Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Blog 24

Rough Draft

Rough Draft Link

UPDATED ON April 30, 2014

ESL Classroom Struggles: Through the Teacher's Perspective
"Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." - Rite Mae Brown
INTRODUCTION
            It always appears that a student is the one that faces the struggles in a classroom, whether it's learning a new lesson, the work that they are given, conflicts with  peers, or with their teacher. However, we don't hear much about problems that teachers face in their own classrooms. Taking on the role of becoming an English as a Second Language(ESL) teacher takes, passion, patience, and a strong understanding of a person that may not share the same cultural understanding as you. Having a student that does not speak the English language causes language barriers between the teacher and the student. In many cultures, students do not treat or look at their teachers the same way we do here, in America. In the 1997-98 school year there were 3.5 million English-language learners (ELL)enrolled in the public school across the nations. In the 2008-09 school year the number of ELL increased drastically to 5.3 million students. This means teachers need to be more aware and prepared to work with students who they won't easily be able to communicate with.
            As most ELL students struggle in their mainstream classrooms, due to the language barriers, it is the teachers job to modify their lessons to accommodate that child's needs. The most pressure is put on the teachers to ensure that the students are successfully learning and meeting the standards that the district holds for their teacher and students. What makes an outstanding ESL teacher is one who understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent individuals socially and academically. This research study differs from many other studies that have been done as it focuses on the teacher rather than the students. It also focuses on the teachers emotions and the language she uses towards her students. Instead of focusing on her teacher style, we focus more on her emotions and the positive relationships she builds with her students in the classroom.
            Conducting an interview with an ESL teacher, an analysis is writing to explain the findings. The participant of the interview is a kindergarten ESL teacher, who has been teaching in their school district since 1996 and became ESL certified in 2001.  I have conducted an interview with this teacher to research how she deals with the challenges that faces and the techniques and behaviors she uses to overcome those challenges.
LITERATURE REVIEW
            In the article, Play and Literacy Learning in a Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom, by Kyunghee Moon and Stuart Reifel, the authors conduct a study on the benefits of using role play in a classroom of diverse language students. The data for this study was collected over a period of a year and a half through observations and an interview. The participant of this study was a pre-k ESL teacher, Mrs. Joyce, who taught students from ages 4-5 and of many diverse cultural backgrounds. This teacher actively incorporated used play activities into her lessons to enhance the literacy learning for her students. With Mrs. Joyce's warm attitude, students felt comfortable and as if she was of their same culture. Not once did these students need like they did not belong or as if they were not in a safe environment.  
            Mrs. Joyce wanted to make the learning experience for her students fun, manipulative explorative, and enjoyable. The teacher understood that for students to be actively involved in a lesson and to ensure learning is taking place, students must be interactive. Activities included games, puzzles with pictures and words, constructive play, and dramatic play. She created a new theme for each day, which she thought made it more fun for students. Mrs. Joyce strongly believes that the use of playing with toys encourages students to start conversations as they would converse about the toys.
            Mrs. Joyce assessed her students during game time. She would answer questions wrong to see which students recognized her mistakes. If they were able to pick up on her mistakes then they learned the material. The research was able to prove that students learn literacy easier when they are actively involved and having fun while doing so. By the end of the school year, these ELL students were speaking the language very well and were correcting their own parents English and grammar.
METHODS
            An audio-recorded interview was done to collect the data for this research. I will be referring to the participant of this study as Jen. The participant is currently an elementary, ESL teacher for the district that  first began working at after graduating college with a bachelor's degree in education and psychology. She began working for the district 17 years ago and 12 years ago she received her master's degree in teaching English to Speakers of other languages (TESOL.) Jen teaches three kindergarten ESL class (she pulls these students out from their mainstream classroom,) two Pre-K ESL class, and one bilingual class. In the kindergarten classes there are 7 students, in the pre-k classes there are 10 students, and in the bilingual class there are 16 students.
            The interview was done in the comfort of Jen's own home. We chose a quit spot where there wasn't any noise and we both were able to take the time to focus on the interview and elaborate on the questions.  I used my cell phone to record the interview, which I made sure it was fully charged prior to when the interview began. Jen was asked a total of 14 questions which she was able to answer in less than 12 minutes. Although the interview was quite short, she gave great information and went into depth when explaining her responses.
            The transcript was analyzed by focusing on Jen's tone of voice, and her passiveness. We are able to see by her word choices, such as "I" and "my" students, that she has developed proper classroom management skills and control of her students. She also uses words, such as they, when explaining the independence of her students. Jen described classroom situations which allowed us to see how she handles her students behaviors.
DATA ANALYSIS
Motivation/Understanding

