Assignment 2: Understanding The English Language In The Classroom

Not only are these students are a mixture of different grade levels, but they have a mixture of disabilities such as Emotional Behavior Disorder, ADHD, Specific Learning Disabilities in Math/Reading, Mild Intellectual Development, and Speech Impairment. Although my class is small, I am full of students with varying cognitive abilities, maturity levels, and academic strengths and weaknesses. My job is to enhance their academic support in the subject of need because they cannot be fully supported in a general education classroom setting.

Introduction: My kindergarten learners are very diverse. It is comprised of twenty-one 5 and 6 year old students. There are 11 boys and 10 girls. In my class, there are children with ADHD, severe learning disabilities, multiple ESL learners, Cerebral Palsy, Severe Behavior, and other assortment of needs.

Discussion of One Question: How does the student’s exceptionality affect his or her learning and/or behavior? Include descriptions of strengths, interests, and talents as well as those areas that pose a challenge to the student. (K ’s) exceptionality hasn’t change, who, he is as a student or individual. He 's just like most of our student’s who is struggling to learn grade level material and being a ESL (English Second Language) student has challenged his ability to translate comprehension between the two languages. As I stated before (K) has an (IEP) to help give him strategies to comprehend core academics. (K) express confusion and he doesn’t understand why some subjects are easy for him and others are more difficult. He is a great reader and (K) can answer most single direction question about a math problem; however, if the problem is asking him to set- up a multi-digit mathematical problem. He tends to have a more difficult time setting up mathematical problem with the correct math operation.One of (K) many strengths is his ability to read with fluency. He always will to help his fellow classmates on math problems that are easy for him to solve. His academic strength lies in math, even though, he struggles with higher math functions/problems. (K) has been place in advance band by his band director, due to his dedication in playing different instruments. (K) is also an extra helper for the band teacher due to his dedication to music. He loves to play soccer, basketball,

What is the language that most kids are taking throughout their elementary, middle, and high school years? Some would guess French and German, but most would guess Spanish. In today’s world more people than ever speak a romantic language. Some would argue that by learning the basics of Spanish, that allows you to be able to travel and communicate with anyone who is able to speak a romantic language. Others may argue that choosing a specific language that a child desires to learn is more valuable. Spanish should be the only language taught in schools due to the repetitiveness that is instilled within the children, and the commonness of the language itself.

In schools all around the country, teachers are helping children with special needs overcome pivotal obstacles that they are faced with almost everyday. They are implementing new strategies to encourage students to explore learning opportunities, and they have established procedures and rules for behavior to maintain order among their students.

Environmental Arrangements- Most of Michelle’s lessons are presented from a U-shaped table headed by the special education teacher. Here, the student’s are expected to follow the general education teacher’s lesson. The special education teacher sits at this table and follows along with the general education teacher’s lesson plan. When it is time for student’s to perform a task/worksheet, the special education teacher “guides” the students along. The same manipulatives that are being used by the general education students are provided for the student’s with special needs. The teacher rotates her individual attention from each student at this table. Michelle has a very low voice, almost a whisper, and the special education teacher will encourage her to speak louder and to enunciate. During writing, reading, and testing, Michelle and her fellow special needs student’s are pulled into an adjacent room within the classroom. Here, the special education teacher conducts the entire lesson. The ENL teacher will push into these lessons daily. In

Laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) allows for teachers and schools to enhance the academic curriculum for all learners. However, this inclusion mandate, proves more challenges for individuals with disabilities who are also CLD. Most educators do not reside in the areas that they teach, so this disconnectedness between the schools and the students, has little resemblance and these students are not represented properly (Ford et al., 2014). This is why these educators and professionals need to be trained in diversity and be well educated on the subject. If they are, then they can represent the students well and provide a level of relationality that the students and families can trust. Once the educators reach that level of trust, then they can truly help create the best program for the students. The students’ cultural and linguistic diversity can definitely affect instructional practices. The professionals working with the families must be sensitive to their situations and cultural differences. Children with ASD already have difficulty communicating, so for them to already have a different language spoken at home, it adds another challenge. Teachers need to get to know their students and

The instructional setting is in an 8th grade class at Wasatch Jr. High. Wasatch Jr. High is located in Salt Lake City, Utah in an affluent neighborhood on east side of the city. Wasatch Jr. High is a part of the Granite School District. Wasatch Jr. High attracts students from all over the valley and is a very high achieving school. The student population is 85% Caucasian, 8% Asian, and 5% Hispanic (Granite School District, 2015). The 8th grade class is made up of 51 students. There are seven special education students in this class and no English language learner students in this class. The seven special education students will require more time on assignments and some individual attention from me to help them complete their tasks.

