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End of Junior Field

I can't believe that my Junior field is over already. I am really going to miss seeing the students everyday. I am really glad that I did my junior field over the summer and got to see the students for three weeks straight as opposed to once a wekk for fifteen weeks. I really got to know many of the students, and had a lot of opportunities to work with the kids even out of the classroom in events like their History Expo and their club banquet. I feel as though I learned a ton from both my junior field experience and from this ELL class. I also really enjoyed reading all the blogs and seeing how other people's field experiences were going and how certain topics in this class were relevant to their field experience. I really feel as though I got a chance to connect with the students and I am actually going back to my school tomorrow to sign the kids yearbooks and possibly purchasing one of my own. I hope my student teaching is as pleasant as my junior field. I wish everyone the best of luck with their senior fields and I enjoyed blogging with everyone.

Check out the Blog from the other class!

http://espforellsinourclass.blogspot.com/

Thank you for a GREAT BLOG

I've been reading all along; visiting the sites you list, and thinking about your experiences, opinions and ideas. I've got to tell you, I'm really impressed with your "work" on this Blog. I started to comment on some of your postings, but have decided that it was too much, and I'm beginning to repeat myself.

"Great idea. Thanks for the info. That's really perceptive of you. Good for you for making the most of a teachable moment. That's brilliant! I wish I thought of that. Good for you! You're going to be a great teacher."

It's almost as if I could take each posting and pick one of the phrases above. Your comments on others' postings are also spot on. Several of you have emailed me to ask if you could continue blogging. My answer: BY ALL MEANS!

Full Disclosure: I'm back in my office to print out your papers. My home computer crashed earlier this week and I'll read those that have been submitted today over the weekend and retrieve the rest probably on Monday morning. I'm also posting this very same entry on both F1 & F3. Both of your classes did a bang-up job!

A few of you had a problem handing the paper in on time, and fulfilling the blog numbers on time. I will accept late stuff, but I'll have to take some points off--it's only fair to those who made a point of doing assignments on schedule.

Now here's the part that I regret: I wish you guys all used your real names. I can't place many of you; three meetings wasn't enough for me to get a handle on you individuals. If this wasn't summer, and this course wasn't one credit, I'd ask you to come get your papers from me in my office so I could have a little chat with each of you. I won't ask you for this; just wanted to let you know how I feel.

Enjoy your summer and

Additional Website

As I was doing my research for my final paper on Language Acquisition I found some interesting websites that I felt had a lot to offer. One website that I found particularly useful was one produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory(NWREL), which was entitled "General Principles for Teaching ELL Students" The website was very helpful for my paper on language acquisition and they have a list of ten guidelines to follow as a teacher of ELL students such as the importance of routines and to remember to use a lot gestures and visual aids. If you are interested the other ten are listed along with information on language acquisition the website is

http://www.nwrel.org/request/2003may/overview.html

The website is very clearly laid out and has some really great ideas. Hope you guys find it as interesting as I did.

Final Paper

I was spellchecking my final paper before I email it, and I was thinking that I can see myself in the future referring back to it. As a teacher, it's inevitable that I will have ELL students in my classroom. When I do, I know that I will refer back to the information I learned in this class, especially this paper, to help make sure that I can help them to the best of my ability. By using the information in the paper, I can identify the stage that the students are in, and use that to determine the best way to include them in the class and learn the content.

Reaction to Future Schools Article

After reading this article I too thought back to my educational career. I remember most lessons and tests merely relied on my ability to memorize details handed to me directly from the teacher or the reading. My only task in the whole educational process was to simply regurgitate facts and important dates. I think already the educational process is undergoing a tremendous amount of change. During my education courses over the years our focus has turned more to an inquiry-based approach for the students. The inquiry-based teaching approach helps students reach new levels of awareness and a initiates a higher level of student-centered involvement. The inquiry-based teaching strategy involves a process in which the students themselves explore the natural and material world and the relationships which exist within them. This method thus allows the students themselves to create their own knowledge and understanding. I think this inquiry-based method is closely related to the ideas put forth in this article. I think that education has come along way in a very short amount of time and it continues to change and evolve to benefit the students. The article focused on self-discovery and the ability to ask important questions, which both seem very closely related to the inquiry-based method of teaching.

Religious Diversity

The student population in America today is incredibly diverse. As we have talked about, students come from diverse ethnicities with diverse languages. It is also important to remember the diversity of religion in the classroom. I was teaching a lesson the other day about myths. We discussed myths and how they are important in forming different cultures and different beliefs. For my anticipatory set I thought it would be cool to talk about the myth of Count Dracula, which stems from Vlad the Impaler from the Dark Ages. I thought the story would really capture the students attention and at the same time relate it to something they already know some things about. Some how or another I got talking about Vlad the Impaler and how he was involved in the Crusades. The students then started asking me about the Crusades. I am majoring in history so I kind of got excited that the kids were excited about something historical so I continued to tell them about the Crusades(even though it was supposed to be an English lesson). Interestingly enough, there are several Muslim students in my class. I didn't even realize this until after I had almost taught a whole history lesson on the struggle between the Christians and the Muslims and the Crusades. I felt really awkward but after the lesson was over I had a great talk with my cooperating teacher. I wish I had thought about the Muslim students in the class before hand, but he told me that I was not offensive in anyway. In fact after the lesson was over it just so happened that the Muslim students were hanging out together and I nonchalantly asked them what they thought of the lesson and they all said that they enjoyed it.

Fairness

In another class I have we were discussing fairness for special populations and I thought it applied to this class. The point was made that fairness is based on an individual basis not class basis. It isn't fair to expect a student with a special need to function at the same level as mainstreamed students. Modifications should be made and the other students in the class do not need to be made aware of the modifications. Being fair is doing what it takes to get a child from point A to point B, even if it is something that other students do not need.

Fairness

In one of my other classes the subject of fairness for special populations came up and i thought it applied to ELLs. The point that was made that fairness is based on an individual basis not a class basis. It isn't fair to expect a child with a special need to function at the same level as mainstream students without some modifications being made for them. However, the modifications do not need to be made known to the rest of the class. I just though that was a good point that I wanted to share.

Potentially interesting article

Over the weekend I was looking through some articles of the New York Times and I found a particularly interesting article about the class system and how it effects children in school. While the article wasn't directly related to langauge diversity, I think it does reflect on financial diversity and how we as teachers must be cogniscent of the fact that very often our students will come from very financially divers homes, particularly in the public sector. The article reminded me of a discussion I had had in one of my educational psychology classes, in which we discussed Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Maslow basically states that in order for children to be able to focus on their education they must have certain needs fulfilled. Obviously, a student who has nothing to eat for days, will not be able to focus on a math or reading lesson. It is important that we remember this when we become teachers. Here is a link to the article that I read. It is kind of lengthy, about four pages on the website, but I personally found it pretty interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/magazine/10payne-t.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=bb499b7bf491dcb1&ex=1181620800

ESL guide for the Mainstream Teacher.

