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Private: Teaching Reading: 3-5 Workshop
Teaching English Language Learners Reflect on Your Learning | Teaching English Language Learners
What Did You Learn?
Assignment
Think about what you have learned about teaching English language learners from Professor Jiménez’s comments and the classroom examples. Write a summary of what you have learned. Use the questions below to guide your thinking. When you have finished, save your written work to submit as an assignment and, if you are taking this workshop for credit, include it in your Literacy Practices Portfolio.
- Which ideas from the video were most helpful to you in teaching your students who are learning English as a second language?
- What changes in your classroom environment will you make to support English language learners?
- How will you include students in choosing books and other classroom materials that reflect their language and culture?
- What instructional strategies or practices might you begin to implement immediately?
- What questions do you still have about meeting the needs of English language learners?
Final Project
If you are taking this workshop for credit, complete the next section of the Literacy Practices Portfolio.
Create a Literacy Practices Portfolio
Assignment
If you are taking this workshop for credit, continue constructing your portfolio of instructional practices. When you have finished, save your written work to submit as an assignment. Your portfolio for this workshop will include the following four items:
- current practices in place in your classroom
- changes you would like to make
- a description of one change you have implemented
- evidence of student learning
1. Current practices
Include your written response from What Do You Do? Then, describe two of your English language learners. What are their literacy strengths? How can you build on these strengths to facilitate English language learning? What are the specific areas in which they struggle (background knowledge, vocabulary, fluency and accuracy, comprehension, writing)? What strategies will you use in your instruction? You may want to consider talking to parents, teachers, or a bilingual specialist to learn more about students’ background, academic successes, needs, and strengths.
2. Changes you would like to make
Include your written response from What Did You Learn?
3.One change you have implemented
a. Make a change
Choose one instructional change that you described in What Did You Learn? to implement now. What is your thinking behind making this change? Describe the change in detail and explain how it will be implemented (e.g., an instructional practice, a lesson plan, a plan for modeling a strategy, etc.). What are the expected outcomes for student learning? Design a lesson plan and implement this change.
b. Reflect on the change
Write a brief reflection about what worked when you implemented this change and what you will change the next time you teach this lesson. (If you are taking this workshop during the summer, describe the learning goals and expected outcomes of this change.)
4. Evidence and explanation of student learning
In this section of your portfolio, you will submit evidence that demonstrates student learning. Explain how students exhibited better comprehension through your instruction. Listed below are possible pieces of evidence:
- a journal entry
- a student reflection
- a student response to reading
- evidence of use of a personal or bilingual dictionary
- notes from a teacher-student reading conference
- notes from a student think-aloud
- observational notes from a book discussion
- a video recording of a book discussion
- an audio recording of a discussion group
- evidence of student engagement through an authentic activity