Student A is a fifteen year old, tenth grade student with reading and language processing difficulties. Her grades range from A's to D's. She participates in class discussions but rarely asks for assistance when struggling.

My target child main area of weakness is language impairment. He is a six years old boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He was born in another country. He understands some English but cannot speak it. Because of the language barrier and his Autism he lacks the knowledge to fully understand the teacher.

Learning about the challenges children face with disabilities and single parent homes can help broaden our knowledge to better educate students in the classroom. Knowing different diversities and being aware of them within the classroom can help educators understand the background and where children in their classroom have come from. Every child deserves a good education no matter what challenges they deal with in life. Acknowledging different cultures and diversities are a way educators can broaden their lessons taught with in the

When developing the central focus for the learning segments I intentionally chose learning tasks that addressed students assess relating to the personal, cultural, and community background. The students in this urban school live in a very low socioeconomic community with a very diverse study population. My class is a third and fourth split. There are a total of 22 students 12 third graders and 10 fourth graders in with very different learning modality which requires different strategies and support in order to successfully meet their learning need. The small group of students participating in the learning segments is comprised of four students’ performing at similar reading level. One student on an Individualized Education Plan receiving learning resource services in both reading and math. The student is performing two grade levels below, students require visual aid and need to be seat in proximity of the teacher because of impulsivity and a tendency be off task and speak out in appropriate times. As per the students’ IEP all assessment questions instructional material is to be read to him aloud. There are three struggling readers in the group, one student is receiving additional reading instruction from the Title I reading program performing one full grade level below. The other two struggling reader do not receive any additional service are my homogeneous students’ reading at the same grade level. I paired these students’ together because they can support each other. My

My schools is considered a title one/low-income school district and our students come from a diverse background where seventy-three percent of the population is Hispanic, eighteen percent Caucasian, five percent Black, three percent have or more races, and one percent Asian. We have a total of twenty four classes where twelve of them are monolingual general education classes, eight bilingual general education classes, and four special education classes. For each physical education classes two classes show up, it is always one monolingual general education class and then the other class is either a bilingual or special education class. This means that for each class we have from anywhere from thirty four to fifty students in the gymnasium with me and my co-teacher.

Wallace Middle school’s students are 51% males and 48% females. Of the 846 students, 65% are Latino, 27% are Caucasian, 3% are African American, and 1% are multi-racial. At Wallace Middle school I observe two classes, eighth grade Pre-AP Algebra and an eighth grade math class. The math class is composed of about 30 students and due to a lack of classroom management they are a handful, to say the least. After careful consideration, I opted to teach Mr. Gutierrez’s first period Algebra class. The learning environment in this class is solid. It is a small class with only 16 students, so they are relatively easy to keep on task. They are a polite and pleasant group of students. The class is primarily Hispanic, with ten Hispanics, two African Americans, and four Caucasians. There are four girls and 12 boys creating a 1:3 ratio of girls to boys. There is only one English language learner, but he has no apparent difficulty in the English department. This same student is also dyslexic, 504 allows him assistance with spelling, reading, and extra time to complete assignments. Due to only having one student who classifies as ELL and SPED modifications to my lesson plans were minimal. The most relevant factor to my pedagogical decisions was the student’s ages and maturity level.

I have noticed many actions taken by the teachers I observe, which are implemented to meet the special needs of students. A student in one of the classes has a hearing impairment, but does not have a hearing aid. The teacher has a microphone attached to her and has the student it right in front of where she instructs. In addition, she has a speaker placed close to the student to meet the student’s individual needs. Another thing I noticed observing in inclusion classes is that teachers provide explicit directions by repeating them multiple times, and presenting directions verbally and visually. After presenting explicit directions to the students for class activities, both teachers drift around the classroom monitoring student progress. Monitoring student progress helps identify students’ needs, helps evaluate whether or not the current services provided are meeting students’ special needs, and helps provide more clarification on what services students’ with special needs are most vital. In a different classroom I observed, I noticed the two Hispanic students looking at each other extremely confused about solving the questions on a quiz. Before taking this course, I may have thought the students just did not know the answers to the questions. Instead, I had a feeling this was not the issue, as I started thinking that maybe these students did not understand what the questions were asking for. After discussing the issue with my host teacher after class, I found out the two