Starting Fresh

As some of you may or may not know I recently was assigned to a new school and a new CT for reasons I choose to keep private.   My new site is Chaparral high school in Temecula and after 2 days my experience is already exponentially improved.  My new CT is an incredible teacher.  The first thing that I noticed about her was that she uses every SIOP strategy in the book.  The first thing she starts class with is bell work and instructions to get out whatever it is the students will need for the day including books that way no class time is wasted gathering supplies.  Once they finish with their bell work my CT goes through a review.  She asks students to share out what they learned the previous day/week, and what important concepts were learned.  She then asks the students to pair share the concepts they learned in their previous class.  Anytime my CT gives instructions she gives them twice, writes them, asks for questions or clarification, and then has the students pair share what is being asked of them.  While she reads aloud she explains confusing vocabulary words and asks her students to pair share an additional example using the vocabulary word.  She also uses strong emphasis when she says something important or an important key word.  It is incredible to see an educator using the SIOP model so frequently and evidently.  She is an exceptional example of how every teacher should be in the classroom.  Another aspect of my CT’s teaching I really like is that she constantly does formative assessments 2 weeks before any grade level benchmark exams.  She gives the assessment, grades them, and creates an “intervention” day whereby, students who are below average and not understanding the essential benchmark standard are put into a group to work together to attain the concept.  The students who have a clear understanding of the benchmark state standard are put in a separate group and are given a more challenging form of the standard to accomplish.  It’s awesome to see a teacher ensuring her students succeed, and for those that have, continuing to challenge them further.

With my new experience came a class I’ve never taught before, nor did I think I would ever teach, ELD.  The class is a block scheduled ELD 3 class with about 10 students total.  Already this class is proving to be one of my favorites.  The textbook they use is called EDGE published by Hampton-Brown.  This book is incredibly helpful to me as an instructor.  It gives explicit instructions on which questions to ask the students, what portions of their reading are important for the students to comprehend, what focus areas there are etc.  The school asks that the book be followed exactly and in order, which makes lesson planning a breeze.  I introduced myself to the students yesterday and they were all very eager to work with me.  There are students from a variety of places such as the Philippines, Guatemala, Japan, China, and Mexico. While working independently they immediately began asking me questions, which surprised me; I didn’t think they would be that comfortable and trusting of me right away.  I am very excited to be working in an ELD room.  These students really want to learn and when they learn a new concept you can see how excited they are right away.

Finally, I am very excited because I have a deaf student in one of my classes.  This student is very embarrassed about their deafness and thus does not have an interpreter, nor do they use their hearing aids.  This students’ only requests are to sit near the front, and ensure they can see their teachers lips because this student is very good at lip reading.  My initial excitement about having this student was because I took 6 years of ASL so I knew I would be able to sign to this student with ease.  However, finding out this student is embarrassed about signing and requires other forms of communication excited me even more.  Signing to this student would have been an easy way to solve the communication barrier, but now, I have to continually be conscious of my explanation of directions, where I am standing in the classroom and whether or not this student can see my lips moving, ensuring that my written instructions are clear and concise, and also, ensuring that I clarify my instructions, because as my CT has informed me, this student will not ask for clarification.  I see this as a challenge for me as an educator in training.  Differentiating for this student is vital to their learning and every move I make in the classroom (literally) could be detrimental to their learning.  I  am very excited to take on this challenge.