Language Acquisition

Online Reflection #4

One of the aspects of student teaching I find to be of great value is when we are placed with mentor teachers that teach more than our content area. I have fellow English education colleagues that are placed with teachers that also teach theater, interventions, and I’m sure many more. In my case, my MT also teaches ESOL. These unique experiences allow us to explore other options and witness classroom dynamics in a different environment.  

We were recently assigned a reading in our methods class giving us an overview of language acquisition, which was beneficial for me as it revived some knowledge on ELL students I previously understood from another class but was much more pertinent now that I am currently working with ELL students. I witness on a daily basis, misunderstandings like that of the example used in our assigned reading where “fall events” in English translated to “fall down events” in Spanish. So, using instructional strategies like read alouds, visuals, modeling, gestures, graphic organizers, and think-pair-share are important for the success of our students. This got me thinking, while these are working and are beneficial tools to help us along the way, what about those students that verbally express their thoughts and ideas, but struggle with putting those thoughts in written form? For example, I have a student that speaks five languages and expresses themselves fairly well orally, but when the time comes to put those thoughts on paper, they struggle. For now, I have used sentence starters, and have taught them how to restate the question in their answer. This works for the most part, but when we begin working on the body of our paper, they get stuck again with no idea how to proceed. I have considered whether this student struggles with simply writing in English, but that does not seem to be the case as they spell decently and do well with sentence starters. It appears that while they can connect ideas orally, they just don’t see a way to put that on paper.

In search of answers, I found an article by Jennifer Gonzalez on Cult of Pedagogy titled, A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching English Language Learners. Reading her six tips made me think that this student perhaps needs a confidence boost. It’s a joy to talk with this student. They teach me new things every day, but perhaps I’m not pointing out their strengths enough. Working with what I know about this student I can deduce they want to do well in school and work hard to reach that goal. They critically think and connect to the content, but I think maybe they are focused on doing so well that they struggle with putting those thoughts on paper because they are trying to do it the way they think I want it.

So, this coming week, we will be discussing voice and word choice. While my students are writing, I will be conducting mini-conferences with each of them. My plan for this is to assess each student and make sure they understand their first language is an incredible asset, I will uncover their strengths, and highlight what they do well. 

Emotions

Genre Reflection #2

Stress because we still have loads of homework while also writing effective lesson plans and building relationships with the students that we will forever remember as our first class.

Timid as we burden mentor teachers and disrupt their classroom and space so that we can learn.

Uncomfortable because we are forced to step outside of our comfort zones on a daily basis.

Defeat when we were not as successful as we thought we would be with that lesson we worked diligently to design considering every student’s ability.

Envious of how easy our mentor teachers make teaching look and wonder if we will ever have it together like they do.

Nauseated due to the whirlwind of responsibilities and new information we process.

Tired like we have never felt before.

Tolerance as we learn first-hand that teaching requires flexibility.

Excited when we begin to find our groove because, at one point, we thought we’d never find it.

Amazed at the brilliance of our students in so many ways.

Composed because we are developing our own teaching styles and stepping into our roles.

Honored that WE have the BEST job in the world.

Encouraged by our fellow core members, teachers, and mentor teachers.

Realization that this is almost over, and we will be as ready as we can be to start our career where we will continue to learn and develop. 

Self-Care: A Temporary or Permanent Fix?

Online Reflection #3

I’m one of those people that always has something going on. I’m not only a married mother of three, but I am also a college student, student teacher, and a student assistant for my university. I am a lot of other things too, but I’m going to go with these as the key items that take up my time. It was brought to my attention in class a few weeks back that I don’t engage in self-care. I say, “brought to my attention”, because as I was traveling through my day-to-day life I hadn’t realized that I was taking care of everyone else and skipping over myself.

Having realized this, I decided it was important to evaluate why I do this. And the plain and simple answer is - guilt. The complex answer is – without trying to write a book to explain this –  that I have a need to be great at or try my hardest in every way possible at everything I do, and if I don’t work hard at all my responsibilities than I feel that I let down others involved. This, of course, creates guilt on so many levels. I feel guilty during idle time, so I work through that time instead. I feel guilty when I don’t reach my expectations - and let me tell you my expectations of myself are extremely high. I will say, I typically looked at this as a positive though, because, well, we’ve all heard the “shoot for the moon and you’ll land among the stars” saying.

As a child, my dad always told me, “if you try your best, your best is good enough”. Perhaps that’s why I feel the need to give my best at everything and take on the world. I also have a hard time saying no to opportunities that come my way because I’m an adult student who wants to explore and experience so many different things. I got a late start and maybe I want to get it all in now? I don’t know. But the fact is this backfires at times because then I’ve got so many things going on it’s hard to find a balance and I end up over-worked.

I find this to be the case for many teachers. We accept a ton of additional responsibilities as we love to and want to help, but we sacrifice our own sanity or peace in the process. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying we shouldn’t put ourselves out there. I love that as teachers we want to help and do all we can, but I think knowing when to say “when” is important. This is a fact, that was brought to my attention the other day by a valued mentor and I’m thankful for this advice. I think all teachers should hear it, remember it always, and adhere to it.

