Final ELL Goal Post

As the semester comes to a close I am reflecting on the ELL goal I set at the beginning of this school year. On Tuesday, December 2^nd I was able to participate in one more lesson at Brigham Elementary School. This lesson was with the kindergarten class—which is the class that consists primarily of English Language Learners. We taught a lesson on wheels and how, in order to be work properly, they need to be round. There were four teachers for four students.

Looking back, the goal that I set at the beginning was to gain experience and confidence in working with English language learners. This lesson did not necessarily impact my confidence, but it did give me a little bit more experience. All four students were native Spanish speakers. One student in particular did not appear to be as fluent in English as the others. This child was difficult to communicate with and she did not seem to fully understand anything the teacher said. The other students spoke to her Spanish. I was able to see how the language barrier affected her overall engagement and participation. She was distracted by the other teaching groups throughout the lesson and got out of her seat a few times to see what other groups were doing. The groups that drew her attention were doing more hands-on activities. This supports what we have learned in class about engaging ELL’s. Using manipulatives and visuals within a lesson helps keep their interest and increases the chance that they will learn something from you.

Because our group of students was so small, and there were four teachers, I was not able to really interact with the students the way I would if it was a full-size group of students. Normally, I would be able to float around and talk with students as they are doing activities, but with this lesson I was not able to do that. The students were at a small group table and it would be distracting if more than one teacher were speaking at once. Although not related to my goal, I think that this lesson gave me some experience co-teaching as well. Finding a balance with more than one teacher is not easy. It was pretty difficult to get equal talking time across all four teachers.

On a broader scale, over the semester I believe that my confidence has increased when it comes to working with English language learners. I know for certain that I have gained experience. Prior to this semester, I had no experience directly working with students who were not primary English speakers. This class has given me several opportunities to communicate and work with students who are English language learners. I have been caught off-guard, not sure what to do, and survived the confusion of a language barrier. I know that I will never be 100% comfortable and confident working with students that I can’t fully communicate with; however, I think that gaining experience will definitely help me become more comfortable and confident in my abilities as a teacher. I look forward to more opportunities to work with diverse student populations, including English language learners.

Exceeds: I related my experience back to content learned in class.

Clinical Lesson

Screenshot of Smart Board Slide

On November 12, 2014, I taught a science lesson at my clinical site. Since it was the first lesson of the new unit, I did a vocabulary lesson. I started the lesson with a Brain Pop video that explained the food chain and then proceeded to pull up a Smart Board activity slide. On the slide was six pictures covering up vocabulary words. As a class, we recalled the vocabulary words from the chapter and the students brainstormed which picture belonged to which word. After the words were revealed, we came up with our own definitions for the vocabulary words. After all vocabulary words were defined, I did a brief overview and reminded them that they would be learning more about each of the words in the days to come.

            This lesson was one of the most difficult lessons I have taught thus far. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I was not very interested in science throughout my elementary, junior, and high school years. Although I tried to not let my feelings towards science impact my teaching, I feel that it might have. Although I may not have exhibited the excitement that would have been ideal for the students, I think that a strength of my lesson was level of engagement of the students. The students enjoyed the Brain Pop video and seemed to enjoy the “guessing game” aspect of the Smart activity. The students demonstrated this in a not so great way. Some of them had trouble with calling out and talking over their classmates during the activity. Although these are not behaviors that are acceptable, they did show me that the students were excited to participate and were engaged.

            Another strength that my lesson had was that it gave students the opportunity to explore the concepts outside of the textbook. Too often the students are learning about science only through the pages in their textbook and aren’t able to actively apply what they read. The activity that I developed used the knowledge that they had read about and encouraged them to think deeper about it. By creating their own definitions, they have to really understand the concepts. There were a few words that we needed to talk through before they could define it, but in the end they were able to develop a definition—which shows me that they were conceptualizing. I was able to use this, as well as the participation in the discussion to gauge their knowledge throughout the lesson and adapt it accordingly.

