For this post, I will be primarily
be talking about my goal for working with English Language Learners, as well as
talking about my performance in the classroom that took place last week. My
initial goal stated, “My goal is to learn about each student’s personality and
interests. I hope to accomplish this goal by knowing the strengths and
struggles each ELL student experiences.” Although I have only been in the
classroom one time, I saw how some students struggled with focusing on the task
at hand, as well as communicating in English. I noticed how many students spoke
to me in Spanish and unfortunately, I did not know what they were saying. I
feel that this experience opened my eyes to a different perspective. After I heard
their responses in a language I am not familiar with, I could only imagine how
they feel when they are taught in English. At first, I panicked because I did
not know how to respond to their answers. Were they correct? What were they
saying? If I say, “Good job!” what if they answered incorrectly? So many things
went through my head within a split second. Thankfully, Dr. Osorio was there to
translate their answers. However, I won’t always be as lucky. This experience
was on the scary side because there was a barrier with effectively
communicating with one another. I never thought of how ELL students must feel
on a daily basis. I have never been taught in any other language besides
English, so this thought has never crossed my mind.
When teaching my section of our 5
senses lesson, I had hearing, I found that the children were engaged, yet did
struggle with focusing during certain sections of my lesson. For starters, I
utilized a youtube video on my phone that incorporated different sounds such as
birds chirping, a piano, fireworks, clapping, etc. Unfortunately, my phone was
not connecting to District 5’s wifi so I had to improve by making my own noises
for the kids. Not only was I sick and had previously lost my voice, but any
action I performed they would have seen, which defeats the purpose of using
your ears. What I had the students do is close their eyes while I either
clapped, whistled, or tapped on the table. The kids seemed to love it and
became ecstatic when they guessed the correct sound. I loved talking with the
children and they told me stories about hearing different sounds, such as their
dogs barking or going to watch the fireworks on the fourth of July with their
parents. Even though I was only with each group for a few minutes, I felt that I
connected with them. We all laughed and had fun while learning about our sense
of auditory. We discussed the importance of listening and using all of our
sense to help figure things out that happen in the world around us
Overall, I feel that I am on my way
to accomplishing my goal. Although I was only in the classroom one time, I feel
that I got to know more about the students, their struggles, and their
interests. I look forward to working with them more in the future. Even though I
am the “teacher,” I feel that they are the ones who are truly teaching me. I am
very grateful for this experience.
Exceeds: Went over the required
word count and included the video I intended on using during this lesson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPRLcAjMZFc
