Diverse Learning Strategies

* How should classroom reading instruction practices best meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students?

Classroom learning should be taught based on reflecting on the culture and not a curriculum that doesn’t connect with students in particular those in urban settings. Looking into the mindset of both Delpit and Jenson student struggle with reading do to the lack of connection between social and cultural impact within the school curriculum. Without that connection students lose interest and it becomes a domino effect from generation to generation. As a result educators can close the achievement the gap.

“Where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin minority-group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.” (Smith, 1990)

“A Read Aloud Curriculum integrates intentional direct comprehension and explicit vocabulary instruction into read alouds while maintaining the integrity of an authentic read aloud experience that would be highly engaging for students (Fien, et al., 2011).” The Read Aloud program is structures as to “(a) set a purpose for reading, (b) building vocabulary knowledge, (c) making text-to-text and text-to-life connections, and (d) having students retell stories or information on a regular basis (Fien, et al., 2011).” The problem is that Read Alouds by themselves do not help close the gap between children who enter school with strong vocabularies and children who enter school with weak vocabularies, accordingly the gap between students with strong and weak vocabularies only grows as the children progress through school. Another setback for students with weak vocabularies is that there is a direct link between word knowledge and comprehension, consequently the children with weak vocabularies will struggle with comprehension. Small-group instruction shows promise in improving student’s vocabularies thus improving their comprehension. By spending more time with the text and receiving instruction in a group of 2-5 students, those with weak vocabularies have shown improvement in their word knowledge and

Many English language learner students have experiences and socialized outlines that are diverse from the mainstream body. Each student, whether or not they are labeled as an ELL, come from a different set of backgrounds, personalities, families, and beliefs. All three educators have recognized the trend in their classrooms and have embraced the multicultural teaching using culturally responsive instruction. This type of teaching method inspires educators to adjust their instruction to meet the learning standards of all students. They believe that students should have the experience to use both their native language and the second language to draw real-life connections. Teachers that support the background of both languages are helping student’s link together vocabulary and word development to strengthen language development. All three educators believed in the variation of reading; including materials, text books, supplementary programs and fictional books. The adaption of numerous reading styles can assist diverse students to become more effective and competent users of the English language. They also reported that not only is it

This week’s readings indicate that diversity impacts adolescent literacy and content learning in many ways. In the article, “The Changing Faces of Diversity” Noni Mendoza Reis and Sylvia Méndez suggest that when the needs of diverse students are fulfilled their self-esteem and academic achievement improves. Administrators should promote cultural diversity in their schools if they want to have students from diverse backgrounds feel safe and comfortable. Teacher should promote cultural diversity in their classrooms if they want to have students become confident and skilled readers and writers. When students feel valued and respected they will develop a sense of ownership in their classroom and school. In the video clip “Culturally Responsive

In my early elementary classroom narrative reading comprehension will be taught using great examples I found in the textbook. One example, Telling Tales is a prereading discussion activity in which students make predictions about the events in a text by drawing inferences from the visual elements (Cooter and Reutzel, 2015. P.261). Students will look at the pictures in the book and make predictions on what they think the book is about. After reading the book students can then determine if their predictions were right or wrong. Another activity from the text book is Three-Step Frames. It is a visual activity that can be completed before or after reading and students working in pairs or small groups create a series of three pictures to retell

Parents are the main source of information about their children. Teachers have to gather information about home literacy practices and dialects spoken in order to provide a meaningful and relevant literacy program (Makin, Jones Diaz and McLachlan, 2007). Information related to children’s interests gathered from family can assist in the settling in process and in ongoing programming. Incorporating diversity into the program can be authenticated by getting parents involved (Birckmayer, Kennedy and Stonehouse, 2008). Teachers must attempt to actively involve parents in all aspects of the classroom. Despite efforts being made to involve parents, it is inevitable that some parents will show little interest or have little time to become involved; therefore, teachers must respect the level of involvement that a parent chooses. Utilising information from parents can assist teachers in developing relationships with their students.

The Literacy II class was made up of Hispanics, African Americans, Caucasians, and Asians. Alana, an African American, was the teacher in charge of this class. She was one of three teachers and the only African American staff member at the school. Because attendance is not mandatory as it is in public school, the students’ attendance seemed fairly erratic. Many of the students were parents themselves and there may be adult issues such as child care, transportation, time constraints, and a lack of confidence in their ability to learn that may have prevented them from coming to class consistently (Thomas, 2008, p. 27). The largest attendance I observed in class during any one session was about 8-9 students. However, the Literacy II class was given on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I was only in attendance on Tuesdays for 7 weeks so I cannot make a well-informed observation in that regard. Sometimes students spent their entire classroom time in one of the libraries taking practice tests or doing other work so I have to also take that into account. The students’ ages ranged from late teens through their 40s. Many of them work in

Within the past ten years, the number of English Language Learners (ELLs) has doubled. An increase of more than 2 million ELL students in the U.S schools, left professionals within the field of education with no choice but to face the challenge of understanding cultural differences. In addition to this, educators must understand how these differences affect students’ language development, learning style, academic achievement and most importantly, his or her performance on standardized tests. These differences must be understood, valued and respected by all service providers, especially those who are involved in the decision making process concerning the placement of students in special educational programs. (Roseberry-McKibbin, 2014).

This article was intended to provided teachers and teacher educators with a philosophical and practical base for developing literacy classrooms that meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse learners. They have eight beliefs or principles that they follow or take into consideration when helping diverse learners in English education. Out of the eight beliefs, a few stood out as significant like the respect for all learners, the funds of knowledge, and the variety of educational experience. I consider these important building blocks and information a teacher should use when working with their students.

Best practices for teachers of English Learners consist of creating verbal scaffolds and participation structures that support and extend language performance beyond what English Learners are able to produce independently (Yedlin 2003, 2004). Culturally relevant texts, multicultural literature, and acknowledgement of culturally diverse experiences all promote increased comprehension and engagement (Conant et al., 2001). Early Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies also show promise in providing English Learners with improved early language development. Research indicates that when schools administer early phonological awareness strategies in the student’s native language, such as Spanish word recognition and fluency assessments, this type

In my classroom I plan on meeting the needs of all learners, however, some strategies are more effective for certain learners than others. In order to reach my students who are culturally and linguistically diverse I will use a variety of strategies. One strategy that I will use is to use multiple modalities. When you use multiple modalities you are displaying the information visually, through auditory, or by allowing the use of movement through kinesthetic or tactile learning. The use of this strategy will help culturally and linguistically diverse learners because they can choose which format works best for them and will be able to learn the information in a way that they understand and that makes sense to them. Another way to meet the needs

This course has really enlightened my view of being able to learn the value of linguistic and cultural diversity and the influential learning opportunities it gives today’s classrooms and schools. We as teacher educators were allowed to examine our attitudes, beliefs, and preferences regarding linguistically and culturally diverse students, families, and communities and learn methods for working together to confirm high levels of learning for all students. Also, strategies for guaranteeing

In the second decade of the 21st century, cultural diversity has become an incredibly popular idea. The awareness of cultural diversity has integrated its way into all aspects of American society. America is one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world, containing a multitude of different ethnic and cultural groups. Though, success looks different to us all, some studies suggest that literacy skills are vital for cultivating a fruitful society. Children learn best when they can identify with the literature they are reading. The relevancy of the character’s, plot, and setting are especially important to early learners, thru literature they begin to absorb the world around them. That is why we must expose early learners to