Kylie Hubbard
EDLI 635
Fall 2016
Dr. Hsu
ELL Case Study
My student, who I will refer to as
J, is in the 6th grade, with a K-12 population of roughly 11,000
students and attends one of two middle schools of roughly 760 students. This
particular middle school is grades 6th – 8th; the 6th
graders have ELA, Science, Social Studies, Math, and what is referred to as
ENCORE classes such as Technology, Art, Music, and Dance. The students move
from room to room for each subject to prepare them for a high school schedule.
I was able to observe J in his ELA class. The school currently does have an ELL
program, which J is no longer enrolled in; rather he is in a room with two ELA
teachers; who co-teach and one special education teacher. This classroom is
also an Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Academic
Intervention Services (AIS) room. These services help students like J, who are
no long ELL students but are still struggling to be on level or maintain their
level of proficiency.
J
is a bilingual student, with his native language being Spanish, and primary
language at home. His teachers mentioned that his parents do speak some English,
but often J is a translator between teacher and parent. Since J’s parents do
not have a strong English literacy background, I was informed that he does not
receive a lot of assistance on his homework or projects at home. I was told
however, that his parents do make a great effort in following up with his
teachers regarding J’s academics. Showing a concern for his education and
future educational career.
Overall,
J is preforming at a 2nd grade level, while he is proficient in phonological
awareness; he remains levels below in vocabulary, literacy, and comprehension. The
data is collected from the digital i-Ready ELA testing program, which measures
the growth of individual students not just in ELA, but also in Math and
Reading. The teacher then uses the assessments to aid in the development of
their curriculum.
According
to J’s SOLOM ratings, J is in Phase 2 with a score of 14. From the rating I can
conclude that his strengths are in pronunciation, scoring a 4 and his weakness
is in grammar, scoring a 1. When a student, at this age, is preforming at this
level, it is clear they are relying on vocabulary, phrases, and concepts that
are familiar to them. In addition, students are using the following cues to aid
in their comprehension, visual and contextual. His writing demonstrates short
and basic use of vocabulary with common language structure; with recurrent errors.
J’s
comprehension, which is demonstrated through instruction, is that if the
teacher slows down her instruction he will have a better understanding of the
assigned task. Repetition is also another strategy, which was often used while
providing instruction. After speaking with the special education teacher about
various strategies to use to help aid in J’s comprehension; I suggested
highlighting key words and phrases that he might not be familiar with. I was
informed that this is something that he should be doing already, however he
often forgets to use these strategies without being reminded to do so. While we
were working together, this is something that I tried to work on become routine
for J.
He
often has more success speaking with students or teachers who have knowledge of
the Spanish language verses students or teachers who do not have an
understanding of the Spanish language. Leaving more explanation needed to fully
understand what J is trying to communicate; which also is part of his vocabulary
usage. J has a weak understanding of the English vocabulary and how to express
himself, often falling back on Spanish words to help convey his point. Often
becoming frustrated with the task at hand. Whether he is speaking in Spanish or
English his pronunciation is always intelligible, even if clarification on
meaning is needed. Grammar is where J struggles the most, affecting his ability
to properly improve his ELA skills.
The
class period starts with a Do Now,
which is projected onto the back wall; usually the Do Now involves a form of technology; such as iPads. J comes in,
settles down around the same pace as his group mates. However, his attention
can easily be drawn to another student or students. Once the class gets started
on their Do Now, he will stay engaged
for short periods of time, with one of the teachers periodically redirecting
him. If J is playing an educational game on the iPad he remains on task,
however when there was a spelling lesson he lost interest several times. I concluded this was due to not having full
understanding of how the words should be used in a sentence and how to spell
them properly.
One
of the lessons that I observed was a spelling and vocabulary assignment that
incorporated the iPads, but did not rely on them. Students were assigned words
from the weeks reading of Eleven,
they were to use the iPads to look up the terms at Dictionary.com, then record
the definition in their notebooks. Some students did not want to use the iPads,
but preferred to use an actually dictionary. J wanted to use the iPad, he looked
up the words and recorded them roughly at the same pace as his classmates. One
of the beneficial features of using the iPad is that Dictionary.com will speak
the word to you so you can hear it being pronounced. Many of the students,
including J used this feature to help them recognize the word. However, once he
was finished he needed a lot of redirect on the next activity, which was
practicing spelling them. I sat with him and would say the words, chucking them
and sounding them out. He would start to write the word, however he would loose
interest once he became frustrated with not being able to identify the phonic
sounds.
When
a vocabulary test was given students had to match words with the definition, both
of which were provided. There were 10 questions in all, J only matched four of
the ten correctly: Elaborate, Rigorous, Metaphor, and Meager. Together we
looked at the other six words: Simile, Jovial, Diligent, Abundant, Beneficial,
and Leisure and devised a plan for how he could remember the definitions. Since
he enjoyed using the iPad we created flashcards in a Quizlet account, allowing
him to quiz himself when he had “down time” in class. This account also allows
him to add more words that he was or will struggle with. Quizlet also has a
feature that will speak the words and the definitions to you, aiding any
student that might be a visual and audio learner.
