Group Differences Forum

I think the group differences forum has been interesting and has sparked a lot of conversation. I enjoyed hearing people's opinions on different topics. One thing I learned from the discussion is boys tend to be given more attention than girls in school, which caused some good discussion. Also, I learned that there is talk about a program that requires your child to be in school and do well in order to receive welfare  There were great points on both sides of the argument and it is a really tricky situation. The gender and disabilities group was not as interesting because I believe many of us have already learned so much about building self-concept and self-efficacy in our students with special needs. There was no really great discussion over this topic, but rather everyone stating facts from our special education classes, and nothing that lead to debate. I would have like to see more on this topic. I would suggest taking this article out. Since I am unaware of the other articles, I would not necessarily say take out the topic.

I learned many things that could help me in my classroom such as to pay attention to boys and girls and be aware of any biases I may have. I also learned I need to understand where families in poverty are coming from and how I can best serve them and help their child succeed. I also need to be aware of my misconceptions of different groups because there are many parents who are trying but still fall within the poverty line. Like we discussed, most parents really do want their child to succeed. Last, I learned that it is important for teachers to be prepared to teach ELL students and to be equipped with the proper skills. These students are going to be in every classroom at all different levels, and since not all schools can hire ELL teachers, each general education teacher needs to be prepared.

Overall, this forum was enlightening and covered many different issues. Many topics I had discussed before, while other conversations brought a new perspective. 

Linguistic Characteristics & Abilities

I am going to be interning in 2nd grade next year, so my focus on this PLE will be K-2 grades in the Table 2.2 on p. 51 in Ormrod's book. At this age, they know about 14,000 words by age 6, still have difficulty understanding complex sentences, and have mastered most sounds. For the most part, they understand basic etiquette in conversations but are reluctant to initiate conversations for adults. 

Some strategies that you could use to help students would be to read age-appropriate books to enhance vocab. The teacher can talk about new words, show pictures, and explain them. They could even go on a word wall or in a word journal. Another way is to ask students to construct a narrative about what they did over the weekend, over the holidays, etc. 

Another way to expand this that I have seen in a kindergarten classroom is every weekend, Clifford, the stuffed animal, goes home with a special friend in the class who has been great all week. On Monday, the student brings Clifford back along with a summary in Clifford's journal of what Clifford did during the weekend. Even though the student is unable to write, the student tells the parents. Then, the student can verbally summarize it, or read it, aloud to the class.