a unique experience because they have just recently become this student’s foster parents. It has been a really exciting thing to see how much they care about him. He has been coming in early in the mornings to receive tutoring and his foster mom will e-mail in the afternoons to make sure that he has been there. It has been great to talk to her and to provide help to my student. He also never forgets to proudly tell me that his parents want him to be there.
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6) The only formal assessments I have administered have been writing assessments thus far. Therefore, I have not been able to modify the requirements much seeing as how they were practicing for the State Writing Test. In teaching a novel, I recently assigned a multi-genre project where honors students choose five projects from a list of about 20 and standard students choose 3. I had individual conferences with every single student about which projects they would choose. I discovered in my standard class that the students who wanted to make a soundtrack for the novel did not have access to download music. Therefore, I modified this assessment by telling them that they could tell me the songs they would put on a soundtrack and we are going to make one class soundtrack.
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1) East Forsyth High School is not exceptionally diverse in comparison to other high schools in the area, and what diversity there is remains fairly segregated between Honors and Regular classes. Honors classes are predominantly white, while Regular has more of a representative mix. Typically I will take the plans I have done for Honors and adjust them based on successes and failures I had as well as differing ability level. The biggest difference is the amount of work outside of class that is required. Honors typically has a fair amount of homework every night, while Regular has minimal to no homework.
ReplyDelete2) My cooperating teachers have been very helpful about identifying students with Limited English Proficiency and attempting to modify my instruction to their needs. For students with very low English skills, we try to provide as many instructional materials in Spanish as possible. Also, whenever there is an in class assignment, we go to LEP students first to make sure that they understand the requirements of an assignment.
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5) When we do vocabulary words, if there are any that have a Spanish cognate (ex: tranquility and tranquilo), we point that out to students. It not only offers an opportunity for Spanish speaking students to share their knowledge, but it helps them remember it better.
6) All LEP students are given the option to take their assessments in a separate setting, and they are given extra help, especially with vocabulary words, on the actual test.
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1) I teach at West Forsyth High School and while it is fairly diverse, it is less diverse than other schools. My honors class is the least diverse with a majority of white students whiles my two regular classes have more of a mix of white, black and Latin students. I don’t really modify my teaching much, its more in the treatment to honors and regular in that more time needs to be spent explaining things to the regular students than the honors students.
ReplyDelete2) I haven’t identified any LEP students in my classes while there are a couple of Spanish speakers in one of my classes, both have a good handle on English and are high-achievers.
3) One of my African-American students is very religious and very involved with his church. He’s also one of my more vocal students, and his enthusiasm often spills out during class time. What I’ve done is listen to him talk about his faith during the passing period and this has quieted him down during class and he still gets to express himself.
4) I haven’t really dealt with many parents, and its mainly just about conveying respect and trying to find ways in which we can work together.
5) I wouldn’t say I modified my teaching that much. What I try to do in general is to represent the views of all the parties involved fairly by presenting multiple perspectives. History isn’t black and white or clear cut by any means, and treating the past fairly is a big part of that, especially recognizing the roles and contributions of various peoples.
6) I haven’t modified my assessments for culturally diverse students because it hasn’t been an issue so far.
7) There hasn’t been a resource that has been specifically targeted towards culturally diverse students that I’ve been made aware of.
1) I am at Mount Tabor along with Amy and Anna. I definitely see all of the diversity that the school has to offer, however it comes to me in a very segregated way, similar to what Carmen, Grace and Sarah are experiencing at East. I can count the number of minority students that are in my three sections of Precalculus Honors on one hand, where my two standard Algebra II classes are at least 70% minority students. As far as teaching goes, I have found success in giving the students graphic organizers and/or guided notes via PowerPoint, particularly in the standard level classes. When I first did this, my students reacted similarly to the way Anna's did, as many students appreciated being able to follow the notes and write them down at the same time.
ReplyDelete2) After speaking with my cooperating teacher, I found that I only have one LEP student out of all 5 classes, and her English has improved tremendously since the beginning of the year. According to my cooperating teacher, she used to use her pocket translator on a regular basis and was not shy about having to translate things. She hardly uses the translator now and is doing fine in class. She has built up enough ability that she is able to communicate with group members during group work in class. If she does have trouble explaining something orally, I am fortunate enough that Precalculus problems often require a diagram or picture that she can use to explain her thinking figuratively.
3) Continuing about the same student from the second question, one day her diagram allowed me to show the rest of class how to do the problem a different way. The student had drawn a diagram for a problem we were working in class slightly differently than everyone else in class. I am guessing that this happened because she had become so accustomed to drawing out her thoughts and explanations, that she drew her picture with a few extra details. I showed her drawing to the class and it helped several students in class see how to approach the problem.
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5) & 6) I have several Algebra II students that use different vocabulary than I do. For example, in math when you study parabolas, there is a way to determine the parabolas width just by looking at a particular number in its equation. I characterize the difference in width by calling it skinny, normal or fat. These students in Algebra II prefer to use the term "thick" rather than fat. It makes no difference mathematically whether you call it thick or fat. Both words let me know that they know the parabola is going to be wider than normal. As a result, they have been welcome to use their terminology on tests and other assignments and I have made sure to use both in class. I know that they will be much more likely to remember a word they came up with on their own than a word that I gave them.
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1)Like Sarah said, as far as overall cultural and ethnic diversity, East Forsyth High is rather homogeneous, and not very representative of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools as a system; however, because it is one of only two high schools for Kernersville, I feel that it probably pretty accurately represents the demographic make-up of the community which it serves. All of my classes are almost entirely white students, with no less than two and no more than six African-American students in each class, and no less than one and no more than three Latino students in each class. There are a couple of students in my classes of Asian origin as well, but no more than one in any one of my classes. None of my students, to my knowledge, are classified as English-Language Learners, though I have often employed various techniques, specifically rewording, having the student repeat back to me in his or her own words, having another student explain the topic to the class or to that student, and using other media such as pictures, diagrams, and mathematical writing, to help students who I suspect have had some trouble with my instruction because of the language.
ReplyDelete2)In each of my Integrated III classes, there is a pair of male Latino students that work together almost exclusively on class activities; and in each of the pairs, one of the students seems to have a slightly stronger grasp on the content and also on the English language, and so I strongly encourage the pair working together in each class. In both cases, the stronger student has been a great help to me in working with the less strong student, re-explaining topics in more understandable language, answering questions that the student has that are because of a simple misunderstanding of my explanation, etc. And in both cases, because these students work together so much, the two students in the pair are both some of the strongest students in their respective classes.
3)During one of the my first weeks student teaching, I was allowing the students play a bingo-style game in pairs to review for their quiz on factoring. In my Integrated III Honors class, the pair of Latino students (mentioned above), was the first pair to get bingo and win the game. When one of them asked what they had won, before I could respond, an African-American student across the room blurted out “A green card!” All the students, including both the Latino students, started laughing, and so I did not want to make a big deal out of a small situation, so I let things slide and didn't say anything at the time. However, after I went home that evening and thought on the situation, I felt that I had not acted appropriately, and that I should have intervened more directly. So, the next day, when that class was working on an activity, I first asked the Latino student who had asked the question to come in the hall so we could speak privately. I told him first that I was sorry, and that I felt I should have acted to make sure the student who blurted out and the whole class knew that it was an inappropriate remark. I told him that such a comment would not be tolerated in the classroom again. I then asked the student who had made the remark to come out in the hall, and I told him that I understood that he had not intended any offense or hurt with what he said and that he had only been making a joke, but that what he said was completely inappropriate and unacceptable, and that he should not make that kind of remark again, in my class or elsewhere. He told me he understood, and when we went back in the classroom, without me even having to ask him, he went up to the Latino student to apologize and tell him he had not meant to be hurtful or mean.
