Judy Boch graduated from the University of Arizona and obtained an Master's degree in Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University. She has Administrative licensure and an English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement. Judy has taught mainly primary grades. She spent four years working as a Collaborative Peer Teacher under a National Science Foundation grant assisting K-6 teachers in their classrooms with math and science. She is currently out of the classroom as a Master Teacher working under the Teacher Advancement Program sponsored by the Milken Family Foundation. In this capacity, Judy observes, evaluates, team teaches, and provides professional development to teachers in the Cartwright Elementary School District in Phoenix.

Up until the time he came to me as a second grader, Raul's content education has been conducted in Spanish. Only in the latter part of first grade did he begin to learn in English. My second grade classroom was labeled English as a Second Language (ESL), but I spoke no Spanish. The only Spanish that Raul heard in the classroom was from a one-hour Spanish aide and from the other children.

I wondered how I was going to reach this obviously bright and talented boy. This was soon made clear during one of our first math lessons. Having been trained in Cognitively Guided Instruction, I gave the children a story problem and asked them to solve it with their own invented strategies. Although Raul couldn't, at first, read the problem, another child translated for him. Raul came alive! He drew pictures and used numbers to model his strategy to the problem. I knew I was taking a risk that day when I asked Raul to share his strategy with the other students. I wondered if I had made a mistake when he grasped for words to explain. But explain he did! He drew his picture on the board, labeled it with numbers and wrote a number sentence to match the problem. In short phrases, he shared his thinking sequentially.

Raul blossomed after that day. His English began to improve as he continually volunteered to share his thinking in mathematics. In his math journal, Raul wrote:

"Math is my favrit becuz I get to be the techer. It makes me feel prowd."

Unfortunately, Raul's excitement has not continued. This year, as a Lead Teacher on my campus, I visit Raul's classroom once a week. He is learning math through more conventional methods using the traditional algorithms. It is painful to see him using traditional methods that he really doesn't understand and that take him so much longer than his invented strategies. His teacher says he is becoming unfocused and having discipline problems. Although his English has improved considerably, math is no long his great equalizer or passion. My only hope is that Raul rediscovers his love and enthusiasm for mathematics. For if he does not, we have failed him.