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ALL about Diego!

Family: He lives with Mom, Dad, and an older brother. He has a very strong family background and both parents are extremely involved in his schooling and academic performance.

Language: Diego grew up speaking Spanish, that is his first language. However, he pays really close attention in the English portion of the day and has managed to pick up a lot of words and use them with his peers. He also watched a lot of old cartoons growing up so he uses “funny” (archaic) terms in Spanish often!

Peer Relationship: Diego tends to hang out more with the classmates that speak mostly Spanish, at times, we can observe that he is intimidated by the classmates that speak English only. He is a fun and social kid! However, lately he has had the tendency of “telling on others” to us teachers which has decreased his friendships in the class, he also takes on a “teacher” role and starts correcting students or telling them what to do (this is something we are actively working on with him to redirect it in a positive way!)

Interaction with teachers: Diego LOVES school and LOVES his teachers. He always pays attention and does his best effort to stand out and be recognized- he truly is motivated by attention. We have also found that his behavior of correcting other students also applies to teachers as he never misses opportunities to correct us when we miss an instruction. Although this can be positive, it is often distracting and disrupts lesson/discussion flow between the teacher and the students.

Favorite areas/activities: Diego’s favorite activity in school is reading and writing- and that is truly where he excels the best! Diego is probably our most fluent reader and he is highly advanced in decoding words using syllables. He is always excited to jump into our time of literacy!

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[ Target Language: English ] + [Domain: Cognitive Development and Mathematics ]

For the first observation I did of Diego, the learning targets were:

Diego is learning to sort an array of images (shapes, measurement tools, containers, etc.) into different groups and justify why they belong together.

Diego is learning to count the array of images utilizing one to one correspondence.

The success criteria were:

Diego will be able to finalize the activity with (at least 3) different groups, 1 group will be formed of solely shapes.

Diego will be able to move one image and say the correspondent number as he classifies it. Diego will count up to 10 as he classifies it.

The array was composed of: Counting bears, cubes, wooden shapes, counting rabbits. Colors: Green, Yellow, Purple, Light Green, Red, Orange.

Observations:

Although Diego started to talk in English and labeling his colors, he quickly discouraged himself from continuing the activity in that language by saying: “I don’t know what to say”.

Diego excelled at one-to-one correspondence and subitizing abilities as he was able to count each object as he moved it as well as remembering the amount of each object when asked.

Diego smiled and demonstrated excitement to be working 1:1 with mathematics manipulatives.

Diego came up with 4 different (color, category, size, and behavior) ways of classifying the objects

and justified his reasoning in Spanish.

When prompted to finish the activity, Diego tried to come up with more ways of sorting/classifying the array. He did not find any more ways.

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[ Target Language: Spanish ] + [ Domain: Social & Emotional Development ]

For the second observation I did of Diego, the learning targets were:

Diego is learning to offer help during dictation to the peers that are assigned in his group (2 classmates).

The success criteria were:

After finishing his sentence, Diego will be able to point to another classmate’s work and provide feedback as well as specific help to correct it.

Observations:

Diego’ strongest subject is reading and writing (literacy in Spanish), which is why my mentor and I decided that this is the most appropriate time to combine Diego’s strong literacy skill with his socialization skills to become a “tutor” or “helper” to his peers during our writing block.

We observed that during our Insects Unit (our current unit), Diego has become specifically interested and proactive in his learning. Meaning that he has utilized decoding and spelling strategies like never before! He has become actively involved in discussions and research projects that we have conducted on insects. We believe that this is due to his high interest in insects and animals outside of the classroom, which made this unit directly linked to his personal interests and even possible Funds of Knowledge.

We observed that moving Diego and placing him on a table where students are “struggling” or not as proficient in writing really brought out his leadership and verbal (ex: feedback and peer reviewing) skills. During a regular day, meaning that there is no observation, Diego’s table is often composed with students who are as proficient as him, this often leads to them being disruptive and distracted once they finish writing a sentence or the word prompted on the board.

Before prompting Diego to help his classmates, as written in the assessment, we asked him to come up to the board and help us teachers to make sure he had gotten a sense of what things to look for in writing and he even got to correct some of our (intentional) mistakes. This gave Diego a sense of the role he would be playing in the table and the attitude/perspective he needed to have in order to properly help his classmates.

Diego thoroughly enjoyed becoming a “teacher” for his classmates as he got to lean on his expertise and skills to help others.

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Through my time with Diego in this school year, I have seen tremendous growth and potential in all subjects (specifically mathematics and literacy, both reading and writing). However, as Spanish is his first language and no one in his family speaks English, we knew from day one that Diego needed to be in our ELD immersion program and that we needed to be intentional if we wanted to see progression on his English language development and acquisition.

When I did the last formative assessment with him, Diego was supposed to (learning targets/objectives):

1. Diego is learning to read “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” in English independently.

2. Diego is learning the sequence of a story.

3. Diego will retell the story, its details, and the characters.

During our first observation, in which Diego was supposed to use English, Diego shut down and refused to do the activity if it was not in Spanish. Going into this assessment, I was a little skeptical and nervous that that would happen again. However, it was the COMPLETE OPPOSITE!

Diego actively and correctly participated in the activity. He effectively engaged in the read aloud and both worksheets. In the first worksheet, Diego effectively identified every picture and arranged them in sequence. For the second worksheet, Diego effectively supported himself by using the other worksheet and, thus, he accurately identified all the elements of the story (characters, plot, and setting). Diego is very talkative and uses ton of details when he speaks! From what Diego was answering, I could tell that he got a mastery of the story since he even got time to focus and specify on the details of the characters (specifically their appearance).

