What is Working: Latinos in New York City High

Schools

Haiwen Chu, Suzanne Dikker, Heather Homonoff Woodley

Ph.D program in Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Research Institute for the Study of Languages in Urban Societies

New York City Department of Education

Immigration and Education ConferenceCity College of New York, CUNY

March 19, 2011

Research QuestionsResearch Questions

How are New York Latino students with different characteristics being educated in

public schools?

What are the practices, structures, and stories within high schools that are successful in

educating Latino students?

The research team: Dr. Ofelia García , Haiwen Chu, Nelson Flores, Suzanne Dikker, Laura Kaplan, Heather Homonoff Woodley

Sampled High Sampled High SchoolsSchools

SOURCES:2009 CEP, 2005-8 School Report Cards

Data SourcesData SourcesFor each of the eight schools:

Two days of observations following a student’s schedule Advanced or proficient English speaking Latino

student Beginner Latino ELL/emergent bilingual

Interviews were conducted with the following staff: Principal or Assistant Principal Teacher selected as successful with Latino

students by administration Guidance counselor or social worker

Informal interviews with students Teacher, student, and school artifacts

Major FindingsMajor Findings

Bilingualism in Education Collaborative Structures Dynamic Assessment Practices Culture of Caring Support Services Cultural Relevance

Bilingualism in Bilingualism in EducationEducation

Translanguaging in the classroom:

A process of the student and/or teacher using bilingual/multiple discursive practices as “sense-making” of learning or teaching in multilingual

classrooms (García, 2009)

Student: “Maestra, se puede recoger en Spanglish? Teacher: “Yes, so long as I understand your answer”

Bilingualism in Bilingualism in EducationEducation

Translanguaging in the classroom

Between individuals: Student to student, student to teacher, teacher to student

Across modalities: Reading, writing, speaking, listening

Teacher to students:Teacher to students:contentcontent

Oral

“The same thing goes for composicion, okay? Lo mismo va para composicion”

“Despues tenemos los […] arena, limo, arcilla. In English that would be sand, silt, and clay”

T: “Ok, are we good?”

S: “Yes”

T: “Todos lo entienden entonces. Tienen que aprender esos nombres”

“Debes contestar estas nueve preguntas. You must answer all 9 questions”

Written At several schools, teachers use both

Spanish and English on hand-outs, posters, blackboard, powerpoint presentations

Teacher to students:Teacher to students:contentcontent

Teacher-produced handoutfor an ELA class.

English in bold

Spanish cognates

Elaborations in Spanish

Spanish translations

Student: “Maestra, se puede recoger en Spanglish? Teacher: “Yes, so long as I understand your answer”

Student to teacher:Student to teacher:contentcontent

Worksheet in a Living Environment class

Building content Building content knowledgeknowledge

Reading. Class text in English, with Spanish dictionaries for support

Discussing. Class lecture and discussion in English with some Spanish translation or elaboration

Writing: Headings in English (Effects, People, Causes, Reforms)Content detail in Spanish

Presenting: Groups report out to class in English with some Spanish translation

Mapping: Use of semantic maps/webs throughout ELA, science, and social studies

Explicit use of both Explicit use of both languageslanguages

Student-producedposter in an ELAclass.

Oral:

Bilingual Algebra class (instruction mainly in Spanish):

S: “Yo hice: cinco times one which is five. Then cinco times two…”

S: “Equis minus three igual que three”

Instrumental use of Instrumental use of both languagesboth languages

T: “You need to pick one”

S1 > S2: “Asi que tenemos que coger uno y escribirlo asi”

S1 > S2: [speaking Spanish]

T: “S, what are you doing?”

S: “I’m HELPING him!” [continues explaining in Spanish]

Student-student:Student-student:content/instructionscontent/instructions

“Ay, Antony, por favor, have a seat now!”

“Everybody sit down! X, Estate quieto, bien?!”

S: “Maestro, puedo ir despues de ella?” T: “No”S: “Please?”

“No, tu no vas a salir. Tu te vas a sentar. Thank you.”

Teacher-student:Teacher-student:negotiationnegotiation

““Pick up the pace…”Pick up the pace…”

““RápidoRápido””

““SeisSeis, , cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, unocinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno.”.”

