Fernandez Final Essay 1

Week 6: Final Essay

R. Soledad Fernandez

University of California Los Angles: Assessment of English Language Learners

March 11, 2018

Question Response #1
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If I moved to another country and only had basic interpersonal communication skills, I

would need support from my teachers and peers to help develop my cognitive academic language

proficiency. I would hope that my teachers would create daily lesson plans that included the thirty

features of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model.

Since I would understand that it may not be possible to include all thirty features every

single day, I would hope that my teachers would make sure to include the following features every

single day. In addition to content objectives, I would want my teachers to create language

objectives that were clearly defined, displayed and reviewed with me. These language objectives

would focus on how I would develop my speaking, reading, writing and listening skills in my

content classes. My teachers would need to get to know me personally to build upon my prior

knowledge and create links between my past learning and the concepts they were trying to teach

me in this new country. I would expect my teachers to explicitly teach academic vocabulary and

have a word wall and a word bank on each worksheet that I could reference throughout my

lessons. I would also hope that my teacher created a learning environment that required students

to work collaboratively. By sitting me next to a peer who spoke my native language, I could

engage in the cooperative learning activities while also being able to ask clarifying questions about

key concepts in my primary language. I would also need for my teacher to assess my mastery of

the language and content objectives with various types of formative assessments and provide me

with feedback on my output.

In some ways, I think what I would need most would be for my teacher to create a

classroom environment where making mistakes and helping each other was the norm so that my

affective filter would not interfere with my learning. I would want my native language to be

valued by my peers and for them to relate to me despite my different background. I would rely on

my teacher engaging us in regular community building activities to make me and my peers feel
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comfortable with each other. Ideally, my peers would become my friends so that I could continue

to develop my language skills outside of the classroom.

Question Response #2

Throughout my teaching experience, I have always had English Language Learners in my

classroom. My secondary school students’ language proficiency skills have varied from recently

immigrating to the United States and being classified as beginning ELLs to students who had

recently reclassified and were no longer labeled as English Language Learners. Their ability to

comprehend and learn content was heavily impacted by their oral and written skills. I always

include language and content objectives in my lesson plans use exit slips to measure student

understanding. I also teach math vocabulary explicitly every day. In addition, my lessons are

heavily dependent on cooperative learning which give students ample opportunities to speak,

read, listen and write with the support of their peers. Fortunately, I have always had bilingual

students who provided academic support to students in their primary language. Students at my

current school attended bilingual classes while in elementary school and hence are extremely

supportive of English Language Learners. I believe even my native English speakers show support

to my ELL students because they use sentence starters and academic vocabulary to justify their

reasoning and serve as great role models for my ELL students.

Question Response #3

As a student I have been exposed to various forms of assessments. As a math major, my

grades were usually dependent on a mid-term and final test. Though most of my peers wanted

class participation and homework to count towards their grades, I was relieved to be graded

solely on my understanding of content since I rarely attended class due to having to work full-time

while I attended college. I struggled the most in classes that required essays since I needed to

complete research to support my arguments. I always despised writing since I felt that grading
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was subjective since I was never provided with a rubric or any information besides a prompt to

address. I always found multiple choice exams and math exams to be fair because I felt the

grading was objective. My most worthwhile assessments were portfolios since the reflections and

process of selecting assignments that demonstrated my learning deepened my understanding of

content.

References

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D.J. (2018). Making content comprehensible for English

learners: the SIOP model. Boston: Pearson

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ELPAC General Performance Level Descriptors. (n.d). Retrieved March 11, 2018 from

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ep/elpacgpld.asp

Peregoy, S.F., & Boyle, O. (2017). Reading, writing and learning in ESL: a resource book for

teaching K-12 English Learners. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.