            As my lesson unfolded I realized that my thoughts on what the students would and would not know was not accurate. Concepts that I thought they would know and understand they didn’t and concepts that I thought they would not know or understand they did. Unfortunately, I did not have all of the content knowledge to answer some of the questions that they proposed to me. I was fully prepared to teach about the vocabulary words; however, I was not prepared for in depth examination of them. This was a major area of weakness within the lesson. Not only was I not able to answer some questions, but I also wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. After talking with my CT, I realized that it is ok to admit when you don’t know something, but to also introduce methods to find out the answers. I missed a great opportunity to explore our resources in the classroom because I was not sure how to address the fact that I didn’t know how to answer student questions. If I could improve this area, I would take the chance to show students (a) that everybody is a learner, even teachers and (b) that there are many different resources we can use to find out information. Although doing this would alter the lesson, it would show flexibility and cater to the students, as opposed to focusing on finishing the lesson the way it was planned.

            Another area of weakness during my lesson was the classroom management. Students were not respecting their fellow classmates or myself. By calling out and continuously talking over others, it shows that they don’t care about what others have to say. My method for combating these behaviors during the lesson was to ignore the student(s) who continued to talk without being called on. As a result, the student began to talk louder. My intention was for the student to realize that I would not address them until they responded to my prompts in the correct manner (by raising their hand and waiting to be called on). I also had a small number of students who were distracted by other items nearby. To grasp their attention I would call on them when asking a question or incorporate their name into a statement like “Mackenzie, our class definition of consumers sounds really great!”. This strategy seemed to work in the moment, but I don’t’ think it really helped those students understand the material. Although my management didn’t work out the best of ways, I did learn that it is fine to stop a lesson to regain control. Unfortunately, it was after my lesson that I had this realization. During my lesson I continued to try to manage the classroom, but it was definitely a struggle. I think that some students got out of control, but the majority demonstrated self-control and appropriate behavior.

            If I were to teach this lesson all over again, I would focus more on learning about the different concepts ahead of time so that I could answer the questions that students have. I would also have a backup plan in case the students’ behavior is out of control. Overall, I believe that my activities within the lesson were well-developed and engaging. They interested students and got them to apply their knowledge and think deeper about the content. If I had more time for the science lesson, I would have tried to incorporate another activity for them to do in small groups. This would have given me an opportunity to hone in on each student’s current knowledge and assist on a more individual level.

Exceeds: I included screenshots in my lesson plan, saved the Smart Board activity for my CT to use in the future if she desires, and I wrote over the required word count.

ELL Goal Update #2

This past week I was an assistant teacher in the kindergarten classroom. The lesson was about seasons. I was excited to spend some time with the kindergarten students because I know that the majority of them are English Language Learners. For the past several times I have been in the classroom, it has been in the preschool classroom which does not have as many, if any, English language learners. Knowing that the kindergarten room did have some, I was ready to work on my goal this past week.

          As a reminder, my ELL goal was to gain experience and confidence in working with English Language Learners. I think I took a step forward with both aspects of my goal this week. I was able to not only observe the students, but I also got to communicate with some of them. Although my communications weren’t long, they were important to my growth. One example of this was with a young boy with whom I was taking notes on. I had gotten down at his level to help him with the individual activity flip-book and we worked through the activity together. I asked him questions about what he was doing and why. He and the boy sitting across from him began talking about their names when I asked them to spell them for me (so I could write them down). The other boy said his name in the “English” way and then also in the “Spanish” way. The boys proceeded to ask me if I knew Spanish and I admitted that I didn’t know much, just a few colors. Although this interaction was not very deep, it did give me some insight into what ELL students know and understand about their environment. These two boys were able to demonstrate that they understood that they spoke a language that is not the primary language of most people in their community. They did not assume that I knew Spanish and, actually, thought it amusing when I said the few words I do know. This whole experience helped me to see that ELL students know that they are a little different than others. These particular students, luckily, knew that it wasn’t a bad different, but just different.

          The interactions that I had on this day may not have given me a ton more experience under my belt, but it did make me feel more at ease working with students whose primary language is not English. Addressing the difference broke the ice for me and made me more comfortable when communicating with the students. I have noticed a similar trend at my PDS site with some of my Indian students. It is always more comfortable having conversations with them when we acknowledge that we are different. My students know that not everybody celebrates the same holidays or believes in the same gods. When I initially thought that bringing up these “tricky” topics would cause awkwardness, I realized that I had it completely backwards. It’s awkward if the differences are ignored. When they are pointed out it leads to discussion and we are able to learn new things about people and their own unique cultures.

