Standard 2: Culture as it Affects Student Learning
The artifacts I chose for Standard 2 are from of ESC 769: Latinos in US Schools. The first artifact is my philosophy of education on teaching diverse learners, a required artifact for this standard. The second is a meta-analysis of current and past research on the climate of bilingual education in New York City and its effect on Dominican American English Language Learners. Both artifacts demonstrate a genuine interest and effort on my part to be a culturally aware and responsive teacher. Both of these artifacts demonstrate my willingness to adapt instruction for diverse learners and plan instruction based on my contextual knowledge of my students and the subject matter.
In writing my philosophy of education on teaching diverse learners, I put into words something I had believed and spoken but never written: I believe in equity for all students, regardless of background. The readings and research I did in ESC 769 gave me the words I needed to communicate my message through writing. The sources we used in this class, specifically James A. Banks’ “Cultural Diversity in Education,” combined with research from previous classes, e.g., Ester de Jong’s “Foundations for Multilingualism in Education,” are now the cornerstones of my expertise in multicultural teaching and bilingual education in the US.
This paper is where the synthesis of my philosophy, Banks’ research and de Jong’s research occurred. I noticed that I felt more confident in my approach to teaching a classroom full of diverse learners and talking to coworkers about my philosophy of education after writing this paper. Revisiting this paper reaffirms my belief that all students deserve an equitable education regardless of their background.
My meta-analysis of current and past research on the climate of bilingual education in New York City and its effect on Dominican American English Language Learners is the paper that I am most proud of in my time at Lehman College. This paper is a combination of weeks of research and borrows elements of research from previous papers I wrote. This paper caused me to formulate my own opinions on the best approach to teaching English to speakers of other languages. This was not what I had expected.
I thought I would complete this process with specific knowledge on the dominant opinions and research on bilingual education and learn the story of a bilingual program in New York City. These presumptions came true, but, as I learned more about different models, I realized that the bits and pieces of research I had been collecting and reading over my first year of graduate school were starting to come together to help me form a meaningful, evidence-based position on teaching English to speakers of other languages. I found that I had come to believe that additive schooling fit with my philosophy of education.
