Final Blog

 

 

Just a few years back I was anti-technology. I felt as though technology was interfering with our lives in a way that no one would be able to have a face to face conversation, and our youth; my kids and my students, would not learn these very important interpersonal skills. Much like Turkle discusses in her article “The Flight from Conversation.” She states “A 16 year old boy who relies on texting for almost everything almost wistfully, “Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d like to learn how to have a conversation” (Turkle). These are powerful words from a 16 year old and this is what has worried me. Not so much the computers that we access at home and use to search the internet, but the hand held devices that are constant. It worries me, and even for those of us who don’t think the younger generation thinks about having a face to face conversation, they do. Just like my own son’s concerns about no one looking up from their phones to smile or make eye contact. So maybe our kids are thinking about this.

 A few years back at the start of Graduate school I was asked to do a short video on my “take” on technology.  I was very illiterate at the time (although I have come a long way but not long enough)but managed to create a photo story which got my point across. At the time my boyfriend, who was 48 years old, broke up with me through a text. I just couldn’t believe it. This just started my rampage that the lack of conversation, and being able to hide behind the screen, has given people the right to cower. Like Turkle, I believe our young people are learning these very valuable skills with computers and devices,  but there are other skills, which are so very important, they are missing out on.

I do, however, beleive that technology needs to be integrated into teaching and learning. I am a big proponent of that. With this Media Literacy class I was really hoping to find the tools to help me do just that. Fortunately I did, and so much more. The articles I have read that discuss the way the young person’s brain works is very startling. It has changed and evolved to conform to this digital world they live and grow in.  I am compelled to incorporate technology into my classroom to help my students and improve my teaching. In this capacity I think about Mike Wesch and his passion for education, he states in his article “The Old Revolution,”  The tools that enable us to experiment with new modes of education are mostly free, and they can be implemented in many diverse bits and pieces without the need for large-scale top-down planning or intervention. And perhaps most importantly, [this revolution] is driven by what one might call a “rethinking the basics” movement, in which educators everywhere cannot help but see a disconnect between their traditional modes of teaching and the world in which we all now live”( Wesch). I truly believe that I always need to be “rethinking the basics” to teach in this digital world that these kids are growing up in. Another great article Wesch wrote discusses the urgency in revamping education. https://scholar.vt.edu/access/content/group/5deb92b5-10f3-49db-adeb-7294847f1ebc/Wesch_Anti_Teaching_Confronting%20the%20Crisis%20of%20Significance.pdf

 We teachers need to think about how they best learn, and restructure and re-learn new modes of teaching. This is exactly what I have been trying to do in my classroom. This class has given me the knowledge and the confidence to do it. I now have a tool chest of digital learning strategies to help bring the 21^st century teaching and learning into my classroom. There are a few other digital tools I have discovered that I can add to the list. Please check out Pixton, , a website that makes online cartoons and comic strips. It is an excellent way to have students tell a story digitally. Also, my new favorite is Sparkol.   This digital literacy tool is so fun to use. It records your voice at the same time you are sketching and simultaneously the sketching comes out as a picture. It is very difficult to explain but it is a must to explore and tinker.  Another wonderful resource is Troy Hicks book Crafting Digital Writing. This book is a great resource for any teacher who wants to incorporate technology to encourage their students to write.

When I needed to find a project I first wanted to do an interactive classroom with Jessica. I thought it would be so cool for my students to talk to other students about a novel. But deep down I always wanted to have a website. Last year I started a blog page and that got me started thinking about a place. I wanted this space to reflect my personality as a teacher and be a place for all my students, not just one class, to find resources, homework, worksheets, vocabulary, and events. When everyone in class started to talk about the Google sites or the Weebly, I quickly realized that was what I wanted to do for my project. Working with the Google site was very frustrating. I wasn’t getting anywhere and I was definitely getting nervous. When I watched some of the Weebly presentations I knew that I needed to abandon the Google site (a difficult decision) and make a Weebly page. Wow, I was so happy I did it. "Ms. Lees's Classroom Page .I felt like I was having fun with this project instead of getting frustrated. I am very proud of my website. I decided to put a Senior Page on it so the seniors can click on and get many resources they need for college or trade school. I just can’t wait to finish it and show it to my students.