         Jen was never pressured or told  to become an ESL teacher. Instead, she was inspired by her fellow coworker and she automatically knew that was exactly what she was destined to do.
         M    So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?
         J     I was an ESL student myself, and in my second year of teaching I actually taught a                first grade and second grade combined class and I had all the ESL students for the second grade and first grade. The ESL teacher would come into my classroom, every afternoon    during my literacy period and she would teach the ESL students in a small group     instruction and as the year progressed I looked at her and thought “wow, that is really          something I would like to do” especially since I had the experience of being an ESL          student; I would like to give back and become a teacher to them.

         Jen shows that she was inspired by her experiences which led her to become an ESL teacher. She shows her respect for the ESL students and she felt that it was her duty to give back. She understands what is it like to be an ESL student, therefore she can easily relate to them. Having the experience of being an ESL student allows the teacher to easily adjust her lessons when her student are not understanding since she knows what it is like to face those same struggles 

 Lesson Modifications

J    Sure, it’s frustrating but you get by it. You know, you overcome it. Many times I say if they don’t understand the lesson, look at him, look at her, look at what they are doing. I’ve modified the lesson for this young lady because we are so advanced in the classroom right now in what we are doing. I’m practicing the writing with them on the topic—whatever the topic may be and she can’t do that. So I'm reinforcing phonics with her. I'm starting with the letter “A” and going through the phonics pages. “This is “A” this is the sound.” And I’m teaching her vocabulary, basically. So I have to differentiate my lesson.
         Jen talks about how she differentiates her lessons to modify for specific students. Many teachers can easily try to get by and make the student facing difficulties struggle and model the other students but Jen purposely made a new lesson for that student. Jen goes above and behind to ensure that her students are receiving the proper attention and learning that they should get.
Effectiveness of a positive attitude
 Teachers and students should treat their classroom as a community. For the community to function, it is important that everyone does their part. In the classroom, it is important that the teacher understands her role and the attitudes she projects for her students. A teacher must be able to understand each student independently to ensure their needs are being met so they too can complete their role.
         J     I do a lot of observations of their skills and I know how to communicate with them    with the one who have more English opposed who have less English so ill modify my          vocabulary for the ones who don’t have as much English. We are actually coming up           right now it’s only the one major evaluation at the end of the year. We are starting it next             week and that’s the WIDA access --- W.I.D.A. Access. We are going to test each student             individually at the kindergarten level with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And   we get the results next year in September and that will determine if the students have          passed the ESL program. And the test is very difficult because the student—if they do not             pass the writing, they won’t exit the program. I also do a lot of writing with them so I   could see a lot of writing and phonics and all the other worksheets so I see how they are    progressing so I can tell how much they are doing and I reinforce those skills, as well,         continuously.

         Jen is constantly observing her students and testing to make sure they are learning the skills and understanding the materials. She tests her students to see their progression which also allows her to see if they are learning the skills and are able to apply them. She doesn't express a negative attitude towards the W.I.D.A. exam, the exams that determines if the student stay/ goes into ESL, which shows that she thinks the exam is fair in evaluating the students. Through her language and tone, she is confident that she knows exactly how to communicate with each individual student and when it is appropriate to modify her vocabulary. She makes sure to take it upon herself to modify what she is doing rather than putting the pressure on her students. She also takes charge when she says "we are going to test the students" and then transitions to the students taking charge when she says "if they don't pass the writing, then they won't exit the program." Jen is constantly supporting her students for them to achieve and slowly transitions herself to allow them to show their independence. She builds confidence and a positive attitude for her students.

