Chris Wiggins

EESL 650
Critical Reflection
Critical Reflection of Strategies for Teaching Math and Science to ELLs
Academic language development of ELLs is affected by many factors related to their
background knowledge and previous learning !ased on your e"periences in EESL #$%& what
factors related to SLA and academic language development should math and science teachers
consider when designing instruction for ELLs in math and science'
Guaranteeing that English language learners will develop proficiency in academic
learning can e a difficult tas!" #his is especially true when it comes to teachers that have not
had ade$uate training wor!ing with English language learners" When English language learners
arrive in a regular classroom% they enter ringing a dissimilar language% educational e&perience%
and customs" #his can ma!e it very difficult to plan for instruction" #o reach all students% it is
crucial to ta!e in consideration what is the est practice to ma!e our instruction meet the needs
of all students" What aspects do we include that has een proven to wor!' (oth cognitive
development and academic development in the first language have een found to have positive
effects on second)language learning *Collier% p" +,-"
.s an educator% / elieve it is imperative that teachers design their lessons to meet the
needs of all of their students" With this in mind% the teacher will have to fill in some missing
components of designing these lessons" (ac!ground information such as the students0 prior
academic learning will have to e accessed in order to see what gaps in their learning need to e
filled in" 1e&t% teachers need to design their lessons so they are meeting all of the state re$uired
o2ectives" 3owever% it needs to e designed in a way that will ade$uately meet the needs of the
English language learner" (y careful planning% teachers can differentiate their instruction in a
way to reach all students" .s #omlinson and /meau *+040- stated% the teacher5s role in the
differentiated classroom is to continually as! him6herself% 7What does this student need at this
moment in order to e ale to progress with this !ey content% and what do / need to do to ma!e
that happen'7 *p" 48-"
A wide variety of techni(ues and strategies are known to promote academic language
development of ELLs !ased on your e"periences in EESL #$%& what techni(ues and
strategies do you believe would prove most beneficial to academic language development of
ELLs and practical for use by science and math teachers'
#he strategies that / learned in EESL 650 were very eneficial when / interned this
summer" / was ale to use the sentence strip activity with my first graders not only to help with
ordering sentences within a story% ut also to help with reading fluency" #he use of an interactive
noteoo! was also something that / learned aout in EESL 650" / have used a noteoo! idea
efore in my science class efore% ut not in the way that it was used in EESL 650" #his is an
idea / would li!e to use this upcoming school year in my own classroom" / feel that it is a good
techni$ue to see what my students truly learned from the lesson"
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Chris Wiggins
EESL 650
Critical Reflection
/ also found the S/9: lessons that were taught in EESL 650 were very eneficial" /t
served as a great e&ample of how to teach our English language learners this summer during
internship" #he lessons were very detailed and it was very eneficial when it came to the
instruction of our English language learners" / have een curious how the S/9: lesson would e
effective in a classroom since / first heard the term ;sheltered instruction"< =sing this lesson plan
format this summer answered that $uestion" /t does wor!"