Overall, the project and the class have been very beneficial and real. I have come away with a variety of tools to enhance student motivation, interest, and creativity for learning. I like to stay positive and be active in using what I have learned in my classroom. Unfortunately at East Providence High School we are not very technologically advanced, to say the least. It will take an extra effort to be on top of having the projector in my room to be able to give my students the tools they need. It frustrates me because the whole “free public education” system is not accurate. Schools like Barrington or East Greenwich have the funds that are needed to ensure that every teacher has the resources he or she needs to teach to the best of their ability. Does SCWAAMP come to play here? Of course it does. Unfortunately the dominant race is those who are privileged. But I don’t want to get negative after learning all I learned. I will do the best I can to use the tools I have to try and encourage and teach every student.

"Alone together"

Great article by Turkle. Everything she discusses hits home with me.  I have been “nervous” about this generation and their use of technology for a long time.  Turkle’s statement “My students tell me about an important skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while you text someone else; it’s hard, but it can be done.” I think Mike Wesch would agree with this. The difference in opinions on technology between Turkle and Wesch I think is that Wesch advocates for this technology as tools in school so students can use what they know, to learn. Although Turkle might agree in some aspect, as do I, she advocates that our youth are losing something much more valuable; face to face conversation. Most of our students and young people don’t even understand this loss because they have grown up without it.

A story: Last year my son called me up from college. He was 19 almost 20 at the time. He grew up in this digital world but has always kept a distance. He has a Facebook page but since has decided he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t Tweet or do any of the other social media technology. His laptop is his biggest form of technology. He never had an IPhone until a month ago. He will be 21 in August. Anyway, he had just gotten off the bus and he said to me:  Mom, no one even looks at anyone anymore. When I’m on the bus everyone is looking down at their phones. There is never a hello, or even a smile. I hate it. I want to live in Fiji or some island where people talk to people.  I was totally impressed with his observation and out look on life.  Here is a young adult who lives in Boston and see’s what this digital world has created with people. Yes, “It’s a process in which we have shortchanged ourselves.”

Seventeen, Self-Image, and Stereotypes by Bakari Chavanu

Chavanu’s article discusses the influence the media has on young people. As a class unit she had her students “study” the media, in this case she used mostly print advertisements and commercials. Students watched commercials and looked at several advertisements in Seventeen Magazine  they were asked probing questions about who the ads are targeting, what product they are selling, and most  what influence the ads have on the ideals of the consumer. Ultimately Chavanu’s objective was to have her students  become more aware of how the advertisement industry is influencing young people, “Thus, media literacy can play a necessary role in helping our students become critically literate and reactive to the powerful influence of television, video games, commercial advertising, popular magazines, and movies” (24).

As educators it is important to understand that “many of our students are walking advertisements and consumers of media. They purchase T-shirts, hats, and backpacks embossed with the ubiquitous Nike swoosh. They sport images of their favorite heavy metal bands and sports teams” (24). She also gives some important statistics about the viewing habits of our students. “They will have seen 350,000 television commercials by the age of 17” (24). Obviously with her students, and ours, this topic and lesson plan can be life changing for some students who “get it.”

Her unit took seven weeks and she covered many different topics in advertising; they analyzed the image of women, of race, gender, and class.  Along with the commercials and ads, she used different documentaries that help getting the point across of the "hidden curriculum." 

•  Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women
• The Colour of Beauty
• Western Eyes
• A Question of Color

 

 Very often in certain advertisements we can really see how clear S.C.W.A.A.M.P. is through the actors, the slogan, and the pcitures. Although I am very in tune with the underlying messages many ads are trying to get across, Chavanu also discusses the strategy music and voice has in the television commercials. They play on our emotions in different ways. She gives an example of a frozen food commercial and how the music and the narration pull the consumer in. This reminds me of the commercial for the dog charity with the Sara McLachlan song Angel playing in the background. This appeals to people’s emotions and hits their heartstrings.

 

Overall, Chavanu ’media literacy unit really challenged her students to look at advertisement in a more critical way. Her students came away from it understanding the implications of certain advertisements. “sadly, these images are part of a culture in which one out of five women has a serious eating disorder such as anorexia; where adolescent girls increasingly have problems with low self-=esteem; and where blacks, especially women, have historically had serious problems and prejudices concerning the lightness and darkness of their skin” (26). As an essay writing project she had her students write about their experience with the media literacy. She was happy that many of her students look at the media differently now. “Clearly, the unit had challenged their assumptions and caused them to question their own sense of identity” (30).

 

 

 

 

Wesch

'But there are reasons to believe that this revolution will not fail. The urgency of our movement is not grounded in a single political issue. It is grounded in broad cultural and technological shifts pervasive enough to be recognized by virtually everybody in our society”(Wesch).

