Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Sonia Mullaney
each with their own components, and each with their own unique "learning style" and "needs,"
which I respect and intend to foster and utilize effectively. Students could include anyone that
speaks any language (English or otherwise), and a classroom environment that incorporates all
cultures, ethnicities, and wide ranges of multi-leveled socio-economic backgrounds. By
families, I intend to reach out, be inclusive and welcoming, to this vital element of each student's
uniqueness. I honor them and hope to maximally engage them not only in their child's growth
and development, but also involve them in all aspects of our entire classroom community.
My objective is not only to understand my students and their families but to foster a
learning environment in which all students can flourish. I believe the highest importance in
learning encompasses the entire classroom which we build together in a classroom community.
This can be done through a combination of individual work, pair work, small group work, and
whole group discussions. Allowing different groupings within the lessons fosters students
abilities to not only exchange their ideas and perspectives with one another, but also keeps them
engaged in meaningful ways through ongoing participation. English Language Learners not only
face the challenge of learning the academic content, they also face the challenge of learning it in
a different language other than their own native language. Traditionally, teachers have treated
language learning as a set of rules or structures separate from the process of teaching content
knowledge; this left ELLs unprepared to work with complex texts and academic language. My
allowing students to be given frequent, extended opportunities to read, speak, listen, and write in
various contexts within the lessons and groupings will allow all students to thrive in the
classroom together with their counterpart classmates. Another way in which to build the
classroom community is through differentiated instruction. Not only do students have different
learning styles (i.e. visual, auditory, kinesthetic), they also learn from multiple ways in which to
present the information within the lessons. Some examples of different tools I have used in the
classroom to motivate students with different learning styles include the use of manipulatives,
models, maps, and drawing diagrams to represent knowledge attained within the lesson. In my
quest to provide each student with unique opportunities within the classroom, I will utilize dance,
movement and cultural experiences such as ethnic foods and interaction with peers from other
countries. I also find that technology can be a useful tool in not only promoting self-reflection in
their work (through journals, etc.), but also collaboration that can be tailored to each students
skill level (steps of learning based on completing levels of tasks that are engaging). Overall, my
goal as an effective teacher, is to be able to tap into each students unique capabilities, while
motivating them to be the greatest version of themselves!