Hi, everyone...Here is a link I find very informative, it is similar in content to the material in the "Big Assignment", just not as long and easier to read in a few minutes while still obtaining a lot of information about ESL and ELL. It gives information about myths and facts about acquiring a second language, which is very helpful to prevent us from taking the "wrong" steps or decisions. It also gives information about the language acquisition stages and challenges both teachers and students will most likely face. Hope you find it helpful.
http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us/robbins/ESL%20Guide%20for%20the%20Mainstream%20Teacher.htm

Blogging

Blogging is a series of entries that are displayed on a website and shown in reverse chronological order. An early descendant of blogs are journals and diaries. Blogs are mostly written, but can also include audio clips, videos, music, photographs, etc. They have become very popular and are used by artists, politicians, and obviously in schools. I think blogging is a great tool to use to enrich a college level course. Blogging was especially effective in the course. I think that we were all able to feed off one another's opionions and information that we have relayed back and forth. I am looking into a Travelearn course in Peru during the winter break and they use blogging to enrich the experience that you have while on your trip! I think this method is very effective and could also be used with our future students, obviously with the older ones. It would be very effective in practicing communication skills, grammar, and internet skills. The web is something that should be incorporated into our classrooms as the world around us becomes more and more computer savvy.

This is a very good site!
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial037print.shtml
This site has blogging sites, tips for teachers, and examples from other classrooms!
http://www.my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=4992

An article about blogging in the classroom!
http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2005/06/000882.php
Steps toward a successful blog!
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/233

Remember, blogging does not have to be used only in a Language Arts class. Blogging should be considered for use in all subject areas to enrich the classroom. I hope that everyone considers using blogging in the future! Good Luck!

Reaction to Michael Moore

I think Michael Moore presented some real thought provoking issues in his article "Beware of the White Man". He provided his readers with a lot of compelling concrete statistics about the differences between "blacks and whites". I was particularly interested in the fact that the average "black" income is roughly 60% less than the average "white" income. I really think that he had some great research and facts. Unfortunately, I think Michael Moore has a tendency to be very over-dramatic. For example, I almost didn't get to read about some of these interesting statistics because I almost stopped reading the article after I skimmed over his ridiculous introduction. His supposed overwhelming fear of the white man was actually kind of offensive. His flare for the dramatic, in my mind, almost really destroyed an interesting article dealing with a serious issue that continues to plague American society. I believe that in many ways, racism unfortunately is still very much alive. I don't like however Mr. Moore's overzealous generalizations, refering to whites as "idiot", and implying that all whites are racists. This article contained a lot of interesting questions and statistics and I only wish it had been written by anyone other than him. I think that there could have been a much more appropriate way to convey his message, but maybe thats just me!

Interesting Experience

I had a very interesting experience the other day in school. I was teaching a lesson on Beowulf. Onviously teaching sixth grade, I had the class read a water down version of the story that appeared in their textbook. I then had the students do a six square activity, in which they folded the paper into six squares and I asked them to draw the most important scenes of the story. The story was pretty vague and didn't include many specifics. In the story there was a slave and in the story the slave didn't have a name. As I said in my earlier posts the class is pretty homogenious when it comes to ethnicity. There is however, one African American student named "D". All of the students drew the scene including the slave. It was interesting to see that all the children drew the slave in a dark color. One student even asked if he could name the slave in his picture "D". At first I felt an incredibly uncomfortable wave pass over me, but then I realized that the children had provided me with an incredible opportunity to teach. I then had them stop drawing and pay attention. I aked the students what they had known about slavery and all of them included African Americans in their explanations in some form or another. I then had the opportunity to tell them that many different cultures and ethnicities had been subjected to slavery at some point or another. I felt that this was an important topic, even though I had not planned to talk about it all.

Beware of the white man

I don't agree on everything Michael Moore is saying but racism occurs everywhere. I feel that he was blaming everything that went wrong on white men. Did he ever sit back and ask himself what did he do wrong that the "white man" treated him the way they did. It seems so easy to blame someone else for their wrong doings. As I kept reading I was becoming more irritated with the way he was speaking. I do believe there are many stereotypes about black people but I don't judge them as drug dealers, killers and muggers when I first meet them. No matter what we do or say racism will always be apart of society, as much as we want to change that it will still occur in every part of the world. I feel that Michael Moore is very naive how he speaks in this article.

Schools of the future

This article was interesting and had me go back and think how I was taught in school. In all my years of school I would read just to pass the class, it was never for pleasure. I didn't have a teacher that made reading fun or interesting and I feel that is the reason I don't like to read much now. This article is intriguing and had me realize that I need to do something for me to connect with readings. Once I become a teacher I want to have an impact on all the children in my class like this author has set to say.

Using this course in Junior Field

I wanted to share a story about one of my lessons that I did in Junior Field. We were reading a story called, "Conversational Ballgames," which contrasts the way Western society holds a conversation as opposed to Japanese society. I thought as an anticipatory set we could talk about cultural differences. I used the quiz that we received the first day of class. The students loved to hear about the different customs, and what everyday signs in our culture mean, which are different in other cultures. They were shocked about certain things too, such as how sitting with your legs crossed is an insult in Japanese culture. Some ideas the students did not grasp though, such as how the Japanese do not have formal conversation at dinner. The students were asking me questions like, "Well, if you can't talk at dinner how do you go on a date!?!" I was not prepared to answer these types of questions, but overall it went well. The discussion was fun and it really focused them in on the lesson.

?

I'm not sure if this really counts a a post or not but I was just wondering why the months are in Spanish on the side where all the blogs are listed now? I just noticed that has it changed multiple times or just this time? Its actually a pretty good idea though to change things up seeing as where we are supposed to be exposing ourselves to new things in different languages and cultures.

Schools of the Future

This article was very interesting. It's somewhat unrealistic, but still very interesting. Self discovery is very important and a great thing to achieve. However, I'm not so sure that it is something that can be taught. I think that people can be guided in self-discovery but not exactly taught it. Some ways to help students discover themselves is to give intrapersonal assignments and give them assignments in which the need to use critical thinking skills. I also believe that challenging students to debate or to really develop an opinion or belief about a specific topic or issue helps them to discover themselves. Okri's idea is very interesting and does bring up a good point about truly understanding yourself and the root of why things happen sometimes. Self-discovery will probably never be bale to be taught, but teachers can challenge there students to try to discover themselves.