I think what Wesch is stating that the urgency in education is that learning needs to change and for it to change there needs to be a major shift. This shift needs to bring education into the 21^st century world of technology. Unfortunately this is a very unrealistic achievement for most schools. It cost money! This is where the politics comes in. I believe that educators, even those oldies but goodies, acknowledge that there is a disconnect, however, many school districts just do not have the money to invest in the “revolution.” So teachers are left to their own devices.

What are basic literacy skills today? This is a great question. After watching his video I have a better idea of what Wesch thinks are much needed skills. I really don’t think these skills can and should be taught in a classroom. These are life skills that are self- taught through doing what is part of everyday life. These skills promote literacy because our young people are constantly plugged in; reading and writing now via social media.  I am still not convinced it is a good thing though.

 

 

We as educators do need to understand that kids do think differently now and the world is a different place then it was when "traditional" teaching was the norm. If kids learn and think land act differently, then we as educators need to teach differently. Watch the "Teens Brains on Technology "until the end. The father suggests something about technology and teaching that is very interesting.

 

 

 

funny video

Digital Immigrant

I consider myself a digital immigrant. I grew up before computers and cell phones. I remember in high school taking typing class on the old typewriters. We would have to manually push the level to start typing on the next line. As an adult I welcome new technologies but stay away from many of the social media sites such as Twitter (I know there are more and I just cannot name them, which confirms my immigrant status). 
I did get a new IPad Mini this past year and it has become like an appendage. I really don't know what I did without this tablet before. Everyday I find something else I can do on it. However, ironically I am not using it for blogging even though I know how easy it will be. I have posted a link to show you my newest addiction./
It is amazing what can be done on this, with just a push of a button.
Words with Friends
The Weather Channel
Boggle
Netflix

About me

Hello All:
 My name is Diana Lee. I am an English teacher at East Providence High School. I teach 10th and 12th graders. I have two boys; Jerry, who is 21 this August and will graduate from The Art Institute in Boston with his degree in Audio Engineering. My youngest son Quinn is 16 years old and will be going into his junior year at Barrington High School where he plays three sports.

Final Blog: Teaching without Grades

Final Blog: Teaching without grades!

First of all, thank you all for a very insightful, fun, and intelligent experience in this class. I have learned a lot from all of you.  I happily put it all that I learned in my brain and no grade is needed from any of you.

Dr. Bogad, although you will grade me, I really have learned so much in your class. Since the beginning of the semester I have been incorporating what I have learned into my teaching.  The following example is a situation that happened spontaneously in my classroom, and I quickly, without too much thought, blurted out that there would be no more grade issued until the end of the quarter.

.

My collaborative class consists of 26 students. Two students with severe speech impediments, one students who is repeating for the second time and he is 19 in an 11^th grade class, and 5 students who are huge behavior problems and are very immature. The remainder of the students are great kids, hard workers, many who have IEP’s and  struggle with the content and in school in general.

Their assignment is to create a poster/college, poem, or any visual representation they want to create to depict a theme. One student asked me what it will be counted as...

Student – Miss, what will this be counted as?

Ms. Lee – What do you mean?

Student – Well, will it be a test grade, homework grade?

Ms. Lee – I’m not sure yet?

Student – Well, I need to know?

Ms. Lee – Why is the grade so important? Maybe I won’t grade it right away, or maybe I won’t put a grade on it at all.

Student- If I don’t get a grade I won’t do it.

Ms. Lee – Hmm… Why does everything have to have a grade? Isn’t it more important to learn something, even if you don’t get a grade?

Student– You don’t understand, I just want to graduate for my parents, and I’m not that smart you know. I just need the grade.

Ms. Lee – I am not going to give grades in this class anymore! From now on you will get your work back with remarks on how you can improve. At the end of the quarter we will look at all your work as a whole and see how much you have learned. If you have made improvements, and completed all your assignments then you will pass the class. I will give you one grade this quarter and that will be your midterm grade.

Backlash from students: What…you can’t do that? How will we know how we are doing? I need to see my grades?

Miss Lee, I happen to be a really smart person, I just don’t like to have to show you or anyone else that by writing an essay or reading a book. I just want my 65 so I can get out of this place and be a fireman. Nothing I learn in this class has to do with what I want to do when I graduate.

Why this is going to work!

