CEC 7 Assignment Group 2

Advocacy:
An Educators Call to Action
By
Cong-Kai (Kyle) Jin
Daniela Thrasher

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Currency:
Advocating on Behalf of Our CLD Students

Benefits of Bilingual Education/Bilingualism:

Bilingual education is a form of brain training-a mental work out that fine-tuns the
mind.

Studies have shown an association with grey matter density in our brain and
increased intellect, especially in areas of language, memory, and attention; studies
using brain imaging showed that a bilingual brain has denser grey matter compared
with monolingual participants.

Bilingual education builds up better skill sets with improved cognitive skills, better
literacy skills, increased environmental awareness, and developing outside-thebox thinking necessary for sharp problem solving and innovation.

Bilingual education builds up global mindfulness, allows learners the opportunity to

become bi-cultural and globalization ready, truly understanding the values and
society of more than one culture.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Currency:
Advocating on Behalf of Our CLD Students

Benefits of Incorporating CLD Students Funds of Knowledge:

The cultural traditions/practices/knowledge of CLS students could be valuable assets in

the classroom and contribute to the scope and depth of knowledge shared by all
students in the classroom. It validates their personal beliefs and allows for authentic
and meaningful discussions and learning.

The professions/vocations/specialized skills of students family members could serve as

a boost to students motivation of learning in the classroom.

Understanding each others traditions and beliefs, gaining understanding, tolerance, and
acceptance, inevitably leads to a risk-free, open mind, and positive learning
environment in the classroom.

Higher Education is pushed in the US. Learning about other options may fuel discussions,
allow for more tolerance and reaching another level of global competence. Comparing
those differences are great for in-class discussions - and once again - promote
acceptance and respect.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Currency:
Advocating on Behalf of Our CLD Students

Diversity as an Asset to the School and the Community:

Diverse, inclusive communities are ideal for nurturing creativity and innovation.

Children exposed to diverse cultures in the classroom learn to understand different

point of view which is an important part of education.

People from a number of different cultural backgrounds will think in different

ways. Their world views comes with a wide variety of solutions that people of a
single culture would never have considered.

Diversity help sharp problem solving abilities; its like thinking out of the box. We
need a society of creative problem solvers.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Defensibility:
Articulating an Inclusive Approach to Instruction

Effective Instructional Strategies for the Inclusion of CLD Students within the Grade-Level
Classroom:

To make instruction relevant, then, the instruction has to be meaningful and engaging to a broad range of
students. An engaging activity doesn't necessarily result in learning academic content, however. For instruction
to be truly meaningful, it has to prepare students for the demands of the world beyond school as well as be
developmentally appropriate.

Connections between curricular content and students' out-of-school lives must be more immediate in terms of
their current lived experiences or an explicit pathway to aspirations that they have defined for themselves.

Connect instruction to children and young people as they are; connect content and instruction to children and
young people as they want to be; connect instruction with a dynamic demanding world.

New strategies require maintaining rigor, but increasing flexibility in how standards are met in each classroom.
If instructor can demonstrates how the same curricular content will be covered in more flexible studentcentered ways, then there should be a process to allow for this. These approaches allow teachers to design
instruction that is more responsive to the assessed needs, backgrounds, and interests of their particular
students.

Likewise, standardized benchmark assignments might retain the same standard grading rubrics, but with more
flexibility about when teachers assign them, or how teachers incorporate additional criteria to embed more
connections to students' home lives, imagined communities, or real-world work contexts and demands.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Defensibility:
Articulating an Inclusive Approach to Instruction

The Benefits for ALL Students When CLD Students Funds of Knowledge Are
Included in Grade-Level Instruction:

CLD students provide different point of view in classroom discussion.

CLD students process valuable knowledge of other cultures in the world which
could benefit other students in the class.

The profession, vocations and specialized skills of CLD students and their family
members could be a great source and topics for sharing in class discussion so as to
broaden the knowledge scope of the students in class. These discussions could also
provide direct and solid real-life relevance on the given curriculum.

CLD students increase the diversity in classroom through exchange of experiences

from other cultures, beliefs and values.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Defensibility:
Articulating an Inclusive Approach to Instruction

Beyond the Classroom: The Positive Effects of Diversity on the School and Community:

Diversity and multicultural instruction program would help students learn sentiments and skills
that will be needed in a plural democracy.

Socializing with someone of a different racial group or discussing racial issues contributes to the
students academic development, satisfaction with college, level of cultural awareness, and
commitment to promoting racial understanding.

Having a diverse student body is associated with other attributes of the institutional climate:
stronger commitment to multiculturalism, a greater faculty emphasis on racial and gender issues
in their research and in the classroom, and more frequent student involvement in cultural
awareness workshops and ethnic studies courses.

These same environmental characteristics have also been shown to have positive impacts on
student retention, overall college satisfaction, college GPA, intellectual self-confidence, and
social self-confidence.

Ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity creates a rich American tapestry that enriches us all.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Futurity:
Stepping Outside the Box

Recommendations for the Board regarding programming (emphasize the

need to make informed decisions regarding program selection and the
need to promote cross-language transfer of knowledge [linguistic and
academic] from L1 to L2):

Provide professional preparation and development in the area of culture, language,

and diversity.

Recruit and support educators who are trained in languages other than English.

Develop and provide alternative, creative strategies to promote all childrens

participation and learning.

Preservice education, licensure, and ongoing professional development can help

close the current cultural gap between many educators and the students they
serve.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Futurity:
Stepping Outside the Box

Enhancing and Supplementing the Curriculum to Meet CLD Students

Learning Needs:

Ensure that children remain cognitively, linguistically, and emotionally connected

to their home language and culture.

Encourage home language and literacy development, knowing that this contributes
to childrens ability to acquire English language proficiency.

Provide children with many ways of showing what they know and can do.

Help develop essential concepts in the childrens first language and within cultural
that they understand.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Futurity:
Stepping Outside the Box

Ongoing Professional Development to Equip Teachers to Meet CLD

Students Needs:

Valuing diversity.

Being culturally self-aware.

Understanding the dynamics of cultural interactions.

Institutionalizing cultural knowledge and adapting to diversity.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Currency, Defensibility, and Futurity:

Advocating on Behalf of Our CLD Students

Reference:

Benson, J. (2013, October 4). Bilingual education: Why gutting it hurts us all.
Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://
voxxi.com/2013/10/04/bilingual-education-why-gutting-it-hurts-us-all/

Enright, K. A. (2012). Making it matter: relevant instruction for new mainstream

students. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 48(2), 67-71.

Enright, K. A. (2011). Language and literacy for a new mainstream. American

Educational Research journal 48(1), 80-118.

Moll, L. G. (1994). Mediating knowledge between homes and classrooms. In

Literacy: Interdisciplinary conversations, ed. D. Keller-Gohen, 385-410. Gresskill,
NJ: Hampton Press.

EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice

Thank you!
EDCI 740: Culture and Language in Classroom Practice