Working in Education through the Language Lens

NO - not the whole stork carrying the baby story! How did I end up in education - teaching ELL - aspiring to be an administrator - and connected to some of the best educators and advocates for education that I've ever known? Would it surprise you if I said I've always loved school? Yes, I was the teachers pet - not because I sought out attention, but because I loved being on task. This holds true today, in that I hate having my time wasted. I dislike doing things that have little effect. A pivotal point in my young journey as a learner occurred near the end of 10th grade. My sister had just graduated high school and I had been following in her footsteps since first grade. "Oh you're Marcelle's sister?.......... you don't look very much like her!..........I hope you're as good as a student as she is!" - were very familiar greeting from teachers. I had had enough of being in her illustrious academic and sports shadow. She would captain the A team,

Have you considered how the culture of your students, plays into the school culture and your expectations? Have you investigated collective versus individual cultures? Here's a snippet from an  interesting article on how individualist cultures "behave" differently from collective ones.  Collectivist Individualist Students speak up in class only when sanctioned by the group Students are expected to individually speak up in class The purpose of education is learning how to do The purpose of education is learning how to learn Diplomas provide entry to higher-status groups Diplomas increase economic worth and/or self-respect http://outwardlooking.com/how-do-individualist-cultures-behave-differently-to-collective-ones/ So what does that have to do with the work I do - we do? (I'm so glad you asked) Your culture and identity cannot be checked out as you enter your workplace/school. However, you can create, build and sustain dual identities. If you know

I would get yelled at by her and she would say -  your words go buzz buzz buzz in my head! One of many stories told to us today by our training facilitator! I can recall the number of PD's that have impacted my teaching, my thinking, my learning and connected with my way of thinking on one hand. In a 12 year career of education - that's a sad statistic.  The art of story telling - so dominant in many cultures with strong oral traditions, is a way to connect to the heart of us. Our mind can be stimulated in a variety of mediums, but the heart is moved by stories. Not just stories made up of words (as my fellow book lovers can attest). Songs are stories too, and so are photographs (a picture that tells 1000 words). But to hear a story - from the source - with inflection of voice and stress on certain words and pregnant pauses -  like the  buZZzzzzzzzz        BUZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz  BUZZ zzzzzzzzzzz of words .........................................................

Teaching with an Asset Perspective Recently my PLN (Professional Learning Network) has discussed this 'strengths based approach' to learning and leading and I feel this is a great time to offer my 2 cents! I have used this phrase as part of my signature line in my email for years now. Rarely has a fellow professional commented on it, or asked about what that means. Perhaps there is a full understanding, however as an E.L.L. teacher, advocate, and parent of three adoptive E.L.L. children, I would like to share an excerpt from my dissertation to share what this ‘asset thinking’ means to me. An innovative practice that is described by Moll et al. (2005, as cited by Haneda, 2006) is to “challenge the deficit view concerning the cultural resources of working class language minority households and their children’s academic competent, they argued for active incorporation of households’ funds of knowledge [1] into the curriculum” (p. 342). There is a need for t