After that class I had a student come up to me and say,    Ms.Lee what you said inspired me. Don’t tell the class but I like the idea of no grades; I don’t want to get made fun of. Every time I look at my grades and I see a bad one I get so upset and it makes me want to quit.

I was not expecting that! But that was all I needed to hear. It made my day and I realized that I have to follow through with this. The first set of comprehension questions that I gave back to them simply had comments on ways to improve and words of encouragement.  I put a check mark in the Power grade for the students who completed the assignment and under the comment section I gave a formative assessment. This took more time and effort on my part but I am hoping it will pay off in the end. No more pressure for these kids! No more just getting a grade! More learning!

I am taking the risk and hoping it will pay off!  No repercussions so far; parents haven’t called, students haven’t mentioned it since, and principal hasn’t noticed!

Thanks  Alfie!

Alfie Kohn "The Trouble with Rubric", The Case Against Grades"

                                                                 

Alfie Kohn brings up some controversial, passionate, and valid points in her two  texts, “The Trouble with Rubrics” and “The Case against Grades.” She states some points that I agree with, and other points  that I do not.  I have never done research on the topic but as an English teacher I do have some experience with rubrics and grading.  Bottom line is that we, as teachers, do not have too much of a say in how we assess these days.

Kohn states  in “The Trouble with Rubrics” “Second, I’d been looking for an alternative to grades because research shows  three reliable effects when students are graded: They tend to think less deeply, avoid taking risks, and lose interest in learning itself.”

In my experience students are driven by grades, not learning;  This is so unfortunate. I have tried to wrap my head around this concept many time but it all comes  down to the grades. For the higher level kids, they seem to e learning at the same time though. The understanding that they are learning if they get a good grade seems to go hand in hand. However, for the lower level kids, it is all about the grades and they don’t seem to care if they learn anything. A few examples:

Scenario 1:

Teacher: Ok ladies and gentleman let write a reflection of the activity we just did, pleae take out your journals and just write. Write whatever you want; did you enjoy the activity? Would you change anything about it? What did you learn? What connections did you make? Choose one if you need help getting started.

Student: Ms. Lee? Are we getting graded on this?

Teacher: No, this is your own reflections, a chance to write whatever you want.

Student puts his head down and closes his eyes:

Scenario 2:

Student: Ms. Lee, are you collecting this?

Teacher: No , I’m not going to collect it, please put it in your binder and we will discuss the answers as a class on Thursday.

Student: I need a grade for this Miss. I did the work now I should get credit for it. I’m not doin no busy work!

Scenario 3:

Student:  If I fix this what grade will I get? All I need is a 65 to pass.

Teacher: Why do you just want to pass? If you make the corrections necessary you could get a hgier grade.

Student: I don’t want to do anything more that I have to, I just want to get out of this school with my diploma.

Obviously these scenarios are not indicative of all my lower level students but unfortunately I have learned that many students want to do just enough,; not any more, not any less.  Motivating my students to want to learn is very difficult to do at times because  of the structured curriculum we have. It is imperative we use texts that the students may connect to or are interested in, especially in the lower level classes. 

“Grades create a preference for the easiest possible task. Impress upon students that what they’re doing will count toward their grade, and their response will likely be to avoid taking any unnecessary intellectual risks. They’ll choose a shorter book, or a project on a familiar topic, in order to minimize that chance of doing poorly—not because they’re “unmotivated” but because they’re rational “ (2).

Again, this is catering to the higher level kids; the kids who are motivated, who already love to read and who know how to manipulate the system. What about the kids I spoke of previously.  These unmotivated kids, who may be kids who speak a different language at home and need to work on a daily basis to help their family;  the kids who do not have the parental support and value for education that many others do. If some of my students do not think that the grade would count, they would choose a shorter story,  they just wouldn’t do the assignment. Grades are here to stay and kids are driven by them. A perfect example: The NECAP assessments.

Every year the 11^th graders are assessed in reading, writing, math and science. Up until this year, the grades have never mattered. On the three or four days during the testing it was torture for teachers to get kids to even finish the assessment. They just didn’t care! These tests  were being used a quantitative date for the state to assess the progress of the schools. Our school set incentives for the kids to show up.  For the most part, they were not giving their best effort, to say the very least. Even my own son said he didn’t try very hard, it didn’t matter. Well, the state decided to make it a graduation requirement for all students . If a student tis  not at least partially proficient he or she will not graduate! Students showed up, grades went u,  and things were quite different this year.  What does this tell us?

