Back to Back Lessons

Last Tuesday and Thursday, instead of a traditional class, all of us taught back to back 20 minute lessons based on our content. The idea was that we could teach students our content for one class and give students an exit card to assess their progress. Based on the exit cards, we would modify our lesson for the second day of lessons. This exercise was used to help us get used to teaching and planning lessons. I have linked the evidence of my lessons below, including my original plan, some of the exit cards, and my classmate and teacher feedback.

Lesson Evidence

The Performance Criterion that I believe this experience most closely matches is, Performance Criterion 7.2: Candidates plan instruction by drawing upon knowledge of learners to meet rigorous learning goals. By having my students complete exit tasks I was able to modify my next class to meet their needs. In my second lesson I had discussion questions for the student's to complete. I gave them the option of filling it out individually and writing down their answers, or reviewing it as a discussion. The students felt more comfortable reviewing it in a group. I could tell from our first class that the topic was something they were passionate about, and the students enjoyed having an open dialogue. Because I knew this, I was able to modify my lesson to fit their needs and the knowledge they had coming into the classroom.
  
    Overall this lesson was a very rewarding experience. It was the first time that I was able to teach 2 lessons back to back in my content area on a subject that I wanted to teach. It was also very helpful to get feedback from my colleagues and my teachers so I could see what areas I excelled in and what areas I still needed to work on. My final assessment for my students was an open discussion based on the topics we discussed. I really wanted my students to understand how bad traits in a leader (i.e. greed and selfishness) affect the government and decisions. I am proud to say that my students were able to understand the content and passed their assessment with flying colors.
  
   One thing I need to work on, is more clearly planning out the objectives for my class and communicating them to my students. I have the plan in my head of what I want my students to achieve but I am a very impulsive person and so easily get caught up in a good meaty discussion that I totally forget to mention the significance of the lesson, or why we are learning what we at learning. I also need to work on how often I say "guys." It is a really bad habit that I need to be more conscious of.
   
    Building a lesson plan in curriculum and learning how to have content, activities, and assessments that match the standards, helped me create a cohesive lesson that reflected the standard I wanted my students to meet. Literacy taught me how to modify my classroom and learning plan so the class as a whole could understand the content depending on their literacy ability. Which is one of the reasons why I opted for a multimedia presentation of the content instead of having a read aloud which I was originally planning on doing.
   
     This experience was really beneficial for me to gain more teaching experience and to find my style as a teacher. I am excited to see how I continue to grow as a teacher in future lessons.

Same Sun Here

A few weeks ago, the author of the book Same Sun Here visited our campus. Neela Vaswani, co-author of the book, came to talk about the book and her process of writing it. What was fascinating about Neela is that much like her character in the book, she is of Indian descent.
        
           In making the book, she talked about how organically it was made with her co-author Silas House. They each took their own characters that they came up with, and sent each other real letters in the mail as if they were real pen pals. This created the basis for the book, give or take some editing. Neela told us that when her publisher first read it she was surprised that there was no conflict between the two main characters Meena and River. They tried to stir things up a little, but overall the two characters were perfect friends.
  
         This book was overall a great book and I really enjoyed it. One thing I really enjoyed about meeting the author was being able to hear her perspective on how the book was made and how they integrate the book into schools, by doing various lessons and school wide activities centered around themes of the book. Overall this was a really great experience.

Vocabulary Lesson

Vocabulary Lesson Plan


Vocabulary Lesson Video

A week and a half ago in our classroom we were asked to create a mini lesson about one vocabulary term or concept related to our content and teach it to a small group. This assignment was especially difficult for me. I felt as though I didn't have a clear focus or direction as to what to teach about. Consequently I spent so much time thinking about what topic to choose, I was not able to put enough time into my lesson. Overall, this is not my favorite lesson I have ever done and I was not particularly happy with my final product. The lesson plan goes over my idea of how I wanted to present the material to the class, while the video is actual footage of me teaching the lesson. As I stated before, it is not my best lesson and upon watching the video, I have found quite a few things that I could improve on.
  
