Week 5

Wondering: How will my decision on an inquiry impact my class?

   This week we started talking about our inquiries. After thinking about what I could do, I decided to do my inquiry on a student in my class. We will call her student S. I have mentioned student S before. This student's native language is chinese and second language is english, however, she does not speak in class. In any social setting, she will make gestures to certain students in the class as a form of communication. When student S is with her younger sister, you can see her chatting away in chinese and she is so outgoing. If she is pulled a side to do a running record or for a personal interview, she will speak very quietly where you need to put your ear close to hear. According to my mentor teacher, student S has been like this all through her schooling.
    All of the students in the class know that she doesn't speak in class and they like to make it known to me and everyone in the class who is involved with the classroom environment that she doesn't speak. The student is very bright and always does her work. She is one of the top students in the class with her work ethics even though she doesn't speak. This is where my problem and my wondering comes in. How long can her silence last in the classroom environment. I would like to see what would happens if we talked to her and made her speak during one subject. I was thinking that math is most sensible subject since she would only have to communicate with one word. Then I started thinking about how the class will react to student S speaking. After speaking with Angie, we decided on my official wondering for my inquiry.

Wondering: How can I create a safe environment for student S to speak during one subject?