Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Understanding Cultures and Languages

Module 2 Unit 4 Activity 1

In this activity we had to describe two different cultural groups of ELLs that we might possibly encounter and create a 5 step action plan for promoting social inclusion, understanding, and mutual respect: 

Living in Korea it is rare to have students who are from other cultural groups in an educator’s classroom. However, there is a wide range of immigrant groups who do reside in Korea and on occasion teachers do have some diversity in their classroom. These two cultural groups of people are ones that I have noticed in South Korea.

Chinese

They represent the largest immigrant group living in Korea and make up more than half of the 1.1 million immigrants. The majority is referred to as Han Chinese and they come from the Shandong province in eastern China.

Chinese people have been living in Korea for generations but most of the families whom are not fluent in Korean, are usually those who more recently came to Korea for better opportunities.

Teachers whom encounter Chinese children in their class often speak Mandarin. An example of their Chinese written script looks like this:    汉语 [漢語]. This is written in the Han language and it is very similar to Korean Hanja with similar or same meanings of concepts and words. This makes it easier for their parents to read Korean newspaper headlines, or communicate to other Korean’s by writing.

These students’ families are usually here working on a labor program or they may also be undocumented. Usually the parents expect their children to study hard and be respectful in school as they do not want to draw attention to themselves or their family.

Filipino

This group represents a smaller immigrant group, but yet prominent. They speak Tagalog and according to world standards they use Latin script.

Similarly to the Chinese, this group is usually here on labor visas or through marriage visas as some of them are married to Korean citizens. By the beginning of the 1990’s rising economy, this made Korea become an attractive place to immigrate to. Most of them are here for better opportunities. They are fairly newer immigrants living in Korea when compared to the Chinese.

The students’ families are a bit more relaxed with their expectations but expect their children to be respectful.

The difference between these two groups and the Korean students can be difficult to spot at times, especially with the Chinese students. Often times the Chinese students speak fluent Korean and blend in with the rest of the students. However, from my experience they are quieter and tend to be a bit more respectful as they don’t like standing out.

The Filipino students are usually easier to identify physically and are often are more talkative. Their English speaking ability also seems to be better if they just immigrated recently.

There are some potential conflicts between these two groups and the Korean students as immigration is still a relatively new phenomenon here in Korea. Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, and students can be segregated or bullied by their Korean peers for being different.

References

Jung, S. Y. (n.d.). Chinese Student Migrants in Korea, Their Choice. . Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.welfareasia.org/5thconference/papers/Song%20Y_chinese%20student%20in%20Korea.pdf

The world's scripts and alphabets - World Standards. (2014, January 15). World Standards. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.worldstandards.eu/other/alphabets/

Here is my 5 step action plan:

by analiakim

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Mindmap of Remediation Process

Module 2 Unit 3 Activity 4

This is the first mindmap I have made. I used examtime. See below or click the link here. 

by analiakim

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Special Education Referral Process

Module 2 Unit 3 Activity 3

I interviewed Catherine Shears who is a paraprofessional at Burntwood Elementary School in Thompson, Manitoba. She spoke to Amanda Devlin who is the counselor at this school and Alison Duggan, who is a resource teacher. The following is the answer she provided.

Amanda Devlin: School Counselor at Mystery Lake District

1.      How is a student identified for special education referral?

Burntwood Elementary has a three level system to classify students with disabilities.  Level 1 is severely disabled children. Level 2 would be less severe than Level 1 and Level 3 would be children with high incident learning disabilities. The homeroom teacher is the primary person responsible for identifying students for referral to the special needs program.

2.      Who takes responsibility for the progress of the child before and after the referral?

The homeroom teacher is responsible for the student before a referral is made. Once the referral is made, the responsibility shifts to the resource teacher and the principal, to begin the process of applying for funding for an IEP.

3.      What is the school administrations directive for special education?

At the Mystery Lake District, the directive is to have full inclusion of special needs students into regular classrooms. An IEP is created with inclusion in mind. Students are only separated from regular classes if they display severe disabilities, which interfere with other students’ learning or hinders the teacher’s ability to properly educate her students. For these incidents, Burntwood has several environments created for special needs students. One example is The Blue Room which is an area for children with emotional disturbances.  This room provides a calm and safe space for these children.

4. What provisions are made for students identified for special education?

Burntwood Elementary School tries to accommodate special needs students as much as possible. There are several provisions put in place to assist special needs learners. They have a variety of paraprofessionals in place to provide support to the students i.e. counselors, pathologists, occupational therapists, teacher aids, and even pediatricians, as many of these students come from unfortunate family circumstances. Very often children enter the system with several health problems such as malnutrition. The main provision is an IEP which is created for each student where teachers make several accommodations and modifications to help children with reading, writing, or math for instance, giving them more time to finish tasks, or breaking down tasks into sections.

