Something that stuck with me came from my TELL 450 class with Dr. Freire. One of the first things we read and talked about was deficit thinking. This is the idea that we will sometimes blame a student's lack of success on the culture that they come from or the "genetic traits" that make them susceptible to certain disadvantages. Those factors are NOT the problem, nor are they factual, real-life issues. What's really making it hard for ELLs and other minority students to succeed is systematic racism. Entertaining the idea that genetics or culture could be underlying issues is deficit thinking and does nothing to further our ability to help ALL our students succeed.

One thing that I learned from TELL is how important it is to approach lesson planning from a variety of perspectives. No two kids are alike, and so it's important to diversify your lessons to fit their needs, rather than focusing your attention on the same few everyday. In TELL I learned really valuable diversification strategies that not only help my ELLs, but help me meet the learning needs of all my students.

I learned that all students are capable of learning, and all students deserve to be treated with equity and respect.

I have learned how to be more inclusive of students with diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Learning about the children’s families and their social interactions are important for a child’s educational learning.