8/29/2024

Connections Drive Success in Diverse Classrooms

“You have to be really strategic about learning more about your students, their educational background, their culture, and their interests,” says Daniella Bass about teaching in multicultural, multilingual classrooms. 

Bass, who joined All For Literacy host Dr. Liz Brooke for Season 3, Episode 2, serves as the English learners coordinator at DeKalb County School District in Georgia. With the district cited as the most culturally and linguistically diverse district in the country, Bass sometimes had up to 35 different languages spoken in her classroom. When asked how to effectively teach students how to read, write, and speak in English in a setting with a high level of diversity, Bass recommends fostering connections with students and their families. 

This rapport is often critical to multilingual student success because it helps educators understand students’ culture and experiences, what language skills they already have in their toolbox, and what mindsets and beliefs might influence their experience in the classroom. While it may be challenging to build this rapport, there are several proven strategies to help educators establish connections and drive student success. 

Connections Are Crucial

Growing these relationships can help educators understand students’ cultures, mindsets, established beliefs, and the language learning skills they already possess. Each of these facets can be applied to boost student achievement in the classroom.  

Students are experts in their own culture

As with any student population, it’s important to understand the cultural and historical background that shapes a group’s educational experience. 

Educational researcher Dr. Gretechen Givens Generett joined All For Literacy in Season 2 to explain this concept. “When we're trying to get people to understand this individual and system experience, [we’ve] got to understand where people are situated at that history and within that history because we have different relationships to what's happened federally in state and locally because of our lived experiences that are historically rooted,” she explains. 

Bass and Brooke discuss this idea, emphasizing that forming relationships with and getting to know students is the best way to understand the history, experience, and cultural influences affecting their experience in the classroom. Inviting students to complete assignments related to their own experiences can be an effective place to start. 

Students have a whole spectrum of skills to leverage

Fostering connections with students also helps educators understand the language learning strengths and skills the students already have and how they can be leveraged while learning English. Bass explains, “Even if the word order is a little bit different, you still have the skillset, that toolbox, as background knowledge of how to read.” 

Season 3, Episode 1, All For Literacy guest and educational researcher Dr. Julie Washington brings up the concept of translanguaging when discussing multilingual learners. She explains that translanguaging is “the ability just to use this continuum of language to make meaning and to learn…It's sort of marshaling all of your linguistic resources to support what you're doing and not choosing to do reading only in this code and oral language only in this code.”

Some educators request that their multilingual students use only English in the classroom, but experts like Bass and Washington recommend allowing students to support their learning with their L1 language (the first language a person is exposed to from birth, spoken in the home)  to take advantage of the support that translanguaging provides. “You could have them have a conversation with students while they're in their L1, but have them write it in English. So, they're using that to support them,” says Bass.

Washington’s research lab recently completed an intervention project that produced results aligned with this guidance. “We're really excited because we saw an acceleration in fluency and comprehension for kids when we did not restrict how they were able to use language,” she states. “[When we] allowed them to use their own system in order to support learning to put it all together and integrate words, we saw them really soar.”

Students’ mindsets and prior beliefs affect learning

A third reason to build connections with students to support their success is the fact that ingrained beliefs and mindsets play a role in classroom experiences and success rates. Getting to know students can enlighten educators about how these affect their students and their learning styles.  

For example, Generett explains that the research her department completes and the results it produces must always be viewed through the lens of the stories about education in their families and lives. She asks, “What are the stories their families are telling, or what are the stories their families have lost and haven't been told about what education is and the possibilities of it?”

These stories affect what students believe is possible for them in the classroom. If they have heard their whole lives that they are not good at something, the belief may become ingrained and affect their classroom experience. Learning more about each student allows educators to understand these beliefs and what stories to tell to change the student’s educational trajectory. 

How to build meaningful connections  

Fostering connections with students and families is no easy feat but Bass and Brooke provided listeners with actionable ideas. 

1. Picking classroom materials to boost connections

“You need to be strategic about what kind of books you have your students read,” Bass explains. One book she uses often is “Green Card Youth Voices” which includes personal narratives from refugee and immigrant students. “Reading stuff like that and then having my students engage in that and tell their own stories,” Bass says. Creating a safe space in your classroom for students to share their experiences can start with picking the right classroom materials.

2. Remembering students are kids

Bass reminds educators to view their students for the kids they are. Instead of using content that discusses a concept that might only be familiar to some, she recommends bringing in subject matter that is interesting to a large majority of students. “They're kids, they're teenagers, so whatever they're interested in. And having them learn how to do that with something they already have the knowledge of,” she says. A few topics that have been hits with her students include soccer and social media like TikTok and YouTube.

3. Getting to know students and families outside of the classroom

“I always say going into the community is the best way,” Bass says about strengthening connections with students and families. Bass often attends cultural events in the community or student sports games—both of which also allow her to meet and get to know students’ families who may not be inclined to come to the school for events. Other social ideas include hosting an international show at the school or an international game night—both concepts Bass has seen work in communities like her district.

4. Conducting independent research

Finally, Bass recommends conducting independent research about students’ cultures and experiences to form better connections. “I always recommend looking at refugee backgrounds…as a starting point,” she says. “It gives you an understanding of where they're coming from in some of their customs and norms.” Bass recommends turning to the Office of Refugee Resettlement or the International Rescue Community for information about international conflicts and history that may affect students. 

Conclusion

Building connections with students can help drive student success in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. Through these relationships, educators understand how students’ cultures, prior beliefs and mindsets, and previous educational experiences can affect learning styles and habits. 

These connections allow teachers to best support multilingual students, and students may feel like they have an advocate and a champion in their educator, both of which can drive student success. 

Listen to Season 3, Episode 2, of All For Literacy with Daniella Bass for an even deeper look into managing experiences and growth in diverse classrooms.