The danger of the single story Sociocultural Aspects of Schooling for ELs

One of the social or cultural issue that English language learner faces is the stereotype which Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie, calls The Danger of a  Single Story. Too often in our rush to incorporate multicultural text or social facts about a culture we find out self-spreading stereotypes about people and their habits. We introduce stories about other cultures as true statements about everyone one in that culture. For example how many Mexican American stories are there about Mexicans who love to farm or grow fruits, or the Native American who seem connected to the land in a magical way. While these stories have relevancy and cultural perspectives that are important in the right framework. They are ultimately the story of one person, the writer. It is culturally irrespirable to present these stories as truths about a whole culture or a people. It makes students from these cultures into stereotypes and makes them harder to fit in or to be seen as more than just “the other culture". So I plan to always present these texts as part of the writer’s truths. To tell students, that the customs and heritage which are represented in literature are not indicative of all people of that culture but of the writer and his family. In this way one can help eliminate preconceived notions about a students cultural experience and place them in a box as if we understand them.

Teaching and lesson planning for the adolescent brain.

When I design a lessen plan I try to incorporate different activities, which will help my students reach their learning potential. We know that the underdeveloped teenager medial prefrontal cortex is directly responsible for the inability of teenager to see other’s perspectives. What that means is that somethings Teenagers don't see the lesson from their teachers perspective. So when I plan a lessen I always try to incorporate different views on subjects or idea, not only that but I try to talk about the information in several different ways. By doing so I offer students multiple ways to view the world and or the subject at hand. In this way I allow my students brains to create pathways to obtaining the knowledge. Also, when I plan a lesson I try to always give my students a purpose they can relate too. In that way they the lesson is not only meaningful but it engages them. This Engagement helps with long-term memory, which is vital when learning how to apply knowledge students have gained in new ways. Another way I access long-term retention is by having an anticipatory set, which is engaging. I try to bring in objects and or pictures to show students, which can help relate meaning to what they are about to study. For instance I showed my students how music builds tension and release in order to keep the listener engaged. In the same way they as writers needed to do the same things in order to keep their reader interested. I play music that in modern and popular so that they can relate the lesson to what I’m saying.

Management Plan 101

Whenever I have spoken to anyone who has ever been in a classroom, a common word of advice they all seem to give me is have good classroom management. It seems that the ability to manage behavior and environment in a classroom, is almost if not; more important than the lessons we as educators prepare everyday. Through our systems we teach and model not only good behavior but also how to be respectful and courteous to others. This is a key component to my educational philosophy of Social Reconstructionism, because I hold fast that we educate our students not just so that they have successful lives, not only so they can be better off than ourselves, but that as a whole they help make our society better. With that in mind, my classroom management plan consists of three main strategies preventive, supportive, and corrective. These strategies focus not just on making my classroom function, but also on teaching my students to reach their highest potential as societies future.

Preventative strategies refer to thoughts, which stop, contain, or head off classroom management problems before they even begin. One of the basic strategies I would implement in my classroom would be to give students a voice and allow them to talk about the rules and why they are important (Reading, 2001). In this way students would have a say in their education and their environment. If we expects students to treat others with respect, than we must show them that we respect their opinions, and that they all have a right to a pleasant environment.

Next, I would set a number of getting to know you activities where students not only get to know each other, but practice talking about their differences and more so that peoples perceptions even in a small class can be widely different (Nelson, 1993). In this way we begin to break the stereotypes teenagers sometimes have, and more so make the class room an open form to ask and explore social questions.

Another preventive strategy is to build a community where students interact with one another feeling supported and trusted to make right choices (Coloroso, 2003). If the community self corrects bad behavior while at the same time supports good behavior, students will feel free to explore the system with out adult intervention. Peer reviewing is a less threating experience and students are quicker to lower their affective filters.

A good preventative strategy can also come from the understanding I am a quirky human being who have likes and dislikes. I know that I don’t like loud classroom environments. Yet, I also don’t want my students to feel like they can’t ask each other questions or discuss topics freely. So one preventative strategy could be to know that sometimes I could be asking kids to conform not because they are being disruptive, but for my own quirks (Gorden, 1989). To eliminate that I could play music, and ask kids to self monitor so that the noise does not go above the IPod. In this way I’m not shushing the class for my own likes and dislikes while still establishing an inviting environment.

Another preventive strategy I would implement would be to follow Alfie Kone’s what to look for in a good classroom. More specifically I would make sure that the environment had a few of his suggestions. For example, I would make sure that the desks were set up not in a front facing position but rather in as close to a circle as I could manage so that I’m not the center of attention. In this way students can see each other and interact easily. Also, I would make sure that the walls were covered with all the kids work, so that they can display what they have done. Not only that but I would allow students to create other wall decorations so it feels more like their environment.

The last preventative strategy I would use would be to allow students to tell me their needs, and how I might be able to help them be successful in my class. I would take into consideration any requests they might have and do what I can to help them (Charles). Often times we don’t take others needs into account. If we want our children to be kind courteous members of society then we need them to know people care able them. We need to model that so that they can model it as teens then adults.

The Next major part of any classroom management strategy need to include a supportive component. Once you create a safe environment for learning one must continue to cultivate that relationship with students. We have to reinforce and model good behavior everyday. One strategy I would use to do that is through the use of none verbal communication (Jones, 1970). Often times all we need to do in order to manage a classroom is move around the room. We can learn to watch over our class with being an over bearing guard. Often times, moving over to a group and praising their work or offering suggestions is enough to keep everyone one on task. It also teaches students that your interested in their learning and not just there to burdening them with tasks.

