Taylor Blair

EL Observation and Adaptation Plan

Observation
Mrs. Bryan put me in touch with Homewood Middle schools ELL teacher, Mrs. Miller,
and I was able to complete and hour long observation with Student B and Mrs. Miller working in
her classroom as well as observe student B in her general education social studies class. My time
in Mrs. Millers classroom was wonderful. Mrs. Miller was working with student B on her
vocabulary words, which also developed into learning sentence structure. Mrs. Miller explained
to me that student B had just moved to America with her family from Yemen. Student B speaks
very little English and her first language is Arabic. She is a very bright student, and has done
extremely well academically at her school in Yemen. When she first arrived, Mrs. Miller
introduced basic vocabulary that is used everyday including what you would find in the
classroom and around the school. Student B was taught letters, but is still learning upper and
lowercase and she begins to learn new words. Student B is extremely motivated and eager to
learn. Her father is fluent in English and spends time each night working with her and her brother
on their English. During her time in Mrs. Millers class she used a translation device on the iPad
to be sure she was understanding the correct meaning of the vocabulary word being introduced.
Mrs. Miller explained to me that she was working on teaching student Bs general classroom
teachers how to use the application to communicate more easily with her. Student B still
struggles with writing left to right, and when she accidently writes right to left her work is not
counted wrong. Mrs. Miller explained the importance of scaffold instruction rather than complete
immersion for student B. She has been introduced to a completely new culture, therefore it is
important for her to learn at a steady pace, learning one concept at a time. Another problem
student B faces that has affected her academics, is being included in a class with males.

Accommodations have been made, so that student B is not sitting with boys in her classrooms.
Slowly, she been able to sit at a same table as a male, and eventually was able to sit across from a
boy with the permission of her father. Student B is still not allowed to sit directly next to a boy.
Mrs. Miller explained that having males in the same classroom is so different to student B that it
does distract her from her work.
I was able to observe student B in her social studies class. For the ELL student, they do
not receive grades in science or social studies. The focus subjects for these students are reading
and math. In the general classroom, student B was working on her vocabulary rather than the
social studies activity. The general education teacher shared with me that when the student break
up into pairs to discuss or complete work, student B is put with two students, so that she can
observe and listen and learn how to communicate rather than get frustrated trying to
communicate to one student.
Adaptation Plan
Based on my observation of student B, appropriate and necessary accommodations have
already been made for student B to help her adapt and succeed in school. Mrs. Miller is working
on teaching student Bs teachers how to use and work the translation device on the iPad. I would
recommend that Mrs. Miller hold training session during break or after school for student Bs
teachers to all come at once to learn about the application. Also, it is important to incorporate
science and social studies content into reading activities and practices, to be sure that student B is
still exposed to the vocabulary and curriculum, but ultimately focusing on reading. Student Bs
father is very involved in further his daughters fluency and academic progress. The ELL teacher
can provide her father with a variety of resources she uses in the classroom, to help him use the
best practices at home, especially practices that are familiar to student B to keep consistency at

home and at school. Student Bs father is fluent and very involved, so it would benefit student B
for him to have access to the resources used at school. Necessary accommodations are made for
student B, but it is also important for student B to feel comfortable in maintaining her values and
culture. The seating arrangements with males was a great compromise between both student Bs
family and the cooperating teachers. It is important that student B is comfortable, learning the
ways of American culture, while still holding on to her roots of Middle East culture.