CUIN 4361 Blog Entry 4
Reflection
This is the second time I took a second language, but this time, I feel like I can open up with my experiences with ELL students. And it's not just because I was able to work with them along with my mentor teacher's help. It's more of like seeing the roles of ELL students in different perspectives and being seeing more insights in their experience.
To start off, doing the blogs is really helpful to me in this class. At first, I wasn't comfortable with making videos for the class but in the end, it turned out to be helpful because, in a way, we are learning to communicate verbally with other people who had been an ELL student and/or experience working with them. Doing this helps me voice my opinions on the programs and teaching strategies for ELL students and makes me feel more comfortable opening up to other people. Also, I do enjoy looking at other people's blogs because I get to learn their philosophies of learning and share my views on teaching with them.
Another thing to point out was that I did learn a lot more about the theories and the strategies for the ELL students. Students need to improve their English language skills in both social and content area of education and also be able to improve their learning skills in many different ways. Even programs are set up to help the ELLs adapt to their new language and their new learning environment. I know as a teacher that it's important to consider different strategies to support the students as well as consider the importance of learning their culture and being able to help them adapt to new ones. It's rather challenging for ELLs, considering that they learn differently and that they may be uncomfortable when trying to adapt to the classroom. It's even more challenging since they also have to focus on other content-areas required for their academic progress. Regardless, ELLs deserve to obtain those educations and being able to improve their new language and have futures of their own. According to Wright (2010), ELLs are entitled to (1) high-quality language instruction to develop proficiency in English, and (2) high-quality academic instruction across the content areas. They are both needed for ELLs to be successful in school and in society (Wright, 2010, pg. 2).
I also learned that providing and placing ELL students in programs isn't an easy task. According to Wright (2010), federal policy is accountable for academic achievement and grants the state flexibility to identify what programs models are eligible for funding. Educators who work with ELLs must determine what instructional programs are appropriate for their school. Their decisions are based on the federal and state policies as well as a research base, and characteristics of their students and community (Wright, 2010, pg. 81). Of course, not every school and districts have the same kind of programs for ELLs and I learned that teachers and administrators are willing to help out ELL students without having them feel left out of the classroom and trying to provide them the program that would best fit their needs.
In the end, I was able to see through my experiences of working with ELL students as well as other's people experience and learn more about different strategies to help them as teachers and know the importance of considering what would be the best for the students. Overall, it's important to help ELL students to adapt to the new learning environment as well as their new language.
To start off, doing the blogs is really helpful to me in this class. At first, I wasn't comfortable with making videos for the class but in the end, it turned out to be helpful because, in a way, we are learning to communicate verbally with other people who had been an ELL student and/or experience working with them. Doing this helps me voice my opinions on the programs and teaching strategies for ELL students and makes me feel more comfortable opening up to other people. Also, I do enjoy looking at other people's blogs because I get to learn their philosophies of learning and share my views on teaching with them.
Another thing to point out was that I did learn a lot more about the theories and the strategies for the ELL students. Students need to improve their English language skills in both social and content area of education and also be able to improve their learning skills in many different ways. Even programs are set up to help the ELLs adapt to their new language and their new learning environment. I know as a teacher that it's important to consider different strategies to support the students as well as consider the importance of learning their culture and being able to help them adapt to new ones. It's rather challenging for ELLs, considering that they learn differently and that they may be uncomfortable when trying to adapt to the classroom. It's even more challenging since they also have to focus on other content-areas required for their academic progress. Regardless, ELLs deserve to obtain those educations and being able to improve their new language and have futures of their own. According to Wright (2010), ELLs are entitled to (1) high-quality language instruction to develop proficiency in English, and (2) high-quality academic instruction across the content areas. They are both needed for ELLs to be successful in school and in society (Wright, 2010, pg. 2).
I also learned that providing and placing ELL students in programs isn't an easy task. According to Wright (2010), federal policy is accountable for academic achievement and grants the state flexibility to identify what programs models are eligible for funding. Educators who work with ELLs must determine what instructional programs are appropriate for their school. Their decisions are based on the federal and state policies as well as a research base, and characteristics of their students and community (Wright, 2010, pg. 81). Of course, not every school and districts have the same kind of programs for ELLs and I learned that teachers and administrators are willing to help out ELL students without having them feel left out of the classroom and trying to provide them the program that would best fit their needs.
In the end, I was able to see through my experiences of working with ELL students as well as other's people experience and learn more about different strategies to help them as teachers and know the importance of considering what would be the best for the students. Overall, it's important to help ELL students to adapt to the new learning environment as well as their new language.
