4th Blog Entry
Hey everyone! Thank you for coming back to my blog.
I have enjoyed this class very much and the opportunities that it has given me throughout the semester. I intend to take a lot of what I have learned throughout this course and to use it in my own classroom. One of my favorite parts of the class was being able to interview someone who once was an ELL student. I interviewed Joe and looked at everyone else’s videos and it was nice to hear about their education from their perspectives. I got to see how helpful and rewarding it can be when we take the time to work with our students. Being patient and taking the time to implement the use of visuals is not just something I’ve heard during my interviews, but it's something I’ve heard throughout the course. For the most part, we all see the same things but we name them differently due to having different languages. By using visuals, we can take something that is already familiar to our students and use that to connect with what they know in order to teach them English.
This course has taught me a lot of ways that I can be a more effective teacher. Because of this class, I understand how important it is to know your students and their cultural background. By knowing our students cultural background, we can use that information in our lessons and also build a stronger classroom community. I have taken this information and used it in my first grade classroom for student teaching. We have an ELL student as well as ESL, and I have gotten to know my students a lot better by talking to them and their parents. Some of my students only speak English when they are in the classroom. Other than that, they mainly speak Spanish at home and it is important to keep this in mind when I am teaching. By modeling to our students how to be accepting of people of other cultures and languages, our students will learn how to do the same.
One thing that I wished this class talked more about was assessing English language learners. Chapter six discussed different assessments to use in an ELL classroom and it even mentions how easy and helpful it can be to observe our students. By watching our students when we are teaching them new information, or practicing a skill, we can read their body language to be able to notice when they are struggling. After assessing, and considering where their weaknesses might be, I would like to know how to take our data from assessments and be able to distinguish the difference between a student that is having a hard time learning because of the content, or because of the language barrier.
I look forward to being able to teach more ELL students as well as the ones in my student teaching class. My teaching philosophy has remained the same even after taking this course, but because of this course, I know different ways that can help students in my classroom. I can encourage my students to embrace their cultures and languages.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hey Savannah!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blogposts throughout this course! I agree that assessment is truly essential in a classroom because it allows the teachers to understand where the students stand in terms of comprehension, understanding, and content. For ELLs, it is important that teachers regularly not only assess them but track them to better assist them. This reminds me of when Wright discussed that teacher "must become skilled in the use of authentic assessment tools and procedures to accurately evaluate ELLs language and literacy abilities in English and in their home languages and know how to use these results to track students’ progress and plan effective instruction" (2015, p. 29). Along with you, I am also curious as to how to tell if the student is not understanding the content because it is too difficult or because he/she is not understanding the language it is taught in. I hope we get more information and guidance on this next semester!
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Howdy Kanwal,
DeleteThank you for sharing your ideas! I like that you made a very unique point when you stated the importance of student assessment because so many reflections have been about knowing the students well. We cannot forget that we must assess our students' progress based on the differentiated instruction we are offering to them. There must be a balance of emotional/social support and actual assessment of their learning. I also always wondered if when students don't do well on an assessment, if it has more to do with content or the actual language barrier. Good luck in teaching :)
Thank you for commenting Kanwal and Asmara! I agree with your statement that teachers should not only just assess their students, but also use it to track to see if they are improving. This helps us as teachers decide what exactly to do in order to help our students. Your quote from Wright is very helpful in explaining why this is important, and I agree that it is important to also look into their work in English as well as their home language. By doing this, we can see what areas they are struggling in, and see if there are any connections between that bridge from English to the language they come from. Thanks again for responding, and enjoy the rest of your semester!
DeleteHi Savannah! I really enjoyed reading through your blog 4. One of my favorite things from this course was also interviewing an ELL because I learned things that I didn’t even know about my interviewee. At first, I thought that interviewing someone and having to record it was going to be awkward, but I actually enjoyed it. I learned so many effective strategies that like you, I plan to use in my own classroom. Wright mentioned, “many students, however, in their homes and communities speak regional or nonstandard varieties of English that differ in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and vocabulary” (Pg.38) Therefore, I am glad to hear that you will get to know your students that way you become aware of their backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Carina,
DeleteI agree with you that I also have learned many different strategies in how to teach the ELLs in my future classroom. I feel that getting to know your students on a deeper level is very important to be able to help them grow inside of your classroom. Not everyone learns the same way, and it is important to know this. As Wright states, “one-size-fits-all instruction is problematic, especially for the diverse group of students under the ELL label” (Wright, 2015, p.264).If you understand this, then you are able to better help them learn inside of your classroom.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Calson, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hi Mackenzie! Thank you for commenting on my reply. I completely agree with you. In order for us to be the very best teachers, especially for our future English Language Learner students. We have to get to know each and every one of our students. When it comes to learning, everyone learns differently. By knowing our students, we are able to differentiate our lessons for them. Thankfully we learned great strategies, to help our future students.
DeleteHello Carina,
DeleteI thought interviewing a former ELL student was going to be very awkward as well, especially because I knew my interviewee very well. However it was the most interesting thing I did in this course because it taught me a lot about ELLs and their perspective on the learning process but it also helped me empathize with those students more. When you know someone personally that was affected by what their former teachers did and did not do, it compels you to want to do more for your students and future students. I learned so much valuable experience from this course and that interview than I ever had in my previous classes. Good luck in teaching! :)
Hello Savannah! I loved that you talked about your teaching philosophy and how it has not changed through this class. To want to make sure that kids are always embracing their cultures and languages is a great goal, I think it could even be made more board to teach all students to accept others cultural back grounds also. A classroom that is supportive and inclusive is always going to be a successful one! If kids can embrace not only their own, but others back grounds they will develop a great relationship with others early on.
ReplyDelete