Entry 4: Reflection
Throughout this semester, I have learned significantly about what English Language Learners need to be successful. What really helped me learn and see the application of what we were discussing for this course was through watching my other peer’s interviews, going to class observations, and noticing within my own class. Seeing the connection from text to real-world has definitely helped me grow and become more aware of all the aspects ELL’s need. Although I know what I have learned this semester is just a fraction of it all, I feel like I can go into my own campus and be confident in assisting and bettering my student’s learning experience. According to Wright (2015), “As a language teacher, you share responsibility for helping your ELLs develop their proficiency in English and their ability to use oral and written English for academic purposes across content areas (p. 60).”
This semester I have also had the chance to plan various lessons and include ELL strategies. Doing this has taught me that not all strategies work for each student and differentiation is still important as teachers must consider each student’s language proficiency. However, I have found it very important to work with ESL specialists and bilingual teachers to extend their support in the classroom. My mentor has taught me that it is okay to ask for help and be an advocate for your ELL students because sometimes, their parents are not familiar with the school system and do not request for services that they qualify for.
Student teaching in an area that I was not familiar with was by far the best experience I could have been placed in because it taught me to look past stereotypes and consider everything about my student’s language and culture. This helped me to understand what made my students comfortable in the classroom and see what areas they needed the most support in. Being placed in this situation helped me to go out of my comfort zone and try different strategies and procedures to help my students. At the end, I learned with my students this year.
This class’ setup has also helped me learn from my peers and receive feedback from others who are in my shoes. I think this is extremely important because it gives us a chance to share our stories and learn from them. I think that the class requires a lot of time to benefit the most from the content, but you walk away with so much information and knowledge to offer to your future classroom.
Learning about how difficult it can be for students to learn a new language has taught me to have patience and compassion for your students. It is important for educators to give students the drive to want to learn and build a loving environment for students in which they know that their teachers are there to support them and help them succeed. I believe that all students are capable of being successful so long as their teacher is knowledgeable in their teaching approach.
I completely agree with you that our own classroom experiences helped tie in everything together with this course. It’s great to learn about the topics, but it was definitely beneficial to be able to make real-world connections between our classes and theory. You mentioned how you worked with ESL specialists and bilingual teachers and that is such a great thing to do for our ELLs. “To provide the most effective instruction possible, ESL and classroom teachers need to work collaboratively” (Wright, 2015, p. 113). As a mainstream classroom teacher, you have so many students that you have to work with and sometimes you can’t put as much time and effort as you would like with every single student. That is why working collaboratively with other teachers is so important. The fact that you are not afraid to ask for help will make you an excellent educator. I wish you the best of look in your future as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteAngelica, thank you for your response! I think it is very important that as a teacher, you reach out to the resources that can help your ELL's school experience positive and successful. Allowing yourself to reach out and improving your strategies in the classroom helps make the transition for some students easier and more comfortable.
DeleteHello Emerald! Thank you for sharing your reflections with us! Your reflection is very thoughtful and Im glad to hear that you took a lot away from this course. One of the things I noticed you talked about was the importance of parent involvement in order to help the students succeed. Wright (2015) states, "Effective programs recognize and overcome linguistic, cultural, and other barriers preventing the full participation of ELL parents (p.309)". The parents of ELLs are sometimes faced with many obstacles that may not allows them to be more involved in the child's education. If we strive to keep them as involved as we possibly can by recognizing these barriers just like Wright states, we can be advocates and really make a difference together!
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Ana, I think teacher-parent communication is very important when determining your student's success. However, it also helps with better understanding what type of support your students are receiving at home. Knowing this will help you as a teacher to decide whether there are resources and strategies that you can share to the parent to help their child at home. These are all great ways to prepare our students for their future!
DeleteHello Emerald,
ReplyDeleteYou have a great reflection, this class open your eyes to another group of students that were not taken in consideration at the beginning. Now ELL students come in masses and it is important that we see beyond all stereotypes. Im so happy to hear you have been able to plan various lesson plans for them, by aatending the observtion as you mention we can assess where they are (Wright, 2015, pg. 139). Observatio place the realife perspecive for us, it chanages the way we think and created in us many ideas that we need to implement in our future classrooms. I believe as well as you that in this class we were placed out of our comfort zone. As you mention one thing is textbook reading and another expericing the live experinece. I enjoyed my observation class, the blogs, the diffrent and creative ideas of teaching, something i will not forget and will implement. I happy to have taken the course and reading your blog, let's do great things for all our future students!
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Rubi, one of the most beneficial experiences for me this year was being able to apply everything I have learned to a classroom that I play a partial responsibility for. I think it is important to reflect on your teaching and see what areas you need to improve on. Being open to asking for help and trying new things is always a good idea when considering the learning preferences of your ELL students.
DeleteHi Emerald. I agree that students have chances to become successful in learning as long as teachers are knowledgeable in their teaching approaches. If they aren't, then there will be a lot of struggle for students to obtain the knowledges they need for the future and it would be hard for them to socialize with their peers and other people in the community. And according to Wright (2010), it's important for teachers to be aware that they are not just teaching students new language but also socializing their students into a community of English language speakers (Wright, 2010, pg. 43).
ReplyDeleteMichelle, you bring up a great point on how ELL students are also learning how to socialize with others in their new language. From my experience, I have seen students struggle and speak less to their peers because they do not feel as if they are being understood. Making sure that as a teacher, you make them feel comfortable and promote their input in the classroom helps with allowing themselves to try.
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