Reflection
For this interview, I spoke with my
mentor teacher who I student teach with in a fourth-grade classroom at Mahanay
Elementary. Mrs. Agnihotri explained to me her thoughts and views of ELLs in
her classroom and I felt like I was able to learn a lot about her point-of-view
in our shared classroom. When I asked her what kinds of challenges that her
ELLs face in the classroom, she mentions that vocabulary is most difficult for
them to comprehend in the content area. She states that she creates anchor
charts and visuals for her students and also understand to slow down her speech
to enunciate words for her students according to their proficiency level.
Mrs. Agnihotri stated that she
believes high-stakes tests are detrimental to her ELLs and that she used
informal assessment by asking them questions and checking for understanding
and believes that it is most effective when it comes to checking the student's
knowledge. According to Wright (2015), "a more dependable determination of
an ELL's proficiency in English is the teacher's informed observations"
(p. 4). For instance, Mrs. Agnihotri does shared reading with her students and
asks comprehension questions about what they read and can gain a better
understanding of where her students fall on the ELP descriptors. She knows that
by speaking every day in the classroom, students will become more engaged
within the lesson. In many of the lessons, my MT allows students to turn and
talk with a partner to allow for needed peer interaction. Furthermore, Mrs.
Agnihotri understands that, “student talk is essential to the teacher’s ability
to analyze what students know, how they understand, and what teaching methods
would be most useful” (Wright, 2015, p. 29).
Hello Jessica Lopez,
ReplyDeleteI really learned a lot about ELL teachers from your interview with Mrs. Agnihotri. Mrs. Agnihotri explained how she has students from different proficiency levels starting from beginners, intermediate, advance and advance high. She furthers in explaining how all these different students face many challenges in learning a complete new language. However, Mrs. Agnihotri explains how one main challenge her ELL student face is vocabulary. She explains how ELL struggle with vocabulary especially in content area. According to Wright (2015), an “average English-speaking student enters pre-kindergarten with knowledge of about 3,400 root words, knows about 8,000 words meanings by the end of 2nd grade, and learners about 860 new word meaning every year” (p. 160). Consequently, English Language Learners have to quickly develop an English vocabulary that was nonexistent or very limited, which can make ELL students fall behind compare to their English-speaking peers. Also, Mrs. Agnihotri explained how she tries to help her student with the struggle they have with inflectional morphology in vocabulary. According to Wright (2015), “through word study lessons, teachers can help students use morphemes to create new words” (p. 32).
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Carla!
DeleteThank you for your wonderful comment. Yes, that one struggle that Mrs. Agnihotri faces makes it challenging for the students to understand the lesson in that specific content area. I also have noticed that the ELLs do have trouble with their vocabulary words, especially within their writing. Also, the inflectional endings are something the students also have trouble with when speaking. Mrs. Agnihotri makes sure to enunciate as much as possible when teaching vocabulary for her ELL students to hear the words in a clear and concise manner.
Hello Jessica, thank you so much for taking the time to interview your mentor teacher about ELL instruction for us! It was very interesting learn more about ELL students from the perspective of an educator. One thing that I really enjoyed was listening to the variety of strategies Mrs. Agnihotri uses when instructing her ELL students. I also believe that visuals are an excellent way to accommodate for these students. Wright explains that manipulatives, “help ELLs understand concepts that they might not fully grasp if they were only to hear them explained,” (Wright, 2015, p. 273). I see this strategy used inside of my classroom as well and have found it very efficient. Thank you once again for sharing your insightful interview with your mentor teacher!
ReplyDeleteHello Jessica!
DeleteThanks for leaving me a comment on my blog entry. I agree that the visuals are the most important thing to include when teaching ELL students. Without it, students will not be able to understand what we are trying to teach them. Yes, her strategies were very informative, and I hope you were able to take some of them and use them in your own classroom. It really is nice to be able to hear an educator’s perspective on how to instruct ELLs and even being able to experience a classroom environment with the strategies in place.
Very true! I think visuals also go back to the different learning styles our ELL students may have. Students may respond better with pictorial manipulatives than simply relying on verbal expression. Also, I believe that visuals play a significant role in accompanying new words to already, preexisting schema students have!
DeleteHello Jessica! Thank you for sharing your informative interview with us! It seems that your mentor teacher is very good at recognizing what her students need and how they learn the best. Wright says that “teachers tailor instruction to the unique language and academic needs of each student, that is, they need to provide differentiated instruction” (p. 265). It is important for teachers to know how to best teach their students so that they can teach each student the best. I love the question you asked about high stakes testing and whether or not it was beneficial to her students. It was very interesting to hear her perspective on the issue.
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa!
DeleteThank you for your informative comment. I agree with your statement that my mentor teacher recognizes what is best for her students needs. She works very hard at making sure her ELLs are getting the best out of the lesson. Yes, her perspective on high stakes tests was definitely interesting to learn, as I also agree that high stakes testing can harm students in a way that puts pressure on them in demonstrating their knowledge.
Jessica, I agree! High stakes testing definitely puts pressure on students. Standardized testing in general can be hard for students especially ELL students. Many of these tests have a strong bias toward English speaking students and can be difficult to understand for ELL students who might not have a strong grasp on the language.
DeleteHello Jessica!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this interview with us! I like how your mentor teacher did not test them from high-stake test but more on an everyday questioning level or how much they can comprehending. “What the classroom teachers learn about the ELLs through ESL instruction can help them tailor the language and content objective of their sheltered content-area instructions to appropriate levels” (Wright, 2015, pg. 108). I think that through informal observations, you could gain more insight on what your students need because high stake exams on more complex and you only get a small sample of what the ELL student actually know.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.
Hello Taylor,
DeleteThank you for your intriguing comment! I love the quote you mentioned in your comment, it really captures what classroom teachers do for their ELL students. Mrs. Agnihotri's perspective was intriguing to listen to when considering if high stakes testing is truly beneficial for ELL students. I also agree that through informal observations, we are able to see more of what the student knows than through a high stakes exam.
Taylor, I also found this refreshing! I think that with the way standardized testing is these days, formative assessment can be, in many ways, a more effective method of gauging students' understanding of material. ELL's are not nearly accommodated enough, in particular, on these tests, therefore everyday questioning really helps to show what they actually do and do not comprehend.
DeleteHi there Jessica, Mrs. Agnihotri sounds like a wonderful teacher! She really seems to know what she is doing and how to help her students become successful. Not only are the strategies she is using helpful for her ELLs, but they would be helpful to others as well! I agree that high-stakes tests are not what’s best for ELLs. I think that she as the teacher really knows her students and I know from personal experience that high-stakes tests don’t always accurately measure a students knowledge and skills.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashlyn,
DeleteThank you for your comment. I agree that the strategies are great for all students and not just the ELLs. And yes, your comment about the high stakes testing is correct. I think it is better for the ELLs to be tested through informal observations, as students who are taking the high stakes tests can become overwhelmed by the number of questions they have to answer.