STEPHANIE GARMON WALDEN UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTOR, DR. JERI COREY: READ 6718O JANUARY 31, 2016 BENEFITS OF CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE CLASSROOM

5 TH GRADE ELL LEARNER The student I am presenting is 10 years old and has attended my school since 1 st grade. He is extremely respectful, well-behaved, and motivated to succeed. His family relies primarily on Spanish at home for communication. This student takes on an adult role at school making sure that conferences are arranged with a translator for his mother; despite reassurances that our ELL Teacher will make sure all arrangements are made.

ELL STUDENT INFORMATION As I stated in the previous slide, this student has an enormous sense of responsibility as the mediator between home and school. Not only was he concerned about making sure he had a conference arranged with an interpreter, he also wanted to make sure his sister’s conference was arranged as well.

SOCIOECONOMIC My student is on free and reduced lunch at school. He has approached me in regards to getting a scholarship for our 5 th grade field trip. The cost of the trip is quite expensive at $72. I also arranged for him to get a 5 th grade t-shirt. He was surprised when I had one for him and questioned how he managed to get one.

ACADEMIC CHALLENGES My student reads on grade level, but he has to work very hard to reach his goals. Writing is an obstacle because of the nuances of figurative language and abstract concepts. In order to make my instruction more effective, I need to include diverse resources to make content more accessible.

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE Linguistic: My student is fluent in Spanish and he helps his parents navigate school communications. He is very comfortable articulating questions or concerns that are academic or social in nature. Cultural: My student has a very strong familial bond that was evident in our conference. He takes on a great deal of responsibility for caring for his sister at home and at school.

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE Family: My student is very proud of his family and speaks of them often. His sister is very important to him. During our school conference, he contributed to the conversation and helped make a plan for his academic goals. Experiences: My student’s family struggles financially and he has been open with me about this at school. He will not even take any type of financial form home. I often find them left at his desk, and then he will speak to me about it privately.

FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE Practical: My student is very well-liked and often acts as a peace keeper in the classroom. He has a unique ability to see all sides of a conflict.

LITERACY RELATED TO CCSS The Common Core State Standards are meant to be a descriptor of the what the student needs to achieve (Halladay & Moses, 2013). My role as the teacher is to provide authentic learning experiences that address the needs of my students; and the CCSS gives me the freedom to plan effective instruction. My student needs more practice with writing, because he has a simplistic way of constructing sentences. I hope to make him more successful in combining sentences to create more sophisticated pieces of writing.

RESOURCES Halladay, J. L., & L. M. (2013). Using the Common Core Standards to Meet the Needs of Diverse Learners: Challenges and Opportunities. New England Reading Association Journal, Morrell, E., & Morrell, J. (2012). Multicultural readings of multicultural literature and the promotion of social awareness in ELA classrooms. New England Reading Association Journal, Retrieved January 23, 2016.