ELL - Report Template

Courtney Carver

1. Description

a. The setting of the field experience (e.g., in a classroom, at a community organization location,
etc.).

This field experience will take place at Martin Technology Academy of Math and Science, a K-5
Magnet school in Flowery Branch, Georgia. I will be working in a fourth grade classroom
during their STEM block of time. I will support 5 students in a small group during their STEM
rotations.

b. The student(s)use a pseudonym to maintain confidentialitywith whom you are working (e.g.
age, grade level, level of English Proficiency, personal characteristics based on
observations/interactions, other information that may give the reader a more in-depth description
of the student)

English Personal
Student Grade Other Information
Proficiency Characteristics
Female, very shy,
doesnt like to speak Moved from
in the group, speaks Venezuela May
Stage 3
in one-two word 2016, only child,
Student A 4 Speech
phrases unless both parents are
emergence
prompted then will college educated in
only speak in short Venezuela
sentences
Stage 4
Male, quiet, will 1st generation born
Intermediate
Student B 4 speak when called in US youngest of
Language
upon directly 5 children
Proficiency
Male, very outgoing, Moved from
Stage 3
likes to distract the Mexico January
Student C 4 Speech
group, speaks in 2016, oldest of three
emergence
short sentences children
Stage 4 Male, very outgoing,
Intermediate talks over other 1st generation born
Student D 4
Language students, confident in US only child
Proficiency with his language
Female, shy, lacks
Stage 4
confidence, wants to 1st generation born
Intermediate
Student E 4 sit next to teacher in in US oldest of
Language
group for more two children
Proficiency
support
 c. The days and times that you met with the student.

I met with this group of students daily during their STEM block and supported their Simple
Machines unit of study
i. October 17th 21st daily from 10:45 11:15
ii. October 24th 28th daily from 10:45 11:15

d. Ways in which you interacted/engaged with the student (including pedagogical strategies).

When working with these students in their Simple Machines unit of study, I would pull them in a
small group within the classroom while other students were also working in groups with the
teacher or independently. I worked on previewing vocabulary that the teacher provided me and
would be working with the following day(s), differentiating the non-fiction reading for the
students, and providing them opportunities to practice with any new material that had been
learned prior to my arrival that day.

2. Objectives and Assessments

Write 2-3 learning objectives and state how you will assess each. Provide evidence for meeting the objectives.

Objective Assessment Was the objective met? Evidence of

student learning.

Example
(Content) The student will (Formative). I will observe and ask Yes. Maria was able to look at the quadrilateral
investigate the characteristics questions while the student is working. manipulatives and identify (show and explain) all the
of quadrilaterals. characteristics of each.

The students will identify
simple machines (lever,
pulley, wedge, inclined
plane, screw, wheel and
axel)
(Formative) I will observe, listen,
and make notes while students do
activities with simple machine.
Yes for all 5 students. All students were able to
identify the types of simple machines when shown
an illustration/image and when shown a real-
world example. Students B,D, and E were also able
to identify simple machines within a compound
machine example.

Yes all students were able to successfully draw

(Summative) Students will create a
Google Drawing of the 6 simple
machines and label them.
and identify all 6 simple machines in their
summative assessment (see Student As project
here:
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ypyTXDsT
6jwTzybsAufLnRJRdYYMt6lvpdG9X5QU7YQ/edit?
usp=sharing )

The students will explain (Formative) I will ask questions Yes for students A, B, D, and E. Students were able
the use of each simple while the student is working to allow to verbally answer questions (some were
machine for verbal responses. differentiated to allow for a yes or no answer)
correctly.

For student C, he was able to verbally answer

correctly for 4 out of the 6 simple machines. He
could not correctly identify the use of the wedge or
the inclined plane, even when given differentiated
questions.
3. Resources

You are required to use 2-3 ELL-specific resources to help inform your understanding of ELLs and
increase your pedagogical strategies to assist students who are English Language Learners (ELLs). You
may use the resources listed within the module or other resources available to you. Briefly describe how
the resources were used to assist in your experience.

1. Corin Colorado Vocabulary Development Site: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/vocabulary-

development
a. This site proved to be extremely helpful with tons of strategies for supporting ELL students with
vocabulary development. Since the majority of the standard just addressed identifying the 6 simple
machines, I knew that vocabulary acquisition would be where I would need to spend most of my time
with this small group. I actually used the 6 steps for pre-teaching vocabulary right from this site. For
step 3, provide examples of how the term is used, I made sure to have a hands-on example for the
students to work with (ie. We actually used screw drivers to put screws into a piece of wood).
b. I also looked into using cognates, which are mentioned on this site. I used Google Translate to see if any
of our 6 terms had cognates in Spanish. The only one that was similar was inclined plane, which
translated to plano inclinado. I wish the other terms had cognates as well, but at least for this one term
it showed a direct relationship that I believe helped the students remember the term easier.
2. Vocabulary Instruction for English Language Learners:
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/vocabulary_instructi_language__80932.php
a. This site seemed to reiterate many of the things mentioned on the Corin Colorado site, but I did take away
the idea of having students work in collaborative learning groups to promote their oral language.
b. After we had previewed all 6 vocabulary terms, I assigned each student one term (and I took one myself).
The student had to independently make a mini poster that included the term, a picture (they could draw
it or cut it out of a magazine), and one sentence telling the use of the simple machine. The students then
presented their posters to the group when we were all finished. This was a fun activity for the students,
and most of them (except student A because she is extremely shy) were very eager to share their work
with the group they took a lot of pride in their work.
3. ASCD Reading Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-
express/vol5/511-breiseth.aspx
a. This site was full of great strategies for helping ELLs with reading comprehension. I spent a lot of time of
this site looking through all the strategies. Something that I found particularly helpful were the 3 levels
of questioning under checking comprehension. I actually made myself some notecards with question
prompts to help me as I worked through the text with the students.
b. Before even beginning to read, I made sure to pull some leveled texts out of our leveled library that were
the same content but a couple of grade levels lower on the reading ability. This allowed for more in-
depth discussion about the text because the students were better able to comprehend what they were
reading.