My Experience At The Boys And Girls Club And The Feeding Site

By providing different learning experiences in the curriculum teachers will be able to meet the needs of each student’s learning style. For ELL students, New Caney Elementary offers Bilingual programs dedicated to teach both languages, Spanish and English, that will essentially allow ELL students to learn the language. Programs like these were created to help students to thrive academically no matter their circumstance. To assess students at all times, one as a future educator must ensure that we are assessing the students in each lesson plan. The teacher must ensure that each student is grasping the content presented to them by monitoring their gained knowledge. In order implement the units from the curriculum, I will strive to provide various learning experiences to each student. I will provide visual activities for my visual learners, have hands on activities for my hands-on learning students, and provide discussions for the ones that learn through hearing and repeating things out loud. Each learning experience is crucial to the student’s academic success. By providing different types of learning experiences I will be able to make the lessons more effective and

Teachers should advocate for all students’ backgrounds and cultures to better their students’ learning. To accomplish this, teachers should be informed about their students’ home lives, be conscious of how and what they should be taught, and ultimately make their education a priority. Students from poverty in a multicultural classroom need the correct tools and teaching approaches from their teachers.

Students do not enter the classroom as empty vessels or blank slates; they are each filled with knowledge and skills from their own families, cultures, and lives. Luis Moll developed a respected idea to create home to school relationships to benefit the students learning. Luis Moll always states the importance of identifying skills, knowledge, expertise and interests those families own outside of school, which can serve a purpose to everyone in the classroom setting and student’s education (Moll, p. 20). Parents, grandparents and other community members can supplement the teacher’s curriculum in the classroom, with their knowledge. Moll calls these funds of knowledge, cultural practices of knowledge and information that households use to survive, to get ahead or to thrive (Moll, p.21). For my paper I am going to be talking about what are effective methods and strategies for applying Funds of Knowledge to an elementary classroom with refugee students.

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.

Being born and raised in Puerto Rico has given me a different perspective on education. In my opinion, not many educators are familiar with multiple educational systems and have had the opportunity to experience two different educational systems. My values as an educator originate from the understanding gained as a student of a private, secular elementary school and a private, all-girls, Catholic high school. As a student at Escuela Josefita Monserrate de Sellés in San Juan, Puerto Rico, I was taught to care about others’ well being. “Perceived support from teachers is a significant predictor of young adolescents’ motivation and academic achievement” (Felner, Aber, Primavera & Cauce, 1985; Goodenow, 1993; Wentzel & Asher, 1995). This has led me to incorporate that value through my teaching and showing students I care helps create positive, supportive relationships and helps build an environment where learning can flourish.

The concept of schooling, and how it differs from education, takes center stage in Angela Valenzuela’s Subtractive Schooling. The book is the culmination of a three-year study of Seguin High School in Houston, TX. Using data analysis as well as extensive observations and interviews, Valenzuela puts a face to the numbers. A significant portion of the book focusses on the role of language in terms of its application to culture. The book also shows a road map to creating relationships with our disenfranchised youth that will lead to authentic learning and positive changes in school culture. Valenzuela’s Subtractive schooling offers a sordid and shocking tale of “what could have been.”

Formal education is shown through daily activities, that value cultural skills and knowledge that focuses on the child to solve everyday problems based on experience. This learning background causes the learning at home to be significantly different than at school, where they are taught to solve problems through theoretical reasoning. Children come to school with what is known as school readiness, the academic knowledge they bring into the classroom that was already provided by their families, community and culture. “Schools are challenged by the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of the students they serve”(Lightfoot et al.,

Jimmy Santiago Baca is a prime example of the impact that can be extracted from a strong and caring passion towards an education. Baca was passionate in learning how to read when he was in prison, and he eventually achieved that goal. With his passion fueling his career, Baca would go on to become a poet, writer, and education activists for diverse classrooms. Baca is fueled by improving the conditions of those who feel like they have hit rock bottom like he once was. Several books were written from Baca’s backstory in hopes that people would learn from his mistakes and lessons learned within his lifetime. One of the subject areas that Baca has spent a good amount of his life promoting and discussing is the importance of education. Baca wrote a collection of stories that showed his experiences where people attempted to keep him down, but Baca’s drive to continue to expand and learn prevented him from staying down. This collection of stories is called “Stories from the Edge,” and Baca decided to add something extra with this book. He decided to go into a classroom with diverse students and he shared his stories from the book in greater detail. There were open discussions with the students about how his stories related to the students lives. After the student group left, Baca met with the teachers that aided with the student interaction, and they discussed the teaching methods that fuel the students motivation to learn. Jimmy Baca clearly is passionate in aiding individuals

