artifacts

 

Artifact one: Biography Cards

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Domain 2 Culture: Candidates know, understand and use the major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to the nature and role of culture and cultural groups to construct learning environments that support ESOL students’ cultural identities, language and literacy development, and content-area achievement.

Standard 2.b.: Cultural groups and identity.  Candidates know, understand, and use knowledge of how cultural groups and students’ cultural identities affect language learning and school achievement.

Before starting instruction teachers have to get to know who our students are.  Biography cards provide us with valuable information regarding students’ academic and personal history.  This information serves as the basis for planning and delivering a lesson. I anticipate using these bio cards as a reference at the moment of designing a lesson plan, grouping, and identifying their level of second language acquisition.

The biography cards are like the manual that show us how to design a lesson plan.  The objectives, content, and methods are derived from bio- cards’ information. For instance, the content and objectives of a geography lesson might be developed through the exploration of Mexico. Students from this country will be more likely to contribute to the class in spite of the language barrier since they speak about the country they know really well.  As regards to methods, learning about students’ academic and cognitive level as well as their learning styles permits me to plan activities accordingly.  In this step I plan to tap into differentiated instruction strategies which allow students to build knowledge considering their particular strengths and skills.

The knowledge I obtain about my students from the bio cards helps me to properly group them in a way that all of them have the opportunity to develop their potentialities. For example having students work in cooperative groups permit that students with diverse ability and characteristics work together and learn from one another to accomplish an assigned task.  In this particular class, the three students identified as CLD are carefully placed in a group where they feel safe.  I am paying attention to their affective relationships with their peers as well.  I want to place them in a group where their peers are willing to help so that CLD students learn from them.  Many times students have a better understanding of concepts when the explanation comes from their peers. 

The linguistic dimension of the biography card offers a clear view of the level of language acquisition of CLD students.  This information allows me to identify what student is in what stage of language acquisition.  Depending on the stages where CLD students are, the methods and strategies are selected.  One of the CLD students has been in the USA for only one year.  His speaking skills demonstrate he is in the intermediate fluency stage.  However, he notably is in the speech emergence stage in terms of reading and writing.  This shows me that the reading and writing material should be differentiated for him so that he does not experience frustration and failure.  Obviously, I keep in mind that he does need to be challenged.  One way to do so without affecting students affective filter negatively is through scaffolding.  Students go through the learning process step by step acquiring the knowledge they need to jump into the next stage. Along the design of my lesson, I keep in mind their backgrounds, interests, skills, and personal history to choose topics, illustrations, and activities.  

  This artifact aligns with section I of my platform.  According to Herrera and Murry 2010, the more teachers know about their students, the more probabilities they have to build rapport between teacher-students, and understand the process through which students learn vocabulary, content, and make sense of new knowledge.  It is essential that educators recognize the four interrelated dimensions (sociocultural, academic, cognitive, and linguistic) that play an important role in the classroom.  Biography driven instruction incorporate opportunities for students to make connections between the prior knowledge and the new information to produce lasting links which students might use for future applications.

BDP indicator: IV Challenging Activities

Accommodations: Provides, consistent, systematic, structured accommodations based on students’ linguistic and academic levels that build upon culture-bound patterns of knowing, learning, and applying. 

In my future classrooms, I am definitely incorporating biography cards in my daily teaching.  Although in Ecuador we are supposed to have annual, monthly and daily lesson plans prepared well in advance, the information I gathered from bio-cards will allow me to make the necessary accommodations to the curriculum in order to make students fit into it.  I will constantly refer to bio-cards at the moment of planning a lesson, assessing, grouping, choosing strategies so I am able to meet all my students’ needs.

Artifact two: Lesson Plan

PREPARATION

Grade level:                           Fifth Grade

Total number of students:    22

P          0

EP       0

S          2

I

AHH!  20

Content Objective:

We will be learning about the time zones in USA and the reason why it is important to know about how they work.

Language Objective(s):

Listening:        We will listen to the explanation about the rotation of the Earth

We will listen to our partners while sharing out their understanding.

Speaking:        We will share our understanding with the whole class

Reading:         We will read the predictions to find similarities

                        We will read the map and answer questions.

Writing:          We will write predictions about key concepts

                        We will answer questions about the time in different states

Key Vocabulary:

Time zone

Standard time

Degrees

Eastern

Central

Mountain

Pacific

Alaskan

Hawaiian

‘

Materials needed:

·         Chart paper

·         Color markers

·         Globe

·         Flashlight

·         USA time zones map

·         Computer

·         Projector

·         Worksheets

·         Prezi presentation

Activate:

·         Students work in small groups. 

·         Each group is given a chart with a key question. 

·         Students write or draw any idea they have about the topic. 

·         Groups move clockwise and write their ideas on the next chart until they have contributed ideas in the five charts.

Connect:

·         Students look at the globe while a volunteer student shines it with a flashlight. 

·         The teacher asks what happens in one side of the Earth while it is being shone and what happens on the other side. 

·         Students see that the Earth rotation produces day and night and that while it is morning in some countries, it is night in others.  This is why different time zones were established.

·         Students look at the USA map and identify the six time zones and their names

·         While listening they make notes on their charts to respond the original question each group was given.

Affirm:

·         One student from each group will share the answer to their question

·         Students find hours differences among the states mentally

·         Students complete the worksheet Time Zones

TESOL Domain and Standard

Domain 3 Planning and Managing Instruction Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.a.: Planning for standards-based ESL and content Instruction.  Candidates know, understand, and apply concepts, research, and best practices to plan classroom instruction in a supportive learning environment for ESOL students.  Candidates serve as effective English language models, as they plan for multilevel classrooms with learners from diverse backgrounds using standards-based ESL and content curriculum.

My lesson plan above describes the development of a variation of Linking language strategy.  It is one of the multiple BDI strategies that take into consideration learners’ prior knowledge as an essential part of the lesson.  Students have the opportunity to take some time to reflect on what they already know about the topic of discussion. This step is crucial for the later development of the lesson.  It is here where they are going to confirm or disconfirm their predictions and develop their understanding.  This process of confirmation or disconfirmation together with connections building gives way to the construction of knowledge. As far as teachers, linking language strategy permits us to observe and identify possible misconceptions that will need to be addressed or general understandings which do not necessarily have to be retaught.

With this in mind and for the activation stage, I had students work in small groups. The three CLD students were placed in groups where they feel confident and the cooperative teacher offered support along the lesson.  Each group was given a chart with a question related to the topic Times Zones. (What is a time zone?, How many different time zones are there in USA?, Why do time zones exist?, what are the time zones called?). Everyone in the group had to write or draw any idea that comes to their mind in response to the question. CLD students were told that using their native language was allowed at that point.  Once every member of the group has contributed to the chart they moved clockwise to the next question until everyone has written or drawn anything on all five charts.  When students came back to the original chart their look for similar ideas and connect them. They shared the themes they found with the whole class. At his point, students have gotten an idea of what the lesson is going to be about.  This is an injection of interest. Then students made notes on their charts while listened to my explanation.  They observed my demonstration of the Earth rotation with the globe and flashlight and identified the time zones in the map. After the explanation, students responded the question and shared with the whole class.  The connections they made between their preliminary ideas and the new information were notably meaningful for most of them.  For the affirmation phase, students paired up and filled out the worksheet. CLD students were paired up with students who exhibited a better understanding.

 This artifact aligns with Section I of my platform.  At the beginning of the lesson students might have some prior knowledge regarding the time zones.  However, the vocabulary they used to express their thoughts clearly demonstrated that most of them stayed at the BICS level. It was my goal that students move forward cognitive academic language proficiency CALP throughout the lesson.  At the end of the class, students exhibited understanding of concepts such as earth rotation, standard time, and time zones. 

           

BDP indicator: I. Joint Productivity Activity

Learning Environment: The teacher orchestrates conditions and situations to ensure that students collaborate as equal members in a low-risk learning community.

            Biography Driven Practices rubric is a guide that helps me to set clear objectives for a lesson plan.  I think that not only EFL teachers but also content-area teachers in Ecuador should direct our attention to the standards to make sure that our instruction agrees with what is required by the ministry of Education when planning a lesson.  I anticipate to plan a lesson well in advance focusing on one of the indicators at a time.  By doing so, I will be able to eventually integrate all indicators so my instruction meets the standards.

Section II.  Pre-Instructional Student Assessment and Elaboration

 

Artifact one: Picture This

 

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Domain 3 Planning and Managing Instruction Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.a.: Planning for standards-based ESL and content Instruction.  Candidates know, understand, and apply concepts, research, and best practices to plan classroom instruction in a supportive learning environment for ESOL students.  Candidates serve as effective English language models, as they plan for multilevel classrooms with learners from diverse backgrounds using standards-based ESL and content curriculum.

            Picture This is a BDI strategy which permits students to activate their prior knowledge regarding any topic.  Students have the opportunity to build knowledge by themselves and monitor their understanding.  Teachers facilitate the learning by creating a place on students’ brains where they can make connections so the new learning is meaningful.

            I identified four key words (regions, islands, volcano, and beach).  The students are given a template of the activity Picture this.  They look at the pictures presented on the screen and sketch them on the first column of the template.  Then they write a description of their pictures.  On the next column, students write their thoughts about the pictures.  After that, they read the dictionary definition for the words and they individually match to the pictures and descriptions they drew on their templates.  Students compare their answers in their groups.  Next, students read the sentences and again individually match the sentences to the pictures.  While students work I monitor the class and ask for the rationale of their answers.