Student Interactions & Independence
It is important for a teacher to be aware of his or her students' behaviors and how they interact with each other.
                        M     How do your students interact with one another and how do they interact                             with non-ESL students—so do they like stick together amongst themselves or                               do they talk to the non-ESL students?
                        J    They talk to all the other non-ESL students as well and they talk to each other                         when they are in class together. They get along pretty well together, you know                               they are five year-olds, they are kindergarten students so they tend to tattle and                              just have regular things that other kindergarten students who are not ESL students              do. Even the ones who can’t speak English that well, they still manage a way to                                  tattle. Or to tell me that something is wrong. They can figure it out. They         can get                         their point across when they need to.
Although the students are tattling on each other, Jen is glad that they are able to express themselves when they need to. The students are also showing their independence in an environment that they may not feel completely safe in. Jen says "they can figure it out" she is respectful that they don't need her help to be able to resolve their problems on their own. These ELL students are building independent skills, communicating skills, and social skills. Jen is there to help her students but they must be able to explain themselves for her to help.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
            The limitation to this study was that an observation of Jen's class was not conducted. Due to the lack a time, an observation of Jen's class was not possible. This would have allowed me to apply the information that she gave me to my observation to better my understanding of Jen's teaching philosophy. However, an observation was done of Jen's students in their mainstream classroom. The data collected from that observation is not relevant to this paper's focus.
CONCLUSION
            Anyone can be a teacher, but it takes someone who is dedicated, committed, and truly understands their students to be an effective teacher. Throughout this study and through the data that was collected, we see what makes an outstanding ESL teacher. It is one who understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent individuals socially and academically. Jen exhibits all of them characteristics as we see through the data that was collected. Through creating a safe environment for her students, Jen's students no longer feel anxious about leaving their classroom to go with her. She prompts her students to feel confident in passing their exam. Overall a teacher must be able to connect with her students emotionally and understand their needs. A teacher should be able to easily modify and transition her lessons to accommodate the different learning styles of each student. Being an ESL student can be an overwhelming and stressful experience for a child, but if they have a teacher who is passionate and truly understands his or her students, then there is great a chance for that student to succeed.




Works Cited
"Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics . Institute of Education Science, n.d. Web. 1 May 2014. <https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96>.
Moon, Kyunghee, and Stuart Reifel. "Play and Literacy Learning in a Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom."Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 9 (2008): 49

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Blog 23

    Anyone can be a teacher, but it takes someone who is dedicated, committed, and truly understands their students to be an effective teacher. Throughout this study and through the data that was collected, we see what makes an outstanding ESL teacher is one who understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent individuals socially and academically. Jen exhibits all of them characteristics as we see through the data that was collected. Overall a teacher must be able to connect with her students emotionally and understand their needs. A teacher should be able to easily modify and transition her lessons to accommodate the different learning styles of each student. Being an ESL student can be an overwhelming and stressful experience for a child, but if they have a teacher who is passionate and truly understands his or her students, then there is great a chance for that student to succeed. 

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Blog 22

**** Professor, I need help with not incorportating the results into the data analysis section.

ESL Classroom Struggles: Through the Teacher's Perspective
INTRODUCTION
"Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." - Rite Mae Brown
            It always appears that a student is the one that faces the struggles in a classroom, whether it's learning a new lesson, the work that they are given, conflicts with  peers, or with their teacher. However, we don't hear much about problems that teachers face in their own classrooms. Taking on the role of becoming an English as a Second Language(ESL) teacher takes, passion, patience, and a strong understanding of a person that does not share the same cultural understanding as you. Having a student that does not speak the English language causes language barriers between the teacher and the student. In many cultures, students do not treat or look at their teachers the same way we do here, in America. In the 1997-98 school year there were 3.5 million English-language learners (ELL)enrolled in the public school across the nations. In the 2008-09 school year the number of ELL increased drastically to 5.3 million students.
            As most ELL students struggle in their mainstream classrooms, due to the language barriers, it is the teachers job to modify their lessons to accommodate that child's needs.        The most pressure is put on the teachers to ensure that the students are successfully learning and meeting the standards that the district holds for their teacher and students. What makes an outstanding ESL teacher is one who understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent individuals socially and academically. Conducting an interview with an ESL teacher, an analysis is writing to explain the findings. The participant of the interview is a kindergarten ESL teacher, who has been teaching in their school district since 1996 and became ESL certified in 2001.  I have conducted an interview with this teacher to research how she deals with the challenges that faces and the techniques and behaviors she uses to overcome those challenges.
LITERATURE REVIEW
®I have not yet completed my literature review.. I will have this done by the end of the week. Please see blog post 21 as I have only gathered some information for complete this section.
METHODS
            An audio-recorded interview was done to collect the data for this research. I will be referring to the participant of this study as Jen. The participant is currently an ESL teacher for the district that  first began working at after graduating college with a bachelor's degree in education and psychology. She began working for the district 17 years ago and 12 years ago she received her master's degree in teaching English to Speakers of other languages (TESOL.)
            The interview was done in the comfort of Jen's own home. We chose a quit spot where there wasn't any noise and we both were able to take the time to focus on the interview and elaborate on the questions.  I used my cell phone to record the interview, which I made sure it was fully charged prior to when the interview began. Jen was asked a total of 14 questions which she was able to answer in less than 12 minutes. Although the interview was quite short, she gave great information and went into depth when explaining her responses.
® I wanted to add statitstics about the school district but I was unable to find that infmoration
·         how many esl students
·         do they come from low or high income families
·         how do they score .. are they a high or low district.