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

I interviewed an Instructional Aide that I work with at Cottonwood Elementary. Her name is Marcela and she works with the Kindergartners. She moved from Argentina to New York when she was 3 years old and her first language was Spanish. Her mother put her in preschool when she turned 5, to help her learn English. Marcela shared with me that when she went to school she felt very sad, disconnected and was constantly looking for other children that spoke Spanish. She did find a girl who spoke Spanish and she became “buddies’ with her. The girl that she befriended would help her by translating everything the teacher would say, which was all in English. Marcela said she was speaking English by Kindergarten, but she must have had a strong accent because they put in her in speech

Miss Kane’s first grade class at Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School (also known as Coates Elementary) has twenty students and seventeen of them are considered English Language Learners (ELL) (E. Kane, Personal Communication, October 4, 2016). This is very frustrating for both Miss. Kane and her students because it is very difficult to communicate with many of her ELLs. Out of Miss Kane’s twenty students eight students are Hispanic, five Indian, five Black, and three White. Miss Kane’s class is very diverse and this allows students to feel more accepted because not all students are similar. Coates Elementary as a whole is very diverse: Asian 28.86%, Black 18.26%, Hispanic 37.32%, and White 12.08% (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). Miss Kane’s classroom reflects similar diversity as Coates Elementary does. Both Miss. Kane and the Coates staff really show their appreciation for diversity and attempt to treat all children equally giving all students equal opportunity. Coates Elementary is a Title I school; about fifty percent of students receive free and reduced lunch (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). This school was placed in the center of poverty and many of these students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program are English Language Learners.

Jose Rodriguez is the Director of Parent and Community Engagement at UnidosUS, and oversees UnidosUS’s Padres Comprometidos parent engagement program that is implemented across twenty-four states. The goal of Padres Comprometidos is to ensure that the Latino families can navigate the US public school system to support their children's academic success. With over thirty years of experience as a K -12 teacher, coordinator, and consultant, Jose has assisted school districts in the areas of English language acquisition and parent engagement. A fifth generation American, Jose grew up in a rural community in South Texas, where the home language and culture were nurtured and maintained. Upon entering school Jose was immersed in an English only environment

When I was working in Puerto Rico, I was in a private school, where the SES background of my students was different from mine, but in the other direction. Parents were educated, with bachelor's and masters, wealthy, while I had a lower salary and was under the poverty level. Students wanted to learn and did what they had to do. Now that I teach in another school in the U.S., where students were born and still live in poverty, it is difficult for them to focus and do their jobs. My students are living difficult times, especially in their home. According to The American Life (2012), if a child had four or more adverse situations in their life, they are 32 times as high of having learning and behavioral problems. My perception and assumptions about my students SES can affect their learning, however, I am aware of that, and I treat my students in the same way. I can put myself in “their shoes” and understand why they behave the way they do it. I can probably understand, in one way or another, their difficulties because when I was a child, like no having meat to eat, or to have just water in the refrigerator, or have no money to buy something that I need for school. However, my mom worked a lot for me and my brothers. My brothers and I always received free breakfast and lunch at school. Now, thanks to the sacrifices of my mother, I am where I am. I need to remember every day where I came from to put my perception and assumptions aside and help my students each day in their learning process and experience. Also, I do not feel that the difference between my SES my students SES affect the way I teach to

Majority (75%) of the class originated from Somalia, Kenya, Ecuador, Portugal, and Philippines. Although all the students can understand English, 30% of the class consider English as a second language (personal communication, grade 3 and 4 teacher, 2017). The teacher (personal communication, 2017) also mentioned that a number of her students have low income families as evidenced by their eligibility to receive free access to extra-curricular activities like movies, arts, sports offered by the City of Toronto. We also observed that almost 20% of the students do not have appropriate winter wear and three to four of them skip lunch because they did not have food.

The students were a mix of all races, and cultures that were from the homeless shelters in Los Angeles (Scott, 2010). Here’s life Inner City does not accept excuses or quitting they expect the teacher to be able to communicate the knowledge and bring hope to the situation (Scott, 2010). For example, in the CRU organization here’s Life Inner City chapter we had four students that were third graders that only spoke toddler level Spanish, not potty trained, mostly communicated by tantrums and pointing. Even with training by CRU, could only do some much. Personal analyzing the students and with research the teacher had to learn Spanish, sign language, and learn to potty train the children while carrying out the lesson plan. Therefore, having a social science degree in prior knowledge of learning styles and using the learner centered paradigm did help make the students understand the lessons better (Scott, 2010). The other paradigms could not have worked effectively because they do not focus on the individual as well as learner centered (Duffy, 2010). Being that, this nation is mixed cultural place teachers here must take into account that element to be successful (Irvine,