Michael Moore

My first reaction when I started reading this article by Michael Moore was to be very defensive. I feel that he discussed very serious information about African-Americans but I was too busy being defensive to truly take it in. I think he would be much more effective if he presented the information in a better way. I found myself trying to justify the reasons why all the terrible things were done by white men, thinking that terrorist aren't always white, and that there are many crimes committed by African-Americans. Even though I knew many of the things he was saying were disturbing and valid, the beginning of the article had me in the wrong mind frame to accept them. I thought the part about which races commit different crimes was interesting. I have a friend who is a cop who actually said something very similar once. He told me where he works, it seems that Black people have a reason for the crimes they commit generally. The reason may be payback, or stealing for survival, or other reasons. He said the more messed up crimes like serial killers and child molesters are generally white males. I also think that there are different types of black people just like there are different types of white people and he didn't even address that. There are black people who are successful and make good money and are treated well because they treat others well. At the same time here are black people on well fare who don't attempt to find work and there are black people who don't achieve success because they drop out of school and sell drugs instead. Obviously, any ethnicity is going to have a variety of people comprising it. No group of people will ever be perfect.

Schools of the Future

I read this article and was so intrigued by it. What a great concept this author writes about. I would love to be that teacher that can have such a lasting (positive) effect on my students. The teachers I have had did not seem to know how to tap into a student's potential. I cannot remember a time that I was inspired to learn more than what was in front me during my early school years. Now that I'm older and in college, I feel that I value what knowledge my professors are offering to me, but I think that it comes from gaining maturity. I hope this author has a plan to bring his ideas to fruition, because I would really like to see our education system get to this point!

SICKO

What a coincidence, after I finished reading the article about Michael Moore I went to a doctor appointment and in the waiting room where a pack of magazines, I picked the Entertainment Weekly magazine and in this one is a full 4 pages article about Michael Moore and his new movie-documentary SICKO.
I have seen 2 of his documentaries and the guy always speaks the truth and makes you think about each topic he presents.
Bowling for columbine was the first movie I saw in which he states that the Unite States of America is notorious for its astronomical number of people killed by firearms. He sets out to explore the roots of these atrocities. In doing so, he learns that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent bloodshed.
In Fahrenheit 9/11 he expresses his view on what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In his latest movie due on June 29th he focuses on Health care issues and what’s wrong with our heath care system. I am excited to see what he has to say this time and for you guys if you haven’t seen any of his documentaries do so, he is amazing!!!!!!!!!

Michael Moore

I read this article and all I could think about was poor Michael and what a victim you are. The teacher who failed him - did he study hard enough?, the principal who punished him - what did he do in the first place to get punished?, the boss, the TV exec, the landlord, and so on -- he conveniently leaves out his part in all of these "situations that have harmed him in his lifetime". Oh please. All I read is how he blames other people for his mistakes and he lacks individual accountability. I have one name, of one person, that goes against all of the issues and stereotypes he talks about - Oprah. You don't even need her last name to know who I'm talking about. And, what about Michael Jordan? He was cut from his high school basketball team and look at how he turned out. Do you think these people let a personal set back or the stereotypes they faced stop them from achieving their goals??

Schools of the Future

This article was pretty interesting to read. I realized that there were many points that I would agree with. Throughout school I only learned what I had to learn in order to pass the class. I never really took anything away with me. The only time I read for myself is when it comes to sports. As a future teacher I would want to teach my students things that will prepare them for life, not just what they need to know to pass the class. Teaching is the profession that creates all others. But how can we create an amazing future if we're not teaching them life?

Teaching KIds about Diversity.

Children need to be taught about diversity, when children understand that this country consists of a big mixture of people that come to this country in search of a better life's, they are more likely to appreciate differences and learn from one another. As an ELL I found it very helpful when my teachers used to pick a country a week and speak about what people do in that country, the norms, holidays, inventions, and things that seemed fun for kids, it made one feel proud and appreciative of others. But how do we do it?, how do we even approach the topic?, it is like awaking the monster that needs not to be bothered, but it is essential that it is approached and that every effort is made to help students respect each other and ultimately learn to live in a world that consists of different people and cultures.
I found a website that explains prejudice, its consequences and what can we do to help our students be healthy non-prejudist adults. Here is the link: www.thirdage.com/healthgate/files/36554.html

Be aware of the white man.

I agree with Michael Moore and his view of this society still been racist, I feel it is as racist as it can be, the only difference today from years ago is that we have learned to live around those that we feel inferior to, but always maintaining a distance. I am a Latina married to a white man so I get to see the other side of the face, and it is so common to hear my mother in law say things like "ohh be careful around there, there is a like of black people in that town", so yes their is racism and its sad to say it but its not going anywere. And its not a matter of color, its not because the black man shots the white man, its becasue we never hear about the white man that shots the black, why say that? It would be to admitt that there is not much difference between blacks and whites. We have to be conscious that racism is an evil part of our society and all we can do as teachers, parents and part of this society is not to promote it, to teach children that we are all the same, and maybe one day this world might be less racist and our kids would have better opportunities and equal rights.

Diversity in the Classroom

Diversity in all aspects such as learning ability, language, culture, religion, and ect., is a challenge for the teacher because they heave to be aware of all the different things the student is bringing into the classroom. I think it is important that the teacher knows about each student and what makes them different and be able to use that knowledge to teach the students. This can be done by have the students write a report and create a presentation about themselves. This is a good lesson because it uses writing skills, speaking skills, listening skills and the students get to learn about eachother. So although the students are talking about themselves they are working on other skills. So the studnets get to work together and learn together while embracing their diversity. Ther are so many ways to use the students diversity to teach them, such as when when teaching them about maps, if there are students that have just come from another country you could learn about the country and its geographic location and then teach the students about the country, in a geography lesson. Over all it is importat that the teacher understands that each students is different and modifications may need to be made.

Beware of the White Man

Overall I disagree with everything Michael Moore has said. I think it is weird that he makes assumptions that all white people are racist. Isn't that the same as thinking all black people steal and do drugs. Moore hates white people and is only pointing out all the wrongs of whites. But I do agree with one part of what Moore says in this article and that is black Americans and health care. It did not realize that black Americans recieved poor quality healthcare such as black Americans not recieving the clot busting treatment for stroke and not getting cardiac catheterization regardless of the race of the doctor. This is a great point that Moore made that racism is still clearly present in America.
I also think that Moore says they shocking things to get people to listen to him but most of the time he is attacking people and there is not really a good point to what he is saying. But maybe I am still a bit ignorant to the problems that African Americans still face in this country. i would still like to think that life is imporving for them. But clearly in health care and education we are failing them and I did nto need Michael Moore to tell me that.

Beware of the White Man

This article is completely and undoubtedly true. We are a racist society still, we've just come up with clever ways of hiding it. We'll shake hands and smile at the black man, then turn around and insult them to a fellow white man. We refuse to tell black jokes but when we do, we make sure to look around first so as not to appear recist. I'll admit that I too am guilty of this type of racism.; but why? What is it that we fear about telling a black joke infrom of a black man? The fear of being short that's what! But we just as easilier be shot by a white man as we can by a blackman. Perhaps more because it wouldn't be expected by our own kind, we wouldn't have our guard up as we normally would with anyone else.