DATA ANALYSIS
Motivation/Understanding

M    So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?

J     I was an ESL student myself, and in my second year of teaching I actually taught a first grade and second grade combined class and I had all the ESL students for the second grade and first grade. The ESL teacher would come into my classroom, every afternoon during my literacy period and she would teach the ESL students in a small group instruction and as the year progressed I looked at her and thought “wow, that is really something I would like to do” especially since I had the experience of being an ESL student; I would like to give back and become a teacher to them.

         Here Jen shows that she was inspired by her experiences which led her to become an ESL teacher. She shows her respect for the ESL students and she felt that it was her duty to give back. She understands what is it like to be an ESL student, therefore she can easily relate to them. Having the experience of being an ESL student allows the teacher to easily adjust her lessons when her student are not understanding since she knows what it is like to face those same struggles 

M    Can you just tell me a story or just events with students who don’t speak the language, right out of a new country and..
C     Oh! Any of them cry. They don’t want to come to school. The student who I was just referring to, she came in last month. I met with her and the morning, her mother was there. She told her who I was and that I was going to come get her. When I went to go get her, two hours later, she didn’t want to come with me. (Melanie laughs.) No, I said, I was trying to express to her “remember your mom? I was here?” she was like “no, I’m not coming.” So then it was snack time and I went and got her snack and I said “let’s go. Let’s go to my classroom.” I held her hand and I brought her upstairs and I bribed her with a snack. And every day since she’s been fine. She even hugs me in the morning; she’s all smiles. So most of them don’t want to come with me, they don’t understand why they are leaving their classroom, the security of their own teacher and the students and coming with me. And once they get accustomed to it they’re okay.

         C shows how she comforts her students when they are not feeling secure. At first she had to bribe her student and eventually the student developed a relationship with C and now feels comfortable. C completely understands why the students don't always want to go with her but she knows that it's her job to comfort them and build a relationship with them.



 Lesson Modifications

J    Sure, it’s frustrating but you get by it. You know, you overcome it. Many times I say if they don’t understand the lesson, look at him, look at her, look at what they are doing. I’ve modified the lesson for this young lady because we are so advanced in the classroom right now in what we are doing. I’m practicing the writing with them on the topic—whatever the topic may be and she can’t do that. So im reinforcing phonics with her. I'm starting with the letter “A” and going through the phonics pages. “This is “A” this is the sound.” And I’m teaching her vocabulary, basically. So I have to differentiate my lesson.
         Jen talks about how she differentiates her lessons to modify for specific students. Many teachers can easily try to get by and make the student facing difficulties struggle and model the other students but Jen purposely made a new lesson for that student. Jen goes above and behind to ensure that her students are receiving the proper attention and learning that they should get.


Effectiveness of a positive attitude
J     I do a lot of observations of their skills and I know how to communicate with them with the one who have more English opposed who have less English so ill modify my vocabulary for the ones who don’t have as much English. We are actually coming up right now it’s only the one major evaluation at the end of the year. We are starting it next week and that’s the WIDA access --- W.I.D.A. Access. We are going to test each student individually at the kindergarten level with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And we get the results next year in September and that will determine if the students have passed the ESL program. And the test is very difficult because the student—if they do not past the writing, they won’t exit the program. I also do a lot of writing with them so I could see a lot of writing and phonics and all the other worksheets so I see how they are progressing so I can tell how much they are doing and I reinforce those skills, as well, continuously.

