Tami+Bailey

=**TC: 9-18-2012 Response: Tami, for a methods class, I really feel like actually teaching at the same time your studying books and research will help you learn the most. Thanks for being patient with the situation. You chapter work has focused already on so many of the key issues: the need for quality teaching and programs for ELLs, the time it takes to learn another language, and social versus academic language. Great work!**=

=**__Homework__**=

**Chapter 1** As I read chapter 1, I was reminded of an experience I had last year in a local junior high school. To fulfill an assignment, I spent several hours volunteering alongside the schools ESL aide. I was shocked and saddened by the lack of education the students in her class were receiving. The aide (who’s qualifications were simply that she spoke Spanish) regularly gave students the answers to their homework assignments from the teachers manual. To clarify, by answers I mean - the answer to #5 is (a). When there was a class discussion, it was loaded with inaccurate information. I realize that this rant sounds like an attack on the aide but that is not my intention. It was clear to me from the beginning that her intentions were sincere. She genuinely cared about the kids however; she and her students were set up to fail. She was expected to be an expert in all core subjects and effectively teach in her second language without any training. Reading chapter 1 also reminded me of how important it is to learn as much as I possibly can so that when I am in a position to make a difference in the life of my ELS/ELL students I will have the skills back my intentions.

Chapter 2 left me feeling a little hopeless. It sounded, to me, like “hurry up and wait”. I understand what the author is saying about needing research to develop an effective plan and I agree that intentions are useless without solid, workable information. Yet, I have to believe that with opinions and instincts, based on the educational experience, I will have the foundation necessary to effectively establish an environment where students will learn and progress. I realize that an ESL minor will put me in a position to be one of a few, or possibly the most qualified ESL teachers in the school and frankly that terrifies me. I have so much to learn in the next few years. Hopefully by the time I get into the school setting, fewer schools will function (or dysfunction) like they are around the country today.
 * Chapter 2 **

There are two main points in this chapter that were evident to me in the school setting I was able to observe. First is the discrepancy between social and academic language. One of the students I observed was socially fluent. Talking to him in the hall you would never suspect a language barrier. Yet, in the classroom it was very apparent that the technical aspects of the English language were almost completely foreign to him. He spoke English with his friends and at home Spanish was his only language. Because of this, it was difficult for him engage in the academic world. His parents were not able to effectively communicate with his teachers therefor, he never really had an advocate to stand up for him and demand that he be educated. He was labeled as “slow” and put aside. I was fascinated by him because when the class was engaged in a conversation or history discussion (in a misguided sort of way) he would internalize information and formulate questions just like any other “smart” kid his age. He was clearly labeled incorrectly and therefore not given direction that could help him effectively progress. The second point I found interesting is the LTELs in the junior high and high school setting seem to be given up on. I was talking to a junior high teacher last year who was working on getting her TSOL endorsement (? spelling and title). She told me that her district was cutting all of the funding for junior high and high school ESL programs in order to redirect funds to the elementary programs. Her frustration, which makes complete sense, was that students who had already passed their elementary years and students who move from another country after elementary would not receive the quality of help they needed to be successful.
 * Chapter 3 **

TC (9-25): Program development is a crucial area we need to work on across the country for a variety of important groups: ELLs, Generation 1.5, autistic students, early college, etc.

Chapter 4 was insightful and reassuring, after reading chapter 2. I was excited to be reading about the stages and types of language acquisition. Although I have been exposed to these terms in past classes, I don’t think I gave them the credit they deserve until reading it this time. The first time I was exposed to the terms I had never worked with ESL students so I skimmed through the terms and neglected to commit them to any practical knowledge. After working with an ESL student who was in the “nonverbal period”, I can better appreciate what this student was going through. In the future I will be less likely to overcompensate and stress myself, and the student, to the point of being uncomfortable. I‘m not sure yet how to handle this stage but I’m sure it will be addressed in the future.
 * Chapter 4 **

TC (9-25): Good point about the nonverbal period. It's actually a very creative stage, a time when language learners are building up vocabulary and processing how the new language works.


 * Teaching Observation 1 **

I’m not sure if anxious or excited best describe the way I felt when I learned that our class would be combined an ESL English 1010 class. Initially I was overwhelmed by the prospect of working with (tutoring) other college students. However, after interviewing Jonny I realized that we both are in unchartered territory and this particular territory has the potential to provide tremendous insight. Jonny was polite and patient as I asked him, several times, to repeat his name and where he was born. I’m not sure if the confusion was caused by the language barrier, or if it was caused by the fact that I was coming from a place of assumption. After learning that Jonny is a Spanish speaking Chinese student from Costa Rica. I decided that I would have to be careful not to make assumption but instead listen closely for the facts.

