Sunday, June 14, 2009
Lesson Reflection and Future Implementation
Writing about this lesson really got me thinking of how I will implement this next year. Overall, I was really satisfied with the success of this lesson. I felt that it did establish a CREDE based classroom that would not only benefit ELL students, but English first students as well. Even though I am so optimistic about his lesson, I realize that it can be improved. For starters, like I said in my previous blog, my introduction for the lesson didn't promote CREDE Standard I or V like it should have. I engaged the students in an introductory lecture, instead of having them work together and discuss and share their previous knowledge. Perhaps next year I will start with a labeling activity that requires students to browse a piece of non-fiction text and label the text feature they already know and then think-pair-share with a partner. I also would like to expand the content literacy library to be more culturally adaptive. Next year's class has a number students of Indian descent, I would like to acquire some texts that are like my Central America text in order to maintain CREDE Standard III. I also would like to follow Dr. Garcia's responsive "R" by making the students get more ideas and resources from their parents or family members. One last thing for next year, depended on the reading levels of my class, I would like to get more above and on-grade-level texts to keep the lesson challenging and reflective of CREDE Standard IV. I look forward to instructing and perfecting this lesson as the years go on.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Rare Opportunity
Teaching in a school with a very low ELL population, I rarely get the chance to implement recommended ELL teaching techniques. Having a classroom that is, reassuringly, set up and conducted in a manner that models many CREDE (Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence) standards, I always welcome the opportunity to engage new students in my learning environment. In April of this year, I had this same opportunity. Our school has a week-long field trip to a local habitat preservation site in which half of our fifth grade students attend one week, and half the second. Students who can’t stay for the week during this field trip for various reasons are asked to come to school and are placed in a new classroom for the duration of the week. Anita, a child I interviewed for a previous study and whose name has been changed for her protection, was placed in my room for the week. Anita is a student whose family originates from El Salvador. She came to my school with limited English skills and has parents who speak Spanish primarily. I wanted to design a lesson that was both engaging, responsive, and used a variety of resources that our county recently purchased for us, all while making sure Anita makes the most of her time with me. I decided to engage the students in a lesson on expository text features and their uses that managed to meet all the criteria I set forth for myself.
I started the lesson with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting eight forms of expository text features. Each feature was illustrated and its function was discussed in a whole group setting. In retrospect, to adhere more closely CREDE Standard I: Teachers and Students Working Together, I wished I engaged the students in a more conversational atmosphere or even engaged them with a jigsaw activity to introduce this lesson. After the PowerPoint introduction, I gave them their assignment. The students were to work in groups of two to three students to create a magazine page on a topic of their choice from a collection of Content Literacy (non-fiction) books we had on hand. The magazine article had to include at least six expository text features, making at least two of them text based. The text was also being looked at for relevance, grammar, and spelling. The Content Literacy selection was a collection of non-fiction books that covered all subjects relating to science and social studies and each text had three distinct levels for below, on grade level, and above grade level readers. Following CREDE Standard I and engaging the students in an activity similar to Research Interview strategy found in Chapter 15: Partner Work in “50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” I grouped Anita in a group with at least one strong English model for her to engage in conversation and to discover the lesson with.
Looking through the texts, I was able to find an on-grade level book on the geography of Central America, which I immediately presented to Anita’s group. The eagerness of her group to cover this topic helped this lesson meet CREDE Standard III: Connecting School to Student’s Lives and Standard IV: Engaging Students with Challenging Lessons. As the students browsed through the book, Anita looked over the El Salvador section that discussed the country's history and it's current state. The group immediately decided to make their magazine article on El Salvador. Anita, naturally had a lot of information to share with the group. She was extremely eager to communicate and discuss El Salvador with her peers; something is usually reluctant to do according to her classroom teacher. As I watched their project progressed, it seemed almost too good to be true. The text was quite challenging for Anita so her group members helped her discuss the gist of each paragraph while she added additional background information she knew from living there. In turn, the group also learned a lot about her culture and her life before she came to her Maryland school.
Entered on 6/13/09
After the first day of doing research and developing a layout of their magazine article, I told the class to gather any additional information, pictures, or art supplies they think they would need to complete their project while they are home that night. I was pleased to see Anita's responsiveness to this task as she discussed El Salvadoran life with her family. Her father sent in some photographs of their pueblo in El Salvador which became a centerfold for Anita's group's project. The next day, the group worked together and really put together a very nice project. The main design of this lesson was to teach the students about non-fiction text articles, and, by creating this magazine article, Anita's group got to learn a lot about Anita's culture and Anita, who is usually very reserved and often soft spoken, got to bond with her group, communicate with them, and was the center of attention for once. All in all, this was one lesson that I can truly call a success in all aspects!
I started the lesson with a PowerPoint presentation highlighting eight forms of expository text features. Each feature was illustrated and its function was discussed in a whole group setting. In retrospect, to adhere more closely CREDE Standard I: Teachers and Students Working Together, I wished I engaged the students in a more conversational atmosphere or even engaged them with a jigsaw activity to introduce this lesson. After the PowerPoint introduction, I gave them their assignment. The students were to work in groups of two to three students to create a magazine page on a topic of their choice from a collection of Content Literacy (non-fiction) books we had on hand. The magazine article had to include at least six expository text features, making at least two of them text based. The text was also being looked at for relevance, grammar, and spelling. The Content Literacy selection was a collection of non-fiction books that covered all subjects relating to science and social studies and each text had three distinct levels for below, on grade level, and above grade level readers. Following CREDE Standard I and engaging the students in an activity similar to Research Interview strategy found in Chapter 15: Partner Work in “50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” I grouped Anita in a group with at least one strong English model for her to engage in conversation and to discover the lesson with.
Looking through the texts, I was able to find an on-grade level book on the geography of Central America, which I immediately presented to Anita’s group. The eagerness of her group to cover this topic helped this lesson meet CREDE Standard III: Connecting School to Student’s Lives and Standard IV: Engaging Students with Challenging Lessons. As the students browsed through the book, Anita looked over the El Salvador section that discussed the country's history and it's current state. The group immediately decided to make their magazine article on El Salvador. Anita, naturally had a lot of information to share with the group. She was extremely eager to communicate and discuss El Salvador with her peers; something is usually reluctant to do according to her classroom teacher. As I watched their project progressed, it seemed almost too good to be true. The text was quite challenging for Anita so her group members helped her discuss the gist of each paragraph while she added additional background information she knew from living there. In turn, the group also learned a lot about her culture and her life before she came to her Maryland school.
Entered on 6/13/09
After the first day of doing research and developing a layout of their magazine article, I told the class to gather any additional information, pictures, or art supplies they think they would need to complete their project while they are home that night. I was pleased to see Anita's responsiveness to this task as she discussed El Salvadoran life with her family. Her father sent in some photographs of their pueblo in El Salvador which became a centerfold for Anita's group's project. The next day, the group worked together and really put together a very nice project. The main design of this lesson was to teach the students about non-fiction text articles, and, by creating this magazine article, Anita's group got to learn a lot about Anita's culture and Anita, who is usually very reserved and often soft spoken, got to bond with her group, communicate with them, and was the center of attention for once. All in all, this was one lesson that I can truly call a success in all aspects!
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