This lesson experience most closely relates to the following pillar in our mission statement:

          

       "Our graduates are reflective and contemplative practitioners. They thoughtfully implement curriculum and assessments, drawing from a solid theoretical base to guide their instruction and leadership decisions. They balance action with reflection to stay centered and purposeful in active environments, offering a role model for students. "

While it is not my best lesson, I take this experience and learn from it. Teachers, just like students and all human beings don't always do their best, and sometimes make mistakes. Being able to recognize what you did well on and what you can improve on as a teacher models a reflective behavior that all student's should have. Of course students should not be overly critical of their work, but as any human there needs to be a strong balance between looking and  assessing your own work. What did I do well on? What could I improve on next time? Yes of course the teacher's opinion is important to an extent, it is a student's self reflection that is most crucial to their learning. Not only are they learning more about themselves but they are growing as a student.

   I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me and I am not always going to get it right, and I am not always going to get an A+ or Proficiency with Distinction. I do know however that these experiences such as a bad lesson are going to help me grow as a teacher and a person, and I can only hope that an experience such as this will shape me to be a role model for students and prove to them, we don't always have to do our best work to succeed or improve and it is possible to learn from your mistakes.

While I am not happy with the final outcome of my lesson, I have learned a lot about myself and how I can improve my teaching. I know that I am learning and I can't be expected to be a perfect teacher just yet. I need to be more confident in what I say and what I do. My voice is quiet and I am not interacting with my students as much as I would have liked. I was so nervous and anxious I ended up standing behind the podium the entire time. While my discussion questions looked good on paper, they did not receive a good response from my students. The questions were too easy and only elicited one word or no answers, proving that my questions were just a tad elementary for my audience. While I am very disappointed in how my lesson unfolded, I did have one small victory, I did not say "um" (yay!). This is definitely a lesson that I can learn from (no pun intended) and I am hoping that my teaching and confidence will improve by the end of the semester.

   In class we practiced writing fair use contracts and letters home for a hypothetical 1:1 technology initiative in our school. Below are links to both our fair use contract, and our letter home.

Letter Home

Fair Use contract


Each of these were difficult to write, because there were so many aspects to each. I personally was afraid that something might be left out or come across the wrong way. We did however successfully cover all topics related to the use of the technology including disciplinary actions and how we as educators expect student to effectively use the technology.
    
    Our future students will be digital natives and surrounded by a world that will one day be completely digitalized. Our students ability to be digitally literate begins with how they are taught to use technology in schools. It is our job to teach students how to effectively use the technology given to them, ensuring it opens doors for them. This relates to :
Performance Criterion 10.1: Candidates are prepared to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure student learning.
As a future educator, it will be my job to ensure that students are aware of how technology will aid in their learning. It will also be important for teachers, parents, and the school district to all be on the same page and collectively agree on how technology will affect the students learning, and what is expected of students to ensure that they are effectively using technology to increase their learning capacity.

    Technology will soon be incorporated in every single aspect of education. With the new 1:1 initiatives, smart boards, apps, eBooks, etc., there will soon be a day where our students might not even use a pen and paper to write anymore. While the idea of technology excites me, it scares me as well. Of course technology will open many doors for students and they will be able to explore different modes of media and learn things that a encyclopedia might never have been able to tell them . Students are now able to skype with other classrooms from around the world or watch movies or Facebook live videos that pertain to real world news or what they are studying in their classes. At  the same token there are a lot of not so good things that come with technology . Excessive screen time is detrimental to health, there are also a lot of important things that cannot be necessarily done on the internet, like writing a letter or communicating with a person in human. Yes, I am excited for technology but I fear that the humanness will become lost because of it. I am hoping my class room will use technology effectively to learn, but my students will also be able to go back to pencil and paper and having face to face discussions with one another. I also feel that the more complex  the technology gets that my students will have to start teaching me the ins and outs of the hottest new  apps. It will be difficult to keep up with all the new digital discoveries, I look forward to having a group of young digital natives to keep me in the loop.

     Over the past two weeks I was given two multimedia assignments for my education classes at St. Mike's, (ED 343 Literacy in Middle/High, and ED 361 Curriculum in Middle/High). In ED 343 we had to make use the APP Adobe SparkPage in order to creatively explain to our classmates our personal views on learning. In ED 361 we used the APP Explain Everything to make a video presentation about a specific learning theory we identify with and how we plan on using these learning theories in our future classrooms. I have linked both presentations below:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/DOCmoQJNlOHvS/

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8iwyFcF5jJbejRaejBRRmRkMms

(an updated version of my explain everything will be up soon!)

The PC that I believe these assignments most closely relate to is:

Performance Criterion 5.2: Candidates integrate cross-disciplinary skills (such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving) to help learners demonstrate their learning in unique ways.