4)I've had very little interaction with parents while student-teaching. I attended one parent-teacher conference, with an African-American student's father and grandmother; however, I don't feel like I had to change the way I acted or approached the situation because they were African-American, and I don't think, or at least I hope, that they didn't feel like they had to change the way they acted or approached the situation either, because I was white
ReplyDelete5)Like I said above, I often let students who I suspect need extra explanation work with stronger students, and as long as they are not disruptive to the rest of the class, I will usually be pretty lenient about them talking, even while I am talking, as long as it is on topic. I also rely heavily on the (somewhat) universality of pictures and mathematical writing, and have often switched from a verbal explanation to a graphical or visual explanation when I have felt that students were not fully grasping what I was trying to explain.
6)As far as assessment modification goes, there are really two main ways in which I try to help students with any kind of misunderstandings. First, if a student asks a question about what a problem or question is asking on a test, quiz, or assignment, I will do my best to reword the entire problem in simpler, more accessible language (though I make an effort to do this anyway on the assignment). I will try to substitute difficult mathematical vocabulary with more vernacular language while still trying to maintain the rigidity of the mathematical terminology. I will also ask the student if there is a particular word or phrase that is giving them difficulty, and then try to address that misconception directly, rather than trying to “re-invent the wheel”, as it were. Second, in my assessments I make a concerted effort to have the students use written explanation or verbal explanation to have the students put topics in their own words and thus cement them in their understanding. I allow students to do this in whatever way they feel is most appropriate and comfortable for them, so this gives students of all language abilities a chance to use their own language to explain to me what they know.
7)Like I've described, by far the most beneficial resource for helping me improve my teaching of culturally diverse students have been the students themselves, the students who need extra support, as well as the other students in the class. This cooperative effort is beneficial to all parties involved, not only the student or students needing extra support, and to me as the teacher, but also to the student or students who are providing the extra support; by far one of the very best ways to learn and assess your own understanding of a concept is to try and teach it to someone else.
(Part 1 of 3)
ReplyDeleteStatistics put Reynolds High School's population at about 45% black, 40% white, 10% Hispanic, and 1% Asian. It is said to be the most diverse high school in the district, although judging by the posts above, it sounds like Mt. Tabor may be a very close second in that regard. I teach three sections of Spanish I and two sections of Spanish II. My classes are definitely diverse, and generally reflect the overall demographic of the school; at a glance my classes are about 50-50 black/white, with a few Asian and Hispanic students included. (I suspect the "missing" Hispanic demographic is present in higher-level Spanish classes. The three Hispanic students I do have are all in one of my Spanish II classes.)
Most of the modifications I've made to instruction are due to class size and individual student needs, as opposed to cultural diversity. In some classes I have students who are repeating the course, and have prior knowledge; some students who should be a level down from the class they are enrolled in; some who have mostly given up on the class at this point in the year; and some who are ahead of the game, like my ninth-graders in Spanish II. My first Spanish II class is larger but generally grasps material faster; my second is not as quick, but the small class size means I can work more intensively with them.
One thing that really struck me from the first day I observed these classes is that, at least at Reynolds, these kids will surprise you by shaking up stereotypes. I have students of all races who excel, students of all races who are making their best effort (with varying success), and students of all races who could not care less about my class. I think this is partially due to the magnet status of Reynolds--the school pulls from a wide variety of demographics. It's impossible to correlate race, socioeconomic status, and student success here.
I have three heritage learners in one of my Spanish II classes. My cooperating teacher pointed them out, but I could also tell by their excellent spoken accents and their poor spelling that they'd had some exposure to spoken Spanish, but not much to academic written Spanish. I have to admit I've been slightly at a loss about what to do with them sometimes. Their attitudes tell me they regard my class as a waste of their time, yet their performance tells me they don't have enough outside exposure to the language for that to be true. They generally try to "wing it" on their existing knowledge without studying. I gave an open-note vocab quiz the other day that tested whether students had actually done their homework, as opposed to what they had actually absorbed so far, since they had just been exposed to the vocabulary for one day. That seemed to be a little bit of a wake-up call for one or two of them; I wouldn't give them credit for vocabulary words that were appropriate but not the ones we had been learning. My point in doing that was to tell them that yes, it's wonderful they have outside knowledge, and I hope they can contribute it to enrich the class, but they can't use it as an excuse to coast and not pay attention to what we're doing.
