Janeth Espindola

LBS 400
March 10, 2015
Reflective Statement ELA/ELD
In order to teach ELA/ELD, one must have content knowledge in
Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. Through
instruction, students should be able to attain foundational skills in language
development, meaning making, effective expression, and content
knowledge. As a teacher, I want to provide my students activities to reinforce
and develop these skills through independent reading, reading closely,
vocabulary expansion, and discussion. My goal is for my students to be able
to feel safe and encouraged to communicate in English, knowing that they
will develop their skills as they participate.
The classes that have prepared me with the skills needed were English
487 and LBS 355. In both classes I learned how to analyze student writing
and evaluate the skills and level of comprehension a student has in order to
provide them with the help that they need. I learned how to analyze a text,
provide strategies to help develop foundational skills and different
techniques to engage students into reading and writing. For example, the
incorporation of rhythm and movement activities as a form of
communication and help student gain the confidence needed in order to take
the step and communicate verbally. Through these courses I was able to
realize that I did not have enough knowledge in the fundamental basics of
language such as phonemes, and roots words. However, both classes have

taught me how to make language accessible to English learners and

challenge the fluent speakers as well.
My artifact is a project from my English 487 class where we had to
choose a passage from a text and identify the content, function, compound
and complex words. This project required me to analyze each word and
investigate its origin and root word. With this activity, I was able to see the
relation of words and understand the common mistakes an English learner
can make when the root words changes its form. In this project I was able to
put into practice the skills that I need to teach my students, such as close
reading, use of academic language, and vocabulary resources. In the last
part of the project I listed the root word and its definition which is helpful for
an English learning student because they learn to use the root words of
words they already know to define new vocabulary words. As a future
educator, I hope to be able to provide my students with the tools they need
to develop their language through reading, writing and discussion.