JenniferLirianoQuiros

ESC727
ChildStudyAP

Section1

A. StudentsFamily/CulturalBackground,Interests,andLanguagePreferences
APisinfifthgradeinabilingualtransitionalclassroom.APwasborninOhio

toDominicanparents,movedtotheDominicanRepublic,whereheattended

schoolfrom1st3rd,andcametotheBronxatthebeginningoffourthgrade.

Accordingtohispreviousreportcards,Angelohashad80sand90s,butnow

whichthetransitionintoEnglishOnly,hehas70sand60s.APlivesinthe

FordhamsectionoftheBronxinatwobedroomapartmentwithhismother,1

yearoldsister,17yearoldsister,his21yearoldcousin,hiscousins22

yearoldgirlfriend,their6montholdbaby,andhis12yearoldcousin.AP

mentionedthathismothertookontheresponsibilityofhiscousinswhenthey

wereabandonedbytheirmotherlastyear,sinceshewentbacktothe

DominicanRepublicbecauseshecouldnotdealwiththemanymore.
Asfaraslanguage,hismotherspeakstohimsolelyinSpanish,whilehis21

yearoldcousinandhis17yearoldsisterspeaktohimsolelyinEnglish.He

alsomentionedthathisGodmotherandGodsisterspeaktohiminEnglish

whentheycomeovertovisit.Asfarashisinterests,helikestoeat,play

basketball,gotoschool,mathematics,hislife,andheloveshissister.His

favoritemovieisAlvinandtheChipmunks,buthebarelywatchestelevision.

Hesaidthathisfavoritecolorsarepink,blue,andyellowinthatorder.
Personallyspeaking,APhasverygoodattendance.Hewasonlyabsent5

timeslastyear.Hehasonlybeenabsent1timethisyear.Heisalsoonthe
 safetypatrolteam,sohedemonstratesresponsibilityeverymorning,andtakes

hisjobprettyseriously.Overall,hishealthisfine,buthehasalotofvision

issuesandblinksalotattimes,whichmakesitdifficultforhimtoreadand/or

focus.Hewearsverythickglassestotrytoremedythat,buthestillhasmany

issues.Ibroughtituptohismom,whohastakenhimtothedoctortwice

since,inordertofindoutwhatisgoingon.
B. EducationSetting
1. APattendsanelementaryschoolfromPreKto5thinanurbanarea.
Thereare1,030studentsenrolledinthisschool.Classroomsareorganized

intoGeneralEducation,SelfContainedSpecialEducation,IntegratedCo

Teaching,andTransitionalBilingual.Thereare22studentsinhisTransitional

Bilingualclassroom.
2. Allstudentsbeginschoolat8am,followedbya30minuteindependent

readingperiodbeginningat8:15amandendingat8:45am.Then,eachperiod

thereafteris50minutes.FirstperiodisReadersWorkshop,followedby

SmallGroups/GuidedReading/TestPrep,Writing,Mathematics,and

ExtendedLearningTimeinScienceand/orSocialStudies.Thereisan

enrichmentperiodsomewherethroughouttheday,whichcanbetechnology,

physicaleducation,dance,theater,orsciencelab.

Disciplinarypoliciesareverylaxandnotfollowedthrough,eventhoughthere

aremanybehavioralissuesthroughouttheschoolacrossallgrades.Thereisa

B.E.S.T.cardsysteminplacewherestudentsarerewardedacardbasedon

theirbehavior,effort,scholarship,orteamwork,andthentheycanredeem

themascashattheB.E.S.T.creditcenter.Thiscardsystemisineffective
 becauseteachersdonotconstantlygivethemout,andmostkidsdonotcare

aboutorwantdiscountstoretoys(monolingualstudentsmorethanthe

bilingualstudents),whentheyhavecellphones,iPads,videogames,andother

things.
3. APisinaTransitionalBilingualProgram,whichistiedintoExtended

LearningTimeonTuesdaysFridaysforanextrahourandfifteenminutesin

Scienceand/orSocialStudies.HealsopartakesinaBasketballextracurricular

programonedayaweek,andheisinaPreMedscienceprogramonSaturday

Mornings.
4. TheschoolusestheCCLSasabasisforthecurriculum,withsupportfromthe

resourcesofReadyGenforreading,TeachersCollegeforwriting,andGo

Math&IndependentPDsformathematics.ThereisZEROsupervisionover

thebilingualprogram.Meaningthat,supervisorsarenotknowledgeablein

thefield,andcannotprovideuswithaccurateobservationssincethey,

themselves,donotknowwhatisrequiredinabilingualprogram.Theycannot

suggestELLstrategies,sincetheyhavenoELL,TESOL,orBilingual

Educationbackground.OurAPismucholder,andverysetinherIfmy

parentscanimmigratefromItaly,andlearnEnglishquickly,socanyour

studentsmentality,whichiswildlyunfair.Inaddition,sincetheydonot

understandSpanish,theycannotunderstandmySpanishmathlessonsor

differentiationinSpanish.So,theycannotseethepointinmeswitchingover

toSpanishsometimes,whichmakesthemthinkthatitisalwayscode

switchingandwrong.Itisnotfairforthebilingualstudentsortheteachers.
 Moreover,inthelastfouryearsthatIhavetaughtthere,Iwasnevertoldto

