Showing papers in "Multicultural Education in 2005"

Dialogue across Cultures: Teachers' Perceptions about Communication with Diverse Families.

Abstract: It is well accepted in the field of home-school relations and child development that parents and teachers must work together to build common expectations and to support student learning (Bronfenbrenner, 1986, 1979; Coleman & Hoffer, 1987; Epstein, 2001; Henderson & Berla, 1994). It follows, therefore, that the teacher must establish good relations and open communication with parents.1 Building strong, trusting, and mutually respectful relationships between parents and teachers who share similar cultural backgrounds is diffi cult enough. Doing so between parents and teachers who come from different backgrounds is even more diffi cult. New Jersey, like many other states, is experiencing a signifi cant infl ux of new immigrants—from countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Poland, Nigeria, Liberia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. In addition, New Jersey remains one of the most segregated states in the country, educating the majority of its African-American families in the inner city and fi rst-ring communities that surround the cities. Our teaching profession consists primarily of European-American women who are, in Lisa Delpit’s words, teaching “other people’s children” and who need help in doing so (1995). Given this diversity in New Jersey classrooms, we conceptualized a multiphase research project with the ultimate goal of helping teachers understand family values, beliefs, and practices in order to create a learning environment at school that acknowledges and builds upon these. Simultaneously, the project aims to facilitate parents’ understanding of the school’s values, beliefs, and practices so they can create a congruent learning environment at home. It is the fi rst goal that this study seeks to address. We need to learn more about how teachers currently understand their students’ family cultures, how they come to these understandings, and how this understanding infl uences how they reach out to parents. Little has been written about this “missing link” in our knowledge base related to parent involvement (Caspe, 2003, p.128). Towards this end, we designed a survey to assess New Jersey teachers’ current knowledge and practices. Therefore the following questions are addressed in the article:

The Hard Work Hypothesis: Is Doing Your Homework Enough to Overcome the Effects of Poverty?.

Abstract: It is well-established that the effects of poverty are devastating for children in school. More generally, scholars have documented that low "socio-economic status" (SES), whether measured by family income, parent education, or parent occupation, is usually the most powerful predictor of achievement and test score performance, sometimes swamping all other factors (White, 1982). This advantage translates to life success; children of the wealthy are far more likely to become wealthy, become professionals, and attain positions of power than children of the poor. (Simonton, 1994). Simonton, in fact, concludes that "the log cabin myth is just that, pure myth" (p. 157).

Instructional Styles Used by Regular Classroom Teachers while Teaching Recently Mainstreamed ESL Students: Six Urban Middle School Teachers in Texas Share Their Experiences and Perceptions.

Abstract: It is the teachers of America who meet the daily challenge of addressing the culturally diverse needs of both immigrant and native students. Researchers demonstrate that understanding the background and culture and immigrant children is a necessary component for teachers to provide a more successful educational experience for these students (Banks, 2001; Gay, 2000; Olson, 1997; Sleeter & Grant, 1991). Much educational research illuminates that the majority of teachers who do not have English as a Second Language (ESL) background or training can be illequipped to work with immigrant, nonEnglish speaking, and culturally diverse children (Trueba, Cheng, & Ima, 1993; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Research reveals that 75% of non-English speaking students are placed with teachers who lack specialized training in second language acquisition, English as a second language, or bilingual education (McKeon,1994). What instructional methods do nonESL trained teachers use in their classrooms with ESL students? Byrnes et al. (1998) examined the practices used by regular classroom teachers involved in teaching ESL students. Using survey data, the researcher team examined teachers’ knowledge about second language learning and their classroom practices. The findings of this study suggested that teachers who had not typically received formal training in second-language learning demonstrated inadequate teaching strategies for ESL students. The study demonstrated that there were inadequate resources available to regular classroom non-ESL teachers, and that these teachers were engaged in teaching practices that were detrimental to the academic and personal development of ESL students. Many states including Texas require that all students pass state standardized tests (TAKS: Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) to graduate from high school. The impact of such state mandates also effects ESL students at the middle school level who are now required within three years to achieve on-grade level academic goals in a second language. What specific teaching strategies do regular content middle school teachers use to ensure that their ESL students can meet state level expectations? This article presents the results of a qualitative research study conducted in one Texas urban middle school. One of the purposes of the study was to investigate the instructional methods used by regular classroom teachers to address the unique needs of ESL students recently main-streamed into these teachers’ regular content classes.

