Reach 112 Teaching for English Learners Self-Assessment/Observation

When comparing my self-assessment to the observations notes, I realized that I have some holes that I need to fill in terms of my ELL's. Specifically I knew I was weak with explicit forms of academic language; however, upon receiving the observation notes I see where I could work it in and it be successful. I had initially had the idea of incorporating more academic English into the assessments that I give. I see that I could weave it in during the specific opportunity where I constantly remind and push students to show their work. Instead of using "check your work" I could use vocabulary like proving, evaluating, justifying etc.


I knew that I used a lot of visuals like large paper coins, a big model analog clock, base ten blocks, charts etc to conduct my math meeting. Even in the centers I have it manipulative heavy, so the students can work, touch, and see the math. I will continue to to provide manipulatives during math meeting, direct instruction, guided practice, and independent practice because I know that ELL's need that.

I need to change how I use my voice. WHen I asked the students how many agreed, my phrasing coupled with my tone clearly let the students know that I agreed, and it did not give the opportunity I was looking for to see who understood and who did not. I have to work on that so I don't give it away with my phrasing or tone.

There was one comment about my sticks being out but I was not using them. I was using them. I don't know how it was perceived that I did not call on students using the sticks. I used them to call students up to the board. Some other questions I called on students because I was targeting specific Broncos on certain concepts. I just wanted to clarify what I was doing.

In terms of thematic instruction, I was observed doing math meeting which is a daily practice of many math skills. Our theme right now is time and clocks.

I liked the suggestion that I need to incorporate more real-life connections into everything that I teach them. THis taps into respect for home language and culture which I should be able to do more. Using the knowledge that I have for the culture andlanguage and bringing that alive more in my lessons and daily math practice would be something that I could certainly do right away.

Reach 110 Equity (Teaching for Equity Resources)

I browsed several websites, and it appears that there are a lot of different resources out there on the topic. I would like to take the initiative over the summer and choose one or two good readings on this subject as it hits a personal chord with me. I hope that I can be steered in the right direction by my coach to narrowing down some possible reading for the summer break.


I took a look at one particular reading on one of the suggested websites. It was Brian D. Schultz's Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way. This might be one of the reading I look into over the s ummer. According to the article, a fifth grade teacher by the name of Brian Schultz who worked in Chicago's Cabrini Green neighborhood took a group of fifth grade students in room 405 to work on a sophisticated advocacy plan calling for a new school building. Brian Schultz their teacher and author of the book, enacted a social action project with the fifth graders to address their concerns. Although the school was never built, their actions did gain a lot of media attention and supporters including Ralph Nader.

The article goes on to discuss how many teachers due to the rigidity of testing and scripted curricula are limited in the likelihood of the enactment of social change or action projects. Many times teachers are so focused and under such pressure to pour all of their energy, resources, and planning into meeting the standards and preparing students for state tests that they have no room to develop projects that address issues of social change.

Finally, it made me think of one of the reasons I have stayed in education for so long. I stay for exactly that reason: social change. I see that at Rocketship we reach out to our families to be involved in things like the upcoming PACT meeting in which the community is able to ask questions of public officials about schools of choice in the community. We do things at Rocketship that are not part of most public schools. Reaching beyond just the adults, this article made me think about what we can do with all of those students who sit in our classrooms everyday. There are so many social issues out there to make society a better place. What is possible is that these social action projects can be done in a way that will simultaneously develop activist and standards-oriented academic skills. This idea is definately one worth futher exploration.

Reach 110 Equity

The reading by Lisa Delpit, " The Silenced Diologue" was an excellent article about how the white middle-class culture is the one in power, and how this shapes education. When the author got into detail about the culture of power and the five aspects of power, the first one jumped out at me right away. I have always been aware that as a teacher, I am in a position of power over the students. I remember taking a multiculturalism in education course back in college that specifically talked about this very issue. Racism can and will be repeated if a teacher holds that power and prejudice. However, this goes further into things that are not under my direct control like the textbooks that are published, the creators and decision makers of curriculum, the power of the state and federal government to establish educational policy, the authors/creators of the very test which are used to gauge who graduates, who gets into college, who earns credentials, degrees, and who can ultimately be successful in this culture.


One quote that touched me in the article was when the author brought out the point that she has frequently heard schools call poor parents, "uncaring." When parents respond they many times say or show an attitude such that, "it is the school's job." I admit that I am guilty of thinking those exact thoughts and feeling frustrate over the years by parents who seem to hold that attitude. I as a teacher have wanted support and needed support in making sure that these students of mine are successful, and I get angry and frustrated at times when a parent is sending me that message. However, after reading this article and specifically this quote, I had not stopped to think where this idea or attitude was coming from until now. As the author points out what we fail to understand is that if our parents belonged to this culture of power they would transmit these codes and rules to their children. It made me think of what I have tried to establish in terms of my own daughter and value education and do everything in a certain way to ensure that the doors of opportunity are open to her. I know the rules of the game because I have played it already; however, many of our families are immigrants who do not have the information to know what all the codes and rules are, and yes they are going to be unfamiliar with those rules and codes. That made a lot of sense to me. The next time I am tempted to react with that opinion that certain parents don't care, I will step back to think of this article and remember that those parents or families probably are not equipped with the tools, codes, rules, etc to play the game of the culture in power. It makes sense that these families would be teaching another culture to their children that would enable them to survive in their communities.


The last quote that I want to bring up is the following: "In this county students will be juged on their product regardless of the process they used to achieve it." I believe that we are results obsessed as a society, and we value more the final result than the process. How can I take this and teach my students that the process does matter? Do I just arm them with what they will need to know or master in order to fall into the culture of power and teach them to ignore the other pieces?

I am looking forward to our discussion on Tuesday.