A Case of Sue

Penelope A. Holland

Copyright 2001 by Penelope A. Holland
Included here with permission of the author

As the student approached me after class and I noticed he had a book in his hand. The boy who comes from Mongolia reached out to give it to me, "A gift," he said. He handed me the book while blurting out " I brought this for you. I bet you don’t have one and I bet you don’t know much about my country." He was right on all counts. In his hand he held a travel guide to Mongolia. All I ever learned about Mongolia I learned from National Geographic. I thanked him and told him I would read it and I did.

Selection of a Focus Group

I was interested in learning more about Mongolia and the students who are immigrating to Northern Virginia. This year I have three students from Mongolia on my team. I was curious to find out more about their individual immigration stories and wondered what their former education was like in their country. They have all exited the advanced secondary-level English as a Second Language (ESL) program this year after being in the language program for the past two years. One student, Sue, is having difficulty in the mainstream geography class that I teach. (Note: pseudonyms have been used for all proper names in this study.) Sue is not assigned to a class with her best friend from Mongolia and she appears to be withdrawn, shy, depressed and unhappy. She is bright but finds it difficult to ask questions or participate in a large group setting. She gains support from her Mongolian friend at home and in school. They are inseparable outside my room.

My Puzzlements

I am puzzled as to why Sue is withdrawn and why she doesn't participate in class. I also wonder why she isn't more successful in the geography course.

Known Information — Background

Sue is a thirteen year old girl from Mongolia who is currently in my eighth grade world geography class in a suburban middle school in Northern Virginia. She was in the advanced ESL program for two years and exited in spring 2000 after passing the reading and writing exit exam. Students have to score a 60 or above on the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) exam to be mainstreamed. At the beginning of this school year, our school implemented a reading across the curriculum program. At that time I researched the Degree of Reading Power (DRP) test. This test is a holistic measure of a student’s understanding of the text (Touchstone Applied Science Associates, 2000). All the students at Wilson Middle School take this test at the beginning and end of each school year to monitor their reading progress. According to Sue’s test results, she was able to exit the second language program.

This is the first year that Sue is in a totally mainstreamed learning setting. This means that she takes four eighth grade core classes: geography, pre-algebra, science and English and three electives in a regular education setting. Sue speaks Mongolian, Russian and English. When Sue speaks you can occasionally detect a slight accent and sometimes she will omit an article or confuse the verb tense while she is talking. However, this eighth grade experience appears to be the correct placement for Sue although she is experiencing some difficulty in mathematics and geography.

Sue has a variety of friends from diverse backgrounds and appears to be liked by many of her peers. Her best friend Mary is also Mongolian. They are inseparable. They like to dress in a similar fashion almost always choosing to wear Western style clothes, blue jeans, stylish colorful tee shirts, sweatshirts and sneakers. They often look like twins. It appears as if they plan their outfits and hairstyles each day. The girls either wear their hair hanging straight down or up in a twisted ponytail. Since Sue and Mary are not in the same classes they always travel together in school every opportunity they can. Sometimes they will speak quietly in Mongolian when they are in the crowded hallway or at lunch. Most often they converse in English.

The School

Sue attends eighth grade at a suburban school in Northern Virginia. Wilson Middle School has about 850 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The staff, students and parents at Wilson Middle School have developed a mission statement and "declaration of community." The mission statement and commitment pledges "to maintain a school community that promotes excellence in academic achievement and encourages self-discipline, respect and good decision-making skills for all students in a safe environment…" The school community motto is "We are responsible, we are respectful, we are accountable"

There are two additional school-wide focuses this year. We are implementing reading instruction across the curriculum and initiating and applying Daniel Goleman’s program of social-emotional education. These focuses will become part of the entire eighth grade curriculum.

The Community

The families in our school zone live in a variety of housing units including single-family homes, townhouses and multi-family dwellings. The county demographic statistics for Wilson Middle School show that minority students make up 31.4% of this year’s school population and approximately 19.51% of the total school population receive reduced lunch. Sue lives in a high-rise apartment building in Northern Virginia with her father. There are approximately 500 Mongolian people living in the area.

