Denice Arroyo 1

Content Knowledge Reflection At the beginning of my advanced level coursework I began refining my knowledge about the foundations of language, literacy for diverse learners. As I read and researched topics about literacy development I gained insight into the students that I teach in my own classroom. I increased my knowledge on the sequence of language development of young a learner, especially when the student is a second language learner. As a kindergarten teacher I am charged with doing a general speech and language screening within 60 days of knowing each of my students. As a first year teacher, I wasn't very comfortable with this process as I did not have any real coursework up to that point in language development and no real knowledge based of what was typical or atypical for the students I was teaching. After having taken advance course work in this subject area I became more comfortable assessing language development and disorders for my young students. This knowledge has also impacted my level of participation in IEP meetings in relation to speech and language concerns. Now, I am able to understand and contribute valuable information about my students needs and use theories to name what I am witnessing in the classroom. Being a teacher in a school where many students are coming from diverse linguistic backgrounds, my study on bilingualism and language acquisition helped me immensely by giving me access to solid research and techniques to work with the families I serve. Many of the families that I serve are the first generation to leave their countries and are experiencing the public school system for the first time. After deepening my knowledge base and gaining an appreciation of how English language learners adapt to the public school system I am more

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aware of potential situations that could cause confusion or miscommunication. I am a more passionate advocator for my students who have the privilege of mastering more than one language and how that can benefit them in the future if their parents continue to educate them in their heritage language. With the trends of population shifts, there are also many other factors that affect schools today. Through my study on trends, issues and research in early childhood education I reaffirmed my desire to become more active in the early childhood education community and become an advocate for developmentally appropriate practice despite all the standards based curriculum and assessment requirement. I began to see how policies, procedures, technology and curriculum are all constantly changing and how some areas havent really changed at all. The politics of education, particularly at the early childhood level have caused me to reflect more on my practice as an early childhood educator and how the implementation of my curriculum supports the needs of my students. My content knowledge has given me a more credible voice when I feel the need to question why something is happening or not happening in our school. It has propelled me into taking leadership roles and sharing my knowledge with my teammates and promoting open communication about the challenges we face each day. I have also become much more resourceful at finding answers, creating professional networks and adapting practices to the needs of my students. Whether it is creating authentic assessments, analyzing student data or reflecting on the transactions in our classroom, I feel more capable and enthusiastic about

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tackling issues and promoting student learning due to the classes Ive taken at George Mason University.