As an educator today, there is information about my students that I need to know to be an effective teacher. It is important to me that I get to know the background and culture of my students. This information is going to help me prepare and better understand my students. Our classrooms today are very diverse with students of different nationalities, religions, ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds. To be at my best, I need as much information I can get from my students. Being able to observe a student that comes from a different culture, socio-economic background, and geographic region, as well as seeing how that student interacts in other classrooms and with peers, will better prepare me as an educator. It used to be that the largest
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It was lunch time for me also so I traveled to Juan’s high school to observe him in a recreational setting. I know most of the administrators there, so when I arrived, they had no problem with me helping them out as lunch monitors. Juan sat with a group of boys and the first thing I noticed was they were all Hispanic. They seemed to be having a good time with one another, and the language they spoke at the table was Spanish. After lunch, they went into the gymnasium waiting to be released to their next period. While they waited, one of the boys started playing Spanish music he had on his phone. Three Hispanic girls came by to sit with Juan and his friends. One thing that I found very interesting was the fact that not one white person came by Juan’s group at lunch or in the gymnasium. I thought back to my observation of Juan in the classroom, and I did not recall Juan communicating with any white students. The language barrier, I believe had a lot to do with that. To me, Juan seemed like any other teenage boy that enjoys hanging out with friends, listening to music, and talking to …show more content…
As I stated earlier, Juan is a senior, so he needs to be college ready and workforce ready. One thing that I recommended to the auto teacher was the use of a wall board filled with different vocabulary words from the automotive industry. Each week, all students could benefit from writing a paragraph or two using five of the words. Another idea I think that could help Juan is visual scaffolding. Visual scaffolding is taking the language that educators use during instruction, and make it more understandable by the display of drawings or photographs (Herrell, Jordan, 2008). I think visual scaffolding will help Juan on the certification exams he takes in auto class. Also, something that I do with my kids that I found extremely beneficial is partner work. Partner work is a form of cooperative learning that is effective with ELL learners because of the verbal interaction between them (Herrell, Jordan, 2008). For example, conversation role play can be used in class when one student acts as the hiring manager and the other as the applicant coming in to apply for a job. Also, partner or group work with students that come from other cultures and backgrounds also benefit Juan’s development. This is an authentic lesson that benefits ELL learners in all kinds of ways. Along with verbal interaction, Juan will be learning communication skills and knowing what to expect
It was lunch time for me also so I traveled to Juan’s high school to observe him in a recreational setting. I know most of the administrators there, so when I arrived, they had no problem with me helping them out as lunch monitors. Juan sat with a group of boys and the first thing I noticed was they were all Hispanic. They seemed to be having a good time with one another, and the language they spoke at the table was Spanish. After lunch, they went into the gymnasium waiting to be released to their next period. While they waited, one of the boys started playing Spanish music he had on his phone. Three Hispanic girls came by to sit with Juan and his friends. One thing that I found very interesting was the fact that not one white person came by Juan’s group at lunch or in the gymnasium. I thought back to my observation of Juan in the classroom, and I did not recall Juan communicating with any white students. The language barrier, I believe had a lot to do with that. To me, Juan seemed like any other teenage boy that enjoys hanging out with friends, listening to music, and talking to …show more content…
As I stated earlier, Juan is a senior, so he needs to be college ready and workforce ready. One thing that I recommended to the auto teacher was the use of a wall board filled with different vocabulary words from the automotive industry. Each week, all students could benefit from writing a paragraph or two using five of the words. Another idea I think that could help Juan is visual scaffolding. Visual scaffolding is taking the language that educators use during instruction, and make it more understandable by the display of drawings or photographs (Herrell, Jordan, 2008). I think visual scaffolding will help Juan on the certification exams he takes in auto class. Also, something that I do with my kids that I found extremely beneficial is partner work. Partner work is a form of cooperative learning that is effective with ELL learners because of the verbal interaction between them (Herrell, Jordan, 2008). For example, conversation role play can be used in class when one student acts as the hiring manager and the other as the applicant coming in to apply for a job. Also, partner or group work with students that come from other cultures and backgrounds also benefit Juan’s development. This is an authentic lesson that benefits ELL learners in all kinds of ways. Along with verbal interaction, Juan will be learning communication skills and knowing what to expect