Again we had two wonderful Reading Lesson Presentations. Many thanks to the presenters. For today's blog, please make one comment on this prompt for our topic in class, "Diversity", and scroll down to the Group prompts below and give them some feedback on the lessons. A reminder for presenters, please e-mail me your Reflection by next Thursday, July 16. Also, the blogs/reading logs are due on July 23 -- you should have ten (not eleven) entries. Please e-mail the blogs in one attachment.
** Please note: we do not have class next week. See you on the 23rd. Have a great weekend!
I found the Diversity in the Classroom test a little challenging as some of the phrases were worded strangely. My group and I debated a few of the questions, but with Sue’s explanation the phrases were easier to understand. The assessment chart that we filled out will come in handy when teaching.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed doing the ‘true or false’ test as a group. I hadn’t seen this strategy used before, which is surprising, as it is certainly a great way to initiate discussion. Our group went through each question, agreeing on some, but disagreeing on others. It was interesting when we disagreed because we would then defend our own arguments based on our own knowledge and experience. Additional learning was happening this way. Also, the answers to the questions were sometimes astonishing. I was shocked and saddened by the statistics, such as 12% of students are considered “at risk”, that poor children are three times more likely to drop out of school, and that by age seventeen, economically disadvantaged students are three years (I think that’s what the answer was) behind more affluent students. It is devastating to think about. I suppose a reason this resonated in my mind so much was for two reasons: I grew up in a very poor family and I did my long practicum in an inner city school, where most students were living in poverty. I developed some very strong relationships with these students and it makes me so sad to think of the disadvantages they have from so early on. It doesn’t seem fair. However, like many of the students in my practicum class, I grew up in poverty and was able to overcome that. I suppose you can only do your best to provide the best education you can for these kinds of students and encourage them to break the cycle. I would hate to see those students become one of those statistics!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the true or false activity on the diversity lesson. We had quite a lively discussion in that class. It was nice to have Sue giving us what the researcher's opinion is and clarify the language in the statements so that it is easier to understand. Our group discussed how ESL students learn English by using their prior knowledge and apply it to English. We agreed that it is important to understand students’ culture and the structure of their language because we can then understand why students make a particular type of mistake. For example: A lot of Chinese students have trouble with past and future perfect tense because we do not have that in Chinese. All we have are a separate word (yesterday, today, and tomorrow) that indicates if the event happened in the past or the present or the future.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that most people thought of teaching students to read in their own language is ideal yet almost impossible to do in our society. I believe its an ideal extremely difficult to achieve since it is difficult to find many teachers who can teach the native language while fulfilling the Canadian curriculum. I believe a more realistic way is to let students to have opportunity to read books in their own language. I am not saying they should do it on a daily basis; we should give them some time to freely choose what books they like to read (once or twice a week). When we are teaching strategies to students (reading or writing), we should give these students a chance to practice using these strategies to write in their own language. After all, the purpose of teaching them the strategy is to have them use it! For example: when teaching connecting, we can ask ESL students to write about what happened in the book and they can connect it in their life in their own languages. Afterwards, they could translate it into English. This way, these ESL students are able to practice the strategies in their own language to gain familiarity and then translate it into English after being familiar with the strategy.
The class discussion was an interesting one, as there was much debate regarding the true and false questions. In our group we had a good debate about some of the question as they really made us think about the type of learning that goes on, especially when classrooms today are becoming so diverse. It was really interesting to here Sue give us explanations to the false answers. In particular, about the grade in which students end up in a reading slump, grade 4. I can't imagine what they will be like in grade 7 or 12 if they have stopped reading. I can now see why it is important to encourage students to read at a young age. Consequently, it is important to give student the opportunity to choose their books at young age as it will keep the kids engaged and excited to read. For me personally, if I had the opportunity to read books that I was interested in, maybe today I would like to read more often. Books that did not interest me, I did not read them, I would go onto the internet and find a summary or coles notes to help me understand the informaton.