This is a HUGE milestone for Diego! He not only was capable of completing all activities in English, but he remained on task, had a positive and curious attitude throughout, and successfully achieved the learning objectives in his SECOND language. We could not be more proud of him and his growth! :')

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Strengths:

Critical Thinking

Subtizing

Oral language (Spanish)

One to one correspondence

Categorizing/Classifying

Communicating reasoning verbally

Patterns

Color Recognition

Limitations:

Easily distracted

Constantly seeking

validation/attention when working 1:1 with a teacher

Lack of self-confidence

Fear of trying new things or making new mistakes (specifically in English)

Instructional Strategies and Opportunities:

I think it would have been beneficial to communicate with my mentor prior to the activity to see what her views or strategies are for engaging Diego in English instruction and not losing his motivation throughout the activity. But I learned how important multiple perspectives (from both my mentor and the TA’s) into interpreting the observed behaviors the student displayed. My analysis was enhanced by their contributions!

In addition, I would have loved to know if Diego has any manipulatives at home or works in any mathematical abilities (other than the worksheets my mentor sends as homework), but I never managed to get a hold of the family. This led me wondering if all the abilities that Diego showcased throughout the activity are skills he acquired in the classroom or skills that he had previous knowledge from home.

Data applied to instruction and future activities:

Giving him a large number (50,60) and asking to write sum equations that equal to that number, and continuing to ask him to think of multiple ways to solve this (as we did in this math activity)

Start with small word problems in Spanish.

Create math vocabulary cards in English to introduce him to this terminology that he already fluently uses in Spanish.

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Strengths:

Feedback

Positive Attitude

Critical Thinking

Oral language (Spanish)

Communication

Error Recognition

Skills in progress:

Helping peers

Socialization

Explanation alongside correction

Willingness to help

Limitations:

Easily distracted.

Easily frustrated.

Constantly attempting to go back to his original table throughout observation.

Instructional strategies and Opportunities

I think it would be beneficial to understand the family dynamic and Diego’s experiences with his brother outside of school. Specially, since they are such a big indicator and precedent for Diego’s understanding of social dynamics, roles, and norms (which is directly translated into the way he interacts with his peers).

Taking with Diego’s mom would also allow us to get a deeper and more genuine grasp of who he is as an individual, his personality traits, and personal goals mom has set for him and match those to the roles we are giving Diego within our classroom. This would promote consistency throughout the week regardless of environment, as well as allowing Diego to generalize knowledge and skills across contexts.

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Comments from my mentor teacher:

Comment about Diego’s use of the English language: “I expected Diego to express himself more in English or being able to complete the activity fully in English. This behavior allows me to note that we need to work 1:1 on English development and even perhaps use visual aids to aid him in not getting frustrated. It is interesting that he is such a different kid when speaking Spanish and then when speaking English – I have never seen him want to quit an activity, I think that the language was the determining factor.”

Comment about Diego’s math skills/performance: “Diego is one of the most advanced students in Math for the whole class, so it was not surprising to see him thinking outside the box while still applying mathematical knowledge and skills. For example, I never expected him to sort the array while considering behavior (rabbits being more active and bears being calmer, according to his reasoning). This observation allows me to consider Diego to perform more difficult activities or including content/curriculum from other subjects in Math activities (which he already excels at).

Further questions and wonderments:

How do we motivate him to do activities in English even if they are out of his comfort zone,

because he lacks confidence?

How beneficial would the vocabulary cards be for him?

How would he react to consistent 1:1 English instruction? Would his attitude towards the

language be different?

How do we incorporate his critical thinking skills and reasoning in other math and literacy

activities?

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Comments on Diego’s ability to provide help/feedback and this new role: “This is a role that I have been wanting Diego to play and explore within the classroom jobs and the classroom dynamic. As he advanced rapidly in his literacy skills in Spanish (specifically reading and writing), I noticed that him finishing way earlier than other students became a distraction for the whole environment since he would start talking or wanting to tell me (or you- Ms. Cynthia) personal stories that popped in his head. Although at first this seemed easy to handle and harmless to other students (to an extent), it then escalated to him making comments and complaining about ‘why his classmates were not as fast’ or pointing out mistakes in almost a mocking tone. This observation and assessment implementation came just at the right time! This new role not only serves to further and deepen his literacy skills, but also allows him to redirect what could’ve turned into a negative/harmful behavior to a positive one.”

• Comment on Diego’s socialization skills and social/emotional development: “Although Diego is very advanced in his oral language skills, he lacks a lot of social awareness and skills to interact with peers. Often, Diego gets left out by kids due to comments that he can make about student’s performance or behavior to us teachers- which is very sad to see. Now that Diego is helping as an asset to his peers, I am hoping that he can see the value in helping rather than “snitching” or “policing” on his classmates. Diego has an older sibling and, to what mom has told us, it seems like Diego’s older brother plays that same role in Diego’s life (policing him and bossing him around), thus, Diego just replicates what he experiences as home as his closest source of socialization.”

Further questions and wonderments:

How do we initiate conversations with Diego that involve discussing his behavior and how they are perceived in a developmentally appropriate way?

What are some other roles we can give Diego within our classroom to further develop his social abilities and strengthen his understanding of social dynamics?

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Instructional Strategies for ELD:

1. Expose Diego to complex vocabulary and stories that prompt higher level thinking.

2. Continue enforcing strategies we have implemented for decoding.

3. Implementing fluency-focus activities for Diego to start practicing

intonation as he progresses in his reading.

4. Sharing these results and observations with the ELD teacher that sees Diego daily.