SL Post # 1:

My in-field assignment is in a third grade ESL class at a school located in a depressed neighborhood of south Providence.  The school facility appeared clean and maintained; the classroom size was adequate; however, the teacher’s area in the classroom was small and not well provided for.  There were about 18-20 children in the classroom; I was told that two were suspended the day before I arrived, so the teacher expected the day to move along rather smoothly, with little to no disruption.  According to the demographics on InfoWorks, the student teacher ratio works out to be about 18:1, so the classroom size reflected the ratio pretty closely.  Even though an ESL classroom doesn’t necessarily mean that the foreign language is Spanish, I did expect to meet a teacher who was at least somewhat proficient in a second language.  That, however, was not the case, and as I talked with the teacher before class started, I learned that the communication barrier between her and not only some of the children, but with most of the parents, is a great difficulty, impairing the learning process.  There is a girl in the classroom who does not speak any English (only speaks Spanish), and I tried to imagine how it would feel to be that little girl, sitting in an environment for six hours a day, not really understanding what was happening around me.  The classmate who sits next to her is bilingual and translates as much as she can for her. 

Data on InfoWorks indicates that 85% of the student population at this school qualifies for a subsidized lunch program.  When I walked into the school, some of the children were helping an employee bring large-sized lunchboxes to the outside of each classroom.  I had no idea what they were doing; these containers held a breakfast meal for each child.  So, once they entered the classroom and settled in, the students sat down with a juice box, orange slices, and a granola bar to start their day.  When they lined up for lunch time, I did take notice that no one was carrying a lunch box or lunch bag with them, realizing then that they would receive school lunch in the cafeteria. 

As I assisted one child, and then some of the others sitting at his desk cluster, with their morning math lesson, I did take notice around the classroom, and observed that many of them seemed to be struggling with the math.  I observed maybe one at each cluster who was very proficient at the work; that would work out to about 5-6 students who really appeared to be catching on quickly.  The 2011-12 NECAP 3^rd grade math results indicate 22% of students  scored "proficient" in math.  That percentage applied to this classroom would equate to about 4-5 students, which is in line with what I actually did observe in this classroom. 

The children responded well with their teacher; they seemed comfortable in the classroom (it is the end of the school year).  They seemed excited about a poster they would be working on, which the teacher had already hung on the back wall of the room.  But, the overall atmosphere didn’t feel “scholarly” to me.  They just seemed to be “surviving,” making it through the day.  They didn’t seem to care whether they learned or didn’t learn; the teacher had commented to me that it’s not so much that they don’t “care,” but rather that they are already accustomed to not achieving.  What a discouraging thought that is to me.