Strategies for Promoting Language and Literacy in Diverse Populations

1
Strategies for Promoting Language and Literacy in
Diverse Populations

• Presented by
• Jean C. Brown, M. Jeanne Wilcox, Dawn
  Cosgrove-Greer, Shereen Thomas, Miriam Garlant

2
Sycamore Daycare and Preschool

• A low income community early care and
  education program.

3
Philosophy A place dedicated to children, where
they can learn and grow in safe, comfortable,
nurturing surroundings
At the Sycamore School, the emphasis is on
education, responsibility, respect for each other
and lots of good old fashioned fun.
4
Population
5 Administrators 9 Lead Teachers 7
Assistant Teachers 2 Other (Van Drivers)
Ethnicity 11 Caucasian, 12 Hispanic Age Range
Under 20 to 60 years

• Staff
• Children

85 DES, (State funded, Dept of Economic
Security) 15 Private Pay Ethnicity Approx. 36
Caucasian, 34 Hispanic, 18 African American, 9
American Indian,
5
Challenges at Sycamore

• Teacher turn over
• Teacher experience/interest
• Teacher lack of education
• Child turnover
• Facility limitations
• Referee Mentality
• Curriculum

6
Teachers

• Turn over
• New teacher in the first two weeks
• Target teacher left after 7 months
• Next teacher stayed 3 weeks
• Experience/interest
• Not a profession,a paycheck
• Minimal experience, target b/c took a college
  course
• Lead teachers had a minimum high school degree or
  GED. Admin. Masters degree

7
Child Turnover

• New children daily for a variety of reasons
• Too many in a class
• No teacher
• Admin moved children due to age
• Children moved due to behavior
• Child left the area or lost funding

8
Curriculum

• Facility had curriculum specialist
• Room full of options of Xerox papers accumulated
  by specialist
• No set or formal curriculum
• Minimal guidance
• Intermittent accountability

9
Facility Limitations

• Proprietary family owned business
• Lack of funding
• Large numbers of employees (relatives)
• Lack of materials/toys/supplies

10
Sycamore Strengths

• Caring Administrator
• Diverse Population
• Willingness to make changes
• Safe Environment

11
Purchases with Stipend

• Stipend was larger due to need
• Teacher chose items
• Items ordered were essentials
• Items made a big difference in classroom function
  and management

12
Implementation

• Weekly site visits
• Monthly meetings with CAT forms
• Re-cap discussion of what teacher was already
  doing, suggestions within the classroom
  occurrences to expand ideas
• Enhancement materials for curriculum
• Classroom modeling of goals.
• Purchasing of classroom essentials.

13
(No Transcript)
14
What worked at Sycamore

• Friendly non-authoritarian approach
• Review of what was going well
• Language enhancement sheets
• Classroom modeling
• Goals devised in partnership

15
Sycamore
16
SycamoreEnvironment Print Awareness
17
Impressions following the one year study

• Teacher was more self-assured
• Teacher had circle time activities
• Less referee style
• Teacher played with children more
• Children had items to play and learn from
• Children had more cooperative play chances
• Many more literacy activities within the
  classroom environ.

18
Recommendations

• Continue but require all preschool teachers at
  the site to attend the monthly meeting
• Use video tape of participant as training tool
• Encourage investment of published curriculum
• Facilitate carry over as originally planned, a
  second person to participate who is less
  transient.

19
SOUTH MOUNTAIN FAMILY YMCA Early Childhood
Development Center
20
SITE DESCRIPTION

• State-licensed child care facility
• 630 am - 6 pm M-F
• Ages 18 months - 5 years 50 funded through
  Department of Economic Security

21
SITE DESCRIPTION

• 4 day care 2 Head Start classrooms
• On-site director
• Office administrator/receptionist
• Six Lead Teachers, six teaching assistants
• Janitorial staff
• Currently preparing for NAEYC accreditation

22
STAFF DEMOGRAPHICS

• 13 women, one man
• Age range 25-60 years
• Ethnic breakdown
• 1 Caucasian
• 3 African American
• 10 Hispanic
• Director graduate degree
• 2 Lead Teachers - Associates Degrees
• All other staff - high school diplomas

23
PHILOSOPHY

• Four character development values
• Caring
• Respect
• Honesty
• Responsibility
• Creative Curriculum