teachanentirelessonontheSpanishlanguageitself,whichapparentlyis

somethingweshouldhavebeendoingsincethedawnoftime.Furthermore,

nootherbilingualteacherknewofthiseither.
5. Asaresult,studentsneedsarenotmetexactlyastheyshouldbe.Wehave

veryfewlibrarybasketsinSpanish,andnoassessmentsormaterialin

Spanish.Everythinghastobeteachercreatedorteacherbought.Allofthe

lessonsandchartsaretranslatedintoEnglishandSpanishbyme,with

ReadingandWritingrelyingmoreonEnglish,andMathematics,Social

Studies,andSciencerelyingheavilyonSpanish.Newcomersworkata

SpanishLiteratureandEnglishPhonicsstationduringSmallGroups,andAP

isacoachatthatstation.Also,APworksattheblends,endings,andtenses

station,prefix,suffix,rootword,polysemes,andvocabularystation,andthe

fluencystationonvariousdays.
6. Fromthedoor,inthebackoftheclassroom,thereisalargelibraryofover75

basketsofbooksinSpanishandEnglish,butmostlyinEnglish.Thereisa

hugecolorfulrectangularrugbythelibrary,wherethestudentsmeetfor

wholeclasslessonsinreadingandwriting.Thedesksaresetupingroupsof

fourwithacoloredsquareatthecornerofeachdeskfordiscussionsand

takingturns.Thedesksalsohavesentencestemsfordiscussioninreading,

writing,mathematics,socialstudies,andscience.Inthemiddle,towardsthe

windows,thereisawritingcenterandsmallgroupscenterwiththeirELA

resources,folders,looseleaf,pencils,postits,andothermaterials.Atthe
 front,thereisawhiteENOboard,wherelessonsareprojectedandvideosare

shown,andstudentscancomeuptowriteon.Theteachersdeskistowards

thefrontbythewindows,withadesktopfacingthestudentsforstudentuse.
7. Theclassroomstaffconsistsoftheclassroomteacherformostoftheday,with

onlyoneenrichmentteachercominginforoneperiod,andlunchaideswho

aresupervisingthemduringlunch.OnlyONEoftheenrichmentteacherscan

speakSOMESpanishandmakesthelessonremotelyaccessibletoELLs.The

othersdonotattempttoaccommodatethematall.
8. AlongwiththewhiteENOboard,whichhasonlineaccesstoBrainPop,I

Ready,MyON,YouTube,andotherwebsites,studentsuselaptopsevery

afternoonfor2periods.Duringtheseperiods,theyworkonresearchfor

Scienceand/orSocialStudies,IReadyReadingandMath,MyOnReading,

Kahoot,ordigitalprojects.Therearealsomanipulativesintheroomfor

mathematics,andaudiobooksforbuildingfluencyandpronunciation.
9. Studentisnotconsideredtohavespecialneeds.

Section2

APhasbeenassessedinorallanguageusingtheSOLOMassessment.Hewasassessedin

EnglishreadingcomprehensionandfluencythroughDRAsandinformalrunningrecordsinhis

conferencenotebook.HeisassessedinhisEnglishwritingthroughwritingpiecesfrom

TeachersCollege.AfewColornColoradoassessmentswereusedaswelltocapturethechilds
perspectiveonhisownwriting,andhisprogressinorallanguageandmathdevelopment.SinceI

amhisteacher,hewasobservedduringallperiodsofthedayonthreeseparateoccasions.

Section3

Asfarastalkingandlistening,APcandobothineitherlanguage.However,thereare

momentswhereheistranslanguaging.Intheclassroom,heusestranslanguagingtohis

advantageinordertocommunicatebigideasandexpressions.Yet,Istillfindhimtobehesitant

andspeakingasifhehasquestionmarksaftersomeofhiswordswhenheistranslanguagingin

theclassroom,becausehewantstomakesureheisunderstood.Hetranslanguagesfluidlyalot

duringlunch,gym,andrecessbecausethereislittlepressureandalotofslangisused.

