March 9, 2012 - DIA Observation #4

When I visited DIA today there was only one student in the room with an aid. She was assessing reading.

I visited several classrooms where EL students we in.

I enjoyed the culturally diverse community which exists at DIA. The teachers are supportive of the diverse backgrounds of all of their students.

Some of the things I saw which seemed to empower the language learning students were the following:

1. Teachers did not make judgments about the students who seemed to struggle in their classrooms.
2. Students were not labeled.
3. The school seems to encourage students to speak their own language and supports the cultural differences of all students.
4. Teachers had projects up on classroom walls that demonstrated the cultures of all students. The projects  included writing about their families and traditions found in their culture.
5. I saw several books in the languages of the students.
6. I saw several signs around the school in the languages of the students.

I was encouraged by these. In multilingual education these are a first, strong, interactive step in empowering language learning students.