Classroom Setting and the World Geography Course

I am the eighth grade world geography teacher on a four-member team. Our students range in age from13 to 14 years old and our core team consists of four teachers who teach English, world geography, mathematics, and science. Students are grouped and tracked according to their English, mathematics and science levels. However, the world geography classes have students of mixed ability levels. There are students with special education and gifted identifications as well as students newly exited from the advanced secondary-level ESL program in all my geography classes. Sue is in my fourth period geography class that consists of twenty-seven students. Her friend, Mary, is more advanced in mathematics and has a different class schedule. Sue has no close friends in her current geography class.

The eighth graders in this Northern Virginia school receive high school credit for the geography course and take a tenth grade Virginia State Standards of Learning (SOL) geography exam in spring 2001. If they pass the exam they receive a verified credit towards their diploma. At the end of the year the parents will be given the option to accept or reject this credit as part of their student’s high school grade point average (GPA). If the student does well in the course it might be good to include the grade in the high school record. However, if the grade is thought to be too low they might elect to reject the score so it would not lower the overall GPA.

The county social studies teachers developed a list of seven program goals for students to strive for in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. The aim is to have each social studies student become a complex thinker, self-directed learner, effective communicator, quality producer, effective collaborator, community contributor, and knowledgeable citizen. From the beginning of the year, my main goal for Sue was to increase her communication and participation in classroom discussions and activities.

Cultural Questions

After reading about Phelan, Davidson, and Yu 's (1998) work on borders in CIP Step # 3.5.1 (Jacob, 1999), there were two main cultural questions I wanted to explore concerning border negotiations. First, I wanted to learn how Sue perceived differences between her school and her home worlds and if these perceptions affected her school performance. I also wondered if she found it difficult to cross the borders between her home and school communities. Jacob (1999) writes that "cultural 'borders' develop when differences in one world are more highly valued and rewarded than in another." Phelan, Davidson and Yu (1998) identified this transitional pattern as "Different worlds/Border crossings difficult: In this category ... students define their family, peer, and/or school worlds as distinct from one another. " Sue might fit this pattern because she does well in some classes but not in others.

My second question focused on discovering if she was resisting crossing these two different community borders or not. Might Sue physically and mentally be disconnecting with her father and the Mongolian community? Or might she be growing closer to the school community and moving away from the home community? I questioned how this possible disconnection affected school achievement. Phelan, Davidson and Yu (1998) identified this transitional pattern as "Different Worlds/Border Crossings Resisted." A student in this category could be a low-achiever who "actively or passively resists transitions."

Unknown Information and Additional Puzzlements

There are several things I wanted to learn about Sue. I was interested in discovering more about her family background, culture, economic situation, history, and educational experiences.

My knowledge of Mongolia was minimal. I knew that China and Russia bordered Mongolia and that many of the people were nomadic herders who lived in yurts. Yurts are circular tents used by nomadic people. I wanted to learn about the political, economic, and cultural geography of the nation in order to understand why there was an increase influx of Mongolian children to our country. I also wondered what the education system was like.

Finally, two additional cultural questions kept puzzling me. How might children voice their concerns and questions in a Mongolian school environment? What would be acceptable in her culture?

Gathering Information with Some Results from Initial Interviews

To begin gathering information about Sue's background I decided to hold a series of interviews during lunchtime with my three Mongolian students. (As I discuss later, these interviews also served as "interventions.") It was important to learn more about the students’ experiences, especially Sue’s, from their perspectives. Sue was comfortable coming in with Mary. While my main focus for this study was Sue, I ended up learning a lot about all my Mongolian students. As I began to gather information I discovered that I needed to immediately implement interventions. I included two preliminary interviews in this section to demonstrate the close relationship between the CIP step # 4 in which you gather the information and CIP step # 5 in which you implement interventions (Jacob, 1999). Once I collected the results of the first two interviews then I understood what type of additional information I had to gather next.

During the first interview, I discovered that Sue learned Mongolian, Russian and English in Mongolia. She informed me that she came over to the United States with her father and was very reluctant to leave her mother and younger sister behind. She expressed the fact that she finds it hard to live without her mother. She blames her father for breaking up the family, and divorcing her mother.

