SPSE 6810 #3 Multicultural Curriculum

After reading the three articles I agree on these two statements: it is impossible to please everyone, and a nation is going to teach it's kids a national education. It is next to impossible to form a curriculum for a large group of people that will please everyone. This task becomes even harder when the group is diverse. Each and every person has an idea of what is vital to learn, and what should not be included in the curriculum.

I fully believe that the people involved in creating a curriculum are doing their best and including what they think is vital. Since the people who are deciding the curriculum are probably from the nation in which the curriculum will be used; they will value similar national events. Nations always teach history from a very biased viewpoint. As an American, learning history in a TN school, I always learned about WWII, the Germans, and the Japanese. I did not know about all the numerous times we bombed Japan. During my first lesson of teaching English in Japan; I had a student ask me why America bombed them. I later found out the student knew nothing about Pearl Harbor. It is the same for Vietnam. I toured around Vietnam some and saw a lot of the devastation left from the war that I had never heard about. What was worse were all the people mutilated and mutated from the war.

I don't think multiculturalism is bad; it is just difficult(at times). I think it provides the opportunity to take all the good qualities from individual cultures to make a more blended one. In order for disputes to be settled and curriculum discussed successfully, everyone involved must be prepared to be patient, culturally sensitive, and flexible. Deciding a curriculum is challenging for anyone involved. Deciding what to teach in history is going to be even more stressful and taxing and everyone must be willing to make compromises.

SPSE 6810 #2 Glamorous Grammar

I think grammar is necessary if students want to pursue a professional or academic career. I do agree that Standard English is a dialect, and that no certain dialect is should be considered better or worse than another. I also agree, though, that to advance in America there are some dialects that are more accepted than others.

I think students will learn better when they have many resources available to them. Personally, I think reading is the best way to learn about spelling, sentence structure, and grammar. Computers can provide other opportunities for students to use their knowledge and learn more. Students can research on the computer and then form informative paragraphs to present later. Students can also play interactive games that may teach about grammar. Good grammar books and workbooks are beneficial as well. I like Daily Oral Language (DOL), and providing opportunities for students to work together to find mistakes or to check each others' work. It is important that the teacher includes multiple ways of learning grammar, so that students can find a method that best suits them. I am a visual person, but I do best when I absorb material in multiple ways. If I hear, see, and correct grammar myself I will remember it better than only completing sentences in a workbook.

SPSE 6712 #2 Observation and Problem Identification

During my second observation in the ESL classroom I noticed a view things that could be concerning. There is one student who is newly from Mexico and does not speak any English. The ESL teacher helps him with all of his other homework as well studying English. The ESL teacher has to know how to teach these other subjects like the regular classroom teacher. She said that she spent two years of watching the math teacher to learn how he teaches math so that she could duplicate his methods. She also needed a refresher in how to solve the math problems. This could be an issue for new teachers who have not had time to observe the other teachers or are consistently too busy to spare time to observe. This will require that the teacher spends a lot of time outside of class to learn what the students are learning in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade classes.

One class I observed was the 7th grade English class. There are only six boys in the class; five of which have lived in America and gone to American schools many years. The sixth boy has been in America less than a year and lacks a lot of the vocabulary and knowledge the other boys already know. The five boys are in ESL to perfect their skills so they can pass the ELDA with high scores. I watched them use 11 prepositions from their list to create sentences. The five boys were focusing more on forming correct sentences and spelling correctly. The sixth boy knew how to form sentences, but was struggling to create a sentence, because of a lack of vocabulary. I think it could be difficult to focus on the varying needs and levels of the students.

The students, daily, work on Daily Oral Language (DOL) and Goofs. The DOL consists of three sentences that they are to correct on their own and then as a class. The goofs are powerpoint presentations that the students create of incorrect and correct sentences. One student, each day, will show his goof. On the day I observed the students also created 11 sentences using prepositions from their preposition list. The students have multiple opportunities to work together for help or to check their work. Often, students have more courage to offer answers or ask questions when they are working in a group. The students have lots of opportunities to work on the computers, and they really enjoy it. For the students who need their skills perfected, the computer requires attention to spelling and offers help. These students also are not as familar with using a computer, so they are learning valuable computer skills. The newer student is more experienced with using a computer, so he knows how to navigate easily while he learns more English.

I think that most middle school ESL teachers will need to not only be knowledgable in English skills for students trying to test out of ESL, but also of all the other subject material so they can help new learners of English complete their work. The ESL teacher will need to possess the knowledge and skills of the regular classroom teachers, and know how to best teach someone who is not proficient in English. The teacher I am observing seems to be under a lot of pressure to help her select students test out of the ESL program within the next year. They are close to scoring high enough on the ELDA, but they have are still making mistakes that second language learners make. On the other hand, she has two learners who are very new to the English language. She has very few truly intermediate English learners. These are such contrasting levels that it is hard to provide each level with the attention they need to succeed when in the same classroom. As the students created their sentences using the prepositions the teacher explained each word and the situation they might be used. She explained how a word, like amid, is not commonly used in TN, but could be found while reading or on a test. The students were welcome to create sentences about their home countries, and those would be discussed with the class.

SPSE 6810 Multicultural Education

I think that multicultural education refers both to the curriculum and education of students about other cultures, especially those located within their own education system. All students should be taught about local, national, and global history or about events presently occurring. Through multicultural education students will become better educated and more compassionate; which in turn will help schools, and later society.

I think it is difficult to define multicultural education, because every person has his/her own ideas of what it means. I think it is the same way when a group of people try to create a curriculum together. Every person values different things and making a "balanced" curriculum that everyone likes is next to impossible. Personally, I think that a lot can be changed in America, and that even though we have diverse education systems we are afraid to openly talk about diversity. While I lived in Japan it seemed like other cultures were discussed frequently. If a foreigner visited then you could most definitely find them in one classroom or another talking about themselves and their culture. This may have been because they are such a homogeneous culture, and had to use the opportunities they had to meet diverse people. I did live in a very small town, though, and am only speaking from my experiences there.

I find it sad that we do not recognize and celebrate the diversity that exists in America. Of course, coexisting is not always easy because there are misunderstandings that could possibly be helped or even avoided if we understood each other better. (This is the same for any friendship or relationship.) It is up to classroom teachers to decide how they want to approach multicultural education and enforce it in their classroom. I love to work with younger students and I have always found that they openly accept others, and ideas without having pre-conceived ideas of right and wrong. Teachers usually run into more resistance when working with parents. Parents are afraid of what they do not understand and they are more protective of their children. I think to help this situation we will need to be as informative as possible so parents understand what activities will take place in the classroom. Parents may even learn a little from their children or their children's class.

SPSE 6712 Blog #1 Classroom Observation Notes

Teaching

The purpose of the lesson was to work with the ELL on math and English
classwork, homework, and to review basic English vocabulary. The lesson only involved one student who recently moved to America and has no English skills, yet.

The lesson was designed specifically to help the new student with his other classwork and to review/teach vocabulary. Every activity was very appropriate to the student and his level. He brought his math textbook to work on assigned problems. He used a computer that was already in the ESL classroom. While working on math, the ESL teacher wrote "Too language intensive" if the problem was very wordy or complex. The regular math classroom teacher knows to accept this as if the question was completed.

The ELL was very quiet and reserved. At times, he acted tired. He was more reluctant, maybe because it was just him participating in the games and commands. He has learned a few English words, but in general he does not understand anything said in English. He seemed to relax a little after he was left alone to practice the game. He did everything the teacher asked him to do to the best of his ability.

Community

Unfortunately, for the ELL, he was the only student in the lesson so he could not interact with other students. He was very polite towards the teacher, and tried to follow her directions.

Ultimately, to become a member of this community the students must have a need concerning English. If students come from non-English speaking home they automatically qualify for the ESL program. If they score high enough on ELDA they can leave the program. Some students score well on ELDA, but still need special help with their reading skills or English skills. These students stay in the program to perfect their skills. Materials sometimes come directly from other teachers, and may be classwork/homework for the student to get help completing in the ESL class. For upper level ESL students the ESL teacher will provide her own lessons using the same texts as the regular classroom teachers.

Ethnographic Perspective

The lesson started with working on the math assignment. The ESL teacher used basic English commands to get started and then she taught how to do Scientific Notation. She showed him several examples, then they solved several examples together, and lastly, she let him solve several problems alone and she applauded or helped him when he finished the problem. After the math lesson they practiced performing "sit, stand, and raise hand," by using TPR (Total Physical Response). After TPR, the student and the teacher reviewed vocabulary like shoes, socks, shirt, red, white, and blue. They walked around the room and the teacher asked the question "What is this?" and answered with, "This is a ______." The student tried to fill in the object. Lastly, they worked on the computer playing a body parts game. They played together several times and the teacher demonstrated each body part. After playing together several times the teacher left the student to practice on his own as long as he wanted.

If an observer were to enter the classroom he would see bright colorful flowers and decorations on the door. In the class, there are posters and pictures from other countries and a world map that has been marked on to show specific locations. Students often make things using origami, and their finished projects are displayed throughout the room.

I think all of the students feel accepted and welcome. The teacher does a wonderful job greeting all of the students and making them feel like the class is truly theirs. She is happy to share anything she has (materials) with the students. She also answers questions without making the students feel self-consious and turns it into a lesson for all the students to learn.

Self Introduction

Hey everyone! I am a graduate student and I will graduate this semester!! I am working on my M. Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction with an Emphasis in English as a Second Language. After I graduate I hope to start teaching ESL with either elementary or middle school students. (The picture is of me, my niece, and my nephew.)

I have some experience teaching Kindergarten and I LOVE that age. I taught in Japan as an English teacher for two years, and that is why I now want to work with ESL students here.

Currently, I am a graduate assistant and work with the Elementary and Special Education Department. I also work at the Discovery Center. If you have never been, you should definitely go!

http://www.discoverycenteronline.org/