 

Exceeds: I linked my experience at Brigham to my clinical site.

 

My ELL Goal Update

                This past week I was in the preschool classroom at Brigham Elementary School as an assistant. This was my second time in this classroom, my first being when I taught my lesson with Kacie. The lesson being taught was on the sense of taste and I spent my time in the classroom observing a specific child for the lead teachers. Because I was extensively watching this child and writing down everything she said and did, I had little to no interaction with students. This made it difficult to address my ELL goal. At the beginning of the semester, I made my goal to gain experience and confidence in working with ELL students. Even though I did not get much experience working directly with the students, I was able to observe them and see how they interact in the classroom. I noticed that the students who were most vocal, were also the students who are potentially ELL. This surprised me because I would have thought the opposite would occur. I did not expect the native English speakers to be the quietest ones in the room. After looking through some online resources, I found that the classroom environment plays a big role in fostering the engagement and participation of all students, especially English language learners. By having a classroom that encourages language, teachers can help students become more comfortable communicating verbally. Not only should English language learners have ample opportunity to practice their language with adults and peers, but they should also have their native language supported in the classroom. Doing these things will help develop strong English speakers. After being in the preschool at Brigham, I believe that the program and teachers do a good job at doing these things to support their students. Those students would not be as vocal as their language development had not been strongly supported.

On another note, there is one specific thing that happened during my time in the classroom that I found to be very exciting. While one of the boys was looking at a substance, he said it looked bumpy. The word ‘bumpy’ is one that Kacie and I introduced during our sense of touch lesson two weeks earlier. He retained that knowledge and used it in a different context. This was a nice surprise since we weren’t sure how much information the students grasped from our lesson. It was a huge relief to find out that at least one student understood something we taught. Once he used that word, I got a huge smile on my face! Although this was not part of the lesson that day, it was a nice bit of encouragement for Kacie and I.

Here are some of the resources I used when I researched English language learners in preschool. The first link is to a site that outlines effective tips and strategies for teachers to use to effectively scaffold English language learners in the classroom. The second link is to the Illinois Board of Education page addressing ELL in the preschool classroom. This website contains an abundance of resources and websites for parents and teachers to use.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/36679/

http://www.isbe.net/earlychi/preschool/preschool_ell.htm

Exceeds: I included resources and links for further support.

Science Lesson Reflection

On Thursday, October 9, Kacie and I taught our prekindergarten science lesson at Brigham Elementary School. Our lesson was on the sense of touch. There were 8 students in the class and we had 4 assistants (classmates). This lesson was planned using the 5E model and the lesson lasted 30 minutes. Although our lesson was not perfect, we did have several strengths throughout. One of those strengths is the developmentally appropriate content that we taught and the materials that we used to teach it. This was evidenced when the children were able to show their understanding and participate during the entire lesson. The students’ participation throughout was a sign that the materials were appropriate for them. A second strength of our lesson was that it was engaging. We used a variety of objects/mediums to present the information. We had real life objects for the students to touch during the activities, as well as, a touching matching game. In addition to those materials, we also used the SmartBoard. Using a variety of resources to teach with keeps the students engaged during the lesson. The evidence that students are engaged comes from their lack of behavior issues during the lesson. We didn’t have any students moving around or distracting the class; they all appeared to be looking and listening to what they should have been looking at and listening to.

With any lesson, there are always areas that need improvement. With this particular lesson, the sequencing and smoothness of transitions could have improved. Because it was not our classroom and we were only visitors, we were not able to ideally prepare all of the materials. We were not able to have them laid out and ready to go prior to the lesson, so we had to get them out as the lesson progressed. This sometimes caused a break in the lesson that could have otherwise been avoided.

Like I mentioned earlier, this lesson was engaging for the students. There were a few students who exhibited high interest and motivation and the others seemed neutral. They participated in the activities, but they weren’t demonstrating the eagerness that the others were. There was one part of the lesson that peaked the interest of every student. The texture matching game motivated the students and got them excited. Every student was interested in the activity and eager to get their turn. Not only were the students looking forward to their own turn, but they were supportive and encouraging of their classmates as well.