ReplyDeleteThere was a question regarding french immersion and does it effect reading later. I was in a French emersion class for kindergarten to grade 2 and then was diagnosed with a learning disability, due to the fact that I did not have enough English reading skills. Consequently, I was held back a year as I was struggling. I think switching really helped me becasue I was able to get the help required to improve my reading skills.
Finally, I wanted to say, as our classrooms become more diverse, it is crucial to continue to develop reading strategies that are going to help our students. Through all the presentations that we did, I feel more confident in helping students read as I have more specific strategies to help develop strong reading and comprehension skills.
What I got most out of the quiz Sue had us do was that I should never rush to “judge” or “label” a student based on my own opinion or pre-conceived notions. If a student is really struggling with reading, it is my job to find out as much information about that student as possible before taking any action. Our class discussion on resources rooms was a good example. Depending on the school culture, students may feel ashamed about going for extra support and I loved the idea shared about having all students visit the resource room and teacher to ease any tensions. During my 405 practicum, I have many students pulled out for ESL, hearing specialists, and reading. The ESL and students requiring extra reading support always were pulled out at the same time. I noticed that 2 students who went for reading support were embarrassed and went out of their way to let the other students (those not pulled out) that they were going to ESL. I am sure they lied about this to save face, and I think it is sad that students feel they have to do this. I myself at first thought they were going to ESL before I learned the system. When I get my own class, I will definitely have students visit the resource room or rooms and have class discussions about the topic to dispel any myths or biases students may have
ReplyDeleteOur debate regarding ESL support and resource support was interesting. It reminded me of an article I just read for another course regarding support for children with learning disabilities. It was a research study on the social-emotional state of children with learning disabilities. It basically stated that if inclusion is practiced with pull out resource time, and students feel that they have strong friendships they have higher self-concept than those who have been segregated into specialized classrooms and do not feel they have strong friendships. Just something to consider when considering whether pull-out is okay. In this study pull-out was the better option in relation to segregation. It will be interesting to read research regarding social-emotional of students who have labels and pull-out support.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion of assessment was helpful. I think that the sticky note idea was great! I tried this strategy a few times during my 402 practicum and found it hard to remember to follow through with this great idea while facilitating and executing a lesson! My mind was so full I kept forgetting to jot down ideas! However, I have seen this strategy in action and think it is quite helpful in regards to assessment and remembering issues and thoughts regarding individual students! I will keep practicing and will hopefully get better at documenting on my sticky notes!
I thought the True and False Diversity Test was a good exercise that had us all thinking. It was nice to have a chance to work through it first as a group because it promoted discussion and the sharing of stories and opinions. I think diversity is highly evident in classroom and as teachers; it is our job to not only model respect and acceptance for differences, but also encourage our students to as well. I think we need to create a classroom environment that upholds diversity. The fact that we are all different and unique is a good thing. During my practicum, I taught a unit on the Inuit for Social Studies. As an introduction, I had my students react to a number of behaviours or values of the Inuit (without knowing the group). After they commented on how crazy they thought this group was, I told them that these were behaviours of the Inuit and gave them additional information, that in most cases, changed their opinions. To reinforce the concept, I had them react to another group’s behaviours and customs. Again, their response was that they thought the group was different and weird. This group was the Snaidanac (or Canadians spelt backwards). After revealing this to the students and telling them that they were in fact commenting on their own behaviours, the students were shocked!! It was great to be able to take that teachable moment and discuss respect and acceptance of diversity.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed our talk on diversity on Thursday night. Also, thanks to Sue for the strategy of having students work in groups to answer a true/false quiz. I think this would be a great activity to do to review a novel the class has been studying or review information in social studies or science.