5. What is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?

Before any IEP funding can be applied for by the principal the parents must be informed about the child’s situation and give permission for the school to follow through on a funding application. Often times, Burntwood Elementary School have children who come from difficult family situations where unfortunately sometimes parent involvement is minimal. Sometimes this puts undue responsibility on the support system at the school.

Allison Duggan: Resource Teacher at Burntwood Elementary

1. How do you identify a student for special education?

For level 1 students we have prior notification of them joining our school. For level 2 and 3 students, we look for obvious inefficiencies in academic skills, motor skills and verbal skills. We perform a variety of tests provided by the district to determine the severity of their disability.

2. What are the signs of a struggling student?

Children in higher grade levels that display inability to recognize the alphabet, numbers, or lack basic social skills, usually put up a red flag for any homeroom teacher. Several students come in with verbal and motor deficiencies. When a student is unable to cut paper or use a pencil correctly, these signs are also key factors in determining if a referral for special education is in need.

3. Are there alternate methods of instruction tried out before referring the student for special education? If yes, what are they?

As with any teacher, we would seek to provide modifications or accommodations to try and improve the level of the student. However from our experience, once a student is on the homeroom teacher’s radar for special needs referral, they rarely hesitate to start a dialogue with the resource teacher or principal for the future of their student’s education.

Reflection

As a university level teacher in Korea, I haven’t encountered many students with disabilities. I found this interview really informative as if I do get a job teaching young learners, I will be able to know the protocol if I do suspect a child of having some sort of disability. As an educator it is our responsibility to not only teach our students but really look after them, and be aware if there are any red flags raised.  The university I work for is a private university and they don’t offer much support for disabled students, other than legal facility standards that they have to meet. I sometimes suspect a few students with learning disabilities or behavioral issues, but often times I’m in a predicament to speak with them about it as it is stigmatized in this society and almost offensive or a form of criticism to them if I would bring it up. It is really sad that this is the situation here. I believe that there could be a lot more help and leaps of improvement in this area and it is unfortunate that very little has been done to better these situations for any student with a disability. My recommendation for our university is to have a phone number or make a webpage for the students where they could call or talk to someone via chat, get some counseling, or advice about where they can get assistance and still remain anonymous to their peers.

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Role of Special Education in Tomorrow's World

Module 2 Unit 3 Activity 2

I have been teaching close to ten years in Korea and I have never had a single disabled student, in my classroom, nor worked with anyone with learning difficulties. I only started my path as a teacher when I arrived to this country. During the first two years I was here, I was a private tutor for students of all ages. I was teaching children from six years of age up to adults attending university. On my third year here, I got my first job teaching at a university and that is where I have worked for the remainder of the years.  I’d like to think that the reason I haven’t had much involvement with disabled students in my classes is purely by chance.  I sometimes wonder if that’s the case, or if it’s society I live in.

Korea is the land of my parents and ancestors and for that I will always have a deep rooted love for it. Living here I have learned so many things about its culture and people. Like any other country, it has its qualities and its defects.

This is a place where image is of utter importance. You notice it as soon as you arrive to this airport. It is futuristic and grandiose. It makes a great first impression. In my last 10 years here, I have noticed that the facilities for the disabled have increased tremendously. Today, almost all major sidewalks have tactile pavings, all subway entrances have elevator access, every bathroom has a disability stall, and many places including schools are required by law to have wheelchair access, to name a few. There is still a long way to go in the infrastructures especially in older areas, but the change has been remarkable to say the least. With all of this, one would suspect encountering more people with disabilities attending educational establishments and regularly using these facilities, but that is not the case.

Many limitations are still apparent in the Korean education, especially when it comes to diversity in schools. In this educational system, needs are not met for individual students. Instead it commands to conform to the majority and their “standards”. Because of this, it is very difficult for children with disabilities to attend mainstream schools. Korea is the most homogenous country in the world and the bigger problem lies within how the Korean society as a whole, views people with special needs. Being different is shameful and people with physical disabilities are often stigmatized. This causes many of them to attend separate schools to obscure themselves from the rest of the population.

I am hopeful that the situation can shift to a path of notable improvement. Although the societal views have not shifted much about people with disabilities, infrastructure wise, Korea has taken a huge leap to better conditions for these people and at least, that creates more awareness.

On that note I believe that personalized learning in special education is truly important. When it comes to children with disabilities, no two students will be the same and teaching them in one approach for a certain subject will not be beneficial for some.  Because of this, modifying the pace of instruction so that the teaching is more individualized is very important for the students. Adjusting the learning approach so that the instruction is differentiated also something that teachers need to consider with each of their children. Factoring student interests and favoring their experiences (with what they can/can’t do) can help learning become more personalized. The traditional teaching method handles all learners in the same manor regardless of their unique strengths and needs. The only way in which we should treat these students in the same manor is by having them in a classroom with other children their age, as much as possible.