Teaching Practices for ESL Students.

Abstract: The education of immigrant students, in the United States, up until the early 1970s, was one of “sink or swim” policy with students having to assimilate as quickly as possible with no language support or transitional period in their own native language. The Lau vs. Nichols (1974) court case was the landmark case that initiated the beginnings of English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms as well as bilingual education as it is today. Now, immigrant and non-English-speaking students are given the opportunity to spend time in a “sheltered” ESL classroom with intense English language instruction until they have adequate English language skills to survive in the regular mainstream classroom with English speakers. However, the duration and length of this period of “sheltered” ESL classroom instruction, allocated for English as Second Language learners, remains a source of debate and contention legislatively and philosophically in many states. Legislators, for example, in the state of Texas mandate that all ESL students take the state standardized TAKS test in their third year of arrival in the United States: the underlying assumption that second language acquisition only requires three years or less and that ESL students should be able to pass standardized tests on a comparable level as native English-speaking counterparts at the end of three years. Is three years a realistic amount of time for all ESL students to acquire a second language while concurrently meeting grade level competencies? Researchers like Cummins (1996) and other second-language acquisition theorists demonstrate that academic competency in a second language requires longer than a three-year period. While many ESL students quickly acquire “Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills” (BICS) before entering the mainstream classroom, they still need continuous English language support in order to achieve the higher “Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency” (CALPS) necessary to pass state standardized tests. Second-language acquisition theorists caution educators that higher second-language competency skills can take anywhere from five to eight years to attain realistically for any individual acquiring competency in a second language. There are many other variables like age of arrival in the United States and standard of education from home country that can further impact the speed and success of second-language acquisition for ESL students. The question remains: is three years an adequate length of time for a middle school or high school student to acquire English language mastery concurrently with grade level content knowledge and skills? Researchers say “no,” but state legislators in the state of Texas say “yes” by mandating a three-year English language acquisition period for immigrant students. What is the reality of everyday classroom experiences for ESL students under this new state mandate of three years? How equipped are regular classroom teachers, who are not ESL certified, to teach these students to pass state standardized content tests while still learning English language skills? Seeking answers to these questions was my impetus for conducting this investigation in one middle school in Texas. As principal investigator and researcher, I also sought to examine and witness for myself the everyday reality that immigrant students experience acquiring English language skills and maintaining grade level content knowledge during their initial three years in the United States.

Parents and mathematics education in a latino community: Redefining parental participation

Abstract: Rhonda: The good thing about MAPPS is that it [opens] our awareness in math, you know the workshops, it just opens up the doors that we thought that were closed specially for me....I think that it is important that I learned that, our kids aren’t really being taught what they are supposed to be taught and that’s one big thing and that parents have a lot of power that we don’t know that we have it, that’s what MAPPS taught me.

Hmong-American Students Still Face Multiple Challenges in Public Schools.

Abstract: Although much research has been done on bilingual students from a variety of backgrounds, little research has been done specifically on the needs of K-12 Hmong students. Hmong students are refugees and children of refugees who immigrated to the United States since 1975, leaving their home country of Laos. California public schools have approximately 36,000 K-12 Hmong-American students. Of that number, 85% are classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and 15% are identified as Fluent English Proficient (FEP) students. In some schools, 80% of Hmong-American students in grades K-6 are LEP students. Hmong students comprise the third largest LEP group in California’s public schools, with Vietnamese students the second largest group and Hispanic pupils the largest. Today, Hmong-American students still face a variety of challenges in public schools. This article examines research that provides some insights into the factors that affect academic success and/or failure of Hmong-American students.

Expanding Multicultural Education to Include Family Diversity.