(Part 2 of 3)
ReplyDeleteMost of the cultural information in my lessons lately has been based on urban, metropolitan experiences (we just finished up a unit on cities, driving, and directions), and I discovered (as I rather expected) that this was something that nobody had a lot of experience with. We looked at the Metro in Mexico City, and I had the hardest time explaining to them that when you get on a Metro line, you are going "toward" the last top on either end of the line. It may have been the Metro in Mexico City--and at least one of my heritage learners is of Mexican descent--but it wasn't something they had ever experienced. I tied in information about Winston-Salem's public transit systems, so they did get a chance to connect with the culture via comparison, but so far, my heritage learners haven't had much of a chance to contribute. I'll be bringing in a lot of authentic music in the next couple weeks though, and I'm hoping to draw them out with that.
I did want to share one anecdote about my elementary experience. I had one heritage learner in one of my classes, and she was a wonderful resource for me. She was, based on my and my cooperating teacher's estimation, near-fluent. This enabled me to really take risks when I was teaching that particular class: every once in awhile, I'd ask a question that, in other classes, would elicit nothing but crickets in the background, but in that class, her hand would always shoot up, and when she answered the question, the other students would catch on about whatever I was asking. She seemed to really appreciate having the opportunity to excel, and I think (I hope) that she helped the other students stretch a little more in the target language. Call it input + 2 with student-based scaffolding.
So far, I haven't had much contact with culturally diverse parents.
And, as others have mentioned, I've found the other foreign language teachers to be invaluable resources in my teaching. I can't count the number of times that the other Spanish I/II teacher has dropped by my classroom with copies in hand: "This is what we're doing tomorrow, in case you need something extra." It's not always culturally valuable, but often is!
(Sorry to not have answered these by number--I think I have answers for them all, though, all mixed together.)
(Part 3 of 3)
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late to the game with this assignment, but mostly for the other FL teachers, and for Ms. Sra. Talley:
Any tips/tricks/ideas for the kids I've described?--they definitely have had some exposure to Spanish, enough to make them overconfident but not enough to actually overqualify them for the class. They like to spend as much of the class as they can socializing with each other, though changing seats and splitting them up has helped some with that. I've started to draw one out a little--she's participating more in class, and I'm not sure what to attribute that to--maybe she's bored now that she can't spend the whole period talking!
As early transplants, they don't seem to have a lot of target-culture background that I can draw on (though I'm hoping they'll get into the music in the next few weeks--I hope/imagine they've had some exposure to Hispanic/latino music and can at least share their preferences). They have prior exposure to the language, but they don't use it to be -more- involved or engaged; they use it as an excuse to mentally check out, even though it's not enough knowledge to get them by on all my assessments.
1) This semester, I am teaching 3 Algebra 1 classes (one of which is an inclusion class) and 2 Algebra 2 classes. All five of my classes are fairly evenly split between boys and girls. My classes are diverse and probably not an accurate representation of the diversity of the school itself (East Forsyth). My Algebra 1 classes are generally a third Caucasian, a third African-American, and a third Hispanic, while my Algebra 2 classes can be classified as about 85 percent African-America, ten percent African-American, and five percent Hispanic. Majority of my classes only have about two to four students (out of roughly 30 plus) that have some form of learning disability or are considered LEP. My inclusion class has 18 out of 34 students that have an IEP.
ReplyDelete2) My cooperating teacher has been extremely helpful to me throughout this semester. Before I began teaching, she helped me identify all of the students that are LEP in all of the classes that I am teaching. There are six students total in all five classes that know very little English and most of these students are illiterate in Spanish as well. Ms. King informed me of the methods she uses to accommodate these students and which students they work best with in pairs.
3) There is a girl in my seventh period class who speaks little to no English, but I have tried to make an effort to get to know her and let her know that I am here to help her. Every day, she will come in early to class and help me clean off my overhead or wipe off the white board, and while we can barely communicate, I think she really enjoys the attention and the relationship we have formed over the past few weeks. I think it is hard for LEP students because I believe that they can easily get left out because of the language barrier so I think they love any attention from a teacher that they can get.
4) I have yet to deal with any culturally diverse parents.
