We Beduc406 students were asked to write this week about what we know about our students that is not immediately obvious, and how we know it. As I wrote in my "The Gift of the September Experience" posting, I have felt privileged to have the luxury of time with the kids, without the demands of planning and teaching. I have been able to engage them in numerous brief conversations over the course of the last week and thus to begin to get to know them on a personal level. I have also benefited from information shared by my master teacher, and gathered in the "My Child as a Learner" handout that parents were asked to complete. I have learned a little more about some of the students in the course of meetings between my MT and other staff, including last year's teacher and the Safety Net and special ed teachers. Of course, a good deal of what I have learned has been gathered through simple, but careful, observation.
I have learned that this class of 23 now is remarkably multi-lingual. Ten of the students speak languages other than English at home: Spanish, Portuguese, Uzbek, Russian, Cambodian, Swedish, Romanian, Urdu, Filipino and Vietnamese. Many of the parents of these students are not fluent in English, and the children at home help their parents with communication issues. I believe that only one student will probably qualify for ELL this year.
Some other things I've come to know about the kids (pseudonyms, of course)...
Justin ... is writing a book about zombies
Alvin ... is writing the theme song for the zombie book!
Pauline ... misses her home in Vietnam
Julia ... is quieter than her two younger sisters and is a little embarrassed by their talkativeness
Susan ... hopes to be placed in the gifted program
Darryl ... aspires to being a professional baseball player
Brian ... looks tough and self-assured, but really needs a lot of positive feedback and attention
Celia ... works very slowly, but thinks very deeply
Vince ... attended school on a split shift in Cambodia
Bob ... is a Warriors series fanatic
Doug ... eats sandwiches made by his grandfather, except on "pudding day," when he buys lunch
Torie ... says she has gotten in trouble for talking in class ever since kindergarten
Alex ... gets tired in school if he hasn't had enough to eat or drink
Jackie ... always has a stack of at least five books on her desk
Joseph ... hopes to miss less school this year
Kevin ... says that partners help pull you back when you "start to wander in your dreams"
Ulysses ... has a sharp mathematical mind
Louise ... would like to live in the Philippines when she grows up
Emma ... blossoms with personal attention
Art ... plays select soccer and speaks three languages at home
Amelia ... is a little bit of a mother hen in class and will help out new kids
Emily ... loves writing fiction, especially fantasy
Iris ... would like to do more writing in school because she enjoys it
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