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##  Examining Latino Paraeducators' Interactions with Latino Students.              ERIC Digest.                                                                 

Sociocultural theory emphasizes the social nature of learning and               the cultural-historical contexts in which interactions take place.              Thus, teacher-student interactions and the relationships that are               fostered through these interactions play a vital role in student                learning. This digest discusses a study that examined the impact of             sociocultural factors on the interactions between Latino language               minority students and Latino paraeducators and the relationships                that result from these interactions. The study explored whether a               knowledge of students' culture and communities, primary language,               and interaction styles helps paraeducators and their cooperating                teachers meet the students' academic and social                                 needs. BACKGROUNDThe study took place in two large, inner-city            public elementary schools in Southern California that serve                     low-income Latino language minority children. Paraeducators were the            subject of the study, because they often live in the communities in             which they work and likely share a knowledge of the students'                   culture. The premise of the study was that these paraeducators would            prove to be important resources for tapping into students' prior                knowledge and for providing cultural scaffolding. Participants were             32 Latino paraeducators, 8 of whom had recently become                          teachers. 
Each participant was interviewed individually and was               observed working with students in the classroom. The paraeducators              also engaged in informal conversations with study researchers.                  Topics explored included teacher beliefs, school roles, the role of             culture and language in learning, and student-teacher relationships.            Because paraeducators' comments indicated some conflict between them            and their cooperating teachers, interviews were also conducted with             at least one teacher working with each of the paraeducators.                    Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed for analysis. 
The               Activity Setting Observation System (Tharp et al., 1998), which                 allows for analysis, quantification, and description of school-based            activities, was used to record classroom observations. The                      Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (Cuellar,                   Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995) was used to determine whether                        interactions with students were related to paraeducators' levels of             acculturation. FAMILIAR CONTEXTS FOR LEARNINGGenerally, Latino            paraeducators were found to interact with students in ways that                 seemed culturally defined, resembling home and community                        interactions. Students appeared at ease with those who used such                interactional strategies and often initiated interactions with them.            Sometimes students' questions or comments related to the                        instructional activity in which they were engaged, but more often,              they talked about out-of-school experiences, revealing their funds              of knowledge and providing a glimpse of their capacity in                       out-of-school contexts. These conversations were rarely pursued by              paraeducators in the classroom, but they were encouraged and valued             in out-of-class contexts, such as recess. The potential that these              contexts provide for accessing students' funds of knowledge--the                knowledge gained through participation in household and community               activity--is critical, and the interactional behaviors that foster              these opportunities are worth describing. 
* Demonstrating                     carino 
Carino, a demonstration of affection commonly found in the             Latino community, was observed often between paraeducators and                  students. Carino is characterized verbally through endearments such             as mijo/a (my son/daughter), papito (little daddy), and mi amor (my             love). It is also expressed behaviorally through touch, proximity,              and softened facial expressions. Carino often serves to minimize the            negative effect of correcting students' behavior or academic errors             and to encourage student participation in classroom activities. 
*             Relaxed instructional style 
Classroom interactions with students              took on features typically associated with informal conversations.              Students tended to speak out spontaneously as is common when                    conversing with friends or family members. Students were rarely                 called on without having first volunteered, and when calling on                 students did take place, it was typically done in a low-stress                  environment to encourage participation. Care was taken not to                   embarrass students. Academic and behavioral corrections were                    sometimes made in ways that the children recognized as verbal play,             a culturally based strategy used to make students                               comfortable. 
Students were allowed to complete their independent              work while chatting with peers. Often, students were seen looking at            and commenting on others' work and sharing their own. There appeared            to be little expectation that students work silently or                         individually. The paraeducators engaged with students in informal               talk as they helped them with their work. It was during these times             that students tended to talk about their out-of-school experiences.             In doing so, they were able to connect with the paraeducators in                more personal ways, as people rather than just teachers. Likewise,              paraeducators gained knowledge about the children in their                      out-of-school roles. 
