Prompt 2 Response: Social Differences in the Classroom

 The culturally competent teacher should be able to account for, demonstrate awareness of, and respond to the socio-cultural distinctiveness of her or his students, families, and communities when planning for and delivering instruction. 

During the time I have worked with these students I am starting to pick up the socio-cultural distinctiveness of the classes. Most of the students speak fluent English, some speak well enough to know what is going on, and a few kids are lost a decent amount of time. However, this doesn't mean that most of the students understand completely. I am learning that just about all the students learned English verbally, which is definitely instrumental, but formal language training is lacking. This can lead to students having to learn more terms in school, which can slow the math learning process. There is also the problem that the home is not a place where students can get better at English, I am learning a lot of students are first generation English learners. The school and Mrs. Johnson have responded by making sure students and parents know about and have access to many resources, inside and outside of school. When I went to a second classroom to help the teacher, I noticed that there was a second teacher in the room, who I correctly guessed was an ESL teacher, allowing for translation when necessary. Another method that the teachers used was the use of videos, both for teaching subject matter, but also with language skills. I remember when I was in France, the French college students loved to watch movies in English because it helped them to learn the language. It is very cool to see thing being done in school. For the students that were not yet there in English, they received all the Tier 1 instruction, but during their time with Mrs. Johnson (and me), they received different types, mostly visual and audio combined, with constant feedback, to make sure the students understood. We also started to use a website, which contained math games that the students could use, which got them excited about practicing their math. I worked with a 3rd grade student who did not score very well on his assessments, but seemed to do well with 1-on-1 learning, we were rolling 3 dice and getting all the combinations, he didn't know what to do, but I explained it and he got it right away. I was also instructed to ask him to say the numbers, and to see how many number places he knew, which was all the way to the millions. I even added a 4th die and he did well.

Overall, I have noticed that there is a lot of scaffold teaching going on. The teachers are meeting the students where they are, and making sure to give them the support they need, while slowly getting more complex and less heavily involved.