Reflection: Schools of the future

I thought that the article had some really good points. So many colleges say that they stand by those interpretational quotes posted in their catalogs. At the end of the day do they really stand by what they are trying to teach? Are they just teaching us one thing……my way or no way at all. How many times have you looked at your tuition bill and questioned why the university is billing for a university fee? Where is that money going? If the money is going to be used to improve the campus, then shouldn’t the investors (us students) receive a portfolio every quarter informing us how the money is being used? I’m sure if I deducted certain fees from my tuition I wouldn’t be allowed to stay in class.
There is one thing that I have learned from college that I will always use…..life experiences. Spending time in a classroom teaches me how to react to a student’s undesirable behavior or how to react to a students embarrassing question. I think that the information that we receive in college is only a bass line of what we need to know. I think that college teaches us to become efficient teachers, but our experience in the classroom will teach is how to become an effective teacher.

My reflection: Beware of the white man article

When I first started to read the article written by Michael Moore I thought that he was making a judgment about white men due to his own experiences. As I reed the article I did find that some of his points were valid. Unfortunately, racial discrimination occurs in the United States. People don’t like to talk about it because we think that it’s not politically correct to discuss. I often wonder how much the media feeds in to this. It appears to me that the media focuses on a person’s race when discussing a headline on the news. Even though I agree with a lot of what Michael Moore had to say, I can not sit back and think that everything that has gone wrong in this country should be blamed on the white man. I think that there are situations that occur in life were people need to take responsibility for their own actions. Yes things happen were other people are to blame, I just don’t think that everything that goes wrong in this country should be blamed on the white man. I think that as Americans we like to play “the blame game.” Instead of focusing so much time on blaming others for what goes wrong, we should look at ourselves to see what we can change.

Michael Moore

I completely agree with everything Michael Moore is saying. Everything he said, was something that I've wanted to say. Sometimes I am ashamed to be a white American. As a race, we have hurt so many people and so many lives. A large percentage of the people in America think things are better now, that African Americans have the same opportunities as white Americans, but in reality, it really isn't. The way that Michael Moore writes his thoughts is very easy to read and keeps you interesting. He doesn't talk about it completely seriously, but with sarcasm that keeps young adults' interest.
When I really thought about it, every person I have been hurt by in my life has been white. His points are very valid. I have heard of Michael Moore before, but I had never looked into any of his work. Now I think I will. His beliefs seem to align with my own. I heard that his movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 is about the war in Iraq. I think his views of the war would most likely match my own views.
As teachers, we should be celebrating our own and our students' racial and cultural differences. Students should be proud of their heritage and race and shouldn't feel like their race is inferior in any way. However, we should not pretend race isn't there. I think that's what a lot of people do to say that they aren't racist. Instead of pretending racial differences don't exist, we should celebrate them and teach that every child is unique, but we are all people. We do come from different cultures and backgrounds, but because we are all part of the human race, we all need to respect each other and love our differences.

Schools of the Future

I think the article by Ben Okri was well-thought out and very interesting. I do feel that when we leave this university, will we really have learned enough? Ben Okri says that besides learning math, science, etc... we should also be learning about ourselves. Is knowing how to take tests and give answers enough? I know that I am a person who thinks about the world we live in and why we're here. When I have attempted to talk about my thoughts to friends and family, I get weird looks, I get ignored, or they ask, "Are you ok?" I have learned to not talk about philosophical things. Ben Okri says we are all philosophers. I think that we have all been taught to not think about the big questions of life. We have all been taught only how to memorize facts and answer test questions. We have not been taught to think abstractly. I think adding classes that teach us how to think abstractly and classes that teach us to look at ourselves and who we are will be a great addition to college curriculums.
People are so rushed now a days that we don't ever stop and really look at what is around us. Ben Okri says we read through pages of books, but don't really read them. I think we need to take the time to really look at our environment and ourselves. I am an artist as well as a teacher. I think that being an artist has made me stop and look at the world around me. When I am walking through campus, I don't just focus on what I will be doing later or where I need to go, I look at my surroundings and take in the beauty of the trees, sky and buildings around me. I work a lot with color in my paintings, so I take notice of the colors around me as well. I think taking art classes here at Kean have helped open my eyes to the world. I really think that everyone should take a painting class because it makes you sit for a long period of time focusing on just one thing. When I paint, the busy part of the world disappears and I am completely focused. All students should take a class that makes them look at themselves. How can we understand our world and other people, if we don't understand ourselves?
Now the question is...is this school of the future realistic? I'm not sure. Will we ever have classes that really make us look at ourselves and become philosophers? Or will these classes just become another class that we have to study for and come up with answers to? I think the education system has potential, but will it ever happen? Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen soon.

STAGE 1

Today I was reading again the stages of Language Acquisition to get ready for my assignment and I remembered that last year for my sophomore field experience I had to observe an ESL class. The teacher told me that it was the first time with the students. When his class started, only Hispanic students where in the classroom; he asked them in English if any of them understood some words. The classroom was silent for a few seconds and then he repeated the same question in Spanish and everybody started talking. His first activity was a short song in which a list of much known words was present. In addition to the song he used body movement (signs) to represent each word. The very next day he asked students to sing the song and make the same signs. Many of the students made the signs but it was hard to reproduce the song especially in front of the entire class.
In this example we can se very clear in the stage these students were at the time where English is completely incomprehensible and frustration when trying to speak the language keeps students away from expressing themselves.

Beware of the White Man

This article was very interesting to read because almost all of it was true. As I read the beginning of the article I related to it instantly. Every time I go out shopping and notice someone walking behind me I always prepare myself for what is to happen next. Especially if I'm out with my niece which makes us both more vulnerable. No matter who it is that is following us, black or white, I always think about what my first move would be and clench my belongings a little tighter. Once the person passes I do get a sense of relief that I wasn't harmed in any way. It's just now-a-days no one is safe, especially from their own kind. I felt that it was very true when Michael Moore talked about how black men are always being convicted of a crime and whenever there's a story on the news they're always looking for a black man. However when it comes to someone committing cold blooded murder or raping a child it seems like it's always a white person. Those people end up being close friends or relatives of their victims. Which means we're not safe from even the people we trust the most. This article really gave me a huge heads up about our society and the people around me.

Schools of the Future: "We are more than we suspect, but we are taught to see less in ourselves"

After reading this article I had to perform a mental recounting of all the Universities I have attended.
Culinary Academy of Long Island: NY (2 yrs)
Union County College: NJ (in and out 2 yrs)
Brookdale Community College: NJ 1 1/2 yrs.)
Miami Dade College: FL (2 yrs)
Kean University: NJ (almost 2 yrs)

All these schools have one thing in common, paperwork, $$$$ and some more paperwork~ When my husband attended Rutgers he referred to it as the "RU Screw". It is evident to ALL students no matter what school you attend or are about to attend, Money is the main issue. Kean unfortunately has me on a delayed notification system in regards to events, seminars and opportunities but when it comes time to pay tuition I get that bill SUPER QUICK!

