As I enter the preliminary stages of Action Research I find myself drawn to a a recurring question that has come up in every graduate class I have taken so far, "How can I support ELL students?" In my short experience teaching these past 8 months I have noticed a commonality that is present in the schools I have been placed, ELL students understand and comprehend MUCH more than they can express. The dilemma is that they are assessed (graded) solely on what they can express. Not only are they getting bad grades, they are being labeled as "lazy" or "not caring about their education." True, motivation might be a factor, but there is still the variable of not being able to express their knowledge in a form that their teacher finds acceptable. It is wrong to characterize a student as not caring about their education while a teacher accepts (or is only able to accept) certain kinds of assessment.
I am passionate about this topic because I found myself in this position many times during my academic career. I knew the material, I could see the "big picture" in my mind, but I could not find a way to let my teacher know that. The most success I had in a class was when a teacher gave me the option to have a conversation with him about the material, and it was those conversations I was graded on. As I reflect back, it would have been easier to write the multiple page papers he assigned to the rest of the class, but my writing was not in a place where I could do that. He gave me a choice of how I would be graded. It was understood that I still needed to know the material, but the pressures of rigid grading that come with written assessments were taken away and I was able to concentrate on understanding the material, not regurgitating it.
This is an aspect that I wish to integrate as I start my Action Research. All of my struggling ELL students have Spanish listed as their first language. It is my hope to incorporate my Spanish speaking/comprehension skills to help them better show me what they really know about the history we are learning about. If I give them options on how they are graded, will this motivate them to be more engaged in class? More inclined to at least attempt the exercises other students are doing with out fear of the red pen correcting their English since it will not count against them? Will both their English and History skills increase? These are the beginning questions that have spawned in my mind as I enter Action Research.
I am passionate about this topic because I found myself in this position many times during my academic career. I knew the material, I could see the "big picture" in my mind, but I could not find a way to let my teacher know that. The most success I had in a class was when a teacher gave me the option to have a conversation with him about the material, and it was those conversations I was graded on. As I reflect back, it would have been easier to write the multiple page papers he assigned to the rest of the class, but my writing was not in a place where I could do that. He gave me a choice of how I would be graded. It was understood that I still needed to know the material, but the pressures of rigid grading that come with written assessments were taken away and I was able to concentrate on understanding the material, not regurgitating it.
This is an aspect that I wish to integrate as I start my Action Research. All of my struggling ELL students have Spanish listed as their first language. It is my hope to incorporate my Spanish speaking/comprehension skills to help them better show me what they really know about the history we are learning about. If I give them options on how they are graded, will this motivate them to be more engaged in class? More inclined to at least attempt the exercises other students are doing with out fear of the red pen correcting their English since it will not count against them? Will both their English and History skills increase? These are the beginning questions that have spawned in my mind as I enter Action Research.