Eva Vincent

3/24/2020

Teaching and Learning 339 Spring 2020

Educational Advocacy

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 When it comes to achieving a classroom environment where culturally and linguistically

diverse students are accepted, valued and encouraged there are many components to implement

and plenty of practices to reconsider, as their uses are actually doing more harm than good. It is

crucial that educators acknowledge all aspects that are included in making a classroom

successful for all students, because there are a million things that go into a person and what

makes them. Through understanding these aspects, a teacher can then therefore better

understand their student and how to best teach them. As a future educator I hope that I can begin

to bridge this gap and eventually be part of closing it, making education a safe and equal space

for all students. Not only do I want my classroom to be an equal space, I want it to be fair. I

want to be equipped to assist students who need additional help due to various circumstances so

that all students can be successful.

It is necessary that as an educator you foster an environment where diversity is both

accepted and celebrated. Teachers need to be aware of all that a culture entails and how it can

translate into classroom life. A student could be full of insecurities, uncertainties and anxiety

due to their differences from their classmates or if they do not feel they are accepted by the

community. To make a classroom accepting educators can express interest in diversity, remain

sensitive to differences, maintain high expectations for all students and teach a culturally

inclusive curriculum (Walden, 2019, P.1). Just by making a student comfortable and feel

welcomed and understood in an environment can help to wash away stressors and instead foster

comfort and growth. As a future educator I plan to strive to foster this type of a community

within my classroom.

Due to some ELL students not being able to communicate well in English because they

have not been taught much and other factors, they can often be placed in a special needs program

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when the student does not truly meet the criteria to be considered a special needs student. This

practice can be extremely harmful to students, their self-esteem and their future academic career

(Education Analysis Policy Archives, 2005, p. 4). This misconception and misplacement would

take place because educators weren’t using effective teaching strategies to help the student, the

student wasn’t receiving the individual support that they needed, and they weren’t being given

enough time and other evaluations for that conclusion to be finalized. As a teacher, I plan to be

part of standing up for all students who might be placed in a program that is not suitable for their

abilities.

Most importantly, educators and anyone who is working with culturally and linguistically

diverse students’ needs to remember that not every tool will work for every student. Each

student is different and has their own unique background and set of needs, so it is the teacher’s

job to ensure they have an approach in place to help the student succeed to the best of their

abilities. Districts and teachers alike need to work together to devise the most successful plan for

their students. Egbert and Ernest in Views from inside: Languages, cultures, and schooling K-12

discuss the various societal norms, history, family ties and within different cultures and countries

from all around the world. Having read portions of Egbert and Ernest, my eyes have been

opened to how easy it is to misunderstand a student if you do not know much about them. This

text has given me a much more in depth knowledge of different cultures and that a student’s

behavior and their tendencies can often easily be explained by their cultural background if you

just take the time to learn about them. In the Education Analysis Policy Archives the text

reminds readers that, “Indeed, an underlying assumption of this report is that one size does not fit

all and that different approaches can be successful if implemented well” (Fred, 1999, p.7). It is

crucial that I as an educator do not become reliant on one strategy because all students have a

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different set of needs so I will need to become comfortable with as many as possible so I can

assist a wide range of students.

To help combat misplacement of capable students and to find approaches for students,

Program Alternatives for Linguistically Diverse Students focuses on how to use the best

available program or approach for each individual student to be able to have their best chance at

success. In the Theoretical Rationale section of the text states, “The SI approach provides

students with meaningful academic experiences that also contribute to the development of their

academic language skills” (Fred, 1999, p. 9). This reasoning shows how important it is for

students to receive grade level content instruction from the start so that the student is less likely

to fall too far behind in material (Fred, 1999, p. 8). It is so important as an educator to

understand different methods so that you are prepared to help any student who comes into your

classroom to the best of your abilities.

After watching La Misma Luna my heart was hurting, knowing that this and similar

situations are a reality for a large group of people around the world. Coming from the Yakima

Valley, an agricultural community and being from a farming family, I am familiar with these

situations second hand from loyal employees of the family orchard as I work cherry harvest

every summer. All of the employees are from Mexico and have been with the family farm for

years and are close to myself and my family. Javier, Antonio, Reuben, Joaquin and Irene have

all opened up about how they cannot go back to see their families because it is too risky to be

able to return and how difficult it is for them to get their family members in the United States.

Other employees have gone back to Mexico to see their family and have not been able to make it

back across the border after getting caught, making them have to stay in Mexico without

returning to their jobs in the United States as they are not citizens of the United States because it

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is such a difficult status to achieve. Some of these individuals have shared how they send a

check back to their family each month so that they can simply afford to live.

I feel grateful that I have had the experience to get to know individuals who have had to

endure such hardships and I admire their constant bravery and strength. However, I wish that this

wasn’t the case. What they had to do was illegal, all to try and achieve a better life of

opportunity, stability and security. I wish there could be a different set of regulations in place to

make it so this wasn’t the harsh reality these individuals had to go through to achieve security

and stability for themselves and their families. I hope I can use this knowledge and these

conversations to better understand my potential future students and their families in a more in-

depth way.

From all of the classes I have taken so far for my ELL endorsement, all of the sources

that I have used above and conversations with individuals who have first-hand experienced

immense hardship, have made it clear that it is essential for educators to recognize a student’s

individual needs, to be conscious of the methods you are using to evaluate students abilities and

to speak up when practices aren’t fair or are not just. As a future teacher, I hope that I can use

what I have learned to help spread awareness and knowledge about teaching ELL students, and I

can ultimately stand up for what is right in my future school. I want to see a change take place,

and I plan to be a part of that as I prepare to enter the teaching field.

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 Bibliography

Egbert, J., & Ernst-Slavit, G. (2018). Views from inside: languages, cultures, and
schooling for K-12 educators. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Fred. (2002, October 30). Program Alternatives for Linguistically Diverse

Students. Retrieved March 14, 2020, from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/95t956xz

Hosp, J. L. (2014). Response to Intervention and the Disproportionate

Representation of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Special Education.
Retrieved March 14, 2020, from https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-
Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Documents/Co-Teaching Modules/Module 3/25
RtI and the Dispropo Rep of Cult and Ling Diverse Students in Sp Ed.pdf

Tate, W., Zion, S., Harry, B., Kozleski, E., Artiles, A. J., & Klingner, J. K.
(2004). EDUCATION POLICY ANALYSIS ARCHIVES. Retrieved March 14, 2020,
from https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/2750/275020513038.pdf

Walden University. (2019, October 4). Why Cultural Diversity and Awareness in
the Classroom Is Important. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-elementary-
education/resource/why-cultural-diversity-and-awareness-in-the-classroom-is-important