ELL

Report Template
1. Description
a. The setting of the field experience (e.g., in a classroom, at a community organization location,
etc.).
The setting of this field experience will take place in a 4th grade classroom. I chose this location
because it is conducive and convenient for the activities that I worked on with my ELL student.
Within the classroom, we had resources and the adequate space available to us that was needed
to complete our task.

b. The student(s)use a pseudonym to maintain confidentialitywith whom you are working (e.g.
age, grade level, level of English Proficiency, personal characteristics based on
observations/interactions, other information that may give the reader a more in-depth description
of the student)
For this ELL project, I chose to work with a 4th grade female student named, Lizzie. Lizzie is 9
years old and she is from Mexico. Although her parents have lived in the U.S. for the last few
years, they only speak Spanish in their household. I consider Lizzie to fall somewhere between
speech emergence and intermediate language proficiency. Part of the reason that I chose Lizzie
for this project is so that I can gain a better understanding of exactly where she falls on the ELL
spectrum so that I and other teachers can better serve her. One reason why it is often unclear
where Lizzie falls is because she is incredibly shy. Although shy, she is very bright, persistent,
and puts time and care into her work. Lizzie doesnt have an issue speaking socially with her
friends, however she is very shy in class and would rather not speak up or take the lead in a
group setting. I also noticed that Lizzie doesnt cling to the other Hispanic students in her grade
level as many of our other ELL students have done. The majority of Lizzies friends are actually
not Hispanic or ELL students.

c. The days and times that you met with the student.
I worked with Lizzie on Wednesdays, afterschool from 2:30-3:45. Although I see Lizzie
throughout the school day, working with her one-on-one during afterschool tutorial would
provide me an opportunity to work with her individually. Working with a student individually is
very difficult to do during the school day. Being that Lizzie is incredibly shy in the classroom, I
felt that working with her afterschool would provide for a more comfortable setting. One of the
biggest reasons that I am not 100% sure if Lizzie has truly reached stage 4 of intermediate
language proficiency, is because she doesnt ask questions or request clarification. I wasnt quite
sure if this is due to her not being cognizant of when she doesnt understand something, or if it
was because she is just very shy.

d. Ways in which you interacted/engaged with the student (including pedagogical strategies).
As mentioned above, Lizzie is a very bright student. She currently receives very few
accommodations and modifications for her classwork and test. I have found that anytime Lizzie
reaches a point of confusion, it is usually because she has come across a word that confuses her.
Obviously, she is still working toward growing her word bank. This is the case for all children,
but even more-so for her being that English isnt her first language. I chose to work with Lizzie
on academic and domain specific vocabulary words in math, social studies, and science. For each
content area, I tried to introduce her to a new vocabulary strategy. Many of these strategies
included us first reading non-fiction text which required profound understanding of academic
and domain specific vocabulary words. During our reading time, we employed a few strategies
for fluency. Some of these strategies included, repeated reading, choral reading, and tape-assisted
reading. After we read through the text, we utilized various vocabulary strategies to help increase
her increase of understanding of key vocabulary words in the text. Some of these strategies
included; learning maps, the K.I.M. strategy, word sorting, vocabulary anchor, making meaning
strategies, the frayer model, and graffiti vocabulary strategy.

2. Objectives and Assessments

Write 2-3 learning objectives and state how you will assess each. Provide evidence for meeting the objectives.
Objective
(Content) The student
will investigate the
characteristics of
quadrilaterals.

Assessment

Was the objective met? Evidence

of student learning.

Example
(Formative). I will observe and ask
questions while the student is
working.

Yes. Maria was able to look at the

quadrilateral manipulatives and
identify (show and explain) all the
characteristics of each.

