5 R's and a T

Respectful -- Each student is treated as an individual with regards to their needs and abilities and their wants and desires.

Responsive -- All students are allowed to talk in my classroom in order to help each other master concepts. I as an educator need to provide more opportunities for dialogue to occur. During times of conversation, I need to be aware of cultural issues that may arise.

Responsible -- Each student is responsible to attempt to participate in classroom discussions and instruction. Each student is responsible to attempt to complete their homework. As the teacher, I am responsible to make sure all students are engaged and learning. One thing I struggle with is keeping a student, who appears to not care or have no desire to make any effort, engaged.

Resourceful -- As the teacher, I need to seek out the resources that I need to help the students learn. Students need to seek out the resources that are available to support them. One resource our math department has begun this year is 'Lunch Learning Lab'(LLC). Everyday at lunch, 2 math teachers staff the LLC and are available to help all students with homework, further instruction, etc. I wish students would take more advantage of the LLC. On resource I need to find ways to use is the families of my students.

Reasonable -- I need to be reasonable in the amount of work that I assign and what the student is expected to do. I need to be reasonable in the expectations for myself. In the DVD, Dr. Eugene Garcia suggested to do the things well that you can do well. I as a teacher, mother and wife, need to be sure that I do not allow myself to be overwhelmed because then I am less effective in everything.

Theory Driven -- The instructional strategies used in my classroom need to be based on proven theory. I need to use less direct instruction and more collaborative groups. CREDE standard #4 is to emphasize dialogue over lecture. The SIOP strategies need to continue to be used to develop language while learning the content. My continual goal as a teacher is to make learning available and valuable to all students.

Day 2

Language acquisition for ELL students needs to be developed in all classrooms at the secondary level. The ELD teachers only can not be responsible for teaching English. CREDE standard #2 involves "developing literacy and language skills across the curriculum".

It seems to me that my high school has a lot of improvement to make in supporting ELL students. However, a big frustration for me is that many of our ELL students have been in US schools since Kindergarten and are still classified as ELL. Why? Is it the program the schools use, is it the socio-economic status of the family, is it the education level of the parents? No matter what the reason, the students are now in high school and need to learn.

In my classroom, I feel I do OK in supporting the development of language. I explain the meaning of words that are parts of definitions, not just the new math terms. During discussion, I try to give wait time for those who need it. The students at language acquisition stages 1 & 2 are offered native language support in the classroom.

I do need to work on speaking less. In the DVD, Dr. Roland Tharp stated that teachers speak 92% of the time. When I think about my teaching style, I realize that some days I talk too much. One way to limit that is to increase the number of collaborative activities in my classroom. These activities could be done in pairs or small groups. These activities could be done in the current classroom arrangement by sharing with neighbors or the desk arrangement could change. I need to find, create, implement more collaborative work.

My students are definitely challenged by the curriculum (CREDE #4) but I need to work continually on finding new way to make the curriculum more accessible to not only ELL students but all students.

Day 1 -- Standard #1

After reviewing the "Assessment Checklist of Culturally Responsive Teaching", I realized I need to make changes. There are things the I do well. However, I am learning there is so much more that I can do as an educator to help all students but especially my ELL students. Educators including myself need to continually change/improve our instructional strategies to meet the needs of our students.

CREDE Standard #1 involves teachers and students working together. I have always thought that I tried to interact with my students as we were learning content. However, in reading through the indicators of Standard 1, I realized I have some improvements to make. As an educator, I need to move away from direct instruction towards more collaboration among students. One of the challenges for me is to design activities/lessons that help the students gain knowledge through interaction and the support of their peers. I need to stop being on stage. A second challenge is how to effectively manage 6 groups of 5 students all working in a different way, at a different pace, and at different levels. In the past, I have tried group work and struggled with keeping some groups motivated, while giving some groups assistance and keeping some groups from being bored since they accomplished the task. Other than science labs when I was in High School, I have not experienced true group collaboration. Maybe I need to have more experience before I can make the experiences valuable to my students.

I understand the value of collaborative learning for ELL students, actually all students. ELL students can not only learn content but also learn how to interact and communicate with other students. Collaborative work can allow the ELL students to feel comfortable and safe to explore new ideas and concepts. I as an educator need to make group work a more common instructional strategy that I use.