TC (9-25): Your tutoring and conversational assistance will be very much appreciated by the 1010 international students.

__ Chapter 5 __

For me, the question “What does the student require to be successful,” outlines the most important concept introduced in this chapter. There are so many different ways to approach language instruction that it leaves me feeling a little overwhelmed. I found myself referring back to the second paragraph for a reminder that I don’t have to have everything figured out yet. I tend to want everything to be either black or white and neatly packaged. I realized while reading this chapter that until I have my own class full of individual students, I can’t know which program is best. With that being said, in my not quite a teacher yet opinion, I think a combination of ESL and sheltered instruction, in a mainstream setting, would work best for the Title 1 school that I have spent the most time observing. It seems to me that the students suffer in content instruction because they either can’t communicate effectively with their core teacher’s or the teachers that can effectively communicate with them are not familiar with the core material. There should be an online program that allows students to receive content material in their native language so that individual schools would not have to shoulder the expense of having qualified tutors/teachers in every possible language and subject.

Nov 19 (TC): For me the question is not which type of language program is best, but realizing that it takes time to learn another language: several years just to be able to communicate verbally, and even more than that to learn how to read, write, and speak about a variety of topics, both social and academic (science, history, literature). A "good" program takes this scientific aspect of learning another language seriously and also provides quality aspects of comprehensible input and a challenging yet friendly atmosphere for both practical and creative learning. There are no programs or approaches that can magically in just a year or so make students fluent in language and at high levels of content knowledge. Instead, we have to be committed to students learning English as their second language for the long haul, throughout their elementary school years, or secondary school years, or entire university degree.


 * __ Chapter 6 __**

The other day, I was talking to a neighbor who teaches English and ESL for young adult and adult students. She told me that her students are expected, by the administration, to progress to intermediate/advanced fluency within three to four months of their entrance into the program. She has been out of school fifteen or more years and was not familiar with the “Levels of Language Acquisition”. As I outlined, in a very generic way, the different levels, I could see a look of relief on her face. She knew the expectations were unrealistic, but she had no one to back her up. I can only imagine that her situation is not that uncommon and her frustration is shared with teachers that spend their days working with students while administrators and law makers blindly write the rules.

Nov 19 (TC): Of course we can't wait for the necessary years of language acquisition, both conversational and academic, to develop. It's just that true ESL students need comprehensible input and academic support as they go through school. Also students who are already verbally fluent (many have lived in the U.S. for many years) need a different kind of instruction than ESL classes. Some need reading & writing support. Others are not getting ESL or mainstream instruction, but instead are being put in classes where they are getting too much drill and direct instruction, often the kind that is actually designed for students in special education, when they really need creative and challenging instruction which draws on their own natural learning abilities.

__ Tutoring Observation __

I enjoyed working in small groups this week. I meet Tohar(?) for the first time and was glad to work with Salem(?) again. The thing I found most beneficial was having another teaching student in my group. It helped see other ways to interact/communicate with the 1010 students. I worry that I won’t be able to find the right words to help, in fact at times it feel like I confuse them more.

Nov 19 (TC): Don't worry your friendly concern and intelligent interaction are great strengths you can always draw from.

__ Chapter 7 __

There were two concepts in chapter seven that stood out for me. The first concept was the discrepancy between BICS and other forms of language acquisition. I saw this first hand, in a junior high setting, where one student’s listening and speaking levels were a high 4 or 5 and his reading and writing were maybe a 2. I was never able to see how he interacted in a mainstream class, but judging on the interactions with the aide it seemed that most of his teachers believed he was capable of producing the necessary work, but was simply too lazy to comply. If I remember correctly he was regularly under a “do it or else” threat, which lead to failure after failure as the teacher’s expectations were unmet. The second thing I found interesting was idea of planning differentiated assessments so that all students can be challenged to progress with the help of appropriate scaffolding. It seems to me that this will be one of the biggest challenges of teaching ESL students. Understanding the individual needs of a mainstream native speaker sounds challenging to me at this point. Hopefully, time, knowledge, desire and page 57 will help me to give accurate assessments and develop successful, challenging and appropriate instruction.

