A Hispanic teacher candidate will share her journey in helping Hispanic families increase their participation in their children's education through a personal STLR service learning project focusing on global and cultural competencies. The project will be shared along with the teacher candidate's critical reflection of what she gained from the experience. Her two mentors will also provide additional insights. In an effort to broaden this topic, opportunities for participants to share their positive experiences in assisting ESL students and/or families will be provided and discussed. Second, participants will be invited to participate in a Google Doc so that all contributions will be recorded and accessed by all participants. Participants will leave with strategies and more importantly a greater understanding of how and why to better serve ESL students and their families.

According to the 2011 US Census Bureau Hispanics makeup, 17% of the U.S. population and that is a 48% increase since 2000. While 86% of Hispanics between the ages of 5-17 speak English very well, 41% of 18 and older do not speak English very well. Sixty-three percent of Hispanic adults ages 25 older have at least a high school diploma or equivalent and 26% are living in poverty. The research clearly states parent participation does have a positive impact on children's education but minority parental participation is decreasing (Tinkler). These disparities, including English as a second language, can lead to challenges for families when trying to navigate their children's education.  This is a current topic, and one colleges of education and schools struggle with all the time. It is important that these groups not get further behind but feel more empowered with their unique funds of knowledge.  

The undergraduate Hispanic teacher candidate proposed and was granted a STLR grant to provide a service learning project to help Hispanic families increase their participation in their children's education. This project is connected to the Global and Cultural Competency. The project's goal is to provide two avenues to assist Hispanic families in effectively influencing their children's education. The first is a bimonthly blog that provides educational tips and strategies. The blog is written in English and Spanish. The teacher candidate uses her personal and scholarly knowledge to help create the blog topics and method of writing the blogs. The second method is to create monthly handouts that can be sent out through a school that has a high ESL population that help focus on particular topics. This handout will be both in English and Spanish. The first two handouts will promote creativity and technology. Through this experience, the teacher candidate has grown in a deeper understanding of how to reach this at-risk population that she wants to utilize in her future career as a teacher.

This round table best serves individuals in teacher education but can be helpful to anyone who teaches ESL students. The teacher candidate will lead the round table by sharing her experience and what she has learned through critical reflection since she has served as both the Hispanic student and now teacher candidate. Her two mentors will provide insightful thoughts on this project. Using a Google Doc members of the table will be able to join in the document that will be built during the session. The participants will be given opportunities to discuss these issues and strategies to assist these groups. These ideas will be recorded and shared with the group on a Google Doc, those unfamiliar or unable to access the document at the session will be included in a group email with the link.  Therefore all participants will leave with new strategies and a better understanding of why and how to better serve under-represented populations that have English as a second language.

Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (2017). Hispanic population trends. Retrieved from http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/02/15/hispanic-population-trends/ph_13-01-23_ss_hispanics11/

Tinkler, B. (2002). A review of literature on Hispanic/Latino parent involvement in K-12 education. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED469134)

30-Minute Roundtable Session

Critically Reflecting in Transformative Learning