There are
three goals that I am working towards while being in the classroom at Brigham.
These goals include gaining more confidence with English Language Learners,
becoming more comfortable working with ELL students, and becoming more aware of
these student’s struggles they face in the classroom. Every other week when I
am in the classroom, I am working towards these goals and trying to figure out
things I can do in order to improve what I am struggling with. I have a handful
of ELL students in my PDS classroom, but every child is different and it takes
time in order to get to know them.
This week I
was in the preschool classroom as a teacher assistant. While I was there I took
the time to observe the students and help with the lesson about the sense of
smell. I was able to interact with the students more than the first time I was
there. I sat at one table helping 3 or 4 students with the activity. Some of
the students were very quiet and it was hard for me to understand what they
were saying at times. I had to listen carefully and be right at their level. I
also worked on looking directly at them to help hear what they were saying. I
would ask them questions and repeat what they said to see if I understood
correctly. This was working throughout the activity and I was able to write
down things they were saying. This helped me to become more comfortable while
working with the students.
Even though
it was only my second time being in the preschool classroom, I think it will
gradually get easier working with the ELL students. I also think it is easier
once we get to know them and interact with them multiple times. It’s easier to
gain more confidence when you know the students and their personalities. While
I was there, I was starting to pick up on how the students were acting and what
they say the most. Before starting PDS and coming to Brigham, I have not had
many experiences with working with ELL students. Therefore, I was very nervous
before I started because I was unsure of how I would react or how I would teach
students when there is a language barrier. I have taken all of these
opportunities as learning experiences and have tried to grow from all of them.
I believe
over time my goals will become easily achieved. The more I work with ELL
students, the more comfortable and confident I become. I know I will never have
full confidence because there is always room to grow and things to learn when
working with ELL students. During my time in the classroom this week I did
start to see some of the struggles these students have. Many of them had
confused looks on their faces and looked to their peers for help with what to
do. I want to continue to give support to ELL students and encourage them that they
can do it.
This is a
website that teachers can explore to learn more about ELL students, teaching
ideas, or resources that might be helpful. http://www.uen.org/k12educator/ell/
Exceeds: I went over the word requirement and included a
helpful website.
1 comment:
Megan,
I like that you mentioned the difficultly hearing and understanding the students. I would have to say that I had the same problem. Sometimes I struggled to figure out if the student was speaking English or Spanish or a combo of both. I would bet that sometimes in certain cultures students have a hard time making eye contact with adults and teachers. At that age children do not understand that it is important to look at someone who you are talking too.
This time around we were able to interact more with the students, which is the whole point of us being at Brigham. I think the biggest part I personally struggle with is knowing the students names. We aren’t in there enough to know their names and I think it is degrading to have the students wear name tags. I hope that this will get better over time. The only way to get better at something is to keep doing it even if it isn’t easy.
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