Although Latino teachers used the same                   relaxed instructional strategies as the paraeducators, they had                 fewer opportunities to interact informally with students. Apparently            aware of teachers' focus on the instructional task at hand, students            were rarely observed initiating off-task talk with teachers in the              classroom. 
* Accepting students' ways of being 
Paraeducators                were rarely heard raising their voices, using sarcasm, or                       embarrassing students. They were tolerant of student misbehaviors               and dealt with them discreetly. Public corrections, when needed,                were brief and to the point. Paraeducators rarely took privileges               away from students for misbehavior. Instead, they tended to talk to             students about their behavior and offered                                       consejos (advice). 
Teachers were much more likely than                        paraeducators to place students in time out or take away privileges.            Teachers and paraeducators both commented that students perceived               the teacher as the authority figure and that they seemed to be more             comfortable asking paraeducators for assistance. The teachers who               were formerly paraeducators noted that their relationships with                 students had changed since they became teachers. 
* Validating                 student resources and instructional needs 
Latino paraeducators                seemed particularly attuned to the needs of their Latino students.              All identified Spanish as their primary language, and most indicated            that they had grown up in working-class communities similar to that             of their students. Many had lived or were still living in the                   community in which they worked. They talked about the financial                 difficulties of the community; the lack of supervision for students             whose families had to work late hours; and the obstacles families               experienced in assisting their children with homework, especially               when it was in English. At times, this knowledge seemed to guide                their decisions about organizing activities and offering                        instruction. 
* Incorporating students' knowledge in                           instruction 
Study participants were keenly aware of the importance            of language proficiency for instruction. To varying degrees, they               all utilized their primary language to make content comprehensible              to students. They were also observed relating instructional content             to students' cultural or community knowledge. While these efforts               were not always directly tied to comprehension or analysis of                   instructional content, this strategy seemed to foster a sense of                shared knowledge and understanding. Comments that brought to mind               students' background produced enthusiastic participation. Interviews            suggested that while teachers were aware of the value of tying                  students' background knowledge to instruction, paraeducators, who               tended to have little understanding of how their knowledge of the               culture and community could be tied to instruction, viewed cultural             compatibility as a way to provide students with an environment that             was comfortable and familiar. 
* Wait time 
Study participants                sometimes waited longer than is typical for students to respond to              questions or to decode words while reading. They often told the                 class to wait and give a student time to think. This seemed                     particularly important for English language learners, many of whom              need to translate information to the primary language, process it,              then translate it back to the second language before offering a                 response. Paraeducators were also observed giving students extended             time to understand new concepts and skills, often repeating                     information many times for students who were having difficulty. 
*             Structuring for individual and community needs 
Recognizing                    community constraints, teachers structured classroom activities                 accordingly. Many were flexible about homework completion. To                   accommodate the lack of supplies at home, one teacher sent extra                paper home for homework assignments and allowed students to color               the assignments in class the following day. Other teachers set aside            time in the morning or after school for students to complete their              homework. Paraeducators, on the other hand, focused on meeting                  students' social and emotional needs. They used informal talk to                learn about students' personal lives. But they did not appear to                consider this information relevant to the content of                            instruction. BUILDING CONFIANZA: MEDIATING THE SOCIAL AND                     EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTSParaeducators were particularly                  concerned with the emotional and social welfare of students. They               believed it was important for children to have someone in school                they could trust, and that being Latino and speaking the same                   language helped them foster a sense of confianza. Those who had gone            on to become teachers were also aware of the difficulties students              experienced and their need for emotional support, but their primary             concern was to prepare students academically, which typically left              little time for anything else. 
* Shared experience 
Having a                 sense of shared experience was thought to be key to the development             of close relationships that fostered confianza. The Latino                      paraeducators suggested that sharing common experiences allowed them            to connect to students in meaningful ways. They believed that a                 special bond was created through interaction in the primary                     language, regardless of the students' fluency in English. Typically,            non-instructional talk between paraeducators and students was in                Spanish. Non-Latino teachers working with Latino paraeducators also             noted a special connection between students and paraeducators.                  Paraeducators reported using personal disclosure as a means of                  establishing a sense of shared experience. They shared with students            their own experiences growing up in similar communities with similar            needs and concerns. 
