Blog #5 Children's Books and Cultural Bias

I chose two books for elementary students in grades 3-5: Math Curse and Just A Dream.

Some of the topics that might prove challenging for ESL students in Just A Dream include concepts of science fiction, flying, recycling, and the future. I would build ESL students' schema using a variety of strategies. Students would participate in a picture walk and look at a variety of pictures that relate to each of these topics. Students would write responses based on the pictures they saw; their responses could be in their first language or they would have a partner who could help them translate. I would find 2-3 60 sec video clips that show "the future" and concepts of science fiction. I would provide students with a word wall with pictures and ask them to write down the words they see in the video clips. I would build vocabulary for this book. The words would include dream, robot, recycle, future, environment, planet, and pollution. I would use Robert Marzano's 6 steps to effective vocabulary instruction to introduce vocabulary (Marzano, 2004, p.91-103).  (I will post the 6 steps below) This book is a great cross-curricular text for students and would provide students with many real-world knowledge and experience.

For the text Math Curse, some topics that might prove challenging for ESL students include classroom setting, getting ready for school, school routines, and concepts of curses. While this text is a fun and engaging way to discuss math, it also has different concepts of routines that some students may not be familiar with. In order to build students' schema, they would conduct picture walks of different routines. I would guide them through identifying similarities and differences in different types of routine. I would build their vocabulary, focusing on routine, problem, and curse. I would modify this if I were an elementary teacher and include math terms related to math topic being learned. Lastly, I would give the students a virtual reading experience. In Robert Marzano's book Building background knowledge for academic achievement (2004), he introduces the concept of virtual experiences. One way we build schema is through our experiences; however, many ESL students do not share similar experiences because of their cultural (ie; a student who comes from an African country has little understanding of mass transportation) experiences. Marzano suggests building virtual experiences through reading, language interaction, and educational videos (p. 36-40). I would find a short passage on being in a school that has rich descriptive language and read it out loud with students. As I read, there would a word wall with vocabulary words from the passage and visuals to help make the reading comprehensible.

Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement. Alexandra, VA:   ASCD.