This article discusses what is important in schools and what is lacking in today's educational system. After we have finished stressing about which form is due on what day and which copy of the praxis score is the schools, we can get down to business and crack our books open. One of my favorite quotes in this article is "They leave universities with skills for the workplace, but with no knowledge of how to live, or what living is for." I think this is a factual statement in all facets of our collegiate education. Instead of doing countless lesson plans that no one sees us accomplish why can't we have a class on the reality of the classroom? What should I do when a child pees himself or throws up in the classroom? What should I do when a child calls another child a derogative name in front of the whole class? These questions have passed through my mind countess times. We are learning theory right now but why can't we learn to put theory into play in the classroom.

All of our books/tests/scantrons guide us on a path to academic & career success but do we really know what to do with this knowledge once we have graduated? It is not until we are standing in front of our perspective students that we will realize how much we DON'T know. How can we teach morals and ethics if we are not sure what our own are to begin with. This article seems to shift the responsibility on the schools but I think it is our(the students) responsibility as well. " We need to widen, at base, and invisibly, the inevitable necessity of teaching students the need for self-discovery. Consciousness studies ought to be a fundamental part of liberal or scientific education". We must take stock in ourselves and realize what we are capable of. We should take daily inventory of our thoughts and ideas. We should know our limits and what it takes for students to push our buttons. We should know what riles us up and what calms us down.

I am a fan of yoga and a huge part of this lifestyle is being aware of your own consciousness. In yoga you are taught/instructed how to "zone in and out" through meditation and it really has a healthy impact on my physical & emotional well-being. You become more mentally focused and aware.

We must know ourselves in order to teach future generations.

Michael Moore: Beware of the White Man

I looked forward to reading this article because I have seen all of Michael Moore's documentaries and appreciate the amount of information he bring to light to the American public. I am fairly certain that this article is straight from his film about the Columbine High School Shootings. I remember MM and the person he was interviewing walking down the street having this in-depth discussion. The gist of this article is that the notion of "slavery" and "fear" is still quite prevalent in our society.

While watching the film this conversation came from I was pretty amazed at the amount of stereotypes that still exist in our society. Even my "20 something generation" is guilty of harboring these thoughts and we are supposed to be the open-minded ones of this world.

I have to say that the media plays a huge role in what happens in our society. It is up to these huge television stations what to air and why. FOX, who is pretty much owned by the government is incredibly biased in their broadcasting. We are constantly being bombarded by fear, (killer African bees, terrorists, etc.)
Fear = Power and thats what the government wants of us. They know that they have control over us while we remain in a state of panic over everything we hear.

In recent years I have gotten into the habit of only watching news programs such as the Daily Show with John Stewart, Kieth Olberman & Real Time with Bill Mahrr. I do not by any means consider myself political but I try to know and understand what is going on around me (the truth not polished rhetoric). If I were to only watch these cooperation stations such as MSNBC & FOX I would be getting the same ridiculous stories fed to me to take my attention off what is going on in the war (Anna Nicole etc.).

We still appear to be a racist society in many ways. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to have friends of all colors but I too have been guilty of walking down the street clasping my purse when I pass someone I'm not sure about. All you hear on the news is stories about criminals who are black & Hispanic males. White males & females commit crimes as well but for some "strange" reason we don't really hear that much about them. I strongly feel that this is so because these individuals are not yet fully respected and accepted in our culture. MM talks about living with the "legacy of slavery". His last thought is that we will not overcome these immoral acts from the past & today until we open our eyes and fight for what we deserve. EQUALITY & UNITY!

In our last class we discussed how our generation does not protest like past generations. I believe that this is because we are a grossly misinformed generation which lacks passion. Most of us don't even know about the genocide going on in Darfur *(or even know where it is on a map!)

We can change our future by seeking out our own "truthful" information and turning away the false information the media consistently tries for force down our throats.

Beware of the white man

Michael Moore is considered a brutally honest person who usually speaks about those topics society doesn’t want to talk about because it brings ugly things out from that society who is not ready or simply indisposed.
I totally agree with his article and his fear of the white man since racial discrimination is part of this country and every other country. It is specially hard to talk about it here in the United States because very deep inside white people knows all the damage their ancestors have caused to a group of people that only wanted an equal opportunity. Even today, we can still see the unfair acts committed to all people other than whites.
However, there are certain black people we can be afraid of. Those individuals are people that are tired of the injustices against them and obligate them to act improperly and there is when they are labeled as the bad guys. A few years ago I had a male black friend with who I used to do volunteer jobs. He was very kind with me and all us in our group. One day our supervisor was changed for a very racist white person and made our lives impossible, especially his. One day my friend got tired or him and he waited for him outside his house and beat him until almost kill him. My friend is now in jail and I think he did not deserve that. It wasn’t right what he did but he was just tired of the discrimination against him. Discrimination is a bad thing that shouldn’t exist. Maybe we can not avoid it but we can do things to change it.

School of the future?

According to Ben Okri, schools of the future are supposed to not only teach students about general science, math, English or any other important matter for our society but also they have to teach about the knowledge of self-discovery. I totally disagree with this article since I believe that people can not be taught about it. People are in total charge of change and self-mastering their lives and people learn how to do this by those many mistakes in life or good opportunities that life itself brings to them.
The article mentions that schools prepare students to a have a job once they graduate, but that schools from the future will also prepare students to look ahead and not only have a job but be perfect in life. I personally think that if I want to be perfect or a want to be someone important and have a better career or a better future I have to work my ass off and no school is going to help me change that because life is way different that how books present it. Yes, maybe they can teach about what to do in certain occasions but even though, like a said before situations in life are always different and are not the same every time they happen.
The part I must disagree with is the last sentence of paragraph number 3 on page 2 where it says that “Universities ought not only to turn out students confidents in [many areas] but people who can enrich the life of the planet as human beings. Just to think about it, if you become president of a large business company will you forget of what is good for you your family and the rest of the world? School teaches you the path to become that president of that company but LIFE teaches you how to act, what to do and the many ways you can make it better.

Schools of the Future

Schools of the Future
By: Ben Orki - Ode issue:5

The article cleverly illustrates that humans only learn the necessities for survival on earth. They attend universities only to learn the basic skills for the workplace. Universities fail to teach what is truly crucial to life. That is self-discovery. Individuals need to understand who they are, what they are living for and the true definition of life. Page two of the article states that "discipline, hard work, rationality, calculation can get us only so far." These tools are indeed helpful for survival in our world, but we need to learn the science of intuition. Ben Orki's article was certainly an eye-opener. It made me question the true reasons for which I attend school and what I have truly learned by going to school. School has taught me a lot over the pass years, but it has definitely not been able to teach me the true meaning of life. However, I have learned how to survive in the workplace. It is sad that individuals only live to work. Everything revolves around money and how to get more. This was definitely an inspirational article which made me view learning in a new light.

5 Stages of Language Acquisition

Can someone help? Where do I find the Five Stages of Language Acquisition, the professor mentioned during our last class for our big assignment paper? It is hard to keep up on the blogs, the class, the other courses and the field (which I am still doing-Early Childhood) somewhere down the line I just lost track, and stopped listening to what the heck (can I say heck?) the profesor was talking about. Sorry and thanks in advance.

