I am observing my pull out time with ELL’s that are in Mrs. Johnson’s first grade class. I work in Mrs. Johnson’s classroom. The children are Hispanic between the ages of six and seven. For this observation I worked with two males and one female.
Teaching
The purpose of the lesson was to practice short i, o, and a words as well as to work on comprehension through vocabulary building and retelling.
The space used was the carpet at one end of the room. The students sit on the carpet “criss-cross applesauce” with the Decodable Readers 1-12 Grade 1.1 on the floor. The book is a beginning reading book that encourages the use of phonics with some high frequency words. They will be reading story six.
We read each page of the story in unison sounding out words with the short sounds. I then ask individual students to retell what is happening on each page. When I see there is difficulty with comprehension, or there are words that I know the children will not understand, we stop and draw a picture, act it out, or find an example of the word. Then I ask one of the children to retell what was happening on that page. We also read from their reading book “The Big Blue Ox” following this same structure. Mrs. Johnson will be giving a test on comprehension for this story.
Although these books are great for decoding practice, there are words that are rarely used in English (“Pop” for dad, “tap” for dancing, “mat” for rug, “tan” for a color) and some phrasing is difficult to understand (“Hop on top” for getting on the ox), so special attention needs to be given for comprehension.
It is difficult to get them to read as a chorus or with much fluency, but they love acting out. I see that these students are beginning to understand the idea of decoding. When they get to a word they can’t sight read, I hear them sounding out the words under their breath. There are many smiles and a willingness to show me what they do know. They also help each other without my asking. When I asked one student to “hop on top” of my back, like in the story, there was much excitement. They did not understand how Mom and Pop had gotten on the ox. I have their full attention because they never know what I am going to ask them to do.
Community
In terms of “community” these children have been working together since last year. I pulled them out of class together when they were in kindergarten. They work well together and help each other out when necessary. If we are short on materials, someone volunteers to share. They also want to help me or get me the materials I need.
To become a member of the classroom you have to be a first grader. Language is not a requirement because there are Hispanics and Americans in the classroom. To become a member of the group that I taught there had to be a language and reading difficulty.
Ethnographic Perspective
During the observation the formal interactions included questions from the teacher, answers from students, acting out, reading together and separately, and retelling. Informal interactions included comments between students about being on the right page or helping to sound out a word, or the teacher to a student about sitting correctly or coming back to the circle.
An observer entering the classroom at this particular time would see students working at their seats or at a center. They would also see a group with Mrs. Johnson at the reading table and a group on the carpet with Mrs. Sieh. At set times the groups change, and the students go to different centers or to another group with Mrs. Johnson or Mrs. Sieh. This is all done in an orderly manner, and the children stay on task because of how behavior is managed.
A second language learner would see acceptance and welcome in this classroom because the teacher is very understanding of the needs of a language learner and is willing to work with and help them in any way she can. The children in this class play together and interact with each other in groups and centers. It is a safe environment where a child can make a mistake and not feel singled out.
MTSU Honor Statement:
This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me. Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed below constitutes signing):
Gema Sieh,
September 14, 2010
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