Abstract: The composition of families is changing (Huston, 2001) and is readily apparent in the variety of families represented by students in today’s classrooms. Advocates from the fi elds of social work and psychological counseling (Okun, 1996) as well as from adoptive, step, and gay family support networks (Geis-Rockwood, 1990) have come to the fore to call for changes in curriculum and for teacher education programs to recognize and address this often-neglected form of diversity; yet, the multicultural education and diversity issues discussed in today’s teacher education courses at our major universities and colleges are often still restricted to their foundational concerns with discussions of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Introducing the topic of family diversity provides another dimension of diversity for preservice teachers to consider and explore while they try to construct meanings for the monumental topics under discussion and critique in teacher education classrooms. The very notion of “family” offers most students some degree of ownership in the topic through their personal experiences of family; however, as they are asked to deconstruct narrow societal defi nitions of what constitutes a family, they begin a journey that often leads to discomfort, resistance, and challenges to what is defi ned as a normal and valued family in our society. The contentiousness of this sort of conversation mirrors and buttresses issues surrounding race, class, and gender across their multicultural education curriculum, but the topic of family allows uniquely personal access to powerful stereotypes and biases hidden deep within each student’s conceptions of what constitutes a family. This article describes a research and teaching project that was designed and implemented to investigate the promise of the integration of family diversity issues into a preservice teacher multicultural education curriculum to better prepare preservice teachers to respond to the needs of all students, regardless of their varied familial backgrounds.

Funds of Knowledge at Work in the Writing Classroom.

Abstract: sense but about their particular students (emphasis in the original) and their students’ households” (Gonzalez, 1995, p. 3). Thus began The Funds of Knowledge for Teaching Project. In partnership with Moll and his colleagues, teachers began visiting the homes of some of their students. Their goals were to establish relationships with the families and to learn about the different ways the families shared knowledge with one another. Along with these home visits, groups of teachers and university researchers met after school to discuss their fi eld notes, reflective journals, uncertainties, challenges, and developing ideas for weaving the families’ knowledge into the classroom curricula (Gonzalez et. al., 1995). Many of the teacher-researchers have begun to write about their experiences in The Funds of Knowledge Project. For example, Marla Hensley, a kindergarten teacher, shares how she learned that a father of one of her students, Mr. Jarman, was a musician. After visiting his home and noticing a guitar leaning against the closet, she asked him if he would like to share his music in the classroom. One visit became two, and two became three, and by the end of the school year, Mr. Jarman had written and directed a musical for the kindergarten. Not only did Marla’s students benefi t from Mr. Jarman’s knowledge, but she transcended the typical teacher-parent relationship. As she explains, “A friend-tofriend interchange and sense of common purpose are fostered” (Hensley, 1995, p. 16) in home-school relationships such as these. Other teachers have shared stories from The Funds of Knowledge Project. One writes of how he involved his fi fth graders as ethnographers in the classroom (Craig, 1994); a special education teacher made a major breakthrough with a hard-to-reach student through this project (Gittings, 1995). Still others discuss the metamorphosis of becoming teacher-researchers, learning about anthropological inquiry as “more of a state of mind than a technique” (Gonzalez et. al., 1995, p. 453). Deepening relationships between teachers and students’ families seem to lie at the heart of The Funds of Knowledge for Teaching Project. As Norma Gonzalez (1995) explained, “The point of this type of ethnography must be not the collection of data but the development of relationships Funds of Knowledge at Work in the Writing Classroom

Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Service-Learning: A Case Study of Five Novice Classroom Teachers.

Abstract: 2 Elinor L. Brown is an assistant professor in the College of Education and Bobby R. Howard II is a secondary English teacher and a post graduate student, both at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. In the effort to augment teacher candidate education beyond text-based direct instruction, universities and teacher preparation programs are incorporating more field-based interactions through which teacher candidates can master skills and reinforce pedagogy through experience. The term “service-learning” was first used by the Southern Regional Education Board in 1969 to describe “the accomplishment of tasks that meet genuine human needs in combination with conscious educational growth” (Staton, Giles & Cruz, 1999). Congress defined the term formally in 1990 as experiences that promote learning through participation in activities that address community needs. In 1993 Congress expanded the definition to include activities that provide opportunities for reflection and compassion building. The overarching goal of service-learning should be to enhance the text-based and direct instruction knowledge with authentic practices in real life environments (Astin, 1996; Brown, 2004; Checkoway, 1996; Danahue, Bowyer, Rosenberg, 2003; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Stanton, 1990). Service-learning activities can afford both the recipient community (social, classBecoming Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Service-Learning:

Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education: Intergroup Dialogue as Pedagogy across the Curriculum.