         Jen is constantly observing her students and testing to make sure they are learning the skills and understanding the materials. She tests her students to see their progression which also allows her to see if they are learning the skills and are able to apply them. She doesn't express a negative attitude towards the W.I.D.A. exam, the exams that determines if the student stay/ goes into ESL, which shows that she thinks the exam is fair in evaluating the students.

RESULTS
LIMITATION OF STUDY
CONCLUSION
            Anyone can be a teacher, but it takes someone who is dedicated, committed, and truly understands their students to be an effective teacher. Throughout this study and through the data that was collected, we see what makes an outstanding ESL teacher is one who understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent individuals socially and academically. Jen exhibits all of them characteristics as we see through the data that was collected. Overall a teacher must be able to connect with her students emotionally and understand their needs. A teacher should be able to easily modify and transition her lessons to accommodate the different learning styles of each student. Being an ESL student can be an overwhelming and stressful experience for a child, but if they have a teacher who is passionate and truly understands his or her students, then there is great a chance for that student to succeed. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Blog 21

What I worked on in class:

During today's class I focused on working on the article that I will be using for my literature review. I also gathered more information on my focus and the results of my data. The article I chose was, Play and Literacy Learning in a Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom. This article focuses on a teachers research on how children from diverse language backgrounds learn by playing in literacy learning. I feel as if this article provides me with a good resource and information that I can use towards my research as it shows the teachers perspective on how his or her students. The focus of my paper is how an ESL teacher connects with her students on an emotional level, as she can relate to their emotions, and how she overcomes her struggle to provide them with the best education. The data that I collected shows how this teacher is there to guide her students every step of the way whether it is on a social level or on an academic level. She is constantly providing them with support as well as giving them the confidence that they can achieve a task independently.





Information from the article:
  • ·        "6.3 million children between the ages of 5-17 years spoke a language other than English at home. "

I will be putting a statistic in my paper. I completely forgot how EXTREMELY important it is to provide statistics in research papers!!!



  • ·        "Developmentally appropriate practice assumes universal developmental notions for understanding children and their growth..." (page 49)
  • ·        ".. teachers use multiple perspectives to see learners grow and learn in developmentally appropriate settings by viewing children's knowledge of diverse languages, dialect, and discourse patters as a developmental 'plus', not a developmental deficiency."

Like the teacher I interviewed she knows how important it is to understand her students. By understanding your students on a cognitive level, their living situations, and how they work with others allows the teacher to modify her teaching to accommodate their needs to ensure the best learning possible. 

Monday, April 14, 2014

Post 20

*** Professor, I have not completed my final rough draft because I thought you mentioned in class that it was due April 29. However, I am submitting and outline of how I will structure my essay and what I hope to show. 



Focus: The struggle an ESL teacher faces in the classroom and how she modifies her lessons, techniques, and behaviors to overcome the challenges that she is faced with. 


  1. Introduction  
    • introduce the focus and give background information on ESL
  2. Literature Review
    • discuss the article "Play and Literacy Learning in a Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom."
  3. Methods
    • How data was collected 
  4. Data Analysis
    • What made C want to become an ESL teacher (her motive and understanding of being an ESL student)
    • What conflicts does she face in the classroom; lesson, language barrier, student behaviors.
    • How she modifies herself to enhance her student's learning. (as a teacher, C understands that it is very important that she modifies and tweaks things around to benefit her students.)
  5. Results
    • What my data shows
  6. Limitation of Study
    • Things that did not work out as planned or limited me from collecting more data. 
      • I did not have the chance to observe C in the classroom.
  7. Conclusion


Blog 19

Focus: The struggle an ESL teacher faces in the classroom and how she modifies her lessons, techniques, and behaviors to overcome the challenges that she is faced with.


