Student Observation Paper

I conducted classroom observations as P.S/I.S 72 in Jamaica, Queens. The school is sandwiched

in-between two buildings that are part of the Rochdale Village Housing complex. The housing
complex, as well as the surrounding neighborhood, consist of many working class and middle
class black families. The neighborhood, while home to people across the African diaspora, is also
home to a small Middle Eastern community. The school is on a busy intersection, Guy R Brewer
with many businesses like soul food restaurants, cell phone stores, laundromats and medical
office suites. Mostly all the writing on the business signs are in English. Jamaica Queens, for
years, has been home to a large population of African Americans. About 20 years ago, the
dynamic shifted with many West Africans and West Indians moving to the community. With that
said, most of the new immigrants to South Jamaica Queens are from English speaking countries.

The community, while comprised of people of African descent, is mostly population with African
Americans and West Indians from English speaking countries. All of the stores on the boulevard
where P.S/I.S 72 is housed have awnings in only English. An emergent bilingual student would
have very few occurrences of a second language in the community. While P.S/I.S 72 has mostly
Haitian ELL students, these students would have few encounters with Creole in the immediate
community. There are many West Indian restaurants peppered throughout the community, but
none of the restaurant in the immediate area caters to Haitians. Also, Middle Eastern students
would have very few encounters with their language in the community.

South Jamaica Queens consist of largely small, ranch style homes on suburban-like tree lined
blocks. Neatly manicured lawns are decorated with sculptured shrubbery and large American
flags swinging outside of peoples front doors. All the houses are very close to each other, yet

each home may house someone from Ghana, while another may house a family from South
Carolina or Jamaica. Physically, the residents of the community look alike but often times come
from vastly different cultures. People display their native country pride with flags hanging from
their rear view mirror or by patronizing one of the many businesses in the community thats run
from a native to their country. While Haitians have thriving businesses in Jamaica Queens, most
are not in South Jamaica but instead Cambria Heights and St Albans. Students that are native to
Haiti will have few occurrences with their culture in this community. The same can be said for
students from a Middle Eastern background. These students may feel a bit more diversity in
Central Jamaica, the route many of these students travel through to get to school. In the words,
they may have occurrences with their culture on the way to school but certainly not directly in
the neighborhood where they attend school.

Walking into the school seemed like walking into a club, the first thing I noticed was loud music
blasting from the cafeteria. Apparently, the school decided to celebrate the students successes on
the state exams they just completed. I listened to the music and waited to speak with the ELL
teacher. While waiting, the DJ played Rap, R&B, Dancehall, Bachata. As I waited, students
walked in and out the cafeteria dancing in front of the principals office, almost putting on a
show for me. I could recognize that the dances came from cultures across the African diaspora
but again, these dances, these songs were not reflective of the culture of the ELL students. While
I believe the school embraces the cultures of all their students, aside from music, there wasn't
much culturally integration. There were no signs in a foreign language. Even in the ELL
classrooms, there were very few signs or pictures of another language. The school does have
staff from many cultures; I believe thats helpful for students to feel represented or connected to

at least one person in the building. Also, to the schools credit, there were flags from many
countries and cultures that include where many of the ELL come from.

As I began my observations, Mr. Ramsbottom suggest that I work with *Esther, a 5th
grade ELL at the school. She was the first student to arrive to class during the period I
observed and she also was the newest student to his classroom. Shes a slender, dark skinned
black child with braided hair and a shy but pleasant disposition. Shes rather tall for her age;
Id say shes roughly my height. Shes dressed a bit differently from her other classmates; her
hair is braided very much in a style that youd see on a younger girl. In a school of girls that
look years older than pre/ early teenagers, she certainly stands out. As she enters the room, she
is quiet, well behaved but cheerful. Shes excited to see Mr. Ramsbottom but is slightly
hesitant to acknowledge me. I smile at her and she just turns away. As the class starts, she sits
on the far right hand side of the room with a small cluster of Haitian students. The classroom
appears to be divided based on nationality as well as gender. She takes her notebook and pen
out and starts writing the task on the whiteboard. She is occasionally distracted by the girls that
sit next to her that talk as they write. She giggles with them but doesn't say much. What she
does say, I cannot decipher if shes speaking in Creole or English. The likelihood is that she
spoke in Creole, as Mr. Ramsbottom shared with me that she is very hesitant to speak English
with her Haitian friends.
As the class progresses, Mr. Ramsbottom suggest that maybe I can work with her to help her
with the reading task. He wanted me to work with another student but they, too, seemed shy to sit
with me, someone they dont know. As I sit with her, occasionally between completing the cloze
tasked aligned to the reading, I ask her about herself. I ask where she is from and she tells me