Learning is a process and so is teaching. In “The Case against Grades” Kohn state, “Replacing letter and number grades with narrative assessments or conferences—qualitative summaries of student progress offered in writing or as part of a conversation – is not a utopian fantasy.”

As an English teacher it is very difficult to teach writing. There is no universal formua (well there is a writing process) that every student masters and voila, they’re writing perfectly. While some kids may struggle with adding content, others may struggle with introductions,  or a thesis, or adding evidence ,or the structure . I have found a very successful way in assessing my students writing and teaching writing. It is a long process but that is what learning and teaching is. Whenever I give a writing assignment the students write it over and over until they understand it. This requires reading , assessing, and conferencing on the same text multiple times, but the kids really learn what they need to work on, and they are able to fix it over and over again. I have had nothing but positive feedback on this.  The first draft paper is given back without a grade, and often it is given back several times without a grade. My rationale is that if you give a student back a paper with a C on it he or she will take the paper, maybe look at the “markings’ and then put it away. When a student gets a paper back without a grade it is required for he or she to fix what they learned and re-write the paper over.

All level kids benefit from this. The kids who are driven by a grade do not have the satisfactory of taking that D+ and being done with it. I have had students who would end up with a B because they had already revised it several times, but they want to do it over and try for the B+ or an A. This process has been very successful in helping kids gain confidence  in their writing skills and forces them to learn more. 

 This clip is an interview by Barry Lane about the idea of Rubrics and how effective they are to English teachers.

Rubrics

I am not a big fan. At times they do help expedite the assessment process. I am required to use a rubric for our portfolio assessments. What is frustrating is that what I think deserves a 3 other teachers may think deserves  a 2.  In my school we are spending a lot of time collaborating when grading theses assessments. This works well because we all get a better idea of how to use the rubric. The funny thing is the rubrics are now given a grade. What is proficient? I guess it is anywhere between an 83 and 93, it changes on a monthly basis depending on the latest research that comes out .

For those of us who do use rubrics to assess, there is a great site that helps create your own rubrics. When you need to be more specific to the genre of writing this helps create that rubric specifically for your assignment.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Kliewer "Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome"

Kliewer's text was very enlightening to read. Unfortunately I haven’t had any interaction with a person with Down syndrome. I have had a lot of interaction with people who have disabilities, so I am very familiar with the judgments, and the lack of expectations that most people with a mental or physical handicap must endure. Kliewer’s perspective from real students with Down syndrome is a wonderful way for his readers to understand more, and be less ignorant and less intolerant of people who have Down syndrome. Fortunately I learned a lot from this text, which I will share with my reader.

Judgment and Democracy:

Community is the key to becoming, or being accepted and equal.  Democracy is a word used by politicians and bureaucrats which means freedom for all, only if you are one of the “privileged” of society does this freedom come easily. Society is community; therefore if you are not accepted and valued in the community then you are not privy to the democracy. “Dewey promoted democracy as a way of life in which community both establishes and is derived from each individual’s recognition of the value of every other individual.”

The Society, our communities and our schools need to grasp the fact that every individual has the abililty to add to society. The cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover” are words society needs to live and communicate by.  “Community requires a willingness to see people as they are-different perhaps in their minds and in their bodies, but not different in their spirits or in their willingness and ability to contribute to the mosaic of society” (73).

Schooling ad Democracy

“He and fellow educators have substantiated this vision with detailed accounts of actual educational arenas where all students are welcomed, not voice is silenced, and children come to realize their own self-worth through the unconditional acceptance of one another”(74)

The words “unconditional acceptance” stuck out to me. School is a major foundation in the life a child. Creating schools that do not segregate is imperative to the well being of all children and society. Kliewer discusses that peers need to have this unconditional acceptance for each other. There is absolutely no other way but to include all students, with or without disabilities. Kids understand and learn from each other in many different ways. Kliewer gives a few first hand accounts of kids with who have Down syndrome and their experience included and not included with the general population of students. Shayne Robbins, a teacher in a non-segregated school shares her experience with Down syndrome children in her classroom. She explains that these children, although they all have Down syndrome, they are not the same. I think this is a misconception many people have. Shayne tells of Isaac, who has Down syndrome who “might have been considered low-functioning. He had no speech that was understandable to teachers; moved with a great deal of awkwardness “(75); However, Shayne did not see Isaac as imperfect but she designed her lessons with all kids in mind. She drew on every kids strength.  Anne, another child with Down syndrome absolutely loved movies, and according to Shayne, knew a lot about them. Shayne knew a good job for her would be working in a movie rental shop. However, the transition planning board thought that Anne would do well as a preschool aide. Anne did not like working with kids but in this world of “privilege” no one in authority decided to ask her, except Shayne.