Moreover,hisspeakingisnotgrammaticallycorrectmosttimeswhetheritisinoroutsideofthe

classroom.Forexample,hewillsaythingslikeHedontlikethat.Theslaveswantstobe

free.Thisshowsthatheneedstoworkonsubjectverbagreement,whichwehavebeendoingas

aclass,sinceitisactuallyatrendamongmoststudents.Healsotendstomixuptensesandparts

ofspeechesforwords.Thisshowsthathemaybetakingsomefeaturesfromotherstudentswho

useAfricanAmericanVernacularEnglish(AAVE),especiallyduringgym,lunch,andrecess.

Also,hishomelanguageofSpanishsometimesinterfereswhenheconfuseswordorderin

Englishwiththenounsandadjectives.

InhisSOLOMassessment,hecanunderstandeverydayconversationsandclassroom

discussesfullywithouttheneedforrepetition.Hedoeshaveoccasionallapseswhenheis

searchingforappropriatewordsorthemannerofexpression.Heusesgradelevelandrelevant

vocabularymosttimes.Hehasabitofanaccent,butitiscompletelycomprehensible,andhe
makesgrammaticalerrorsinhisspeechasstatedabove.Therefore,hisorallanguageisscoring

4sand5s,whichgavehimatotalof21pointsinEnglishand19pointsinSpanish.Whenhe

enteredtheschoolinfourthgrade,hewasgivenaSpanishLabRbecausehewasdeemedunable

totaketheEnglishNYSITELL.Hescoreda73onhisSpanishLabR,whichplacedhimas

advancedinhisSpanish.However,thisdoesnotcorrelatetohisSpanishWritingabilities,which

haveproventobeverylow,andeasilymisunderstood.Moreover,inhisfourthgrade

NYSESLATassessment,heperformedatanemerginglevel,whichdoesnotappeartobehis

levelanylonger.Iwoulddefinitelyplacehimastransitioninginreadingandwriting,and

expandinginspeakingandlisteningbasedonhisclassroomperformance.

Duringthereadingand/orwritingperiods,hecodeswitchesbecausehedoesnot

rememberawordforsomethinginEnglish,sohesaysitinSpanish.Heiscomfortableenoughto

saythingsinanymannerwhenIamthere,buthepusheshimselftorespondinEnglishifthe

lessonisinEnglish,andtorespondinSpanishifthelessonisinSpanish.Thatbeingsaid,when

someone,whodidnotspeakSpanish,didareadinglessonwithhim,hedidnotuseSpanishat

all,asasupplement.HeusedsimplerwordsinEnglish,inordertomakesurehecould

communicateeffectively.Thecontentofhislanguageisveryhighbecauseoftheideashe

expressesinhisresponsestoreadingsandmathematicalconceptsareprettyamazing.For

example,wewerediscussingChristopherColumbusactionsinPedrosJournal,andhesaidI

wouldadvicehimtostopbeingsomeanandgreedybecausehewouldnotlikeitifthenatives

wenttohislandanduprootedhimfromhisfamilyandfriends.Thatsnotjustice.Now,someof

thesewordsareslightlymisused.Hemeantadvisewhenhesaidadvice,andjusticeshould

havebeenjustifiedorfairsincehewasreferringtoColumbusactionstowardsthenatives.
However,hisideasarestrongandcorrectlydefended.Yet,heisonasecondgradereadinglevel.

Excellent.

FromhisinformalrunningrecordsandDRAreadingassessments,Ihavefoundoutthat

hecutsoffendingsoundsorsaysthemasaseparatesound.Forexample,rushedissaidwas

rushedandpoppedissaidaspopedandearlyon,hewouldalsodoitwithsending

words,suchastakeswassaidastakeesandtasteswassaidastaseses.Iknowthatthis

issomethingthatsomechildrendoingeneral,soIkeepreinforcingthejoiningoftheendingand

thebasewordformostwords.Idecidedtogooverasmallerversionoftherulesforthese

endingswithhim.Fortheplurals,wesayezwhenthebasewordendsinsilente,s,z,ch,sh,

andx.Wesayswhenitisanyothervoicelesssound(youdonotfeelthevibrationinyour

throat)likep,t,ork.Finally,wesayzwhenitendsinanyothervoicedsound(youdofeelthe

vibrationinyourthroat)liken,r,org.Forthepasttenseendingofed,wesaya/t/soundwhen

thebasewordendsinp,k,s,ch,f,x,orh.Wesaya/d/soundwhenabasewordendsinl,v,m,

n,v,g,w,y,orz.Finally,wesayan/id/soundwhenthebasewordendsintord.Healsoomits

andreplaceswordsquiteoften,andmosttimesitinterfereswithmeaning,sobecausehedoesnot

selfcorrect,itaffectshisoverallscoreandhisabilitytomoveupalevel.Anotherfactor

affectinghisabilitytomoveupalevelisthathereadsveryslowlybecausehedoesnotwantto

omitorreplacewordslikehedoeswhenhereadstoofast.SinceDRAsaretimed,heis

automaticallystoppedfrommovingontothenextlevel.Evenso,helovestoreadgraphicnovels,