Nov 19 (TC): "Differentiated instruction" is often misunderstood. This form of meaningfully varying instruction is not meant for students of too-widely differing language ability levels or content knowledge. For example, it's unprofessional to ask a teacher to be expected to teach both basic math and algebra students in the same class and to supposedly "differentiate instruction" so that both groups get what they need. Similarly, a teacher can't differentiate instruction meaningfully for beginning ESL students mainstreamed in a class of native speakers of English. It is also still too often the case that native Spanish speakers are put into beginning Spanish classes in junior high and high school and the Spanish teachers are expected to "differentiate" for them by giving them advanced reading and writing instruction while they are trying to teach a large class of students learning Spanish for the first time. This is inferior program design that cannot meet the needs of students or teachers.

__ Chapter 8 __

For me, Chapter 8 was like an arrow to the heart. When I first glanced at figure 8.1, I was flooded with the emotions that defined my childhood. You see, though I was not an ESL student, I was a failure as a k-12 student. We moved at least once a year. Therefore, keeping up academically was almost impossible. As a result, I spent most of my energy making friends and avoiding the disapproving eyes of the adults in nearly every school that I attended. It wasn’t until I went to college, a few years after high school, that l realized if I applied myself I could be successful. It was this realization followed by twenty two years of parenting that have confirmed for me a desire to become a teacher. As teachers we have the power to change and/or damage lives. I personally will do everything in my power to change lives for the better. I’m sure every new teacher believes this, the challenge will be to not let the desire be overrun by the challenges of reality.

Nov 20 (TC): That's why teaching is such an exciting career: We're directly influencing students' lives in meaningful ways.

__ Tutoring Observation __

Today was the most interesting day so far. The conversations, between the scenes of the movie, changed my perception about the students in our class. I was functioning under the impression that most of the Middle Eastern students were from the same culture/ nationality. It was endearing to hear their individual stories and to learn about their cultures and immigration struggles. I will definitely use movies and other similar tools to build bridges for the students in my classes to better understand and appreciate each other.

Nov 20 (TC): There are so many layers of the social and cultural aspects of teaching. People not only have unique larger cultural identities, but also are distinctive according to groups within those larger cultures and of course have their own unique families, friends, individual personalities, and life experiences.

__ Chapter 9 __

Chapter 9 is difficult for me to reflect and/ or respond to, because it exceeds my practical knowledge and experience. However, I can see the future value in referencing this information and strangely, it’s my favorite chapter so far. Fulfilling ESL minor requirements before entering the teaching program often puts me in a position of feeling like I have cheated to be in the class or made a mistake and I, consequently, lack the necessary back ground knowledge to perform. I’m fairly certain that at the beginning of every ESL class that I have taken so far, I have at some point referred back to the syllabus to make sure I didn’t accidently skip a prerequisite. Chapter nine relieves some of the anxiety because it gives me something concrete to refer to. Also, as I read the chapter, I remembered that I had an extra copy of the book and a friend that teaches English in a newly designated Title I school that, along with her co-workers, is struggling to make the necessary adjustments. I think she will find this book very useful.

__ Chapter 10 __

As I read Mrs. Lee’s scenario, I did an emotional face-plant on the line that states “The teacher uses the popsicle sticks with students’ names on them to call on students”. To this day, if I am in a class where I feel that I might be called on to read aloud, or perform on the spot, I freeze up and all learning comes to a screeching halt. I become so completely caught up in the fear that I might make a fool out of myself. I don’t hear a word that goes on around me. I read ahead to insure that if I am going to stumble on a word or sentence, it happens first in my head so I have a chance to correct it. By the end of the class I may or may not have read without error but without a doubt I will have learned nothing from the instruction. I know it sound crazy that as an adult, future English teaching, college student I still struggle so deeply with this, but the fear of public rejection is a universal human trait and when the conformation of rejection is planted in a child or young adult it doesn’t easily go away. I would never call a student out in front of their peers whether they were an ESL student or not. Thankfully we are learning and teaching in a time when it’s understood that public demonstration/humiliation is not necessary in order to asses a student’s abilities and knowledge.