Our lesson was fairly simple and we were both highly knowledgeable on the content. We didn’t have any questions from students, so the only information that we delivered was the information that we had prepared. Our true test of knowledge would have come if the students had questions for us. The teacher organization was functional, but not ideal. As I mentioned earlier, we weren’t able to be as organized as we would have liked since we weren’t able to lay out the materials ahead of time. We also did not know the names of the students, so calling on them was not as organized as it could have been. Knowing student names reduces confusion in the classroom and therefore makes student answering more efficient.

Since there were only 8 students, we were able to get a good grasp on the understanding of each student. Our small group activity allowed each teacher to work with two students. A group of this size (two) is ideal when trying to figure out how much students know. Along with the small group activity, we also had the matching game which was completed on an individual level. This activity gave us the most insight into the students and their understanding of texture. We were able to see that most of the students understood the concept we had taught. The SmartBoard activity was our evaluation piece and provided us with the final check for understanding. When planning the lesson, I did not notice that nearly all of the activities had built in checks for understanding, but when really teaching it, I was able to see that we could gauge where each student was. I think this is, in part, because of the size of the class. With a class size of 8, we were able to make observations of each student more detailed.

Overall, I was proud of our lesson and the implementation of it all. The prekindergarten class was very receptive of our lesson and they seemed to understand what we taught. This was the first lesson that I have had to co-teach, so that was a new experience for me. The uncertainty of who is going to say what is another aspect that interrupted the flow. I think that Kacie and I did a pretty good job with this, but since it was our first time co-teaching we still had a few awkward pauses.

On a personal level, I learned how difficult it is to change grade levels. Preschool is my favorite age group and it is what I would like to teach upon graduation. I am very familiar with developmentally appropriate practices in preschool and content; however, I had some difficulty with this during the lesson. For my PDS site, I am in a second grade classroom, so I spend 3 days a week with 7 and 8 year olds. Going from working with these older students down to 3 and 4 year olds is challenging. I caught myself wanting to talk to the prekindergarten class as if they were second graders. For the most part, this was an internal battle that I handled well.

In terms of my goal, there were very few, if any, English language learners in the prekindergarten classroom. During the lesson, all of the students demonstrated an ability to speak English. Because of this, I wasn’t able to address my goal this week. Even though I wasn’t able to address my ELL goal this week, I was able to teach a science lesson for the first time which I think is a huge step toward becoming a proficient teacher.

Since I had some difficulty with the grade level transition, I decided to look up some tips from other professionals who have experienced similar things. Here are a few links that I found helpful!

http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/free-resources/your-teaching-scenario/changing-grade-levels 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct92/vol50/num02/-Changing-Assignments%E2%80%94Pros-and-Cons.aspx

Exceeds: I included some resources that would help with grade level adjustment. For the teaching aspect, Kacie and I exceeded by providing a copy of our lesson plan to the classroom teacher.

My ELL Goal

The goal that I made, in regards to working with ELL's, was to gain experience and knowledge. I have little to no experience working with students whose primary language is not English. With the ever-growing language diversity in our country, it is likely that I will have students that are English Language Learners. Instead of figuring out what to do on the spot, it is better for me to gain experience working with those students now, so that I will have a basis for my own classroom in the future.
Walking into the Brigham kindergarten classroom, I had a lot of different thoughts and reactions. I have no doubt that I will gain experience working in that classroom. Many of the students are bilingual-with English being their second language. It was my first time being in a room where English was not the primary language of the majority of students. We didn't have much time to really sit down and work with the students, but the time we did have, I definitely learned from. In one instance a student was explaining her picture to me, but she appeared not to know the English words. She didn't actually say Spanish words either, but she used hand signals to explain what she was trying to say. I was able to discern what she was communicating, but I also realized that understanding each child may not come as easy. In this example, the child knew the word 'volcano' but didn't know any words to describe how volcanoes erupt. If she hadn't have known the word 'volcano', I probably would not have been able to figure out what she was trying to say. Experiences like this one are educational for me, because I not only am gaining experience working with ELL's, but also I am realizing the extent of my knowledge and how much I still have to learn.
The second part of my goal, gaining confidence, goes hand-in-hand with experience. In order to become more confident, I need to spend time with students who not have English as their primary language. Not only will experience with students help with confidence, but also just spending time in a bilingual classroom. I was able to see how the classroom teacher at Brigham makes the room comfortable and welcoming for students who are Spanish-speaking. She has labels all around the room in Spanish, and some anchor charts that I saw were also in Spanish. This coincides with some of the things that we have discussed in our classes. The students are able to see their language represented and not ignored, which can make them feel comfortable and accepted. It also helps them adapt to the classroom environment. Seeing these methods used in the classroom, helps me to develop my own sense of how to set up a classroom where students of any language are welcomed. Having this knowledge will make me have more confidence in my future classroom.
Overall, I feel like I will be able to make great strides with my goal this semester. I will be able to not only observe how a bilingual classroom is set up, but also work with ELL students and become more comfortable working with a language barrier. I feel like acknowledging that there is going to be a language barrier, as opposed to ignoring it, is always better. It makes be cognizant of my abilities and will hopefully aid me in educating my students.
This article by scholastic talks about diversity in the classroom, but the reason I posted the link is because it also talks about a few different strategies to use when there is a language barrier between the classroom teacher and families. Many Languages, Many Cultures
This video, although not directly related to the classroom, is one that I found incredibly interesting. This teen describes language and its importance in such a good way that I think it would be beneficial for any teacher working with non-English speakers to watch.


