Who is my second language learner? K.C. is a seventh grader who has grown up in the United States in a home where his parents speak Spanish and are highly uncomfortable with speaking English. He speaks English with his brother, but Spanish with his parents. His mother is from Mexico and his dad from Guatemala. For television his parents have a cable package of Spanish channels. He says that they mainly watch the news, and that sometimes he will watch with them. Radio and TV programs he chooses to watch are in English. His musical taste is international and from many genres.
One reason I decided to focus on him is because he is in my mainstream English class, my READ180 class, and in my advisory class.
I interviewed him, as well as observing and interacting with him in class.
Cognitive Strengths: K.C. says, "[My learning] takes time, but I can do it. It takes time to process, but thinking it over again, looking at what it really is, I get the answer. He says that "when the teacher calls on you randomly, it takes time to think. Teachers do give time. That’s what the “umm" is there for -- so the teacher knows you're thinking."
Cognitive Needs: "It takes takes understanding the questions. Accessing background comes naturally -- I just do that. I've had teachers talk about accessing background."
Social/Affective Strengths: K.C. says, " Knowing how they are and how I can relate with them, I can start great conversations even with people I don't know. I like making new friends."
When asked how he feels in school, He says, "Excited." I asked about a time earlier in the day when he looked tired, and was resting his head on the desk. He said that was when he didn't know quite what was going on.
Social/Affective Needs: He withdraws when not understanding -- for example, during a grammar lesson being taught by the student teacher. However, sometimes he seems to not be listening, when he really is.
Linguistic Strengths: He says his writing is more emotional, more thoughtful language than speaking. When speaking he likes to be funny, to cheer up people, "always wanting them to have fun, always feel good. He will pause for the words -- always trying to find the right word, a better word. Note: He is very purposeful in trying to find the right, the exact word to express himself.
Linguistic Needs: He says he needs to make his grammar in writing better, and needs to know when to quote and unquote, and how to not have run on sentences. His reading scores are low enough to place him in a reading intervention class this year.
Cultural Strengths: As K.C. reports: On a future job application, he says, being bilingual will look good. He can sometimes translate.
Cultural Needs: K.C. says, "Sometimes I have to set my mind -- this is English now." Comparing his two languages, he comments that the difference is the feeling -- Spanish goes faster, the conversation goes faster. Hispanic tries to get to know you more than English. Hispanic is more fast moving , more vivid, lively, smooth.
Age Strengths: He is 13. He says that the difference between now and when he was younger was that in grade school he was learning the basics. Now his learning is "higher."
Age Needs: Because of K.C.'s age, social interaction is especially important.
Limited Formal Schooling (Strengths): K.C. has attended school in the U.S. all his life. He received perfect attendance awards for fifth and sixth grade. He would have received one for fourth grade, but he got the chicken pox.
Limited Formal Schooling (Needs): His schooling is not limited in amount of seat time, since he has grown up in the U.S. and prides himself in his excellent attendance at school.
Note: K.C. is very intelligent, and knowledgeable about many things. I have discovered that the problem with his grades stem largely from not turning in assignments. Today he told me that he'd learned from the guidance counselors to treat homework like a hot potato -- when the teacher hands it to you, bounce it back to him or her as quickly as you can. (What a great idea!)
Current Realities
K.C. received D-'s and F's in his core classes for both first and second term.
Program: English Class:
K.C. is in a regular English class in his junior high.
Constraint: In a class of thirty-three students (times 5 classes that size, plus two more classes of about twenty, and an advisory group to keep track of), I don't always take the time with individual students like K.C. that I would like to. I have wanted to set up a "reading workshop" format in my English classrooms so I could spend more time checking in on individual students, but have not yet worked out the logistics to implement that plan. K.C.'s other teachers also deal with large classes (some much larger than mine), and so don't necessary have the time to help out individual students. Our guidance counselors each have responsibility over about 500 students or more. Even when teachers (or parents) give the counselors a heads-up about students who could use extra support, it can take awhile to get around to that student.
Support: I'm getting to know Kenneth through this project, and am making sure he understands assignments, and has goals for handing in work. Also, I have a student teacher this term, which allows me to work one-on-one with individual students.
Program: CaveTime
Support: However, we do have a program now called CaveTime. It is held during the 35 minutes four days a week that used to be called advisory. It is an opportunity (forced) for students who have D's and F's to work with the teachers of those classes on getting caught up, and for the students with C's and above to participate in enrichment activities.
Constraint: K.C. does currently have a B+ in English, so he is probably spending most of his CaveTime on algebra where he has an F. I'm concerned though about a large project that is coming up, and will request that he come to my class for CaveTime to make sure he's on schedule to complete that.