5) I try to make every day follow a routine as an attempt to minimize the language barrier. That way, if students cannot understand me saying, for example, "get out your homework" they automatically know that that is the first thing we do when class starts, or that we start taking notes when I write the date on the overhead. I hope that these little cues and routines help culturally diverse students feel more secure in their classroom environment because it is easier for them to predict what is happening next.
6) I try to make assessments group projects as often as possible. When working in groups, I try to make sure that LEP students are paired with someone who can either help translate the instructions to them, or someone who is very patient and will take a few extra seconds to make sure that they are catching on.
7) I have yet to find any resources at my school that would help me in teaching culturally diverse students. Perhaps an overhead that I could use to project better visuals, because images require no translation.
1. I am also at East Forsyth like Jacob, Erin, Grace, Carmen, Thomas, and Sarah. I teach three sections of Honors Algebra II and two sections of Pre-Calculus. My classes have very little diversity. There are four non-white students in two of my classes and one or two in the others. The only students that I really have to slightly modify my instruction for are two pre-calculus students that are Asian. I say slightly because they are both incredibly intelligent, but I have to make sure to be able to give them individual attention when I teach a lesson that is heavy in word problems because they tend to struggle a bit with the phrasing of some things. However, after individually explaining it to them once they usually are good to do the rest of their assignments independently.
ReplyDelete2. My cooperating teacher alerted me about the two Asian students (I don’t know if they are officially identified as LEP) before I began teaching their classes and they both ask for help when they need it. Fortunately, I do not have to make sure that they do or do not need help, they are not afraid to request extra assistance.
3. I don’t really have any specific stories about dealing with my students’ cultural diversity, but one of the Asian students is incredibly diligent about doing his work and often works ahead so I have to make sure that I do my homework a day or so before I assign it to my students because inevitably this student will come and ask me about a problem or two.
4. I have not dealt with any culturally diverse parents.
5. I have not modified my teaching for culturally diverse students. I do not feel like I have had the opportunity to do so and would appreciate it if anyone has any good ideas for doing so in upper level math classes.
6. In the math classes that I am teaching, there isn’t really a need to modify assessments for the students I am teaching. I am more willing to more specifically answer/clarify questions they may have about the wording of a question on an assessment.
7. I have not sought out any resources other than my cooperating teacher.
1)I am teaching Spanish III and IV at Reagan High School. The majority of my students are middle-class Caucasian. Out of total 132 students, 7 are Hispanic, 4 are Asian and 9 are African-American. My Hispanic students have various levels of Spanish proficiency. Most are able to speak and understand the language, but have limited writing abilities. Proper spelling is the weakest ability for most. Only one student is considered Limited English Proficient, but as the other Foreign Language student teachers have explained, LEP does not play much of a factor in the Spanish classroom. Whenever possible, I incorporate visuals and gestures in combination with repetitive language in order to accommodate different student needs.
ReplyDelete2)My Cooperating Teacher identified for me the heritage learners in my classes before I began teaching. After a few days of teaching, I began to understand the individual personalities of the heritage learners, which helped me to determine how to accommodate their special learning needs. One particular heritage learner enjoys reciting class readings out loud in front of the class. This helps the student feel that she is a valuable asset to the class and demonstrates proper pronunciation to the other students.
3)Since culture is a main component of the Foreign Language Classroom, many instances for cultural discussion have come up. As much as possible, I try to relate stories to my students about the experiences I have had abroad and cultural differences that I have personally witnessed. I then invite students that have traveled to Spanish-speaking countries or heritage learners that have lived in Spanish-speaking countries to share their own experiences.
In one of my classes, there is only one African-American student. On one occasion a few students began to tease, in what they had thought was a friendly way, the African-American student because of her race. The teasing caused the student to cry. While my Cooperating Teaching took the student into the hallway, I took the opportunity to explain to the students the importance of respecting one another and of not singling anyone out because of his/her race or ethnicity. Although diversity does not usually play a big role in my classes, this particular incident taught the students a life lesson that might not otherwise have been addressed in the classroom.
4) I have not yet dealt with any culturally diverse parents.
