Jack Lear

Professor Reilly

EDU 359 - 6:30

February 8, 2022

Mini-Lesson Reflection

The biggest challenge while planning the lesson was definitely finding ways to

communicate effectively with the students without using English. I struggled to find ways to

communicate without using English and thought about different ways to gesture what I was

communicating and tried to think of other non-verbal methods of communication to use. In order

to attempt to overcome this challenge, I used twenty seconds of a video of bears hunting

salmon in the beginning of the mini lesson on one slide, and then showed a food chain on the

next slide representing that relationship to convey how food chains work to students regardless

of their primary language. Other challenges I faced during the lesson were being able to ask

simple things like how is everyone doing and what questions the class may have. I also found it

challenging to explain exactly what was going on in the food chain and point out specific details

of the chain such as which way the arrow points when showing the relationship between two

organisms.

As a teacher, this activity simulated what it would be like to teach ELL students in my

classroom because the vast majority of ELL students would have little to no idea what I am

talking about if I use the English I use in everyday speech. I needed to use other methods of

communication to teach my students the lesson, which was very rigorous. It was also difficult to

assess which students were understanding the lesson well, and which students were struggling

and needed more help. The mini-lesson took place in a college classroom, but when I actually

teach, assessing the progress of ELL students would be much more difficult. As a student, I

relied on things like inflection, supporting visuals, and body language of the teacher to
understand the lesson. I still struggled a lot as a student, and really was unable to follow what

was being taught in Khadiga’s lesson particularly, as it was taught in a language I have never

heard before that did not even use the same letters in the English alphabet.

This activity helped me understand a little bit more about how ELL students feel in

classrooms taught entirely in English. Many ELL students are as familiar with English as I am in

Spanish, and would face very similar issues that I did in learning the lessons. Some students

would know even less English, and really rely on the teacher to speak slowly, clearly, and loudly

to follow the lesson. I would also need to use inflection, visuals, and body language to help

those students and make sure I am doing everything that I can to teach as effectively as

possible. Overall, the activity showed a little bit of what it is like to be an ELL student, and it also

gave me a chance to see for myself what helps ELL students comprehend the lesson better

from the perspective of the student and of the teacher.

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