Meagan Geer's Blog 4
Over the course of this semester, I have obtained a greater understanding of what it means to be an English language learner and most importantly what it takes to work with these students. Through the work of this course, I have learned many ways to use effective, meaningful teaching practices in order to provide an enriching learning experience for all students of all abilities. Some of the most useful strategies I have learned can be easily implemented into everyday routines when providing instruction. For many of the students I work with, they are familiar with English, but they are still working towards becoming more advanced in their production of the language whether that is through speaking or even through writing. The most notable technique I have witnessed to be most beneficial is the use of sentence stems. While this may not seem to be the most notable to all, I found the use of sentence stems to be widely beneficial for many reasons. They can be used at almost every grade level. They can be manipulated by the teacher to make them more simplified or more advanced. They can even be used across different content areas. They may not be as notable to others as they have been with me, but I have witnessed students successfully use them and allow for the students to produce proper responses.
This class will ultimately impact my overall approach when considering ELLs in my classroom, but it will also impact the way I interact with other ELLs who come for different classes and different grade levels. When I look back on all of the content we have covered, I see a common factor with every strategy and practice. The common factor is patience. Students who are working towards becoming proficient in English need patience. Even after they have reached an advanced level of proficiency, they will still need more time to formulate responses in English. Knowing this information is key to providing proper instruction. When teachers do not understand why a student is taking longer than other students to complete an assignment, the teacher needs to step back and assess what type of learner the student must be. Identifying your ELLs at the beginning of the year will be most beneficial to the learner because they will be better accommodated.
I think that the university should have required the student body to take the acquisition course prior to taking this course. I think without the foundation of second language acquisition it would have been quite difficult to understand some of the terms and practices used in this course. I think it was highly beneficial that Dr. Avellaneda shared information from the SLA course text because it allowed for other students to look over content that was introduced.
This course has impacted my teaching philosophy because I now have a stronger desire to differentiate all of my instruction as much as possible. I have always considered the needs of all students and students of all abilities. I am thankful that I was able to take this course while being at my current field placement. It has helped me understand some of the challenges the students and the staff face.
While I was hesitant to create my first blog entry, I can see the overall benefits of being assessed in this format. Not only are we allowed to assess our own work, this method of assessment has allowed for peers to interact with one another. Even at this stage in our academic career, we can still learn a lot from our peers. Seeing the work from my peers helped me compare and contrast things at my school compared to others in surrounding areas. The use of technology in this course was connected to the technology course we were required to take. I have enjoyed this course because we were able to see an implemented practice that we have already learned about. I want to work with upper elementary, so I could see myself introducing the use of a blog or another form of assessment using technology.
I am grateful and happy with your comments. I am glad that you are I are on the same page. I agree with you that this class should not be taken if you have not taken the SLA foundations class. It is on the advisers and their lack of knowledge about students' needs. Many times, these professionals think that their job is assigning classes without knowing what happens in those classes or what type of knowledge is needed. I am also happy with the results. I was able to connect with you and to learn about your experiences. I think a blog allowed me to get to know my students and to feel their needs and challenges.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are pleased with my comments because they came from honesty. It would have been more beneficial if others in the class had taken the acquisition course because it does greatly define what an English language learner is. The course number precedes this particular course's number which also should have been noted by an advisor. I do agree that the academic advisors should know more about the courses they are enrolling students in and be able to clearly communicate this information to students. I am glad that there is mutual positive feeling about the blog. It was an interactive experience unlike any other I have had in a class. It created a meaningful learning experience.
DeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I think you hit on a very important subject mentioning that this class should be taken after the SLA foundations course. Leading up to this class, it was very difficult in the beginning to stay on task and be able to follow along because often times I was highly confused. I think if I taken the class prior I might have had an easier time. I also like how you related this course with “patience”. I couldn’t agree with you more. Teaching can be so strenuous and challenging, not to mention if you have a student that has a language barrier. According to Wright, “about 65% of the population is bilingual”. Meaning teachers need to do everything possible to teach and learn the best way to communicate with these students. Students need to know their teachers are patient and understanding to their needs.
Jolee, I am glad you enjoyed my post. It does seem to be a common topic of discussion. I can completely understand why you would feel that way. I actually tried to take both courses at the same time, and I ended up dropping methodology because I didn't feel like I would get the most out of the course by taking them together. Patience is key in many occupations, but when considering the needs of an English language learner, you owe your students your time and patience.
DeleteMeagan, I have also seen how beneficial the use of sentence stems are whether it is for English Language Learners or English-only students. Since reading about this strategy, I have used it quite often within my student teaching placement. I find that I use it more at the beginning of a unit, and I can see it used within the students’ writing as we progress through each unit.
ReplyDeleteBriana, I am glad that even though we are placed in different districts at different schools we are both able to see how beneficial sentence stems can be for students overall. I have seen how beneficial they can be for students in both general education classes and in the one-way bilingual immersion classes.
DeleteMeagan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% that I am thankful for having taken this course while being at my current field placement. The majority of my students are ELLs and it was really helpful that I was taking this course. It also helped me understand some of the challenges the students and the staff face, but also how to approach these challenges and help these students. I was able to read about past research and methods, and incorporate some of them into my classroom while also making my own modifications to meet the needs of my students.
Jenny, it was really fortunate for us that we have taken this class while being at our particular field placements. Most education programs do not require their students to take courses like this one which will really set us apart from other teacher candidates. I agree that this course helped me understand and recognize the challenges they face. Most importantly it has helped us understand different ways we bridge the gap and help students ease their way into using English as a second language.
DeleteMeagan, I enjoyed reading your blog post. I did not realize that the Second Language Acquisition course was the foundational course for second language instruction. This makes things a lot more clear. I said in my blog post that I felt as if this course was thrown at us in a random way. Well, now I know why. It is because we were supposed to take this class after the Acquisition course. I wish that the University had not done this. However, I’m thinking that the SLA course will now be easier because we have already taken SLM.
ReplyDeleteKaela, I am glad you enjoyed my post. It was really unfortunate that there was not one person from the university to clarify that one course precedes another. They offered both of the classes over the summer, but I felt it was best to take acquisition and then methodology. I think you will be able to work through acquisition without as much confusion since you have taken this course. You will likely gain a lot of vital, more in-depth knowledge of the subject to better help you understand some of the content of this course.
DeleteMeagan,
ReplyDeleteAmen! Patience will be key with all of our students, but students that are trying to become proficient in another language will need even more. I think it falls into the category of equality versus equity. Ells will need that extra support and patience to succeed in all of our classrooms. And this needs to be true whether we have one or fifty ELLs in our classes.
I also agree with you that this course did allow us to implement the information we learned in our technology class. I love when we get to see this kind of cross curricular learning happen in our learning.
Celisha,
DeleteI love that you agreed so much with my post. I am glad that you value patience as much as I do. I LOVE that you bring up equality versus equity which is something we have talked about in previous courses. We need to provide opportunities for all students of all abilities! We have to "level the playing field". I am so happy you brought up cross-curricular learning. I am also very pleased when there are connections amongst other courses. I feel that it makes all content more relevant since it connects with one another.
HI Meagan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that sentence stems is a great technique for teachers to use with English language learners. It is also a technique that would be great for any student to use. I actually didn’t have to take acquisition course prior to this class and I will admit it has been extremely hard for me to understand and keep up because I don’t know the information that most students knew.