An Equitable Approach for Culturally-Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Gifted Students

Homework, Opportunity, and Equity

Rather than focusing this blog pot entirely on linguistic or cultural learning, I wanted to share a recent article about the role of homework in school and the mixed opinions about how effective it is. Although I fully anticipate a spectrum of opinions on homework, I think it's important to engage in ongoing dialogue and reflection on what homework we give, how much we give, how we assess it, and the different supports that different kids have to complete their homework. Below you can find the article broken apart into essential questions. In particular attention, what do we know absolutely about homework? We know that homework is a disproportionate challenge for low-income students and incomplete homework impacts low-income students disproportionately . While we must have high expectations for ALL students and hold ALL students accountable regardless of their life circumstances, educators should regularly reflect on their homework policy to assess the value of homewor...

Supporting Latino Students to Maximize their Potential

In "The Potential and Promise of Latino Students" (American Educator, Spring 2017) , Patricia Gándara describes the changing cultural and linguistic portrait of Latino students in the USA while reflecting on their potential and areas of struggle. In the section, "Why Latinos Fall Behind," Gándara reflects on a common trend in schools to identify second-language acquisition as the primary factor impacting Latino student's academic performance and growth. I wanted to deconstruct several of her quotations and analyze the potential impact our Latino students. Quotation: "The simplistic and misguided explanation that language is the primary impediment to academic achievement overlooks the much more powerful role of poverty. Nearly two-third (62 percent) of Latino children live in or near poverty, and less than 20 percent of low-income Latinos live in households where anyone completed postsecondary education," (p.6). Analysis: Although many ...

Tough Conversations: When Students Make Jokes about Race in the Classroom

Written by Rocío Robledo-Zak Interviewed by Ryan Zak During a session of guided reading, I was re-teaching a mini lesson on cause and effect with a group of students. The passage we were using involved an expository text on the Pony Express. After students read the passage to themselves, they had to identify and describe at least three causes and effects into their journals. Once they completed that task, we did a turn and share in the group. One student identified one cause by stating that the riders of the Pony Express crossed territorial lands to help deliver mail and the effect was that Indians would kill them for invading their lands. After I praised the student’s response, another student made a teasing comment towards that student, “you see what your people did to the riders.” The lighter-skinned girl, whose comment directed towards the darker-skinned boy, seemed to have the explicit intention playfulness, but the implicit effect of race-related prejudice. After s...

Teaching and Learning: Language and Culture

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