Module+13

1. What does research say about this topic? JULY 15TH, LYNN WAS HERE. MS. Lynn: The NAEP has documented for years that students with diverse backgrounds perform significantly lower than white students on reading assessments. More studies are showing that constructivist approaches to the teacing of reading promote literacy achievement in students of diverse backgrounds.

JM: Poverty appears to be the factor most highly associated with low reading achievemet. In many communities the students that live in poverty are from different cultures. These same students are often placed in low reading groups that offer limited learning opportunites and therfore they typically show little growth in reading.

RV: I did my capstone on retention in early grades. Poverty and ELL were two of the characteristics for children who were likely to be retained and struggle in school. ML: As Lynn and JM note, these students typically score lower, and poverty is one of the main culprits behind low reading acheivement. Teachers efforts to raise test scores have little positive effect on their literacy skills. Lisa: It is frustrating to realize that ethnicity and poverty can have such an adverse affect on someones entire life. It is a vicous cycle, with students being unable to break out of poverty. I just started reading Ruby Payne's book //A framework for understanding poverty// and it is a real eye-opener. I haven't finished it because I got too busy with school reading, but already it has pointed out several differences associated with poverty. I was especially interested in the diferences in language. Dr. Payne documents how children from affluent and poor families acutally communicate in a different format, with affluent children using communication more similar to text reading and poor children using a different story strucure all together. I think every teacher should read this book, especialy in our part of the country with so many disadvantaged families. 2. Evaluate your approach to multicultural instruction using the terms in the vocabulary. What approach do you use? What approach should you use and what are a couple of ways to get to the decision-making or transformational levels?

JM: I believe that I use the Contributions Approach to Multicultural Understanding in my classroom. I should be using a transformational approach to multicultural instruction. In order to get students on this level we could read about concepts ad events, make judgements about them, and then allow students to make their own opinions.

RV: Sadly, I have not had any experience with teaching vocabulary to students from a different culture or language from mine. I agree with Jenny that it is important to help students learn the new vocbulary and then transfer the knowledge to other information. ML: Like Rebeka, I have not had any experience with teaching students of diverse backgrounds. You never know when you will need to use this infromation though. If I had this opportunity, I like JMs ideas for getting students to the transformational level. Lisa: I also have limited experience with students from differing cultures. I have had one little boy in my class who spoke spanish and was learning english. We have had a few Laotian children who were learning english,but they were all older. I must admit that I most often use the contributiona approach, highlighting the contributions differing cultures have made to our society. We always read book and memorize a poem about Martin Luther King ,Jr., we all have a set of books based on American Indian legends, ect. I also employ the additive approach by asking my class to examine the difference between the life of a young child in the colonies and a young indian child during Thanksgiving. In order to get to the transformational level, I would need to change the structure of my curriculum, with the focus being on cultural issues instead of on Holiday or significant person in history. Differing cultural perspectives would need to be at the center of my curriculum with other objectives related around them. 3. Your questions from your group. Lynn: 1. Some teachers feel that retention of second language learners in the early grades allows them to better learn the language before entering the more academic demands of second and third grade. Is this supported by research?* MS: I HAVE NOT SEEN RESEARCH ON THIS SPECIFIC TOPIC. I HAVE SEEN RESEARCH THAT RETENTION DOES NOT WORK WITH THE GENERAL POPULATION. IMMATURITY AS WELL AS THE STRONGEST PARENTAL SUPPORT WOULD BE THE ONLY REASON TO KEEP A CHILD BACK. THE BEST WAY FOR RETENTION IS PUTTING THE CHILD ON WITH HIS/HER AGE GROUP AND AUGMENT WITH EXTENSIVE TUTORING, PARENTAL SUPPORT IN THE HOME, AND INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN OF INSTRUCTION. Lisa: Rebekah Vaughn did a study at her school, I think she found that most retained students stayed at the bottom of the class. I have read aricles stating retention is not an answer to academic problems, so I would think this would carry over to ELL studetns as well. RV: Yes I did an action research study in my school that found 95% of our students who we retained in early grades (K-3) were eventually placed in special services for remediation or learning disabilities. I also did my capstone on this which showed this long-term struggle of retained students with many negative effects outside of the academic realm and very little academic gains. Lisa: Sorry to quote you without asking, you just came to my mind when I say this question Lynn: In the past, I have looked at the children who were referred for testing for special education and found that over 70% of them had been retain in kindergarten, first grade, or attended transitional first grade.

2. Our ELL teacher often says that children from diverse backgrounds may read very fluently, but comprehension is poor. Do others have these same observations? ML:I read in the text that this is typical. 3. Are ELL students over or under identified for special education services?

JM: ** What kind of activities can you send home with ELL students that they can work with their parents on? * **  RV: How do you communicate with parents of your ELL students if they speak little or no English? 2. Do your ELL students get any special services such as tutoring or pull-out programs to help them succeed? 3. Where can I get high interested materials for ELL? ML: Is peer tutoring an effective strategy for building literacy strategies? Would you require homework for ELLs in the same way you would the rest of the class? If so, how can the parents be of any help if they know little English? Lisa:
 * Besides an inerpreter, what are some ways to communite with families that don't speak english?
 * I think being put into a school where everyone speaks a different language would be terrifying! I have seen 2 students dropped off at pre-k without a clue how to communicate, it was awful and I could never do that to my kid. Do you think it would be better to put the english learners in a seperate environment with some others who speak their language until they learn some english?
 * *Besides using the portfolio assessment, is there an assesment that is more accurate for use with ELL students? I am thinking of the type of realiable, valid, published assessment that I would need to report to my principal and that could be used in state reports.* MS: AT THIS TIME, I CAN'T THINK OF A VALID, RELIABLE ASSESSMENT TOOL WHICH YOU CAN MEASURE WITH ACCURACY FOR YOUR PRINCIPAL. OF COURSE, THERE IS THE JOHN'S YOU CAN GIVE PERIODICALLY BUT I FEEL THE INFORMAL ASSESSMENTS ARE STILL YOUR BEST CHOICE. CHECKLISTS ON NUMBER OF BOOKS, FLUENCY RATES, ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT, COLLABORATION AND TALKING, STUDENT FEELINGS ARE JUST A FEW IDEAS.