If I were to start the school year off with three ELL students who
were newcomers to the United States, my first
objective would be to make sure the students and their families feel
welcomed. “For families to become
activity participants in the life of the school, they must first feel welcomed,
valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what their
children are doing in school” (Padak & Rasinski, 2010, p. 294) . Padak and Rasinsky offer several approaches including
new family introductions and effective communication in various formats. Second,
I would do my best to create a culturally relevant classroom in which there are
“important connections between culture, teaching, and learning” (Jones,
Pang, & Rodriguez, 2001, p. 36) . Third,
since the school I (would) work in adopts a Success for All (Slavin et al.,
2009) approach, I would use “…well-structured curriculum materials, emphasizing
systematic phonics in grades K-1, cooperative learning, and direct instruction
in comprehension and vocabulary skills in all grades” (Calderon, Slavin, & Sanchez, 2011) .
I would begin instruction by fostering a love of reading for a
variety of texts. With their captivated
curiosity, I would determine their interests in topics and select reading
materials based off those interests. I
would conduct one-on-one conferences to build rapport and determine their
reading ability, even at the smallest level of identifying letters or
sounds. From there, I would conduct
segmented reading interviews (Weaver, 2002), and use that data to inform
instruction. Since the interview
consists of a miscue analysis segment, I would be able to code those miscues
(if the student spoke any English at all) and determine areas that I need to
work on, whether those areas are phonics, phonemic awareness, or
comprehension.
Calderon, M., Slavin, R., & Sanchez, M. (2011).
Effective instruction for English learners. The Future of Children, 21
(1), 103-127.
Jones, E. B., Pang, V. O., & Rodriguez, J. L.
(2001). Social studies in the elementary classroom: Culture matters. Theory
Into Practice, 40 (1), 35-41.
Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. V. (2010). Welcoming
schools: Small changes that can make a big difference. The Reading Teacher,
64 (4), 294-297.
Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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