AJ Johnson

EDUC 426: 376463

11/8/2020
Reflection 2

I currently serve eight students who are English Language Learners. Combined, these

students speak five different languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, and Dutch. Though

my students speak several different languages, I have found a few strategies to be helpful for all

of my students, including my ELLs. One way I support my ELLs is by incorporating pictures

into my daily instruction and routines. Pictures are immediately engaging and often less daunting

for students than texts. I often use pictures to help my students get ready for a transition. For

example, I might display the items that students need underneath my document camera, so that

they can match the items to the items in their learning space at home. Another way that I use

pictures is by incorporating familiar icons into all task directions. This allows students to become

familiar with the types of actions that are required of them on various tasks. For example, every

day the students have independent reading time. They are always expected to read and then,

write about their reading. Every day I display a “stick figure with a book” picture when it is time

to read. Then, I display a “pencil with a piece of paper” picture when it is time to write. The

consistent pictures allow students to begin to match the icon with a specific action. This leads to

students feeling more independent and confident with attempting tasks independently and

successfully.

Another way I support my ELLs is by providing sentence frames. ELLs can benefit early

on in their English development from sentence frames to help them understand the type of

content they are being asked to talk or write about. Sentence frames help students who are new to

English by providing vocabulary and structure that they wouldn’t be able to produce on their

own. For example, one way that I use sentence frames is by incorporating them into my

“Morning Greeting.” The greeting could be something simple, such as “Good morning
__________. My favorite food is ___________. Good morning _____________.” The sentence

frame prompts the students to receive a greeting, share about themselves, and pass the greeting

on. The sentence frame helps students stay on track and practice the structure of language in a

clear and coherent manner. Another way I use sentence frames is during content instruction. For

example, last week my students were learning about how to write a brave, bold thesis. After

modeling what a bold thesis might look like and sound like, I invited the students to practice in

their own writing. I displayed three sentence frames under the document camera and told the

students that they may want to use one to help them get started. An example of one of the frames

was, “I know you might be thinking ___________ is a problem.” I think it is important to offer

various supports to students while also giving them the flexibility of trying a task without any

additional support.

An area I would like to get better in is providing more opportunities for my ELLs to

practice using academic vocabulary. Many of my ELL students are fluent in social language.

They know how to interact with peers, ask to go to the bathroom, and communicate when they

are hurt or sad. However, there are not many opportunities for my ELL students to practice using

academic language, such as “I agree” or “I concluded that…” Academic language is language

that seeps into all content areas and it is critical to all students’ success. I want to investigate how

I can use my “partner talk” time to incorporate daily academic language practice. This would not

just be helpful to my ELL students, but all of my students.