     One thing that I found very difficult for this assignment was taking the time to learn a new piece of technology. The App Explain Everything was extremely difficult to use and I felt as though I did not compose a good presentation due to the amount of time that I had to put into app before the content. This program was very difficult for me to navigate. On the other hand I REALLY enjoyed using Adobe Sparkpage. The page was easy to use and intuitive and I was able to visually and creatively share without taking away from my content. After finishing both projects I began to reflect on how I might use these Apps or integrate digital media and creativity into my classroom. Explain everything would be a great tool for students to present and practice using digital media. This App is very intuitive and in depth and there is A LOT you can do with it. With that being said, I would not expect a student to create a project within a week using this app. This app takes a lot of time to master and in order for a student to effectively integrate both the app and their content more than a week would be required to master this app. Explain Everything however allows students to be very creative. Students can make various slides and turn their show into a video with voice-overs and moving clip-art.
    Adobe Sparkpage is similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, it is made up of various slides and one can add pictures, text, and video into a "slide-show" that views more like a webpage. There is potential for creativity here too, but not as much as Explain Everything. It has the same concept as PowerPoint making it less of a creative challenge for students.
    By using both of these technologies in Curriculum and Literacy I was able to integrate our content with digital literacy. Being challenged with my digital understanding along with exploring new content helped me learn in a unique way. It would have been simpler but boring just to write a paper on the content, but instead I was able to focus my energy on creatively displaying my content.

Is Your Identity Given or Created?

Recently, I watched a TED Talk by Marcus Lyon entitled, "Is Your Identity Given or Created?" The initial think that Marcus notes is that 1.8 Billion images are posted on social media every day. He is a photographer and he talks about a project he is doing on the identity of Brazilians, and what it means to be a Brazilian. Lyon notes that photographs have the ability to "hold time" and help give a an identity and a voice to the unknown. Pictures are important, because behind pictures lie a story.
    He talks about in his project he gathered stories, pictures and DNA of all different Brazilians in order to identify who they were. While DNA biologically identified them, it did not tell me who really were. Identity is so much more than picture too. Lyon notes that "as an audience we make our own judgements about photos. We will look at a photo and identify a person based on what we see. And then there is the physical story of this person that tells us their identity. In a story, a person's identity is not found in their DNA or their physical appearance, but what they have done in their life, and the relationships they have and their personality is truly what makes a person's identity, as Lyon argues. It is what we do for others that truly identifies who we are as a person.
     One of the most significant stories for me that Lyon told was the story about Ana. Lyon brought up Ana's picture and began to tell her story. When Ana was a child her grandmother whom she was very close to, got very sick and she had to have a double leg amputation. Ana was so upset by this she cut off the legs of all of her dolls and turned her room into a hospital. Ana vowed to make sure no one ever suffered like her grandmother did. Ana is now a doctor, who is renowned across Brazil, as an amazing palliative care doctor, meaning she works with individuals who have serious illnesses by helping relieve symptoms and stress that they face.
      When we look at the picture of Ana we would not know how much her job means to her, or why she chose to become a doctor. For all we know she could just play a doctor on TV.

Photo of Ana taken by Marcus Lyon (Somos Brasil)

Lyon ends his talk by asking the following question, "When we ponder the 'Who am I question' consider that we truly grow our identities when we are guiding lights not only to ourselves but to others." In other words our identity is ever growing and the only way we can grow ourselves as a person is to be a beacon and advocate for those who are struggling.

            Here is a link to the TED talk, Is your Identity given or created? by Marcus Lyon

  