This strategy aligns with section II of my platform.  Instruction is developed on student-centered classes.  I create the environment for students activate their cognitive processes which contribute to the development of high order thinking skills.  In the process they link their previous ideas with what they see or hear for the first time and make connections.  When they are given the opportunity to show their understanding with their own words, they are acquiring the knowledge.  Furthermore, this strategy allows them to develop their ability to analyze, compare and synthetize information.  In this process students’ academic knowledge is growing.  They start using academic words purposefully.

BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

LSRW: the teacher provides a consistent opportunity for student expression and academic language development in higher order thinking activities that integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

I have used this strategy multiple times in my Ecuadorian classrooms.  Due to the fact that Ecuadorian students are not used to involve their cognitive skills in the process of learning, some feel anxious and confused during the first steps of the strategy.  They feel uncertain of what they are expected.  However, their affective filter goes down on the next steps.  I have seen they find the activity challenging and engaging.  As they have the opportunity to test their previous thoughts, they develop autonomy and honesty.  In my future classes, I will use this strategy for teaching vocabulary before a reading lesson.  Identifying the key vocabulary is crucial to reading comprehension.  It facilitates students’ understanding of the text.  Consequently, students develop motivation and like for reading.  It is my goal to generate independent learners with high thinking skills.    

Artifact two: Picture This

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, theories, and research related to the nature and acquisition of language to construct learning environments that support English Speakers of other languages (ESOL) students’ language and literacy development and content area achievement

Standard 1.a.: Candidates demonstrate understanding of language as a system and demonstrate a high level of competence in helping ESOL students acquire and use English in listening, speaking, reading and writing for social and academic purposes.

            In order to teach some geography of Ecuador, I implemented the strategy Picture This. The student A, whose native language is Spanish and has been in USA for only a year, had difficulties finding the right words to express his thoughts.  He used some Spanish since he was warned to do so if he did not know the words.  As his mastery of English is not sufficient enough, he also struggled with matching the words with the pictures.   He had to read over and over before making a choice to match the words.  I noticed some anxiety and his affective filter going up.  Therefore, I offered him permanent support by letting him know that requesting for clarification is appropriated.  I suggested him to use the bilingual dictionary to look up the unfamiliar words they came across with.

            Student B was born in Canada in a Pakistanis family.  Although he speaks English very well, he uses Urdu to communicate with his family at home.  He actively participated in the activity.  I could see that his knowledge of the language permitted him to match the pictures with the words quite easily.  Besides his rationale for his choices were absolutely well-thought. In addition, he came up with interesting questions which help others to have more ideas to think of.  At the end of the lesson he was able to summarize the geography information about Ecuador with his own words and made a comparison with Canada.  This demonstrated his high thinking skills being developed.

            Student C, born in USA from Mexican parents, is as fluent in English as in Spanish.  He reads and writes quite well in English but he does not read or write Spanish.  However, he uses Spanish at home.  According to his records, he is identified as gifted due to his high average in math.  He was the first to finish each of the steps of the activity and all of the answers were correct.  This notoriously evidenced his high development of mental process such as analyzing, understanding, and solving problems.  In the affirming stage of the lesson, he was able to write sentences which met the required criteria in a very short time.  This situation made me think of future enrichment activities that the teacher should include in the development of this strategy.     

            This activity aligns with section II of my platform.  It clearly gives students the opportunity to activate their background knowledge.  When they are required to write a description of the sketches, they have to look deep in their past experiences and find a way to relate those thoughts with the pictures they are observing.  I think this is a key moment when teachers have to be by low achievers’ side to guide them in the process of linking knowledge.  Students have to be very aware of the process that their thinking is going through. They need to know the name of the strategy so later on they can use it by themselves for different purposes. The fact that students have to draw contributes to the travel of the new vocabulary to the permanent memory.  Pictures help learners to remember words because they create images in their brains which are easily associated in the context for appropriate understanding.

            BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

            QRM: teachers provide consistent use of purposefully Q,R and M to assist academic language literacy development and to build students’ capacities to pose questions about their own thinking.

            In my future classes, I will make sure to frequently integrate Picture this activity in my lessons.  This activity works well when teaching new vocabulary.  Moreover, it facilitates the understanding of academic words which might be difficult to acquire due to their abstractness.  In my EFL classroom, we use a textbook which is split into units.  Each unit comprises a set of vocabulary words related to the unit topic. I plan to use this strategy to introduce the vocabulary so students are able to have a whole understanding of the unit.  From experience I can say that when key words are not in the students’ repertoire, the information can be misinterpreted ending up in failure and frustration.  I intend to help students discover the meaning of words, learn to use them properly and give the right meaning to the text.

Section III. Instructional Planning and Implementation

 

Artifact one: Anticipation, reaction guide

TESOL Domain and Standard: Domain 3Planning and managing instruction

Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.c.: using resources effectively in ESL and content instruction.  Candidates are familiar with a wide range of standards-based material, resources, technologies, and choose and use them in effective ESL and content teaching

            Anticipation Reaction Guide is a very useful tool which permits students’ background knowledge activation.  It is an ideal strategy for using previous reading a text, listening to a presentation, or watching a video.  Students draw on their past experiences to make predictions about the topic or simple guess.  This process is intended to provide me with a general view of the cognitive and academic level of my students to properly modify instruction if necessary.  I might need to use guarded vocabulary to assure comprehensible input which is key for students to achieve full understanding.

            Before looking and listening the prezi presentation, students are given a template of the Anticipation Reaction Guide they read the five statements and decide whether they are true or false.  In pairs they share and compare their answer.  This allows me some time to walk around the classroom and check that those students who struggle with the language properly understand the statements.  I call for volunteers to share with the whole class and provide a rationale for their responses.  After sharing ideas, students look at the illustrations of the Ecuadorian educational system and listen to my explanations.  They are encouraged to make any question they may have to allow discussion.  After this explanation, students go back to their templates and read the statements again.  This time they choose true or false based on the information they just received.  I check answers with the whole class and ask for the rationale of their answers. 

            This strategy aligns with section III of my platform which emphasizes on students’ cognitive development.  This strategy gives students opportunities to reflect on what they are reading for making a decision and explain the rationale of that decision. By doing so, they develop their critical thinking.  When volunteers share their ideas and offer their rationales, those students who might be struggling are benefited from their comments.  Peers’ points of view give way to further opinions.  Less academically ready students learn from their peers. One important aspect that needs special consideration is the affective filter of struggling students.  I have to be aware of not exposing students who do not feel confident enough with the language to share ideas.  Instead, I intend to offer adequate support.  Using students’ first language might be significantly useful to avoid anxiety.  According to Krashen’s hypothesis there are very few possibilities that learning happens when students’ affective filter is high.   

BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

LBK The teacher provides consistent, systematic opportunities for students to use their native language during the lesson in ways that support academic language and literacy development

I am strongly concerned about the lack of emphasis that reading activities receive in Ecuadorian EFL classes.  From my observation in my internship and past experience I can affirm that reading effectively is key to cognitive development.  Hence, I plan to incorporate a reading lesson to my teaching on a regular basis.  Anticipation reaction guide is a strategy that I anticipate using in order to get students involved in the reading.  By having students find any connection between the portion of the reading and their lives, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude to reading and get engaged in the process.  When students know exactly what and why they are reading, skills like predicting, inferring, solving problems, concluding are born and grow as part of their learning process. 

Artifact two: Venn Diagram

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates demonstrate knowledge of the history of ESL teaching.  Candidates keep current with new instructional techniques, research results, advances in the ESL field, and public policy issues.  Candidates use such issues to reflect upon and improve their instructional practices.  Candidates provide support and advocate for ESOL students and their families and work collaboratively to improve the learning environment.

Standard 5.a.: ESL research and history.  Candidates demonstrate knowledge of history, research, and current practice in the field of ESL teaching and apply knowledge to improve teaching and learning.   

Venn diagram are illustrations that uses overlapping and non-overlapping circles to show the relationship between two items.  Where the circle overlaps, the items have something in common.  Where the circles do not overlap, the items do not have anything in common.  This type of illustrations helps students to gain a graphic understanding of concepts. 

In this lesson, students are given a template of the Venn diagram.  After having listened, watched and discussed about Ecuadorian Educational system, they are required to compare it with the educational system in USA.  Before actually completing the diagram, students are involved in a class discussion where they share their ideas in pairs and then as a whole class.  CLD students who might not be already familiar with the American education system get ideas during this discussion.  I encourage them to ask questions and more experienced peers can provide answers.  When I notice that all students have ideas for their diagrams I have them to individually to complete the template. On the overlapping circle, Students write one aspect which is common for Ecuadorian and American educational system and two differences on the individual circles.  They share ideas at their tables and volunteers share out for the whole class. 

Graphic organizers like the Venn diagram have the power to summarize information in a way that it can be easily explained later on.  When students have reached to a fully understanding of the concepts, they can easily design a graphic organizer to record the new knowledge.  In this way, students are constructing their understanding by themselves.  According with the constructivism principles, learners need to have vivid learning experiences.  The teachers are not the transmitters of information anymore.  It has been proved that the knowledge acquired through teachers’ lectures or long boring explanations does not have a permanent impact on students.  Instead, teachers have to be the guides, facilitators and creators of suitable situations in class where students’ thinking is challenged to go beyond the simple repetition and memorization of facts.  The learning process described above is totally student-centered.  First students associate their past experiences with the topic being discussed.  In this stage they are reflecting and making comparisons.  Then when listening to the new information they make connections which eventually move them to conclusions and learning happens.  As a way to affirm students’ learning, they are given the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding through foldables, tickets out, messages boards, or graphic organizers.  In this stage, students express their knowledge with their own words, provide their own examples and share their conclusions.  In this process, mental skills like critical thinking, comparing, exemplifying and analyzing are being developed.    

