I was able to interview and set up time to collaborate with both the ELL/ESL teacher (Mrs. Richert) and our Literacy specialist (Mrs. Loritsch) during the field hours required for this course. I have spent many hours working with and observing Mrs. Loritsch due to her using my classroom during a planning period. Mrs. Richert just returned from a semester of maternity leave and is looking forward to having me to bounce ideas off of and discuss ideas surrounding literacy. Since I have worked closely with Mrs. Loritsch, I felt that using Mrs. Richert for this blog entry would be more appropriate.
Thoughts on literacy:
She is a firm believer that ELL students cannot begging to truly learn literacy skills until they are motivated to do so. She sets up tasks that push the students to find something that they are interested in. By finding ways of motivating them and then picking text that is close to the reading level but slightly above, students are more likely to show growth. She is also a big proponent of covering all four areas of literacy (speaking, listening, reading and writing) in each and every class period. As this is the basis for the scaffolding described in both Gibbons and Freeman, I look forward to observing her classroom later this week.
On an expansion note, we also discussed the trend that more and more ELL students are being mainstreamed and even as she put it "kicked out of " ESL classes at the secondary. This follows along the lines of what Gibbons talks about in Chapter 1 under integrating language and content. She finds this a trend that is not helping these students make large gains in the gaps they have due to the failure to train the content area teachers specifically how to teach ELLs. The main deficiency that content area teachers have is being able to separate the ability for the students to copy words in English or read fluently the words in English, but fail to comprehend what they are reading. In fact, she stressed that the students we see in our high school are very adept at the fluency of reading in English. It is the comprehension that all struggle with. So she spends much of her time at the secondary level with a focus upon comprehension/vocabulary. She will do this in context, but does mini-lessons on the grammatical structure of sentences so that comprehension is improved. Ultimately, she would like to see more teachers be wars of the dynamics with the ESL population.
Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you mention motivation as a factor. I know we've talked about this in just about every class, but it really is a deciding factor in whether or not students succeed. I think differentiation and motivation go hand-in-hand, as I often find that students provided with choice and various means of expressing themselves are more engaged in the process of learning, and thereby more motivated to succeed.
I also like that you note the difference between actual readers and passive decoders. Sometimes these kids can fake their way through challenging literacy tasks. Your cooperating teacher is smart to focus on comprehension and vocabulary. I reminds me of our last class (I'm pretty sure you were in it) when we talked so much about gap populations needing extra and specific attention.
All great points, and thanks for sharing!
Julie H
Julie -
DeleteAfter spending over an hour today observing the ESL/ELL classroom she teaches, it makes great sense as to why comprehension is the focus. The high school students that she have are coming from refugee camps in Asia and one from Mexico. Very few have been in formal education even in their own language. The teacher knows that these students will need 5+ years just to get a foundation of academic language. This is far more then she will have them in class. So the target changed to be working comprehension and not all the intricacies of English language. Very interesting to observe.
- Matt
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI agree that motivation is important, but I think your comment about choosing something slightly above their reading level is even more important. If a text is too difficult, the students will get frustrated and give up, but if it is too easy they they are not really continuing to expand their knowledge. I am glad that she is consciously trying to incorporate the 4 areas of literacy, because that will also help support the ELL students in the mainstream classroom, since they do get less and less support as they progress through grade levels.
~Lindsay
Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteI love how the first thing she mentions is motivation. We seem to cover this topic A LOT in education, and I feel this is because of the importance. Motivation is key in getting ANY student to learn. I think when you hear a teacher talk about it; it just solidifies the role it plays. I was really surprised to hear most ELL students at the high school level are high in fluency but low in comprehension. I find the comprehension is low because of vocabulary and context, but usually see at the elementary level that fluency is also low. This was interesting to hear. It really sounds like you are able to see firsthand the help these students are receiving and the strategies used. I am looking forward to your findings!
Amberlyn