Last time working with my ELL

Each period spent working with my ELL was progressively better.  I think a lot of that had to do with rapport, the more time we spent working together the more comfortable we both felt.  The last time we learned about the Middle East, and this time around Africa was on the plate.  It’s a daunting subject to approach, given the many historical and geographic backdrops unique to the continent.  We started with an extension of the Middle East lesson, working to recall and integrate the past information and apply it to the African setting.  In addition to being an “alien” continent in minds of most high schoolers, many of the names are hard for an English speaker to pronounce; and teaching an ELL student French pronounciation was an especially hard task.  Luckily, we got through it without to much trouble.

We started at the “top” of Africa, learning about the Sahara region.  These countries were the hardest for him to pronounce.  We started with Sudan, and given how many shirts related to the subject on campus today, I thought he might have at least heard of “Darfur”.  But he didn’t, so we talked about that issue for about two to three minutes.  We then moved on to countries such Algeria, Lybia, and Morocco.  I was unsuccessful in activating any schema relating to these topics either.  For Algeria I brought up to cultural connection to France, and of the large Algerian population inside of France.  He likes soccer, so the Zinidene Zidane “headbutt” was brought up but he hadn’t heard of it; I was kinda bummed about that.  For Morocco and Libya I talked about movies that had scenes taken from those countries, but he hadn’t seen those either.  

It was at this point I wanted to stress the idea that Africa has three distinct climate zones, the desert, the sahel, and the jungle regions.  Each of these has unique cultural and historical heritages, and the general idea of this point was in my mind important to emphasize.  We finished the desert region with Chad and Niger, and we then moved onto the ”Sahel”.  We learned about the regions large countries such as Nigeria and Cameroon, and the French influence exhibited by both.  I brought up Dasagna Diop (former Mavericks center) and the Cameroon soccer team as sports references to maybe making those countries easier to remember.  The Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled history was addressed with some refrences to popular culture.

It was at this point we were able to move on to South and West Africa.  Somolia (blackhawk down), Kenya (distance runners) and Rwanda (its ethnic troubles) were all addressed.  Uganda was discussed a little and it’s problems with rebel movements, but it’s great success in fighting AIDS relative to similar countries in the region.  Zimbabwe and South Africa were easy to discuss with “apartied” being a subject already addressed.  The World Cup will take place there so that was discussed a little.  Zimbabwe didn’t technically have “apartied”, but it does have a similar history of race relations and Mugabe’s wrecking of the countries economy was addressed.

Angola was addressed with a reference to Cuba’s excursions there during the Cold War, the issue of communism was briefly discussed.  The Christian “island” of Ethiopia and it’s ongoing dispute with Muslim Eritrea was discussed.  The issue of religious conflicts is a prominent theme in modern African history, so this point was stressed along with the geographic zones.  In all eighteen countries were chosen to be memorized during the hour.  I thought these best reflected Africa’s diversity, and a general working knowledge of and about these countries are critical for any discussion of the continent.  

Assessment was taken with a blank map with the countries to be tested numbered from one to eighteen.  Not accounting for minor spelling errors, my student was able to get 17 out of 18 right without the use of an answer key.  I stressed the fact he now knows more about the geographic area of Africa than the majority of the American population, and anytime he sees a map it’s important to briefly remind himself of the location of each country so that information eventually becomes second nature.  Hopefully if he remembers the different climate zones and the general placement of 4-5 of the bigger countries, then I think our time spent learning together was a success.

I’ve learned that language does matter in teaching.  It’s wrong to assume every student comes into a lesson with the basic reading and writing skills college students take for granted, and instruction should be modified with such issues in mind.                          

Third video teach and conclusions

I’m happy with the way my last video teach unfolded.  Admittedly, my first lesson was pretty bad, which was a little depressing.  My spreaking was to fast, and the content to disorganized.  In later lessons these problems were addressed in part with extra planning and practice; but also as I became more comfortable with the students I was teaching.  As Bond said in class, the kids were fun to work with.  They were motivated, attentive, and clever enough to make things interesting for all involved.  The third video teach reminded me why I want to teach someday; its just something I enjoy doing and the rush of teaching important material to students is difficult to match.

On another note, after observing the subject, I’m not sure I want to teach Economics.  The areas of study that caused me to fall in love with the subject (development and labor economics) aren’t addressed in a high school class.  Listening to fellow Akins bloc interns talk about how interesting their lessons involving history are, I feel like that is the path I want to go down.     

I’ve learned a lot about teaching from both my observations and lecture in the Eagle’s Nest.  Given that “interactive” lecture is my favorite way to teach the material, it was helpful to learn some different perspectives in that area.  I will definately incorporate several of the reading and writing strategies learned throughout the semester, especially the interactive strategies involving synthesis of information.   

Observation of ELL

Observing my ELL in the classroom today was easily one of the valuable experiences I’ve had since joining the Akins block.  It goes without saying the teacher had a very good rapport with all the students.  He is a Spanish speaker himself, affording the English language learners the ability to use Spanish if they get hung up on difficult words.  Given that each student was giving a speech, this strategy was effective in allowing the kids to express themselves fully.  The subject matter was extremely personal; therefore getting the students to communicate in the most comfortable manner possible took precedence. 

