For this entry, I interviewed Stephanie Gomez, an Eighth Grade
Science teacher from Lewis Middle School (Aldine ISD). Ms. Gomez enjoys working
with her ELL students, as she loves to serve as a strong support system for
them. She does her best to push them to their fullest potential and constantly encourages
them to always strive for better. She admits that often her ELL students face
challenges through reading comprehension. Her students are able to verbally
communicate their understanding of a specific topic, however, they may struggle
to read about that same topic when taking a test. In addition, it is a
challenge for her to work with students on such a wide range of levels. She
explains that it can be difficult to meet all of their specific needs. She
finds that scaffolding has served as an essential and helpful strategy in her
classroom. Building on the students’ prior knowledge and breaking concepts down
has helped her appeal to their different levels. Wright defines scaffolding as,
“evoking a construction metaphor, where scaffolding is temporarily used to build
something and removes once the building is completed” (2015, pg. 57). In
addition, she implements a set routine in her classroom. Every day the students
walk into her classroom and complete a warm-up that allows them to work on vocabulary
and major concepts in a variety of ways. For example, through peer tutoring,
critical thinking, etc. Wright wrote, “Indeed, vocabulary should be one of the
main components of daily ESL instruction, with further development through
sheltered content-area instruction” (2015, pg. 160). It is evident Ms. Gomez
enjoys working with her ELL students and is focused on helping them reach their
goals.
Wright,
W. E. (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research,
Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
I love how passionate Ms. Gomez is about her ESL students. We definitely need more teachers like that! I love her attitude about helping ESL students see their potential and that they are capable of more than they think. She uses some great strategies to help her students. I especially like that she not only uses reading strategies like breaking apart a text to help her student with their reading comprehension, but that she used the STAR test format to familiarize her students with this standardized test so they can be more successful when taking it later this year. She also engages her students with writing and visuals. She also allows them to work together and learn from one another, which I think is definitely motivating for them. According to Wright, language and literacy progress depend on the social contexts its taking place in, such as a chemistry classroom, and the particular literacy methods of that context, as well as student's motivation level, connection to their learning process, and success hinder strengthen their pre-existing knowledge ( 2015, p.41).
ReplyDeleteHey Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog. I feel like Ms. Gomez had so much experience with ELLs to share with us. I love that she has peer tutoring in her class! Wright (2015) describes sheltered instruction as having classroom-based formative and summative assessments (pg. 94). Ms. Gomez' strategy of peer tutoring is also a great way for her to assess her students in a formative way. I also love sheltered instruction because they don't force English instruction to the students, however, the instruction is given in a way that allows ELLs to comprehend the material with different resources that can help them. I agree, as my interview with my ELL teacher was the same, vocabulary is so important for English Language Learners. Having the visuals, support, and content knowledge is a great way to help these students. Ms. Gomez is doing a great thing by using her students' prior knowledge in leading instruction in her class. Thanks for sharing this interview!
Farah,
DeleteThank you for watching my video! Vocabulary definitely plays in big role in how ELLs learn and can be considered an essential element. In addition, like you mentioned, scaffolding can help these students comprehend new material with more ease. It also allows the students to make more in depth and personal connections, as they are building on information they already know.
Hi, Melissa! Thank you for sharing your interview with Ms. Gomez with us. As a student teacher in a fifth-grade science and social studies class, I can definitely emphasis with some of the struggles and experiences Ms. Gomez has with teaching ELL students. Since science and social studies is very content heavy, one of the challenges my mentor teacher and I have had to face is getting my ELL students to understand and learn the content with the level of English fluency and comprehension they have. Similarly to what Ms. Gomez said, my ELL students have different needs and are at different ELPS-TELPAS proficiently levels. Therefore, my mentor teacher and I must continually accommodate for their needs and come up with strategies that ensure that they are successful. However, this also means we have to learn more about our ELLs outside of what test scores and grades say. According to Wright (2010), “teachers need to know the following about each student: (1) the language and literacies used at home, (2) English language proficiency level, (3) educational history in the home country and in the United States, (4) length of time in the United States, (5) reason for immigration, (6) number and siblings, and (7) parents’ educational history, employment, and proficiency in English and other languages (p. 19)
ReplyDeleteThanh,
DeleteThank you for watching my video! You are completely right. It can be very difficult and tedious to accommodate to the various levels of ELLs. Some of the strategies Ms. Gomez mentioned, like scaffolding, having a set routine, and peer tutoring, can make all the difference to these students. I also agree that we should look beyond test scores in order to help ELLs as much as possible.
Hi Melissa! Ms. Gomez said that she always scaffolds her instruction. Scaffolding during instruction is used as a tool to by teachers to help students learn new concepts and to develop new skills (Wright, 2015, p.57). I can see how scaffolding during the engage portion of a 5E science lesson to learn new information would be beneficial to students. Being able to make connections through prior knowledge is a great strategy. The use of picture accommodations is always very helpful. This differentiates instruction and gives students other forms of support when learning. I like that Ms. Gomez has a set routine with her students. Routines are a great way to learn things and to become comfortable. Thank you for sharing your interview!
ReplyDeleteDaijah,
DeleteThank you for watching my interview! I found scaffolding to be such an important element in the interview with Ms. Gomez. This strategy us so important because students are adding newly learned knowledge to knowledge they already had. Ultimately, this allows students to make more in depth connections. I strongly believe this is a strategy every teacher should implement into their classroom.
Melissa, thank you for sharing you video with Mrs. Gomez I really enjoyed watching it. I love how she is so passionate towards her student’s and wants nothing but the best for them, so she pushes them to reach their goals. I also find it useful that she has the students come in everyday and have a set routine. Especially for ELLs I feel as if them having a set schedule helps them understand better and not get confused. Wright states “sheltered instruction as having classroom-based formative and summative assessments (p.94). Such as her peer tutoring she is not directly grading her student’s for a grade but it still gives her a way to know which students need more help and which ones already mastered the material.
ReplyDeleteEmily,
DeleteThank you for watching my video! Ms. Gomez definitely emphasized the importance of having a set routine in the classroom. Like you said, this helps with scheduling and prevents unnecessary confusion. In addition, it allows students to feel a sense of comfort and safety knowing there won’t be anything “scary” the next time they walk into class.
Hi Melissa. I really love how Mrs. Gomez really cares about her students. I do agree with her that scaffolding is an essential strategy for students in the learning environment. Teachers have to learn how to blend in the instructions based on various of students levels without discouraging them. It should also be noted that teachers should be "aware that when they work with ELL students they are not just teaching them a new language but are also socializing their students into a community of English language speakers" (Wright, 2010, pg. 43). We have to do whatever we can to meet those needs of students, and I can already tell that Mrs. Gomez worked really hard to do just that.
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
DeleteThank you for watching my interview! As you mentioned, it is essential for teachers to be able to blend instruction and accommodate to the different needs of students without discouraging or belittling them. In addition to students scaffolding, it would also be helpful to have them peer tutor or even give peer feedback. As the students are building on prior knowledge with peers, they are also creating a comfortable environment.