Michael Moore article

Michael Moore's article "Beware of the White Man", has a lot of valid points and although he writes it in a funny way many of those points are true. I guess his point is to take a stand about what is happening in our nation about unfairness and racism through his witty comments. We pretty much know this is happening and sadly we stand back and watch while we try to get "around" the injustice system making our way through what we call a "decent" life and leave the others to fend for themselves. To read this from a white man's point of view though, like Michael Moore, does not come across as something we should consider as very important because he writes it with humor, therefore not getting the message across. But blaming others or ourselves does not change anything anyway. Yes, so we know that the "whites" have the better jobs, better salaries, live in better communities and there children go to better school systems. Is this really a reason for us to allow our own children to disobey laws, not do well in school, not be respectful to others, not wear decent clothes, not say no to drugs, and drop out of school and become parents before 16? I mean really, is this the reason, because whites are messed up, corrupt and down right mean (so the article states)? Don't you think we are some how collaborating with them and allowing them to be unfair to us, maybe forever if we don't stop now to pitty ourselves?. Think, because I believe we are. We don't stand up for what is right, and we (by we, I mean Blacks and Hispanics) are not teaching our children to strive for goals of a better race, to leave behind hate, and empower ourselves to start a rippling effect of a better nation. Let's teach our children to respect others, and become educated as their first fight towards rightousness.

Schools of the Future

I thought the article on "Schools of the future" by Ben Okri was very inspirational. I think it is true that students are not probed to discovery themselves. They are merely molded into a robot that is capable of carrying out tasks in their professional field once in the workplace.
Everyone has a lot to learn, including our country. It is true that our education is in its infancy, as is our country. We are still one of the youngest countries on the planet.
One reason why I think that education is like this is because it is to structured. It is so planned out that these are the courses that you need to take and that is it, especially in education there is minimal room for electives. I would love to take classes on a little bit of everything, but unfortunately school is expensive and I need to graduate and make money. Our lives are so focused around making money.
My second major used to be math, but last semester I changed it to English. I know that we are in need of math and science teachers, but I just found it to be so dry. I needed a change. Last semester I took American Lit I and found it to be so interesting. We read Emily Dickinson, and I found not only her poems but her life to be incredibly interesting. We also read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance" and Henry David Thoreau's "Walden." The way that my professor shed insight into these works of literature inspired me so much. They made me think. I look at life differently after having read these works. Now, one day I want to write a book. I want to write something that can inspire other people. I think that everyone should take courses that will spark their interest like this. I know it is hard, but this is exactly the kind of education that students should be receiving.

Michael Moore Article

As I was reading Michael Moore's article titled "Beware of the white man" I thought about all the far out things he was claiming. As I thought about them, I decided that they weren't so far fetched, but he just had a very blunt way of putting the truth. I never had time to watch the news, but lately I have been attempting to make time for it. I think it is important to know what is going on in the world around us. However, I find the news to be nothing but repeatitive violence. Everything on the news is the same. This one is killing this one, someone was raped, this one is suing that one, etc. Why isn't there anything positive on the news. There is to much violence around us, from cartoons to soap operas to, yes, the news. All this violence is what is being viewed by our children. Are we just part of a never-ending circle?

So I was sure who this Michael Moore guy was and I looked him up online. Here is his site: http://www.michaelmoore.com/ He is the guy who came out with Fahrenheit 9/11, a movie I have never seen. He will also be appearing on Operah today, June 5, for those of you who might have a TV handy. Supposedly, Operah wants to make health care for all one of her main missions this year.

But getting back to this article. I found a website:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07153/790500-391.stm
Take a moment to read it. There are some astounding statistics that go right along with this article. Relating to education, "studies show black male achievement begins to decline as early as the fourth grade and by high school, black males are more likely to drop out; in 2001, only 42.8 percent graduated from high school, compared to 70.8 percent for their white counterparts."

FREE SOURCES

There are a lot of sites that offer free info on esl but I found this one to be most helpful: www.teachchildrenesl.com/index.html
It offers FREE worksheets,flashcards,games,songs, and classroom posters.
It also offers lesson ideas, downloads, and links to other resources. I found it to be a very interesting site with lots of cool stuff!

YOU

YOU

Real Life Experience

I was speaking to my mom's cousin who was a math teacher in Patterson for many years and eventually became part of the ESL program there. She was so excited when I told her about taking this class. She is Cuban and for many years she was one of the only teachers in her school to be catering to the Spanish speaking students. She also told me how mnay times students would be considered less intelligent or troubel makers, but the real problem was that they were simply having trouble understanding. Math can be confusing enough for many students so when it was being taught to them in a different language it was jsut extra difficult. She took both in-class and out of class time to work with and help these students understand. She did speak spanish to them but she also took the time to help them learn english and assimilate. No one told her that it was her responsibility to help these students but she felt as a teacher it was her job to help them. Eventually they moved her into the ESL program where it was her main job to help the non english speaking students. As happy as she was to teach these students, she couldn't believe that for so long barely any of the other teachers were accomodating these students. Also, by not taking the time to help or recognize the real problem of them not understanding, other teachers labeled many of these students as "bad" kids. She said that everythign I was learning in this class would be very beneficial to me but she also agreed that as a teacher I should always be bettering myself by making myself more aware of different cultures.

Epstein's six types of involvement

Parental involvement helps motivate students to do better. When parents show interest in their children’s education it portrays a message to the child that the parent feels that what they are doing is important. Epstein’s six types of involvement are guidelines to help educators develop more comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnerships. These guidelines can help increase family involvement. Epstein’s second type of involvement is communicating. For example, when sending home notices a teacher should consider parents who do not speak English well. Check out all six types of involvement on the website listed below.

http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm

Just a Comment.

I just finished the big assignment and in my opinion the site is very instructive. Every link takes you to a new experience in the world on ELL. The videos in part three are very helpful. They give strategies for us to use with students and the best part is that the teachers not only talk about those strategies but also model a class using all those strategies. My favorite was the elementary teacher, the way she used real materials to explain new words to students was amazing. I personally think that a class is not a class if the teacher does not have any materials (no copies, they’re boring).
In addition, throughout all 4 parts, the strategies and tips that the teachers gave in their videos are also the same ones in most of the links. that is a good sign since we can trust that they are doing a good job and that we can learn from them.
Like a mentioned before, my subject area is Spanish and as a future great teacher I will do my best to not only help my students to learn a second language but also I will help those students that need to learn English if I have any in my classroom.
PS: Congratulations to all those that have completed Junior field, tomorrow is the last day YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Smiling, Yet Completely Lost ELL Student

