Reflection on Teaching

The focus of my research project was around English Language Learners and how

research-based strategies can develop their academic language. Throughout my research I

learned that not only does this benefit English Language Learners, but it benefits all students

such as those who only speak English. Based on a student survey, I also found that students were

engaged in these strategies. Students were able to communicate vocabulary and sequence the

story by being able to reference their notes on Pictionary tasks, vocabulary games, sentence

writing, and much related tasks as well. This was reflected in their turn and talks and in

classroom discourse, as well as their independent writing as well. My research highlighted the

significance of implementing research-based strategies to lessons and curriculum. I was very

surprised on the amount of research that there has been on this topic and the amount of

techniques, methods, and strategies that have been useful to help English Language Learners.

Working with English Language Learners, I have learned that they need many opportunities for

classroom discourse and this interaction has to be well-designed to enable them to develop

communicative strengths in language arts. As I provide feedback to guide learning, I need my

students to first feel comfortable about sharing their stories. My priority is to engage them in

meaningful experiences. I believe I can achieve this by making one of the broad learning

objectives for students the awareness of the various opportunities that exist and to let them

explore its constructions with purpose. This understanding will help them see the powerful

potential of schooling on their lives. Most importantly, to help English Language Learners meet

high academic standards in language arts, it is essential that they have access to rich oral and

written language, meaning they need to read a lot and be involved in literate conversations in

literacy-rich classrooms.