NYSABE presentation

LESSONS LEARNED: EXPERIENCES OF A 2ND YEAR MIDDLE SCHOOL ESL TEACHER

Claudia LeonBay Shore Middle SchoolBay Shore, New York

OVERVIEW

Who am I?

My experiences with SIFE students (Students with Interrupted Formal Education).

My experiences with an Arts & Literacy program offered through the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.

Closing & Questions.

WHO AM I?

I am 2nd year ESL teacher at Bay Shore Middle School in Bay Shore, New York.

This is a 2nd career for me. Previously, I was

employed at several different non- profit women’s rights organizations, the Ford Foundation and the United Nations.

My education: -M Ed. in TESOL from Queens College.-Masters of International Affairs from

Columbia University.-B.A. in English Literature & Rhetoric, and

French, from SUNY-Binghamton.

MY PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS ABOUT TEACHING: Teacher mistakes are a sign of failure.

If it’s written in my lesson book, then I must stick with it until the end.

Principals and Directors expect that I learned everything I need to know in graduate school.

I was not hired to learn, I was hired to teach.

SIFE students: if they don’t have school experience, then they don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute to my classroom.

SIFE students only require academic help.

MY EXPERIENCES WITH SIFE STUDENTS

BEFORE DURING AFTER•At the beginning of the 2010 school year, 2 SIFE students registered at Bay Shore Middle School.

• One boy was 10 and his brother was 12.

•Both were illiterate in their native language (Spanish) and in English. They had 1st grade Math skills. The 12 year old had been left back in 3rd grade three times.

•They were emotionally and academically unprepared for a full day of school.

BEFORE DURING AFTER•At the beginning of the 2010 school year, 2 SIFE students registered at Bay Shore Middle School.

• One boy was 10 and his brother was 12.

•Both were illiterate in their native language (Spanish) and in English. They had 1st grade Math skills. The 12 year old had been left back in 3rd grade three times.

•They were emotionally and academically unprepared for a full day of school.

•The boys were not placed in content-area classes. They had ESL classes all day.

•I was given 2 days notice to prepare.

•I was in shock—I didn’t know where to start.

•The 12 year old was getting into trouble with classmates.

•My director gave me some great ideas that created many opportunities for the boys to demonstrate their life experience.

SIFE, continued….

ACTIVITIES FOR SIFE STUDENTS Have them be the “calendar” person for the

class. Each morning, their “Do Now” is to fill out the calendar & weather chart.

Provide puzzles and large, colorful picture books. This can activate background knowledge of areas of interest.

Have students draw a picture of their school (or town, or house) and compare it with their new school. Teacher can help them label the pictures.

Have the students create a picture dictionary.

ACTIVITIES FOR SIFE STUDENTS, CONTINUED

Allow the students to build things with Legos or Lincoln Logs, then teacher can help them write about their creation.

Don’t assume they know how to organize a binder.

Promote their literacy through artwork. We’ll get to this in a few minutes!

Allow SIFE students to interact with technology.

BEFORE DURING AFTER•At the beginning of the 2010 school year, 2 SIFE students registered at Bay Shore Middle School.

• One boy was 10 and his brother was 12.

•Both were illiterate in their native language (Spanish) and in English. They had 1st grade Math skills. The 12 year old had been left back in 3rd grade three times.

•They were emotionally and academically unprepared for a full day of school.

•The boys were not placed in content-area classes. They had ESL classes all day.

•I was given 2 days notice to prepare.

•I was in shock—I didn’t know where to start.

•The 12 year old was getting into trouble with classmates.

•My director gave me some great ideas that created many opportunities for the boys to demonstrate their life experience.

We learned that the 12 year old loved to fish & the 10 year old was great with computers and digital cameras!

Since 9/10, boys have learned to properly space their words and use punctuation.

Comprehension skills have improved, although struggling with reading and math.

Placed in content-area classes in February 2011.

