response to prompt #5

As you may know already, my schools population is made up of over 50% of Hispanics and throughout my visits at Windmill, I have seen many parents entering and exiting the building, as well as meeting with the principal and teachers. In passing, I have noticed that the principal, Mr. Lopes, talking in Spanish with a parent. I never thought about it up until now that it must help a whole lot for the student population and their family members within the community to have a spanish speaking principal in order to communicate better about their child's education and as well as making them feel welcome. For me, as a white teacher, and someone who doesn't speak anything other than English might find it hard to communicate with the families of my students because of the language barrier. However, if I was a teacher at this school I would feel better knowing that the person whom I go to with any problems and for support would be able to help with communication because of his background.

I aware that my future as an educator in the public school system will be a struggle if I do not have help with communication. So, I have intended on taking a spanish course to learn the basics of the language which would help me a great deal. If I feel confident enough I would consider taking the next course in Spanish.

response to prompt #1

Windmill Street School is a public elementary school that sits up on top of a big hill in the North End section of Providence, RI. The classrooms in the school are spacious as well as the hallways which makes it easy for students and staff to work. The bathrooms are clean and well supplied from my own personal visits. All staff seem to be working collaboratively and I have noticed that the teachers are most aware of who the students are and where they should be.

According to Informationworks, the schools principal, Eusibio Lopes, oversees approximately 395 students and 34 teachers in grades K-5. The schools performance was noted as making adequate yearly progress in which they met 20 out 20 targets which were evluated in the year 2008. Windmill serves a diverse population where 53% of the students are Hispanic, 24% are White, 20% are African-American, 2% Asian and 1% Native American. Interesting enough, only 17% of the population received special eduation services but with general education supports and a very low 3% of them were part of a self-contained classroom. Also, 20% of the students were bilingual but 1% of them was part of an ESL program. This school is madw up of mostly low-income families and 89% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Responding to Prompt #4

Happy to announce that I am seeking progress with my new buddie Sam. The next time I went, I walked towards the classroom and he was already sitting in the hallway waiting for someone to work with him on his reading. Perfect timing I thought. I walked up confidently to him, smiled and said, "Hello Sam", and he just stared at me. I laughed a little inside, mostly from nerves but then asked him if he remembered me and he nodded yes. That's when I knew that I had to pull some tricks out of the bag. I put my stuff away and walked right up to the teacher and asked if she would like me to work with Sam again and she thought that would be great. I received my instructions on what we should be doing, grabbed a chair and went back to the hallway. First, I told him my name once again and asked him to choose a book of his choice to read. Sam apeaks very clear English and from what I can tell he understands it just as well. As we read, the word 'hutch' used in a sentence was a stopper for Sam. I explained the word as it was used in the sentence and then pointed it out in the picture as well. I asked him if he ever heard of it and that was it, I was in. He started telling me a little bit about him and his uncle back in Puerto Rico. I used my boyfriend and his family as a crutch because they are from Pueto Rico as well and I think this made him start to trust me. After that, Sam whizzed right through his pre-primer and primer words and I excitedly gave him a thumbs up or told him great job. At the end I gave him a high five for doing an awesome job that day. It was time for Sam to go back his class and on his way out he smiled and waved at me. I felt that I connected with my student because I was able to bring in my own personel history which gives me and advantage with his cultural background. I think that I am very close to acheiving the goal of getting my student to trust me. I noticed that Sam is reading louder than he was the first visit and gets more excited when he does a good job. Some challenges as a future teacher will be trying to connect with your students on all different levels because they are unique individuals with very different family life. I have been exposed to many different cultural backgrounds growing up in Providence and although my expereinces are helpful in the classrooms, I still have a lot to learn.