BDP indicator: Instructional Conversation

Known to unknown: teacher responds in ways that consistently promote higher order thinking, elaboration of connections from the known to the unknown, and application beyond the classroom.

I plan to use graphic organizers in my EFL lessons particularly, the Venn diagram which is an excellent tool for students to analyze two items or phenomena.  The completion of this diagram requires students demonstrate fully understanding of both items. Students have to become responsible for their own learning in order to be able to successfully complete the diagram with accurate ideas.  If students follow the process being aware of how learning is happening they are owners of the new knowledge and more likely to be able to apply it in future situations which is the ultimate goal of education.

Artifact three: Story Bag

TESOL Domain and Standard: Domain 3Planning and managing instruction

Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.b.: managing and implementing standards-based ESL and content instruction.  Candidates know, manage, and implement a variety of standards-based teaching strategies and techniques, for developing and integrating English listening, speaking, reading and writing, and for accessing the core curriculum.  Candidates support ESOL students in accessing the core curriculum as they learn language and academic content together

One of the most suitable BDI strategies for reading is Story Bag.  Instead of saying read chapter three for next session, which few students will do, I rather plan the reading activities with students.  This way, they do not see reading as a punishment or something extremely difficult to achieve.  I find this strategy very engaging and useful to smoothly introduce students into reading.

Students are placed in small groups of three.  They examine the cover of the book: The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry and make predictions about the objects they will find in the story verbally.  As a group they divide a piece of paper into two parts and label each section a) in the story b) not in the story.  Students look at the pictures in the screen one by one and predict if the picture will be in the story or not.  Students discuss their predictions in the groups.  I encourage them to provide a rationale for their predictions.  Then I bring the discussion to a class vote.  Everyone writes the object under the category the whole class agrees.  They also have the possibility to add a third column for Maybe if they are not absolutely sure.  As the story is read, students verify the objects as they appear in text and reflect on their predictions.  They understand that good readers make inferences and associations which permit us to reach a better understanding of the reading.  After the story is read students work in pairs.  Each pair is given one object. They have to be ready to tell the class in what part of the story that picture appears or not. I ask the students to explain why they thought certain objects might appear in the story.  After that every group receives a bag with individual pictures inside for students to manipulate.  They place the pictures in the order in which they appeared.  Then students individually write a summary of the story.

This strategy aligns with section III of my platform.  I am constantly emphasizing the three steps of a well-designed lesson plan: activation, connection, affirmation.  The first step is essential for students to get engaged in the learning process and develop self- motivation and independence.  When students are well engaged and motivated, learning occurs in unexpected ways.   Significant activation takes learners to make meaningful connections which allow them  to go deeper into the knowledge and boost their curiosity.  I consider that these steps are crucial specially when delivering a reading lesson.  In order for students develop their like and pleasure for reading, it is necessary to demonstrate them that reading is not the boring and meaningless activity they are used to.  Incorporating graphic illustrations to the activity is an asset.  Drawings have the power to make students focus their attention on the task to be accomplished.  This introduction makes students listen to the story purposefully. They want to verify how certain were their predictions.  This adds an element of interest to the reading.

In the last part of the strategy, students work on a hands-on activity.  They cooperatively reconstruct the story and retell it using the pictures.  At this point, students who might be struggling with the text have the opportunity to learn from their peers.  I offer support while monitoring the class as well. 

BDP indicator: Joint Productive Activity

Activity connections: the teacher constantly uses insights from the strategy/activity to make connections, affirm learning, and modify instruction as needed.

Getting students into reading is a big issue in EFL classrooms in Ecuador.  Along the years, traditional education left reading out of the curriculum. Therefore, I anticipate using this strategy as the starting point to develop a reading lesson.  Besides the lack of motivation for reading, the different levels of language acquisition of students is another barrier which prevents some students from successfully accomplishing a reading task.  This strategy permits me to offer adequate support for students in the early stages of language acquisition.  I feel committed to incorporate visuals, guarded vocabulary, and L1 to assure comprehensible input which contributes to students’ understanding and further production.                     

Section IV. Authentic Assessment of Instruction and Students Progress

       

Artifact one

Artifact one: Extension Wheel

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates understand issues of assessment and use standard-based assessment measures with ESOL students

Standard 4.c.: Classroom-based assessment for ESL.  Candidates know and use a variety of performance-based assessment tools and techniques to inform instruction

For assessment purposes I used the extension wheel.  This BDI strategy promotes students’ ability to demonstrate their understanding in a graphic way.  Teachers can easily observe at what extent the information was correctly acquired or not.  This information permits teachers to plan further accommodations so that students who did not achieve fully understanding have the opportunity to do so before going to the next step.

At the end of the lesson, I handed out a template of the extension wheel. Students individually completed the wheel.  They were prompted to write the topic in the middle of the wheel (metacognitive reading strategies). The three key terms of the lesson planning, monitoring, and evaluating were distributed in the next circle of the wheel.  Students wrote a description for each term in their own words.  In the last circle, students’ task was to descriptively explain two concrete strategies which illustrate each of the three key concepts.

This artifact aligns with section IV of my platform.  In this section I recognized the significance of formative assessment.  It determines what and how students are learning to modify instruction accordingly while it is still in progress (Herrera, 2007).  These graphic organizers allow students to hierarchically organize their thoughts in a way that they are able to easily verbalize their knowledge.  I am able to assess every student progress by evaluating their final products.  If concepts are not clear enough, I might easily make appropriated accommodations to meet the individual needs of my students.  It is important for me to be aware of the on-the-fly moments during the fulfilling of the extension wheel.  Students’ comments, right or wrong, are great opportunities to scaffold learning.  
 

            BDP indicator: Challenging activities

Feedback: teachers use systematic formative assessment to provide consistent feedback on student performance to confirm/disconfirm learning and to advance student learning

            I think that extension wheels are an alternative to traditional quizzes which teachers usually apply at the end of a lesson to assess comprehension.  This type of quizzes increases the level of students’ affective filter.  From my experience, I can affirm that the results of these quizzes are not always accurate since there are outside factors such as anxiety and nervousness that in too many circumstances prevent students from achieving in spite of having acquired fully understanding.  Therefore, I will definitely incorporate extension wheels and other graphic organizers and strategies like tickets outs, foldables, portfolios, or journals to assure a stress free environment and offer opportune feedback.

Artifact two: Projects

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates understand issues of assessment and use standard-based assessment measures with ESOL students

Standard 4.c.: Classroom-based assessment for ESL.  Candidates know and use a variety of performance-based assessment tools and techniques to inform instruction.

            Projects where students have the possibility to choose the topic they want to explore and present serves as authentic assessment.  It involves the actual doing of a task. When developing a project, students have the genuine need to use the target language. Teachers’ job is to clearly explain what it is expected from them well in advance through rubrics and class discussions.

            In this artifact, students demonstrate their skills through the presentation of round tables.  Students work individually or in pairs.  This assessment intended to evaluate students’ understanding of the unit concerning geography vocabulary and places.  Thus, each team chooses a country or city the team agrees.  They are responsible for finding all the information regarding that place, creating illustrations and other supporting materials.  On the presentation day, students talk about their countries with visitors.  Some time for questions and discussion is allowed as well.  Presentations run for one hour.  Thus, each team presents four or five times. 

            This project allows me to measure the level of my students’ progress regarding the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing in an authentic and stress-free way. Their reading and writing skills are exhibited during the production of the presentation.  They are allowed plenty of time to have everything done.  During this time, I provide them with permanent feedback.   Their listening and speaking skills are assessed during the presentation itself. Moreover, students learn to work cooperatively and understand the importance of team work at the moment of achieving a goal. This way students are not only being assessed for summative purposes ( a number or letter grade) but also they are gaining long life learning which is the goal of instruction.

This type of assessment aligns with section IV of my platform.  Traditional pen and pencil test do not always provide accurate information.  Other conditions such as the place, the time of the test and students’ affective filter might influence the results.  Furthermore, students do not have the possibility to demonstrate their understanding through alternative ways.  Their individual skills and learning styles are not considered by traditional assessment.  On the other hand, authentic assessment offers a variety of opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities, students have the authentic need to use the language in a real context, and they find them engaging and challenging.  

            BDP indicator Challenging Activities

Standard Expectations: includes challenging strategies/activities that reflect skillful integration of multiple standards, clear expectations, and higher order thinking skills. 

            Regretfully in Ecuador, assessment for the most part is limited to pen and paper, teacher-made tests and standardized tests which measure students’ performance at the end of instruction with very few opportunities for feedback and accommodations.  In the future, I plan to propose an alternative assessment plan for my school.  This plan includes performance based assessment, portfolios, cooperative group, interviews, play-based assessment, self and peer assessment, and dialogue journals.  The primary goal is to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through activities they are better at.  In order to do so, it is essential that teachers come to the understanding of the real purpose of assessment. So far, teachers assess students to complete paper work demanded by the authorities.  This misunderstanding keeps students from gaining authentic and practical learning.  Instead, only memorized facts with no cognitive development at all are measured. Therefore, incorporating authentic assessment to my daily teaching practices is a must.        

	Section V. Reflective Monitoring and Evaluation

 

REFLECTION WHEEL JOURNAL

NAME:                Soledad Parra                                            Date:  July 7th, 2012

Course name:    Culture and Language                                 Reflection Wheel Journal #: 2

Event

The article explains that the policy schools have regarding cultural diversity can either support the traditional relationship of oppression between dominants groups and subordinated communities or contribute to the acceptance of subordinated groups and empowerment of both.  The relationships that educators establish with their students according to the position they take about this issue exert great influence in the future students’ academic failure or success.  

Feelings

• Regretful
• Critical
• Certain

Thoughts

I have not considered teachers-students relationships as a fundamental part of their success.  When I thought of academic failure or success I always had in my mind the idea that a student success depends exclusively on how much they strain themselves.  I saw the hard realities they face as the perfect excuse for their poor academic performance.  Even we do not have such a great students diversity back Ecuador, I think I will pay more attention to areas like social economic status, personal backgrounds, or individual interests that may influence in their learning positively or negatively.

Learnings:

Step one:

I assumed that I built effective, equal and fair students relationships since I have always tried not to make differences among them.  I also assumed that no matter how well or bad I teach a class, at the end my students’ success or failure depended on them exclusively.

Step two:

My first assumption is partially valid.  I always try not to show privilege or compassion for the ones who seem to be weak or different especially when their differences are too obvious like the color of the skin, particular clothes of any indigenous community or an evident disability.  However, there are differences that are not so visible such as conflictive backgrounds, broken families, health, mental or learning disorders.  Students with these differences undoubtedly are also in the subordinated group since they are not able to catch up with the ones who are considered normal.  As a consequence their academic performance is affected. Then my second assumption is not valid at all.  As the article portrays subordinated group students disempowerment makes them vulnerable. Sometimes they are even excluded from education.  Being successful students entails not only their effort but also the human relationships they are able to build at school. 

Step three:

The school where I work in Ecuador mostly receives mestizo students.  There are very few indigenous or blacks and even fewer disables so being aware of their differences for not to show either preference or compassion is quite easy.  That is why I assumed that I did not make differences among my students at all.  However, while I read the article I thought of my starters eighth graders. I am going to call them the subordinated group since they had to catch up with the other two groups.  During the whole school year I could not find the door to success.  I used to tell myself that if they do not have the desire to learn and walk that extra mile then there was nothing else I can do.  Now I understand that not only race, language or especial capacities make students different   but also issues like broken families or health and learning disorders which unfortunately most of the times take them to failure. If I had been aware of this before, I could have been able to meet their needs better and probably they would have had a better performance.

Application

Step one:

Personally and professionally I have reached a better understanding on how every human being is a different world full of talents, capacities, opinions, fears and that these differences play a very important role in every aspect of life: social, education, family, and work. 

Step two:

In the future, my students’ success is going to depend on their personal effort and devotion to learning and also on my ability to make them overcome their weaknesses and family or health difficulties.  I am going to build collaborative relations of power which promote self-expression where the voice of the less fortunate is heard. This way I intend to work on students’ self-esteem and prepare them to actively participate in the classroom, school, and society.  I think these are the tools to find the way to success.

  TESOL Domain and Standard:

Candidates demonstrate knowledge of the history of ESL teaching.  Candidates keep current with new instructional techniques, research results, advances in the ESL field, and public policy issues.  Candidates use such issues to reflect upon and improve their instructional practices.  Candidates provide support and advocate for ESOL students and their families and work collaboratively to improve the learning environment.

Standard 5.a.: ESL Research and history.  Candidates demonstrate knowledge of history, research, and current practice in the field of ESL teaching and apply knowledge to improve teaching and learning.

Reflective teaching is a process of self-evaluation.  It means to look at what I am doing in the classroom and think about if the strategies, goals, and content are working or not.  This process of reflection has to be deeply and seriously done.  Without appropriate reflection, it is very easy to draw wrong conclusions.  Therefore, the information gathered from class observations, colleagues’ discussions, tests results, and so forth should be kept in records in order to move on to making changes.

The journaling process which reflection wheels follow helped me to check assumptions I used to have and that I was not necessarily aware of.  The first section regarding the event provides the food for thought. It is here where the situation, theory, or conversation is analyzed.  Listing the feelings that the issue provoked me helped me to develop empathy.  In the journal above, I   reflected about the teachers-students relationships as a critical element for academic success. Never before had I thought that the relation with my students might impact their school performance.  This made me feel certain but regretful. The thoughts section invited me to make connections between the article I read and my teaching reality for identifying assumptions I had.  The next step is critical.  Checking assumptions is the stage that permits the identification of potential bias which might be influencing the teaching practices. In this particular reflection, I had to admit that I had not been building trustful relationships which allow students to better achieve academically. Once that I recognized that my beliefs were preventing me from addressing my students’ needs in a more tailored way, I thought of possible strategies which help me to build closer relationships with my students. I think that thoughtful reflections like these are a means for professional growth.  Thoughtful reflections should be part of our daily teaching practices.

 This artifact aligns with section V of my platform.  In this section I reflected upon some issues regarding the way teachers in Ecuador deal with pre assessment tests results, the use of the mandatory textbook, and the predominance of summative assessment over formative assessment and the impact on students’ academic achievement.  My reflections allowed me to think beyond the current curriculum regulations.  For example I think that pre assessment should not be limited to language exclusively.  Gathering information regarding students’ biographies is much more helpful than a number grade.  Similarly, I consider that the text book we have to use is preventing teachers from planning lessons based on students’ interests and needs.  This makes me think of the possibility of developing a curriculum which does not base its content on the textbook only. Moreover, my experience in my internship at Bergman Elementary school has permitted me to compare the educational practices in USA with the system in Ecuador and reflect on the differences and the way certain practices affect the overall performance of students.  From my own experience as a student, teacher and from my observations at Bergman school, I can affirm that what teachers in Ecuador need is training on how to develop students’ high order thinking skills. Now the challenge is to propose alternatives for a solution.  I am addressing this problem in my research for my final project.  I would not have been able to reach to this point without constant and thoughtful reflection.

Artifact two: Discussions

 

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Standard 3.a.:

Along this year, I have had the opportunity to discuss with some of my colleagues about different issues.  One discussion I particularly remember is about teachers’ experiences after we completed the Go Teachers Program in 2012.  I shared out with my friend and colleague Susana Cortez the frustration I experienced during my time in one of the biggest public high schools in Quito.  There was very little I could do since I would meet my students once a week for an hour.  I had thirteen classes of fifty and sixty students (six hundred fifty in total) with serious behavioral problems (aggressiveness, dishonesty, discrimination, thefts).Their knowledge of the language was very basic despite the fact they were seniors.  The new curriculum, which was just being implemented in that year, demanded teachers to spend more time on paper work rather than addressing students’ needs besides the negative attitude of some traditional teachers.  Even though my friend also had a hard time in her school, she said that she could successfully apply many of the strategies we learned and her job impacted on students, colleagues and authorities positively.  What made her experience different was certain circumstances like the class size, students’ discipline, class hours and above all her attitude. 

After our discussion I thought back of my classes and the problems I had to face and tried to find theories, practices and strategies which might help me address those problems better in the near future. I consider the first thing to do is to show students that I genuinely care for them.  How do I do this?  By getting to know who they are, what they like, what problems they face at home, what fears they have, what they are good at, how they learn.  BDI strategies serve this purpose well. This knowledge will help me to build rapport with my students and their families.  I am sure that if I am able to make my students feel confident in my classes, they will behave, show interest and cooperate with one another in spite of the class size. My challenge is to be empathetic and develop a bond. 

Once I have established a respectful and trustful relationship, I will choose strategies that help me reach all students.  It is a fact that classrooms in Ecuador are very large.  However, I think that my knowledge about differentiated instruction, biography driven, and scaffolding strategies together with the theory of group configuration gives me the tools to plan a student-centered class where learners have the opportunity to make choices, show off their abilities, and walk to success step by step.  One thing I have to consider is how cognitively challenging the class tasks are.  From my experience, I can say that in our schools we are just climbing the first steps of the cognitive development ladder. Students learn to recall and repeat information well but they struggle when trying to understand, analyze, summarize, compare, contrast, evaluate, apply, or create.  This is one of the reasons of students’ failure at the moment of taking the university admission exam.  Students who really want to start a university career have to take training courses to learn to think.  This would not be the case if teachers in schools planned activities which demand higher order thinking skills from students since they start their academic instruction in kindergarten.   To summarize, I am saying that for teachers to be successful in Ecuadorian classrooms, there are three conditions: a) know who students are; b) apply strategies which address large classrooms needs; c) plan cognitively demanding tasks. When I compare this to my teaching philosophy I see a clear connection. 

My teaching philosophy says that before starting instruction, I have to know my students, to assess where they are at, and have high expectations.  Honestly, I have to say that these three elements have not been working harmoniously.  However, I am glad to say that now I feel I have the potential, knowledge and desire to make a difference in my students’ lives.              

Artifact one: Biography Cards

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Domain 2 Culture: Candidates know, understand and use the major concepts, principles, theories, and research related to the nature and role of culture and cultural groups to construct learning environments that support ESOL students’ cultural identities, language and literacy development, and content-area achievement.