After this first interview I began searching the Internet to find out why so many Mongolian students were coming here to the states and particularly to Virginia. I looked for specific information on the education system and background information on the culture of Mongolia. Empson (2001) wrote an online article about the education system in Mongolia. In Mongolia's past, before socialism, formal education was reserved for the people attending a monastery and for government officials. In the '50s and '60s the focus on education increased under the Soviet Union. However, the Mongolian schools’ dropout rate escalated in the beginning of the '90s. This date coincides with the date of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Khishigbuyan and Bandii (1996) wrote that many children, especially boys, had to drop out of school to help their families with nomadic herding which was the major economic activity in Mongolia. With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, many schools closed in Mongolia. Mongolia changed from a command economy, where the government owned and controlled businesses, to a free market economy, where individuals owned and operated businesses. These economic and political changes meant that the education system had to improve in order to provide skilled laborers for the new growing businesses. The government needed money to educate teachers, build schools and provide electricity, to purchase books, food for needy students and other supplies. All these changes take time. As changes were being made, some families began to immigrate to the states. Northern Virginia schools began to see an increase in the number of Mongolian students during the early 1990s. I finally felt as if I was beginning to understand why we were seeing an increase in the Mongolian population at Wilson Middle School during the past three years.

Sue and her friend began voluntarily coming in for lunch on a regular basis. My next set of interventions involved sharing, swapping, and viewing some Mongolian Web sites. Since Sue knew I was interested in learning more about her country she and Mary supplied new sites. Sue came across a Web photograph of a place that she recognized and wanted me to see the image on the Internet. The image was of a deserted urban street that was lined with shrubs. While it seemed unimpressive to me it was really important to Sue because it was her hometown, and part of her past experience. I began to pay closer attention to what she was telling me.

On another occasion I asked Sue and Mary to share their immigration stories with me, and they did. Additionally, I talked to the head of the advanced secondary-level ESL program, other teachers and a parent who worked with Sue in a church setting. I explored influences outside of school and learned more about the neighborhood where the Mongolian families live in Northern Virginia. I also checked the cumulative folder for information on Sue’s family and papers dealing with her academic experiences and her school behavior. As I gathered information, personal stories and informally conversed with Sue I found that there were subtle changes occurring. While working with Sue directly in a small intimate group she began to open up to me. I discovered that she was very willing to share information concerning most topics.

Interventions

I implemented several interventions. First, I began a series of open-ended interviews with the three students. The first breakthrough came when I interviewed Sue and Mary together. As I began to show interest in Sue and spoke to her about her personal immigration story some changes started to occur. She appeared eager to talk and became more comfortable with me. A closer relationship was developing. Sue’s comment concerning her family break-up indicated that she felt a deep sadness and anger in being separated from her mother and sister. She said that her mother is the only one who really understands her and she finds it difficult to live with her father. Although she knows that her father wanted her to come to the United States to have a better life and to receive a good education, nevertheless she still blames him for the family break-up. She stated that she wanted to go back to live in Mongolia and would leave at any time if she could. However, she realizes that it is too expensive to travel back to Mongolia for a visit so she is becoming resigned to the fact that at this time she can not see her missing family members.

I was curious about Sue’s father and learned from the director of the ESL program, Mrs. Lake, (personal communication, December 5, 2000), that Sue's father delivers pizzas for Pizza Hut. Sue stopped talking when I asked her about her father’s occupation here and in Mongolia. Another thought occurred to me. Might Sue be embarrassed by his current occupation? Since the topic appeared to make Sue extremely uncomfortable I temporarily discontinued that line of questioning. I was concerned that Sue would become withdrawn even within the small group and then would be reluctant to talk with me.

I continued to interview the girls over a period of several weeks. They were very willing to talk about their Mongolian school experiences. They learned English, Mongolian, Russian, mathematics, reading, and studied nature in the younger grades. They believe that their schooling was harder and sometimes more advanced in Mongolia, especially in the area of mathematics. When I asked what they meant by harder they had difficulty clarifying that statement. They did say that the Russians operated some of the schools. They implied that the Russians provided a stricter learning environment than they have experienced in Northern Virginia. Sue explained that you needed to learn the Russian language because it improved your social standing. She said that Russian was learned by only those students with a higher education and they would be the ones who would get the better jobs after graduation.

