CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC HERITAGE Exploring and sharing rich resources within our students.

STUDENT A  6 years old (Birthday )  First Grade  Female Student A speaks English with an African American dialect. This year is her first year at our school. She is a very sweet, quiet, shy, and congenial child.

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS  Lives with her mother, grandmother, and two older sisters, ages 9 and 16.  For the first few months of school, her mother worked an evening shift and was not home to help Student A with her homework. In November, her mother was able to get a job working in the day and is now home to help with homework.  Family is considered low socioeconomic status. She receives free breakfast and lunch at school.

CHALLENGES  Student A had severe difficulties falling asleep at school for the first three months of school. I talked with her mother frequently about her problems with sleepiness. It was so severe many days that I was afraid she had a medical problem and encouraged her mother to have her evaluated by a physician. However, these problems greatly improved when her mother changed from a job working in the evening to working during the day. Student A has not had problems falling asleep in class in several weeks.  In kindergarten at her previous school, her mother reports that the curriculum was not very advanced. She says, “They did a lot of coloring sheets.”  She moved to our school the third week of school. She was painfully shy and has taken a long time to become social.

ACADEMIC CHALLENGES  When she came to us the third week of school, she was behind in reading, language, and math skills.  The first three months of school, she consistently was unable to pass reading tests, spelling tests, phonics tests, or sight word tests. She is progressing, but is still struggling.  She was placed in Tier 2 in August and began interventions and progress monitoring. She is making progress in all areas, but still falls below the cut scores. She was moved to Tier 3 in December.  She continues to need interventions and extra support in phonics, decoding skills, sight words, vocabulary, reading fluency, reading comprehension, number recognition, and math computation.

G.R.A.S.P. SCREENER DATA Letter Sounds Sight Words Reading Fluency Number Recognition Math Fluency August Cut Score Student A’s August Score November Cut Score Student A’s November Score

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE According to Marshall and Toohey (2010), Moll and Greenberg define funds of knowledge as “the essential cultural practices and bodies of knowledge and information that households use to survive, to get ahead, or to thrive” (p. 222).

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE: CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC  Student A speaks English with an African American dialect.  Being the only African American student in my class may add to her difficulties in social as well as academic language. According to Mazur and Doran (2010), the process of meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students “involves an awareness of the impact that factors such as cultural diversity, changing cultural norms, family trauma and emotional adjustment, and second-language acquisition can have on learning” (p. 7).  Student A will benefit from literacy learning experiences rich in oral and written language, collaborative activities to encourage social acceptance and communication skills.  Getting to know Student A and her family on a more personal level will help in boosting her self confidence and feeling of being valued.

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE: FAMILY AND EXPERIENCES  Student A’s family is a close-knit and loving family who spend a lot of quality time together. All three girls share a bedroom together.  In addition to her mother, her grandmother and both older sisters help Student A with her homework, reading, and spelling.  Learning is a priority, as evidenced by conversations with her mother and her older sister’s (third grade) teacher.  Although her mother and I communicate frequently by and phone calls, personal contact has been limited due to her mother’s work schedule.  She has minimal experiences outside our local community.

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE: PRACTICAL  Student A is a very conscientious student with a strong desire to learn and succeed.  Her self concept has improved greatly since the beginning of the year when she struggled with meeting more rigorous curriculum standards than the school she was in for kindergarten. Fostering a family-type classroom culture of valuing and respecting each other’s differences will help Student A feel that she belongs and will continue to build her self esteem (Laureate Education, 2014).

STRENGTHS RELATED TO CCSS LITERACY EXPECTATIONS  Understands the organization and basic features of print.  Phonological awareness – can blend sounds in CVC words and is beginning to understand long vowel patterns and consonant blends.  Uses context to support word recognition and comprehension.  Writes in complete sentences.  Enjoys writing and is developing writing skills.  Has excellent listening skills.

CHALLENGES RELATED TO CCSS LITERACY EXPECTATIONS  Although her sight word vocabulary has progressed, she is still below grade level expectations.  Needs further support with phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.  Oral language skills are weak, partly due to language development, but also related to her shy personality and hesitancy to speak in front of others.  Needs support in building communication skills in collaborative groups and whole group.  Writing needs further support to develop variety in sentence type and structure and also structure of writing according to purpose.  Needs continued learning experiences in the conventions of Standard English.

REFERENCES Laureate Education (Producer). (2014s). Valuing linguistic diversity [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Marshall, E., & Toohey, K. (2010). Representing family: Community funds of knowledge, bilingualism, and multimodality. Harvard Educational Review, 80(2), 221–241. Mazur, A., & Doran, P. (2010). Teaching diverse learners: Principles for best practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.