““all captains in front”all captains in front”

““uno, cuatrouno, cuatro””

““sit down”sit down”

““Muévete, muévete, no te quedes así!Muévete, muévete, no te quedes así!””

““Argentina, Argentina, tienes que levantar los brazostienes que levantar los brazos.”.”

““Tiene que pasar la bola también. Levanta la mano. Tiene que pasar la bola también. Levanta la mano. Alguien está libre, pasa la bolaAlguien está libre, pasa la bola.”.”

““She’s fine, She’s fine, vamos, vamos, vamosvamos, vamos, vamos.”.”

Culturally Relevant Culturally Relevant PedagogyPedagogy

Culturally Relevant Teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1995) Academic achievement Cultural competence Critical consciousness

Dominant and critical axes (Gutiérrez, 2007) Dominant axis: access and achievement Critical access: identity and power

Curriculum as serving as “windows and mirrors”

Language as Cultural Language as Cultural CompetenceCompetence

“Students culture is their language, and language is their culture so much. How can you ignore that in teaching?” (Mr. Matos, math teacher)

“I had this one teacher who screams ‘No Spanish!”…it’s like she’s saying ‘You’re culture is dumb, don’t bring it here.’” (Leonela, 10th grade student)

“I tell them to tap into your language....your own language is a very useful skill.” (Mr. Chavez, history teacher)

““Mirrors and Mirrors and Windows” on Windows” on

Global HistoryGlobal History

Window: medieval European history and symbolism in a Coat of Arms

Mirror: create a Coat of Arms for whatever country you consider “home”

Culturally Relevant Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the Content Pedagogy in the Content

AreasAreas When the conversation changed to the Greek tragedy of

Oedipus Rex, the teacher enhanced student understanding of both themes and plot by connecting the drama, relationships, and authors’ purposes to telenovelas

Down these Mean Streets (Piri Thomas), When I Was Puerto Rican (Esmerelda Santiago), and Bodega Dreams (Ernesto Quiñonez).

To illustrate the concept of exchange rate, for example, a teacher asks a question with a reference to the Dominican Republic ,“Digamos que la línea representa una tasa de cambio. ¿Cuántos pesos le dan en Dominicana ahora por un dólar?” [Let’s say that the line represents an exchange rate. How many pesos do they give you for a dollar in the Dominican Republic?]

From a Class Reader’s Guide to From a Class Reader’s Guide to When I Was Puerto Rican When I Was Puerto Rican by by

Esmeralda SantiagoEsmeralda Santiago

Cultural Cultural Competence on a Competence on a School-Wide LevelSchool-Wide Level

Celebrations of heritage, national independence days, and strong use of school physical space for displays of student culture (class doors, flags, bulletin boards, school-wide events, murals)

Teachers address issues that students face in their own lives when considering content choice (discrimination, domestic violence, immigration experienced by characters in fiction) and integrate it naturally into class curriculum

Partnerships for supplementary services with: Ballet Hispanico, Afro-Caribbean dance troupes, Alianza Domincana, Puerto Rican Family Institute, and Centro de Desarollo de la Mujer Dominicana

Implications for Implications for Schools and Next Schools and Next

StepsSteps Expanded professional development Alternative (multilingual, multimodal)

assessments Recruitment and retention of multilingual staff Flexibility within the frame of Language

Allocation Policy Spaces for student agency Multilingual resources and materials Strategies for teachers who do, and do not, speak

students’ home languages Creating multilingual spaces for non-dominant

language speakers

ReferencesReferences García, O. (2009). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A

Global Perspective. Malden, MA and Oxford: Basil/Blackwell

Gutiérrez, R. (2007). Context matters: Equity, success, and the future of mathematics education. In T. Lamberg& L. R. Wiest (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Reno: University of Nevada.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.

Haiwen Chu achu@gc.cuny.eduSuzanne Dikker suzanne.dikker@nyu.edu

Heather Homonoff Woodley hwoodley@gc.cuny.edu

http://latnyhs.commons.gc.cuny.edu

Ph.D program in Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Research Institute for the Study of Languages in Urban Societies

New York City Department of Education