prompt 3 post

The teacher is responsive to the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students by giving them numerous ways to get the correct answers. For example, I know that when we are reading with the children we ask them to read us the word but we also ask them to put it in a sentence and at some times write the word. By doing this I feel that even if a student does not know how to read they word if they know what it means they will be successful when putting it in a sentence or writing it. This makes the student feel like they are accomplishing something rather than just asking the student to read the word on the card and when they don't know it they shut down and feel embarrassed. Also I noticed that the teacher has a routine that the students follow such as reading aloud vowel sounds, the days of the week, and counting how many days are left in school. This type of organization may help people of different linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural backgrounds feel more comfortable since the entire class is following the same process and directions.
Some of my students have an accent but for the most part they speak English very well. If I see that the student is having trouble pronouncing a word because of their accent I will say it for them slowly and they will repeat it the way I said it. I have run into some trouble with a student who has had a rough upbringing. His upbringing causes him to act like a class clown and not listen. I try to keep him always busy with something and ask him questions frequently to try to keep him on task. Overall, I am having great success with my reading buddy activity and plan to finish up shortly.

Prompt 2

According to infoworks when the students were asked about their ethnicity 30% responded African American/Black, 30% Latino/Hispanic, 22% Multi-response, 8% White, 8% Native Hawaiian or
Other Pacific Islander, 3% Asian. This was 4th and 5th graders. I am a reading buddy with 3 kindergarten students and 3 first graders. Not one of them is white. If I had to guess I would say that they are Black and Hispanic. Their is no language barrier, maybe an accent but nothing too heavy. If I remember correctly most of the teachers were white. I found this too be interesting. The students seem to listen to the teachers and do what they are told. A few of my students were shy at first but once I worked with them for a little while they became more open and friendly with me. Since this school is such a diverse school I feel the students will not feel uncomfortable around people of a different ethnic background. This is very important considering our society is becoming more and more diverse. This may work against them since they will not have any white privileges but I think it will benefit them more than hurt them later in life.

Blog 2 First Day

While driving to the school I was anxious and excited to be a reading buddy. I did not know what to expect. It took me a few minutes to find the entrance of the school. The school was a big building and was more than one level. I sat in a room with a few other students from RIC and the school's literacy coach. The literacy coach told us what we would be doing and explained that this was the first day and that things would be a bit unorganized and apologized for this. Soon I was given all the materials I needed and was introduced to my two kindergarten reading buddies. I played games with them using index cards with words on them. Unfortunately, we go off to a late start and I was not able to spend much time with them. They did not know many of the words so I tried to encourage them and tell them that it was fine. They seemed to really like me and listened extremely well. Next, it was time to meet my two first grade reading buddies. They too were well behaved and seemed to enjoy my presence. I played games with index cards with them as well. They knew more words and this made it easier to work with them. The class rooms were decorated with colorful pictures and class work. Both rooms had tables set up and the students would sit in groups at these tables. When I walked into the rooms the students stared at me and some waved while others said hi. It was such a great feeling being looked up to. Most of the students were Black and Hispanic. Many students had a Spanish accent. The literacy coach was helpful considering the confusion of the first day. Overall, I feel it was a successful first day. I enjoyed working with my students and am looking forward to going back next Tuesday.

Bio

Hi, my name is Eddy and I'm a Health and Physical Education major. I transferred from CCRI and usually either work out or watch sports with my free time.