Hi Michelle
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your reflection with us. I agree with you that by making the blogs can help us share our ideas of our knowledge, and communicate with each about our opinions. I also learn so much about theories and the strategies for the ELL students after this course; I really enjoy watching everyone's blogs and learning information from others. As a future educator, we really need to understand our students and help them in any area they need. According to Wright “Teacher also need to know their student’s cultural background and how culture influence learning at school” (Wright, 2015, pg. 17). Its very great I have this opportunity to read your blogs and to learn from you.
Reference
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Fei. I liked your reply about the blogs. I learned so much from the blogs. I did not realize learning a second language can be so difficult, frustrating, and intimidating for L2 learners. Because of the blogs I have better understanding of how my students will feel and how I can help them. Because of this class and learning from other people's experiences, I will be able to provide instructional support and implement strategies in the classroom that will support the learning needs of all students.
DeleteHi Fei! I do agree that as teachers, we need to know their cultural background and how would this affect them in their new environment. And as for the blogs, I learn a lot from them because they allow me to learn and meet other people and see the ELL students in many different perspectives. Thank you for your reply!
DeleteHi Anna. It is a struggle to learn a second language and it is important to understand how that frustration can affect the students in their learning. Fortunately, with better understanding of their abilities and learning from other people's experiences of teacher and/or being an ELL students, we will be able to provide instructional support needed to help their academic progresses.
DeleteHello Michelle!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your reflection with us! I really enjoyed reading about how you got more comfortable making videos for us-this is something I struggled with as well but as the semester went on, I found it much easier. I agree with what you said about differentiated instruction. Wright (2015) states, "All students differ in terms of prior knowledge, academic proficiency, learning styles, and sociocultural background. Thus, one size-fits-all instruction is problematic, especially for the diverse group of students under the ELL label(p.264)". It is very important for students to be seen as individuals and provided with the best tools for their specific needs!
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Ana. I'm glad that we both had similarities in regards for making videos for our blogs. And I do agree that it's important for students to be seen as individuals and provide them with materials to aligned their abilities. I believe it is also important to consider not to "label" in terms of not having them being left out of the classroom environment. This can hurt their performances in their academic progresses.
DeleteHello Michelle! Thank you for sharing your class reflection with us! I found it insightful and interesting to read about your perspective of the class and some information that we have learned! I completely agree with your points about the blogs. I feel that they really helped me by allowing me to discuss my knowledge with my peers. This kind of cooperative learning is something that is often mentioned in our teaching courses! Wright (2015) mentions that the number of different bilingual programs we have can be a problem because of how much inconsistency there is in the labeling across these programs (pg. 96).
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa. Yes, I do agree that there can be problems because of the inconsistency of the labeling across the ELL programs. We have to consider their sensitivity due to their proficiency levels and that the activities and lessons plans are aligned to their abilities. Plus, I've also learned that not every schools have a same kind of program like some schools have pull-out programs rather than bilingual programs.
DeleteHello Michelle!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your reflection about Second Language Methodology course. It seen that we have many similar points. I believe English language development is not solely the responsibility of ESL teacher or specialist but it is the job of all teachers. It’s beneficial for us to learn about SLA and SLM.
Hi Quynh. And I do agree that it's important to learn both SLA and SLM. I can't remember much, but I do believe that in Second Language Acquisition, we learn more about the students growth in learning and adapting a new language while in Second Language Methodology, we learn more about the learning styles and teaching the ELL students. Both of those are important to teaching ELL students.
DeleteHey Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your wonderfully written reflection. I understand what you mean by being able to know more about what it is like to work with ELL students. Compared to when I taught them last semester, I also feel like my perspective has changed in my thoughts and actions when it comes to teaching those students who’s first language isn’t English. Your comment on culture is spot on. Who knew how important of a role culture plays in impacting ELL students and how they connect to a lesson. Also, with culture educators should keep in mind that, “ELLs may experience a cultural and linguistic mismatch between the culture and language or their home and the school’s culture and language” (Wright, 2015, p. 19). Knowing this, it plays a huge role with ELLs and we have to be aware of students’ cultures and background to help them adapt in the classroom setting they aren’t familiar with.
Hi Jessica. I think a lot of people can learn to help teach ELL students by learning from their perspectives. Every students are different, and while there are some students who thrived to learn, they still need proper guidance. And you are right that culture plays a big role in ELL students' educations. They do provided acceptance and help them adapt to the new classroom environment.
Delete