READ6708 1/17/16

 female  21 years old  9 th grade  Oromo  poverty

 1 st year in an academic setting  low decoding skills  low comprehension skills  low writing skills  low oral/listening skills  ages out at the end of this school year

 As a female, Student was not able to attend school in her home country; therefore, she is behind in basic literacy skills such as print awareness and fine motor skills needed in school i.e. holding a pencil and scissors.

 Student is already 21 years old and in the 9 th grade. She will not have all graduation credits earned in one year to graduate. She will not be able to return next year because of her age.

 Chronologically Student needs to be in high school so she is placed in 9 th grade. However, she will be taking ELL classes for at least two years and unable to be in content classes to earn graduation credit.

 CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.RI Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.RI  The lack of English vocabulary needed to meet the CCSS. However, a portion of the standard could be met by breaking down the meaning and tone of one subject.

 CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.RI Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person's life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.RI  Student would be able to recognize a person’s life story via a multimedia instead of a prose. However, standardized tests are all in prose form. Student would be able to connect by recounting her own life story.

 Linguistic  Speaks Oromo, Somali, Swahili  Cultural  Storytelling history  Collectivism  Practical  Time management  Finances  Family  Oldest daughter in charge of younger siblings, cooking, cleaning, shopping, animals  Experiences  Civil war  Refugee camp  Immigration

 “In each community, parents and families hold specialized knowledge, such as how to operate a family business, play musical instruments, design and make clothing, or repair machinery, that educators can learn from” (Murillo, 2012, p. 19).  As a teacher, including parents or community members with these funds of knowledge would benefit the classroom by experiencing hands on learning as well as pride in their culture and what they can provide to the education process.

 “By exploring literacy practices directly, teachers can learn that they are meaningful and have material consequences for their users” (Murillo, 2012, p. 22)..  Many African cultures have strong oral language and weak written language. By tapping into this resource, teachers can use more oral and audio strategies to scaffold into reading and writing strategies.

 By “using cross- cultural comparisons, culturally familiar examples, and the like creates opportunities for ELLs to not only learn new concepts meaningfully, but also use English in reading, and writing” (Yu Ren, 2013, p. 36).  It is also helpful to have key content vocabulary translated into the students’ language to create a wall of bilingual dictionary words.

 ¡Colorín colorado! (2011). Common Core State Standards for English language learners. Retrieved from on-core/ on-core/  Murillo, L. (2012). Learning from bilingual family literacies. Language Arts, 90(1), 18– 29.  Yu Ren, D. (2013). The bridge of knowledge. Educational Leadership, 71(4), 30–36.