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJKGZ_xSZ0

ASL Classroom Management

     I have always been fascinated by American Sign Language. It is something I have always wanted to learn, and something that has always clicked with me. In the fall of 2009, at the age of 37, my mom lost her hearing, and was completely deaf in both ears. I watched her struggle through having hearing aids, and through an eventual surgery, that has allowed her to get her hearing back. She always had a hard time, with reading peoples lips, because no one ever made eye contact or talked loud enough for her to get a general idea of what the person was saying to her. While my mother never learned ASL she was able to depend on lip reading and context clues, in order to communicate effectively with others, until she was able to hear again.
       My cousin Emily who is 2 years old, was born with hearing loss, for the first year of her life, Emily couldn't hear and the doctors believed she would never be able to hear again. Emily went into an intensive speech therapy program, because she wasn't making noises or developing her speech because she couldn't hear. The program that Emily was in actually was paid for a ASL teacher to come to their house once a week to teach sign language, as they believed it would be the only way to communicate with Emily. My aunt and uncle invited most of the family, and every week for about 3 months, they spent 2 hours a week learning ASL. While I was not able to attend because I was at school, my mom attended every class. She learned so much, and I remember seeing her on brakes and she would sign things for me and show me what she learned. She was so excited.
     Within the last 6 months, Emily had a turnaround. They put tubes in her ears, and she was able to hear again, but she still has some significant hearing loss. Her cleft palate will also make speech difficult for her, so she still sees a speech pathologist weekly.
   For my family learning ASL was important to us because it directly affected us. Over spring break I was thinking about ASL and being deaf and how it affected my family, and how one day it might affect me personally as well. As my mother's hearing loss was genetic, I have a good chance of developing it at a young age too. I thought about how I could incorporate this in my classroom. Was there a way that I could incorporate sign language into my every day lesson plan? Could I have a little power point with important vocab words of the day, and how to sign them? I decided to do a simple google search, to see what popped up. Within seconds, I was bombarded with links on how to use ASL as a effective classroom management technique.
    The articles talked about using, sign language, to sign things like bathroom, water fountain, or even things like I have a question, or I have a comment, in order to minimize disruptions in the classroom. It would be so easy to have my students just raise their hand with the sign for restroom, and I could easily, direct them, by signing yes or no, without stopping the class or disrupting an activity or lectures. Most of the teachers who wrote about ASL classroom management were elementary or middle school teachers. This is could also be an effective tool in high school, but I am apprehensive because it might not work as well for older students, who might find it petty. Is it too childish? Is it appropriate to use?
     ASL classroom management is an idea I would like to explore further, it seems like if used correctly it could be extremely effective. Not only does it help minimize distractions in my classroom, but it is also teaching my students a new language, that one day they could find useful or helpful in their life.

    Check out this link:
 Sign Language Classroom Management Posters

My beautiful cousin Emily

    
            

Sexuality in Nepal

LGBT Pride Parade in Nepal

      In Nepal, the LGBT community fairs very differently then in western society. Nepal is a deeply rooted Patriarchal society. Patriarchal means a society or government that is controlled by men. Thus there is a powerful stigma  against females, but also sexual and gender minorities in general. They are perceived as a social "vikriti" or "a state of deterioration that can connote disease, degeneracy, deformation and malformation" 
      There has been a very long history of this powerful stigma against the LGBT community. This stigma is based on a lack of understanding and the strong Nepali views that the biological sex is the only natural sex. While Nepal's patriarchal society does not accept the diversity of the LGBT community, they may be tolerant of them. Currently in Nepal, issues such as the Caste System and Ethnic Identity politics are the most pressing matters, and subsequently LGBT rights is often put on the back burner.
    In Nepal 80% of the population is Hindu while 10% is Buddhist. Because these religions are built on acceptance and don't have any rules or scriptures against gender identity and sexual orientation, religion does not strongly contribute to discrimination. Thus it is social and societal norms that contribute the most heavily.
    Some young Nepalese LGBT drop out of school due to harassment and bullying from both the students and the teachers. There is a clear lack of LGBT friendly environments within the schools. Transgender students can be denied access to exams because of issues with uniforms and identification.
    In relation to Nepal, there are no Anti-discrimination laws to cover the employment sector, and many LGBT individuals report discrimination and sexual harassment within the workplace.
   It is important to remember that same-sex marriage is not legalized in Nepal, and was only decriminalized recently in the Supreme Court Verdict of 2007, suggested decriminalizing same sex marriage and which reaffirmed the notion that the LGBT community had the same rights as all Nepali citizens, and moved to put more anti-discriminatory laws in place. Unfortunately this verdict has not been implemented properly and even today there have not been any major efforts by the government to legalize same sex marriage. Today in Nepal, LGBT relationships are not recognized by law and couples cannot adopt children. Lesbian couples are also denied access to IVF and Transgender individuals have immense trouble legally changing their gender.
     The media has played a huge part in highlight LGBT issues in Nepal. They have actively reported on victories and challenges faced by the community. The media however is criticized for not reporting on the wide diversity of the LGBT community and for sometimes reporting inaccurately. As far as support for the LGBT community goes, there is a regular LGBT radio program that broadcasts information and advice about the health and right issues of sexual and gender minorities. Even the Nepali movie industry is beginning to produce films that depict same sex relationships.
    While the Nepali society is not accepting to LGBT communities as it could be, there are still much better off than LGBT in countries where being LGBT is criminalized. Currently there are 55 LGBT civil society organizations in Nepal. While these organizations are very weak, I suspect that as time goes on, the Nepali LGBT voice will become louder and their voices will be heard, and a change will be made.

