Danny Rosas-Salas

EDU 1010

Professor McLeran

December 10, 2022

Field Assignment I

I.) Observe a classroom and focus on several students from culturally and linguistically

diverse communities.

1. Where do they sit?

I was observing my host teacher’s classroom, and she has a seating chart where students are

assigned a table to sit at. They can sit anywhere at the table, but what I have noticed is that

students tend to sit with their friends who sit at the same table as them. They also sit at desks that

are near their friends at other tables. Most of their friends are from the same cultural and

linguistic background as them, but they do interact with other students at their table or in the

classroom.

2. Who do they talk to and make friends with?

Similar to what I said in my previous response, students will try to talk and make friends with

students that have the same or similar cultural and linguistic background as them. I noticed this

throughout the host teacher's classroom and the school hallways that students will interact mostly

with classmates that are like them. They would communicate in the same languages that they

speak, share their similar stories and experiences about their personal lives, and work together in

class assignments. I also saw how they would inform and share their ideas and traditions to other
students. For example, one student told her table that English was her second language, and that

she would be the translator for her family. I wish I could have remembered the language and

culture that the student was from, for her experience relates with other students who deal with

the same situation as her.

3. Do they attend the class and are they involved?

Yes, there are a lot of diverse students that attend and get involved in the classroom. My host

teacher teaches AP World Geography, and I noticed that they are taking notes and turning in their

work. There are students that arrive to the classroom late and they don’t get involved, but I think

there’s always going to be students that are not engaged with the class or with the school. My

host teacher is also in charge of the student government at East High School, and she had a class

period dedicated to it. What I saw is that the student government was diverse, and they planned

and got involved in most if not all of the activities and events held at the school.

4. Do they participate in classroom discussions?

Yes, there weren't a lot of classroom discussions, but it would occur when they would have to

work together trying to answer a question or discuss a topic. Where they also engage in lesson

conversations, and answer short questions that they were asked from the teacher. Like I

mentioned before there were students that didn’t want to engage with the class, so they didn’t

participate in classroom discussions with their group table.

Reflection:
 East High School has a lot of diversity with their students, and I was able to see this when

I walked through the hallways and observed my host teacher's classes. The students would

engage and participate with the class, and a lot of them would get involved in school weather that

was through sports, clubs, social events, or in student government. I did see students that would

skip their classes and did not participate in class. As I said this in my observation, I think that is

going to be the case for every school because there will be students that are not interested or

engaged with their class or with school in general. What I did mostly notice through my

observations is that students would engage and interact more with students that are from the

same or similar cultural and linguistic communities. I remember seeing and hearing students

speaking Spanish and other languages to each other, I was hearing other students sharing their

similar experiences and stories, I saw students work together on class assignments and planning

events for the school, and I would sometimes see them spend time together outside of the

classroom. This is similar to my school experience where students including myself would try to

engage and spend more time with other students that we could understand and relate more with.

What I learned through this semester is that this could cause cultural encapsulation. We could

unintentionally become ignorant towards other people's values and traditions even with people in

our own culture and ethnicity. It’s important for a school and for students to develop diversity

consciousness because it helps students to learn and engage with different groups of people, but

it also prevents students and faculty from developing harmful or negative assumptions and ideas

on people. What I liked about East High School is that they had a lot of opportunities for

students to socialize and interact with other students, and before I was done with my student

engaged learning the student government was planning a cultural assembly for students to share
their cultural dances and traditions. I think that would definitely help students to share their own

culture, but also be a learning opportunity to other students.