Areas to improve

As I read through the resources this week, I felt that many of the strategies were being implemented in my classroom. I have been teaching for about fifteen years in a variety of settings, grade levels, and with students of all different needs and backgrounds. I do not have ELL students this year, and we have a very low population of ELL in general, however I do teach special ed and language impaired students. While I believe I am implementing varied strategies, it is always good to be reminded of the importance and benefit of these teaching techniques.

In reading the booklet, Strategies and resources for mainstream teachers of ELLs, I realize one area that I get a little lazy on is a good strong closure, summarizing the key points of the lesson and emphasizing key vocabulary. Often I don't build in enough time to have meaningful closure but it is important to be explicit about what we learned and why.

Another area I would like to pay more attention to is the amount of teacher talk versus student talk. According to Dr. Tharp in the DVD, teachers speak 92% of the utterances in school and students only 8%. I mentioned that to my co-teacher yesterday and she laughed because our class is so talkative, but I told her I think they mean academic utterances--not social, off task talk. We use "think, pair, share" and a lot of small group instruction, but students tune out when we speak too long so it is an area we are going to focus on for the rest of this year.

I also think our school, and my co-teacher and I, do a very good job of inviting families in to help and participate. However, not everyone takes advantage of the opportunities and I realize I have not had much participation in the past from the ELL families. They do come for major events but not to help students in the classroom with work or projects. I am thinking I need to be more inclusive and resourceful with those families in particular as discussed by Dr. Garcia in the DVD on Culturally Responsive Teaching. I feel like I get to know the children very well, and need to spend more time connecting with the parents on a more personal level.

The most important lesson I have learned so far by going back to school is that reading and learning more about our craft and engaging in deeper reflection are so energizing and critical to continued growth as a teaching professional.

Predictable Routines

In today's class discussion, someone commented on predictable routines. Last week I had a PPT and a parent commented that the daily routine in my room seemed "chaotic" to her because there were many transitions. I agreed that there are many points of transition but I always felt my routines were well established, consistent, and beneficial because many of my students need frequent breaks or physical movement between activities to help re-focus attention (my theory? as discussed by Garcia). After discussing the routines and the ways that I mark the changing of activities, it was decided that I could help this student by posting a daily schedule on his desk or in his locker (his schedule is somewhat different because of the services he receives). It was also decided that this child may be ready to have some choice about whether or not he should stay in the classroom or be pulled out for services. He gets pulled often by the special ed teacher, the occupational therapist, or the speech/language teacher. There are times that this student feels he is on a roll in the classroom setting and does not want to leave to work with another teacher. I hope that by posting a schedule, providing some choice, and being more aware of the number of transitions, I can help not only this child but I can be more responsive to all students (5R's and a T).

Standard 1: Joint Productive Activity

Students in my classroom are seated at hexagon shaped tables to facilitate communication and group work. Students have different seating assignments for different instructional activities. Because I co-teach with a colleague at my grade level, there are times we get both our homerooms together and times we mix up students between us. A great deal of thought is put into how students move from whole-group to small group activities and how much time is spent transitioning not just between activities, but between rooms as well. My colleague and I have set up our rooms in the same way (both furniture and materials) to facilitate smooth transitions. We often have the students work in pairs or groups to complete tasks especially in science and math. Students are also encouraged to act as peer editors during writing and also to partner read and/or participate in book clubs. The groupings change often. During reading, the students are usually grouped by ability for instruction and by interest for book clubs. In math, student groupings are very heterogenous during initial instruction, but once a skill has been taught and reviewed, some students are given an opportunity to do an enrichment activity while others may be grouped to go over the concept again. During writing I usually teach a minilesson to the whole class, then students either write independently or at times may choose to write with friends. The students may ask a friend to peer edit their work.

As I reflect on my teaching, I believe I am effectively implementing this standard in my classroom. Upon initial reflection, I did not think I was requiring joint products but generating solutions to problems, analyzing science experiment results, and reading together are all products of learning.

Most effectively implementing standard two-language development

According to Dr. Tharp, the five research-based standards that appear in any successful program are: 1)teachers and students working together, 2)literacy and language skills developed across the curriculum, 3) school connected to students' lives, 4)students engaged with challenging lessons, and 5)an emphasis on dialogue over lecture. Reflecting on my own classroom, I believe the standard that is most effectively implemented is standard two, language development. Though I do not have ELL students this year, I do have a range of abilities and many students with speech/language impairments. In all areas of the curriculum we practice meaningful reading, writing, listening, and speaking. During reader's workshop for example, the students read in small group, independently, or with partners. While reading, students jot their thoughts, connections, predictions, and/or questions, then use their notes to write responses to literature in "dialogue journals," which is one of the strategies in this week's reading, Strategies and resources for mainstream teachers of English language learners. Once a week I write a letter to each student in their journals, providing feedback while modeling correct language in a non-threatening way. (Reed and Railsback, 2003) In addition to response journals, students write about their reading in the form of book recommendations/critiques for classmates, and once a week, students answer comprehension questions on a common story. All year we work on answering these questions by rephrasing the question and providing specific examples to support answers. Students are taught to use a checklist when answering these questions to be sure their responses are thorough. During small group instruction, we practice talking about literature by asking "elastic band" questions that encourage conversation and we talk about how to keep a conversation going. Language development strategies are evident in all other curriculum areas, but most prevalent during reader's workshop.