Sources: http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3115&context=isp_collection

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1861/Being_LGBT_in_Asia_Nepal_Country_Report.pdf

QR CODE

Science Saturdays

    It was the Saturday morning of Spring Break. I finally had the opportunity to sleep in and get a well needed break from the stresses of college. My deep sleep was rudely interrupted at 9 am sharp by a bright blue-eyed blonde haired girl who decided it was time to wake up! My 5 year old sister, Alyssa jumped on me yelling, "MEGANNE ITS TIME TO WAKE UP ! TODAY IS SCIENCE SATURDAY!"
         Ah, Science Saturday the most wonderful Saturday of the year. I had the luck of coming home every weekend that it was Science Saturday at our local library. A little before 9:50 AM I piled my sister, Alyssa and my 7 year old brother Jacob to the car. They were brimming with excitement. As we drove to our destination I began to grill them about school. Alyssa was now in Kindergarten and Jacob was in first grade. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they were growing up so fast. 
     "So Jacob and Alyssa, how is school?"
            "Good."
    "What's your favorite subject Alyssa?"
          "Ummm I don't know"
     "Jacob?"
           "I'm really good at math, but are we there yet?"

That was the end of our conversation. As much as I wanted to learn more about their school day, the last thing they wanted to do was talk about school on a Saturday morning. Once we got to the library, we walked into a big room where they held all the Science Saturdays. A woman dressed in a lab coat warmly greeted us.
   "Hello I'm Barbara! Grab a carpet square and sit on the floor please."
Jacob excitedly grabbed a carpet square and sat down as fast as he could and Alyssa was a little more timid, but she eventually sat down.
    Barbara chimed, "And Parents can sit on the chair on the side."
I wondered if this was just a general statement, or did she really think I was the mother of a five and seven year old? Brushing it off I quickly sat down. More kids and their parents filed in even at 10:20, although it officially started at 10:00.
   They topic of the day was Space: The Great Frontier. They learned about the planets and stars and she taught them about Supernovas. A Supernova is what happens when a star dies and explodes. All the children were so curious and so engaged. One little girl raised her hand nice and high. Barbara exclaimed, "Do you have a question?"
     The little girl responded, "No, but I need to tell you something. DID YOU know that Jupiter has a huge storm that has lasted over ONE THOUSAND YEARS!"
   She was so excited to relay her knowledge and Scientist Barbara just brushed her off, and continued her monologue about supernovas and the rules for the activity.
At this point I was getting a little annoyed with Barbara but I let it slide. The children ran to the table to start their first activity. Each child had a cup filled with water and dish soap and a straw. The instructions were to take the straw and stir the cup and then put the straw against the table and blow until you created a huge bubble that exploded, hence when it explodes, it resembles a Supernova.
   Unfortunatley, Jacob didn't quite understand the directions, and honestly I didn't understand the directions all that well either. Barbara used her words to explain the activity, but she did not use a physical example to show the kids how to do it. Next thing I know Barbara is yelling,
   "Who's child is this??" Pointing at Jacob. "He's going to get bubbles in his mouth, he needs help."
I quickly ran over, and instead of blowing bubbles on the table, Jacob blew his straw into the cup, until he had an overflowing mountain of bubbles. I showed Jacob what I thought was the correct way to do it.
   " Here, you take the straw, and stir and then you put the straw on the table and blow slowly."
 I did it once to show him, and his face lit up!
    "WOAH! That was SO cool!!" he exclaimed.
 I chucked and helped him for a few supernovas until he got a good handle on it. I then heard Barbara exclaim, "Oh look, he's doing it the right way now."
    I was kind of offended by Barbara's attitude. Her instructions weren't clear and she was acting as if Jacob was a very incompetent toddler. Yes, he is the small and the same size as Alyssa, but he is a first grader and very smart. And no, I'm not just saying that because I am his sister, he is very intelligent for a seven year old, especially in math. There were other kids sitting at the table that didn't quite understand Barbara's instructions either and who needed help, and I couldn't help but wonder if she could have handled the whole entire situation differently. Yes she was a scientist, but I wondered if she had used smaller words or talked slower, or even showed a demonstration, then maybe Jacob wouldn't have gotten bubbles in his nose.
    I wondered what would happen if there was an ELL student at Science Saturday, would he get bubbles in his nose too?