Exceeds: I did all of the things needed for a meets, then I found an article and video that I feel provide further information and insight into language in our classrooms.

Science Autobiography

My first distinct memory of science in school would be the monarch butterfly unit that my kindergarten class did. This unit was one of the few science topics that interested me up until 5th grade. I remember very little science lessons between kindergarten and fifth grade, probably because I wasn't very interested in science. Math and Reading were my favorite subjects. In fifth grade, however, my teacher gave us several different projects that coincided with the science lessons. These projects required us to be creative and original--which was something different than in previous years. There is one project that I created that clearly sticks out in my mind. It was during our "flower" unit (we learned all about the parts of flowers and pollination). We each had to create a unique representation of a flower and all of its parts (labeled). I made mine out of different kinds of candy, along with some structural pieces like a wooden rod and some foam. I had so much fun making this flower that I kept it for a few years. I was so proud of all of the effort and creativity that I was able to put into the project, that it was hard for me to just throw it away. Looking back, my fifth grade teacher was really good at making science active. We did a lot of hands-on activities and projects--which made it more interesting (at least for me).
My science experiences in junior high and high school, aside from the dissection units, were not very memorable. In both seventh and ninth grade I had to dissect different organisms. I was NOT one of those students who looked forward to science class during this time. I can still remember the queasy feeling that I got when it was time to dissect the frogs or mice. Even writing this memory down makes me a little nauseous. Although dissection was definitely the worst, other topics in science didn't really interest me at the time, which is probably why I would say that science is my least favorite subject.
As a teacher, I don't want my students to be as bored with the subject as I was in school. My philosophy is that hands-on, active, and engaging units are necessary to get students interested. Allowing students to be creative and bring their own strengths to the lessons will help them to better understand the material. This will also help them to get excited for science. 
Although my various interests contribute to my negative attitude of science, I believe that my religious upbringing also has impacted this. Science and Christianity have been known to be at opposite sides of countless debates. My parents never told me that I shouldn't like science or anything like that, but when topics like evolution arose in school, I was always on edge. I absolutely HATED being in class on those days, because I felt like I was being personally attacked. No student likes to feel like that. Prior to this reflection of my past science experiences, I would always think about the evolution unit whenever science in school was brought up. This is probably why I always had negative thoughts about science. Every time I thought about it, those feelings of being personally attacked surfaced. 

Exploring Science

Because I typically viewed science as a controversial subject, I will probably tread lightly when teaching science in my own classroom. This isn't to say that I won't teach science, but I know I'll probably take a lot more time developing my science lessons than any other subject. I don't want any of my students to feel alienated by the subject matter. In order to prevent this, I'll take the time to comb through my lessons to make sure it doesn't happen. I'll also spend more time on science because I'll have to engage myself as well. I know that if I don't get myself excited for the material, I won't be able to get my students excited. I want them to have positive thoughts and memories of all of the subjects that I teach. In order to do this, I hope to be like my fifth grade science teacher, and get the students involved in the material that they are learning about. Hands-on experiences and projects are a great way, even for younger children, to express knowledge and individuality.