Entry 3
In this video, I was given the opportunity to interview my
mentor teacher Mrs. Ortiz. I feel so grateful for this opportunity because it
gives me a chance to get to know her better and her experience with ELL
students. Although it’s not clearly stated in the video, my mentor teacher
knows Spanish and English. Despite being bilingual, the class she is currently
teaching is not a bilingual classroom. Instead, her classroom has ELL students
and in this interview we get an idea of how it works. When it comes to aiding
the ELL students individually, my mentor teacher has an aid that collaborates
with her and helps instruct with the ELL students. The aid comes in the
classroom at certain times to pull aside the ELL students and perform
individual instruction. Before the aid pulls the student aside, she
collaborates with my mentor teacher to see what the needs are for the student.
Wright states, “ For pull-in ESL to be an effective model, the ESL and
classroom teachers need to collaborate as team teachers, working together to
address the content and language objectives of sheltered content-area lessons,
and planning and delivering effective ESL lessons”, (2015, pg.109). This means that in order for there to be
effective teaching with an aid’s assistance, there needs to be team
collaboration. The aid needs to know how the student is doing in the classroom
while they are not there to assist and what content areas they are struggling
with. My mentor teacher not only mentions the use of aids in the classroom for the
ELL students, but she also explains the effectiveness of No Child Left Behind.
She explains how it allows all students to get the support they need whether is
be differentiated instruction or ELL support. She mentions that teachers must
encourage parents to make sure their children isn’t absent too much, because
the students are really successful when they are present at school. Wright
explains that,” to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant
opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach, at a minimum
proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state
academic assessments,” (2015, pg. 76).
Due to this, all children are not left behind in all areas academically
in school and receive attention due to their individual needs. I’m very
thankful overall that I got this opportunity to learn more about my mentor
teacher and about ELLs. I hope to use this new information to help me with my
future classroom and prepare myself for my future ELL students.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English
Language Learners: Research, Theory,
Policy, and
Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your reflection and watching your interview! I like how you discussed in your reflection, creating a team between the teacher and the ESL teacher. I feel that this is very crucial in helping a child become successful. I have a beginning ELL student in my class in my placement, and my mentor teacher and the school’s ESL teacher work together to see how my student is doing and they work together to create a game plan to help that student. I also feel that it is important that the two teachers have some background knowledge of the student in order to help them be successful as well. Wright states, “Thus, the more the teacher knows about a students’ experiences, the more he or she can assume about the expertise that student is likely to have. I feel that this tip in addition to what your mentor teacher and ESL teacher do, will create great success for your students in your classroom.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Calson, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hey Mackenzie Smith!
DeleteI completely agree with you on the fact that creating a team between the teacher and the ESL teacher is absolutely crucial to the success of the students within your classroom. Not only can you bounce idea’s off of each other, but whenever you need some specific assistance the ESL teacher is the best person to go to when dealing with ELL students. As Wright (2015) explains, “teachers nee to select or modify the language used in instruction to make complex content area concepts” (p. 29) and there is no better way to do that than with the ESL teacher.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Calson, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hi Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI think that aids are so important in the success of our English Language learners. But, as Wright states, they're only successful if there is collaboration about the topics being discussed in the classroom with the aids. I feel as though this is where everything can go wrong. I don't see collaboration all the time with aids, and I feel as though there can be a major disconnect for our students. They're going to be lost in their classroom because they don't get the direct focus they need on their classwork with the aid because the aid is not sure what is going on or what strategies are being taught in the classroom to help solve certain problems or complete work. Aids can be so useful to teachers, but they're not always used correctly, and for our ELLs to be as successful as possible in a pull-out model, they need to know what is going on in the classroom.
Hey Nicole, thanks for the video. I couldn't agree more with you and Megan! I honestly love that you talked about the relationship between teacher for the benefit of your ELL students. I don't feel this is brought up enough. It takes a village to raise a child, so it’s definitely going to take a village to teach Child including Learning with non-ESL as their teachers. wright says “Thus, the more the teacher knows about a students’ experiences, the more he or she can assume about the expertise that student is likely to have.” And we need to have the relationship with our ESL teacher, so we can help them further their education.
ReplyDelete