5) In my classroom, I use visuals and repetition in order to get across to the students the meaning of my teacher input in Spanish. For my more novice students, I use simple input. However, when I am speaking with heritage learners, I use a more advanced language to communicate. In this way, the heritage learner is challenged and other students may learn new language by listening to our conversation.
6) For all assessments, I give the students an example of what they are being asked to do. This helps students who many not understand terms in the instructions, such as heritage learners who are not as familiar with specific grammar terms but who are able to use the form when given an example.
7) The biggest resource I have found throughout my experience student teaching has been my Cooperating Teacher. Since she has taught for so many years, she is able to advise me on any situation that arises. She is able to predict how different students will respond to different activities and has unlimited suggestions on how to tweak my lesson plans to accommodate diversity. I have also found that spending a few moments to browse a student’s cumulative folder can provide key information about the student’s background in order to design lesson plans that reflect students’ needs.
1) As mentioned above, Mt. Tabor is a very diverse school. However, my classes are not very diverse within the classes. My Honors Geometry classes are about 80% white while my Standards Geometry classes are about 80% African-American. Then, each of my classes have about one to three Hispanic students.
ReplyDelete2) My cooperating teacher informed me of LEP students in my classes. In one of my classes, she told me that two Hispanic students, D. and A. are to sit next to each other. D. is a very strong student and does very well on quizzes and tests, even when he doesn't do his homework. A., however, is not as strong with his English or math skills (but his drawings are beautiful!). I have mentioned to them during classwork time that they should work together and help one another, but they both seem hesitant to take part in this kind of activity.
3) While working with D. and A. on a project involving glue, I asked them how to say "glue" in Spanish. They both laughed and said they didn't know, that when they worked with glue, they were at school and it's just "glue." It was rather illuminating how they speak and use certain words in English at school, but very well may not use these words at home in their native language.
4) I have not yet had any interactions with culturally diverse parents.
5) I have found that graphic organizers really help my culturally diverse students, but in the end, they also help ALL my students. These are great tools to help students organize their new knowledge, and as a teacher it helps me see which students are engaged and following along. Using whiteboards is also a good way to get formative assessment from all students, but especially from my LEP students who are not as comfortable speaking out in front of everyone.
6) Since geometry has a lot of reading and setting up of word problems, I have found it helpful for LEP students to have drawings already provided, with some or all pertinent information. This way they can show me the geometry they know.
7) I have not used any resource beyond my cooperating teacher. However, there is a club/group at Mt. Tabor of Hispanic students. I could not make it to the one meeting they had in the library where teachers were invited, but I really hope to make it if they have another and see what they talk about at the meetings.
1.My classes resemble the diverse demographic make-up of Mt. Tabor. Of the 25 students in my standard civics class, 24 are minority. My two honors classes are more racially mixed and the majority of the classes are composed of white students. When modifying my instruction, I try to use a variety of methods and activities to reach the diverse needs of my students. After my activities, I usually have my students reflect on the activity to make sure they met the objectives of the activity, and to see which methods work best for my students.
ReplyDelete2.I asked my cooperating teacher if any of the students were labeled Limited English Proficient, and he informed me that no students were identified as such. In my standard class I have a few Spanish speakers, but they are all highly proficient in English and perform extremely well on all tasks. In one of my honors class, there is a young man that is Hispanic, and he is not a LEP student. I noticed he does not perform well on assignments and tests even though he appears to be knowledgeable and highly inquisitive in class. I asked my teacher if he felt that perhaps there could be a language barrier, and my teacher felt that he probably is capable of doing better, but he probably lacks motivation like most of the students in my honors classes.
3.In my honors block class we discussed limitations of the first amendment. I explained that several years ago a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, and how many people would have been offended if their religious figure was portrayed in a similar manner. In my class, one of my students shared how he knew of someone that was Muslim, and how they were highly offended because people would stereotype his religion in a disrespectful manner. I further explained to my class that our country is composed of many diverse individuals that practice different religions, and although we have the first amendment which allows us to say anything we want, we also have to keep in mind that we have to be respectful and tolerant of individuals because that a part of being a good, global citizen.