Abstract: The Intergroup Dialogue as Pedagogy Across the Curriculum (INTERACT) Pilot Project was a two-year (2002-2004) exploratory grant funded by the Ford Foundation. A school/college/university partnership initiative, the project, was structured as a facilitated learning opportunity primarily for the University of Maryland, Prince George’s Community College, and Prince George’s County Public Schools faculty to examine the efficacy of adapting intergroup dialogue-based pedagogy to classroom teaching across disciplines/subject areas, academic levels, and educational contexts. Toward that end, ten pilot project participants, representing a broad range of interpersonal, academic, and professional diversity, were identified through a competitive selection process. These participants, named INTEACT Scholars, formed the project’s Scholars Cohort. This Cohort met twenty-four times, grouped into three distinct semester initiatives, over the life of the project. The first semester (Spring 2003) focused Scholars on developing an understanding of intergroup dialogue theories and practice models. The second semester (Fall 2003) Scholars were facilitated through the development of a teaching and learning portfolio, an intergroup dialogue facilitation and participation portfolio, and the integration of these two portfolios into a hybrid portfolio that teased out the intersections of content-based teaching and learning and intergroup dialogue facilitation and participation that was unique to each Scholar’s class responsibilities and educational settings. The third semester (Spring 2004) the Scholars implemented their hybrid portfolios—“walking the talk” of intergroup dialogue as pedagogy across the curriculum—and assessed the impact of this instructional strategy on their students’ learning engagement and outcomes. In sum, the project explored, examined, and investigated the connections between increases in student motivation, interest in learning, and academic achievement, and the use of non-traditional educational processes, especially student-centered dialogic pedagogy.

Using Technology to Help English Language Students Develop Language Skills: A Home and School Connection.

Abstract: Timothy Green is a professor with the College of Education at California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California. Helping students to be literate is a high priority. Though this area is one of our greatest educational priorities, it is also one of our greatest challenges. As classroom environments continue to change, teachers face the challenges of a large population who do not speak English and who have high transient rates. For this large population, becoming profi cient in English is a very diffi cult transition; one that is often frustrating and even painful. Students learning a new language need a great deal of language support. Those who teach students learning English as their second language know that any language support is crucial for students’ language acquisition. Therefore, English Language (EL) students need a variety of language experiences. They need opportunities to hear, write, speak, and read English. Technology, especially computers, can play an integral part in providing EL students with valuable language experiences as they learn a new language. Computers can be used to help provide additional language learning opportunities for EL students that take place beyond normal classroom instruction. Combining these opportunities with activities that can be done at home with family members provides EL students with a rich language learning experience. This article focuses on how computer-assisted instruction (CAI) can be a supplemental teaching tool for teaching English Language learners, and on how these activities can be extended at home to produce a greater school-home relationship. Provided in this article are recommendations that educators can use with their EL students and families. Verbal Interaction

An Interdisciplinary Course to Prepare School Professionals to Collaborate with Families of Exceptional Children.

Abstract: Sarah Kit-Yee Lam is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Special Education, and Rehabilitation of the Kremen School of Education at California State University, Fresno, Fresno, California. To help children succeed in schools, professionals must work with the family system since “the family is the child’s fi rst teacher” (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2001, p. 48) and the benefi ts of involving families in educating children are evident in research fi ndings (California State Board of Education, 1994; Henderson & Berla, 1994). School professionals include teachers, school social workers, school psychologists, school counselors, and school nurses. When professionals collaborate with families, they must understand and align their approaches with the world view of families from different cultures (Brown, Pryzwansky, & Schulte, 2001). In essence family involvement is an event of multicultural engagement. Therefore, training opportunities for future professionals to develop school-family-community partnerships will also enhance the development of their multicultural competence (HolcombMcCoy, 2004). Among different types of families that professionals encounter in schools, families of exceptional children have unique experiences that impose an additional dimension of difference. Exceptional children would qualify for special education or related services if they meet one or more of the following criteria: autism, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, specific learning disability, mental retardation, orthopedic impairment, speech/language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, or some other health impairment which adversely affects educational performance (IDEA Amendments of 1997). Working with families of exceptional children is pertinent to help them succeed. Encouragement and support from the family contribute to reducing the gaps in college access and completion among students with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). In collaboration, families are “equal and full partners with educators and school systems” and this relationship “will benefi t the student and the entire school system” (Turnbull & Turnbull, 2001, p.13). To be effective in collaboration, professionals must know how to engage families of diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, effective models to train future school professionals in working with families of exceptional children are lacking. National accrediting agencies provide “minimal guidelines for disability training for school counselors” (Milsom & Akos, 2003, p.87). State requirements for education programs to train future teachers and school professionals in the area of family involvement barely emerged in the past few years (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 1998; California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2001). Involving parents and contributing to a multidisciplinary team are two crucial areas of professionals’ roles in assisting children with disabilities (ASCA, 1999; ASCA, 2000). In view of practical limitations of programs to provide specialized training to prepare professionals to work with families of exceptional children (Korinek & Prillaman, 1992), and the reality that professionals must collaborate with one another to address children’s specifi c conditions (Conoley & Conoley, 1991; Strother & Barlow, 1985), the use of an inter-disciplinary course to address specifi c topics and competencies related to serving special needs becomes a viable option (Milsom, 2002). The Interdisciplinary Course Used in This Study

Can Special Education Teachers Create Parent Partnership with Mexican American Families? Si Se Pueda!.

