We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

I began this blog as a way to share my thoughts as an experienced teacher that's been thrown into an entirely new world. I've spent the majority of my 18 years in second or third grade, focusing on increasing reading fluency, stamina, and comprehension. Until 3 years ago...

On the last day of school, my principal called me up to her office to tell me that I would be teaching the Structured English Immersion class the following year. In Arizona, highly qualified teachers were previously required to have an SEI endorsement, which I do, so I should be able to handle this, right?

Wrong!

I made an assumption that it would be the same as teaching third grade, I'd just have to add more visual aids, give more think time, throw out a few sentence frames... some minor tweaks, but basically the same curriculum.

I know you're laughing at me right now, I'm laughing at me too.

I quickly discovered that my students needed so much more. And I was overwhelmed, like a first year teacher who doesn't even know the things she doesn't know- O-VER-WHELMED.

To begin with, I had students reading at every level from prekindergarten to beginning fourth grade. Actually, I shouldn't say reading, I should say decoding.

In the past, once a student had unlocked the key to decoding words, building vocabulary and comprehension was the next step. I wouldn't have called them easy steps, but my English speaking students often had loads of background knowledge to draw upon.

With my ELL students, I learned that their decoding skills were great, in fact many of my monolingual students could read 60-90 words per minute, but that meant zero for comprehension. My students read English the same way I read Spanish. I can decode, but there's no meaning behind the words.

I realized that building vocabulary was the most vital step to allowing my students to comprehend what they were decoding, and so I began my journey as an SEI teacher with my first challenge, mastering the teaching of new vocabulary.

In my next post, I'll share some of the research and strategies I've used to increase vocabulary acquisition with my ELLs.

K

Front Page News!

I was on the front page of Teachers Pay Teachers!

I'm super excited!

K

What do you want for your birthday?

I want for my birthday an ice cream cake.

Don't you just love beginning writers?

K

I went to a training, now what do I do?

I attended a training for our new reading program yesterday. There was actually a lot of good information, but I never leave a training feeling good- do you know what I mean?

I teach third grade, but my students are ELLs. Many (most) of my students can not decode at a level that allows them to read third grade level text with any semblance of fluency. Most of the students that can do not have enough English vocabulary to comprehend third grade texts.

My instinct is to spend more time on phonics with the kids who struggle to decode and more time building vocabulary for the others, but my district says I should be exposing them to third grade text and standards.

We do have a 90 minute intervention program where they learn at their independent level, although I'm dubious about the accuracy of their placements.

The solution I was offered today was to do more teacher read alouds and less student reading or to listen to the audio files of the text instead of asking the students to read them.

BUT at the end of the week, my kids are still supposed to take the third grade weekly assessment- how will that work? If they can't read the text, how will they be able to pass the assessment?

I know that listening to the text at least exposes them to more complex language and ideas and offers an opportunity for building vocabulary and background knowledge, but what is the purpose of giving the assessment? Doesn't that seem like a waste of instructional time?

At the end of the day, I want to know I did what was best for my students, but sometimes I'm not quite sure what that is.

Any thoughts?

K

During a writing conference:

Me: "What comes at the end of a sentence?"

Student: "A pyramid."

K

#Freebie Friyay!

3-digit Cut and Glue Activities

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

We are reading a book titled "The Costume Party." My students were sharing what costume they would want to wear.

"I want to be a ninja turtle."

"I want to be a ballerina."

"I want to be Spiderman."

"I want to be a policeman."

"I want to be a troll."

"I want to be rich."

K

Today is the day...

I become a teacher blogger!

I have been reading and following blogs for so long, but I've never seen a reason to write my own, until now.

Recently, I've been truly challenged in my classroom. I am teaching third grade EL students, which is essentially like teaching third grade standards to students who read at a kindergarten level. NOT EASY.

On top of that, I've been assigned to teach Pre-K level readers during our reading intervention program, something I have VERY LITTLE (like zero) experience with.

All of this has led me to a new world of teaching. I often don't have the experience or resources required to meet the needs of my students.

I've decided to start this blog to share my journey, specifically the challenges (and hopefully triumphs!) that I encounter along the way. Perhaps I'll find some readers that can offer me some advice or point me in the right direction. And maybe, just maybe, someday, this blog will help guide another teacher who finds themselves in the same situation.

Thanks for joining me.

K