Lehman Day Care Center Observation

The Kids Learning Centre is a privately-owned day care facility and non-formal educational institution for children up to 12 years old. It is located at the heart of the City of Downtown, just behind The Business Building, a convenient place where parents and guardians can drop off their children safely. It operates from 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM daily, and closes only during major holidays.

Challenges Faced by Hispanic Students in American Schools and How Schools Can Address Identified Needs

My first observation is that the subject fills up their water bottle during the class change. Another one of my observations is that my classmate faces forward during the fifty- two minutes sixth period lasts. The person isn’t late to class. Additionally, the student went to the bathroom at the end of class. This shows the subject is determined not to waste class time.

It's a regular Tuesday morning, just like any other. A Hispanic mother is called to the school for a meeting for a consultation about her son’s performance. While in the meeting, the principal tells her that her child is in the 2nd grade, but is very behind. He adds the fact that her child does not understand the language the teacher speaks, and consequently, is not learning. The mother feels helpless since she cannot help him by reason of not understanding the language either. Hence, this is the difficult reality for numerous Hispanic families.

At Children’s Discovery Center the daycare is split into two buildings, one building is for the children in pre-school and the second building is for infants to three year olds getting ready to start pre- school. The classroom I observe is for children 18 months to 28 months. They are about fourteen children in the class with two teachers. The way the class is set up the younger students and their two teachers share one classroom, but the teachers and their toddlers are not in the same room until lunch time and nap time. The classroom has a kitchen, reading area, girls and boys bathroom, activity tables and there is a connecting room for the children to have bible time and free play. The discovery center has three separate playgrounds for the

In the collateral-collectivist cultures (African-American, Hispanic and Asian), emphasis is placed on the family, above all else. This means that in these cultures, even education is second to the needs of a family. When teaching children from these cultures, it is important not be ethnocentric, but rather understand the structure of their cultures. As teachers, we cannot be colorblind; for it is a disservice to those we teach.

For my field experience, I had the opportunity to observe a four-year-old pre-kindergarten classroom on November 5th and 12th at Bushwick United Head Start program. The school is located at 136 Stanhope street, Brooklyn, N.Y. Majority of the families the school serve are Hispanics, and as a result, the student body entails mostly ELL students. There are approximately 130 students enrolled in the program, and out of that 130, about 10% speaks English. The school uses an additive model of English Language to support both the student’s home language and foster and support English language acquisition. The classrooms are staffed with teachers who speak the children’s home language, who can apply some use of the home-language within the classroom and providing hands-on experiences for students. Additionally, to support students with disability, the school also partnered with United Community Services (UCS), a program that offers speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy to students. The school uses the evidence-based Creative Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum is aligned with Head Start Performance Standards, NAEYC guidelines and the NY State Prekindergarten Common Core Standards.

The classroom is well organized and orderly. Students have a routine that is followed each morning. John’s morning activities are without disruption, the morning routine works.

Promoting school-community relations with Hispanic parents begins with identifying the barrier that prevents involvement or engagement is school issues. Those issues can include lack of knowledge on American schooling, transportation issues, limited English spoken, or problems with work or childcare availability. Once these barriers can be broken, an aggressive approach can be initiated to close the academic gaps many English Language Learners are facing. Zimmerman (2011) states the six strategies for enhancing Hispanic parent involvement include; "remove language barriers between the parents and the schools, address economic obstacles that hinder parental involvement, schedule activities to make transportation easier for parents, empower and

Additionally, the primary language dispite discouragement from the teachers was english. Furthermore, the children who were darker skinned latinos often played with otther darker skinned latinos or black children, while the white students played with lighter skinned latinos, the divide on the playground was based moreso on the race a student appeared to be rather than their cultur. Moreover, in the reading groups the majority of white students were in the high reading group, with the mahoirty of biracial students in the medium reading group,the majjoirty of the latino students in the low and only the african american and black students were only in the low reading group. despite th eschool trying to teach the students about race and the harmfull effects of racism, the low percentage of black and african american students made them easily identified as different, and reulted in them being labeled as such, which negetivly effected their school work. The white students are priilaged because many of their parents hold power over the school, and have been able to attend an alternative school due to their parents ability to work within the

At 1:10 pm their classes start, and each student sits at their desk either thoroughly bored or thoroughly interested in what’s being taught, but their all watching the clock waiting for school to end at 2:40 pm.

Mrs. Cirrincione has a structured morning routine. After welcoming the students, she takes attendance while the students read, sharpen pencils, and exchange books. ELA is first. While students are working silently on spelling, Mrs. Cirrincione walks around the room connecting with each student. Overall throughout the day, I noticed Mrs. Cirrincione was very engaged, never sitting at her desk unless she was conferring with a student one-on-one. Dr. Cornell, the

Alisha’s current internship work is with school aged children who are largely from an African American and Latino population in Hartford CT. She has a natural, creative spirit; which works well with children. Alisha’s upbringing may have brought an understanding on how to effectively engage with children and understanding the environmental stressors on their functioning. As a Caucasian woman raised around the Latino and African American population, she easily assimilates within the environments in which she works. Alisha is equity-minded by being conscious of race in an affirmation sense, working within a culturally responsive practice and creating an environment that promotes social consciousness and collective responsibility. Also, when

During my observations in the different classrooms at “The childcare Center”, I learned about the proper environment, the fundamentals of the teachers lesson plans, their health and safety regulations, their approach to guidance and discipline, and overall quality childcare. The center has eight different levels of age groups; each of them has their own curriculum based on their age and developmental needs. This curriculum changes and has a new theme each month that helps the lead teachers to be able to start their lesson plans each week. From infants all the way to pre-K the lesson plans include fine motor, gross motor, art and sensory, math and manipulatives, music and movement, language including both signing and Spanish.

My practicum took place on September 7,2016 from nine thirty to ten thirty. The practicum took place at Impact Early College High School in Baytown. The class I observed was Ms. Nguyen’s class of juniors and seniors that contained twenty students, seven boys and thirteen girls. The class appeared to be alert and ready to learn. Since this was their second period class they already had enough time to shake off their fatigue. The subject was Pre-Calculous and the topic was operations of functions. Students entered the classroom in a calm manner and socialized until it was time to start class. The teacher instructed the students to take their seats and take five minutes to write their assignments into their academic calendar. The teacher went