Summer Reflections

As I think back over the past months, beginning graduate classes was a great decision for me as a teacher. When I finished my undergraduate degree and began teaching, I wasn't ready for what I have learned in my first few graduate courses. Although I had hoped to finish my Masters much sooner in my teaching career, I am now glad that the timing worked out as it did. Personally, I needed some time to learn, make mistakes and figure out who I am as a teacher. This experience, however, has been just the push I needed to challenge myself as a teacher and rethink my routines.

I have really enjoyed learning more about how learners acquire another language and then using that knowledge to establish sound teaching strategies for my classroom. I have learned so much that applies to my foreign language classroom, but, more importantly, I’ve become so aware of the struggles the ELLs in my school community face in the academic environment. I hope to share my knowledge with the teachers I work with to improve the ELL experience not only in my classroom, but in many rooms throughout our building.

There are many strategies that I will implement this fall in my Spanish classes that will benefit not only ELLs, but all of the different learners in my room. As a language teacher, I have always struggled in reading instruction. Two strategies that I anticipate using as soon as possible are the Cloze procedure for evaluating vocabulary knowledge and literacy levels and the use of Anticipation Guides and other metacognitive strategies for reading. These scaffolds will allow me to introduce many more authentic texts and more literature into the beginning levels of my classes. Another area that is often a struggle for me is oral language development. I really have trouble getting students to practice speaking and I think that Choral Readings may be the perfect tool to develop my students’ phonemic awareness and pronunciation. Although I have used readings and movie clips as a point of departure for writing before, I enjoyed creating the Writing Prompt and will use this method more in the future. I can also see myself using the SDAIE method to introduce cultural concepts and integrate outside content areas into my lesson planning.

Since I am not yet an ESL teacher, I don’t have a great deal of wisdom to impart to those that are beginning the ESL teaching journey. However, I would encourage any general education teacher to consider a Masters with an ESL concentration. After speaking with others how’ve completed other programs, I feel that I am learning so much more through this process than some of my colleagues learned in a traditional Curriculum and Instruction program. What I’ve loved about this journey, as I’ve mentioned before, is that the techniques and strategies I am learning don’t just fit the needs of ELLs in my classes. They are what all learners need: reflective and thoughtful planning, scaffolded instruction and presentation and practice that considers all learning styles. I am so looking forward to planning for the new school year and applying what I have learned to my classroom practice.

Literacy and ESL

It is always surprising to me how my personal and career growth has always come in spurts. Before beginning my masters program, I had hit a "dry spell" professionally in which I was pretty comfortable and confident about most everything I was doing in my classroom. I felt like a "veteran" teacher in a short five years. However, life has a way of reminding you that you still have much more to learn and, in a short span of time, I am beginning to discover a whole host of strategies that I need to implement in my teaching every day. One such practice that has been sorely lacking in my day to day lessons is the incorporation of meaningful literacy experiences in my classes.

Reading is the foundation for any student's academic future. Reading improves written and oral communication skills and expands vocabulary for all learners, but it is perhaps even more integral for an ELL student. ELL students will have ample opportunity to improve their interpersonal communication skills in school, but research shows that these students may not receive the high quality language input necessary to develop cognitive academic language at home or in school. These students need to be exposed to the rich language and vocabulary found in various types of literature to develop this important language set. In a recent professional development presentation I attended, the speaker, Dr. Maria Argüelles, spoke of this set of vocabulary, the words we use in academic pursuits, as the "gatekeeper" for future academic opportunities for ELL students. Without this particular knowledge set, many students cannot and will not achieve in school and be afforded opportunities in the future. Therefore, students' success greatly depends on our ability to provide them with meaningful literacy activities in our classes.

Although I am not yet an ESL teacher, I can imagine that one of the most difficult parts of integrating literature in my classroom will be selecting materials for my students to read. Some of the factors I will need to consider are the age and second language acquisition stage of the students for whom I am selecting the materials. Another important factor to be determined will be the background knowledge and prior experiences of the learners. I will be sure to scaffold the reading for the learner by providing pre- and post- reading activities that personalize the material and encourage the reader to connect the text to their own experiences. I will also check to see if the materials I am considering include graphic organizers, scaffolded vocabulary, comprehension questions or other reading supports. In addition to the reading strategy supports, I'll also look for material that lends itself to discussion, personal reflection and higher order questioning. I think the last important component when considering texts will be the vocabulary used, both social and academic. Ideally the materials I choose would help ELLs both develop their interpersonal communication and expand their academic vocabulary.

As I reflect of what I've learned about literacy and ELL, it leads me to a realization. What I have loved about my ELL classes so far is the fact that, even though the strategies I am learning are targeted at ELL students, everything I learn improves my teaching practice for all of the learners in my class. I am so glad to have rediscovered the importance of reading across the curriculum and I hope that this knowledge will permanently change the way I approach planning and teaching.

Teacher cartoons

I found these cute comics at http://www.glasbergen.com/education-cartoons/. A couple of them are all too true for my students.

Introductions

Hello everyone! I just wanted to begin by introducing myself and explaining what brought me to the decision to teach ELL. My name is Jessica and I have been teaching Spanish to adorably begrudging high school students for the past five years. I can honestly say that I LOVE what I do, so it is not a distaste for my students or subject area that led me to pursue ELL certification.

I love language teaching and all its methodology. The language classroom is by nature interactive and vibrant. You really cannot teach students to read, write, listen and speak in another language without sound teaching practice, so it forces you to think about what you're doing. Even though I felt completely overwhelmed as a first year teacher, I feel that each year I've become a better teacher than the year before.

So what would lead me to change gears when I love my job so much?

There are several of factors that contributed to my decision, but I think the main motivation I have is the need for ESL educators at the high school level. Students who come in as newcomers in high school have been overlooked for many years and their unique needs and challenges are just coming to the attention of educational policy makers and stakeholders. In my classroom I have seen the difference that ELL teachers have made in the lives of my heritage language learners. Many students in my class have stated that their ELL teacher was the best teacher they've ever had and that they will never forget all the work the teacher did to help them understand English. In a high school atmosphere of general apathy, hearing students talk about a teacher in this way peaked my interest. I know that all teachers make a difference in the lives of their students, whether the students realize it or not. I am not negating the importance of foreign language instruction, or any other content area for that matter, but I just feel drawn to do something even more challenging and, perhaps, rewarding.

Another reason ELL appeals to me is my interest in language, culture and travel. I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Spain during college and experience second language learning firsthand in the target culture. I know how difficult it can be and how much culture shock can affect students. I would love the opportunity to work with students from around the globe and learn from them as they learn from me. I hope to become a better language teacher, regardless of the position I end up in following this program. As my pastor often says "You're either green and growing or ripe and rotting." I hope to always be a "green" teacher.