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.