* Reciprocal interactions 
The paraeducators             in this study believe that interacting with students "at their                  level" is an important way to establish confianza. They try to                  relate to students as friends and foster reciprocal interactions.               Listening to students emerges as an important way to develop a close            relationship with them. Paraeducators comment that teachers are                 often so busy meeting the academic demands of the whole class that              they do not have time to listen closely to students when they                   attempt to talk about non-instructional issues. Paraeducators also              have the advantage of regular opportunities to interact informally              with students while they supervise recess. ACADEMIC IMPACT OF                 SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPSAlthough the cultural scaffolding strategies            discussed above supported the development of personal relationships             with students and gave paraeducators access to students'                        out-of-school experiences and interests as well as insights into                their instructional needs, this knowledge was rarely used to enhance            instruction and support academic growth. Furthermore, although the              knowledge that paraeducators gained through social relationships                with students would have been relevant to teachers in making                    instructional decisions, paraeducators rarely shared this knowledge             with teachers. Two factors are most likely responsible for this                 situation: (1) Most paraeducators are hired with little or no                   initial preparation; they have not been trained to use what they                know about their students' funds of knowledge to enhance                        instruction; (2) Paraeducators have very limited opportunity to                 interact with their cooperating teachers; no time is scheduled for              teachers and paraeducators to meet together to make plans or share              information (Rueda & Monzo, 2000). CONCLUSIONStudents from                diverse backgrounds benefit from opportunities to use the cultural-             and community-based resources that they bring to school. The Latino             paraeducators in this study use a number of strategies to help                  students draw from their rich and extensive repertoire of resources             to negotiate and create meaning in the new linguistic, cultural, and            academic contexts they encounter in school. Creating such contexts              requires a knowledge of students' cultural and community experiences            as well as their modes of interaction. Paraeducators, often members             of the communities in which they teach, are key resources to this               knowledge for teachers who come from cultural backgrounds that are              different from their students. REFERENCESCuellar, I., Arnold,             B., & Maldonado, R. (1995). Acculturation rating scale for Mexican              Americans II--A revision of the original ARSMA Scale. "Hispanic                 Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 17," 275-304. 
Rueda, R.S., &                  Monzo, L.D. (2000). "Apprenticeship for teaching: Professional                  development issues surrounding the collaborative relationship                   between teachers and paraeducators." Washington, DC, and Santa Cruz,            CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity &                               Excellence. 
Tharp, R.G., Rivera, H., Youpa, D., Dalton, S.,                   Guardino, G.M., & Lasky, S. (1998). "ASOS: Activity setting                     observation system" (Coding rule book). Santa Cruz, CA: Center for              Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. 
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This digest            is drawn from "Sociocultural Factors in Social Relationships:                   Examining Latino Teachers' and Paraeducators' Interactions With                 Latino Students" (in press), by Lilia Monzo and Robert Rueda, Center            for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. 
This digest was            prepared with funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of               Educational Research and Improvement, National Library of Education,            under contract no. ED-99-CO-0008. The opinions expressed do not                 necessarily reflect the positions or policies of ED, OERI, or NLE.           **Title:** Examining Latino Paraeducators' Interactions with Latino Students.              ERIC Digest.                                                                 **Note:** Digest drawn from "Sociocultural Factors in Social Relationships:               Examining Latino Teachers' and Paraeducators' Interactions with                 Latino Students" by Lilia Monzo and Roberto Rueda, Center for                   Research on Education, Diversity, & Excellence.                              **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 4646 40th Street               NW, Washington, DC 20016. For full text:                                        http://www.cal.org/ericcll/DIGEST.                                           **Descriptors:** Cultural Awareness, Cultural Influences, Elementary Education,                   English (Second Language),  Hispanic Americans,  Interaction                   Process Analysis,  Paraprofessional Personnel, Second Language                  Learning, Social Influences, Spanish Speaking,  Teacher Aides,                  Teacher Role,  Teacher Student Relationship                                  **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Latinos                                                       
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