Jacob and Alyssa at their first Science Saturday circa 2017

Education In Afghanistan

   As part of an exit, assignment, I was asked to write a little about the education systems in Afghanistan, I have put together some facts as well as other findings I have found about the education system. Afghanistan is located in the Middle East. It is a predominately Muslim country, and Afghanistan is typically known for their patriarchal society and their mistreatment of females. Afghanistan has also been a war torn country for the past decade, so this also does not benefit the students in Afghanistan.

• The country as a whole spends about 3.4% of its budget on education
• The average literacy rate of individuals over 15 is 38.2%.
• 52% of males are literate while on 24.2% of females are literate.
• On average from primary to tertiary school, males spend about 13 years in school while women spend 8 years in school.

          (facts from world factbook)

• The Afghanistan Ministry of Education has built around 16,000 schools and trained 154,000 teachers since 2002.
• Today, 9 million students are currently enrolled in school in Afghanistan, 40% of the students are female.  

             (USAID website)

While I could not find much on differences between rural and urban areas and socioeconomic status as the sites that could have possibly had information were blocked, I did find however that, “According to the Afghan Central Statistics Organization, public university enrollment has increased from 7,800 in 2001 to 174,425 in 2015, 21% of which are women, and demand for higher education continues to grow.”

 While Afghanistan is considered a developing countries there are obvious changes and advancements that are being made. Due to the active support of organizations like the United States Agency for International Development, there has been some drastic changes within the education system, and girls are getting more opportunities than they had had before

Sources: The World Factbook and the USAID website

Disconnect

   It has been almost two weeks since I have seen my student. We are in the midst of public school break, and we will only have one day to meet before my spring break starts too. It feels as if there is some disconnect. My student, whom Im supposed to be tutoring and learning from seems farther away than normal. I feel like I have missed so much, in the span of two weeks. And when we meet again this Friday, I know I'm going to be so lost, because projects and assignments are ever changing.
   If I feel lost, and I don't even have assignments to do, I can only imagine how the absence of a high school student affects their learning. What is absence doing to our students?
   Growing up, I NEVER missed school. Actually, I was the rare type who hated missing school, for fear of missing something important. Do our students have this same outlook? or was I just an odd one.
      I am not sure how many days out of the week, my student attends school, but every Tuesday and Friday morning when I am there, he is there. While absence might not affect my student directly, it's a topic that I feel I should make an effort to know a little more about.
     John Hopkins School of Education in partnership with Center for Social Organization of Schools, did a case study on Chronic Absenteeism in the United States. This study focused on 6 key states including, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and Rhode Island as key points of data.
     The case study defines Chronic Absenteeism as missing 10% of the entire school year; or 18 or more days. "The six states reported chronic absentee rates from 6 percent to 23 percent, with high poverty urban areas reporting up to one-third of students chronically absent."
     This study suggests that high Chronic Absenteeism is most prominently found with low-income students; and is not based on gender or race, but simply socio-economic status. The students who need school the most are the ones who absent. The case sums this up perfectly by saying,
       "Because students reared in poverty benefit the most from being in school, one of the most effective strategies for providing pathways out of poverty is to do what it takes to get these students in school every day. This alone, even without improvements in the American education system, will drive up achievement, high school graduation, and college attainment rates." 
     Missing school matters because school is an opportunity for students to thrive despite the odds that have been put against them, no one can take away your knowledge and that is why school is so important. 
       The study suggests that 5-7.5 million American students enrolled in public schools are not attending school regularly each year. The study concludes by reiterating that there is a strong correlation between absenteeism and academic achievement. To tie into this, poverty is also a huge factor in chronic absenteeism. The study ends with saying that the most effective way to close the achievement gap, "will be a concerted effort to enable and ensure that high-poverty students  attend school regularly from pre-k to grade 12."
     While this does sound like a lot to ask, I know it is not entirely impossible. The study suggest a few ways that schools have done this, but on that struck me was the simple idea of rewarding good attendance. It sounds silly, and it may not have a initial affect,  but rather one over time, but doesn't that makes sense. Students like to be recognized for their successes, and attendance should be one of these because it is something that is very important and crucial to our students overall achievement.
    I'm not sure if this is a problem that can be solved right away but with engaged teachers and administrators it can be a problem that is easily  fixed. I am eager to see how the future education system changes and whether or not absenteeism will be taken seriously in our schools that are struggling with chronic absenteeism.