Observing
a student who was struggling with reading comprehension and fluency really
helped me to understand their point of view and how we, as teachers can better
assist these students. I was able to see where J struggled and offer assistance
to make improvements. My suggestion for further instruction would be to use more
interactive activities; I feel this will capture his attention for longer
periods of time. Check frequently to see if he adding words to his Quizlet, if
he vocabulary is improving by using this strategy.
Reflection
After
observing J’s comprehension and fluency level, I learned that J falls under the
lower level for a 6th grader. Even though there are three teachers
in the classroom, which is designed to aid ELL students, I believe J can
benefit from more one-on-one time with one of the classroom teachers, or even
begin to receive ELL services again.
J’s
SOLOM and LEP/ELL evaluation were very similar. He scored moderately on
comprehension, fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary according to the SOLOM
rubric with all three scoring a 3; corresponding with him scoring along with
the intermediate levels of medium for listening and reading in the LEP/ELL
rubric. With regards to J’s vocabulary
he scored a 4 according to the SOLOM demonstrating he has an understanding of
the vocabulary he is familiar with, but still struggles to retain any new
vocabulary. This corresponds with the LEP/ELL rubric where he is considered to
be in the intermediate – high level. I observed a difference in his writing
skills and ability; according to the SOLOM rubric his writing/grammar scores at
a 1, after reviewing a sample of his writing I concluded his score on an
LEP/ELL to at the beginning – high level.
I
observed that J’s phonic awareness correlated with his SOLOM and LEP/ELL rubric
scorings. J struggles with his final-e, soft c, and soft g sounds. This was demonstrated
in his short story assignment “My Hero’s Journey.” The assignment was to answer
a series of questions/prompts to write a two-page story about how they view
heroes. According to the narrative rubric assigned to the “My Hero’s Journey,”
I gave him a score of 55 out of 100.
The
rubric was broken down into Content and Information, Organization, and Grammar
and Fluency. The scoring was as follows:
Content and Information: Fair, which provided 30 points and read: “Includes
limited narrative techniques and few details. There may be some irrelevant
points that distract from the purpose.” While he provided details, his
narrative was lacking, a way to improve this skill is to continue writing as a
storyteller. He also received a Fair, which provided 15 points for his
Organization, “Sequence of ideas needs more organization. Paragraphs may be
missing.” J demonstrated that he could organize his thoughts in a sequence of
events, but lacked the understanding of breaking it into actual paragraphs. His
story does not have a clear beginning, middle, and end; a way to help J to
break his story into parts is to practice identifying the beginning, middle,
and end in other groups stories. If he can succeed in identifying them in
others he will be able to succeed in breaking his own stories apart. Lastly, is
the Grammar and Fluency portion, this is where J struggles the most and was
evident in his SOLOM and LEP/ELL rubrics as well. J received a score of Needs
Work, which provided 10 points and read: “Command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage needs work.” He struggled with spelling,
punctuation, and capitalization, not meeting the conventions of the standard
English language.
When first looking at J’s story, his writing
resembles a student in 1st -3rd grade, not 6th
grade. As mentioned in his Organization section, J’s story runs together,
creating a lack of fluency. The reader cannot identify where it begins or ends,
much less where the “meat” of the story is. After reading the story and
deciphering words, J demonstrated understanding of the assignment but is
struggling to use standard English grammar. It is clear that J has an
interesting story to tell, however his inability to communicate his thought and
words to an English reader holds him back from sharing his ideas.
My
approach to helping J with this would be to advise a stronger use of
vocabulary, spelling, and grammar games or activities; which he demonstrated
understanding with in earlier lessons. While working on these skills, J can
also be working to improve his penmanship, writing structure, and organization
skills. Strategies that can be implemented into J’s every day routine is to
have him practice penmanship sheets, when he finished his Do Now activities he
can transition into one of the sheets. Simply practicing this a 2-4 times a
week will help him to improve his penmanship.
An additional strategy that would prove to be beneficial is to have J
study, define, and spell five-ten extra vocabulary words a week. At the end of
the week J could be assessed on them by using them in a short story to combine
his writing and vocabulary skills. With these improvements, J will be able to
communicate his ideas and thoughts, allowing an English reader proper
fluency.
From
my observations of bilingual students who are no longer considered to be ELL students,
but matriculated in an AIS and ICT classroom, continue to struggle with their
standard English reading, writing, comprehension, grammar, and fluency. I observed
students who struggled to understand the assignments and instruction from the
teacher, causing them to become frustrated and/or lost. If I were to have
students who struggled to this capacity I would implement the following
strategies: print the Do Now for the students, have them underline the words
they do not recognize, and circle the words they recognize but do not recall
the meaning. Going forward I would develop a word chart to include those words,
which they can reference, in order to help them quickly recall what the term
means. Students will improve their vocabulary, understanding, and grammar by
being able to complete their Do Now’s more efficiently by properly
understanding and using the words they struggled with in its appropriate
context.
Most
importantly, bilingual students need to see that you, the teacher, are working
to help them succeed in their educational career as well as their future. We
need to encourage bilingual students to continue to use their native language,
while working to improve their English language skills and understanding. That
being a student and adult that is bilingual is nothing but beneficial to them
and who they surround themselves with. As a bilingual student or teacher, you
can bring an abundance of knowledge to someone who only speaks one language. Perhaps
the student can even educate their teacher with new vocabulary, leaving that
classroom feeling as though they have learned something but have also education
someone else.