Haiti. I ask her about her family and although she told me she lives with her mother here, the
teacher later informed me that she lives with her aunt and cousins not too far from the school.
She is her mothers only child and she was sent here to live with her aunt with the anticipation
that her moms will shortly follow. She speaks Haitian Creole at home, although Ive been told by
Mr. Ramsbottom that her aunt has a strong understanding of English. This has helped Mr.
Ramsbottom in developing a partnership with the aunt in order to supplement classroom task at
home. Her aunt works with her regularly although the aunt did admit that the family mostly
speaks Haitian Creole at home.
Esther is a very shy girl thats coping with living life apart from her mom, its been shared with
me. Shes respectful, diligent and seems to have a pleasant relationship with her classmates but
her aunt has shared with the school that they believe shes very withdrawn. She often cries for
her mother at home and still seems to be adjusting to life in America. I could not tell this from
the way she interacted in class; she smiled as her friends talked, she listen attentively and even
raised her hand to answer questions, albeit timidly.
a) Talking and Listening:
The students appears to be excited to engage in the learning process and always seems to be
listening to the teacher with both her ears and her eyes; her eyes follow him as he moves from
across the room while instructing. However, when the teacher is asking the class questions,
she rarely speaks out-loud. She often times timidly raises her hand when the teacher ask for
participation. She raises her hand so meekly that often times, other students are picked over
her. When speaking with the teacher, he expressed that he is selective when calling on her
because she initially would cry when she could not find the correct vocabulary to express her
points. During my first observation, she only answered yes or no questions so that the entire

class could hear. While working in small groups however, she spoke often. I noticed that when
I sat in groups with non Haitian students, she either did not talk or talked minimally. However,
on the second day that I observed, she sat at another table as I watched her interact in her
group. She spoke in a mix of Haitian Creole and English. Her sentences were very short and I
notice that she looks on her phone often to translate. Phones are not allowed in class but I
noticed that she used hers roughly 3-4 times just during one observation, for example. When
paired with other Haitian L2s, she seems to be engaged and willing to speak. During
observations, I noticed that these students spoke, albeit a mix of two languages, in mostly
English. When paired with students from Yemen or Ecuador, she rarely spoke I could see her
listening and often times giggling or laughing while listening to these students. She made little
effort outside of her group to speak when I initially started my observation, or at least that was
my early assessment. The teacher explained to me that because she was such a new student,
although he thought that she would practice English less, she would be around other students
that she could identify with. He felt that her emotional well being was most important and that
she wouldn't learn the language if she did feel supported. The classroom doesnt seem to be a
classroom where speaking different languages is entirely supported. The teacher asked students
to make connections with certain words but he seemed to largely depend on pictures and other
visuals to convey his point. The teacher does not speak any other language other than English.
As my observations carried out, she seemed more friendly and excited that Id be sitting with
her. During one observation, she smiled at my nose ring and then touched it but didn't say
anything. After a few seconds, she said beautiful, as if she needed to find the right words.
Towards the end of my observation, I did notice that she certainly spoke much more English
than I initially believed. The teacher acknowledged that she made progress rather quickly in

speech. She does continue to be physically expressive. Some days when I leave the class, shell
wave instead of saying bye. Other times, shed see me and give me a hug but wouldn't say
hello, for example.

Reading:
During one of my observations, the students were reading a short story about a young girl that
traveled to the US from Europe during the beginning of the twenty-first20th century. The
students read the story and then were asked to make a connection with their own experience.
This reading was part of a unit; it wrapped up in students sharing their stories with their
parents in a small ceremony to end the school year. Concerning reading, this was done in class
for usually short periods of time. She seemed engaged during quiet reading time and when
asked questions one-on-one by either me or the classroom teacher, she was able to provide
answers, mostly in English. She was able to express her ideas and she used the appropriate
content vocabulary.

When speaking with the teacher, he did say that she is reading on a 3 grade level and that shes
made vast improvements from the time that she started school.

There were certain things that were missing, like articles for example. She also seemed to have
difficulty understanding the use of plural and singular in her speech. Also, gender pronouns
were a challenge as well. When she spoke. they frequently would change. When corrected, she
would acknowledge the correction and make appropriate changes immediately. When she
spoke.however, shortly after, she would revert to improper gender pronoun usage.

In this class, the teacher did mostly small group reading and then asked one person to read
large pieces of the text within the group. She participated once but sort of joked around with
her friends while reading. She didn't stay focused so instead the teacher asked another girl
from her group to continue the reading.

Writing
With all of her challenges as a second language speaker, she seems to really enjoy writing. She
does struggle with many structure components, however, she does have an interest in writing
and does so often, both in class and out of class, from what the teacher shares. She seems to be
most comfortable with writing English; I believe she is less afraid to make mistakes and does
so freely. The class did a free writing task over the course of the unit and she sat and wrote
independently. She makes many errors but she also does not seem to have an issue sharing her
writing with her other classmates. The teacher made her aware that I would be looking at a
writing piece of hers; she asked him if it would be ok if she rewrote it because she wanted it to
be neat. I also believed that she attempted to correct her grammatical errors although I cant be
sure, the originally writing was a bit unruly. I remember reading it a not really understanding
what she was trying to convey. Her though process was focused but her vocabulary seemed
misplaced at times.

She proudly gave me her work the next Friday that I observed her in class. The unit asked for
students to connect their experiences with the character in a book they just completed. The
teacher asked for students to share what they visually remember about the journey. He wanted
them to describe what they saw both in the native country and what they noticed as differences
when that initially came to America.