24
PROJECT SET-UP

• Biweekly team meeting
• to discuss projects language and literacy goals
• to brainstorm lesson plans for the month
• Biweekly classroom observation
• ASU coach used the CAT to provide teachers with
  feedback

25
Environmental Changes - Literacy
26
Changes in Program Goals
27
FIRST IMPRESSIONS TEACHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS

• Very open, casual, comfortable relationship
  between teachers and children
• Nurturing and respectful
• Emphasis on traditional values
• Many adult-child conversations
• Sharing of personal anecdotes and stories with
  children

28
FINAL IMPRESSIONS TEACHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS

• more open-ended problem solving
• more modeling of appropriate behavior and
  structured role-plays
• continued rich conversations with the children
  increase focus on pre-academic concepts, using
  definitions and examples, direct teaching of
  vocabulary, etc.

29
Changes in Program Goals
30
SUCCESSES

• Interim directors interest was a boost to the
  team
• Regular team meetings were beneficial
• Positive response to CAT observations
• Lead teacher was very responsive
• Immediate growth in environmental changes was
  motivating
• These children were a cohesive, independent group
  with good language skills.

31
CHALLENGES

• Change of director midyear
• Limitations placed on teachers due to Y policies
  and budgets
• Lack of communication between teachers and
  administration
• Problems with scheduling
• Child enrollment fluctuated throughout the year
• Changes in teaching style may take more than one
  year

32
RECOMMENDATIONS

• Obtain support of site director
• Build rapport with teaching team
• Be flexible but consistent with scheduling
• Follow teachers lead for focus areas easier to
  start with environmental changes
• Emphasize the positive in using the CAT
• Plan for a minimum of 2 years
• Train a master teacher to transfer knowledge

33
Strategies for Promoting Language and Literacy

• Native American Populations
• Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
• Scottsdale, Arizona

34
Tribe Composition

• The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is
  comprised of two Native American tribes
• Pima river people
• Maricopa people who live toward the water
• Their relationship was formed in the 1800s to
  protect themselves against the Yuman and Apache
  tribes
• Pima believe that they are descendents of the
  Hohokam (those who have gone, 300 BC)

35
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community

• Created on June 14, 1879 by President Rutherford
  B. Hayes.
• Located in Maricopa County, AZ bounded by
• Mesa
• Tempe
• Scottsdale
• Fountain Hills
• Metropolitan Phoenix
•  Governed by
• President
• Vice President
• Seven Council Members

36
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community

• The Community consists of
• 53,600 acres
• 19,000 acres as a natural preserve
• Approximately 12,000 acres are under cultivation
  in a variety of crops including
• Cotton, melons, potatoes, onions, broccoli and
  carrots.
• Commercial development is reserved along the
  Community's western boundary.

37
The Man In the Maze

• The legend of the "Man in the Maze" helps
  children understand the meaning of life. The maze
  depicts experiences and choices we make in our
  journey through life. It illustrates the search
  for balance - physical, social, mental and
  spiritual. In the middle of the maze are found a
  person's dreams and goals. Legend says when we
  reach the center, the Sun God is there to greet
  us, bless us and pass us into the next world.

38
Mission Statement of Early Childcare Center

• Our mission is to provide an educational
  environment that will undergo continuous
  refinement and reflection to support the success
  of the individual life-long learner. This
  success will be achieved by developing
  partnerships, setting high standards, and
  emphasizing responsibility and accountability at
  all levels.

39
Program Goals

• To create a regular system and method of two-way
  communication
• To promote responsibility and accountability at
  all levels
• To provide opportunities for everyone to succeed
• To create a healthy Community through the
  elimination of social ills
• To create successful partnership models to
  promote a healthy community
• To create a system that will develop, nurture,
  and promote the Oodham and Piipaash languages
  and cultural values
•  

40
Program Description

• Site Urban Native American Reservation
• Curriculum High Reach
• Enrollment 3-5years old
• Hours 7a.m. to 6p.m.
• Language English
• Funding Source
• Tribal funding
• Block grant
• Tuition

41
SRPMIC Early Childhood Education Center Staff
Demographics

• Gender
• 98 Female
• 2 Male

Ethnicity

• Age
• 17 22- 39 Yrs
• 37 30-39 Yrs
• 37 40-49 Yrs
• 3 50- 59 Yrs
• 2 60 Yrs

• 37 SRPMIC
• 17 Navajo
• 12 Anglo
• 7 Pasua-Yaqi
• 7 Hispanic
• 5 Hopi

• 2 Cheyenne
• 2 Crow
• 2 Filipino
• 2 Dutch
• 2 Japanese
• 2 Mixed

• (Of these, 73 are American Indian)