It was only on Friday, after having been with my students for three weeks, was I told that one of my students had no idea what was happening in class most of the time. This came to me as a shock because she always sat in class smiling and I merely thought she did not participate because she was just shy. Now I know why whenever I asked her if she could read, she would look at me shyly and say "No". It is because she is an ELL student. I feel like I have failed her because I should have looked for the signs before, especially since I am taking this class and we are constantly posting on the subject and reading various articles. However, she is in a class that although it contains my favorite bunch of students, they have a short attention span. You really have to dedicate yourself to keeping the class as a whole on task and it is easy to forget the meek or quiet ones. I only learned about this student having a language problem when I was grading one of her exams. She did well on the vocabulary and her essay was bearable, however she got nearly every multiple choice question incorrect. When I asked my cooperating teacher what might have happened, he simply said "Oh yes, she's like that. She has no idea what is going on. Just read her essay and you will understand. Next year she will not make it in the A.P classes, they are just going to have to move her". Even though he knows that the problem is the fact that she does not quite understand the language, he, along with the school, have not made any efforts to help her. I also think her problem might be related to BICS and CALP because while doing group work I have heard her speak and she hardly has a recognizable accent. I feel helpless with this current situation, but since I am merely a student teacher, I know that there are certain lines that I should not cross. I have also hinted to my coop teacher that something should be done considering her placing for next year, but no one seems to take any interest. Hopefully, if she moves on to the Gifted and Talented school, then they will take interest in her situation there.

Follow-up to Youtube "Ask or Ax?" Video

I have mostly been commenting on posts because everyone has provided some wonderful information and beneficial links. However, as I sit here grading the exams that I gave my students this past week, I realized that I may need some help from all of you. Without a doubt, I am sure that you have all read papers or essay open-ended responses from your students and found that their grammar is beyond astonishing...and I mean for the worst. I have really enjoyed the time I have spent with my 9th graders these past three weeks. I did have to, however, do a lot of correcting, as I had expected, when it came to speaking proper English. The students up until this point have not had to hand in any work/assignment which displayed their writing skills, until recently. I came to realize that the students that have the most difficulty speaking proper English are the same students who are writing as if they are either IMing or speaking to their friends. They like to use abbreviations in their writings and they also like to use words such as "youse", "aint", "gonna", and terms such as "messed up". I am not quite sure what the best possible way is to help correct the students from this habit. However, it is extremely frustrating especially when the teacher spends the whole year correcting them of this this habit and they still do not process it. It seems as though our speech has more power over us than our writing.
Does anyone else share the same frustration as I do?

from the big assignment

I thought I'd take a break from the big assignment for awhile to post some thoughts I've had from listening to the audio clips. Several people have posted about when Junko talks about the "silent period", this too caught my attention. In the preschool where I teach we have a little girl who for 2 years (from the time she was 2 until 4 yrs old) never spoke one word. Her parents claimed she spoke constantly at home and would recap the entire day at school for them, but we never heard her say a word. Although both her parents could speak English, the mother only spoke Spanish to the little girl while the father would speak both languages to her. By the middle of her second year she had developed a sort of sign language using nodding, eye gestures, and facial expressions. It took a lot of patience and repetitive questioning to figure out what she was trying to "say". Interestingly, several of the teachers speak Spanish yet the girl would not even communicate with them in Spanish.
Eventually she started to move her lips but you couldn't hear the words that were coming out. Then she moved up to whispering ever so slightly. Then a bit of a louder whisper and by now the other children were quite excited that this little girl could talk. One day an older child, who was not in the class, asked in a mean voice why this little girl never spoke and before I could even respond another younger boy said "She speaks when she wants to, maybe she has nothing to say to you so just leave her alone". That was the first time I saw a smile cross her face and from then on her quiet one word statements got louder and longer. She started telling so many stories that I couldn't get her to stop talking! She was still a quiet talker and would sometimes have completely "silent days" but she did begin participating at circle time and having conversations with the other children.
This year she is 5 and in kindergarten. She is louder and talkative, although not nearly as much as the average 5 year old. The "icing on the cake" came one day when I was leaving and I heard a child yell down the street to me " Bye Jennifer". I turned around and saw that it was her. Another teacher who was leaving with me said "Was that her who just yelled that loud ? I didn't know she could do that?" to which I said "Neither did I!"

Linda Furiya

I thought this was an interesting video. The author, Linda Furiya, reads an excerpt from her book, "Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America." In this clip, she is reading the part in her book where she is discussing the struggles her mother had because she could not read or understand English. She talks about the many insecurities her mother had and how it made her feel. Because her children understood English, and her daughter was even a Brownie girl scout, you could pick up the generational differences. Furiya even mentioned that her mother put off getting her citizenship for years for fear she would fail the written part. She studied in secret, because she was so afraid of failing and being ashamed. Once she was granted citizenship, she shared all of her insecurities with her children. She told them how she was upset that she could not help them with their homework, or read them bedtime stories. It was interesting though that Furiya mentioned her mother learned some English from watching soap operas, because we mentioned that briefly in class. In any case- I recommend watching this video. Although it is only the woman reading from her book, the video was not boring. Rather it was very informative and easy to follow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ov_gD4q6Or0

Figures of Speech

We've talked a lot about how gestures can be interpreted differently by different students, but it's important to keep in mind that certain phrases, words, and figures of speech can also be misinterpreted by students. I remember quite a few times while I was student teaching last semester, the teacher would use certain sayings or figures of speech that the native English speakers understood, but the ELLs would just have this puzzled look on their faces, as if they were not part of an inside joke. One particular instance this occurred was when the teacher, (who was getting a bit aggravated that none of the students knew the correct answer to a question he had asked) jokingly said to the students "oh come on, throw me a bone." The class began to laugh, except for this one Korean girl who just looked around the room, and was literally waiting for someone to throw a bone across the room. The teacher picked up on this right away and explained that he was using a figure of speech and what he had really meant. The girl was able to giggle about it herself once she had found out what was really meant by the phrase. Another instance something similar occurred in the class was when the teacher, who again was joking around with the students, said "oh my God," in response to a student who gave a ridiculous answer. One of the Chinese students got offended by this, and wanted to know why the teacher had said that. The student asked, “Isn't that bad to say? In my house we are not supposed to use God’s name in vein.” It's situations like these that made me aware of just how careful teachers must be not to use phrases or figures of speech that foreign students may not understand or misinterpret. We all use these types of expressions a lot more than we may realize, and it is something to keep in mind when speaking to a diverse class because you don’t want students who are unfamiliar with the language to feel confused, offended, or left out.

