Bilingual Family Night for ELL Families

   
      This article begins by sharing an activity a teacher did during a Latino parent night. All the parents were asked to write their child's name on a sticky note and paste it on the board. When all 33 post-its were on the board, she stated "50% of Latino students drop out of school by 9th grade." She then removed half of the post-its. "Another 20% drop out of high school before grade 12." She removed another bunch. "Another 10% are not able to pass the required tests and do not get a diploma." She remove some more. The room was quiet as they all stared at the 5 post-its left on the board. The activity was closed as she takes one post-it and tells them how one of 5 will receive a college degree. The teacher used this activity to express the importance of a strong support at school and at home.
     This activity was shocking, however, its a reality. And I truly believe this is what our Latino parents at Irvin Elementary need, "A Wake-up Call"!  This article goes on explaining the important role parents play in the students' academic development. It also provides several ideas on hosting bilingual family nights.
     Last month Sarah Doyle and I hosted our first bilingual meeting with out Latino parents. We had 30+ parents and 35+ students. There was no doubt that our parents were very comfortable and happy to be part of this event. However, after the meeting I was thinking on ways to make these meetings more meaningful.  After reading this article, I now have lots of ideas to host the meetings, and a better idea on what information to share with them. If you are reading this blog, consider following the link and reading the article, and perhaps you'll want to join our next Latino/bilingual meeting in January! :)

Bilingual Family Night for Ell Families

Con Respeto By Guadalupe Valdes

    
      This book was based on a study by Guadalupe Valdes, where she focused on the lives of 10 families.  She spent three years observing the struggles and hardships that come along with trying to succeed in an unfamiliar society. The study took place in a town called Las Fuentes, along the US-Mexico borderlands, focusing particularly on the poorest area of the town known as “el barrio”. This side of the city emitted a feeling of transience rather than permanence. There was no sense of ‘community’ and most families were left on their own, or with their family ‘collective unit’, to navigate through unfamiliar territory, including the educational system. Valdes hoped to show that Mexican parents do know how to parent, but their parenting styles are a product of their class, culture, and experiences.  They are very unlike the ‘standard’ American family (p. 39).  What seemed to stand out was the fact that the women were the ones who kept things together. They did not seek individual fulfillment, instead focused on their families. As Valdes says, “They were focused on living out their roles in life as they understood them.” Indeed, the interpretation of what is considered ‘making it’ varies a great deal in the United States compared to Mexican ideals. Money, prosperity and materialism is not the primary goal for these families. They simply want to survive. 

     Ms. Doyle and I thought that a great way to implement what we learned in this book is to invite our ESL students' parents to our school once a quarter. In this meetings we will talk to them about ways they can be involved in our school, and ways they can help their children with school work. Our intentions are not to change these families' life style, but perhaps educate them about our school system and the expectations we have for all students. This meetings will take place in spanish so our parents should feel comfortable and have a sense of welcoming. 

I'm Taking the Challenge!

"What Are Your Expectations: The Challenge of Keeping Classrooms Fair" by Caralee Adams, does a great job bringing up to surface one of the reasons for the existing academic gap we see in African American students. Teachers' Attitude. This article provides research and statistics that proves that these students are feeling the teacher's rejection and perhaps that is why they lack the motivations to do better. When it comes to school suspension due to behavior I never thought about them missing out on instruction and therefore increasing their academic gap. This article does a great job giving educators ideas on ways to handle our students' behaviour instead of school suspension. Hence, students are not missing out nor falling behind.  It also makes us realize that our students' personal life is to concern us in order to get through them and be able to provide the resources they need to achieve the academic goal.

     After reading this article I examined myself, and realized that at some point in my teaching career I have had higher expectations from one student than another. I also realized that I have judged my students because of their behaviour and failed to get to know the reason behind it. I also failed to provide support. Through this article I've learned that my academic expectations are to be equal all the way through. I also learned that my students need to be told about my high expectations, and need see that I care for them. I am taking the challenge this article offers: "select a student about whom you've formed a negative opinion, and for 21 consecutive school days, force yourself to view and treat this student as if he or she were the brightest student in your class", "If you do this experiment, even once, it just might change your teaching forever". I accept it! I'll start Monday...I don't intend to change the world, but if by taking this challenge I can change one students and close one gap...it would be amazing!