• Child Care
• 63 Child Care
• 54 Head Start
• Of these 17 (7) had both

• Position
• 41 Lead Teacher
• 24 Administration
• 17 Assistant Teacher
• 12 Teachers Aid
• 5 (2) Therapist

• Education
• 56 High School Diploma
• 15 Associates Degree
• 15 Bachelors Degree
• 11 GED
• 5 Graduate

42
Ethnic Background of Children

• N 15
• 53 Pima
• 27 Biracial
• 13 Hispanic
• 7 Navajo

43
The Bear Dens Teacher

• Caucasian female
• 42 years old preschool 3- year-olds
• Child care teacher
• 10 years of experience
• 3 months in current position
• 8 months in Head Start
• Bachelors degree in psychology
• Working on CDA

44
What We Worked On

• Environmental arrangement
• Improving interactional style with the children
• Fostering peer interaction
• Normal speech and language development
• Use of sound and symbols
• Embedding sounds into center activities
•  

45
The Bear Dens Teacher Aide

• 25 years old
• 2 months in current position
• She reluctantly agreed to participate in November
• High school graduate
• Very creative
• Ran errands
• She enjoyed music and songs

46
What We Worked On

• Becoming a co-teacher
• Following the childrens lead
• Book reading
• Leading circle time

47
The Eagle Nests Teacher

• Navajo female
• 27 years old
• Child care teacher preschool 4-5
• 6 years experience
• 5 years at SRPMIC
• High school diploma
• CDA
• Workshops and trainings
• Joined the project in December
• Excellent teacher

48
What We Worked On

• Room arrangement
• Peer interaction
• Sound and symbol
• Incorporating sounds into the center
• Interpersonal relationships/communication

49
SRPMIC
50
Challenges

• Securing the support of key stakeholders
• Embracing the mission and goal of the school
• Responding positively to the mission through
  accountability and individual work ethic
• Involving the home in the school process

51
Challenges

• Stereotypes About Native Americans
• Low print environments
• Poverty
• Cognitive deficiencies
• (Wong Fillmore, 2001)

52
Successes

• Print Awareness
• Writing

53
Successes

• Book Reading
• Oral Language
• Pre-test
• Post-test

• Add video clips here

54
What it Means to be Literate

• Functional Literacy
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
• Comprehending
• Cultural Literacy
• Knowledge of literature
• History and traditions
• Scientific and technological accomplishments of
  the dominant culture and ones own
  ethnic/cultural heritage

• Critical Literacy
• To think analytically and creatively which uses
  the highest level of cognitive development
• Garcia Goldstein Ahler (1992)

55
Recommendations

• School Non-school literacy gap
• Mixed messages
• Ascertaining community priorities
• Lack of written language
• Decontextualization of language and storytelling
• Learning styles
• Jody Marinucci 2001

56
Closing Thought

• We risk failure by ignoring the significance of
  human connectedness in many communities of color
  (Delpit, 1995, p.95).

57
References

• Delpit, Lisa. (1995). Other peoples children
  Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York New
  Press.
• Garcia, Ricardo L. Goldstein Ahler, Janet.
  (1992). Indian education Assumptions,
  ideologies, strategies. In J. Rehyner (Ed.)
  Teaching American Indian Students (pp.13-32).
  University of Oklahoma Press Norman.
• Marinucci, Jody (2001). Literacy in native
  american education httpsi.unm.eduweb/20Journals/a
  rticles 2001/jmarinucci_jrn.htm
• Wong Fillmore, Lily (2001). Issues of language
  differences and literacy development What do
  language minority students need? Paper presented
  at the UNM ESL Institute, Albuquerque, NM.

58

• Phoenix Day Early Childhood Center

59
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• Philosophy
• -Children learn best when they are stimulated
  through experiences and not taught experiences.
• -Through planned and spontaneous activities and
  experiences the center provides unlimited
  opportunities for the development of the whole
  child.
• -Dedicated to serving working poor families.

60
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• History
• -Founded in 1915, Phoenix Day is the oldest
  child development center in the state of Arizona.
  
