Entry Seven

    Since I am doing my service learning in an English Immersion Program I see more evidence of standards for English. I know that one day during class the teacher I work for told her students and gave them examples of what she expected from them when it came to their quality of writing, or for their speech, because of what they've already learned from first grade and from their current school year so far. Then later that same day she addressed some standards that I remembered reading from our module on standards and accountability such as being able to identify the main purpose of text (Reading: informational text standard 6) and on capitalization, punctuation, and spelling (Language Standard 2).
    There is definitely more emphasis on the English standards. English is only taught because the class I am in focuses solely on English for half the day until the class switches teachers and then focus on the other subjects, such as math, for the last half of the day with a different teacher. I think this is for students to better get the help and attention that they need for each subject by having two teachers who work with them each day on different subjects and meet the standards.

Entry Six

    Since we are not able to ask about specific information I can assume that there are racial, cultural, and religious diversity based on my time volunteering at my service-learning classroom. There are probably a few others among my service-learning classroom that are not as easily known or seen. One way that the teacher is addressing them is through the student of the week where students are able to share about their lives which introduces the rest of the class to both their similarities and differences when it comes to each of their backgrounds in a positive and uplifting fashion. I can only assume that some students have learning disabilities based on how the teacher makes time to give those students extra one-on-one, or sometimes group, activities to better help them to succeed in a way that they understand. 
    The teacher always uses multiple strategies for teaching her lessons. For example, when it comes to the weekly spelling words she will have students write them down on their own after telling them the words and provide them with imagery if two words sound alike, but are spelled differently. Another way is she provides nine fun and easy activities each week for their spelling words of which they can choose any three to complete as homework. One activity might be to write consonants in blue and vowels in red for each word. Also, she has the class come together to figure out the alphabetical order of the spelling words and to use each word in a sentence with a partner.

Entry Five

   I would have to say that I definitely see support for English learners because I am doing my service-learning in an English Immersion Program. This program is all about helping students to better learn English. The classes I am working with focuses solely on English and get support through one-on-one fluency readings, small group readings, and individual and class activities.
    I would have to say that some of what I see in my service-learning classroom is a result of Brown v. Board of Education, a variety of other court cases, and the No Child Left Behind Act. I can tell due to what appears to be a somewhat wide range of race diversity within the classroom, but the main ones being Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic. Along with having multiple races I am more than sure each has their own religious beliefs. 
    Each student is given an equal opportunity to learn with no bias by participating in the same activities as everyone else. Although those who need that extra help in learning English are given more one-on-one activities to help prevent them from falling behind and not learning.