I'm glad we read the Lenski article this week because even though I've taken classes about diversity in the classroom, I was never given direct instruction about how to specifically teach or assess English language learners. I also have never worked directly with ELL students so it was even more difficult to imagine how I would help them when I had no prior experiences to go off of.
I especially found the predictability logs to be beneficial - they are informal collections of information to help teachers understand students' background and prior experiences. Besides talking directly to the student or his or her parents, they also included talking to a professional who can give the teacher some background on the culture in general. The entire predictability log is a great way to collect information longitudinally and can be passed from teacher to teacher as the student progresses in school.
I personally feel that I did not gain very much knowledge from the Fleming article, only a sense of panic if I ever end up in an urban school. It seemed to only be a list of all the things that white educators don't know about black people, or what middle class teachers don't know about poor people. There was no advice for how to work around the issues they mentioned - it did not make me feel at all prepared for these types of situations or even feel confident enough to try.
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