She starts her essay with

When I new to America I was very fear. Uncle take me in school they took me straight
ahead the airport. In, the class I observed prior, the teacher used prompts that included when,
where, how, what, why. I believe that she remembered seeing the prompt about how to use
words like when and apple sit to this essay. A native speaker might say,says When I first
arrived or When I first came. Considering that she says When I new., to me, this
suggest that shes not well verse with verbs and how we use them. Also, her vocabulary is not
fully developed. She could benefit from scaffolding or writing prompts more. Also the next
sentence Uncle take me in school. suggest that she is not fully aware with how to use
pronouns, as her sentence should have started with, My uncle... In fact, I notice that in her
writing, aside from saying I, she rarely uses pronouns. While this wont totally keep her from
being able to communicate, being comfortable with pronouns will certain help her speak or
express herself much more naturally. She finishes that idea without a period and also follows it
with ..they took me straight ahead airport. Yes, she used a pronoun in this part of the
sentence. Its the last shell use when speaking of others unfortunately. Also, she uses complex
word combination like straight ahead, but makes beginner level mistakes. This suggest to me
that either she remember somethings specific that was scaffolded or she used another
resources. Also, the teacher may consider monitoring her academic level. Punctuation error are
common with grade school children, however, this may also denote that she needs support in
her native language, or rather that she didn't get fundamental academic support in her home
country. This is speculative but something that they educator should note.

I didn't look at anything to at the airport because I did no I left. This sentence is an
example of he students transferring her home language, in my opinion. Its believed by many
that transferring happens at the stage when a person is cognitively reconciling or accepting
another language. In this situation, the person will use words or language structures from their
native language. When she says, because I did no I left, I believe she is attempting to negate
the sentence in the same way one would when speaking in French. Im not familiar with the
structure of Haitian Creole and I know that this language is not French. However, reading this
made me question if the process of negation is similar. Either way, this students would benefit
from reading or writing workshops that focused specifically on ways to say no, or rather how
to negate ideas.

When I got on the plane, I know I had to come to America.I just remembered the airport was
as good as on TV and the sky was so blue. The student is correctly describing what she saw
and her relation to what she saw. In other words, shes connected the airport to what shes seen
on TV, which to me suggest that while she may not have the language fully developed, shes
making connection with the content and her personal experiences with is that goal with
Common Core State Standards.

I was seare (scared) but excited to come to America. When I was here I meet my aunt cousin.
This student is demonstrating in this sentence and has demonstrated a disconnect with articles
and conjunction words. This can be reinforced in the classroom with dedicated mini lessons
and guided practice that would allow her to constantly use articles and conjunction words.
Getting immediate and directed feedback would be useful for this student; shes not afraid to
try or apply what shes learned. She just needed targeted instruction.

To me I see many buses and cars and people who all over. It comes like back in Haiti, it little
other times it it seems like something I see on TV. People here who look different. Is many
people in many places. Have in some people good but most people are not good like in Haiti.
Again the student does a great job of describing her surroundings and her relationship with
whats around her. She doesn't entirely make connections with what she saw in Haiti compared
to what she see here. This seems to be a content specific issue; perhaps the teacher could
provide a model of what he expects students to produce.

In sum, she seems to be very proud of her work and works well independently when writing.

Throughout my observations, I had a few questions with regard to this student. Language is just
part of the challenge in her circumstance. When dealing with the complexity of migration and
second language learning, I questioned how to foster students connections with content and text
that will allow students to develop a deeper understanding based off their own experiences.
Along those same lines, I questioned how to ask students that may still be in trauma over
migrating to meaningfully discuss their experiences and how theyve processed it all?
I questioned how we teach a student thats so emotionally disconnected? Shes eager to learn, it
appears but how could an educator tap in to this childs overarching issues to develop a
relationship and hopefully a deep meaning of the context?

 While dealing with a childs emotion issues are not always possible, I believe that a student
like Esther would benefit from a setting where trans-languaging was fully embraced. I
believe that while the teacher attempted to incorporate the cultures of the other students into
the lessons, I believe that a multilingual/ multicultural classroom that consistently embraces
each students cultural differences would be great.

Also, I believe that Esther would benefit from a language portfolio. Shes made great
improvements, as the teacher noted. I believe that she would be more encouraged to work
diligently if she had the ability to look back to see her progress. Language learning,
especially at her age, is an active and on going process. I believe students have an incentive
to learn the language holistically when they can see how rapidly they improve.

In regard to classroom support, I believe that Esther would benefit, as I mention, from
specific and tailored language stations. She has a keen interest in writing and that should be
utilized to help build her proficiency and interest in the classroom. By providing stations that
would allow her to creatively write in both her home language and English, I believe this
would encourage Esther drastically.

Lastly, it was clear to me that Esther struggles with reading. she also seems to be ashamed
that she is struggling. I think having her scaffold or partner with one student for a sent
amount of time may would allow her to get reinforcement from someone shes friendly with
while actively learning the language.