Before going to Brigham my goals for working with
English Language Learners were to gain more confidence and become more
comfortable with English Language Learners. Also, I wanted to become more aware
of their struggles they face in the classroom. Throughout my experience at
Brigham I hope to learn how to provide differentiation instruction for ELL
students and to learn effective ways to communicate with these students. Even
though this was my first time in the classroom with these students, I was still
able to observe a lot when it comes to a diverse classroom with many ELL
students. I noticed that many of the students were very quiet and afraid to
answer when we asked them questions. Some students also answered for others
that were sitting next to them if we did not understand what they said. The
teacher also repeated some of the student’s names if we weren’t sure what they
were. This could relate to how they do not understand what we were asking. I
have experienced this kind of situation in my PDS classroom. I have done
assessments with some of my students and I would ask the students questions and
the ELL students struggled with knowing what to say. I think the more practice
and experience I get with these students, the easier it will become to learn
ways to teach them.
Since
it was our first day we mainly focused on just getting to know the students,
but I think we could have done more extending an activity about the five senses.
We started with a getting to know you game about going on a picnic then we read
a book and closed with a song about the five senses. Our lesson went faster
than we anticipated, so now we know to plan more and be prepared for this to
maybe happen again. I think we thought the getting to know you game was going
to go longer than it did. The students seemed to enjoy the song that we sang
with them about the five senses, so we probably could have done something more
after the song. We could have included a video such as this http://www.pinterest.com/pin/170362798377803877/
to show them an extra visual and song of the five senses. We also could have
done an activity such as bringing in a Mr. Potato Head figure and going over
each part like reviewing what we do with our eyes or what we do with our ears.
This would have been a fun way to talk about the five senses with preschoolers.
This
time I felt like I personally did not do as much as I could of while we were
there. I think we could have planned better and made sure each of us were in
charge to lead a part of the lesson. The next time I am in the classroom I will
help more while I’m in the classroom and work more towards reaching my goals
and what I want to learn while I am there. Each time that I go to the classroom
I will work towards getting more experience with ELL students and finding ways
to get more involved while I am there. I want to work towards making the
initiative to work with these students, instead of standing back being afraid
to do something.
Exceeds: I included a video and extension activity about the five senses.
