Influences of Family, Culture, and Society in Early Childhood (EDUC - 8853 )

MD 6 Assignment Blog

Dear Colleagues and professor Bosier at Walden University,

Welcome to Module 6’s Assignment. As you may recall the focus of my Course Project’s research is “Children who are dual or multiple language learners” and the topic is “home language/ school language divide”. Through this research study I am hoping to expand my understanding of multiple language learners, learn about best practices in teaching this student population to enhance my practice, and the advantages/ disadvantages of teaching second languages learners in the target language (in this case, English) while they speak another language at home. With the purpose of expanding my knowledge base about the subject, I attempted to interview two distinguished members of the Early Childhood community in my school district. One is the director of the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) and the other is the district’s director of the Head Start Program. Along with the pledge for assistance I submitted five questions that would assist me to obtain further knowledge about my challenge. These are the questions:
1)    In our school district we have a large number of English language learners how is your institution’s programmatic decisions affected by this student population?

2)    What type of program(s) and/or service(s) have you find successful/effective in the delivery of services for these students. What makes them successful/effective?

3)    What are the triumphs and challenges in serving these students and their families?

4)    In our role as educators, how can we help your institution to better serve these students and their families?

5)    What changes or resources may aid your institution to help these children to succeed in our school system and society?

OECE’s director answered me immediately “Happy to help. I have looped in Sheila [her secretary] to help us arrange a time.”, I am still waiting for the answer of the Head Start’s director. Unfortunately, our entire school district is under a Head Start federal review and we are all occupied with it. OECE’s director is willing to help me but I have to wait until April 4, after the review, in order to conduct a phone interview and with Head Start, I believe that the director is so busy that she hasn’t had the time to even answer my attempts to contact her. In searching for an alternative, last night I send an e-mail to the District’s director of the Department of Language and Culture which is another entity that deals with the design and implementation of instruction of culturally diverse students in the District. I haven’t received an answer yet but I am going to insist next week. I am concerned about the time frame given to us to complete the assignment. Most of the people that have a direct influence and impact on the education of these students are people extremely busy, with heavy agendas that require more time for the interview to happen. Nonetheless, their input is fundamental in my Course project (Major Assessment) because these are the directors of the agencies that determine policies, programs, approaches and resources for our large student population of culturally diverse students. These are the people in charge of educating these students and I would like to obtain their perspective. I have been reading a lot of resources, I have a firsthand experience through my school and classroom, and these perspectives in my own district will help me to obtain a more holistic picture of the researched issue. I will continue pursuing these interview with the hope that they happen before the due date.

Dear Colleagues, thanks for your time and attention to this blog!  I have a couple of questions for you:

What is your opinion on teaching this student population? What approach (es) may be more effective in serving these students?

Do you have any suggestions on potential interviewees that would help me to enhance my understanding of this issue?

Please feel free to write your comments and feedback.

Thanks for your time and consideration!