Bloggin for Week Two-June 1st

Reflecting on my current practices regarding meeting the diverse needs of the students in my classroom…
Since I teach in a Title 1 school-Fairview Elementary in Olathe Kansas-I have first-hand knowledge of cultural diversity among students. This is my third year of teaching and so far the majority of my students have been Hispanic. Of the Hispanics, I’ve had students come straight from Mexico as well as a mixture of students who have strong links to Mexico, but live here in Kansas. Other cultures that I’ve been blessed to of had the opportunity to work with are African Americans, Laotian and White. I’m embarrassed to admit, but my cultural experiences personally have been limited too. I never had the experiences of traveling and getting acquainted with others, but I hope to someday ☺! I was raised in a very small town in Nebraska. This small town was 99.9% White. My family moved to KC when I was 16 and that is where I met my first Hispanic and African American person. Back to the point-With my limited experiences, I’ve learned a lot about incorporating the Hispanic culture into my classroom. I’ve sat through many formal trainings about ELL’s in the classroom as well as personal study. I have yet to have a student with special needs in my classroom, but before I was a teacher I was a special education paraprofessional where I got to adapt teacher lessons to help my student. I know that I will someday and I want to be prepared!

Meeting the various learning needs through my instruction
o *Accompany instruction by illustrations or gestures.
o *Spending a lot of time during the first few months of school making observations of how my students interact with each other, their interests, and what activities they get involved in. I use these observations to help me determine the multiple intelligences in my classroom.
o Using a “2nd grade friendly” version of the multiple intelligences surveys provided online to help my students determine their intelligence. I could use these results to help guide planning well-balanced units that incorporate several different intelligences.
o Use instructional strategies found at TeacherVision.com to assist in planning lessons that meet the needs of special needs students.
o Using the multiple intelligences chart from TeacherVision.com, I can plan lessons using these key words knowing that I’m engaging certain multiple intelligences.

Meeting the various cultural needs through my classroom environment
o *mixed-gender and culture groups for seating.
o *“student of the week” structure where students get one week to share with the class many different things about themselves. As supported by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010), my students create family trees and share photographs to share a little about themselves and their family. (pg. 280)
o *Create a friendly environment that encourages communication, tolerance, and acceptance. Teach lessons to help students learn these skills and provide them with opportunities to practice them.
o *Value individual opinions and comments in small groups.
o Learn native language and teach students those words. Larri Fish of Siena College suggests this conveys respect.
o *Recognize important cultural events
o Create a classroom library that has multicultural books and authors (Fish).

*indicates practices currently in practice. Reflecting on this list makes me realize that I really need to focus on support the needs through my instruction. I am always learning new things! :-)


Using technology and resources could enhance my lessons by providing students with culturally rich experiences and opportunities they may not normally have the chance of experiencing. For example, we read a narrative story as a class about Chinatown. In the story, the little boy was visiting a grandparent in Chinatown and preparing for the Chinese New Year. As a part of the Chinese New Year celebration, the family watched a lion dance in the street. After reading the story, I had a few stories pulled from the library that students could read on their own time about the Chinese culture. We also watched a YouTube video of different lion dances and how the people prepare for them. I know after the rich conversations we had through this unit that my students will never forget that! We live so far away from China and Chinatown, but that didn’t limit our experiences.
Some dilemmas that we face have a lot to do with school funding. With school funds becoming increasingly tight, we can use interactive online fieldtrips to take students places that we can’t go. With technology we can go places far away while still being in our classroom! When my class learned about fossils, we took an interactive tour of a fossil exhibit in a museum (in Michigan-I believe). In addition to school funding, bringing more technology into the classroom is limited. In order for me to get the newest technology, I have to write grants. I am a huge fan of Apple products so I would love to have a few iPod Touch’s as well as an iPad. With a grant, I could account for the cost of the technology, the insurance to make sure the technology will last for a while and money to buy and download free and low-cost games. I can find many math and reading games! The iPad in education proves how versatile it could be for every student. It would be one device that could serve to meet the various needs in my classroom. (Wish me luck as I write a grant next year for one!) These can be used for students who need extra attention, enrichment, and to support learned concepts during our literacy center time. Currently, according to Apple, an iPad starts at $499.