Entry 3

Video Blog Entry 3

Click here for my video

          Through the years my mentor teacher noticed that majority of her ELLs struggle with academic language most.  For example, word problems are one area where our students have difficulty in.  This happens when students have to decipher the meaning of certain text they are unfamiliar with.  In chapter 8, Common Core State Standards third idea is “Regular practice with complex text and its academic language” (p.190) recommends student have regular exposure to build there complexity of academic language.  With that, I agree with the author and my experience as a student teacher. Once a student understand the words like join, combine, all together it will be easier for the student to comprehend its meaning the next time they see the word in text.  Then, with practice students will be able to build upon their understanding.

            In addition, my MT has policies and procedures we use to aid our ELL in their comprehension.  Fourth grade math content is intense because of its rigor we use think-pair-share constantly for our students to share their opinions and hear out each other perspective. “Think-Pair-Share provides built-in wait time in a low-risk environment” (p.171) I believe this strategy is great for ELLs and non-ELLs.  Students are able to interact with each other and sometimes a peer to peer experience can convey a meaningful lesson just as a teacher can expect.

         What I notice in my MT classroom is a mixture of practices from what we have been learning.  I can also see how some strategies will work well for some and not others.  Each student will have their own learning style.      

Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.

ELL Interview

Hello and welcome to my Vblog Entry 2.

     During my interview with Mr. Dang I realize that his experience as an ELL was not the same as mine.  Although we both attended schools in Texas his experience was a lot different than mine.  He mentions he was grouped in classrooms with other ELLs including Spanish speaking students.  According to Wright (2015) language minority students “covers all students in the United States who speak other languages other than standard English” (p.5).   Mr. Dang's experience is different from mine because during my early elementary age I was placed in a Vietnamese bilingual classroom.  My hometown was heavily populated with a lot of Vietnamese students.  From what I remember each grade level had one Vietnamese teacher that would teach all the ELL students who qualified for those accommodations.   Fortunately for me I had Vietnamese teachers who supported us both in learning English and bridging the gap between the two languages.  I believed this eased my experience in learning English more smoothly since I was able to language transfer quicker between English and Vietnamese or vice versa depending on the circumstances. As compared to Mr. Dang's experience he had a difficult time adjusting between the English instructions and transferring his knowledge to and from his native language.  He did not have a positive experience as I did.

     In Chapter 5, the author talks about sheltered instruction.  This idea benefits ELLs because as teachers we need to make the instruction where our students can access it.  If we bring it down to there level they are more likely to understand the material and be engage.  Wright states, “Sheltered instruction observation protocol model offers guidance to teacher who use shelter instruction by helping them systematically plan, teach, observe...” (p.92).  In my field study I have seen my Mentor Teacher use sheltered instruction for her ELLs.   I have seen her pull students to her computer to review terms ahead of time so they are able to connect new English words to their native vocabulary.  These last few months she has used multiple ways to help her ELLs understand both Math and Science content. This is important for our students because when they see math problems it is easy to solve if its just a number sentence. What I have seen is although they know how to solve the problems they can not comprehend what the question is asking if it is stated in word form.  However we can help our ELLs by sheltering instruction will benefit and boost their confidence in the classroom.

Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.

Click here for my video

VBlog Introduction

Hello Everyone!  My name is Thom Tran and I am very happy to be here.  I will be graduating May 2019 with a BS in Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood through 6th grade.  Currently I am student teaching fourth grade Math and Science in Fortbend Independent School District.

Click here for my video