            It always appears that a student is the one that faces a struggle in the classroom, whether it is with learning a new lesson, the work that they are given, their peers, or with their teacher. However, we don't hear much about problems that teachers face in their own classrooms. I have conducted an interview with an ESL teacher to research how she deals with the challenges that faces and the techniques and behaviors she uses to overcome those challenges. Most ESL children struggle in their regular classroom. It is the teachers job to be able to modify their lesson. You will see how one ESL teacher modifies her lesson and behavior to enhance her students' learning.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Blog 18

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. 

M    So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?
C     I was an ESL student myself, and in my second year of teaching I actually taught a first grade and second grade combined class and I had all the ESL students for the second grade and first grade. The ESL teacher would come into my classroom, every afternoon during my literacy period and she would teach the ESL students in a small group instruction and as the year progressed I looked at her and thought “wow, that is really something I would like to do” especially since I had the experience of being an ESL student; I would like to give back and become a teacher to them.



  • Here C shows that she was inspired by her experiences which led her to become an ESL teacher. She shows her respect for the ESL students and she felt that it was her duty to give back. She understands what is it like to be an ESL student, therefore she can easily relate to them. Having the experience of being an ESL student allows the teacher to easily adjust her lessons when her student are not understanding since she knows what it is like to face those same struggles 



______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. 

C     Sure, it’s frustrating but you get by it. You know, you overcome it. Many times I say if they don’t understand the lesson, look at him, look at her, look at what they are doing. I’ve modified the lesson for this young lady because we are so advanced in the classroom right now in what we are doing. I’m practicing the writing with them on the topic—whatever the topic may be and she can’t do that. So im reinforcing phonics with her. Im starting with the letter “A” and going through the phonics pages. “This is “A” this is the sound.” And I’m teaching her vocabulary, basically. So I have to differentiate my lesson.


  • C talks about how she differentiates her lessons to modify for specific students. Many teachers can easily try to get by and make the student facing difficulties struggle and model the other students but C purposely made a new lesson for that student. C goes above and behind to ensure that her students are receiving the proper attention and learning that they should get.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
C     I do a lot of observations of their skills and I know how to communicate with them with the one who have more English opposed who have less English so ill modify my vocabulary for the ones who don’t have as much English. We are actually coming up right now it’s only the one major evaluation at the end of the year. We are starting it next week and that’s the WIDA access --- W.I.D.A. Access. We are going to test each student individually at the kindergarten level with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And we get the results next year in September and that will determine if the students have passed the ESL program. And the test is very difficult because the student—if they do not past the writing, they won’t exit the program. I also do a lot of writing with them so I could see a lot of writing and phonics and all the other worksheets so I see how they are progressing so I can tell how much they are doing and I reinforce those skills, as well, continuously.
  • C is constantly observing her students and testing to make sure they are learning the skills and understanding the materials. She tests her students to see their progression which also allows her to see if they are learning the skills and are able to apply them. She doesn't express a negative attitude towards the W.I.D.A. exam, the exams that determines if the student stay/ goes into ESL, which shows that she thinks the exam is fair in evaluating the students.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
M    Can you just tell me a story or just events with students who don’t speak the language, right out of a new country and..
C     Oh! Any of them cry. They don’t want to come to school. The student who I was just referring to, she came in last month. I met with her and the morning, her mother was there. She told her who I was and that I was going to come get her. When I went to go get her, two hours later, she didn’t want to come with me. (Melanie laughs.) No, I said, I was trying to express to her “remember your mom? I was here?” she was like “no, I’m not coming.” So then it was snack time and I went and got her snack and I said “let’s go. Let’s go to my classroom.” I held her hand and I brought her upstairs and I bribed her with a snack. And every day since she’s been fine. She even hugs me in the morning; she’s all smiles. So most of them don’t want to come with me, they don’t understand why they are leaving their classroom, the security of their own teacher and the students and coming with me. And once they get accustomed to it they’re okay.

  • C shows how she comforts her students when they are not feeling secure. At first she had to bribe her student and eventually the student developed a relationship with C and now feels comfortable. C completely understands why the students don't always want to go with her but she knows that it's her job to comfort them and build a relationship with them.



Blog 17

I chose to analyze data that was not as direct as the excerpts from Blog 13. As I analyzed and dug deeper into these excerpts I realized how significant it is for my research. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. 