Link to the study:  http://new.every1graduates.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FINALChronicAbsenteeismReport_May16.pdf

SBHS ELL Departement

      As I have been working with S, I have realized the importance of a good and cohesive ELL department to support students in transitioning into the United States school system.
      On a logistical and realistic level, SBHS is following federal education standards, in their ELL program. The federal government has given the school a special formula title 3 grant in order to create an up to standard ELL program. While the school's ELL population is only 2%, the resources they do have are impeccable.
   On the South Burlington High School webpage there is a page specifically for the English Language Learners Department. On the page, their personal mission statement reads as follows:   
    “The South Burlington School District is a diverse community with students and families from many countries and around the world. It is our belief that through knowledge and a commitment to understanding and getting to know each other, our lives are enriched as well as community. To acknowledge, utilize and promote these value inherent in this diversity, and to best serve all students, we have developed this resource guide. We encourage students, staff, families and community members to learn more about our South Burlington School Community and the many ways we can support each other’s learning.”
     The page also includes contact information for the two ELL teachers who work at SBHS as well as a link to “Can Do Booklet” and “Resources for English Language Learners.”
     The WIDA Can Do booklet has in depth information on the different WIDA levels standards to work towards, performance definitions, and Can Do Descriptors for grades 9-12. For Example, An ELL students who shows a level 3 (developing) ability in Listening will be able to:



       -          Evaluate information in social and academic conversation



       -          Distinguish main ideas from supporting points in Oral Conversation.



       -          Content related discourse



      -          Use  learning strategies to describe orally



      -          Categorize content based examples, described orally.

Here are the links:

Can-Do Booklet: https://www.sbschools.net/cms/lib/VT01819219/Centricity/Domain/81/CanDoBooklet9-12.pdf



Resources for English Language Learners: https://vt01819219.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/VT01819219/Centricity/domain/81/ell_resources/ELL_Resources.html

  By working with S on every Tuesday and Friday morning I am also able to interact with the ELL teachers, mostly Mrs. W. Mrs. W’s strategies and calm coaxing with the students. When I tutor S, Mrs. W has a class in the same classroom at the same time. She is always calm and composed. She always has a clear and concise agenda of the activities for the day. She is also very hands on with her students. When she hands back assignments she goes over everything with them individually. She points out the things they did well on, and where the students need to improve. 

      She also, uses her body to act out difficult concepts that are hard to understand just by explaining verbally. I remember she was describing how when our bodies are in motion, it makes energy for the cells and she was running around the room.   

     As an ELL teacher it is Mrs. W’s job to make sure that her students continue to improve their WIDA scores and their overall understanding of the English Language.  I specifically remember Mrs. W, talking to S about his Lab Report. While his sentence structure is improving, he always forgets the letter S. For example S, would write “He wait for the bus.” When it fact it should be, “He waits for the bus.” In this instance Mrs. W had to give S some tough love. While she knows S is very smart and she knows he understands the topics, his writing and grammar skills need to improve in order for his work to truly show how capable S is as a student.

Education in Nepal

 

     I have been doing some research in regards to my student's home country of Nepal. I know a lot about our education system in the United States, and I know my student was able to go to school during his time in the refugee camp in Nepal, but what I didn't realize is the quality of education and the literacy in Nepal.
      Nepal is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The average life expectancy is 61 years old and 90% of Nepalese live in a rural community. The
 public education and Nepal's Ministry of Education and Sports was not founded until the year 1951. Hence Nepal's education system is very new. Education levels in Nepal are very low, and only 1/3 of the population has received formal schooling. While primary education is free, the government schools are often inadequate and overcrowded. To add to this many communities have cultural practices that are against sending children to school. This practice is most specifically aimed at girls, who leave school by the age of 12. Basic education is considered 8 years long which includes primary and lower secondary education. The enrollment in secondary schools is less than 35%. 
     Literacy in Nepal is not very high either. Among adults only 53.7% are literate. Of Males who are over 15, 65.1% are literate and females over 15, only 34.5% are literate. There is obviously a huge gap between males and females.


source: Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen Hobby. Vol. 4: Asia & Oceania. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2009. p714-720.