• - National Association for the Education of
  Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation since 1996.

61
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

• State-licensed child care facility offering
  toddler and preschool programs
• 630 am - 6 pm M-F
• ages 6 weeks - 5 years.
• One infant room
• Two toddler rooms
• Four preschool classrooms
• 166 children enrolled
• NAEYC accreditation

62
FUNDING SOURCES

• United Way, corporate and community donations,
  grants and DES subsides
• Private, not for profit program
• Nearly 80 of children qualify for DES childcare
  fee reimbursement
• A few parents pay their own tuition

63
SITE DEMOGRAPHICS

• 26 females, one male
• Ethnic breakdown
• 1 Caucasian
• 26 Hispanic
• Languages
• 18 Spanish-English Bilingual
• 9 English monolingual

• Staff
• Children

• 83 of families at or below the federal poverty
  level
• Average annual household income of family of
  four, 17,922
• 90 of parents are employed
• 100 of families are subsidized by Phoenix Day
• 74 Hispanic origin 15 Caucasian 7 African
  American 2 Native American 1 Asian and 1
  multi-racial/ethnic.

64
PARTICIPANTS

• Preschool Class A
• 20 students enrolled
• 40 maximum capacity
• one lead teacher, 3 other teachers/aides
• Preschool Class B
• 22 students enrolled
• 40 maximum capacity
• one lead teacher, 3 other teachers/aides

65
STRENGTHS

• Daycare experience and Training
• All had CDA certificate
• 8 years experience or more at same site
• Low turn-over
• All Spanish-English bilingual
• Four adults in each class
• Strong lead teachers
• Resources facility

66
CHALLENGES

• No curriculum, scope sequence
• Some aides not taking ownership
• Inconsistent pre-literacy and writing experiences
• Inconsistent child attendance enrollment
• Little teacher accountability for curriculum
  fidelity

67
PROJECT SET-UP

• Biweekly team meeting
• Meetings were used to discuss projects language
  and literacy goals
• Meeting also used to brainstorm lesson plans for
  the month
• Biweekly classroom observation
• ASU coach used the CAT to provide teachers with
  feedback
• Staff workshop on best practices in Feb., by
  ICRP

68
BASELINE OBSERVATIONS

• Play areas established
• Child artwork was displayed.
• Classrooms needed to develop literacy and print
  rich environments.
• Teachers needed development in language,
  phonological, and print awareness facilitation.

69
BASELINE OBSERVATIONS

• Teacher 1,
• - Did not include phonological awareness
• Curriculum loosely followed
• No letter of the week focus

70
BASELINE OBSERVATIONS

• Teacher 2,
• Hesitant to lead lessons or circle time
• Responsive to children
• Language
• -inaudible at times
• -rapid rate of speech

71
Final Observations

• Teachers expressed interested in continued
  partnership
• Increased oral language, pre-literacy, and
  writing facilitation
• 2 out 4 teachers were promoted the following year

72
Phoenix Day
73
Phoenix Day
74
FINAL OBSERVATIONS

• Teacher 1
• Stronger inclusion of phonological awareness
  throughout the daily routine
• Oral language facilitation improved

75
FINAL OBSERVATIONS

• Teacher 2,
• Stronger inclusion of phonological awareness
  throughout the daily routine
• Oral language facilitation improved
• Print awareness incorporated

76
SUCCESSES

• Lead teachers were very responsive
• Regular meetings promoted
• team building
• creating lesson plans and brainstorming ideas
• appreciated having scheduled time for planning
• learned more about language and literacy
  development

77
What was learned

• Teachers demonstrated implementation of
  strategies when provided with
• - materials and tools
• - time to discuss lesson plans activities
• - target behaviors were modeled
• - time to discuss expectations for classroom
  team members

78
What was learned

• Learned to ask teachers how they wanted feedback
• - modeling
• - talking right after observation
• - talking later, when teacher isnt too busy
• Teachers needed help with team building, working
  together

79
NEXT STEPS

• Language and literacy enriched environment
  initiated but not well developed
• Continued training
• Use of curriculum, scope and sequence
• Teachers expressed the need for more training and
  extended collaboration for the following year.

80
RECOMMENDATIONS

• Allow time for team building- developing
  partnerships takes time
• Trainers- Avoid being intrusive
• Help teachers train other teachers
• Help in other areas, not just with language and
  literacy goals

81
The End