Kliewer emphasizes that people with disabilities do have a voice and they have significance in the world. They are approachable, they are intelligent, they have hobbies, and passions just like everyone else.

“Vygotsky found that the culture of segregation surrounding people with disabilities actually teaches underdevelopment of thinking through the isolation of children from socially valued opportunities”(81).

Very often school officials think that kids learn better in segregated classrooms. What is it that we are supposed to be teaching? Is it just reading, writing, and math?  If school is a foundation for our kids, should we teach about “unconditional acceptance?”

                                                                                     

 Kliewer discusses multiple intelligences in his text. Multiple intelligences, developed by Howard Gardner is a theory that there are eight different types of intelligence in a person and that these intelligences help a person in learning and processing information.  I did a little work with this theory in my classroom a few years back. I think it is time to reintroduce some of these tools. Basically this theory supports the idea that there are many different ways to learn and many different idea of intelligence. Shayne supports this in her classroom. One of the quotes that I found so interesting goes back to the student Isaac. “He was not given credit by the psychologist, who noted that Isaac had not conformed to the specific directions of the test item. Shayne exploded, “He didn’t get credit for it because he didn’t do it right, but he clearly knew which was the block , which was the spoon. And he followed directions in an organizing sense” (84).

Isaac is clearly intelligent enough to determine the difference, however, he did not follow directions. It is like taking a short cut; you get to the end but just in a different way.

 http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr054.shtml

From Aria by Richard Rodriguez and from Teaching Multilingual Children by Collier

                                                             
“When does twenty-first century technological society have to be so complicated, educational politics so confused, education so bureaucratized and standardized? How do we prepare students to face this complicated world we have created and yet allow them to retain their love of learning?”

Collier poses these questions early on in her text. As teachers we can all ponder over the answers and most likely we all have a good idea why these questions need to be posed. We can go back to our very first class when we learned about SCWAMP.  It is the world of privilege and power. Collier does not have a direct answer for these questions but she certainly understands the challenges we teachers face daily. Although many of us do not have ESL students, we do understand the difficulty in teaching our students who do understand the English language. How do we allow our students to retain their love of learning? Wow! When we teachers have lost our love for teaching, our students will certainly lose their love for learning. We need to realize that in the classroom we have the opportunity to put aside the bureaucracy and the politics and do what we do best; inspire, education, and prepare.

Collier discusses certain guidelines for teaching English to second-language learners. In one of the guidelines he states “Teachers should be aware of the special kind of speech that mothers and fathers use automatically with their children, and try to emulate this.”

This connects to Lisa Delpit when she discusses how to teach with “cultural diversity” in mind. This is especially important when teaching second language learners. Rodriquez’ family changed their language, although it would have been a better choice (in my opinion) to have a teacher who embraced their culture and thier words.

I guess we can say this is a “significance “problem; significant to the classroom teacher, significant to the student, and significant to the bureaucrats.  After all, these ESL students certain bring down our standardized test scores.  Wesch states, “If our students are not “cut out for school,” perhaps we have made the mold too narrow or inflexible, or more likely, just not meaningful enough to inspire a student to fit in. That’s the significance problem”(5).

As teachers we need to make sure that all students are getting the education they deserve. Many ESL students are labeled as not performing well because of the language barrier, when in fact many of these students are very intelligent. We have been learning a lot about “Cultural knowledge” and how important it is in teaching. Cultural knowledge is such an important aspect to teaching.

 In a article I read from the LA department of Education, mentions the importance of understanding that students who use English as a second language are not dumb. Howver, many school districts refuse to put these kids in higher level classes even when they reach fluency in English.

“Martinez immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in the sixth grade, and remained in the English learner program until the ninth grade. Even after his transition into the mainstream curriculum, he was not placed into college-preparatory classes besides Algebra. Martinez proposed translating material from college-preparatory classes into the students’ native languages, so as not to “neglect the whole student” in pursuit of English language mastery.He also stressed the importance of parent involvement in order to reinforce language acquisition out of the classroom. “

Read the whole article here.

http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/10/department-education-la-school-district-failing-english-learners

I wonder if ESL kids feel like Peppermint Paddy when she is in school?