Abstract: Creating partnership between special educators and parents who are Mexican American often poses unique challenges for all involved. Historically, the fact that these parents may not share mainstream values, traditions, and customs has often been perceived by special education teachers as part of the problem and not as valuable new sources of information. This view has also been associated to other families who come from low socio-economic backgrounds, limited English profi ciency, and/or racial and ethnic minorities, often leading to an eradication of the parentspecial education teacher partnership. Mexican American parents have been underrepresented in school-related decision-making and other traditional schooling activities (Lian & Fontanez, 2001; Peña, 1999). We believe that in order for effective partnerships to take place with these parents special education teachers must go beyond creating comfortable and welcoming environments. Although creating these environments are necessary and a good starting point, the call for true partnerships requires that special education teachers come to know the cultural aspect surrounding how these parents perceive schooling. In addition, expanded parental involvement as suggested by the law requires that special educators learn: how parents from diverse background affect student learning; how to include all parents from diverse backgrounds; and how to minimize barriers between schools and these communities. This article explores good practices in creating parent partnerships between special education teachers and Mexican American families.

Prioritizing Participation: Five Things that Every Teacher Needs to Know to Prepare Recent Immigrant Adolescents for Classroom Participation.

Abstract: Terri Patchen is an assistant professor in the Department of Elementary and Bilingual Education at California State University, Fullerton. Any teacher who has worked in a public high school knows the force oral participation holds in a classroom, for a curriculum, and with the students. Few things can make or break educational access, momentum and opportunity like classroom participation. Present, it creates—communication, collaboration, confrontation, collusion—comprehension (whether of people, perspectives, or positions); absent, instruction flounders (Why won’t someone say something?), understanding is debilitated, and community is next to impossible to construct. When oral participation is neither present nor cultivated within a classroom, students and teachers lose opportunities to develop academically, linguistically (Fennema & Peterson, 1985; Swann, 1989), socially, emotionally, and/or psychologically (Eccles & Midgley, 1989). Its absence is particularly debilitating for immigrant Latina/o high school students relatively new to the United States, unfamiliar with the language of instruction, and inexperienced in the ways of U.S. schools. Neglecting the classroom participation of these students is especially disturbing because, from at least Dewey forward, educational theorists have been beckoning practitioners to beef up their initiation, cultivation, and support of classroom participation in order to increase educational opportunity and advancement for all students. Classroom participation, while relegated in many classrooms to an abstract number of points (e.g., “ten points for participation.” What does that mean?), cannot in practice be disputed (and certainly not by those policymakers who flourish in the political arena). Yet, during the last two decades, most educational debates on adolescent students have ignored the more human (and humane) dimensions of education and have instead focused on issues of accountability and efficiency in schools. Such a focus hasn’t helped immigrant students, who are generally referred to in the literature as educationally optimistic (Kao & Tienda, 1995; Matute-Bianchi, 1991; SuárezOrozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001), but academically behind (de Cos, 1999; National Center for Education Statistics, 1992; Vernez, Abrahamse & Quigley, 1996). For immigrant students, school settings in the U.S. represent distinct and often problematic learning contexts. The myth of the American public school as the “great democratic equalizer” has not played out in the education of many adolescent immigrants, and particularly for those from Latin America. In an analysis of “High School and Beyond” data from 1980, Vernez, Abrahamse, and Quigley found that of all immigrant students included in the study, Latina/os were the least likely of any racial/ethnic group to be placed on an academic track, to take three years of English or mathematics, or to take advanced courses of any kind in high school. Indeed, Latina/o immigrants scored the lowest of any racial/ethnic group on nearly all indicators for course taking, educational expectations, and college-going (just as their native-born counterparts do). The situation is even worse for those Latina/os who enter the U.S. educational system as adolescents. “Late entry” Latina/o immigrants, who enter the country after the age of 15 or so, are less likely to enroll in the U.S. school system or stay in school than children who come at an earlier age. Although it remains unclear as to whether these students are dropping out or never “dropping in,” there is a great deal of cause for concern; the level of education these students achieve will largely determine the quality of the labor force in the future (1996).