!ased on your e"periences in EESL #$%& how will you improve support of ELLs in math
and science through academic language development'
#his year / will wor! directly with several English language learners" Since / will e
responsile for teaching all su2ect content areas / will e ale to utili>e the techni$ues and
strategies that / learned EESL 650" / anticipate that / will e giving professional development to
my faculty this year aout the connection etween academic success and academic language
ac$uisition" /t is an area that / see is a great need in our school" / elieve academic language is a
crucial area in which our teachers are not putting a strong infuses on" #hat is true especially in
the content areas of math and science" / elieve as someone who has gone through the EESL 650
class% it is my 2o to try and change the mindset of our teachers" .cademic language is a crucial
for English language learners" With the inclusion of academic language% all students including
English language learners can e academically successful"
/n addition to strategies through professional development% / intend to assist my fellow
teachers with ideas and resources that / have found on various internet sites" .s / have e&plored
various wesites% / have found resources% activities% and other tools that have help me to
incorporate academic language" #he Word ?ynamite game from is great when it comes to the
e&planation of roots% prefi&es% suffi&es% and areviations" #hese are things that you will see
when it relates to academic language in most su2ects"
Change in instructional practice is most directly affected by interaction between teaching
peers Additionally& change in instructional practice is only sustained when supported
through intensive and ongoing professional development of knowledgeable practitioners
!ased on your e"perience in EESL #$%& how do you plan to share what knowledge you have
learned about strategies for teaching math and science to ELLs'
E&plaining the importance of academic language and demonstrating ways to incorporate
it in the classroom to my fellow teachers is crucial" #o etter meet the need of our English
language learners it is imperative that teacher in academic language in an efficient way" #hey can
do this is they ecome comfortale with utili>ing the strategies that are needed to incorporate it"
@y principal has given me the tas! of eing the one to assist my fellow teachers with techni$ues
and strategies to help them etter teach their English language learners and it0s a tas! / feel etter
e$uipped for since ta!ing EESL 650"
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Chris Wiggins
EESL 650
Critical Reflection
/ elieve that incorporating S/9: lessons in the classroom will e eneficial when
incorporating academic language" /t utili>es various components such as active planning%
ac!ground !nowledge% interactive opportunities% strategies% scaffolding% and differentiated
assessments" / elieve that once teachers how an effective S/9: lesson plan wor!s% they can ta!e
the lesson and revise it to wor! within their own classroom" .lso% / can include my video from
internship as an e&ample to show teachers how to incorporate /:9# strategies" #his will give
them an e&ample to see how students are ale to learn from these strategies"
/ have had the opportunity to give turn around training on /:9# strategies to my faculty
this past school year" #his coming school year / am almost certain that / will e given the tas! of
giving more turn around training on teaching English language learners" 9ne of the areas / would
li!e to focus on is using the S/9: lesson model" / feel that this would give them a etter idea on
ways to teach their English language learners" #hese strategies are ideas they can use to help all
of their students find academic success"
!ased on your e"periences in EESL #$%& how has your understanding of effective strategies
for teaching math and science to ELLs changed'
/ have incorporated various /:9# strategies within my own classroom% especially in my
language arts and social studies classes" @y students have thoroughly en2oyed using them and they
have found the strategies eneficial when it comes to understanding su2ect content" #he EESL 650
class has taught me how to incorporate the academic language aspect into my su2ect content" #he
strategies and techni$ues / have learned in this class were effective during my internship lessons and
will e eneficial with my teaching in my classroom this ne&t school year"
.ccording to Echevarria and Aogt *+040-% ;@anipulating o2ects physically can reduce
the language load of an activity *484-" ?uring the EESL 650 class and through internship /
discovered that to e effective when it comes to teaching math and science% it is imperative to use
supplementary materials that are rooted in conte&t" /t is imperative to use supplementary
materials to the full e&tent to reach all learning styles"
After reviewing a peer)s e*portfolio& offer + commendation and + recommendations Cite
specific aspects from the peer)s portfolio as support for your commendations and
recommendations ,nclude the web address at the end of your response as a hyperlink
/ reviewed Stacy Waldrop0s wesite httpB66mathandscience8ells"weely"com6" @rs"
Waldrop0s wesite is simple to follow and every category is easy to understand" / really li!e the
way she separated each /:9# clip" 3er lesson plans and resources are great e&amples that
teachers could easily use" @y only recommendation would e that she should include pictures of
items that she used in her lesson" 9ther than that% her e)portfolio was fantastic"
,
Chris Wiggins
EESL 650
Critical Reflection
Resources
Collier% A" *4CDC-" 3ow long' . synthesis of research on academic achievement in second
language" TESOL Quarterly, 23% 50C)5,4"
Echevarria% E"% F Aogt% @" *+00D-" Making content comprehensible for English learners: the
SO! mo"el *,rd ed"-" (ostonB :earson6.llyn and (acon" 484"
#omlinson% C" ."% F /meau% @" (" *+040-" Lea"ing an" managing a "ifferentiate" classroom"
.le&andria% A.B .SC?" 1ovemer +040"
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