M    So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?
C     I was an ESL student myself, and in my second year of teaching I actually taught a first grade and second grade combined class and I had all the ESL students for the second grade and first grade. The ESL teacher would come into my classroom, every afternoon during my literacy period and she would teach the ESL students in a small group instruction and as the year progressed I looked at her and thought “wow, that is really something I would like to do” especially since I had the experience of being an ESL student; I would like to give back and become a teacher to them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. 

C     Sure, it’s frustrating but you get by it. You know, you overcome it. Many times I say if they don’t understand the lesson, look at him, look at her, look at what they are doing. I’ve modified the lesson for this young lady because we are so advanced in the classroom right now in what we are doing. I’m practicing the writing with them on the topic—whatever the topic may be and she can’t do that. So im reinforcing phonics with her. Im starting with the letter “A” and going through the phonics pages. “This is “A” this is the sound.” And I’m teaching her vocabulary, basically. So I have to differentiate my lesson.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
C     I do a lot of observations of their skills and I know how to communicate with them with the one who have more English opposed who have less English so ill modify my vocabulary for the ones who don’t have as much English. We are actually coming up right now it’s only the one major evaluation at the end of the year. We are starting it next week and that’s the WIDA access --- W.I.D.A. Access. We are going to test each student individually at the kindergarten level with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And we get the results next year in September and that will determine if the students have passed the ESL program. And the test is very difficult because the student—if they do not past the writing, they won’t exit the program. I also do a lot of writing with them so I could see a lot of writing and phonics and all the other worksheets so I see how they are progressing so I can tell how much they are doing and I reinforce those skills, as well, continuously.

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4. 

M    Can you just tell me a story or just events with students who don’t speak the language, right out of a new country and..
C     Oh! Any of them cry. They don’t want to come to school. The student who I was just referring to, she came in last month. I met with her and the morning, her mother was there. She told her who I was and that I was going to come get her. When I went to go get her, two hours later, she didn’t want to come with me. (Melanie laughs.) No, I said, I was trying to express to her “remember your mom? I was here?” she was like “no, I’m not coming.” So then it was snack time and I went and got her snack and I said “let’s go. Let’s go to my classroom.” I held her hand and I brought her upstairs and I bribed her with a snack. And every day since she’s been fine. She even hugs me in the morning; she’s all smiles. So most of them don’t want to come with me, they don’t understand why they are leaving their classroom, the security of their own teacher and the students and coming with me. And once they get accustomed to it they’re okay.
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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Blog 16

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover)
1.      From my data, the purpose that I am able to focus on is how an ESL teacher develops strategies to overcome the challenges that he or she faces with their students learning academics. 
2.      I will be exploring the perspective of a kindergarten ESL teacher. She has been a teacher for 16 years and an ESL teacher for 12 years. 
3.      My participant will give me her insight on how she deals with her students and the language barrier as well as the learning barrier. 
4.      Given that she has many years of experience as an ESL teacher, i found that she was the best candidate and she also works in a diverse area. Having the perspective of a teacher who teachers kids of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds gives me more data to collect and a greater overview.


Detailed statement of your research question(s): you should write questions that you can "ask" of your data.  What does the data show about. . .?  How does my participant describe. . .?  What language patterns occur when my participant talks about. . .?  What connections do I see between the way my participant talks about. . . and cultural stories/assumptions about. . .?  Where does my participant directly state here ideas about. . . ?  Where does s/he imply her ideas about . . .?  What does it mean that she is direct sometimes and indirect other times when she talks about. . .? And so on.
·         Professor, I am not sure how to answer this question.
·         My data showed that the teacher has great control over her students and how effective she is when teaching them. However, she does allow her students to be independent and allows them to build strategies when they are faced with an issue. She has strategies for dealing with her students, the parents, and other teachers. My participant shows that she is active and passive throughout the interview. 


List of the information you need to gather:
·          I do not think a follow up interview is necessary as I have gather great data. However, I would like to do an observation while the ESL teacher is teaching. I would like to see how she implements her strategies when she is faced with a problem.


A preliminary list of sources (if you need a research essay => let me know.  Send what you have found so far and give me a detailed idea of what you are looking for)
Discussion of any additional data you will need to collect + how you will collect it

  • ·         Professor, we have talked about finding a research essay for my topic but we have not yet done so. I am not quit sure where I would go to find a research essay to use for my paper.