Standard 2.b.: Cultural groups and identity.  Candidates know, understand, and use knowledge of how cultural groups and students’ cultural identities affect language learning and school achievement.

Before starting instruction teachers have to get to know who our students are.  Biography cards provide us with valuable information regarding students’ academic and personal history.  This information serves as the basis for planning and delivering a lesson. I anticipate using these bio cards as a reference at the moment of designing a lesson plan, grouping, and identifying their level of second language acquisition.

The biography cards are like the manual that show us how to design a lesson plan.  The objectives, content, and methods are derived from bio- cards’ information. For instance, the content and objectives of a geography lesson might be developed through the exploration of Mexico. Students from this country will be more likely to contribute to the class in spite of the language barrier since they speak about the country they know really well.  As regards to methods, learning about students’ academic and cognitive level as well as their learning styles permits me to plan activities accordingly.  In this step I plan to tap into differentiated instruction strategies which allow students to build knowledge considering their particular strengths and skills.

The knowledge I obtain about my students from the bio cards helps me to properly group them in a way that all of them have the opportunity to develop their potentialities. For example having students work in cooperative groups permit that students with diverse ability and characteristics work together and learn from one another to accomplish an assigned task.  In this particular class, the three students identified as CLD are carefully placed in a group where they feel safe.  I am paying attention to their affective relationships with their peers as well.  I want to place them in a group where their peers are willing to help so that CLD students learn from them.  Many times students have a better understanding of concepts when the explanation comes from their peers. 

The linguistic dimension of the biography card offers a clear view of the level of language acquisition of CLD students.  This information allows me to identify what student is in what stage of language acquisition.  Depending on the stages where CLD students are, the methods and strategies are selected.  One of the CLD students has been in the USA for only one year.  His speaking skills demonstrate he is in the intermediate fluency stage.  However, he notably is in the speech emergence stage in terms of reading and writing.  This shows me that the reading and writing material should be differentiated for him so that he does not experience frustration and failure.  Obviously, I keep in mind that he does need to be challenged.  One way to do so without affecting students affective filter negatively is through scaffolding.  Students go through the learning process step by step acquiring the knowledge they need to jump into the next stage. Along the design of my lesson, I keep in mind their backgrounds, interests, skills, and personal history to choose topics, illustrations, and activities.  

  This artifact aligns with section I of my platform.  According to Herrera and Murry 2010, the more teachers know about their students, the more probabilities they have to build rapport between teacher-students, and understand the process through which students learn vocabulary, content, and make sense of new knowledge.  It is essential that educators recognize the four interrelated dimensions (sociocultural, academic, cognitive, and linguistic) that play an important role in the classroom.  Biography driven instruction incorporate opportunities for students to make connections between the prior knowledge and the new information to produce lasting links which students might use for future applications.

BDP indicator: IV Challenging Activities

Accommodations: Provides, consistent, systematic, structured accommodations based on students’ linguistic and academic levels that build upon culture-bound patterns of knowing, learning, and applying. 

In my future classrooms, I am definitely incorporating biography cards in my daily teaching.  Although in Ecuador we are supposed to have annual, monthly and daily lesson plans prepared well in advance, the information I gathered from bio-cards will allow me to make the necessary accommodations to the curriculum in order to make students fit into it.  I will constantly refer to bio-cards at the moment of planning a lesson, assessing, grouping, choosing strategies so I am able to meet all my students’ needs.

Artifact two: Lesson Plan

PREPARATION

Grade level:                           Fifth Grade

Total number of students:    22

P          0

EP       0

S          2

I

AHH!  20

Content Objective:

We will be learning about the time zones in USA and the reason why it is important to know about how they work.

Language Objective(s):

Listening:        We will listen to the explanation about the rotation of the Earth

We will listen to our partners while sharing out their understanding.

Speaking:        We will share our understanding with the whole class

Reading:         We will read the predictions to find similarities

                        We will read the map and answer questions.

Writing:          We will write predictions about key concepts

                        We will answer questions about the time in different states

Key Vocabulary:

Time zone

Standard time

Degrees

Eastern

Central

Mountain

Pacific

Alaskan

Hawaiian

‘

Materials needed:

·         Chart paper

·         Color markers

·         Globe

·         Flashlight

·         USA time zones map

·         Computer

·         Projector

·         Worksheets

·         Prezi presentation

Activate:

·         Students work in small groups. 

·         Each group is given a chart with a key question. 

·         Students write or draw any idea they have about the topic. 

·         Groups move clockwise and write their ideas on the next chart until they have contributed ideas in the five charts.

Connect:

·         Students look at the globe while a volunteer student shines it with a flashlight. 

·         The teacher asks what happens in one side of the Earth while it is being shone and what happens on the other side. 

·         Students see that the Earth rotation produces day and night and that while it is morning in some countries, it is night in others.  This is why different time zones were established.

·         Students look at the USA map and identify the six time zones and their names

·         While listening they make notes on their charts to respond the original question each group was given.

Affirm:

·         One student from each group will share the answer to their question

·         Students find hours differences among the states mentally

·         Students complete the worksheet Time Zones

TESOL Domain and Standard

Domain 3 Planning and Managing Instruction Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.a.: Planning for standards-based ESL and content Instruction.  Candidates know, understand, and apply concepts, research, and best practices to plan classroom instruction in a supportive learning environment for ESOL students.  Candidates serve as effective English language models, as they plan for multilevel classrooms with learners from diverse backgrounds using standards-based ESL and content curriculum.

My lesson plan above describes the development of a variation of Linking language strategy.  It is one of the multiple BDI strategies that take into consideration learners’ prior knowledge as an essential part of the lesson.  Students have the opportunity to take some time to reflect on what they already know about the topic of discussion. This step is crucial for the later development of the lesson.  It is here where they are going to confirm or disconfirm their predictions and develop their understanding.  This process of confirmation or disconfirmation together with connections building gives way to the construction of knowledge. As far as teachers, linking language strategy permits us to observe and identify possible misconceptions that will need to be addressed or general understandings which do not necessarily have to be retaught.

With this in mind and for the activation stage, I had students work in small groups. The three CLD students were placed in groups where they feel confident and the cooperative teacher offered support along the lesson.  Each group was given a chart with a question related to the topic Times Zones. (What is a time zone?, How many different time zones are there in USA?, Why do time zones exist?, what are the time zones called?). Everyone in the group had to write or draw any idea that comes to their mind in response to the question. CLD students were told that using their native language was allowed at that point.  Once every member of the group has contributed to the chart they moved clockwise to the next question until everyone has written or drawn anything on all five charts.  When students came back to the original chart their look for similar ideas and connect them. They shared the themes they found with the whole class. At his point, students have gotten an idea of what the lesson is going to be about.  This is an injection of interest. Then students made notes on their charts while listened to my explanation.  They observed my demonstration of the Earth rotation with the globe and flashlight and identified the time zones in the map. After the explanation, students responded the question and shared with the whole class.  The connections they made between their preliminary ideas and the new information were notably meaningful for most of them.  For the affirmation phase, students paired up and filled out the worksheet. CLD students were paired up with students who exhibited a better understanding.

 This artifact aligns with Section I of my platform.  At the beginning of the lesson students might have some prior knowledge regarding the time zones.  However, the vocabulary they used to express their thoughts clearly demonstrated that most of them stayed at the BICS level. It was my goal that students move forward cognitive academic language proficiency CALP throughout the lesson.  At the end of the class, students exhibited understanding of concepts such as earth rotation, standard time, and time zones. 

           

BDP indicator: I. Joint Productivity Activity

Learning Environment: The teacher orchestrates conditions and situations to ensure that students collaborate as equal members in a low-risk learning community.

            Biography Driven Practices rubric is a guide that helps me to set clear objectives for a lesson plan.  I think that not only EFL teachers but also content-area teachers in Ecuador should direct our attention to the standards to make sure that our instruction agrees with what is required by the ministry of Education when planning a lesson.  I anticipate to plan a lesson well in advance focusing on one of the indicators at a time.  By doing so, I will be able to eventually integrate all indicators so my instruction meets the standards.

Section II.  Pre-Instructional Student Assessment and Elaboration

 

Artifact one: Picture This

 

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Domain 3 Planning and Managing Instruction Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.a.: Planning for standards-based ESL and content Instruction.  Candidates know, understand, and apply concepts, research, and best practices to plan classroom instruction in a supportive learning environment for ESOL students.  Candidates serve as effective English language models, as they plan for multilevel classrooms with learners from diverse backgrounds using standards-based ESL and content curriculum.

            Picture This is a BDI strategy which permits students to activate their prior knowledge regarding any topic.  Students have the opportunity to build knowledge by themselves and monitor their understanding.  Teachers facilitate the learning by creating a place on students’ brains where they can make connections so the new learning is meaningful.

            I identified four key words (regions, islands, volcano, and beach).  The students are given a template of the activity Picture this.  They look at the pictures presented on the screen and sketch them on the first column of the template.  Then they write a description of their pictures.  On the next column, students write their thoughts about the pictures.  After that, they read the dictionary definition for the words and they individually match to the pictures and descriptions they drew on their templates.  Students compare their answers in their groups.  Next, students read the sentences and again individually match the sentences to the pictures.  While students work I monitor the class and ask for the rationale of their answers.

