During my diversity practicum, I taught two ELL groups. One group consisted of two 1st grade boys. The other group consisted of two 3rd grade girls.
Group 1 (1st Grade): For this group, I was using the Leveled Literacy Intervention Program 1st Grade. The boys are at a level A/B, where as their 1st grade classmates are reading at a level E/F. There is still a slight gap between their reading abilities compared to their general education classmates.
The program works on a lot of valuable skills that will help with the transition to the general education classroom more smoothly. The students worked on sight words in a sight word work packet. The students read the words, read phrases, and answered comprehension questions regarding the phrases. The next activity was reading a Leveled Reader. My strategy was to read the story aloud to the boys on day 1. The next day, I worked individually with one of the boys, He read the book to me, and I asked questions to improve his comprehension abilities. On the third day, I worked individually with the other student. He read the same story, and I asked comprehension questions.
While I worked with one student, the other student would read the book to himself. After we finished the story, we would have writing workshop. I would give the boys two sentences to write. The boys would use their phonemic awareness skills to write the sentences using proper capitalization and punctuation. If a student made a mistake, I would provide immediate feedback to correct the mistake.
The students had a great attitude and were very willing to work with me. I was able to learn about a new curriculum to assist students with improving their reading abilities.
Group 2 (3rd Grade): For this group, I was using the Leveled Literacy Intervention Program for 3rd Grade. The girls are at a Level L, where as their general education classmates are at a Level O. There is only a slight gap between the reading abilities of these girls and their general education classmates. The ELL teacher shared that these two girls are very close to being mainstreamed back into the general education setting as soon as their ACCESS scores improve only by a few more points.
Much like the 1st graders, I interacted with this class doing the same activities. The girls were a little bit more resistant to work on their skills. I noticed that there were certain stories that the girls were more interested in than others. I think that this is important when working with the girls, to make sure that stories and information is meaningful for them, or their ambition to learn decreases. I think this is very common for students. Working with the older class, I felt as though their spark for learning was a little less than the 1st grade students. I have noticed this as well when I work with my students with learning disabilities. It seems that the motivation to learn tends to decrease the older students get. This is why it is imperative to make learning authentic and meaningful for older students to maintain that motivation and interest in life long learning!!
Overall, working with ELL students has been a rewarding experience. I was able to learn about a different intervention program being utilized in my school. I was able to work with students at different grade levels as well as different genders. I feel like I can use different strategies within my own classroom to help ELL students with learning disabilities to be more successful!
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