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Are We Truly Helping Our Students?

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  This Chapter is filled with great examples of the best practices and damaging practices for Emergent Bilinguals. The chapter begins by explaining the major achievement gap between students identified as ELs and non-EL students (Fu, Hadjioannou, Zhou, 2019, p. 31). This gap was shocking and very unsettling. However, the part of the chapter that I found most interesting was the two examples of Rosa and Yan. In Rosa’s example, she was in a pull-out ESL program and was provided help with grammar rules in English. However, Rosa returns in the middle of the science lesson. She wanted to participate in the lesson and share her knowledge on animals but could not find the right vocabulary in English, so she ended up not listening anymore. This is known as the snowball effect. On the other side, Yan was not in a pull-out program and instead his teacher supported his development by giving him a bilingual picture book, allowing him to share his writing, and honoring his family’s culture an...
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Classroom Environment & The "Success Frame"

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          In Chapter 9, “Creating a Culturally Responsive Community for Learning,” Hammond emphasizes the importance of creating a classroom that supports our students socially, emotionally, and intellectually (2015). Hammond gives us ideas on how exactly we can build an intellectually safe classroom. She mentions how teachers can use authentic rituals and routines to focus on the ethos of the classroom. This really surprised me because when I think of routines I think of day-to-day activities that help build structure and classroom management. I did not know routines could help students connect to each other and build social bonds. I also loved Hammond’s suggestion to invite students to create the procedures or routines with us. This involves the students and shows that we value their opinion and input. It also ensures that students have a part in developing the classroom environment. This will allow students to feel a sense of community.  Also, Tat...
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Welcome!

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Hi, I am Jillian Stankiewicz. I am a student at Mount St. Mary's University and currently studying Elementary Education with Special Education. The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts and ideas for my Modernity in Education class. I enjoy reading, hiking, and watching movies with my friends. I also enjoy playing yards games and firepits with my family. My happy place is the beach and luckily I get to go there often. I'm excited to share my education journey with you!          
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