ELL Student Observation

When eating lunch, the white students mostly ate outside, while the black students mostly at in the cafeteria. In the classroom students of the same race sit next to each other on one side of the classroom. This barrier was pointed out by one of the original Little Rock nine, Minnijean Brown-Trickey (Renaud, 2007). This barrier seems natural to these students, when in reality it is disturbing. Racial segregation from 50 years ago, has crept into being the norm of the classroom. As educators, we need to create a diverse classroom where students are mixed though the class, so it desegregates your classroom. This may also help with the final barrier in the classroom, with is academic excellence. In the Little Rock documentary, student said there seemed to be a barrier that most African American cannot break through, that barrier is the advanced placement and honors classes (Renaud, 2007). These classes seemed to be made up of predominantly white students. With this seem to come resentment from the black students, who seemed to think that academic achievement was reserved for white students. This was the most frustrating part of the film for

In pursuing my ELL endorsement, I found it to be very beneficial to interview current ELL teachers. They shared their insight and expertise in this field. I interviewed the middle school ELL teacher at my school, an upper-elementary ELL teacher and early-elementary teacher in my district. I asked twelve questions that pertained to their experience teaching ELL. These responses are valuable to future ELL teachers and general education teachers who teach ELL in their classrooms.

We will teach a third grade class located at PS. 31 in Staten Island, New York. The classroom has a total number of 27 students; 15 girls and 12 boys. The classroom is ethnically diverse. Most of the students in the classroom are African-American, Haitians, Chinese and Portuguese. Even though the classroom is considered as a general education class, they are few students with learning differences, such as: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and linguistic.

Letting them know that I am interested in who they are and what their concerns are. It was a way to show them that I care about who they are and that I respect their culture. Taking the time to ask questions and let students ask me questions would depict a mutual respect I would share with my students.

I had an opportunity to meet the ELL teacher who is responsible for educating ELL students in the district. She allowed me to observe her teaching a couple of her students at Brighton Elementary School. The teacher informed me that she teach ELL students using Scholastic books and a Scholastic app. Additionally, she informed me that the scholastic app is usually used to help students replace missing words in a sentence, and also assist students with pronunciation, punctuation, & comprehension. The students were able to tap on a word and the computer would pronounce the word. The teacher had several strategies that she utilize in her classroom to help students understand the English as their second language, for instance, she mentioned

Teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves educators feeling uncertain about how to proceed and how to respond to historically marginalized students. There is pressure to acknowledge and accept students of color with different perspectives, to diversify the syllabi, be more aware of classroom dynamics, and pay attention to how students of color experience the learning process.

They lack necessary motivation to excel academically. I’m quite sure that most young people in the area lack positive role models, that can influence their life decisions. Consequently, all the resources for the children are limited or outdated. On page 83 and 84 the author clearly illustrates too the reader the conditions of the classrooms and the desires of the instructors to have the basic necessities, like water in the chemistry lab. The writer really struck a nerve with me, when he mentioned that “ In the seventh grade social studies class the only book that bears some relevance to black concerns-its title is The American Negro-bears a publication date of 1967”. For, example I never experienced conditions similar to the students in the article, but I can relate to the lack of quality materials. Educators requiring that student receive instruction from a 30-year-old book that have inaccurate information. In addition, being denied access to materials about your heritage is a form of injustice. All students should be exposed to literaturary materials that explore various ethical backgrounds. Especially, in areas that have predominate racial demographics. For the most part, the families are victims of discrimination that is deeply imbedded into the fiber of this Midwestern

There are a group of students from Woodrow Wilson Classical High School who were apart of the new integration plan following the L.A Riots in 1994. Due to the unfamiliar school setting, students separated themselves into different groups: the Latinos, the African-Americans, and the Caucasian. A new caucasian teacher, Erin Gruwell, comes to the school to teach English to the Freshman and Sophomore class. Before the school year started, the Principal handed Erin Gruwell a list of students who were failing English, the majority of the students had grades in the fifties. Seeing the scores, made her realize that the students needed a great deal of work in order to improve their reading, the mass majority were reading at the 5th-grade level and were the freshman class in High School.

One of the U.S. educational challenges of today is meeting the educational needs of the English language learners. This growing diverse population of English learners has to simultaneously learn to build their English language proficiency and the content area within their grade level standard. This makes it a double challenge for them and their teachers. After observing a lesson based on a video simulation of a classroom, I will discuss five components: comprehensible input, ongoing specific and immediate feedback, grouping structures and techniques, building background and vocabulary development and student engagement that were integrated into the lesson. I will then discuss what methods and techniques should be utilized when

In Beginning Jazz Band there are seventeen students total. There are three females and fourteen males. Out of the seventeen students, two are African-American, two are Hispanic and 13 are Caucasian. After speaking with my mentor I learned that the socioeconomic status of the school overall is not very good. Around 75% of the students attending Topeka High are on Free or Reduced lunches and he estimated that about 50% of the students in his class are on Free or Reduced lunches. Along with this, only two students take lessons because they are the only ones who can afford to do so. We were informed that one students has had continuous stays in jail and most students

Over the summer, I was able to observe an ELL students through the children’s Sunday school at my church. I work Sunday school about once a month and I have had the pleasure of working with James, who was born in Mexico and moved to Florida when he was 6 months old. He is 8 years old now and has come so far since he moved here. The church I go to is also a school so James was a student there as well. When I spoke to James he did not seem any different from the other students. Since he has practically lived in Florida his whole life, he understood and spoke English pretty well. His parents only spoke Spanish though, so he still spoke Spanish with them.

Based on the observation, yes the student were aware on the language and content that was being used to access the activity. The children were asking questions and observing the examples giving to do the activity lesson; and there were assistant when they had difficulties. During the lesson there were a few children who needed more help trying to figure out what to do; because they were not getting it. The language the teacher used and the content was clear and consist of every detail, to understand what she was teaching and what she wanted them to learn.

African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all

Students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds bring different learning experiences, interactions skills, values, languages, culture etc into the classroom learning situation. For example, I am African and my learning experiences are very different from those that are here. Students from different ethnic backgrounds share their language or vernacular in the classroom

The case study subjects were specifically chosen for their differing backgrounds. One subject was an African American female in her early 40’s that was educated in a segregated school system. The other, a young African American male in his mid-20’s, taught in the same urban school system in which he was educated. Clark indicated during the interview that African