Follow-Up Assessment

There is an ancient Chinese proverb, that goes by “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Today, I would like to discuss my cousin, Stephanie Lam, who went to Taiwan one summer to teach English in a two week enrichment program. Her students, ranging from 12 to 17-year-olds, came from low-income families around Taiwan, seeking help in learning English, as they do not normally have the proper resources to do so. Though the language barrier was a formidable obstacle, Stephanie bonded with her students and other teachers, and greatly improved their English proficiency. Now, thanks to her, they understand a new language even better than they did before, and therefore have access to

During our last class I had the honor of speaking with, Mrs. Laura Verges, an elementary school ELL teacher. She told some of my classmates and I, about her experiences, both negative and positive, and gave us a great look into what it’s like to work with young English language learners.

As an ELPT, I was well informed and trained in the laws, rules, and responsibilities with running English as a second language and Bilingual Programs. I screened students using the W-APT screener for proper placement of our EL students. I monitored the progress of transitional students and worked collaboratively with their teachers to offer interventions. I understood how to use ACCESS data to inform instruction and meet the linguistic needs of our EL population. With this knowledge, I was able to work collaboratively, coach, model, and facilitate the learning of adults on how to best use data to design and differentiate instruction for our students success.

English learners are currently the fastest developing student population in schools today. This makes it extremely important to provide these students with the programs and services they deserve. Providing a strong education for ELL students is what I personally believe to be an asset in America’s future. Today there are many challenges I believe teachers and students face when it comes to instruction and assessments.

School board members across the country want to better serve the students who are English language learners. Because countless English language learner students spend part of their academic day in a regular classroom, the general education teachers need to be trained to understand instructional strategies and techniques to aid in advancing this population of students (Stover, 2015). Consequently, it would also be beneficial for school board members to support the bilingual and English Language Learner Specialist in training all teachers in the district on ways to better serve this population.

It is essential to understand English language learners’ needs because ELL students face the combined challenge of learning all the academic content as other students, while also learning the language of instruction. With the rapid growth in the size of the ELL student population in the U.S., teachers who are effective recognizes ELL students unique academic needs, unique background experience, culture, language, personality, interests and attitudes toward learning for the purpose to adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students’ needs.

Teachers have begun to question the practices of ELL students in receiving services and the regular education they will receive in some content areas. Though there is often a negative perception towards these students it seems it is on the side of the teacher and the additional work and accommodations they will need to provide and alter to meet a student’s needs. I was happy to speak with the ELL teacher and gain some insight on the current efforts to provide high expectations for ELL students through the use of additional tutors and opportunities. However, if we are not careful and if we stop questioning our practices on responses to ELL students, we will ultimately allow these practices to become stable and controlling.

“Successful program models for promoting the academic achievement of language minority students are those that enable these students to develop academic skills while learning English. The best program organization is one that is tailored to meet the linguistic, academic, and emotional needs of students; provides language minority students with the instruction necessary to allow them to progress through school at a rate commensurate with their native-English-speaking peers; and makes the best use of district and community resources.” (Colorin Colorado, 2014)

I would like to participate in the Immokalee Readers program to help young children reach their highest academic potential. It will help me to develop many college and career readiness skills. Being a tutor will help me to further my communication and collaboration skills; Communicating with the kids will help me to help them to meet their goals in school. The Immokalee Readers program will open up opportunities for me to start focusing on my pathway to success. I will be able to help a child develop basic study habits and homework strategies that he or she can use in higher education. By using a student’s strength to approach a strategy for their difficulties, it will help the student to feel less stressed about the subject. As a tutor I

My educational background with ELL students is minimal, as well as my own personal experiences to be relatable. I have had many short opportunities to build upon that have allowed me to grow professionally when working with students needing that extra reinforcement, encouragement, and motivation for academic support.

There are many ways that teachers can use to determine if these services are still needed due to the student’s level of English language proficiency. Joplin School District utilizes test results from WIDA as their main evidence; however, if a student does not get a perfect 6.0, then other means have to be used as well. The schools in Joplin can employ information from standardized tests data, team meetings, formal and informal class assessments, etc. If the evidence suggests that the students have an English language proficiency in the advanced range with then steps will be made to fully submerge students in the English language curriculum without the use of ESL supports. However, careful deliberations must be made before the decision is final and the student has to prove that they have the English language skills needed in order to complete their education in an English language based

Tutoring Abdull was my first glimpse into the rewards of teaching. I could tell tutoring Abdull made a difference. I watched Abdull’s confidence grow as I encouraged him to read and speak English. I watched him come of his shell. When we first started working together, he was embarrassed to read in front of me. At first, he would refuse to read words that I knew he was familiar with.

The course objective for the class Service Learning in English is to increase one’s knowledge about language arts tutoring through readings, discussion, and experience working with teachers and a specific student struggling with academics as well as his/her work ethic. I was assigned to tutor Aaron Ring, a freshman at Christel House Academy South, a nationally acclaimed award-winning school. The school has a healthy and safe, welcoming environment that contains a diverse assortment of students and a 20:1 student-teacher ratio to allow teachers and students to build a close relationship. The different rooms of the school were well-ordered and well-maintained. Majority of the classrooms were clean with different lighting, colorful decorations,

Last school year, three of my peers and I decided that our high school needed a peer-tutoring club, so the last few months of my junior year and the first few weeks of my senior year were dedicated to starting this organization. We organized the structure and goals of the club, and presented our ideas to the administrators. Once we got our approval, we immediately began planning lessons. Two days a week we meet with groups of students that come to us for help on improving their ACT scores or general grades. Our service is open to any and every student. We have tutored students in dual-enrollment courses and in standard academic classes.

For the post assessment, I have organized data results to display a score for each lesson taught as well a total score for the entire test, for each student. This way, there is a clear result of student understanding of standards and objectives in each section of the post test, organized by the lessons that were taught. Based on the student scores, there is a balance of understanding throughout the post assessment, for all lessons. Although there seems to be a balance of understanding for each lesson, almost all students scored full points on the questions dealing with the first lesson. The post assessment results for this lesson, shows that students understood the objective of that lesson. The majority points students could score on