This strategy aligns with section II of my platform.  Instruction is developed on student-centered classes.  I create the environment for students activate their cognitive processes which contribute to the development of high order thinking skills.  In the process they link their previous ideas with what they see or hear for the first time and make connections.  When they are given the opportunity to show their understanding with their own words, they are acquiring the knowledge.  Furthermore, this strategy allows them to develop their ability to analyze, compare and synthetize information.  In this process students’ academic knowledge is growing.  They start using academic words purposefully.

BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

LSRW: the teacher provides a consistent opportunity for student expression and academic language development in higher order thinking activities that integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

I have used this strategy multiple times in my Ecuadorian classrooms.  Due to the fact that Ecuadorian students are not used to involve their cognitive skills in the process of learning, some feel anxious and confused during the first steps of the strategy.  They feel uncertain of what they are expected.  However, their affective filter goes down on the next steps.  I have seen they find the activity challenging and engaging.  As they have the opportunity to test their previous thoughts, they develop autonomy and honesty.  In my future classes, I will use this strategy for teaching vocabulary before a reading lesson.  Identifying the key vocabulary is crucial to reading comprehension.  It facilitates students’ understanding of the text.  Consequently, students develop motivation and like for reading.  It is my goal to generate independent learners with high thinking skills.    

Artifact two: Picture This

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts, theories, and research related to the nature and acquisition of language to construct learning environments that support English Speakers of other languages (ESOL) students’ language and literacy development and content area achievement

Standard 1.a.: Candidates demonstrate understanding of language as a system and demonstrate a high level of competence in helping ESOL students acquire and use English in listening, speaking, reading and writing for social and academic purposes.

            In order to teach some geography of Ecuador, I implemented the strategy Picture This. The student A, whose native language is Spanish and has been in USA for only a year, had difficulties finding the right words to express his thoughts.  He used some Spanish since he was warned to do so if he did not know the words.  As his mastery of English is not sufficient enough, he also struggled with matching the words with the pictures.   He had to read over and over before making a choice to match the words.  I noticed some anxiety and his affective filter going up.  Therefore, I offered him permanent support by letting him know that requesting for clarification is appropriated.  I suggested him to use the bilingual dictionary to look up the unfamiliar words they came across with.

            Student B was born in Canada in a Pakistanis family.  Although he speaks English very well, he uses Urdu to communicate with his family at home.  He actively participated in the activity.  I could see that his knowledge of the language permitted him to match the pictures with the words quite easily.  Besides his rationale for his choices were absolutely well-thought. In addition, he came up with interesting questions which help others to have more ideas to think of.  At the end of the lesson he was able to summarize the geography information about Ecuador with his own words and made a comparison with Canada.  This demonstrated his high thinking skills being developed.

            Student C, born in USA from Mexican parents, is as fluent in English as in Spanish.  He reads and writes quite well in English but he does not read or write Spanish.  However, he uses Spanish at home.  According to his records, he is identified as gifted due to his high average in math.  He was the first to finish each of the steps of the activity and all of the answers were correct.  This notoriously evidenced his high development of mental process such as analyzing, understanding, and solving problems.  In the affirming stage of the lesson, he was able to write sentences which met the required criteria in a very short time.  This situation made me think of future enrichment activities that the teacher should include in the development of this strategy.     

            This activity aligns with section II of my platform.  It clearly gives students the opportunity to activate their background knowledge.  When they are required to write a description of the sketches, they have to look deep in their past experiences and find a way to relate those thoughts with the pictures they are observing.  I think this is a key moment when teachers have to be by low achievers’ side to guide them in the process of linking knowledge.  Students have to be very aware of the process that their thinking is going through. They need to know the name of the strategy so later on they can use it by themselves for different purposes. The fact that students have to draw contributes to the travel of the new vocabulary to the permanent memory.  Pictures help learners to remember words because they create images in their brains which are easily associated in the context for appropriate understanding.

            BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

            QRM: teachers provide consistent use of purposefully Q,R and M to assist academic language literacy development and to build students’ capacities to pose questions about their own thinking.

            In my future classes, I will make sure to frequently integrate Picture this activity in my lessons.  This activity works well when teaching new vocabulary.  Moreover, it facilitates the understanding of academic words which might be difficult to acquire due to their abstractness.  In my EFL classroom, we use a textbook which is split into units.  Each unit comprises a set of vocabulary words related to the unit topic. I plan to use this strategy to introduce the vocabulary so students are able to have a whole understanding of the unit.  From experience I can say that when key words are not in the students’ repertoire, the information can be misinterpreted ending up in failure and frustration.  I intend to help students discover the meaning of words, learn to use them properly and give the right meaning to the text.

Section III. Instructional Planning and Implementation

 

Artifact one: Anticipation, reaction guide

TESOL Domain and Standard: Domain 3Planning and managing instruction

Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.c.: using resources effectively in ESL and content instruction.  Candidates are familiar with a wide range of standards-based material, resources, technologies, and choose and use them in effective ESL and content teaching

            Anticipation Reaction Guide is a very useful tool which permits students’ background knowledge activation.  It is an ideal strategy for using previous reading a text, listening to a presentation, or watching a video.  Students draw on their past experiences to make predictions about the topic or simple guess.  This process is intended to provide me with a general view of the cognitive and academic level of my students to properly modify instruction if necessary.  I might need to use guarded vocabulary to assure comprehensible input which is key for students to achieve full understanding.

            Before looking and listening the prezi presentation, students are given a template of the Anticipation Reaction Guide they read the five statements and decide whether they are true or false.  In pairs they share and compare their answer.  This allows me some time to walk around the classroom and check that those students who struggle with the language properly understand the statements.  I call for volunteers to share with the whole class and provide a rationale for their responses.  After sharing ideas, students look at the illustrations of the Ecuadorian educational system and listen to my explanations.  They are encouraged to make any question they may have to allow discussion.  After this explanation, students go back to their templates and read the statements again.  This time they choose true or false based on the information they just received.  I check answers with the whole class and ask for the rationale of their answers. 

            This strategy aligns with section III of my platform which emphasizes on students’ cognitive development.  This strategy gives students opportunities to reflect on what they are reading for making a decision and explain the rationale of that decision. By doing so, they develop their critical thinking.  When volunteers share their ideas and offer their rationales, those students who might be struggling are benefited from their comments.  Peers’ points of view give way to further opinions.  Less academically ready students learn from their peers. One important aspect that needs special consideration is the affective filter of struggling students.  I have to be aware of not exposing students who do not feel confident enough with the language to share ideas.  Instead, I intend to offer adequate support.  Using students’ first language might be significantly useful to avoid anxiety.  According to Krashen’s hypothesis there are very few possibilities that learning happens when students’ affective filter is high.   

BDP indicator: Language and Literacy Development

LBK The teacher provides consistent, systematic opportunities for students to use their native language during the lesson in ways that support academic language and literacy development

I am strongly concerned about the lack of emphasis that reading activities receive in Ecuadorian EFL classes.  From my observation in my internship and past experience I can affirm that reading effectively is key to cognitive development.  Hence, I plan to incorporate a reading lesson to my teaching on a regular basis.  Anticipation reaction guide is a strategy that I anticipate using in order to get students involved in the reading.  By having students find any connection between the portion of the reading and their lives, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude to reading and get engaged in the process.  When students know exactly what and why they are reading, skills like predicting, inferring, solving problems, concluding are born and grow as part of their learning process. 

Artifact two: Venn Diagram

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates demonstrate knowledge of the history of ESL teaching.  Candidates keep current with new instructional techniques, research results, advances in the ESL field, and public policy issues.  Candidates use such issues to reflect upon and improve their instructional practices.  Candidates provide support and advocate for ESOL students and their families and work collaboratively to improve the learning environment.

Standard 5.a.: ESL research and history.  Candidates demonstrate knowledge of history, research, and current practice in the field of ESL teaching and apply knowledge to improve teaching and learning.   

Venn diagram are illustrations that uses overlapping and non-overlapping circles to show the relationship between two items.  Where the circle overlaps, the items have something in common.  Where the circles do not overlap, the items do not have anything in common.  This type of illustrations helps students to gain a graphic understanding of concepts. 

In this lesson, students are given a template of the Venn diagram.  After having listened, watched and discussed about Ecuadorian Educational system, they are required to compare it with the educational system in USA.  Before actually completing the diagram, students are involved in a class discussion where they share their ideas in pairs and then as a whole class.  CLD students who might not be already familiar with the American education system get ideas during this discussion.  I encourage them to ask questions and more experienced peers can provide answers.  When I notice that all students have ideas for their diagrams I have them to individually to complete the template. On the overlapping circle, Students write one aspect which is common for Ecuadorian and American educational system and two differences on the individual circles.  They share ideas at their tables and volunteers share out for the whole class. 

Graphic organizers like the Venn diagram have the power to summarize information in a way that it can be easily explained later on.  When students have reached to a fully understanding of the concepts, they can easily design a graphic organizer to record the new knowledge.  In this way, students are constructing their understanding by themselves.  According with the constructivism principles, learners need to have vivid learning experiences.  The teachers are not the transmitters of information anymore.  It has been proved that the knowledge acquired through teachers’ lectures or long boring explanations does not have a permanent impact on students.  Instead, teachers have to be the guides, facilitators and creators of suitable situations in class where students’ thinking is challenged to go beyond the simple repetition and memorization of facts.  The learning process described above is totally student-centered.  First students associate their past experiences with the topic being discussed.  In this stage they are reflecting and making comparisons.  Then when listening to the new information they make connections which eventually move them to conclusions and learning happens.  As a way to affirm students’ learning, they are given the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding through foldables, tickets out, messages boards, or graphic organizers.  In this stage, students express their knowledge with their own words, provide their own examples and share their conclusions.  In this process, mental skills like critical thinking, comparing, exemplifying and analyzing are being developed.    

BDP indicator: Instructional Conversation

Known to unknown: teacher responds in ways that consistently promote higher order thinking, elaboration of connections from the known to the unknown, and application beyond the classroom.

I plan to use graphic organizers in my EFL lessons particularly, the Venn diagram which is an excellent tool for students to analyze two items or phenomena.  The completion of this diagram requires students demonstrate fully understanding of both items. Students have to become responsible for their own learning in order to be able to successfully complete the diagram with accurate ideas.  If students follow the process being aware of how learning is happening they are owners of the new knowledge and more likely to be able to apply it in future situations which is the ultimate goal of education.

Artifact three: Story Bag

TESOL Domain and Standard: Domain 3Planning and managing instruction

Candidates know, understand, and use standards-based practices and strategies related to planning, implementing, and managing ESL and content instruction, including classroom organization, teaching strategies for developing and integrating language skills, and choosing and adapting classroom resources.

Standard 3.b.: managing and implementing standards-based ESL and content instruction.  Candidates know, manage, and implement a variety of standards-based teaching strategies and techniques, for developing and integrating English listening, speaking, reading and writing, and for accessing the core curriculum.  Candidates support ESOL students in accessing the core curriculum as they learn language and academic content together

One of the most suitable BDI strategies for reading is Story Bag.  Instead of saying read chapter three for next session, which few students will do, I rather plan the reading activities with students.  This way, they do not see reading as a punishment or something extremely difficult to achieve.  I find this strategy very engaging and useful to smoothly introduce students into reading.

Students are placed in small groups of three.  They examine the cover of the book: The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry and make predictions about the objects they will find in the story verbally.  As a group they divide a piece of paper into two parts and label each section a) in the story b) not in the story.  Students look at the pictures in the screen one by one and predict if the picture will be in the story or not.  Students discuss their predictions in the groups.  I encourage them to provide a rationale for their predictions.  Then I bring the discussion to a class vote.  Everyone writes the object under the category the whole class agrees.  They also have the possibility to add a third column for Maybe if they are not absolutely sure.  As the story is read, students verify the objects as they appear in text and reflect on their predictions.  They understand that good readers make inferences and associations which permit us to reach a better understanding of the reading.  After the story is read students work in pairs.  Each pair is given one object. They have to be ready to tell the class in what part of the story that picture appears or not. I ask the students to explain why they thought certain objects might appear in the story.  After that every group receives a bag with individual pictures inside for students to manipulate.  They place the pictures in the order in which they appeared.  Then students individually write a summary of the story.

This strategy aligns with section III of my platform.  I am constantly emphasizing the three steps of a well-designed lesson plan: activation, connection, affirmation.  The first step is essential for students to get engaged in the learning process and develop self- motivation and independence.  When students are well engaged and motivated, learning occurs in unexpected ways.   Significant activation takes learners to make meaningful connections which allow them  to go deeper into the knowledge and boost their curiosity.  I consider that these steps are crucial specially when delivering a reading lesson.  In order for students develop their like and pleasure for reading, it is necessary to demonstrate them that reading is not the boring and meaningless activity they are used to.  Incorporating graphic illustrations to the activity is an asset.  Drawings have the power to make students focus their attention on the task to be accomplished.  This introduction makes students listen to the story purposefully. They want to verify how certain were their predictions.  This adds an element of interest to the reading.

In the last part of the strategy, students work on a hands-on activity.  They cooperatively reconstruct the story and retell it using the pictures.  At this point, students who might be struggling with the text have the opportunity to learn from their peers.  I offer support while monitoring the class as well. 

BDP indicator: Joint Productive Activity

Activity connections: the teacher constantly uses insights from the strategy/activity to make connections, affirm learning, and modify instruction as needed.

Getting students into reading is a big issue in EFL classrooms in Ecuador.  Along the years, traditional education left reading out of the curriculum. Therefore, I anticipate using this strategy as the starting point to develop a reading lesson.  Besides the lack of motivation for reading, the different levels of language acquisition of students is another barrier which prevents some students from successfully accomplishing a reading task.  This strategy permits me to offer adequate support for students in the early stages of language acquisition.  I feel committed to incorporate visuals, guarded vocabulary, and L1 to assure comprehensible input which contributes to students’ understanding and further production.                     

Section IV. Authentic Assessment of Instruction and Students Progress

       

Artifact one

Artifact one: Extension Wheel

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates understand issues of assessment and use standard-based assessment measures with ESOL students

Standard 4.c.: Classroom-based assessment for ESL.  Candidates know and use a variety of performance-based assessment tools and techniques to inform instruction

For assessment purposes I used the extension wheel.  This BDI strategy promotes students’ ability to demonstrate their understanding in a graphic way.  Teachers can easily observe at what extent the information was correctly acquired or not.  This information permits teachers to plan further accommodations so that students who did not achieve fully understanding have the opportunity to do so before going to the next step.

At the end of the lesson, I handed out a template of the extension wheel. Students individually completed the wheel.  They were prompted to write the topic in the middle of the wheel (metacognitive reading strategies). The three key terms of the lesson planning, monitoring, and evaluating were distributed in the next circle of the wheel.  Students wrote a description for each term in their own words.  In the last circle, students’ task was to descriptively explain two concrete strategies which illustrate each of the three key concepts.

This artifact aligns with section IV of my platform.  In this section I recognized the significance of formative assessment.  It determines what and how students are learning to modify instruction accordingly while it is still in progress (Herrera, 2007).  These graphic organizers allow students to hierarchically organize their thoughts in a way that they are able to easily verbalize their knowledge.  I am able to assess every student progress by evaluating their final products.  If concepts are not clear enough, I might easily make appropriated accommodations to meet the individual needs of my students.  It is important for me to be aware of the on-the-fly moments during the fulfilling of the extension wheel.  Students’ comments, right or wrong, are great opportunities to scaffold learning.  
 

            BDP indicator: Challenging activities

Feedback: teachers use systematic formative assessment to provide consistent feedback on student performance to confirm/disconfirm learning and to advance student learning

            I think that extension wheels are an alternative to traditional quizzes which teachers usually apply at the end of a lesson to assess comprehension.  This type of quizzes increases the level of students’ affective filter.  From my experience, I can affirm that the results of these quizzes are not always accurate since there are outside factors such as anxiety and nervousness that in too many circumstances prevent students from achieving in spite of having acquired fully understanding.  Therefore, I will definitely incorporate extension wheels and other graphic organizers and strategies like tickets outs, foldables, portfolios, or journals to assure a stress free environment and offer opportune feedback.

Artifact two: Projects

TESOL Domain and Standard: Candidates understand issues of assessment and use standard-based assessment measures with ESOL students

Standard 4.c.: Classroom-based assessment for ESL.  Candidates know and use a variety of performance-based assessment tools and techniques to inform instruction.

            Projects where students have the possibility to choose the topic they want to explore and present serves as authentic assessment.  It involves the actual doing of a task. When developing a project, students have the genuine need to use the target language. Teachers’ job is to clearly explain what it is expected from them well in advance through rubrics and class discussions.

            In this artifact, students demonstrate their skills through the presentation of round tables.  Students work individually or in pairs.  This assessment intended to evaluate students’ understanding of the unit concerning geography vocabulary and places.  Thus, each team chooses a country or city the team agrees.  They are responsible for finding all the information regarding that place, creating illustrations and other supporting materials.  On the presentation day, students talk about their countries with visitors.  Some time for questions and discussion is allowed as well.  Presentations run for one hour.  Thus, each team presents four or five times. 

            This project allows me to measure the level of my students’ progress regarding the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing in an authentic and stress-free way. Their reading and writing skills are exhibited during the production of the presentation.  They are allowed plenty of time to have everything done.  During this time, I provide them with permanent feedback.   Their listening and speaking skills are assessed during the presentation itself. Moreover, students learn to work cooperatively and understand the importance of team work at the moment of achieving a goal. This way students are not only being assessed for summative purposes ( a number or letter grade) but also they are gaining long life learning which is the goal of instruction.

This type of assessment aligns with section IV of my platform.  Traditional pen and pencil test do not always provide accurate information.  Other conditions such as the place, the time of the test and students’ affective filter might influence the results.  Furthermore, students do not have the possibility to demonstrate their understanding through alternative ways.  Their individual skills and learning styles are not considered by traditional assessment.  On the other hand, authentic assessment offers a variety of opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities, students have the authentic need to use the language in a real context, and they find them engaging and challenging.  

            BDP indicator Challenging Activities

Standard Expectations: includes challenging strategies/activities that reflect skillful integration of multiple standards, clear expectations, and higher order thinking skills. 

            Regretfully in Ecuador, assessment for the most part is limited to pen and paper, teacher-made tests and standardized tests which measure students’ performance at the end of instruction with very few opportunities for feedback and accommodations.  In the future, I plan to propose an alternative assessment plan for my school.  This plan includes performance based assessment, portfolios, cooperative group, interviews, play-based assessment, self and peer assessment, and dialogue journals.  The primary goal is to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through activities they are better at.  In order to do so, it is essential that teachers come to the understanding of the real purpose of assessment. So far, teachers assess students to complete paper work demanded by the authorities.  This misunderstanding keeps students from gaining authentic and practical learning.  Instead, only memorized facts with no cognitive development at all are measured. Therefore, incorporating authentic assessment to my daily teaching practices is a must.        