Issues in Early Intervention: The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Service Delivery in Natural Environments.

Abstract: Judith A. Sylva is a professor with the College of Education at California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California. How does one determine what constitutes the natural environment as a context for early intervention service delivery for students living in culturally diverse families and communities? This question was posed by an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teacher in a large culturally and socio-economically diverse urban school district. The question is central to the gap between research and practice in early intervention. In the United States, federal legislation provides the framework and guidelines under which all children between birth and age 22 with disabilities are provided equal access to educational opportunities in public schools. This legislation is known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Part C of IDEA addresses the unique needs of children between birth and age 3 and their families. Part C is unique because it not only provides for individualized supports and services for the child, but it recognizes the importance of the family as the primary context in which to promote optimal child development. When Congress revised and amended Part C of IDEA in 1997 (P.L. 105-17), it mandated that service delivery to young children between birth and age 3 be carried out in natural environments (Walsh, Rous, & Lutzer, 2000). The IDEA regulations defi ne natural environments as “settings that are natural or normal for the child’s age peers who have no disabilities” (34 CFR Part 303.18). This statement is qualified by the stipulation that “to the maximum extent appropriate, early intervention services are provided in natural environments” (34 CFR Part 303.167(c)). This stipulation and defi nition of natural environments has led to continued discussion about what constitutes natural environments with respect to the diversity that characterizes the families and young children who are eligible to receive early intervention services. Family-centered philosophy and practice has been a central component of early intervention for infants and toddlers that is related to natural environment service provision. Family-centered practices have been widely accepted in the provision of early intervention services since the 1960s (Bruder, 2000). Research indicates that families are essential to the success of early intervention services (Baily et al., 1998; Guralnick, 1998; Roberts, Innocente, & Goetze, 1999). However, the family is strongly infl uenced by culture as it pervades all aspects of the family structure and it infl uences how a family defi nes itself. Therefore, understanding cultural infl uences in relation to the family system increases the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate (Wayman & Lynch, 1991). This article will explore the literature related to natural environments, family-centered practices, and the infl uence of cultural diversity as it relates to service provision in early intervention in an attempt to link the research to practices that promote appropriate and effective early intervention services.

Esperanza's Lessons: Learning about Education through the Eyes of the Innocent.

Abstract: A. Y. “Fred” Ramirez is a professor in the Department of Secondary Education at California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California Esperanza Marquez, an El Salvadorian immigrant, exclaimed “All I want to know is when my child will be able to receive ESL and special education services!” She made this statement when I interviewed her regarding her experiences with her children’s schools. Throughout the nation, Latino immigrant parents like Esperanza do not only have to adjust to a new life in the United States, but to the educational culture as well (Ramirez, 2001). They are also experiencing the realities of cultural miscommunication and isolation when trying to fi nd answers for themselves and for their children. This article specifically highlights the realities of Esperanza’s plight as an immigrant, single-parent Latina, living in an urban community in Southern California.

Picking Battles, Finding Joy: Creating Community in the "Uncontrolled" Classroom.

Abstract: We’ve all had our Andres. The child we both love and fear. The child who represents why you went into teaching, and why you’d considering leaving. Andre is the “problem child,” the student every teacher secretly hopes will be put in the other 4th grade class. And no matter how long you teach, it’s these Andres who challenge us most. Everyone in my urban East Coast school knew Andre. When he came to me in the 4th grade, his reputation was much larger than his nine year old frame. I was warned by all his previous teachers: “Andre doesn’t do work. He’ll just sit there and stare into space. And angry! Watch out for the temper tantrums!” And while I tried to ignore their counsel, I couldn’t help but cringe when he entered class that first day. Andre began the year by telling off the librarian. This was followed by him urinating in a cup and pouring it around the bathroom. When I attended a conference the third week of classes, he decided he didn’t like the sub and just walked himself home. We were in for a long nine months. I had been teaching for several years at this point, and I made up my mind to buckle down with this child. He was not going to be another African-American boy labeled as poorly behaved and uninterested in school. Something was going to change. This would be my challenge.