In Search of Bedrock: Organizing for Success With Diverse Needs Children in the Classroom

Abstract

Children who come to our schools without the appropriate linguistic, cognitive, and social skills deemed necessary for academic success are considered at risk for failure by many educators. Often, the educational focus centers around students' perceived deficits, cultural or otherwise. This deficit perspective ignores both the cognitive and linguistic schema already in place in these children that form the basis for academic learning in schools. Diverse-needs students can succeed in the regular-education classroom if teachers look beyond the labels assigned to such children, and instead seek to understand the varying ways in which children use language and include these ways of knowing as integral patterns of interaction.This article examines instructional practices organized around the funds of knowledge that children bring to the classroom, and how these instructional practices transformed the literacy development of a 3rd-grade Latino student with special needs in a bilingual classroom.

¡Vamos! How School Leaders Promote Equity and Excellence for Bilingual Students

“…Sociocultural approaches draw on families' and communities' funds of knowledge, and by engaging families, schools promote children's academic development (Gonzalez et al, 2001;P. Gutierrez, 2002;Meyer, 2000;Riojas-Cortez, 2001).…”

Power and Agency in Education

“…Beyond just improved characterizations, of course, is the concern for embracing the lived experiences of children and youth to identify sources of knowledge and learning that can serve as rich resources for enhanced and expanded learning (and learner identities) within the formal educational setting (e.g., Dworin, 2006;Gutiérrez, 2002;Marquez Kiyama, 2010;Rogers, Light, & Curtis, 2004;Sugarman, 2010). In this sense, the concern is about creating learning environments that are more accepting and inclusive, as well as more effective in producing academic outcomes among students that prepare them for future educational and developmental undertakings (e.g., Basu & Calabrese Barton, 2007;Dantas, 2007;Fisher, 2006;Hattam & Prosser, 2008;Marquez Kiyama, 2010;Zanoni et al, 2011;Zipin, 2009).…”

In Consideration of Latino Children: a sociocultural perspective of literacy skills development using Literature Circles

“…According to Osterling (2001) citing the work of Moll (1988;1992), the Latino community in the United States is an enormous untapped resource for educational change and teachers need to "understand their students' background and be willing to build a bridge between students' home and school communities" (p. 12). Based on observations by Gutierrez (2002), teachers often view home as a "physical context rather than an integral part of a student's learning and ignore opportunities for bilingual children to reveal their communicative and academic competence centered within their respective funds of knowledge" (p. 50). Understanding that knowledge is socially constructed and valuing the culture of students will create a connection between home and school that is becoming necessary in today's educational system.…”

“…With the shifting cultures in the classroom, educational practices by teachers need to be changed and adapted to fi t the needs of students. Gutierrez (2002) asserts that often the expectation of conformity to the norms of the established curriculum keeps teachers from adapting the curriculum to meet their student's needs. Jiménez (2001) feels this creates a disconnect between school literacy tasks and the realities of students' lives, and for this reason teachers should be willing to be fl exible with practices that work for students.…”