ELLs in Everyday Life

I was going through the BIG Assignment that we have, and relistening to some of the audio clips and videos. There was one particular thing that caught my attention. When ELL students are thrown into new school systems amongst native born americans, ELLs from other countries, etc., it is really scarey. It never occurred to me so much that these students may be embarrassed of their accents or the lack of English proficiency. English is a very intricate and elaborate language with many more words than other languages. It was just the other day in class the students were doing worksheets on verbs. One of the girls, and ELL from India, was having trouble with the worksheet and asked me for help. Many of the verbs she had never heard before, so I did my best to explain each one to her and making sure that she understood them. When we had completed the worksheet together, I asked her if she had similar words in her language. She replied, "no, English has so many more words than my language." I had never thought about it before. Our language has so many words, many of them meaning the same thing and just sounding more elaborate and sophisticated.
Another thing that caught my attention on one of the audio clips was a girl from Japan. She had stated that people made her feel dumb because they would speak loudly to her. I find that so many times people will speak loudly and slowly to others from different languages to try to ensure that they are understanding them. Just because a person speaks another language and has an accent or trouble speaking the language or what have you, this does not mean that they are deaf or dumb. Now I am not talking only about ELLs in the classroom, but in general. Have you ever found yourself speaking loudly and slowly to another person of a different language? I have seen it so many times and am sure that I have done it myself. This just shows how ignorant people can be. Aside from teachers, students, and the classroom environment, people in general need to be more aware of ELLs around them.

ELL lesson plans/final assignment suggestion

I was interested in lesson plans for ELL students. I did a little research and found a website that has many sample lessons for ELL students at varying levels.
http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/
I saw one student make a comment that we should create a lesson for our final written project. The only problem with this would be that so far I have been taught about seven different ways to create lesson plans. I have found one that works for me, but it might not be the kind that our professor would want us to do. I would rather not add another way to do a lesson plan to the many I have already been taught.
Instead I purpose that we each pretend that we have an ELL student in our classroom. We could write a report discussing what strategies we would use to help that student feel more comfortable and less afraid in the classroom and also what we would do to help that student learn. This would use the information we read about in the big assignment.

Instructional strategies

After reading the Instructional Strategies part of section three of the Big Assignment, I found a lot of similarities between the tips listed and tips usually given for teachers of special ed students. Both strategies tell teachers to speak slowly and clearly. Both strategies tells teachers to write clearly. Both of these strategies would help both special ed students and ELL students to understand directions better. Both strategies suggest using a routine for the classroom. Students with special needs, need routine so that things don't surprise them. My family takes in foster children and right now we have a 18 year old girl with down syndrome. She always needs a schedule. If something happens other then what she thinks is going to happen, she becomes very agitated. The same thing would happen with ELL students. Because they don't know the language well, when something happens out of the ordinary it might make them nervous. Both strategies suggest writing down directions and also speaking them. Writing down directions can make them clearer to both special ed students and ELL students. Special ed students might understand and be able to pay more attention to written directions. ELL students might be able to comprehend the directions if they are written down. Just like when we are learning a new language, it is always easier to read it then to speak it.
Clearly there are similarities between the way you teach special ed students and the ways you teach ELL students.

Teaching the ESL student

I found this website that gave some real good suggestions for teachers who have ESL students in their class. The article includes some ways a teacher can make a student feel more welcomed in the classroom. One of the tips includes keeping track of the students language progress. While I was reading chapter 5 of the handouts that were given, I realized that there are many ways a teacher can asses an ESL students progress. A great assessment tool would be to use an audio/video tape. Taping a students conversation during certain points of the semester is a great way to asses their language development.

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/shore/shore073.shtml

Exploratory Spanish

Here a way to help the students understand how it is to be a non-English speaking student in the United States. This assignment allows the students to complete tasks, communicate, and perform activities as if they knew no English. Similar to our class discussion where we had to interpret the gestures, the students will also be doing the same thing. Though this lesson may be useful for older students it's still just as effective. I would actually like to be a part of this experience in order to gain more knowledge about other cultures myself.

http://www.lindenschools.org/curric/Other%20HS%20Curriculum/exp%20spanish.htm

Webquest for Students

I know someone posted a webquest for English Language Learners. This webquest is reversed. It involves all of the students to go on a quest to learn about other cultures. These are great activities to learn about various cultures, not just the cultures they included. Though the quest is long and involves much research, I believe the final outcome would be very rewarding for the students.

http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/stennille/ST3/webquest.html#Activity

Teaching English Speaking Children

We've talked so much about how to effectively teach English Language Learners in various ways. What about teaching the English speaking children a different language? I know many classrooms teach all of the students Spanish in many grades; but what if there was a child who speaks Chinese but they'll all learning Spanish. I think it is a very good idea to teach the language of ELL student to the rest of the class. Therefore the students are able to communicate with that child and not be afraid to talk to him/her. When I worked in a day care center we had many Chinese children who didn't speak English, however the parents did. The other teachers and I asked the parents to teach us some key words and phrases in order to communicate with the child and make him/her feel safe and comfortable. There was one child in particular who was larger than the others and much stronger. He would get physical without even realizing it and other children were getting frustrated because he wouldn't listen to them when they told him they didn't like it. We then taught the other children some phrases in Chinese so that they were able to effectively communicate with the English Language Learner.

Using Games to Teach ESL

http://www.esl-games.net/articles/using-games.html

http://www.esl-games.net/articles/learning-esl.html

Here are some sites I found with suggestions of games teachers can play for ESL students. Check them out, you may be able to use them.

New Techonology

Everything we do today in some way or another involves technology. The Internet is a huge source that we we use to gain information. However there are many computer programs that we could use to help ESL students. Children, especially younger children, gain confidence while having fun when their able to "play" on the computer. I believe that using a computer gives them a sense of maturity because they are allowed to control such a powerful machine. What better way to help them gain more knowledge and confidence then by playing games while learning English on the computer.

Using the Internet

Hi everyone,

I found a very interesting article about using the internet to make content accessible for diverse learners. While I was watching some of the videos for the big assignment I relived the all of the ESL teachers had one teaching technique in common. They all used visual artifacts to teach their ESL students.


http://members.aol.com/adrmoser/tips/content.html

Cultural perspectives

As teachers we are going to come across many multi cultural perspectives. We should understand that certain ethnic groups view education for their children differently. Some cultures don’t put that much emphasis on education. Due to their socioeconomic status they urge their children to work as soon as they can to help the family. Teachers have to remember that some children are not getting the same support at home that they are getting in school. My parents who are from South America, stopped going to school when they were in elementary school so they could help take care of their families. My parents wanted me to do well in elementary school and high school because that was more of an education than they had. They did not put too much emphasis on me to attend college, however they were very supportive when I decided to go. I remember how proud they were when I graduated from college because I was the first person in my family to do so.

Ways to Accommodate Parents of English Language Learners

After reading a few blogs on ELL learners, I found an interesting web site online that demonstrated three ways to accommodate parents of ESL students. It is obvious that ELL learners face significant communication challenges on a daily basis simply because it is extremely difficult to learn a new language. Especially for individuals who passed the Window of Opportunity stage. Can you imagine what your lives would be like if you could not effectively communicate with others in a language other than yours?

www.ira.org Second Language Literacy Instruction

Hi Everyone, I was searching for some good websites and ideas and found this article. I use the International Reading Association website all the time!

hopefully I posted these right:




If you can't click on the websites go to www.reading.org and click on the red left hand side where it says "English Language Learners", when the next screen comes up click the link right underneath "position statements" and download the whole article.