Program: Math Enrichment
Support: For math, K.C. is enrolled in an enrichment class. In other words, instead of having math every other day (on the block schedule) he has math every day, with an opportunity during the enrichment class to work on and seek help on what he learned in math class.
Program: READ180Support: Read180 is an intensive intervention program for students who are behind in reading skills. Its effectiveness in helping students improve their reading skills has been proven in extensive research. K.C. is in a class of about 20 students.
We start out class with brief teacher instruction, then the students break into three groups and move through three rotations. One involves about 20 minutes of time with interactive software that includes videos to build background about an engaging subject, instruction and drill on spelling, work recognition and fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Another rotation is time for individual reading, with students selecting books and other reading materials from a library of high-interest, student-level specific books, and with brief written responses and computer quizzes to check comprehension. The third rotation is small-group time, working with the teacher and peers (sometimes just with peers or having individual interviews with the teacher).
The teacher can view feedback from the Scholastic Reading Inventory (a computer test to determine student reading level) and skill- specific feedback from the computer software, so he or she can respond to particular student needs.
Constraints: Our Read180 classes are larger than they are supposed to be (20 students instead of less than 15), and we meet only every other day for 77 minutes compared with every day for 90 minutes.
Because the Read180 class has an extremely precise structure, during two of the three rotations opportunities for socializing (and being on task at the same time) are almost nil. Students need to be able to work independently during he individual reading and computer rotations. During the small group portion, there is a bit more opportunity for students to visit, but usually it must be about the task at hand. In other words, two-thirds of the time they are not supposed to be talking with each other. K.C. has a hard time with that.
Programs: Tracking: Because K.C. has earned so many D's and F's, he is eligible for the tracking program. That means he checks in daily with an adult who helps him check his grades, and figure out what he needs to do to succeed.
Classroom Practices:
Support: In my English and Reading classes, I try to support learners by pre-teaching needed unfamiliar vocabulary; providing opportunities for peer interaction through such activities as think, pair-share, and collaboration on many assignments; and building background knowledge.
Constraints: K.C. is usually quiet, outwardly cooperative (thought sometimes he isn't really on task), and doesn't stand out in English class. He could be overlooked. Encouragement from a teacher goes a long way with K.C., so larger class size could be a problem. Sometimes I don't check to make sure everyone understands and is doing the work -- taking, rather, the "temperature" of the class as a whole. I need to be more attentive to students like K.C.
What implications for [my] classroom teaching practices can I make from what I know about this student's strengths and needs?
K.C. is bright and eager to learn, and has high hopes for his future. There seems to be a disconnect between his aspirations and his current performance in school. (He is doing well in some classes, and flunking others.) I believe that part of that comes from a different understanding of the purposes and values of school that is common among his Hispanic peers, and that relates, too, to the way the education process is viewed by his parents and other adults in his life. There are other values that take precedence over grades. Also, K.C. doesn't entirely understand "the school game." He wants to learn it, though. He greatly values the tip the school counselors recently gave him to "treat homework like a hot potato. When the teacher gives it to you, get it done and back to him or her as quickly as you can." He doesn't have anyone at home to help him figure out or do his homework, or to provide him with curriculum-related enrichment.
I can help him learn the school game by explicitly teaching school success strategies to him and the rest of his classmates, and giving him specific tips as opportunities arise. I can also more explicitly point out the value of good grades.
In English class I can focus with him on developing his writing --
going ahead and writing for fluency now, but also pointing out repeated errors -- one type at time, and help him work on that type of error, such as sentence run-ons.
In reading, I want to provider more opportunities for Kenneth to speak out appropriately -- to interact "legally" with his peers. I can help him with useful spelling rules, review of commonly misspelled words, and work on using inflectional endings.
Inclusive Pedagogy:
Collaboration: I can collaborate with his other teachers on finding ways to help K.C. I've already talked with his history teacher, and with a counselor.
Guiding (theoretical and moral) Principles :
Essential Policy (standards, classification, legalities):
Critical Learning Domains: See above.
Classroom Strategies --
Group Work -- K.C. responds well to group work -- especially if he is allowed to select his own group.
Explicit teaching -- Explicitly teach phonics and syllabication, vocabulary and word study (in small chunks) as the need arises. E specially in READ180, I could help K.C. by explicitly teaching facets of language that he's still working on getting, including spelling when adding inflectional endings.
Wait time -- Allow Wait time after asking questions.
Second Language Acquisition Concepts:
Communication -- Input and Interaction:
Pattern -- Stages of Development and Errors:
Variability -- Types of Proficiency and Types of Performances:
Standards for Effective Pedagogy:
Joint productive activity --
Language and Literacy development
Contextualization
Challenging Activities
Instructional Conversation
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