Differentiation
Artifact: ELL Project and Log
Reflection:
This project was completed during ITEC 7400 as part of the field experience requirement for the course. This project required me to have a field experience with English Language Learners. For this field experience, I worked with and observed two of my students who were born in the United States, but had still not tested out of ESOL in the 6th grade. In the field experience, students were creating a Language Arts portfolio to help them prepare for the upcoming Georgia Milestones Assessment.
The Engaged Learning Project shows my ability to properly design and differentiate during a technology based assignment. Because of the diversity in the project's design, I was able to differentiate based off learner characteristics, particularly readiness levels. Since we were working on a portfolio, students were selecting different pieces of their writing to show off on their Weebly website. While I implemented and facilitated this project, I spent a significant amount of time conferencing with each student. My co-teacher met with all the students served by special education and I conferenced with the students in regular education and ESOL. Since these students are on the brink of testing out of the ESOL program, they require very little accomodations. In order to make sure the students were successful, I adapted their learning environment and process. I heavily scaffolded the information they were putting on their website. After working on each chunk independently, I conferenced with them before they published their website. I also modeled what a portfolio should look like by making my own portfolio for them to follow. With all these interventions in place, students could still learn the same content and make the same product; they just had more interventions along the way.
Since I worked with the ESOL students in a one-on-one environment, it was easy for me to identify trends in what they were struggling with. I also saw how they might deal with language difficulties by avoiding work or working in groups with friends. In the future, I would allow the students to complete the portfolio in pairs or have them become experts on certain chunks of information. I feel like having them focus on less would result in better mastery.
This field experience had a significant impact on the ESOL students in my classroom. They were able to thrive once they had someone checking in with them and correcting them each step of the way. These students do not have anyone at home that can help them with their schoolwork at home. Having the one-on-one interaction during class time and ESOL class had a significant impact on their performance on the portfolio assignment.
Reflection:
This project was completed during ITEC 7400 as part of the field experience requirement for the course. This project required me to have a field experience with English Language Learners. For this field experience, I worked with and observed two of my students who were born in the United States, but had still not tested out of ESOL in the 6th grade. In the field experience, students were creating a Language Arts portfolio to help them prepare for the upcoming Georgia Milestones Assessment.
The Engaged Learning Project shows my ability to properly design and differentiate during a technology based assignment. Because of the diversity in the project's design, I was able to differentiate based off learner characteristics, particularly readiness levels. Since we were working on a portfolio, students were selecting different pieces of their writing to show off on their Weebly website. While I implemented and facilitated this project, I spent a significant amount of time conferencing with each student. My co-teacher met with all the students served by special education and I conferenced with the students in regular education and ESOL. Since these students are on the brink of testing out of the ESOL program, they require very little accomodations. In order to make sure the students were successful, I adapted their learning environment and process. I heavily scaffolded the information they were putting on their website. After working on each chunk independently, I conferenced with them before they published their website. I also modeled what a portfolio should look like by making my own portfolio for them to follow. With all these interventions in place, students could still learn the same content and make the same product; they just had more interventions along the way.
Since I worked with the ESOL students in a one-on-one environment, it was easy for me to identify trends in what they were struggling with. I also saw how they might deal with language difficulties by avoiding work or working in groups with friends. In the future, I would allow the students to complete the portfolio in pairs or have them become experts on certain chunks of information. I feel like having them focus on less would result in better mastery.
This field experience had a significant impact on the ESOL students in my classroom. They were able to thrive once they had someone checking in with them and correcting them each step of the way. These students do not have anyone at home that can help them with their schoolwork at home. Having the one-on-one interaction during class time and ESOL class had a significant impact on their performance on the portfolio assignment.