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.
