The artifact I chose for Standard 5.a is a research paper that I did for ESC 769: Latinos in US Schools. The overall course allowed me the opportunity to read a variety of research discourse on the education of Latinos in the U.S.
The overall artifact focused on the Dominican Culture on the U.S, and how it has influenced educational and economic growth for this particular group. The overall project aligns with standard 5.a, in that, I had to carry out a research on children of Dominican Republic background in the U.S. By doing this research, I was able to gain a deeper knowledge of the political, and socio-economic history of this particular group. Having first hand knowledge of this information allowed me to plan culturally relevant lessons, and most importantly, advocate and enlighten these students about the systems in place to help them as ENL students.
This particular artifact is pertinent to the standard because it not only focused on the history of Dominican Culture on the U.S, but it looked at the Education Implications for Dominicans living in the U.S. Upon completing this research it was found that students from the Dominican Republic are likely to be labelled LTELLs and SIFE due in part that they mainly come to the U.S as adolescents.
This artifact contributes to my professional understanding, skills, and dispositions that ELLs on a whole have their unique struggles when they come to the U.S. However, it is my job as an ENL pedagogue to keep myself abreast with what these struggles are, and to familiarize myself with the different mandates and policies that effect ELLs, and apply this knowledge to inform teaching and learning. In relativity to this standard, one area of my teacher development that still needs growth is staying current with judicial mandates, federal, state, and local laws and policies on the instruction and achievement of ELLs.
Overall, completing this artifact impacted my students to an extent. In that, the research was carried out on one particular group, and I have a diverse population of ethnic group in my class. Whereas, I have come to the conclusion that one hat does not fit all.