ReplyDeleteI think the discussion we had about whether or not we should have students labeled was really interesting. In general, I’m in favor of labeling because it is really the only way to get students some of the services they need to improve their education such as LST and ESL support. I think one of the key problems with the current system is that we don’t have very clear ways to assess when the label no longer applies. As we learned from the quiz on Thurs. night, it takes about 5 years for an English Language Learner to become academically fluent in English. However, I had a student in my practicum class that was proving to be the exception to the rule. She had only been learning English for three years, but when doing the same assignments as the rest of the class in language arts she was getting scores that would have given her a B+ or an A. She still had a limited English vocabulary and difficulties with spelling, but her comprehension and grammar were really strong. Basically we attributed her early success to her own willingness to learn and the fact that she had a lot of support at home. When she didn’t understand something she would always take time to ask for help, even staying behind for a few minutes at recess and lunch to have a concept explained to her because she wanted to learn. She also had at least one parent at home who could communicate with her fluently in English and was enrolled in two different after-school tutoring programs to help her learn to read, write and speak English. The problem that my SA and I were struggling with was that in order to keep her ESL designation we weren’t allowed to give her a letter grade in Language Arts. The student was really upset about this because she had done all the language arts assignments that the class had done and she had done fairly well on them. She was upset and didn’t understand why her success couldn’t be reflected on her report card. My SA didn’t want to recommend giving her a letter grade and taking her out of ESL just yet because her vocabulary and spelling skills were still below grade level and we didn’t want her to lose the extra support she was getting in this area. It’s unfortunate that the current program is such an all or none process because it makes it just as daunting to take a label off a child as it does to put it on them in the first place.
I found it interesting to take the “Diversity in the Classroom” test with others in my group and share our experiences and knowledge on the subject. I am taking several courses on Learning Disabilities right now so this really complemented what I am learning. I am glad that this subject was discussed as every teacher will have students with LD in their classrooms. Which leaves me to wonder why LD classes are not mandatory for all teachers as they are so beneficial?
ReplyDeleteI was also saddened by many of the stats, especially the one that says that poor children are three times as likely to drop out of school. It is not too surprising as many families lack resources (time & money). I grew up in a ‘poor’ family but thankfully I never lacked for books or food. My family installed a love of reading in us, and we were constantly read too (after breakfast, on car rides, before bed). I am glad that some districts are taking statistics like these into account and offering things like lunch programs and clothing exchanges. I know that many districts lack funding, and in Surrey the firefighters donate food to many of the schools to help supplement kids missing lunches and snacks. Many teachers also pick up the expense of feeding their students, bringing in extras every week, just in case their little ones are hungry. I think that all the problems in schools can quickly seem overwhelming so we need to remember that one person can make a difference.
July 14, 2009
ReplyDeleteTo clarify:
I wanted to reiterate how much the discussion in our class on labeling actually was for me. I really appreciated hearing different people’s perspectives. I wanted to clarify, that I do not condone the aspect of labeling to identify an LD student; however, I think it is important that students who struggle are identified. As it was said by others in the class, the process of identifying students with LD needs to be done, but, done in a respectful manner to the child’s self esteem. I suppose this is the true meaning of what I was trying to get across in the class. I do not want to see a child struggle and not receive the resources they need, in order to not affect their self esteem. In my own experience, I missed most of grade six, but in an effort to not ruin my self esteem, those in charge thought best to move on to grade seven. In hindsight, my academic performance, would have been better off holding me back, however, my self esteem may have been ruined and not be able to push myself to accomplish goals, and overcome struggles later in my life. I know each student is different and there is no perfect formula for student.
The true/false test that sue gave to us sure made me think about how to approach a classroom. It made me open my eyes on the misconceptions about teaching in a diversified way. The group discussion we had were interesting, in that we all had a different way of interpreting some of the questions. I think our group we agreed on most of the questions, but when we didn’t we had an interesting debate on the issues. It was cool to see others opinions on the issues. It was a neat strategy to do this type of activity in a group setting.