Mongolian is their native language and is also taught at school. Occasionally I have observed and heard Sue and Mary speaking in Mongolian in the hallways and at lunch. They told me that they often speak in their native language when they want to hold a quiet, private conversation. I asked if they used it in their community. They laughed. They explained that when they see older Mongolian people in their community walking towards them, they pretend they don’t know the language so they don’t have to stop to talk with them. I wondered if Sue and Mary were trying to disconnect from the older generation in their community and to appear to be more like American girls. However, when they want a special moment of private conversation in the school community they revert back to their native language so no one else can understand what they were saying.

Sue and Mary spoke about the uniform girls had to wear to school in Mongolia. They giggled when they described the brown or blue dresses that they had to wear and said that they thought they looked like "servants’ dresses". The clothes Sue wears to school are always neat, clean and very stylish. Her fashionable attire definitely allows her to blend in with her peers and she seems to enjoy selecting her own clothes to wear to school. The girls were clearly happy to leave the uniforms behind in Mongolia.

Our relationship developed while I was researching and exchanging information and sites pertaining to the culture, history and geography of Mongolia. Sue appeared to understand that I valued her heritage and she knew that I was interested in learning more about her country and culture. When I demonstrated to her that I valued her as a unique individual a trust began to develop outside the regular classroom experience.

The day I shared a Mongolian online magazine called Mongolia Today (2000) with the girls was an exciting experience for all of us. I found maps and pulled up a map of Mongolia showing the different political areas. During one of our lunch interviews Sue located her home city, Bulgan, which is north of the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, and along the Russian border. Mary talked about living in the capital city. That’s when I learned that Mary and Sue did not know each other in Mongolia but had actually met in the ESL program two years ago. I enlarged a second online map of Ulaanbaatar and they focused on the streets of the capital city. They realized that they had both been to some of the same national parks, cities and resorts. They talked in animated voices about festivals, traditional fermented mare’s milk, food and family vacations. The memory of the milk drink known as airag generated stories about summer holidays and drinking with friends and family. Airag is called the Coca-Cola of Mongolia. Drinking a fermented, aged airag would be the same as drinking a glass of wine (Airag, Beverage of Health, 2001). As they talked the emotions and excitement were visible on the girls’ faces. This was the first time I saw Sue laugh.

One day we discussed unidentified map symbols that were placed on a map of the capital city. I was especially curious about the numbers that appeared to mark blocks on the map of Ulaanbaatar and asked them what they represented. They tried to tell me how Mongolia is divided into numbered sections. I had difficulty understanding their conversation. They explained that they knew where people lived by the number of the section within an aimag. They couldn’t define the word aimag. I later researched the layout of Mongolia and discovered that it was divided into 21 provinces, which are known as aimags. Sue comes from the Bulgan Aimag in northern Mongolia. Every aimag is subdivided into somons or districts. The somons are broken into smaller and smaller divisions that are numbered (The Provinces, 2001). You can identify someone’s residence once you identify the number within the small divisions. I also discovered that 51.9% of the population lives in urban areas while 48.1% lives in rural areas. (Introduction to Mongolia, 1998). In urban areas the majority of the people live in multifamily dwellings. It is typical for the people living in the cities of Mongolia to live in large apartment complexes. The girls explained that living in a high-rise apartment in Northern Virginia had not been a difficult adjustment to make rather it was what they expected to find in a large city. They told me that hardly anyone lived in a single-family dwelling and that their apartment community looked very much like a typical city in Mongolia. I learned that the nomads, rural people and tourists lived in yurts. I knew that a yurt is a traditional Mongolian dwelling that is made out of felt or animal skins stretched over a wooden frame. It is considered by the younger generation to be old fashioned and not part of the modern world.

