Author: renatazablotney

What if the school itself is the driving force between me and my language curriculum? In Himmel’s article “Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners,” it really did provide me with view that truly sees the benefits to implementing academic language in the classrooms for not only ELL learners but also other students. Exercising students speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension is of course beneficial into every class, but what if it seems to difficult to implement in a “manageable elective”. This term “manageable elective” has been coined at my practicum school. It stands to represent courses such as drama, physical education, and art, which are, to quote “programs designed to allow students an opportunity to succeed”. This idea of success in a classroom, has been watered-down to pretty much mean, an non academically challenging class. I also understand why this stigma exists. In my school there is a very high percent of at risk youth. One of the greatest challenges my school faces is attendance. Some of the students at my school have some of the highest suspensions in the whole of BC. So of course, my school wants to provide opportunities for those kids to succeed by offering them classes that are encouraging in the chance that they could thrive in a specific interest. So my predicament lies in the fact that i do want to create an environment where my students can thrive and succeed, but I also want them to feel challenged and learn something. If i start implementing readings, and writing into my class i will not only be met with heavy opposition from the class but also from the school itself. How can i build my students language when these ideas are met with much animosity?

During my practicum I did not notice a large number of English Language Learners in my school… well that was simply because there wasn’t. Out of my whole school there were only two girls on a Japanese exchange program. They were the only 2 Japanese students in the entire school of about forty percent white, thirty percent brown, and another thirty percent aboriginal student population. It was no shock that these girls often went overlooked. Their english comprehension was fairly good but their communication skills were sufficiently lacking between them and their peers, and them and their teachers. Just because these girls understood what we were saying to them, did not necessarily mean that they were fully immerse in the language. What needed to be done? If comprehension skills were there, is that not successful language building? of course not. To communicate in a foreign language does not only take a great deal of learning and comprehension, but it takes a great deal of confidence also. Unfortunately I believe that sometimes we, as teachers, tend to overlook building our students confidence in order to communicate. Not only do we have to concentrate on the scaffolding, and the academic language our students are using, but we also have to be aware of the confidence building it takes to truly communicate. Im hoping when I return to my school I can spend some time with these two girls and encourage focusing on their confidence levels in order to build language and communicate.

Overall I believe there could have been a more motivating way to really get me thinking academically about things in High School.  In general, I was disappointed by the lack of meaningful discussion in my classrooms. Shakespeare, for example, is filled with ideas, theories and themes.  Yet, I don’t remember discussing Shakespeare.  All I remember is trying to write something about what I read in isolation.  I think it would have been far more meaningful if we could have taken the time to not only learn about what Shakespeare was saying but to actually individually discuss what was happening in the play.

Recently I have been thinking about how as a student I wasn’t considered to be a typically academic student. My spelling and grammar were subpar. My math skills mediocre at best. Yet i still felt an academic spirit within me, and it came out in the manner of discussion. The most natural way i could analyze anything (how most teenagers could) was through movies. I could pick out what the director was trying to get me to see, I could read the manipulating words in the script, even pick out hollywood trends. I thrived at it. What came as a shock to me is that this was something that all of my friends did, and it came naturally. We would discuss, analyze and interpret movies. Perhaps it wasn’t the media particularly but the fact that we all shared in this body of work and interest.  I think discussion of art in general is a very integral way of life for teenagers.  Not only do they seem to naturally discuss films, but they also think about and discuss music.   I believe it would be very natural to facilitate and lead discussions on artistic matters and taste.

Questions are often overused in the academic environment.  Teachers definitely want student to discuss things and asking questions appears to be a way to deepen thinking.  However, certain factors inhibit this  noble goal!  First, the fact that the students are in their own peer group.  Some students are intimidated by other students and will not answer questions truthfully.  A student may not want to look too cooperative or willing or even too intelligent.  Teachers need to be aware that they are working in a complex social environment.   It may seem easy to ask a question to initiate thinking and discussion.  However, without some understanding of the social group you are dealing with, it may be extremely difficult to get students to answer honestly and forthrightly.

Second, good questions simply can never substitute for relationship.   Students need to know you care and that you are willing to share.  Why would a student trust a teacher who doesn’t appear willing to work on the student-teacher relationship?  Students need to know that they are being respected and are not just part of some kind of educational game.  The teacher has to be able to convey that what is happening is meaningful.

I believe teachers need to be careful when using complex vocabulary because students might not know what the teacher is saying.  For example, if I cannot assume students will understand the academic word “medium” when I ask them to do something with a medium.  Some may assume that I am using the meaning of medium as between big and small.  It is incumbent upon the teacher to make sure students are aware of the meaning of academic words.   Students cannot mindread.   They have to deal with the comprehensible input they receive from their teachers.   Zweir’s talks about how the scaffolding must be built before academic language comprehension can be achieved.  I believe that this is not only crucial, but sometimes very hard to remember.  Teachers live in the world of academic language and jargon without thinking about it.  They always need to be aware that they must bridge the gap between students and the language of the teacher.

“Building Academic Language” really had me thinking about the use of lectures or lecturing in schools. Typically in high school (or University setting) lectures were composed and scripted with complex academic language being used by an expert in this language. I believe that this type of lecture setting (a setting without discussion, interruption, or debate) makes for inaccessible learning of brick language. Speakers/ educators while introducing brick and motor language to their students, though important must consider the setting or tools in which they display this language. I believe the most common reaction to confusion or misunderstanding of language in young adults is usually utter indifference. It is our job as educators to promote and encourage language and language tools by the means that considers our listeners and students first.