The next strategy I would use would be to give each student positive feedback everyday. Students seem to have difficulty giving and receiving compliments especially to other students (Nelson, 1993). So to create a classroom where kids can feel appreciated, I would compliment or say something kind to each of my students each day. This doesn’t have to be a grand jester, but rather can be accomplished by simply standing by the door before each period greeting each student.

The next supportive strategy I would use is to continue to keep my students quirks and individuality in tacked.  Often times as educators we struggle to reach the student who never talks. Yet, we ignore the chronic hand riser because we feel we give them too much attention. Regardless, if the hand riser need extra help, or they know every answer, we need to support every student in our class. They need to see their question or answer is valid and not just dismissed. (Jones 1970). So while we still need to reach the quiet ones we also need to continue to respond the talkers.

Another strategy I would implement would be to keep my lessons varied and dynamic. By this I mean I need to create lessons that are not just engaging but that also differentiate in order to keep students interested in learning (Glasser, 1985).  If students are interested in what they are doing then they are less likely to act out or misbehave.

A final component to my supportive strategy  would be to talk to students and ask them about their lives. Students are more likely to care about others if they feel like others care about them (Kohn, 2001). Again these don’t have to be huge conversations but taking time to find common ground or asking about students likes or dislikes can help support the on going classroom community.

The final Major component to my classroom strategy is a corrective component.  I believe we all want our students to be as engaged and excited about their learning as we are. Yet, sometimes students in their quest to become adults, over step their bounds. When this happens we as educators have to step in and help correct their behavior.

The first strategy I would use in correcting behavior would be to treat the incident not the student. I believe that every incident needs to be handled with dignity and respect. That means not making a public spectacle of the student or the bad behavior. Students should not be reprimanded in front of the class if it can be avoided. This doesn’t mean that I would allow the bad behavior to continue, rather that the subsequent discussion doesn’t have to take place from across the room (Meddler, 1983). Students need to learn to treat people with respect and modeling how to do that is not only tactful but also respectful to them and the class.

            The Next strategy I would use is to model to my students how to let things go. That is, if I had to reprimand you yesterday, that does not mean we cannot start over tomorrow (Gordon, 1989). As adults, we learn to let petty arguments go. We learn to take responsibility for our actions and move forward. Often time’s students hold a grudge against their teachers. This hinders not only the relationship but also the students learning process. What we need to do than is show the students that we have moved on by talking to them, asking them about their day.

            Another strategy I would use would be to hand over the responsibility of the student’s life back to them. For example, if a student were being disruptive I would ask them to leave my room and come back when they believe they can handle the room again (Medler, 1994). In this way I could make the student choose which action they want to take while still saying you can’t take the negative action in my classroom. This can be done with respect while also ultimately allowing the student to choose his or her own discipline.

            The next strategy I would take follows the philosophy of the golden rule and that is to do on to others as you would have done onto you. I believe that students and teachers need to have a measure of self-control and responsibility for their actions (Coloroso,1994). With that being said we need to as educators take a moment each day and think to our selves did I handle that situation in a way that would have been respectful to me, or my child. If we are going to model how to be respectful members of society we need to start by showing that respect to everyone in every situation.

            Another strategy I would use comes from Robyn R. Jackson who runs seminars and is invited to teacher’s classrooms for management help. Jackson strategy is to look at what currency students bring In order to help facilitate learning. She says that students and teachers often bring different kinds of currency into the classroom. Teachers have one expectation as to how learning should take place while students clearly have another. The goal then as an educator is not to just dismiss student’s currency, or learning style, as bad behavior because it doesn’t translate well with ours. Rather, as facilitators of learning we should offer students a ways to cash in what they bring and help them succeed by at the very least meeting then in the middle.

            Finally the last strategy I would use involves giving students the ability to discuss how they will solve their own problem. In this win win approach students take primary responsibility for their actions and decide how they can correct their behavior (Gordon, 1989). In this way they have to examine not only what they did but also how saver the punishment should be. By giving students respectful control we can teach them personal responsibility.

            As Educators we sometimes forget that what we are doing is teaching more then content. It is not knowledge for knowledge sake rather it is knowledge with a purpose. We want our students to learn to be better people, to respect others and to learn personal responsibility. We use content to expand their perceptions of the world so that their futures and their realities can be grander than ours. Managing a classroom than is not about discipline, but rather about showing them how to test their own limits in a safe environment.  

i+1 ELD Instructional model

When working with English Language students it is important to understand what their CELT scores mean. For instance, if one has an EL student with a CELT score of 3 which represents Intermediate level, the standard that students is trying to meet must correspond to the i+1 Model. By this I mean the student already has met all the skills needed for Celt score 3 and they need to move on to CELT score 4 level learning. To see what this might look like follow the link below to access a vocabulary lesson plan that I created. In box 3a. You can see I identified an EL students with a CELT score of 4 which represents early advanced. Then if you look at box labeled 6) You can see the ELD standard I listed is for an Advanced or CELT level 5 student.  In order to meet this standard and help my ELD student advance I simply added required the whole class to use a dictionary to define a given word.


VOCABULARY LESSON