Inspiring by Example
Overview:
As a literacy leader for my school and later as a literacy coordinator, I am continually thinking about changes that can be made to improve a child’s learning, and I often rejoice over the progress students make, even when that progress is small. I continuously implement strategies with my ESL groups. Several of the SEI teachers expressed interest in how they could use these strategies with their students and whether it would make a difference with the students. I felt it would and offered to work with them as a team to begin to impart ideas and strategies that I found successful. The teachers requested that I demonstrate lessons and not just talk about them. I agreed and devised a series of lessons that would be addressed so that the teachers could see how to implement them in their own classes. Over eight months, I demonstrated a variety of language arts strategies and the team and I would meet to discuss the lesson; how it could/would apply to their teaching situation.
Importance:
Working with the SEI teachers gave me a chance to teach them new strategies for use in the classroom. Initially, we looked at the testing data from the beginning of the school year to see where the students’ strengths and weaknesses were. By discussing the successes and setbacks I experienced with these techniques, the SEI teachers felt greater rapport and were comfortable sharing what they found to be successful and what was not. During the year, the teachers realized that there were many different techniques that could be used with their students with appropriate adaptations. Student scores showed an improvement and teachers were more comfortable changing their teaching styles so that their students could achieve the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills that they would need to be successful.
Skills Gained:
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Communication
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Cultural responsiveness
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Teaching and leading staff
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Researching appropriate strategies for ELL students
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Researching and applying skills for Reading Workshop for grades K-5 ELLs
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Problem solving
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Responsibility
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Reviewing data
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Creating workshop for teachers and lessons to be taught
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Scheduling demonstrations and meetings
Impact:
Working with teachers in this capacity was enriching for me. Due to the rapport I established early on, I found the teachers to be engaged and open to suggestions. I learned much from the Chinese SEI teachers regarding the students and customs and was able to share my own cultural heritage. It was a perfect opportunity to build on cultural differences and similarities. I shared my knowledge of state expectations for Language Learners with the educators. Their comfort level showed that they trusted what I had to say and valued the method. Since the group met throughout the school year, I was able to see the cumulative progress of the educators and their students. While this was something that I did voluntarily without compensation, I left the schoolyear with the feeling that I had gained significantly more than I had started out with due to the lessons I learned as a mentor and educator.
Evidence:
This is a website that I created: