Name: Brett Johnson

Fall 2015
MSSE 470HPost Citizenship Class Reflection
I attended the following nights (including teaching) : 10/19,
10/28, 11/2, 11/9
Cross-cultural reflections:
1. Teaching this class has changed my view of immigrants:
(circle 1 5)
1
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Not at all -----------------------somewhat -------------------Very
significantly
Please write a full paragraph describing specifically how this
opportunity to teach newcomers/immigrants has changed
you personally (or why it has not).
When reflecting on this experience, I am certain that this
opportunity has changed me in a significant way. Before this
experience, I had never worked with anyone to this extent
where there was such a strong language barrier. I think this
was by far the greatest challenge of the whole experience.
From this challenge though, I have realized just how hard it
can be to communicate if you dont speak fluent English.
This is going to be a huge help to me in the classroom
because I have been able to see first hand this barrier. I
believe through this experience I really understand the
struggle and frustration people feel because they cant
communicate what they are trying to say. I am going to be a
lot more understanding of my students who have this barrier
because I learned that a lot of times in citizenship class, the
students would know the answer they just had a hard time
communicating and explaining. This experience will help all
of us tremendously in the future when we have ELL students
in our classrooms.

2. Describe one moment which underscored the differences

in cultures for you:
One of the days I taught, Kelly and I were teaching about
government and some of the rules and policies we have. We
went around and the students shared how their government
and lives were different in the countries they came from.
Hearing the stories of their lives back home was very eye
opening to me. The oppression and hardships they faced in
their native countries was something that I couldnt imagine
going through. Also hearing about their lives currently in the
United States left an impact on me. Most of the students
worked all day then came to the class in the afternoon. Their
drive to become a citizen and better their lives was
motivating.
3. Describe one moment which underscored the
similarities in cultures for you:
Like I briefly mentioned above, I really connected with the
students motivation to become citizens. The students are
working towards this goal of becoming a citizen, while we
are working towards the goal of becoming a teacher. We
were all benefitting from each other and we were all working
towards some goal. I am very motivated in my studies to
reach my goal, while the students in that class were al
motivated to becoming US citizens.
4. Which learner did you most relate to/with and why?
I really enjoyed working with Maria and I was able to
form a relationship with her. The two tutoring sessions I
went to, I was able to work with her on a one-on-one
basis. Maria is an extremely nice woman who really
wanted to learn and communicate the information.
Unfortunately, Marias English was very bad and she had a
hard time communicating with me. Working with Maria
was definitely a challenge but it made it all worth it seeing

the smile on her face when she understood the material

we were going over that day. I really felt her struggle and
frustration and I really wanted to do everything in my
power to try to help her and relieve some of her stress. I
believe I did the best job I could have done trying to help
her with the material and I really hope that I made an
impact on her learning.
Teaching ESL students:
5. How did this class help or hinder your ability to teach
ELLs in your future classes?
Like I talked about above, this experience is going to be a
huge help in our futures. We have had the opportunity to
experience the struggles that ELL students face and I
know I have become a better teacher because of this
experience. I am going to be way more understanding and
outgoing when it comes to ELL students in my classrooms.
I believe I have a solid skill set now to be able to cater to
these students.
6. Name one strategy and tell how you used it to meet the
unique needs of the ESL learners in the class.
I think one of the most important strategies we used in this
class was repetition and practice. While these are basic
strategies, I think they were the most effective practices we
could have used with the students in the class. When
learning and struggling with a new language, the only way
you are going to get better at it is by practice, just like in so
many other things in life. The constant practice and speaking
out loud forced the students to work on their speaking and
pronunciation, something that is very important when
getting their citizenship.

7. Prior to starting this class, I felt nervous about working

with ELLs. Now that its over, I feel confident about
having them in my future classes.
Using service-learning:
8.
Service learning is an effective tool for use in the social
studies classroom. To what extent do you agree with this
statement?
1
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Not at all -----------------------somewhat -------------------Very
significantly
Explain: Service learning has been the most effective tool
for my learning. With the teaching profession, you arent
going to learn and grow until you actually get out in the field
and experience what it is like. Making mistakes, seeing how
other people do things, and learning new strategies are key
ways you can grow as an educator. The only way you can
experience these things is through service learning.

8. Please write a page or so about how this experience

impacted your development as a teacher: (reflect on things
you learned from TEACHING and from Tutoring)
I am very thankful for this experience and I know that it has
impacted my teaching in many ways. From a teaching
standpoint, I have learned how to cater to the needs of
different types of students in your class. Before this
experience, I had done no prior work with people from
different cultures. Sure, there has been lots of diversity in my
practicum classes, but there has never been a language
barrier. I feel very confident in my abilities to teach ELL

students in the future because of this experience. From this, I

have also learned how to change things on the fly and react
to different situations. Both times I taught we ended up
doing things way differently than what we had planned. I
have learned how to judge the vibe and overall feeling from
the class and learned how to react to that. For example, the
first lesson Kelly and I did we had too long of a time period
where we were speaking. I could tell that we needed to do
something differently to get the students more involved. We
were able to switch up our lesson plan and the order we
were doing things to get more students involved when I felt
like the class was getting bored. This is a very important skill
to have in the classroom and I feel confident in my abilities
to do that because of this class.
From a tutoring standpoint, I have learned the struggles of
communication students have. A lot of the students in the
class struggled with English and a lot of times I felt like they
knew the information I was discussing with them, they just
had a hard time communicating what they were trying to
say. This will help me in my classroom in the future because I
am able to recognize when a student is just struggling with
communication versus struggling with the material. ELL
students can get very frustrated for this very reason because
a lot of teachers arent able to recognize this language
barrier. I know I will be able to tell when a student
understands the material, even if they are having trouble
communicating it. Teachers make mistakes by quickly giving
students bad grades, just because of a simple thing like
communication. I feel very confident now to be able to
recognize these differences, and then have the ability to help
my students.