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.
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