The Brown School has turned out to be a very good school. I have enjoyed going there twice a week and observing the students and helping Mrs. Flower. Recently, I noticed that the teacher assesses how well students perform by how much they are paying attention. I’ve also noticed that those students who don’t pay a lot of attention to the lessons tend to ask a lot of questions about the lesson. I’ve experienced this and ask the students if they were paying attention. If they say they were, I would generally ask them base questions about the lesson. Students that tell me they weren’t really paying attention is really frustrating. It seems that some of these kids are sent to school to be babysat, and that’s disturbing. Some of the kids in the classroom are very disruptive, and they are typically the students that don’t pay attention. While there are many students in the class that DO pay attention, sometimes its understandable that they have questions. How exactly do you assess a student’s progress when you see them pay attention to the lesson, work on the assignment given, and yet, still struggle to understand the task? Is it easier for the teacher to respond to the linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural characteristics of the students? Regardless of the cultural diversity in the school/classroom, political agencies still enter, according to Shor. He would argue that what’s taught in these culturally diverse classrooms depends on the socio-economic aspects of the region. Shor would also argue that mass education of students has become infamous for its increasing number of low motivated students. It seems that these days, teachers are “teaching to the test” and not making sure that students fully understand the material. Assessing students is almost impossible unless the teacher instills a sense of competition in his/her classroom. Now, using this logic, can students be assessed in their native language, if its not English? Goldenberg points out that a lot of research points to literacy and other skills and knowledge transfers across languages. Also, using this “transfer of information” is it possible for students to use other modes for which to understand and learn different material? Students are capable of using technology and language in order to learn.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with you that it is hard to assess a student's progress, with this difficulty many teachers teach to the test and do not make sure their students fully understand the material as you said. This is even more difficult with an English Language learner. It is important for teachers to be aware that they will have students whose first language is not English, therefore must make sure the student understands the material.
ReplyDeleteChris you asked the question "Assessing students is almost impossible unless the teacher instills a sense of competition in his/her classroom. Now, using this logic, can students be assessed in their native language, if it’s not English?" Your idea about assessing students in their native language if it is not English is a good way to determine if the student understands the material, but I do not think it would work as greatly as you would expect. This idea may work better for some contents rather than others, for instance you could easily assess the students ability for solving a math equation if presenting the question to the student in their native language, but what about reading? Different languages have different grammar rules. You could not assess a child's reading skills in English if possessing the test in a different language. The other problem that I expect would happen with this is that all teachers would have to be fluent in various languages, not only that but there are different derivatives within languages that all teachers would have to know. It is a good idea, but it would be nearly impossible to accomplish.
The best way to teach ELL is an opposing question. Educators often ponder if English Language development should be taught as a separate subject at a distinct time of day, or if it should be integrated with the regular curriculum. According to Goldenberg’s findings teaching both content and language is a challenge for teachers, but at the same time teaching students to read in their first language promotes higher levels of reading achievements in English. Knowing the rules for reading in their native language makes it easier for students to learn to read in English. It will always be a challenge with teaching English to an ELL student, but we must make it a point to allow students to achieve these skills.
I'm interested in your comment that assessment cannot occur unless there is competition. See Alfie Kohn's work for an opposing view. You can simply Google Kohn and competition.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think,
Dr. August