Hearing these stories from all the ELL’s and their classmates was a rewarding venture.  I’ve lived in an environment the past five years where 99% of my peers haven’t experienced anything close to the hardships which these students have endured.  Immersing oneself into a foriegn country at a young age was among the tamest of the speeches.  One girl finished her speech, a discussion which included being kicked out the house by her Mother and being beat as a child, with a message so profound it had no business being spoken by a fourteen year old.  Her ten minute speech ended with a genuine standing class ovation only a speaker with presence could generate.

Other stories included estranged parents and deep internal family conflicts.  It makes one truly appreciate the gap that exists between the average teacher and many of these students.  Empathy is an important characteristic to have in addition to consistency.  The master teacher understood that, and did his best to make these students feel comfortable when many other adults in their lives haven’t been up to the task.        

 

 

observations this week

The school year is coming to a close, and the work is actually increasing for my senior economics class.  Attendence and late work are undergoing special scrutiny, especially given a passing grade is required in this subject for graduation.  My cooperating teacher has stressed the importance of a consistent and manageable policy for late work; and after observing this class for a while now, I tend to agree.  It was satisfying seeing one particular student raise a grade from a 10 to a 70 in a matter of weeks.  After missing the first 2 weeks of school, he had been trying his best to turn in quality work and its now paying dividends.  Students that get off to a slow start deserve a chance to catch up if possible, and an efficient policy for helping these students is helpful in accomplishing this end. 

I liked the assignment the class worked on today.  It was a “simulation” in which students analyzed a situation involving a newly formed monopoly in the computer industry.  It was the sort of assignment that had no right answer, but required students to use information presented in previous lectures to make value judgements.  Was this corporation a natural monopoly?  Could its domination of the industry hurt consumers or actually help?  What are possible negative consequences to the economy?  The assignment was by far the most challenging I’ve since observing, and it was in the form of interactive group work, which is my favorite.     

Experiences with my cooperating teacher so far

I’m getting a better feel for the class and the teacher’s style as the semester progresses. There is definitely a attitude present at this school that is evident everywhere, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. The kids here seem not as interested in education as most of us probably were, but at the same time most are mature for their age. The atmosphere seems to be non-combative; as in their aren’t many behavior problems, but an overflow of enthusiasm isn’t present either.

The only reason I mention this subject is that it’s necessary to properly understand my cooperating teacher’s style. She doesn’t push the kids to hard, she can’t. As the Professor said, “as a teacher you must pick you’re battles”; and an uber strict teacher would not survive at this school in my opinion. She would spend to much time involved in disputes which would detract from learning. With that said, learning does take place, but it’s in a manner which best suits this school. I know one or both of our Professors will disagree with this, and I will undoubtedly be more strict in my classroom, but I don’t think I could educate these kids using my style as much as she can hers.

She knows the subject, a definite bonus. But she has a knack for shrugging off minor problem behaviors, and doesn’t allow them to distract from the lesson. Major problem behaivors haven’t occured, and I don’t anticipate they will. My cooperating teacher uses PowerPoint a lot and groupwork. I like powerpoint to supplement lecture in small doses, not as the primary source to communicate the material. But I do like how she uses groupwork for a variety of reasons. Thats all for now.

Observation

Today I observed my cooperating teacher give a lecture followed by a quiz, which was then followed by a group project. The lecture was good. It was the first concerning the unit on market structures. This lesson was about perfect competition; my second video teach wednesday next will extend upon the analysis and discuss the basic components of the monopolistic competion and oligopoly models.

I noticed my cooperating teacher has a printout of Bloom’s taxonomy stapled to her wall; and the lecture activated several of the levels theorized by Bloom. Students were engaged in the activity through the use of funny anecotes combined with real life examples. These techniques helped ensure the students were paying attention during the dry but important details found later in the lesson.

Students were instructed to take notes during the lecture, which was a power point presentation. An open note quiz immediately followed, and students were allowed to use use their notes. None of the questions completely reached the evaluation level. A couple of them were taken litterally straight from the lecture, and the other two addressed slightly higher levels of the taxonomy. The quiz did a good job of identifying the most important aspects of the material, but nonetheless was still fairly easy.

The group project following the quiz challenged the students to apply the information learned in lecture using their own creative impulses. Students were asked to design a product competing in a perfectely competitive model, using the models four basic tenets learned through the lecture. At the very least, the project approached the evaluation level; although student motivation determained how high up the ladder to climb. Students who tried to be innovative and challenge the material learned a lot.

Geography with ELL

Today’s session was by far the best we’ve had up to this point. Maybe it was the subject matter, or it could be we’re just learning to communicate with each other better, but the most likely reason for my ELL’s success is probably a combination of both. The lesson started with a simple question, “what area of the world is this?” (Middle East). He wasn’t able to name any of the countries or landmarks before the lesson started, and given the worksheet handed to us by the Geography teacher was admittedly hard, I was a little nervous at first.

We started with a simple goal, memorize six countries which are important to understanding the region. The five I chose were Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. We learned these five really fast, roughly 3 or 4 minutes, and I started to get optimistic. But the next landmarks were undoubtedly going to be a lot tougher. On the agenda were seas such as the Red, Arabian, Mediterrean and Caspian; Mountians such as the Tauras, Elburz, and Zargos; and Gulfs such as Aden, Oman, and Persian. Thats a pretty heavy plate for a student who hasn’t yet learned how to discern the Middle East on a world map.

But like the countries, he was able memorize all those landmarks and more fairly easily. We constantly reviewed previously learned landmarks and countries, so that those wouldn’t go forgotten. The best part of the session was that my student was overtly trying to memorize these terms, and did so at such a pace that rough understanding of the world map could easily be attained within a couple of weeks. The session ended when handed him a blank map and said, “fill in everything we’ve learned”. He was able to label approximently 20 terms on the map with minimal spelling errors after only an hour and no word bank. Thats pretty good in my book.

I think the main lesson I’ve taken from this assignment is how much reading and writing skills are holding him back more than would be expected. He learned those terms fast enough for me to conclude that had he recieved more one on one attention, finding the Middle East on a map should be easy for him at this point. There was a gap between what he could recite back and what he could write, which was the first time I truly grasped how his writing was more problematic than he lets on.

Second meeting with ELL

The second meeting went more or less the same as the first.  I tried to build rapport by discussing some of the issues that were mentioned last meeting, but he was still rather shy.  Questions such as, “How’s math class going?” and “Have you played with the soccer team yet?” were areas alluded to from our first meeting.  After an intial get to re-know each other period we got to work.  I was excited to teach instead of trying to have a conversation with someone not interested in talking.  

During the script, he appeared as if he was putting forth a decent effort in attempting to answer the questions, which as a teacher seems to be all you can really ask.   We read passages from Breaking through, and analyzed the material further by answering the questions provided.  He’s able to speak and sound out English words well.  I’m not so sure how well he is able to understand the words he is able to pronounce so effortlessly.  He could answer some of the questions correctly very fast, but others took longer than expected.  Words such as “grinned” and “motioned” gave him trouble, and it is understandable how the passage would be difficult to grasp without knowing these words.  I am very bad at gauging the reading level of a student who is well below where they should be.  Just talking he’s a smart kid who understands how to speak English, and there’s a good chance I assume he should be a better reader than is reasonable.

I tried to repeatedly check for understanding of the vocabulary, and we went over words such as “grinned” that he didn’t know.  Also, I asked him to speak in Spanish or tell me what his initial thoughts were on questions that were giving him difficulty.  But he was prone to giving the exact right answer or none at all.  On the other hand, he did immediately know the word “curandero”, noting it was some sort of person who cures.   You could tell he enjoys reading the Spanish words, so if I was trying to appeal to his interests a book rooted in Spanish would be the way to go.

Since he doesn’t like to point out words or concepts he doesn’t know; vocabulary strategies before, during, and after the lesson seem warranted.  Minimizing jargon and using correct grammer are also important.        

Me and my ELL: First meeting

Our first meeting was an interesting experience for both of us.  While my student speaks English very well; our intrests and background vary significantly.  He is from Mexico, enjoys playing soccer, and listens to what he described as “Mexican” music.  He is a shy person, so we never really got to deep into any specific subject, but there were some he found more interesting than others.  Particularly, soccer is a big part of his life right now.  From playing afterschool pick up, to watching the pros on T.V.; the sport occupys a large portion of his free time.

It was clear from the conversation that he is probably an ELL more so because of his writing abilities than speaking.  Since the regular classroom doesn’t allow him practice writing in Spanish, the language he more fully understands, his basic skills seemed underdeveloped for a student his age.  His family speaks Spanish at home, so it is likely his parents aren’t able to help out much with English language homework.  Vocabulary building should definately occupy a substantial portion of his learning time, although at his current stage the definitional approach would probably yield the most benefits.  After hearing about the conversations others had with their ELL’s, it became clear we didn’t get into the detail others did; which probably has more to do with my own conversational abilities than the ELL.  Nevertheless hopefully we can make further in roads about his interests and goals next meeting.

During the next meeting, I would like to focus more on the specific vocabulary he uses to express his ideas.  Our first conversation consisted on short answers with a simple vocabulary; which I don’t if it’s because I didn’t give him the proper environment for expounding upon his ideas, or if he really just doesn’t have an adequate grasp of english grammer yet.  The next meeting will hopefully shed some light into these areas.

First class

My first experience in observing economics took place in the computer lab.  Students had to write a cited short essay about an entrepreneur which they found interesting.  My cooperating teacher has an interesting style.  She’s been teaching for several years now, so therefore has a pretty good grasp of her students and what she can hope to achieve with them.  Most of the basic concepts and projects are coordinated with the other economics teacher, which makes it easier if a student switches classes; and it helps keep the teaching objectives uniform.  

The class was good about staying on task.  Each paper was written on an individual basis, but students were allowed to talk during the period; which helped their ideas and kept the subject interesting.  These were seniors, so keeping the material relevant seems to be an especially important goal for learning to take place.