	Section V. Reflective Monitoring and Evaluation

 

REFLECTION WHEEL JOURNAL

NAME:                Soledad Parra                                            Date:  July 7th, 2012

Course name:    Culture and Language                                 Reflection Wheel Journal #: 2

Event

The article explains that the policy schools have regarding cultural diversity can either support the traditional relationship of oppression between dominants groups and subordinated communities or contribute to the acceptance of subordinated groups and empowerment of both.  The relationships that educators establish with their students according to the position they take about this issue exert great influence in the future students’ academic failure or success.  

Feelings

• Regretful
• Critical
• Certain

Thoughts

I have not considered teachers-students relationships as a fundamental part of their success.  When I thought of academic failure or success I always had in my mind the idea that a student success depends exclusively on how much they strain themselves.  I saw the hard realities they face as the perfect excuse for their poor academic performance.  Even we do not have such a great students diversity back Ecuador, I think I will pay more attention to areas like social economic status, personal backgrounds, or individual interests that may influence in their learning positively or negatively.

Learnings:

Step one:

I assumed that I built effective, equal and fair students relationships since I have always tried not to make differences among them.  I also assumed that no matter how well or bad I teach a class, at the end my students’ success or failure depended on them exclusively.

Step two:

My first assumption is partially valid.  I always try not to show privilege or compassion for the ones who seem to be weak or different especially when their differences are too obvious like the color of the skin, particular clothes of any indigenous community or an evident disability.  However, there are differences that are not so visible such as conflictive backgrounds, broken families, health, mental or learning disorders.  Students with these differences undoubtedly are also in the subordinated group since they are not able to catch up with the ones who are considered normal.  As a consequence their academic performance is affected. Then my second assumption is not valid at all.  As the article portrays subordinated group students disempowerment makes them vulnerable. Sometimes they are even excluded from education.  Being successful students entails not only their effort but also the human relationships they are able to build at school. 

Step three:

The school where I work in Ecuador mostly receives mestizo students.  There are very few indigenous or blacks and even fewer disables so being aware of their differences for not to show either preference or compassion is quite easy.  That is why I assumed that I did not make differences among my students at all.  However, while I read the article I thought of my starters eighth graders. I am going to call them the subordinated group since they had to catch up with the other two groups.  During the whole school year I could not find the door to success.  I used to tell myself that if they do not have the desire to learn and walk that extra mile then there was nothing else I can do.  Now I understand that not only race, language or especial capacities make students different   but also issues like broken families or health and learning disorders which unfortunately most of the times take them to failure. If I had been aware of this before, I could have been able to meet their needs better and probably they would have had a better performance.

Application

Step one:

Personally and professionally I have reached a better understanding on how every human being is a different world full of talents, capacities, opinions, fears and that these differences play a very important role in every aspect of life: social, education, family, and work. 

Step two:

In the future, my students’ success is going to depend on their personal effort and devotion to learning and also on my ability to make them overcome their weaknesses and family or health difficulties.  I am going to build collaborative relations of power which promote self-expression where the voice of the less fortunate is heard. This way I intend to work on students’ self-esteem and prepare them to actively participate in the classroom, school, and society.  I think these are the tools to find the way to success.

  TESOL Domain and Standard:

Candidates demonstrate knowledge of the history of ESL teaching.  Candidates keep current with new instructional techniques, research results, advances in the ESL field, and public policy issues.  Candidates use such issues to reflect upon and improve their instructional practices.  Candidates provide support and advocate for ESOL students and their families and work collaboratively to improve the learning environment.

Standard 5.a.: ESL Research and history.  Candidates demonstrate knowledge of history, research, and current practice in the field of ESL teaching and apply knowledge to improve teaching and learning.

Reflective teaching is a process of self-evaluation.  It means to look at what I am doing in the classroom and think about if the strategies, goals, and content are working or not.  This process of reflection has to be deeply and seriously done.  Without appropriate reflection, it is very easy to draw wrong conclusions.  Therefore, the information gathered from class observations, colleagues’ discussions, tests results, and so forth should be kept in records in order to move on to making changes.

The journaling process which reflection wheels follow helped me to check assumptions I used to have and that I was not necessarily aware of.  The first section regarding the event provides the food for thought. It is here where the situation, theory, or conversation is analyzed.  Listing the feelings that the issue provoked me helped me to develop empathy.  In the journal above, I   reflected about the teachers-students relationships as a critical element for academic success. Never before had I thought that the relation with my students might impact their school performance.  This made me feel certain but regretful. The thoughts section invited me to make connections between the article I read and my teaching reality for identifying assumptions I had.  The next step is critical.  Checking assumptions is the stage that permits the identification of potential bias which might be influencing the teaching practices. In this particular reflection, I had to admit that I had not been building trustful relationships which allow students to better achieve academically. Once that I recognized that my beliefs were preventing me from addressing my students’ needs in a more tailored way, I thought of possible strategies which help me to build closer relationships with my students. I think that thoughtful reflections like these are a means for professional growth.  Thoughtful reflections should be part of our daily teaching practices.

 This artifact aligns with section V of my platform.  In this section I reflected upon some issues regarding the way teachers in Ecuador deal with pre assessment tests results, the use of the mandatory textbook, and the predominance of summative assessment over formative assessment and the impact on students’ academic achievement.  My reflections allowed me to think beyond the current curriculum regulations.  For example I think that pre assessment should not be limited to language exclusively.  Gathering information regarding students’ biographies is much more helpful than a number grade.  Similarly, I consider that the text book we have to use is preventing teachers from planning lessons based on students’ interests and needs.  This makes me think of the possibility of developing a curriculum which does not base its content on the textbook only. Moreover, my experience in my internship at Bergman Elementary school has permitted me to compare the educational practices in USA with the system in Ecuador and reflect on the differences and the way certain practices affect the overall performance of students.  From my own experience as a student, teacher and from my observations at Bergman school, I can affirm that what teachers in Ecuador need is training on how to develop students’ high order thinking skills. Now the challenge is to propose alternatives for a solution.  I am addressing this problem in my research for my final project.  I would not have been able to reach to this point without constant and thoughtful reflection.

Artifact two: Discussions

 

TESOL Domain and Standard:

Standard 3.a.:

Along this year, I have had the opportunity to discuss with some of my colleagues about different issues.  One discussion I particularly remember is about teachers’ experiences after we completed the Go Teachers Program in 2012.  I shared out with my friend and colleague Susana Cortez the frustration I experienced during my time in one of the biggest public high schools in Quito.  There was very little I could do since I would meet my students once a week for an hour.  I had thirteen classes of fifty and sixty students (six hundred fifty in total) with serious behavioral problems (aggressiveness, dishonesty, discrimination, thefts).Their knowledge of the language was very basic despite the fact they were seniors.  The new curriculum, which was just being implemented in that year, demanded teachers to spend more time on paper work rather than addressing students’ needs besides the negative attitude of some traditional teachers.  Even though my friend also had a hard time in her school, she said that she could successfully apply many of the strategies we learned and her job impacted on students, colleagues and authorities positively.  What made her experience different was certain circumstances like the class size, students’ discipline, class hours and above all her attitude. 

After our discussion I thought back of my classes and the problems I had to face and tried to find theories, practices and strategies which might help me address those problems better in the near future. I consider the first thing to do is to show students that I genuinely care for them.  How do I do this?  By getting to know who they are, what they like, what problems they face at home, what fears they have, what they are good at, how they learn.  BDI strategies serve this purpose well. This knowledge will help me to build rapport with my students and their families.  I am sure that if I am able to make my students feel confident in my classes, they will behave, show interest and cooperate with one another in spite of the class size. My challenge is to be empathetic and develop a bond. 

Once I have established a respectful and trustful relationship, I will choose strategies that help me reach all students.  It is a fact that classrooms in Ecuador are very large.  However, I think that my knowledge about differentiated instruction, biography driven, and scaffolding strategies together with the theory of group configuration gives me the tools to plan a student-centered class where learners have the opportunity to make choices, show off their abilities, and walk to success step by step.  One thing I have to consider is how cognitively challenging the class tasks are.  From my experience, I can say that in our schools we are just climbing the first steps of the cognitive development ladder. Students learn to recall and repeat information well but they struggle when trying to understand, analyze, summarize, compare, contrast, evaluate, apply, or create.  This is one of the reasons of students’ failure at the moment of taking the university admission exam.  Students who really want to start a university career have to take training courses to learn to think.  This would not be the case if teachers in schools planned activities which demand higher order thinking skills from students since they start their academic instruction in kindergarten.   To summarize, I am saying that for teachers to be successful in Ecuadorian classrooms, there are three conditions: a) know who students are; b) apply strategies which address large classrooms needs; c) plan cognitively demanding tasks. When I compare this to my teaching philosophy I see a clear connection. 

My teaching philosophy says that before starting instruction, I have to know my students, to assess where they are at, and have high expectations.  Honestly, I have to say that these three elements have not been working harmoniously.  However, I am glad to say that now I feel I have the potential, knowledge and desire to make a difference in my students’ lives.