A primary school at a Bhutanse Refugee Camp in Nepal

   S told me a little about his school in the refugee camps. He said it was made out of mud and straw, and they had wooden benches and desks to sit on. S told me how the teachers were very strict. He talked about how the students were expected to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements and the Multiplication tables, as well as the spelling of scientific words like "Mitochondria." If the students did not memorize them, they would be punished. S said this was why he was so good at spelling "Mitochondria" He remarked how easy the teachers in America were, and how no one was ever punished for spelling something wrong.





  

Facts about Nepal

   
    

The student I will be working with this year is from Nepal. He is 19 years old and came to America in 2015 from a refugee camp, where he lived for 17 years. I did some research and put together some pictures and fun facts about Nepal. So here they are:

FUN FACTS:

·        Nepal is Located in Asia

·         It is Slightly larger than Arkansas

·        It is   Landlocked between China and India

·         Mount Everest is located there, contains 8 of the world’s 10 highest peaks

·         Population: 29,033,914

·         Nepali is the official language

·         The Median Age is 23.6 years

·         18.6% of the population is urban

·         Kathmandu is the Capital

·         Life Expectancy 70.7 years

·         Average woman has 2 children

·         2.9% Obesity Rate

·         63.9% of the population is literate

·         One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world

·         70% of the population depends on agriculture

·         Labor Force: 69% Agriculture 12% Industry 19% Services

·         17.6% of the population are internet users

·         Insurgency led by Maoists started in 1996. Caused 10 year civil war. Absolute Power was instated in 2002, and elections were held in 2013. Nepal’s new constitution came into effect in September 2015.

 

Flag of Nepal

Nepal is right in between India and China

Pretty Picture of Nepal

More Thought's On Our Approach To English Language Learners

                I have already posted a few blog posts about ELL's but I feel as if its a topic that isn't talked about often enough. For a class reading we were assigned 2 articles, Preparing English Language Learners for Academic Success, and Teaching English Language Learners: What does Research Tell Us?. (I will post links to both articles below. I encourage you to give them a read.) As I read these articles, it was coming apparent that I myself didn't have a lot of knowledge about how the programs for ELL students are being cultivated and what they actually need to be successful. I imagine that majority of these students don't attend top private schools, so I was really entrigued to see how schools are helping ELL's be successful. While these articles give a general overview, I would like to do more research on my own into what  resources schools actually have.
        
           According to a study there are over 3.4 million ELL students, in our schools right now, and ELL students represent 6% of all school aged children. 79% of these students come from Spanish households and 2/3rds of ELLs come from low income families. When reading the article about Preparing ELLS for Academic Success, I was a little shocked to find out that there is no common benchmark for English Language proficiency. I guess I was so taken aback because ELL students make up a huge part of the student body of America. The government has always been very gungho about common core standards, so I was confused when they didn't really have a plan for ELLs.
  
         The types programs that are available to our students is probably the most crucial to their success. While there are many different methods that our used. The articles seem to suggest that bi-lingual programs work the best, and is most helpful for students trying to learn a new language. On average it takes students about 3-5 years to be proficient in oral English and 5-7 to be proficient in Academic English. The law however only gives up to 4 years, to get a student up "full proficiency." To me this seems a little ridiculous, how do we expect students to learn a new language proficiently in the matter of three years? I doubt that any average American Student could learn a new language "proficiently" that quickly either. I guess it just doesn't seem quite fair to put such a time constraint on something that is clearly very important. A 2015 study in Washington found that on average it takes Spanish Speaking Learners a little over 4 years to be completely proficient in the English Language.
 
     I don't know how to fix the problems, or how to make things more cohesive for our ELL students but I can see that we are making the right strides. As of 2015 , More than 45 States in the US, use 1 out of 2 of the English-Language proficiency test, in order to gauge student's success. Researchers believe that by using these assessments they will be able to gather some clearer data in regards to what is working and what is and how we can better help our students.







          Articles:

       Preparing English Language Learners for Academic Success,
         
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-English-language-learners-At-a-glance/Preparing-English-language-learners-for-academic-success.html


   Teaching English Language Learners: What does Research Tell Us?

  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/05/11/teaching-english-language-learners-what-does-the-research.html