Sue could easily converse non-stop with me while the three of us were alone during the open-ended interviews. She brightened up, became animated and began to smile and laugh. She no longer looked serious, or withdrawn. However, I saw her expression revert back to a blank, distant gaze as soon as she was back in her seat and surrounded by twenty- six other students. Once again she wouldn’t participate or speak voluntarily. I compared Sue’s behavior and facial expressions during an informal interview with her behavior and expressions in a formal class environment. It was like observing two different children. While she was outgoing and expressed emotions freely in an informal setting I found that she was reserved and lacked emotional expression in a large setting. That was the first time I realized that the learning environment and the size of the class appeared to have an effect on Sue’s performance and desire or ability to participate. I began to think that the cause of her withdrawal in the classroom was the size and make-up of the class. This led me to have a new thought. I wondered if the culture of the classroom affected her performance.

Two additional questions puzzled me. How might children voice their concerns and questions in a Mongolian school environment and what would be acceptable in her culture? I went back to the Internet for the answers. In an article in Mongolia Today (2000) called "Understanding Mongols" by L. Badamkhand I discovered the following paragraph and perhaps the answer to these concerns and questions. Badamkhand (2000) writes about reserved emotions:

I looked at my original puzzlement. Initially, I was puzzled as to why Sue was withdrawn and why she didn't participate in class. Might this description of Mongolian reserved emotions be the answer to the first part of my puzzlement? I was not sure. The two other Mongolian students are outgoing and showed their emotions in class. It was difficult to tell if this was a personal trait of Sue’s or if it was a cultural trait.

Next, I interviewed her former teacher, Mrs. Henry (personal communication, March 29, 2001). I asked her about Sue’s disposition in the classroom, her academic performance and participation during her last two years. At first Mrs. Henry thought that Sue was truly shy and lacked the ability to speak in the English language. After working with her she began to believe that it was Sue’s nature to be more reserved than the two other Mongolian students were. Mrs. Henry stated that Sue rarely participated or volunteered in class or even acknowledged teachers when she passed them in the hallways. She also told me that Sue had a poor self-image and was not confident in her English skills. She said that Sue appears less angry and "seems to be in less trouble this year." This statement made me curious. I checked the cumulative folder to find out more about Sue’s behavior. I discovered that Sue was assigned to the In-School Alternative Program (ISAP) for fighting at school last year (cumulative folder, May 11, 2000). Sue told me that she was in repeated fights with a female Latino ESL student who no longer attends our school.

Additionally, during the present study, Sue was assigned to two days of ISAP in December 2000 for truancy. She had skipped school and went to the shopping mall by herself. These incidents really surprised me. Students assigned to this alternative program are removed from the other students and isolated in a room in a separate wing for the entire day. While Sue was in ISAP I went to visit her and bring her missing assignments and class work. The monitor for the ISAP program was Mrs. Malone (personal communication, December 5, 2000). She told me that she had worked with Sue in a church program last year and she definitely has seen a positive change in her behavior and attitude. She said that she knew that I was working with Sue. Mrs. Malone had observed me walking and talking with Sue on several occasions. She commented that since I had started to work with Sue, she had noticed that her attitude had improved and that she appeared to be happier at school.

After collecting all this background information on culture, geography and personal experiences, I felt that I needed to begin to work with Sue on participation and communication skills. I implemented another intervention. I designed a communication rubric to use with all of my students. The rubric asked the students to evaluate and measure their participation in a weeklong activity that required them to communicate in front of the entire class and assess their progress. After they rated themselves, I asked them to write a self-assessment describing their participation and accomplishments in the course. I thought that if Sue could evaluate her participation, and record her progress then she might be able to begin to make changes in her ability to cooperate and share her ideas in a large group setting. By using the rubric, Sue correctly identified that she rarely communicated with others or explained her ideas. This is a portion of Sue’s self-assessment that she wrote on January 25^th, 2001:

When I asked the students if this rubric and assessment was helpful, Sue wrote:

However, immediately following this assessment, there was no change in Sue’s class participation.

During this last quarter, Sue began to ask for help and clarification of assignments. She often came into my classroom at lunch to complete or get help with a homework assignment or to use the Internet to do research. Sometimes I found that Sue lingered in the classroom while everyone else was leaving. She’d slowly packed up her books. One day I discovered that she appeared to be patiently waiting for me. I thought that she might need help so I asked her if she’d like to stay for lunch. She jumped at the chance to work in the room. Now, occasionally when I think she might need an additional explanation of a given task or project, I’ll invite her to come in with Mary to get support and needed materials. Sometimes they just seem to want a quiet space to work in. Sue almost always accepts the invitation.

