Week Five Blog # 8

I really enjoyed watching how this particular teacher, Ms. Krauss, sheltered lessons for ELL students while also teaching to the rest of her class. I specifically enjoyed how Ms. Krauss taught in relation to the reading process. Ms. Krauss used before reading techniques where she activating, assessing, and enhancing students' background knowledge. She also did some during reading strategies where she helped her students process and comprehend the text. And then Ms. Krauss used some after reading strategies to help students retain and master what they had learned through reading.
In addition to teaching through the reading process, I liked how she front loaded her content before tackling the book, Esperanza Rising. I noticed that when Ms. Krauss explicitly explained directions, she did so both verbally and written, which helped her ESL students with out dumbing down any content. She spoke in a loud and clear voice, used facial expressions, and hand gestures frequently; all of which are devices and procedures for sheltering instruction (Hill,2006). The teacher also used powerful modeling techniques like thinking-aloud to help make inferences, visualize, and question the text.
I observed the students participating because they were in a comfortable environment, and in a small class setting. The teacher made the environment comfortable by using positive reinforcement when the students interacted with the text. The teacher also provided tangible items, so the learning was accessible to them, another sheltering technique. The teacher allowed the opportunity for students to speak in their native language, and the students were set up in a way where they could work in collaboration, or independently.
During the pre-reading activities, the teacher used strategies around building and accessing prior knowledge, previewing vocabulary, looking for context clues, pictures, and previewing the story itself. The teacher also took the time to preview and teach vocabulary. She taught vocabulary words both written and orally, in addition to providing pictures and synonyms for the ESL learners as well. Both regular ed. and ESL learners benefit from this kind of instruction. This process to me really showed a successful sheltered lesson.
Next, the teacher did some during reading instruction. Here the teacher read aloud to the class modeling fluency for her students. She encouraged students to code the text, make inferences, question the text, and predict. Repititon of vocabulary was provided, as was additional wait time for her ELL learners.
Lastly, the teacher did some post-reading activities that included reviewing key and high frequency vocabulary. She went back to her original goal/objective, and asked students to make one connection, one visual, and one inference from the reading.
Overall, I felt that this teacher did a phenomenal job or teaching a book relevant to culture without dumbing down any content material. She encouraged students to make connections over and over again, benefiting her ELL students in seeing relevance, and increasing comprehension. The lesson was very successful because the teacher took time to front load the lesson, and because she sheltered it for her ELL learners.

References:

Hill, Jane & Kathleen M. Flynn. (2006). Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners. Alexandria, VI: ASCD