Blog 4
Good evening
everyone! This is the last blog of the semester! I have really enjoyed getting
to know more people and watching all the videos has really shown me more
insight on what other people find important when teaching ELL and ESL students.
I have learned so
much in this class, it has really helped with my understanding of what it takes
to teach different ELLs, and the different techniques that work with the
different students. I already knew that every student is different and learns
in different ways, but it has really been enhanced with this class. I never truly
knew how many different types of bilinguals there really were, and how they are
taught determines whether they succeed in learning the language, but more
importantly being successful throughout their entire school career. Not only
that, but I was able to enhance my understanding of getting these students to
really interact in the classroom. These ways are: cooperative learning,
think-pair-share, roundtable, concentric circles, numbered heads together, role
play, barrier games, obstacle course, what am I?, acting out stories, class
discussions, and technology for speaking practice (Wright, 2015, pp. 170-174). There
are so many ways to help every student, and this class has really helped
reaffirm that for me.
Everything that I
learned in this class was so very important and helped show me what it really
means to teach and help ELLs succeed in a mainstream classroom. The thing that
I have learned the most from this class and plan on using in my classroom is
teacher talk in the classroom and correcting student speech errors (Wright,
2015). How you speak to the students is so very important, I never truly knew
the impact that it had on non-English native speakers, but the more I think
about it, the more it makes sense to me. I have always been cautious about how
I would speak to ELL students, and everything that I learned in this class, I
plan on taking with me to make sure I never hinder my students thinking.
What aspects or
topics of the class should receive different attention in future classes? I
have thought about this question a lot recently. I feel like everything in this
class is the way that it should be. I learned more in this class than in other
similar classes; I think everything was spread out in a logical way. However,
there is one thing that I might change with this class. With my busy schedule
in student teaching, I tended to forget when the tests were open. So, with this,
I would probably have the tests close around midnight instead of noon. For
example, have the test open 12pm Monday- 11:59 Tuesday. This is not a very
important change, but I know it would have helped me out a lot throughout this
semester.
My teaching
philosophy is always changing and growing as I learn more in all these
different courses, this course is not any different. I will take the students
feelings and where they are at with learning English into consideration when planning
everything. I already plan on making my students feel welcome and at home, and
that will not change for my ELL students. I will take even more time into
planning lessons to ensure that my ELLs linguistic development is not pushed to
the side. I will always put my students first, no matter what challenges they
face.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for teaching english language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for teaching english language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hello Tobi! I also didn’t know how many different types of bilinguals there were, nor the many programs that are available to them. What I did know previously, is that the way you speak to ELLs is important for how they develop language. It’s the same reason why depending on what part of the United States you are from, determines what type of accent you may have. ELL students can also develop a good vocabulary through reading. Wright states that teachers need to identify appropriate supplemental educational materials for use in the classroom, such as bilingual dictionaries and fiction and nonfiction books in the student’s home language (Wright, 2015, p. 24). The more you read, the better vocabulary you acquire.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for teaching english language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hey Zoe! I agree 100%, the way you speak to ELLs effect how successful they are in your classroom, and in their every day lives. Not only that, but having books, fiction and nonfiction, in their native languages along with bilingual/bilingual picture dictionaries to help them become successful in their classroom (Wright, 2015, p. 24). This will help them encourage the students to actually read and get them excited to read.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hello Tobi! I really enjoyed reading and viewing your blog this semester. You shared really valuable insight and it seems like you had a lot of takeaways from this course. I honestly did not even think about about our 24-hour test time. I agree, with student teaching, compiled with only 24-hours made it very challenging. It literally meant we had only one evening to do it because we were teaching the rest of the time. Often, evenings I work and I have children. Therefore, yes in my opinion, maybe having a weekend to complete the test or 48 hours would be beneficial. Before this course I knew that there was a label identifying students as an ELL. However, this course has really brought to my attention the diversity that falls under this umbrella. I think that as teachers, or future teachers, it is imperative that we understand the student as a whole. I have learned that we must take into consideration the students' prior schooling, home language and literacy practices and cultural background in order to address the needs of such a diverse population (Wright, 2015, p.8).
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caston, Second Edition.
Hello Amanda,
DeleteThank you for sharing your experiences. I too felt like the 24 hour test time was unfair especially to those like us, who student taught, worked part time and had a family to take care of. I wish the tests were opened on the weekend and we have 3 days to complete it instead of 1. I think your brought up such a good point of teaching to the whole child, meaning educators must consider many factors of the students background than just the student's language acquisition. There are plenty of factors that affect a student's learning process than his ability to speak and understand the English language. Good luck in teaching! :)
Hello classmates! I agree completely with the test time we had to complete tests in our class. Having only one evening to do the test was stressful in working a work schedule around that period of time we had to set aside for our test to be completed in. Even if a 48 hour testing window is not the change that is going to be made I think if the window was changed from 12pm to 12pm maybe it could be 12am-12am. This would give us two nights to have the option to get the test done during.
DeleteHey Amanda! Thank you so much for that, I appreciate everything you had to say. I agree, having more time to actually be able to sit down and take the test would take the stress out of this course. Weekends would be perfect to sit down and be able to do it during the day instead of figuring out some time during Monday evening. In our classroom, we need to make sure we move past stereotyping, and teach the students as a whole (Wright, 2015, p. 21)
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hey Gabby! Having the change from 12 pm to 12 am would definitely help. However, I was able to complete every test and assignment at the end of the day. 1 thing I forgot to mention in my reflection, was all of the different test accommodations that ELL students receive, and more importantly how little effectiveness it actually is to these students (Wright, 2015, p. 131). I never knew that some of these were not actually helpful for all of these students.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hey tobi! I could so te late to you when you said that even though you were aware that ELL came from different backgrounds you weren’t aware of the vast variety of different bilingual type of students there were. When I thought of bilingual or ELL students I often took for granted that most of the students in my student teaching adventure have been bilingual in Spanish so it has been a breeze helping them develop their ELL skills. This class has helped me to recognize that “ELLs come from a wide range of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds” (Wright, 2015, p.24) As teachers we must always keep this on the forefront of our lesson planning decisions.
ReplyDeleteHey Viv! I never truly grasped how many different types of bilinguals there were, it shocked me when I read that. That is so awesome that you have had such an amazing experience working with bilingual students in your student teaching! I also read how important it is for all teachers to work as team teachers to give the students the most out of their learning (Wright, 2015, p. 109). Working as a team will really encourage the students to help them learn the language.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition