LindseyMcKeenPolizzotti 3/4/16

ProfessionalLearningNetworkReflection1

MeetingwithcolleaguestodiscussthecontentfromtheRETELLcourseandits
applicationtoourschoolcommunityhasbeeninformativeandthoughtprovoking.Thisweekwe
focusedonidentifyinginteractivestrategiesmentionedinmoduleAandhowtheyare
incorporatedwithinourclassrooms.MostgradesregularlyusestrategiessuchasTurnand
TalkandThink,Pair,Sharesinceourclassroomshavestudentssittingwiththeirpeersat
tablesratherthanatdesks.Thisallowsforstudentstimetothink,processanditcreatesa
comfortableenvironmenttopracticetalkingabouttheirthoughtsbeforesharingwiththeclass.I
seethisasabenefittoallstudents,butcanespeciallyhelpanEnglishLanguageLearnerby
providingthestudentwithacomfortableenvironmentthroughspecificseatingarrangementsto
discusstheirthoughtsandpracticespeaking.ItalsoallowsELLstoconnectwiththeirpeers
andbuildboththeBICSandCALPlanguage.
Inaddition,mostteachersuseicebreakeractivitiessuchastheSnowballatthe
beginningoftheyeartohelpstudentsgettoknowoneanother.WithESLstudents,thisshould
bedonemorefrequentlythroughouttheyeartohelpfacilitateconnectionsbetweenallstudents
andtohelpencourageacommunitythatappreciatesdiversity.Wealsoidentifiedanumberof
strategiesmentionedthatareusedbysometeachersandcouldbefurtherusedtomeetthe
needsofESLstudents,suchas,SentenceStarters,Quickwrites,GraphicOrganizers,Clock
Buddies,WordWall,ReducingLinguisticLoad,andHeterogeneousGroupings.Werecognized
thatsomestrategiesandclasscontentaremorefittosomestrategiesoverothers,butthatany
classcantakeadvantageofthesestrategiestohelpELLstudentsbuildtheiracademic
languageandconnectwithpeerswithinourcommunity.
TheconversationcenteredaroundtheeducationalandliteracyinformationofourELL
studentsandhowitcaninformourpracticewasinteresting.Werecognizedwedohavesome
information,butweshouldbegatheringmuchmoretohelpinformourpractice.Forexample,
wecurrentlyhavefamilylanguagesurveys,howeveritdoesntaskformanyspecificsotherthan
whatlanguagesarespokenathome.Forexample,wedontknowifthechildrenspeakEnglish
whiletheparentsspeakanotherlanguage,socioeconomicinformation,etc.Wediscussed
maybestartinghomevisitsandfindingoutfromparentswhattheeducationalbackgroundofthe
ELLstudent.WealsoidentifiedthestruggleofbeinganoutsiderintheMarbleheadcommunity
andthoughtitmaybebeneficialtoassignthefamiliesofELLstudentsanotherBuddyFamily.
TheBuddyFamilycouldhelpintegratethefamilyoftheESLstudentintothecommunity,help
keeptheminformed,andbeasourceofsupportforthefamilythroughouttheyear.
IfeeltheWIDAresourceshelpmeinterprettheWAPTresults(andwillbehelpfulwith
theACCESSresultsoncewehavethem)tounderstandwhatabilitiesthatstudentmayhavein
anacademicsettingintermsofreading,writing,speaking,andlistening.Inaddition,Iamable
tointerprettheirabilitieswithintheclassroomtohelpidentifytheneedforlanguagebased
differentiation.Whileahumanitiesteachermaynotneedseparatelanguageandcontentbased
objectives,Iverecognizedtheimportanceofusingbothlanguageandcontentbasedobjectives
inmymathandscienceclassestomeettheneedsofESLstudents.MovingforwardIam
workingtodevelopstronglanguageobjectivesforthispurpose.OnethingIbroughtupand
discussedisanobservationthatIhavemadeisthatmanyofourstudentsfirstlanguagesare
primarilyattheBICSlevelastheyusethemtocommunicateintheirhomelife,sincemanywere
bornintheUnitedStatestheyhavealwaysattendedschoolinEnglish.Thismakesmethinkas
manyofthereadingsmentionedtheimportanceofcontinuingeducationintheirnativelanguage
todeveloptheacademicthinkingthatwillthenapplytotheirenglishlanguagelearning.I
wonderwhatadditionalstrategiescouldbeusedforthosestudentswhodonothavethe
academiclanguagepieceintheirfirstlanguage.Overall,Ihavefoundmyselfthinkingalot
moredeeplyabouthowtoaddresstheneedsofELLsthroughtheRETELLcourseandour
professionallearningnetworkmeetingsandknowIwillimprovemyteachingasIlearnmore
strategiestomeettheneedsofmystudentsnowandinthefuture.