ESOL Class Observation
April 6, 2018
After another week of standardized testing responsibilities, I was finally free to attend the ESOL class 2nd block. I arrived shortly after class began and sat in a corner to observe. There are six students in this class, all originally from families where English is not the spoken language. Additionally, all these students are deaf or hard of hearing. Most are from Hispanic backgrounds. As American Sign Language is specific to this country, these students may have had some signing in their homes and previous schools but would still to learn ASL, and specifically English, to succeed here according to state graduation requirements.
At the start of class, the teacher worked with one student while the other students were in pairs, chatting as a way to practice ASL fluency. The teacher and student pair reviewed the student's project, which she was about to present to the class. The project topic was the student's activities during spring break, and she had made slides with written English to accompany her presentation. Watching them work together, I saw that the teacher helped the student learn ASL signs to match the English words -- for this presentation, words and signs about family.
After this prep from the teacher, the other pairs broke their chatting and this student gave her presentation, advancing the slides and signing expansion of the slide content to the class. The teacher used an iPad to record the presentation, presumably as a tool to later review with the student and grade.
The teacher then showed me how she uses color strategies to assist the students with that kind of project -- a colored chart where the colors correspond to a specific function of the presentation as it would be structured. I only saw it for a moment and so don't remember specifically what the colors meant. I think, something like "Introduction" ... "Summary", "Conclusion" -- that sort of thing.
Then the teacher met with two students regarding assigned tasks that are aimed specifically to work toward goals as set in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). An example of a goal would be "Reading for details." The teacher reviewed such goals and directed the students to the tasks that work toward them.
Then, as a further example, the teacher showed me such a task: "Main Idea" cards, split by grade level reading ability. These cards start by linking words with pictures, and as they increase in difficulty the pictures give way to increased text. On a typical Friday, said the teacher (and this was Friday), she would float around the class, meeting with students 1-on-1 ("conferencing") to review goals and tasks, assigning new tasks that the students could then work on independently. The teacher also mentioned she saves examples of the student's work to show progress at their next IEP meeting, which is held annually.
The teacher has two instructional assistants and currently one intern. The intern followed the teacher, observing. The two IAs are both of Hispanic heritage, one is deaf and the other hearing, both fluent in ASL (the teacher is also Hispanic and fluent in ASL, and hearing). While the teacher moved from student to student conferencing, the IAs each worked with a student and I spent some time observing them in turns. One used a type of flash card, likely the "Main Idea" cards mentioned above. This particular student I know and I think she is fluent in ASL, so these cards I expect were to help her learn written English as they looked like they had short stories on them. So for those, reading comprehension was probably the goal. They may have also had Spanish text. It seemed like the IA and this student were taking turns translating the story in ASL and then talking (signing) about it.
The other IA worked with a student who I know only recently learned ASL. They used strips of paper on which was an individual sentence. As the student attempted to translate the sentence, I saw here repeatedly point to specific words and ask for explanations, then the IA would translate, using a variety of signs to do so, breaking the new word and explaining it using words the student already knew. It seemed like they were making good progress. Both of these students were intent on the exercise.
Later the teacher also told me how she uses Google Classroom to post reading logs and lots of other information to share with the class and keep track of progress. The students also use Empower Reading (through this site, Achieve3000). I've not actually seen this in progress, but I understand the students are challenged to read articles and are assessed, given a grade-level lexile score. I observed as the teacher met with a student about his work in Empower, encouraging him to find articles that interested him and would keep him motivated.
Conferencing and 1-on-1 work continued through the Friday block. My take-away from this Friday class was the importance of the 1-on-1 interaction. The small class size and the presence of two IAs really helped accomplish this. In a group that requires such differentiated instruction, it makes sense that that would be an effective strategy. It was a good experience and I wish I had more time to sit in on other classes.
After another week of standardized testing responsibilities, I was finally free to attend the ESOL class 2nd block. I arrived shortly after class began and sat in a corner to observe. There are six students in this class, all originally from families where English is not the spoken language. Additionally, all these students are deaf or hard of hearing. Most are from Hispanic backgrounds. As American Sign Language is specific to this country, these students may have had some signing in their homes and previous schools but would still to learn ASL, and specifically English, to succeed here according to state graduation requirements.
At the start of class, the teacher worked with one student while the other students were in pairs, chatting as a way to practice ASL fluency. The teacher and student pair reviewed the student's project, which she was about to present to the class. The project topic was the student's activities during spring break, and she had made slides with written English to accompany her presentation. Watching them work together, I saw that the teacher helped the student learn ASL signs to match the English words -- for this presentation, words and signs about family.
After this prep from the teacher, the other pairs broke their chatting and this student gave her presentation, advancing the slides and signing expansion of the slide content to the class. The teacher used an iPad to record the presentation, presumably as a tool to later review with the student and grade.
The teacher then showed me how she uses color strategies to assist the students with that kind of project -- a colored chart where the colors correspond to a specific function of the presentation as it would be structured. I only saw it for a moment and so don't remember specifically what the colors meant. I think, something like "Introduction" ... "Summary", "Conclusion" -- that sort of thing.
Then the teacher met with two students regarding assigned tasks that are aimed specifically to work toward goals as set in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). An example of a goal would be "Reading for details." The teacher reviewed such goals and directed the students to the tasks that work toward them.
Then, as a further example, the teacher showed me such a task: "Main Idea" cards, split by grade level reading ability. These cards start by linking words with pictures, and as they increase in difficulty the pictures give way to increased text. On a typical Friday, said the teacher (and this was Friday), she would float around the class, meeting with students 1-on-1 ("conferencing") to review goals and tasks, assigning new tasks that the students could then work on independently. The teacher also mentioned she saves examples of the student's work to show progress at their next IEP meeting, which is held annually.
The teacher has two instructional assistants and currently one intern. The intern followed the teacher, observing. The two IAs are both of Hispanic heritage, one is deaf and the other hearing, both fluent in ASL (the teacher is also Hispanic and fluent in ASL, and hearing). While the teacher moved from student to student conferencing, the IAs each worked with a student and I spent some time observing them in turns. One used a type of flash card, likely the "Main Idea" cards mentioned above. This particular student I know and I think she is fluent in ASL, so these cards I expect were to help her learn written English as they looked like they had short stories on them. So for those, reading comprehension was probably the goal. They may have also had Spanish text. It seemed like the IA and this student were taking turns translating the story in ASL and then talking (signing) about it.
The other IA worked with a student who I know only recently learned ASL. They used strips of paper on which was an individual sentence. As the student attempted to translate the sentence, I saw here repeatedly point to specific words and ask for explanations, then the IA would translate, using a variety of signs to do so, breaking the new word and explaining it using words the student already knew. It seemed like they were making good progress. Both of these students were intent on the exercise.
Later the teacher also told me how she uses Google Classroom to post reading logs and lots of other information to share with the class and keep track of progress. The students also use Empower Reading (through this site, Achieve3000). I've not actually seen this in progress, but I understand the students are challenged to read articles and are assessed, given a grade-level lexile score. I observed as the teacher met with a student about his work in Empower, encouraging him to find articles that interested him and would keep him motivated.
Conferencing and 1-on-1 work continued through the Friday block. My take-away from this Friday class was the importance of the 1-on-1 interaction. The small class size and the presence of two IAs really helped accomplish this. In a group that requires such differentiated instruction, it makes sense that that would be an effective strategy. It was a good experience and I wish I had more time to sit in on other classes.
that last part is so true. I learned so much about other classes when i was the edtech person for the school and finally had time to visit and work with other teachers and see how their classes worked.
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