CTEL 7040- Reflection Paper

After about eight weeks of hard work, endless readings, reflections, and

discussion board questions, this course has enlightened me on how to apply cultural

concepts (values, behaviors, and beliefs of cultural groups) towards designing

inclusive learning environments and different approaches to multicultural

curriculum and strategies.

The knowledge gained through my transition of this course has led to two

specific areas that I will continuously implement towards aiding ESL students to

succeed. Firstly, teachers must put effort into learning about a student’s

background (including cultural traits, behaviors, values and attitudes) in order

meet the needs of all ESL students. In addition, teachers must be open-minded and

willing to work with students coming from all unique backgrounds. Secondly,

designing differentiated learning environment must be used in classrooms to

maximize teaching and learning for the diverse needs of each student.

Learning a student’s background, whether they are an ELL student or a non-

ELL student, is the basis for creating a positive educational environment, which

has the potential to allow students to find more academic success. In addition, it

should be emphasized that a teacher’s attitude and expectations towards teaching

ELL students are key factors in whether or not a student achieves success. As

student populations become increasingly composed of ELL students, teachers need

to realize that they have the ability to communicate a ‘belief’ in their students and

build self-confidence through high expectations. For example, at my previous school

there was an ESL student that was transferred from a general education classroom

into my ICT (Integrated Co-Teaching) classroom. The previous classroom

environment was not one that encouraged positivity and acceptance, and the

teacher herself did not portray as having a welcoming classroom. The ESL student

would frequently appear to be struggling, and the teacher would not assist the

student. She would acknowledge to me that the student was “lazy,” but never put

effort toward assisting the student in understanding or correcting what she saw

was being done. This attitude or level of expectation that the teacher had reflected

to the rest of the students that it was not important to assist those who struggled,

and in no way did it encourage classmates to help the ESL student. The teacher’s

attitude regarding the student completely eliminated any chance the ESL student

had at showing his intelligence. After receiving the opportunity to work or learn

more about the ESL student’s background, I was blown away by his intelligence and

the potential I saw in him completely changed from that of what I had perceived

based on the general education teacher’s interactions with him. Reflecting on this

made me frustrated with the teacher and enlightened as to how many teachers had

similar attitudes or expectations towards ESL students. This experience and course

allowed me to realize that a lack of awareness in a student’s background (cultural,

political, social, or economic factors) can lead to a teacher misinterpreting student’s

actions as unusual or troubling and treat them unreasonably or lower expectations

for the student.

 By ignoring the differences that need to be addressed, there is a lack of

individualized instruction to students’ specific needs. One major way to minimize

the “one size fits all” method is by implementing educational strategies that focus

more on is designing a differentiated learning environment that carters to students

with varying learning abilities and styles. For instance, many ESL students

experience difficulty understanding concepts through lecture-style teaching. It often

acquires ESL students a great deal of time to read and listen to the information

given and process what the teacher says. ESL students often have to re-read

information three to four times before understanding it. Therefore, as a teacher it is

essential to recognize that not all students are primarily visual or auditory leaners.

Rather, teachers must incorporate or focus on all different learning styles that will

enable ESL students to understand and build concepts off of rather than basing all

student learning through reading. One helpful tactic to employ differentiated

instruction strategies is called learning stations—a way to supply your class with

multiple ways to learn (visual, audio and tactile) and understand concepts.

Like tiered assignments, flexible grouping, and differentiated instruction as a

whole, learning centers are fluid and can span multiple levels. These stations has

provided insight on my ESL students learning styles and allowed me to meet the

needs of all learners while maintaining high standards within groups or

individually.

Overall, this course has this course has enlightened me on how to apply

cultural concepts (values, behaviors, and beliefs of cultural groups) towards

designing inclusive learning environments and different approaches to

multicultural curriculum and strategies. Not only was I provided with the

instructional tools and teaching resources that I needed in order to be a better

teacher for my ESL students, but also I was generously empowered with discussion

boards and engaging lessons/activities ideas from all my peers within this course.

As I continue to grow professionally as an educator, I will also continue to adapt,

use, and implement many of the beneficial teaching techniques I adopted through

this course in order to enhance student engagement and support overall student

improvements and success in both content and language growth and development.