Internship ii vision

George Washington UniversityProf. David Jeck Educ. 6234

INTERNSHIP II - VISION

Field Mentors Interviewed:

Assistant Principal - Ileana VillegasInstructional Coach - Rick Quiñonez

Oyster Adams Bilingual Elementary School

"Many cultures, two languages, two campuses - and one community united with

one purpose.“

Oyster Adams is a Bilingual Elementary-Middle School located in the midst of the Washington DC Metro area.

It offers a nationally and internationally recognized bilingual program for grades pre-k to eighth. All

instruction and school activities are conducted in a dual-language immersion environment, with equal weight

given to learning in English and in Spanish.


VISION

Both Oyster's faculty and its student body are balanced 50%-50% between native English and native Spanish

speakers. In addition, by enrolling children from many neighborhoods, nationalities, cultures, and economic

circumstances, Oyster provides a heterogeneous social environment that is essential to its multicultural mission.

Oyster enjoys an unusual dual status as a DCPS neighborhood public school and as a school entirely

devoted to a specialized program. Accordingly, all "in-boundary" children have a right to attend grades K-8,

while "out-of-boundary" and pre-k applicants are admitted according to the school's selection criteria


We believe that native Spanish speaking children will learn to perform better in an environment that respects their native language and provides continued growth in their native language. In addition, we believe that the

education of English speaking children will be enriched by achieving competency in a second language at an age

when achieving such competency is easiest.

We believe that racial and ethnic richness and diversity form the bases through which we enrich and promote the

goals of building a culturally pluralistic society.


The Bilingual Model

Oyster is an example of a 50/50 two-way dual immersion bilingual model. This means that students receive 50% of instruction in

English and 50% in Spanish. It is different from typical ESL pull-out programs in that Spanish-speaking English language learners

receive support in their first language while learning a second language. In pull-out programs, the philosophy is often "English-

only." Longitudinal research has proven that students with a strong basis in their first language are more successful in

learning a second language. This is why Oyster has such a strong focus on literacy in English and Spanish.


Oyster Adams Bilingual School Student Profile 2010-2011

District of Columbia Public Schools. (2011).


Each classroom at Oyster has two teachers: one a native Spanish speaker, and one a native English speaker. Each teacher is responsible for teaching language arts in his/her native language. Also, the teachers share the responsibility for teaching the content area subjects: math, social studies, and

science. Teachers are equal partners in the classroom and plan the instructional program

together, never in isolation


Plans based on CCSS

(Common Core State Standards)

Curriculum per grade (1 year)

Units (6 weeks) Weekly lessons Instruction

Pacing Progress

Dual language

Co-teaching

Re-teaching

Instructional CoachCurriculum Development

The vision of this school is very simple and profound. It is a reflection of what the Washington DC culture is. To promote a multicultural environment is hard work and has a infinite amount of implications. It can happened and it does happened in this school. All students share there differences and the staff promotes respect among all. They have shown results not only in the values they constantly share but also in the academic realms. They have a team of professional carefully selected that give there best. The instruction is not traditional yet is in constant evaluation by specialists and is under constant modification. Teachers are require to fulfill the expectations, acquire high efficiency and provided with the professional development they need for it.

MY CONCLUSION

During this Internship, I realize that whatever vision that you have is possible if you selected the right people and you make the right teams among selected professional. If you can sale your vision and provide the development tools according to it, the vision will become a reality and the team will succeed.

I don’t see the principal doing everything in the school or saying she does. I constantly hear names of different teachers in charge of different activities that promote the school vision: Science fair, Book fair, International Put lock, International Art Gallery exhibition, etc.

Parent and students feel accepted and in the same learning process. The socio-economic background is not even noticed inside the school. The wealthy families give out donations and everybody enjoys as a result of the great environment is promoted by all the staff.

MY CONCLUSION

ELIMAR SALDANA

THANK YOU

DCPS website: www.dcps.dc.org

Oyster Adams Bilingual School official website: http://oysterbilingualschool.com/

REFERENCES

http://www.dcps.dc.org/

http://oysterbilingualschool.com/

http://oysterbilingualschool.com/

Education

Internship ii vision