How can teacher use different techniques to increase the productivity of their students?
What would happen to the productivity of ELL students if a regular written
dialogue was introduced between teacher and student?
What would happen to the productivity of ELL students if a regular written
dialogue was introduced between teacher and student?
I am a person who likes to make connections. The teachers who I admired and learned from the most were the “human” ones-- the ones who would sometimes flounder during a lesson or maybe take a bit too long rewording things in their head to make sure it was digestible for the whole class. These imperfections did not make me think any less of them, but rather reassured me that flawlessness was not a requirement for being good at something. At best, they were able to frame the material in an appealing way. At worst (maybe at best as well), they provided comic relief for me and my peers. The teacher was not a model of precision, but a caring person who all they wanted was to make sure you understood.
When I decided become a teacher, I wanted to emulate these teachers. Obviously, the goal is to keep the floundering to a minimum, but at the end of the day, I want my students to know that I have taken an interest in their lives. It is in this connection where I believe student productivity will increase. Digging a bit deeper, I believe ELL students have a greater need for this connection in comparison to their classmates. This is the starting point of my Action Research.
INTRODUCTION
I am teaching in a 6th grade World History/Art classroom in a San Diego area middle school. One day while inputting grades I noticed something I had not seen before. The grading system I was using separated the students based on whether they are classified as an English language learner (ELL) or not. This caught my interest because my last placement practiced full inclusion, where ELL students, students with autism etc... were part of the general class . I was aware that many schools did not practice full inclusion and separated students based on ability and success on tests, however, the separation of students in the grade-book was a new concept to me. Naturally, I felt the need to view the results since they were already divided and see how the two groups compared.
What I saw was a vast disparity between my ELL students (all of whom have Spanish listed as their first language) and the non-ELL population of the class. Out of the 22 students in this particular class, 45% (10 students) are classified as ELL students.
Below are graphs of grade distributions I saw which sparked my interest in coming up with something to lessen the achievement gap between these two populations. The graph on the left represents the non-ELL class population and the right represents the ELL population. Included in these grades are tests, World History Interactive Notebook (WIN) assignments and other art projects.
Out of the 12 non-ELL students there is more grade distribution: 8% (1) has an A, 17% have B's, 8% has a C, 42% have D's and 25% are failing.
Out of the 10 ELL students: 20% have C's while the remaining 80% are failing.
GRADE DISTRIBUTION OF NON-ELL STUDENTS GRADE DISTRIBUTION OF ELL STUDENTS
Another difference that stood out to me was evident when our school had our open house night for the parents. 42% (5 out of 12) of the non-ELL parents came and spoke with me about the work and progress of their child. None of the ELL students' parents attended that night. Of course, there are a number of reasons why this could have happened such as conflicting work schedules or students not informing their parents about open house, which makes sense since the majority are failing.
In addition to the absence of parents that night, I notice around school that the my ELL students have a different relationship with their teachers than most non-ELL students. There does not seem to be any connections outside of class being made between the English language learners and the teachers when compared to those who can speak English with ease. There is minimal communication after class or during passing periods that I hear relating to activities outside of class that I over hear with other students. I believe this lack of ability to connect with teachers is a contributor to why my ELL students' grades and productivity is less then their English speaking classmates.
An example of this difference in productivity can be found in a lesson I did about suggestions on how to take notes from a text book. I had done a number of lessons using computers and class activities but I wanted to familiarize students with how to break down a text and extract its main ideas; it is a skill they will need in their future academic careers. In this lesson they were able to work together with the classmates at their table. The class is divided into 6 tables with 3-5 students per table, no table has more than two ELL students. I modeled possible techniques they could use on a Promethean board such as writing down everything that is highlighted or summarizing one main idea from each labeled section. The results found below are indicative of the usual output provided by both populations in the class.
In addition to the absence of parents that night, I notice around school that the my ELL students have a different relationship with their teachers than most non-ELL students. There does not seem to be any connections outside of class being made between the English language learners and the teachers when compared to those who can speak English with ease. There is minimal communication after class or during passing periods that I hear relating to activities outside of class that I over hear with other students. I believe this lack of ability to connect with teachers is a contributor to why my ELL students' grades and productivity is less then their English speaking classmates.
An example of this difference in productivity can be found in a lesson I did about suggestions on how to take notes from a text book. I had done a number of lessons using computers and class activities but I wanted to familiarize students with how to break down a text and extract its main ideas; it is a skill they will need in their future academic careers. In this lesson they were able to work together with the classmates at their table. The class is divided into 6 tables with 3-5 students per table, no table has more than two ELL students. I modeled possible techniques they could use on a Promethean board such as writing down everything that is highlighted or summarizing one main idea from each labeled section. The results found below are indicative of the usual output provided by both populations in the class.
As you can see above, the output of students classified as ELL is much less. There is no evidence of students reading beyond the text for an understanding of the particular section. This is due in part to not using class time effectively and rushing to produce something after the last of many time limit warnings.
