Blog 4

This week I was able to observe and help teach in the Kindergarten class at Brigham. The lesson that was taught was about the survival needs about plants, animals and humans.  There was a read aloud as well as three stations for the students, each station taught about either plants, animals, or human and what they need to survive.

I believe that teaching and observing in this classroom has helped me reaching a stepping-stone in heading towards my goal of connecting with students whose first language is not English. Not only was I exposed to different students but also I was more involved with this as I was expected to keep a running record of each of the students in the group that I was assigned to follow.  I really enjoyed the experience in this new room.  It was interesting to see the way that the three teachers interacted with the students that did not speak English very well, or at all. I noticed how heavily that all three of these centers relied on visuals for the students. This is something that I have always considered as a support for ELL students but now that I have seen it happen in person being used by someone of my skill level I feel more comfortable in my ability to use this method as well.

 I heard Alaina speaking Spanish to a few of the students in my group that clearly did not speak English very well. This has inspired me to learn a new language, like Spanish, that I very common in the classroom. By doing to I will be able to continue working on my goal for using better communication with ELL students. Using pictures and other visuals throughout my lessons during the day will also open the line of communication with these students as they will feel more comfortable trying to speak with me if A) I understand a good portion of their language and can speak it back to them and B) show by using visuals that their learning is important to me and I want to do everything I can to help them.

The students seemed to be continuously engaged during all three stations. They were especially engaged during read aloud. It was interesting to see so many students engaged in the book as Jessie read even though you could see that some did not understand what was being said. This shows how easily students can get lost in the cracks. They pick up on the words they know and go with that.  In seeing this lesson I have heavily reflected on this.  As a fulltime teacher I will ensure that students are not slipping through cracks just to make things “easier on me”.  The whole point of becoming a teacher is to make a difference for others. If I could help a student better understand English or use their native language to help them understand I would feel as though I am doing my job right.

Overall, observing and helping out in this lesson helped me in several ways in regards to reaching my goals. The strategies used in this lesson plan where very helpful to both the students in the class as well as myself, as an aspiring teacher. Most, if not all, of the students were able to take something away from this lesson. I think it was a great learning experience, the other assisting teachers, and the studetns.

I have copy/pasted a link of a YouTube video that helps explain why using visuals is so important with ELL students.. This video also gives examples of visuals to help ELL students.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzlBMLLDA1I

Exceeds: I have included a video about visuals and ELL students and exceeded the word count.