The true and false test was a real eye opener for me. I found some of the statistic saddening such as the grade four students begins to slacken their efforts. It has made me ask myself what am I as a teacher going to do to make a difference in the lives of my students whether LD, ESL, poor, or what ever it is I hope to offer them a safe environment in which to take risks and grow as strong healthy individuals that love to learn. I hope I can achieve this as many demands are put on teachers such as the diverse group of students as well as the curriculum that needs to be covered, and the silent unwritten curriculum such as social and emotional teaching.
ReplyDeleteThere was great discussion regarding the issue of French immersion and students being behind in English. I think students may catch up in English if they stay in the French program. However, I have seen too often students pulled from French Immersion after grade one and two and then spend the next few years receiving learning assistance in order to get the basic fundamental reading and phonics that they missed in the English program. I don’t know if the is just a quick fix for the French Immersion to get rid of the LD students or if families should be encouraged to move their students after kindergarten if there is any suspicion of learning challenges for the student so they don’t get further behind in English. I find this a challenging issue and one reason I would not start my own children in French Immersion I wanted to make sure there weren’t any glaring learning disabilities. I took some social slack for my choice it as many people seen French Immersion as a social status I only wanted to best for my children.
As for the issue of getting students extra support I agree it must be done for the best interest of the student and in a way that will not embarrass them. I work in a program that is a pull out program in which students are bussed in from other schools for 11 weeks of intensive reading and phonics. Many of the students don’t want to come and are very anxious to be there for about the first week. However, soon they feel very successful with their accomplishment and don’t want to leave as they are with other students who have similar struggles in their regular classrooms. I must ask what does sitting in a grade five class reading at a grade one level do for their self esteem? Many in class on Thursday voiced negative feelings about sending students out for extra help. We must be careful that our good intentions of saving them from a resource room don’t further hinder their learning. There is only so much one person can do. My boys were in a grade two class last year that had 23 students and 16 of them had some type of a designation. I must say if that were my class I would be enlisting as much extra help as I could. Saying that there are many creative ways to go about this.
I enjoyed doing the mini quiz on diversity and was quite shocked with some of the results. I believe that as teachers we should see differences as assets in the classrooms, not as troubles which require more work us. It is extremely important that we are accepting of ethic, racial and religious diversity and that we are recognizing that all students are distinctive and different in a variety of ways. To reach all differences in our classroom, we have to differentiate instructions, create flexible grouping patters, address language differences and make many accommodations in our lessons. The discussion we had about whether or not we should have students labeled was really interesting. As we heard from many of our classmates, sometimes being “labeled” helps us get ahead in our education. A lot of times, we do not have a choice when it comes to “labeling” students. When I came to Canada, I could not speak any English at all. During that time, I was happy to have been “labeled” and put in ESL 1, because this was my comfort zone. I knew that I was with a group of students who were in the same boat as me which made me feel a lot better. It was the regular classes (such as Math, socials, science, etc.) where I felt “labeled”, not only because I could not understand my teacher’s instructions but other kids around me seemed like they couldn’t comprehend the fact that one could not speak/understand their language. I believe that it is extremely important to recognize the need of every child so that they can get the help they need. Otherwise, if we do not do this, we can only keep pushing them to go forward without any help which at the end completely destroys their self esteem and confidence. I’m sure that without the help that I got when I was in high school, I would have never made it to where I am today.
ReplyDeleteI found that the diversity activity was very difficult! The wording was a little difficult and there were a couple of tricky questions (i.e. by age seventeen, economically disadvantaged students lag about four years behind more affluent students, not two), but it was the answers that shocked me. I could not believe some of the answers given; it was really disheartening about how the system fails so many kids. The diversity activity makes me feel that we should really do something about the way we teach. It is evident by the numbers that it is not just the “low-abilities” of different students, it is also the way the instruction is being implemented. That is why creating a really successful differentiated classroom and reaching out to different abilities is so important, because each child is different and by just teaching to one style of learning, us teachers are only meeting the needs of one learner in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI always find this issue fascinating. It seems that our frames of reference can be so drastically different from one another and class on Thursday highlighted this. I realize that I get stuck on semantics because it seemed that I interpreted the true/false questions differently than most in our group. As a Youth Care Worker I am used to working with students who struggle or don't fit the mould. It is part of my job to advocate for these students so it seems natural to advocate for them and do everything possible to help them learn best. As I mentioned before, frame of reference means everything when it comes to determining how to approach diversity. I sometimes forget that those with opinions on this issue that are on the opposite end of the spectrum from mine, have had an entirely different experience with diversity. I find it is easy to make negative assumptions of those who won't try to move heaven and earth for struggling students. Really, I need to step back and try to get a glimpse from their perspective and do more to come to some type of mutually agreeable plan for students.
ReplyDeleteI work with a few teachers whom I hold in high regard who have a different stance on special needs students, especially behavioural and LD, than I do. These teachers are very much justice-oriented and sincerely believe that every student should have the same opportunities. For example, students who have ADHD and have a difficult time sitting still would not be allowed to have a fidget toy, move around the room, or leave the room go move around in the hall. They wouldn't be allowed to do this because, 'it's not fair that they get to do all of this when no other students are.' It is really hard to convince them otherwise. Regardless, I constantly need to navigate those conversations so that somehow we get on the same page.
As Richard Lavoie said, "“‘Fairness’ is not equal, identical treatment; rather ‘fairness’ means that every student receives what he/she needs.”
Diversity in the class
ReplyDeleteI found the Diversity in the class test a little difficult as some of the phrases were worded bizarrely. Our group debated on many questions, agreeing on some, but disagreeing on others. Even though the wording was bit strange, I enjoyed the heated discussion on the topic. Listening to all my classmates, I learned so much about how the students feel when they are pulled out of the classroom. I never had this kind of experience as a child or as a teacher. After attending the class, I know now how it will affect students’ feelings so I will be more sensitive to those students. I strongly believe that students must get the help from other teachers which will enhance their learning. I think it is our attitude how we look at things.
There were a couple of items on the true and false handout about diversity in the classroom that really surprised me. The statement that said, "Educators have identified the "Grade six slump" - the time where students begin to slacken their efforts and lose interest, especially in meeting the challenges of more academic or abstract thinking, vocabulary, reading, word recognition and writing." I had originally put true to this answer because I figured that it was near the end of elementary school and students may start to slacken their efforts at this time. I was surprised to hear that it is actually grade four that this begins to happen. I thought this was much to early.
ReplyDeleteAnother statement that was true said, " to facilitate understanding of oral language, teachers should try to include an illustrative element. For example, when there is an opportunity to point at an object when mentioning the name, do so. If the lesson is about magnets, hold up the magnet every time you say the word. Also, role-play, pantomime or gestures will help." This reminded of a time in the beginning of PDP when we had an ESL workshop. The lady that was running it read us a story in a language that we all had never heard of. She read the story to us twice. The first time she just simply read it. The second time we were able to follow along and there were pictures added to the story. Every time she read this same word she pointed to the picture of the fox in the story. We were able to depict that the word she was saying meant fox. It was amazing how much more we were able to understand the story the second time she read it, just by pointing to visual representations.
I found the diversity handout sheet to be really interesting. My group found it difficult because I guess of the way it was worded. I was surprised at some of the statistics and the answers. What I found a bit hard to understand was why teachers shouldn't correct children who use a different dialect of English or are ESL students? I understand that it chops up the flow but does it also discourage students from wanting hem to speak properly?I also enjoyed our discussion on assessment. I agree that you must always keep the end in mind. I remember in one of my pro-d- sessions on assessment, we were given concentric circles. We had to write down all of the things that we wanted to do with the kids for the school year, had to do, and necessary things. Each circle got smaller and the one in the middle was the BIG idea that the acher needed to put down as the most important concept/strategy she wanted to teach. As a music teacher, I found that I was continuously assessing my students but it was always anectdotal. I couldn't write down any info, except to keep all of the notes in my head as I taught 34 kids at a time. While I believe that using riteria to see whether or not a student gets a concept, the process of getting to where that person is now should be accounted for and be assessed. Not the end result.
ReplyDeleteThe “Diversity in the Classroom” discussion was definitely an eye-opening one. It was useful to discuss the “True/False” questions in our groups and hear everyone’s opinion and take on what the question meant and what implications there are for the classroom. There are many reasons why a student may not be successful at reading and it is the educator’s job to investigate the situation to find the reason(s) and help their students succeed. Our group discussed some of the cultural influences on the classroom and student development and success. After reading an article by Marshall (2001) I was able to gain further insight into incorporating culture in the classroom. Cultural values can affect self-esteem and different cultures may value and encourage different behaviors. Culture can impact not just which behaviors are valued and displayed but also our interpretations of these behaviors. It seems to me that children who are able to maintain comfort with behaviors that are valued in their home as well as those valued in the wider society may be most likely to have positive views of themselves in both cultural contexts. It is important as an educator to consider your own cultural background and how this may influence your perceptions in the classroom. It is my feeling that I cannot be an effective teacher of children unless I know what is meaningful and engaging to them. Skills learning can occur in any topic; it must, however, be grounded in what is important to the learner. Children’s interests can influence the curriculum and structuring studies around those interests coveys appreciation for children’s individuality.
ReplyDeleteI thought the “Diversity in the Classroom” True/False Questionnaire was a very effective way of getting us talking about some fairly hot topics in education. I was surprised by the few questions I myself incorrectly identified as being false when they were actually true. Question #5 for instance, stating that, “When poor or middle-class children of different races are given similar reading instruction, their achievement is similar.” This assertion seemed to me to lie in stark contrast with the current differentiated learning trend which has been such an integral component of many of our practicum teaching experiences. Thus, I was a bit confused as to whether this statement was indeed valid or not. But, I see that it allows for similar, not necessarily the same kind of reading instruction to be used with a class of students from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, so perhaps this is a workable statement. Overall, I found the class discussion this questionnaire sparked to be very interesting and it certainly helped me to think of issues pertaining to student diversity from a variety of different viewpoints. I also feel I really benefitted from having the chance to discuss my responses to the statements with my group mates, as they shared many eye-opening experiences about going through ESL programs as children in school. This helped me to better understand the child I am currently working with as part of my Learning Disabilities class who is also from a minority language background.
ReplyDeleteThank you for doing the T/F exercise on diversity stats. I found it very informative, (being a detailed learner), and it helps us to examine the issues. The differences in achievement and completion rates between affluent and economically disadvantaged students are shocking, and especially poignant for me, as I raised my daughter alone. The stability on our home, the time spent interacting, and the focus on educational things (reading, counting, impromptu “games”, sharing thoughts) offset the risk factors of income and single parenthood. As a teacher, I find it very encouraging that giving reading instruction that makes up for lack of opportunities in the home, may lead to better reading achievement. This is a value that I hold highly, and one reason I wish to focus on both early education and learning support. Each and every child in our care deserves to have the best opportunity possible to succeed and excel in school. The exercise also touched off some very interesting discussion about linguistic differences in grammar and syntax, and the value of allowing ESL children to read in their own first language. Thank you for the opportunity to take part in these blogs, and for a very informative and interesting semester. It’s been great!
ReplyDeleteWith the increasing diversity in our nation, I think it is essential that as educators we respect and understand and address the growing diversity in our schools. Being an ethnic minority myself, I am well aware of many of the social and educational cultural biases that our students face in the school community. As teachers we need to be aware of these issues and their implications. Often, culturally diverse students are unable to fully comprehend readings because they are not familiar with idioms or the context of the passage or words. If as educators we are aware of these problems, we will be better able to help students. Additionally, students from ethnically diverse backgrounds may not be familiar with “typical” North American social etiquette. However, as teachers we can not only help these students become aware of North American traditions, but we can help other students become familiar with new traditions and customs in an attempt to help students develop better social skills.
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