Instructional Strategies for ELL Students

ELL students are learning the same material as English speaking students. How can it be fair to teach a student new material and a new language in the same way a student with English as a first language is learning the material? Though it can still be harder to learn material in a language you are not yet comfortable with, there are some great tools to help ELL students. Thinglink is a great resource used to develop a story for students using pictures and small words. This way students can see the material in a picture or even match it to a small word or sentence. It is a fun app but also a great learning source that may be less intimidating for ELL students. Another great source is NewsELA. This website has many educational articles but the best part about it is that it can be used for students with varying reading levels. Students of all levels can read about the same topic, even the same article, but can use to sidebar to change the reading level to fit their needs. This is great to challenge students as well as adapt to lower levels and still not skip over any information. WIDA is a great strategy for teachers to use when working with ELL students. You can use the standards to mark the level a student is at but you can also look at harder levels to determine what you as a teacher can do to help your students progress to the next standard. These are just a few strategies to remember when teaching an ELL students, but the most important thing I have learn is the importance to adapt to any situation. All students learn differently.

Five Uses of Technology

What an eye opening experience it is to truly track your technology use for a day. This has actually been a focus of two class assignments that I have done and it has really effected how often I check my phone. There was a connection I felt as though I needed, just to unlock my phone with no purpose of doing anything on it. Well the day I logged my technology use was one of my busier schools days. Every use was on my phone, except one school article I read on my computer. It is crazy how our phone can displace so many other sources because everything can be accessed from one device. My activity log shows just as much time on entertainment (social media) as it does on school work. Though I on less busy day I use technology more leisurely.  It is something fun and mindless that distracts me from the outside world. Which is why I also use it as a coping strategy, to get my mind off other things. Though I don't believe media has effected my identity formation at this stage in my life, I do believe that the magazines I read helped construct my identity in my early adolescence. High sensation was never a use of media that effected me. I don't listen to a lot of music and am more laid back then action that promotes high sensation. I believe that the most important effect of media for me as an adult and future teacher to think about is youth culture identification. Media keeps evolving and it is already so different from when I started using the internet. I didn't have social media until sixteen and students are going to be introduced even earlier. Social media opens up so many doors into unrealistic expectations and anonymous bullying. Students are going to be able to search whatever pops into their mind and access material that may not be age appropriate. I hope to teach younger kids and remind friends that everything seen on media isn't realistic. What I learned from my technology log is that sometimes media is helpful and sometimes it's an necessary use of time.

Secondary Schools in France

As a teacher it is important to know what standards are expected of your classroom, your state, and your country. But not all schools are the same around the world. Schools can be very different and even non existent is undeveloped countries. In France, a developed country, classrooms can seem very similar to the United States. Though the curriculum standards are the same, there are both public and private schools in France. 90% of private schools are Catholic and 80% of students attend public schools.Core classes may be similar to the U.S. but testing is very different. Lycee, secondary school in France, is only 3 years long, grades 10-12. Secondary school in France has a focused goal, and that is preparing students for the BAC exam. This is the final exam all students must take to graduate. Students must score a 50%or higher in order to pass or must retake the year again. Testing in France is all standardized and all test are out of 20 points. 10 out of 20 is passing and it goes up in increments similar to the U.S. scale. (A, B, C, D).  All students who pass the BAC exam are accepted into higher educations, though some programs such as, sciences, require an additional BAC exam.
http://about-france.com/primary-secondary-schools.htm

Adhieu's Home Country

I am excited to meet with Adhieu and her family. She has been in the United States for just over three years. She traveled here from South Sudan to be with her husband, Atem. Atem traveled to Vermont with the “Lost Boys”. A group of about 20,000 who fled the second Sudanese Civil War in South Sudan between 1983-2005. over 2.5 million died during that time and those who were lucky to survive and escape found refuge in camps in the surrounding countries. South Sudan is the newest country in the world and only established its independence in 2011. South Sudan is one of Africa's most linguistically diverse countries and has several hundred language groups. 60 indigineous languages. Adhieu's family speaks Dinka, which is the largest ethnic group in South Sudan, Though Adhieu can speak English she only went to school for 4 years (her estimation). Her parents did not allow her to go for longer because she needed to be available to men who sought to marry her. She does not know how to read or write but is extremely open to learning

http://www.factsking.com/countries/south-sudan/

Danger of a Single Story

Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi’s TED Talk is an example of her story about her encounters with others who had their own stories. She covers the problems that happen when people have one story and one type of story. She used so many example that explain how one story or experience you have cannot be the only one you open your mind to. She explain the danger of reading one type of book. How from those books she only believed that blond haired, blue eyed, English people existed in stories. These stories closed her mind to the many types of people there are as well as that there are more people like her. This is something that took me almost to college to really experience. I had two people of color in my entire high school, though I had read and know of the many other cultures that exist, it wasn’t until college in the south that I experience communities different then my own. This video was another reminder to never use the experiences and stories I’ve heard to categorize new people who I meet. This has been something I was able to start practicing in college but something that I will continue as a teacher. Everyone has their own story specific to them, No story I hear will be the same for someone else. It is important that I understand that everyone student has their own story. That I don’t assume something because how they look, how they talk, or where they have come from. This topic is very similar to the discussion I have in my anthropology course. We take a look into other cultures but we are always reminded that no matter how much reading and studying you do there is no way to understand a culture or someone’s life unless you are immersed in their lifestyle and culture. It is important to know students have their own life story but it is also important to teach them of other’s stories. So that they are not closed minded by their own experience and they are aware of the dangers of a single story.