The SWBAT understand

domain specific words
in mathematical text
IOT determine word
meaning in word
problems

The SWBAT determine

meaning of domain
specific social studies
words IOT read and
comprehend social
studies text

The SWBAT determine

meaning of domain
specific science words
IOT read and
comprehend science text

(Formative) In addition to observing

Lizzie and asking questions, she will
also complete a Learning Map. A
learning map is similar to a concept
map. Lizzie will write the key
mathematical term in the middle of
her construction paper. Before
reading the lesson, she will list
everything that she already knows
or think she knows about the
concept. Throughout the lesson, she
is able to add to her learning map.
(Formative) In addition to observing
Lizzie and asking questions, she will
also create possible sentences
using new vocabulary terms and
complete a making meaning graphic
organizer. The making meaning
chart was used throughout the
lesson and allowed her to practice
using context clues to determine
meaning.
(Formative) In addition to observing
Lizzie and asking questions, she will
also create possible sentences
using the new vocabulary words and
complete a K.I.M graphic organizer
throughout the lesson. The K.I.M.
organizer allowed Lizzie to list what
she K-knew about the word. After
reading the lesson, she was then
able to list/explain further Iinformation about the word. Lastly,
she was able to draw a M-memory
cue that she felt helped her to
remember what the word means.

Yes. Lizzie was able to answer

word problems which required her
understanding of key geometry
vocabulary terms. She was also
able to answer questions that used
geometry vocabulary terms as
clues to describe figures and
shapes.

Yes. Lizzie was able to determine

the meaning of domain specific
vocabulary in our lesson about the
U.S. government. She was able to
write a summary paragraph using
all of the terms from the lesson.

Yes. Lizzie was able to determine

the meaning of domain specific
vocabulary in our Solar System
lesson. She was able to answer
constructive response questions
which required her understanding
of the terms.

3. Resources
You are required to use 2-3 ELL-specific resources to help inform your understanding of ELLs and
increase your pedagogical strategies to assist students who are English Language Learners (ELLs). You
may use the resources listed within the module or other resources available to you. Briefly describe how
the resources were used to assist in your experience.
During this process of working with Lizzie on academic and domain specific vocabulary, I also wanted
to gain more information on how to introduce vocabulary terms to students. I used the possible
sentences strategy detailed on the IRIS resources page. The strategy requires the teacher to select
unknown and known related words from the texts and provide a brief description or definition of the
word. Students are then required to create possible/prediction sentences using the words. By the end of
the lesson, students are able to go back and revise the sentences based off of the new information they
have gained about the word upon reading. The use of vocabulary instructional activities, such as
Possible Sentences, prior to reading text is intended to help students activate background knowledge,
think about words as related concepts, and actively process information (Jitendra, Edwards, Sacks, &
Jacobson, 2004.) This type of strategy works best for science and social studies content so I utilized it
for those content areas. I also integrated the possible sentences strategy with other vocabulary strategies.
I think using the strategy did help to activate Lizzies prior knowledge as well as provide me with a
formative assessment before we started reading. I was able to hone in on specific context clues to further
her understanding and clarify any misunderstandings of the words.
Graphic organizers were also used quite frequently in my ELL project. Lizzie is used to using graphic
organizers throughout the school day but I wanted to introduce her to a few organizer she had not used
in the past. It was also important for me to choose the best organizers for what we were learning. I did
not use the same organizer for math, social studies, and science. There are certain graphic organizers that
lend itself better to a certain content area. Although there are many kinds of graphic organizers, often
students with LD and ADHD will use the same type of graphic organizer (e.g., web) for every situation.
It is important for teachers to select those that will best convey the information and relationships they
wish to their students to learn and to explicitly teach students how to use them (The IRIS Center, 2011.)
In the math objective, I used the learning map so that she was able to list everything she knew about
some of the geometry terms. This created a great visual because some of the list contained drawings. For
example, the word line can render so many visuals or descriptions. The learning map was an excellent
way for Lizzie to list or draw everything she thought of when she heard the word line. For the social
studies lesson, I used the making meaning graphic organizer. This organizer was helpful because many
of the social studies words have multiple meanings. It was important for us to use context clues when
determining the correct meaning for the terms used in the lesson. In the science lesson, we used the
K.I.M. graphic organizer because it not only allowed Lizzie to activate her prior knowledge of some of
the solar system terms, but it also allowed her to draw memory cues. This was a good organizer to use
because the lesson provided so many solar systems visuals that she was able to draw in her memory cue
box.
Resource #1- Possible Sentences
Reed, D. K., & Vaughn, S. (2012). Comprehension instruction for students with reading disabilities in
grades 4 through 12. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 10, 17- 33.
Resource #2- Graphic Organizers
The IRIS Center. (2011). Teaching English Language Learners: Effective Instructional
PracticesRetrieved from http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/ell/