A breakthrough occurred at the beginning of the quarter. On the second day of the fourth quarter Sue unexpectedly began to answer questions during a class discussion on the former Soviet Union. She raised her hand several times during class and volunteered to give answers. I called on her every time I saw her hand raised. On one occasion she seemed surprised when she realized that she had blurted out an answer without holding back. I provided her with positive reinforcement each time she answered correctly with hopes that she would continue to volunteer.

On that same day I invited Sue to return with her friend Mary to complete two geography assignments. They brought their lunch and materials and began working as I ate and worked at my desk. As Sue worked on her vocabulary assignment, she looked over at me and addressed me with a small smile on her face and said, "You know, when I was looking up this word I thought of my mother." The word she was referring to was chernozem. This word comes from a Russian word meaning fertile soil and its literal translation means "black earth." I was very puzzled and asked her what the relationship was between the word and her mother. Sue explained that in Mongolia during the summer months the sun stayed out in the sky until late at night and her skin turned tan and became a dark brown color. Her mother nicknamed her Cherno, which means, "black one" and she also called her Pocahontas. I thought this story showed how comfortable Sue had become and how willing she was to share treasured memories with me.

Monitoring and the Results of the Interventions

The series of interviews I held were an essential part of the case of Sue. As I thought of strategies to use to connect with Sue, and as I began to conduct a variety of interviews, a closer relationship gradually developed and she began to open up to me. I discovered that building trust and understanding was necessary before any academic progress could occur. The interviews took us in unexpected directions and provide new learning experiences of both of us. During this last quarter of eighth grade, I will continue to use interviews with Sue with the hope that she will gain more confidence in her abilities, develop a positive self-image and participate in class activities. I have two short-term goals for Sue. The first is to help her increase her class participation and the second is to help her recognize and use her strengths to improve her grades.

My love and interest in geography was the basis of many of our interviews. I enjoyed searching the Web and learning about the cultural and political geography of Mongolia. Sharing, swapping and viewing Mongolian Web sites was an exciting, non-threatening activity that we could do together in a relaxed informal atmosphere during lunch. The sites provided me with accurate background information and I could query Sue and Mary about their immigration stories in an intelligent and genuine manner. Often the interviews unlocked great stories and triggered amusing, touching memories.

Initially, the use of the communication rubric did not appear to make a difference in Sue’s participation. However, she wrote that she was aware of a need to change her attitude and to begin to participate "to help her future career." After reading her self-assessment again I realized that I needed to follow up on this remark to discover what Sue thinks she will do in the future. It was several weeks after the students wrote the self-assessment before Sue actually voluntarily participated. I plan to use the communication rubric again this quarter. I will continue to monitor her progress and encourage her to continue to participate by providing continual positive reinforcement.

In the past I have extended invitations to Sue to come into the classroom at lunch when I felt that she needed help or a place to work or resources. By recognizing that she needed help, I was able to open the door and give Sue a graceful way to come in without her having to tell me that she didn’t understand a concept or a task. During the last quarter I will continue to monitor her understanding of concepts, issues, projects, and given assignments.

When I interviewed Sue’s former teachers and Mrs. Malone they stated that they had seen a change in her attitude and noted that her behavior had seemed to improve this year. I did not see Sue as a child who had behavior problems and was surprised to find out that she was in trouble for fighting last year. She admitted that she had difficulty, and I wondered if she was somehow competing for a place in the ESL peer group last year. Sue actually recognized and told me that she was getting into less trouble this school year. I plan to continue to observe Sue’s behavior and encourage her to continue to make positive decisions that will hopefully lead to academic success and away from social problems.

