Thank you to Mary Ann for hosting this event. It is such a good meeting place!
What follows are some questions that came out of the discussion.
Enjoy - see you on May 12th!
Reflective Practice for Teachers of ELLs
Empathy
v Am I incorporating a social justice perspective in my work?
v Have I tried to build a positive relationship with my students?
v Have I tried to understand family culture, background, trauma and interests?
v Have I taken steps to incorporate the cultures of all my students?
v Have I looked at each child as a reflection of God’s love and creation?
v Have I made my classroom a safe, comfortable and productive learning space for all?
v Am I an ally and advocate for our students and their families?
v Have I tried to learn about our students from the perspective of their own community?
v Have I been explicit about our classroom discourse community’s implicit learning norms?
v Have I monitored social and academic disempowerment closely and counteract the disempowerment dynamic?
Knowledge
v Have I understood family bkgd, educational history, trauma, learning style?
v Have I clarified the content and language goals of the lesson for the students?
v Have I helped the student acquire school-matched quality learning (task) skills, personal narrative style, formal register and planning speech?
v Have I focused my attention on acquisition theory, using appropriate zones of proximal development?
v Do I look for the cause of student difficulty in myself, my language use, my classroom culture, my curriculum, my methodology?
v Have I provided daily time for students to reflect on their learning before, during & after?
v Have I provided clarity, suggestions and support to the teachers I work with?
Skills
v Have I accounted for my use of instructional language?
v Have I accounted for cultural mismatch in learning tasks?
v Have I planned and prepared to scaffold the academic content?
v Have I been helping students develop stronger tier 2 & 3 vocabulary?
v Do I provide problem-solving and contextual language practice each day?