Response to Stewart

Prior to finishing the first chapter by Stewart I felt myself growing annoyed. Not at the reading though, but at how our country currently operates. Valeria came here for access to education, and we shouldn't be turning down and capturing any child. Especially because we are a country of immigrants, so why are we discriminating now? I am someone who despises the idea that people can own land, and that places on the Earth are considered restricted to certain individuals. It makes no sense to me at all.

Another thought that came to mind as I continued reading was how I will interact with ELs students. Before I came to RIC I never even thought of the possibility that I could be teaching students who potentially won't know English well, if at all. After doing different observations at various schools in Providence, it is clear that this will be something I will most likely end up doing. I appreciate that Stewart talks about some approaches we can take as educators. Throughout different texts I've looked out in both this class and other education classes, it seems that they all encourage us to choose texts that are "relevant to the students' lives" (Stewart 2). I strictly believe that in order to encourage students to participate in the class they need to relate to the things that they read. When something becomes relatable to any student, the chances of them becoming more interested or passionate abot a topic greatly increases.

Stewart also tells us that they "regularly enter classrooms and tell students that [they] expect them to read, write, and speak in all of their languages at school and at home" (Stewart 28). This is something I found interesting because a lot of times we hear about teachers not wanting students to speak in any language other than English in a classroom setting. I believe that it would be very beneficial to have these students practice both their native language and english at home and in the classroom as it allows them to practice a lot more. This can lead to more progress in learning a new language and be a lot more beneficial than just forcing english on them.