In search of answers, I found a blog titled, “Why It’s Hard for Teachers to Take Care of Themselves” by Jennifer Gonzalez. I look to her often for ideas, thoughts, and answers. If you don’t subscribe to her blog, I highly recommend it. Anyway, in this post, she speaks with Angela Watson who is practically an expert on how teachers spend their time. She outlines a few, of the many, reasons teachers exhaust themselves, and ways to combat this. What I found most interesting and perhaps the biggest reason I felt compelled to reflect on this more, was that we cannot simply rely on quick fixes to get us through. We need to treat self-care as a lifestyle change. Getting a massage every six months is not committing to the self-care we are not only entitled to but need. It’s nice but is only a temporary fix for the moment. One of the few options Watson suggests to make self-care a permanent fixture in our life, and possibly one of my favorites is to essentially condition yourself through the pairing of one action that is already a habit with a new one. So, for example, as soon as dinner is finished, you soak in a warm bath. As a mother of three, the option of soaking in the tub after dinner is not a viable option for now, but I will continue to reflect and decide on a pairing that works for me.

This weekend I did start a mental health journal (inspired by a picture I saw scrolling through Facebook one day) and a doodle page that is similar to a bullet journal. This is not only therapeutic for me because I am one who loves color coordinating calendars, organizing, and journaling, but I’m also using this to conduct a little research on my own about myself. What are common themes about the days I am stressed, feeling meh, or sad? With this information, I will be able to contribute more to my self-care by weeding out the things that do not contribute positively to my mental health, happiness, or productivity. I’m excited to see how this works out and encourage others to try it or something similar if you find yourself in a similar situation as myself.

Doodle "Things of November" Page

Mental Health Journal

I can report that so far, I’m loving the times I get to doodle on the “things of November” side. Even if just for five minutes, it’s satisfying and... all. for. me. I’ll have to report back in a couple of months how this journal turns out. 


Update: 

My oldest daughter was inspired by my journal and created her own. I'm sharing it here in case hers can inspire others as well. 

A Preservice Teacher's View of the KATE Conference 2018

KATE online reflection

Professional development is, I believe, a must for most careers, but especially for educators. Every classroom, every building, every district, and every student is different. Allowing us to collaborate as professionals and share our stories, successes, experiences, and even our not so successful instances allow us to grow as educators and ultimately do what we all want in this profession: assist our students in being successful both inside and outside of school and to help them make and achieve their goals by equipping them with the tools to do so successfully. (Honestly, the list of our wants for our students could go on and on, but I feel that statement was broad enough to lump as much in as possible.) With this said, my attendance at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE) Conference 2018, afforded me the opportunity to do all of the above and some.

At check-in, I was pleased to see that we are provided with a folder full of helpful tidbits, a name badge, and of course the very important program - I’m serious, hang on tight to that program, it is everything during your time at the conference. While it seems small to be thankful for a folder, I am certainly the type of person that enjoys organization and this little red folder with my name stickered on it was a valued, handy tool. In fact, I’m still using it to hold my plethora of notes taken during the breakout sessions and imagine I’ll keep them in it for safe keeping and easy reference. I look forward to receiving and filling a new folder at next years conference.

I would say the most beneficial moments for me as an educator were the breakout sessions. There were five options for every session to choose from. This made it hard to decide which session I wanted to attend, but beneficial as so many of us have different ideas in mind as to what we want our takeaways to be from our experience there. Day one, unfortunately, did not offer me quite the growth I was hoping for but was still an enjoyable day. The first session I attended was Empowering LGBTQIA+ Staff and Students, while enjoyable, did not provide me with any new information. Perhaps, that is because I have attended a safe space training through GLSEN a few years ago and maybe I should have taken that into consideration when selecting my session. I will say though it reinforced the knowledge I did have, so while I may not have gained much new information or tools to use, it was engaging and brought things to the forefront of my mind again. The second session I attended was probably my least favorite because about halfway through the presentation the speakers, after having been asked what grade level this was intended, declared it was for comp I and II. At that point, I was a bit disappointed as I am secondary, primarily middle level. It might have been beneficial to have the grade level detailed on the blurb section of the program. However, you can always find a silver lining and I was able to give my notes to a colleague who intends to teach comp I next year. We traded notes as it turns out she too went to a session that was not quite her grade level.

I attended six total sessions in two days, so I’ll spare you the details of every last one and now highlight my favorite. That’s hard to do though as the other four I attended were excellent all in their own ways. Using Classroom Libraries to Increase Motivation to Read was probably my overall favorite for many reasons. Not only did I take away a rejuvenated feeling and motivation to build a better library for my students, but I also walked away with newfound knowledge on the types of reading students should have access to in my library, printed reading inventory resources, and an end of the year reading evaluation form. Did you know it is best to have at least 300-600 books in your classroom library? Did you know your library should have manuals, cookbooks, and pamphlets? I did not! This was definitely one of those moments I thought, well duh! Of course our libraries should have these things, it makes complete sense. Especially considering I’ve participated in class discussions regarding the importance THAT students read, not necessarily WHAT they read. You’ve got to love those A-Ha moments. Furthermore, the presenter for this session was extremely engaging. He was excellent at incorporating moments of laughter and who doesn’t love to laugh?

Day 1 of The Kate Conference

The most beneficial for me as a human, not just an educator, was the time spent with not only my fellow core members but other English educators. While it is all in a professional environment, it was so nice to have those breaks in the day to just chat with my people. It is not often with a schedule like mine that I get much free time and I have to say this was probably my favorite part about the entire thing. Yes, we talked about work, and yes, we shared stories about our placements, but it wasn’t for an assignment or work, it was just us enjoying each other’s company and for that, I am truly grateful. It’s awesome to be a member of the English Education graduating class of 2019. Together we are amazing and though I’m excited to graduate in May, I know I’ll miss these days in the coming years, and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing them all at future KATE conferences.

Day 2 of The KATE Conference