In tomorrow’s world, I believe that technology is going to play a major part in personalized learning with special needs students as it will assist them in multiple ways. Different technology and devices should be available for various needs. Personalized learning is not so much about the technology, but about how that technology will help these learners improve in the future. 

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Voicethread on Differentiated Instrudtion

Module 2 Unit 3 Activity 1

In this activity, we got given a partner and we had to make a voicethread. 

Clikc here or below is the url you can copy and paste:

http://voicethread.com/?#q.b5825553.i29841249

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Video on Laws and Policies that Affect Education

Module 2 Unit 2 Activity 3

In this activity we had to make a video and upload it to our YouTube channel. Here is mine. I used a program called Powtoons. 

Teach Now (Teacher Certification): PTA meeting Observation

Module 2 Unit 2 Activity 2

On this activity we had to observe a PTA meeting and write what their strengths and weaknesses were among other details.

Here is what I wrote:

Parent Teacher Meeting

For this assignment, I have observed two PTA meetings via Youtube as I couldn’t attend any meetings this week. One of the gatherings was held at an elementary school, and the other one was at a kindergarten. I have to start off stating that they were both very different.

The first video was held in April 30^th 2014. It was very organized and in my opinion, what a successful PTA meeting should be like. It was not only organized, but also very positive, productive, and inspiring. The speaker started the meeting with an overview of the whole year and a few things that were on the calendar that parents should be aware of before the end of the year i.e. Field Day, benchmarks, fourth grade events and the fifth grade recognition ceremony.

She then addresses two really important points that were coming up. The first one is that they were going to put a paved walking path in their field that would benefit the students’ field days, teachers, it would also be wheelchair accessible, and promote wellness to everyone at the school. She was very thorough explaining that the budget was $15,000 and that they had $2000 saved from grants last year. So instead of making a fund raiser, she has already contacted the director of facilities and finance, and they offered to pay half right away. Then she sent out a few emails to different companies to sponsor this, she was surprised how easy it was for her to receive funds from different places. So unlike having to wait for months, it is already in action and it should be done by the end of the summer, before the children return to school.

Before discussing the second topic, she started by showing everyone a video. She addresses a book she read called, The Leader In Me by Steven R. Covey and then states that she wants to start integrating these principles into not only the teachers, but the students as well. Through collaborating with her teachers, one teacher mentioned that there was a Leader in Me school and they decided to drive out there to see how successful it was. When they arrived, they noticed that it was a school where a lot of lower income children went, the infrastructure was old, the technology was minimal, but what blew her away was that even with those circumstances, the children were really responsible for themselves and very disciplined. They really took charge and had a lot of common sense (I will add that by this point she has already sold this book to me)!

She stating that she has gotten a copy of this for all the teachers and that they won’t really change the curriculum, but that they will start weaving this practice into their classes whenever possible.

One last thing I need to praise her on is that she is going to involve her students in other ways. One example is when they hire teachers, they will include students’ opinions as children really have a sixth sense for knowing who loves children and can be a great teacher.

Lastly, she ended with opening up the floor for questions but there really weren’t any at all.

If there were any weaknesses, they were well masked. I perhaps thought that at one point she did push the book too much like giving a sales pitch (and I was sold) but I could tell she was just very passionate and genuine about the book.

Some of the things she did excelled at during this meeting were her positivity, her ability to demonstrate that things are getting done very quickly, passion for her school and her students, addressing all key points of the year and future plans, collaborating with teachers and students and also usage of technology during the meeting by showing a video.

The second video I watched was the opposite of this one. This PTA meeting took place in January of this year. The speaker was dealing with a kindergarten school and she basically went through the facts, funds, scheduling and tuition of the school. After she addressed these topics, she opened up the floor for questions.

There was an uncomfortable feeling during the whole meeting. She wasn’t very personable and the feeling I got from watching her was that either she was very tired, or that she knew she was dealing with a tough crowd. She was holding her computer up to her face and was addressing everyone by blocking half of her face with it at times. One of the parents also stated that she didn’t even receive information about the PTA until a few hours prior, so this led me to believe they are not very organized.

Some of her strengths were that she was eloquent, and gave a lot of solid facts, but many questions were unanswered as she repeatedly had to indicate to the parents that they still had to go through a series of meetings and that they would know these answers in a month. In my opinion that could be quite plausible but it also really felt unorganized and unprepared. They could have maybe had this PTA meeting after all those other meetings were held, and perhaps maybe they could answer more questions.

I do believe that recording PTA’s could really help some parents “attend” without being there. Negatively, it could also cause parents’ attendance level to a minimum because they have access to these recordings online and consequently, dealing with parents via email back and forth could be more time consuming. Overall these meetings are very important for the parents to be involved with their children’s education. Many things can improve, discussed, and solved during these meetings.

Here are the two links of the videos I’ve watched. I really recommend the first one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK68oCs34aI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-jMrTMaJig