Week 6

                As an educator I have made many of the same errors that Barbara made in the Article written by Kubota.  I too was very sheltered in my education experience.  It wasn’t until my first teaching job that I actually encountered students with different culture backgrounds.   Barbara asked her students what the difference in their country was in compared to the United States.  Without being properly educated about ELL students; this would be a common error.  You are calling attention to the differences the ELL student is seeing.  The drawback to that is the stereotyping that occurs and the overgeneralization as well. 

                I think that all educators should have ELL training in at least a basic level.  It will help students recognize differences and learn strategies to help ELL students.  It will also help make educators aware of what is beneficial and what types of things to stay away from.  How can we be expected to know what to do with these students if we’ve never been exposed to anything of this nature?

                In more than one of the articles the topic of critical thinking was questioned.  In my opinion critical thinking is learned behavior.  I am constantly challenging my students to think outside the box.  This is a skill that is continuously being worked on.  I believe that all students are critical thinkers if they are challenged and taught to think critically.