Since the day that I brought up the topic of the father’s occupation with Sue and she appeared to become extremely uncomfortable, I discontinued that line of questioning. I still would like to explore the area of family life and learn more about Sue’s relationship with the father. As recently as April 19, 2001, I had an informal conversation with the head of the advanced secondary-level ESL program, and she explained that they invited the father to come in last year to talk about how to nurture a teenage daughter. The ESL team of teachers felt that he had no knowledge about or experience in raising a girl in a modern society. I would like to find a way to talk with Sue about her family situation before the end of school.

Implications

In many ways I feel that this study is incomplete and needs to be continued until I answer all my cultural questions. Since I feel as if I am only beginning to see the results of my interventions, I realize that continued monitoring is going to be essential to insure Sue’s academic progress. I can not stop working on this process just because I’ve come to the sixth step of the Cultural Inquiry Process. I need to follow-up and continue to provide Sue with encouragement, support and positive reinforcement. Sue has another new transition to make to a high school next year. I hope by the end of this year that Sue gains enough confidence, recognizes her strengths and her abilities and makes a transition into ninth grade with little difficulty. Since Sue has only recently begun to communicate and participate in class during the last quarter, I will continue to reassure and encourage her to share answers and ideas during class discussions. Hopefully, as she participates more often she will find that it is easier to communicate in a large group setting.

While working on this CIP case, I discovered early on that I needed to do a great deal of preliminary research on the cultural, physical and political geography of Mongolia before I felt comfortable talking with Sue about her school experiences. I realized that in order to talk about any culture it is extremely important to understand the background information of that culture. I learned that respecting the differences, acknowledging an individual’s worlds, and sharing learning and ideas with children outside the classroom can change attitudes, and performance inside the classroom. It was Sue who taught me this lesson and now it has become part of my teaching practice.

Self-reflection is an essential activity for a teacher to practice if she or he is going to grow professionally. This is really the first time in my teaching career that I ever remember looking at how my personal beliefs and values might color my perceptions of children in my classroom. I now recognize that I bring my own experiences, beliefs and opinions into my teaching environment and it permeates everything I do and say.

The most important thing I learned is how to look at children through a different lens. I repeatedly find myself questioning my reactions or thoughts. I look deeper into situations and don’t assume that I have the answer or that I even understand what I’m looking at on the first glance. The CIP process provides a framework of steps to help one re-examine and question one's assumptions and to uncover additional information. This process has transformed my teaching practice and all my students have benefited from this change.

References

Airag, Beverage of Health. (2001). Mongolia Today, issue no. 4. [Online]. http://www.mongoliatoday.com/issue/4/airag.html [2001, April 1].

Badamkhand, L. (2001). Understanding Mongols. Mongolia Today, issue no.4. [Online]. http://www.mongoliatoday.com/issue/4/mentality.html [2001, April 1].

Empson, R. (2001). Mongolia’s Education System. Official Government Website. [Online]. http://www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn/youth.htm

Jacob, E. (1999). Cultural Inquiry Process Web Site. [Online]. http://classweb.gmu.edu/classweb/cip/

Introduction to Mongolia. (1998). United Nations-Mongolia. [Online]. http://www.un-mongolia.mn/mongolia/intro.htm

Khishigbuyan, D., & Bandii, R. (1996). School Drop-outs in Mongolia: Mid-Decade Review of Progress Towards Education for All. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 425 890).

Mongolia Today. (1999-2000). [Online]. http://www.mongoliatoday.com [2000, November 12].

Phelan, P., Davidson, A. L., & Yu, H. C. (1998). Adolescents' worlds: Negotiating family, peers, and school. New York: Teachers College Press.

Quanzhong, Bi, & Yaoming, Li. (1998). The State Project to Assist the Poor Through Education Marches Toward ‘Type-3’ Regions. Chinese Education & Society, 10/11 (31), Issue 5. Retrieved from EBSCO database (Masterfile) on the World Wide Web:

The Provinces. (2001). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia. [Online]. http://www.extmin.mn/regions.htm

Touchstone Applied Science Associates, Inc. (2000). Degrees of Reading Power. [Online]. http://www.tasaliteracy.com/prod_fr.htm

Ulaanbaatar Map. Mongolia Today. (1999-2000). [Online]. http://www.mongoliatoday.com/info/images/mongolia_map.jpg [2000, November 12].