chapterbooks,comedies,horrorstories,animalfactsbooks,sportsbooks,andothergenres.He

lovestoreadwithabuddyandhelpothersprogressintheirreadingaswell,andheworkswith

mylowestgroupsometimesonsightwordsandletterandblendsounds.Healsoskimsthrough
harderbooks,whichshowshisstrongdesiretomoveupinlevels.Yet,hecannotmovebeyonda

level20DRA,whichdoesnotcorrelatewithhistalkingandlisteningcapabilities.Istrongly

believethattheseresultsareduetohislittleworkwithphonics.Hehasneverhadsystematic

phonicsinstruction,andheeventoldmehewasonlyexposedtolettersoundsthisyearbecause

ofourphonicsstation.Furthermore,heusesStarfall.comalongwithworkingatthephonics

station,inordertohelphimwithhisphonemicawarenessinEnglish.

Inwriting,theresultsareevenmorebaffling.Whenhedidhiswritingcriteriachart,he

demonstratedthathelikestoreceivedfeedbackfromhigherlevelpeers,thatheneedstowritein

completesentences,andthatheneedstoplanbeforehewrites.Hismostrecentwriting

assessmentshowssomeorganization,greatideas,transitions,andaclearfocusthroughouthis

letter.Still,hiswritingdoesnotreflectthewayhecommunicatesorally.Hisideasarewrittena

lotsimpler.Hedoesnotincludeenoughsentencestohaveaparagraph.Hespellsphonetically,

whichcausesalotofspellingerrors.

Atthebeginningoftheyear,hewaswritinginSpanish,whichactuallyturnedouttobe

almostincomprehensible.WhenhetransitionedintowritinginEnglish,hisideasdidbecomea

lotclearer,butalsoalotsimpler.Hedemonstratesalotofconfidenceinallthathedoes.He

alwaystrieshisbestanddoeshisworkindependently.Hehasexpressedtomethathethoroughly

enjoyswriting,andwouldprefertowriteversusanyothersubjectbecausehelikestosharehis

ideasandvoicehisopinion.Therefore,heenjoyswritingnarrativesandargumentative/opinion

piecesthemost.

Overall,Ibelievethatheisexpandingasfarasspeakingandlistening,buttransitioning

inreadingandwriting.Inspeakingandlistening,hehasastrongercommandoftheEnglish
languageandhecommunicateseffectively.Hecanalsolistenandcomprehendeasilyin

conversationsanddiscussionswithoutrepetition,whichmeanshecanunderstanditwell.In

readingandwriting,Iconsiderhimtobetransitioningbecauseheisstilltryingtocommunicate

effectivelyintheseareas.Also,hisideasarealotsimplerintheseareasthanwhenheis

discussingorconversingabouthisideas.Therefore,hewouldbenefitfromdiscussingwitha

shoulderpartner,group,and/ormyselfwhatheplanstowritebeforehebeginswritingand

jottinghisideasdownbeforehandinalistorthinkingmap.Then,workingwithanexpandingor

commandingwriterandmyself,ashewriteshisessays,inordertonotonlyimprovehiswriting,

butimprovehisselfreliance.

BasedonmyevaluationandknowledgeofAP,secondlanguagelearning,andteaching,I

wouldrecommendthathebeplacedwithahighlevel(commandingorexpanding)buddyduring

readingandwritingperiods.Thatway,thebuddycouldsupporthimintheseareasthoughbuddy

reading(echo,choral,ortakingturns)andthroughpeerediting.Perhaps,Icouldevenhavehim

writeanessayjointlywithabuddy.Athomeandatschool,hecanusestarfall.comandaudio

booksinordertoimprovehispronunciationandfluencyinEnglish,especiallysincemostofhis

familymembersspeakSpanishathome.Itwouldhelpifafamilymembercouldsitwithhimand

trytolearnalongwithhim.Inaddition,hecouldworkattheendingsstationduringourliteracy

centers,inordertohelphimapplytherulesofedendingsandpluralsendings.Itwouldhelp

withabuddywhohasastrongcommandofthisareacouldhelphiminthisaswell.Overall,AP

needsmoreopportunitiestospeak,readaloud,andwritewithsupport,inordertoimprovehis

readingandwritinginEnglish.Furthermore,hisschoolshouldprovidehimwithmoreaudio

booksandinteractiveprogramsthatcouldhelphimcatchupinhisreading.Iwouldsuggestthat
hisschoolplaceaheavyfocusonphonics,especiallywithnewcomers,whomayhavenever

beenexposedtoitintheirhomelanguage.