JenniferLirianoQuiros

ReflectionTESOL3aPlanningforInstruction

DuringthecourseESC766,wehadtoplananentirecurriculumunitmodeledaftermy

fifthgradebilingualstudents.Wesettledonmakingaunitonfractionsbecausethathasalways

beenaunitthatourstudentsstrugglein.Forthisassignment,wehadtothinkaboutthesequence

ofmylessons,andtheorderthatwouldhelpmystudentslearnbest.Furthermore,thiscurriculum

unitclarifiedthedifferencebetweenlanguageobjectivesandlanguagestructures.Withlanguage

structures,wehadtothinkaboutthelanguagethatstudentscouldlearninthatlesson,and

connectittosomethingtheyneededtolearnaswell,suchassequencewords,prefixes,and

sentencestarters.Intermsofresourcesandmaterials,wehadtotailorittothestudentpopulation

inmyclassroom.Mostimportantly,wehadtocomeupwithatrulyauthenticassessment.Unlike

mostassessmentswherestudentsarejusttakingatesttoproveiftheylearnedthematerial.We

decidedonusingKahootforourauthenticassessment.Thatway,studentshadfunwithsome

friendlycompetition,butwealsowereawareoftheirindividualperformancesontheassessment.

Kahootprovideduswithaspreadsheetthatoutlinedtheresponsesofeachstudentforeach

answer,andwecouldusethatinformationtoformsmallgroupsforfurtherinstruction.

Thisyear,insteadoffollowingthesequenceprovidedbyGoMath,Iusedthesequence

fromourcurriculumunitonfractionswithmystudents.Becauseofthischange,theyhave

understoodfractionsmoreeasily.Therefore,mystudentshaveperformedmuchbetteronschool

assessmentscomparedtolastyearsstudents.Theyhavebeenabletohaveabetterunderstanding

offractionsingeneralbecauseofthecurriculumunitsfocusonhandsoninteractionwith

manipulativesandgamesandonorallanguagewithlotsoftimefordiscussion.Inaddition,they

havebeenabletoseparatetherulesforaddingandsubtractionfractions,andmultiplyingand
dividingfractions.Inyearspast,theywouldmixupalltherulesbecauseoftheiroverall

confusion.Sinceourcurriculumunitplannedmorelessonsforeachoperation,studentswere

abletointernalizethatknowledgeforlongtermunit.Also,thecurriculumunitstartedwith

lessonsonfractionsingeneralthatincorporatedstandardsthatshouldhavebeencoveredand

masteredinpreviousyears.Bystartingoffinthismanner,weleveledtheplayingfieldforall

students.Mosttimes,teachersofELLsdonotrealizethatstudentsmaynothavemastered

knowledgeonfractionsingeneralbecausetheyhadtroublewithnotonlytheconcept,butthe

newlanguage.Additionally,teachersmayhavenewcomerELLsintheirclassroom,andthese

studentsmayhavenoknowledgeoffractionsfromtheirhomecountry.

Furthermore,thisyear,Iaddedusinghandmovementstohelpthemmemorizetherules

foreachoperationwithfractions.Oneoftheirfavoritesiskeep,change,flipfordividing

fractions.Forthisrule,weputourthumbsupforkeep,makeanXwithourarmstosignify

changingdivisiontomultiplicationforchange,androllingourarmsaboveoneanotherto

signifytheflipbetweenthenumeratorandthedenominator.Thesehandmovementsallowfor

allofmyELLstomemorizetherulesfordividingfractionswithoutworryingaboutthe

language.Itisveryinterestingtoseestudentsdoingthehandmovementswhentheyaresolving

fractionswithdivision.

Moreover,Isharedthiscurriculumunitwithmyteam.Now,eventhoughsomeofthem

arenotfollowingthecurriculumunittofidelity,theyhavestoppedfollowingthesequencefrom

GoMath,whichissomeprogress.TheGoMathsequencewasveryflawedinthatlessonsdid

notfollowthescaffoldedorderinwhichstudentslearnfractions.GoMathjustrandomlygives

lessonsaccordingtotheCommonCoreLearningStandards,insteadofwhatthestudentsneed.
Furthermore,GoMathdidnotaddresstheneedsofourstudentsiftheydidnotmasterfractions

inyearsprior,whichissomethingthatpreventedmanyofourfifthgradestudentsfromusing

operationswithfractions.