Reflecting on this trek, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot, and I am a better instructor because of it. All of the projects I created, I have been able to implement in my classroom. Not only have I implemented them, but I feel I have achieved success. Success because my teaching method and knowledge in ESL curriculum has greatly expanded, but also because my students' L2 acquistion rates and understanding have improved.
Last Spring, I created a WIKISPACE for ESL professionals and students. I added to the WIKI throughout the remainder of much of my coursework. I loved the WIKI space. When I first made it in the Spring, I made the grammar resources available to my students. They definitely found it helpful. I also liked that it included making components which traced the history and foundations of ESL curriculum for educators. Education is constantly changing to meet the needs of society. An established ESL curriculum in the U.S. is crucial in order to effectively meet the needs of every student.
Advice I have for future candidates is to stay dedicated. There is much involved in being an ESL teacher. ESL students are different than the average student because we as teachers have to get to them on their level, since more often than not, we don't share a common culture and educational background. We need to provide social, academic, and personal resources for most of our students. Making Newcomer Brochures, Flyers, and curriculum to meet these needs were course objectives to help meet these stdudent goals.
This program I feel really helped make me aware of that and helped me utilize strategies in my everyday teaching to make a confident and efficient teacher. Oddly, in some ways I'm almost disappointed to be done with it because I feel this program has continuously inspired to be more proactive and invigorated in my work.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Literature Circles
My students are often asked to read advanced English academic literature. They hate it. They always ask me, "Why do I have to read this? I don't understand it. It doesn't make any sense to me." Therefore, I was excited to implement the literature circle. Maybe it would be a good way to help my students understand English fiction literature. I decided to use American short stories.
The story I implemented into my circle was The Quickening by Rosemary Gelshenen. This story is primarily about peer pressure and behaving in negative ways in order to fit in. In this story, the character becomes a shoplifter when she begins attending a new school and befriends a bad influence. In the story's conclusion, her teacher influences her to a make positive transformation.
To my ESL students, the concept of quickening was difficult to grasp. (I began implementing my literature circle a few days early, so I was glad to have a little bit of extra time to really let the literature circle take effect.) Because they didn't understand the meaning of the title right off the bat, their initial reaction to the literature was a little hesitant. However, once I assigned students' roles they were eager to follow through and to responsibly gauge the meaning. Since it was a small group, slacking on responsibility wasn't an option.
In the pre-reading, we discussed peer pressure and the possible meaning of quickening. They were anxious to read and to verify their predictions. As we read, discussed, and took notes the students became more interested in the reading. I noticed the problems in the past, were ceasing to exist. Word building and comprehension skill strategies were all beginning to successfully take place. More interestingly, through the discussions and reflective imagery logs, students began to make intimate connections to the text.
I will definitely incorporate literature circles in the future. I would have liked to have had even more time to follow this one through. My ESL students really began to acquire word building and reading comprehension skills through the dynamic interactions and the student responsibilities the literature circles provided.
I'm not sure what changes I would make, yet. It was my first implementation, and even still, the time constraints were short. I think literature circles should be compliments to reading instruction. I embrace the formalities of instruction, but it's nice to mix it up. Especially, with the advanced/intermediate level students. I'm not sure how well it would go beginner students. Maybe there modifications would be necessary.
All ESL professionals should figure out a way to incorporate literature circles in their regular classroom instruction. The last few days, I've really noticed a difference in my students because of it. From this assignment, and others in this course, I've realized that veering away from formal classroom instruction and establishing more opportunities for students to participate in things such as literature circles, really help with acquistion skills because they provide effective avenues for student demonstration of output in more stratgically planned objective ways than the random role plays, skits, etc. that I was doing before.
The story I implemented into my circle was The Quickening by Rosemary Gelshenen. This story is primarily about peer pressure and behaving in negative ways in order to fit in. In this story, the character becomes a shoplifter when she begins attending a new school and befriends a bad influence. In the story's conclusion, her teacher influences her to a make positive transformation.
To my ESL students, the concept of quickening was difficult to grasp. (I began implementing my literature circle a few days early, so I was glad to have a little bit of extra time to really let the literature circle take effect.) Because they didn't understand the meaning of the title right off the bat, their initial reaction to the literature was a little hesitant. However, once I assigned students' roles they were eager to follow through and to responsibly gauge the meaning. Since it was a small group, slacking on responsibility wasn't an option.
In the pre-reading, we discussed peer pressure and the possible meaning of quickening. They were anxious to read and to verify their predictions. As we read, discussed, and took notes the students became more interested in the reading. I noticed the problems in the past, were ceasing to exist. Word building and comprehension skill strategies were all beginning to successfully take place. More interestingly, through the discussions and reflective imagery logs, students began to make intimate connections to the text.
I will definitely incorporate literature circles in the future. I would have liked to have had even more time to follow this one through. My ESL students really began to acquire word building and reading comprehension skills through the dynamic interactions and the student responsibilities the literature circles provided.
I'm not sure what changes I would make, yet. It was my first implementation, and even still, the time constraints were short. I think literature circles should be compliments to reading instruction. I embrace the formalities of instruction, but it's nice to mix it up. Especially, with the advanced/intermediate level students. I'm not sure how well it would go beginner students. Maybe there modifications would be necessary.
All ESL professionals should figure out a way to incorporate literature circles in their regular classroom instruction. The last few days, I've really noticed a difference in my students because of it. From this assignment, and others in this course, I've realized that veering away from formal classroom instruction and establishing more opportunities for students to participate in things such as literature circles, really help with acquistion skills because they provide effective avenues for student demonstration of output in more stratgically planned objective ways than the random role plays, skits, etc. that I was doing before.
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