Chapter 11

This is my new favorite chapter, for two reasons. First, there are so many great ideas on how to connect with the students and families in you school/community. Second, there is a tone that carries through the ideas and serves as a reminder that parents, from all cultures, love their children. It is too easy to live by assumptions and in a school where students are under performing, the assumption is often that the parents simply don’t care enough to give their children the direction/guidance they need. Growing up with a single mom, I saw first-hand how love alone is not enough. My mom worked herself to complete exhaustion because she loved us; however survival was all she had the energy or know-how to insure. She was uneducated herself, so valuing the benefit of education was simply not a part of her reality. I believe that if she had found support and education for herself, she would have used it to better our lives as well. I look forward to being a part of (or implementing) a program that provides support and education to both students and their families.

Nov 20 (TC): I like the ways you frequently include personal examples and experiences. Feel free to include those in your final reflection paper for the semester.

Chapter 12

I need to start this response with a disclaimer of sorts. So here goes… I realize that this class (and subsequently this text book) is an ESL class. However, I was bothered as I read about funds of knowledge. In not sure I have the writing skills to accurately convey what I’m feeling but I will try. I was not bothered because I disagree with everything the author or quoted researchers said about “cultural deficit model”. It seems to me that the issue is more of a social economical discrimination issue and not so much cultural discrimination. There are many cultures that are viewed as more discipline or academic than most American cultures (groups/communities?). And, in my experience the students from these driven academic cultures are elevated above their American peers. As teachers we will be interacting with a school full of students who pull from all different “funds of knowledge” and all of our students both in the minority and majority will benefit equally from a deepened level of understanding. As a mother of all boys I have experienced some frustrating moments at the hands of a professionals who were trying to “right the wrongs” of society. For example, my son worked for weeks on a particular science fair project and during the judging there was a mix up and his state invitation was awarded to the girl with the project next to him. Because the teacher in charge of the science fair was so excited (as clearly stated in the awards ceremony) to be sending three girls to state, she refused to consider the mistake (even though it was obvious). I realize that I sound like an overprotective parent but social over correction (sorry…made up term) really can be a problem in our schools. With that being said, I really did enjoy the information in this chapter.

Nov 20 (TC): I think I understand what you're saying. There are many ways to unfortunately unfairly value one group over another. "Funds of knowledge," correctly applied, should involve the recognition that students and their families of every type of background should not be defined by some perceived "problems" or "deficits" but rather their own unique abilities, interests, and knowledge about life should be discovered and valued.

Chapter 13

A few semesters ago, I did a research paper for an English class on compassion in education and through that research I was exposed to many amazing teachers. The idea that “teachers do matter” is so apparent when observing the effect a teacher can have on their students, if they are willing to invest time into understanding individual and specific needs. The best example I found of this is a teacher named Rafe Esquith. Esquith is committed to making his classroom a place where students succeed despite the overwhelming odds against them. One of the ways Esquith addresses the unique needs of his students is to provide food in his classroom for students that may not eat once they leave school. He also involves the students and their families in community activities and provides the support students need to meet his high expectations. I realize that not all teachers are able to commit the time and money Esquith does. However, there is a powerful lesson to be learned from his example in overcoming odds through compassion, understanding and a willingness to address the unique needs of your students. At this point in my education, some of the information in this chapter is over my head but I plan on keeping this book as a reference. Hopefully, when I catch up to the “lingo” I will be better able to make good use of the information.

Chapter 14

Last year, I worked with a girl who had only been in the country for a few months. She was very shy and opted out of speaking as much as possible. I was new to ESL, and though I had read about the silent stage I had not connected it to this girl’s behavior. I watched her with intense curiosity. She was a very bright girl and when given a chance to do her work in Spanish she was one hundred percent committed. She had beautiful handwriting and all of her work was neat and organized. I am certain she was a top student in her country. You are probably wondering how this is connected to chapter fourteen… well as much as I enjoyed revisiting the “Domains” and seeing how they are used in a classroom, it was the “fifth (not legitimate but very important) domain – thinking” that caught my attention and reminded me of the million questions this little girl sparked in me. I often wondered how much time would pass before she would be challenged academically. I couldn’t help but wonder if she would lose her commitment to excel if she spent too much time in the broom closet with her ESL peers simply going in circles. I know I sound critical, but it is heart breaking to consider that time does not stand still for these kids and every moment wasted is chipping away at their furfures. The last page of this chapter helped me to identify what I saw missing in this girl’s education. I hope that I can figure out how to provide all five elements for my students.

Nov 20 (TC): That last domain can often be overlooked, especially when the emphasis is too often on repeating basic instructional models and over-valuing standardized tests which cannot measure complex "thinking" abilities and knowledge.