"What can I do?" is a question that I mulled over for while after I saw this huge gap in grades, open house and productivity. I decided to get know and understand the lives of my students. As Eva Pomeroy (1999) noted in her article The Teacher Student Relationship in Secondary School, student-teacher relationships are a key feature of school life. In her study she found that teachers' various approaches to subject teaching were less important to students than the interactive relationships established with students, "...students' relationships with teachers surfaced as one of the most salient features of the educational experience."
This lack of expression my ELL students exhibiting was something where I felt I could start. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household and am fluent in the language, which is the primary listed language for all 10 of my ELL students. I wanted to give them an outlet for them to speak informally (in either English or Spanish) with an authority figure hoping that it will result in increased productivity during class and eventually higher grades. My thinking is that if they realize that I care what they have to say outside of class they will start to care more about what I want to speak about during class.
Building on this idea I decided to implement the strategy of getting to know my students, not just with my ELLs, but with my whole class. I needed to do something where I could speak will all 22 of my students on an individual basis because I wanted to implement a strategy that would benefit the ENTIRE class. Aside from maybe being intimidating for them, speaking individually with all of them would not be a feasible goal. The free time before school, lunch and after school would not be nearly enough time to start meaningful conversations with each of them.
I decided to implement a dialectical journal where I could provide prompts and discussion starters with my students as a warm-up before class started, respond to them at home, and return the journal to them for them to read my response and write back if they so chose as a warm-up. They have the choice to write in either Spanish, English or a combination of the two; the main goal is that they feel they are fully expressing themselves. In my responses, I ask questions that require them to respond to me and leave it open for further discussion before we move on to the next prompt I provide. The idea is that these journal function as a back and forth informal written conversation. As Ruth Spack and Catherine Sadow (1983) observed, "Ungraded, uncorrected journals can provide a non-threatening way for students to express themselves." Apart from the familiarity I wish to achieve with my students, there is another factor behind my reasoning of implementing the technique of a written dialogue with my students.
The questions are broken up into two types: non-academic and academic. The goal is to get whatever is going on in my students' minds on paper. Whether it is their doubts, concerns or triumphs I want that cognitive process to happen where they are thinking about what they are doing right or wrong and making those thoughts a reality on paper. Cynthia Bowman (2000) states in her article Creating Connections: Challenging the Text and Student Writers "Since reading and writing are reciprocal processes, as students express their ideas, viewpoints, and questions...they gradually possess ownership of their knowledge." Bowman's theory is originally intended to highlight the benefits of students using reflective journals as they read along with a particular text, but the underlying thesis can apply to my research. As my journal prompts shift from non-academic inquiries to ones more focused to our class, I want to see an increase in "ownership" of knowledge about how they can increase their productivity, which when done consistently, will theoretically raise their class grade.
This lack of expression my ELL students exhibiting was something where I felt I could start. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household and am fluent in the language, which is the primary listed language for all 10 of my ELL students. I wanted to give them an outlet for them to speak informally (in either English or Spanish) with an authority figure hoping that it will result in increased productivity during class and eventually higher grades. My thinking is that if they realize that I care what they have to say outside of class they will start to care more about what I want to speak about during class.
Building on this idea I decided to implement the strategy of getting to know my students, not just with my ELLs, but with my whole class. I needed to do something where I could speak will all 22 of my students on an individual basis because I wanted to implement a strategy that would benefit the ENTIRE class. Aside from maybe being intimidating for them, speaking individually with all of them would not be a feasible goal. The free time before school, lunch and after school would not be nearly enough time to start meaningful conversations with each of them.
I decided to implement a dialectical journal where I could provide prompts and discussion starters with my students as a warm-up before class started, respond to them at home, and return the journal to them for them to read my response and write back if they so chose as a warm-up. They have the choice to write in either Spanish, English or a combination of the two; the main goal is that they feel they are fully expressing themselves. In my responses, I ask questions that require them to respond to me and leave it open for further discussion before we move on to the next prompt I provide. The idea is that these journal function as a back and forth informal written conversation. As Ruth Spack and Catherine Sadow (1983) observed, "Ungraded, uncorrected journals can provide a non-threatening way for students to express themselves." Apart from the familiarity I wish to achieve with my students, there is another factor behind my reasoning of implementing the technique of a written dialogue with my students.
The questions are broken up into two types: non-academic and academic. The goal is to get whatever is going on in my students' minds on paper. Whether it is their doubts, concerns or triumphs I want that cognitive process to happen where they are thinking about what they are doing right or wrong and making those thoughts a reality on paper. Cynthia Bowman (2000) states in her article Creating Connections: Challenging the Text and Student Writers "Since reading and writing are reciprocal processes, as students express their ideas, viewpoints, and questions...they gradually possess ownership of their knowledge." Bowman's theory is originally intended to highlight the benefits of students using reflective journals as they read along with a particular text, but the underlying thesis can apply to my research. As my journal prompts shift from non-academic inquiries to ones more focused to our class, I want to see an increase in "ownership" of knowledge about how they can increase their productivity, which when done consistently, will theoretically raise their class grade.