4) N/A
5) For one of my economics lessons, I used images and objects to explain the four factors of production. I have found that being able to show students ideas and concepts helps them remember the concepts easier. In my PowerPoints, I try my best to incorporate pictures, even though it can be a little difficult when teaching civics. Whenever I give an assignment, I repeat the directions for my students and also provide written instructions. Multiple representation of information is the most useful tool I use when trying to modify instruction for my classes.
6) I have not had to modify any assessments. However, I do try to provide multiple assessments for my students to address the different learning styles represented in my class.
I am currently teaching Spanish I and Spanish IV. There is a very large gap in diversity between the two levels. In the upper level Spanish classes there are very few minorities while in Spanish I there is one particular section that has about 95% African-American students. This sharp contrast causes me to take pause and question why minority students are not continuing on to higher level classes. One way that I have tried to address this issue is to make Spanish relevant to the minority students. This includes addressing their own cultural biases (yes, black people can speak another language), and introducing, implicitly and explicitly, people of color from Spanish-speaking countries. In this way students have been able to see that they too can have a place in learning Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI have three native speakers in my Spanish IV classes. I have honored their situation by often including them in the role of information facilitator during discussions. For instance, we did a project on odes after having read Pablo Neruda’s Oda al tomateI. One of the native speakers wrote her ode to Puerto Rico and mentioned the Taino Indians. I recognized this as an opportunity for the other students to learn a bit more about Caribbean culture so I asked her to elaborate on that theme. She did a wonderful job explaining with pride the roots of her people on those islands. Often I will ask them for synonyms to words in our vocabulary lists, which only enriches the learning for all the students.
The students in my Spanish I class that is primarily African –American had a hard time believing that another African-American could be fluent in Spanish. The first few classes with them were spent probing into my life to find out what was “wrong” with me that I would speak the wrong language for a black person. However, something was stirred in some of the students. One story that I will never forget was that a student after leaving the class said to one of his friends “I want to speak Spanish like that N****R.” Now, I am not sure I appreciated being called that, but I am glad that I can be a role model in some since. Yes, black people can speak Spanish too.
One particular parent of an African-American student was very concerned because she believe that his white female teacher did not believe in or encourage her son (he is barely passing). I began working with her son after school and talking with her regularly via email and reaffirming both me and my cooperating teacher’s dedication to helping everyone learn. In the midst of this affirmation, I told her that her son had to play his part as well (he does not put forth the effort he should). It was an interesting interchange because I felt I had to bring it back to academics. This was not an issue of a racist teacher, but rather of a lazy student. However, sometimes it is easier to play the “race card.” So I feel that it was appropriate as an African-American teacher to support the teacher. What can be said now when he still is failing and the race factor is no longer a mitigating issue?
ReplyDeleteOne example of how I modified my teaching was in the sports unit. Instead of using simple clip art or the (often times homogenous) pictures provided for the unit, I made a powerpoint using African-American heroes of sports. I did not draw as much attention to their race, but I believe that by just seeing someone who looked like the students, it helped them to retain the information associated more. At least it kept them more engaged.
One example of modification of an assessment was an overt application of UDL. In the oda project, where students had to write an ode to something of their choice, I made sure that they had options. They had to write the ode, then record it, but the students where then asked to come up with a creative way to express their ode. They could have chosen however they liked to do it. Students that may have had trouble with the other two aspects did a spectacular job when it came to expressing the ode in a presentational fashion.
One helpful resource that I found was to listen to the students conversations in the hallways. You can get a feel for what is connecting with different types of students by what they say to their friends when they walk out of the class. I have heard everything from “that woman did…” to “I really appreciated Ms. … she tried to help me.” You can get a pulse on the “us and them” mentality and can adapt your teaching to help eliminate the negative aspects of this.
1. I am teaching at West Forsyth High School, which I believe to be a fairly diverse school with a large percentage of Hispanic students. One thing I have noticed about the school is that the standard classes tend to be a lot more diverse than the honors classes. However, I do not teach any honors classes so I have a great representation of culturally diverse students in my classes. I try to always be aware of the diversity in my classes when planning my instruction to meet the needs of all students.
ReplyDelete2. My cooperating teacher and I sat down before I began teaching and went over all the LEP students in the classes and what accommodations they may or may not have.
3. In one of my classes, there is a student, J. who speaks extremely little English and carries a translator with him to class. However, he is very strong in math and tends to do very well on the assignments that I give him. He also has had Geometry in his native country, so I try to have worksheets from the honors classes for him to complete while I am teaching the rest of the class.
4. The only contact I have had with culturally diverse parents is through e-mail with my cooperating teacher.
5. I have tried to include culturally relevant examples in my lessons. For example, in the chapter on logic and proofs, I had students create examples with me during class. I found that they took pride in creating their own problems and the variety in the examples was amazing!
6. Being a math teacher, I have found it is a little difficult to modify instruction for LEP students because it is mostly numbers. However, I have noticed that all students seem to be successful when they have visual representations to consult. Therefore, if I have word problems on my assessments, I try to include a picture as well.
7. I have found that my students are a great resource to help me improve my teaching of diverse students. They are very helpful with communicating any problems and have provided me with excellent suggestions for improving my teaching.
1. I teach 10th grade Civics and Economics at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons. I have been told by many of the teachers I work with that West is considered one of the least diverse high schools in Forsyth County. My classes, however, are diverse in both the ability and background of the students. During my time teaching I handled three block classes, each with their own dynamics, strengths and weaknesses. My first class I picked up was an Honors class, so my early teaching was catered to their ability level and background of knowledge. I was able to give them information in ways which I was used to in college and talk to them as if I were talking to peers, with certain exceptions of course. When I picked up an inclusion class in the afternoon I quickly realized that I needed to adjust my methods for the afternoon class. Since this was an EOC class I needed to make sure to cover the same material with both classes, but the major adjustment I made was to use more basic vocabulary, explain everything in greater detail, and break up my lecture. The most important change I made was breaking up the lecture to 8-10 minutes at max before giving them some type of activity or assignment because otherwise they would lose focus and completely zone out;. Once I did that I found that the class was moving along with similar results to the honors class.
ReplyDelete2. I did not have any students that were classified as limited English speakers in my class according to the school, but I did have one student which I felt was still slow at reading English. I identified her pretty easily because of the work she turned in and how long it took her to complete her assignments. She was always a diligent worker who would not talk and do whatever assignment was asked of her, and her answers were usually correct. The problem was that it would take her much longer than the other students to finish the assignments. What I did in order to help her out was allow her extra time before or after school to complete her assignments if she needed to and she would usually take advantage of this.
3. On one of my first days teaching the inclusion class I used a vocabulary word that I immediately realized many would not understand in the class. I forget what the word was, but it was a pretty high level vocabulary word and I changed what I said so that the students would understand what I meant. I had used it when I was talking about differences in the economies of the U.S. and the Caribbean. When I asked if everyone understood what I was saying someone raised their hand and asked what the Caribbean is. Many students in the class nodded in agreement that they needed to know the answer as well. That is when I realized that I couldn’t take something as simple as that for granted when teaching high school.
4. N/A
5. See #1 and #2
6. For my daily assessments I would often look to the work that the students handed in daily. As a result I would give more straight forward assignments designed to make sure that the students got the days lesson to the lower level class and give more high order assignments to my honors class. For the formal assessments I had everyone in each class complete the same tests and quizzes because this was an EOC class and I needed to prepare them for the final test which they would all be assessed equally.
7. I didn’t really find a helpful resource except for my students themselves. I would constantly look for their feedback on what we were doing and look at the assignments they were completing in order to see if I needed to change my methods. One could say that my best resource was trial and error.
Thank you for your comments Brian. I think it is great that you allowed your student to take the extra time that she needed to do her best. This demonstrates your caring. I am also glad that you reflected on your word choices during lecture. Your future students will surely be your best resources in learning how to make effective modifications. I think that you can establish a respectful classroom environment and welcome feedback from the very beginning. You can also use a detailed student survey/information sheet at the beginning of the year/semester to help you gather important information.
ReplyDelete