Social skills improving.

SIFE, continued….

LESSONS LEARNED…………….

SIFE students might not have bookknowledge, but they are full of life experiences that can be expanded in theclassroom for all of the students to benefit from.

SIFE students need help with their social skills. They’re not used to be around other children of various ages, ethnicities, etc.

Allow students to participate in everything the other students are doing---they will surprise you!

BEFORE DURING AFTER

•I attended an Arts & Literacy program at the MOMA.

•I returned to the Middle School full of ideas and I jumped right into it!

My experience with an Arts & Literacy program offered through the MOMA in NYC.

THE WORKSHEET WE USED TO ANALYZE THE PAINTING:

BEFORE DURING AFTER•I attended an Arts & Literacy program at the MOMA.

•I returned to the Middle School full of ideas and I jumped right into it!

•I intended to spend 3 days analyzing paintings from the American Revolution.

•After the 2nd day, I realized my students were not ready for what I was asking them to do.

•My students did not comprehend my questions and they became frustrated.

•They did not have the critical thinking skills to “read” a painting.

•I had not properly assessed my students. I had assumed they could handle this.

•I began to panic because “I messed up----what kind of teacher am I?

SAMPLE #2 OF STUDENT WORK FROM MY “BEFORE”

BEFORE DURING AFTER•I attended an Arts & Literacy program at the MOMA in November 2010.

•I returned to the Middle School full of ideas and I jumped right into it!

•I intended to spend 3 days analyzing paintings from the American Revolution.

•After the 2nd day, I realized my students were not ready for what I was asking them to do.

•My students did not comprehend my questions and they became frustrated.

•They did not have the critical thinking skills to “read” a painting.

•I had not properly assessed my students. I had assumed they could handle this.

•I began to panic because “I messed up----what kind of teacher am I? No one will understand.”

•I set my lessons aside.

•I spent 6 weeks helping the students build a foundation.

•A few months later, I repeated the lesson for my students. I redesigned the graphic organizer.

•The students got it!!

•My questioning guided the students, but the critical thinking came from them.

The revised graphic organizer that I used to analyze the painting:

Same worksheet, but differentiated for my low-level advanced ESL students:

LESSONS LEARNED…………….

It is valuable to attend PD classesbut know your students and know their skill level before teaching new strategies.

Trust your gut. You know when something is not going right.

It’s ok to tell students “We’re going to put this lesson aside and come back to it at another time.”

Reach out to a colleague who you trust and ask for help. It’s not a sign of failure to say: “I messed up!”

A SUCCESS STORY!

I used the MOMA strategies to promote the listening, speaking and writing skills of my beginning ESL students.

Why did this work? I knew my beginners’ exact skill level and I knew

what they needed!

ANALYZING ARTWORK FOR BEGINNING ESL

Taken from the Smithsonian American Art Museum:

PDF FILE: http://americanart.si.edu/education/pdf/Becoming%20an%20Art%20Critic%20Activity.pdf

We used this graphic organizer to analyze paintings.

We analyzed 5 home-related paintings and then students chose 1 type up.

EXAMPLES OF STUDENTS’ WORK:

MY BEGINNERS WERE WORKING ON NOUNS AND FAMILY MEMBERS. THEY WERE ASKED TO DRAW A PICTURE OF THEIR FAMILY AND LABEL THE NOUNS. RECOGNIZE THE TREE?

ANOTHER EXAMPLE ……..

CLOSING: As you can see, my experiences as a 2nd year

teacher at Bay Shore Middle School completely contradicted my preconceived notions of teaching.

Mistakes aren’t mistakes if you learn from them. A lesson plan is just that….a plan. If it’s not working, do

something about it! Ask for help---if you’re having trouble, find a trustworthy

colleague and figure out your next steps. SIFE students require much more than book knowledge. Be

prepared to teach social skills as well.

If you would like copies of anything in this presentation, please contact me at:

[email protected]