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'/0"#' ' I believe that English language learners have the right to receive the appropriate instruction through which their needs are met. In order to meet their needs I believe that teachers have to be flexible, studious, and employ best practices. Teachers are flexible when they provide accommodations and adjust their pacing. Accommodations can be letting a student complete a worksheet or test orally if they have trouble writing. They can adjust their pacing by teaching a lesson over a couple of days instead of a single class period. They are also flexible when they employ a variety of methods of instruction. These methods can be group work, individual work, teaching to the multiple intelligences of their students, and using a variety of assessments, such as traditional and alternative assessments. Teachers are studious when they research ways to meet the needs of their ELL students, as well as make formative assessments to check for understanding. Teachers employ best practices when they apply what they learn from their research and teach their content in a way that the least proficient student can understand. I believe that English language learners can acquire English! As a person who has learned two languages I believe in such second language acquisition theories as comprehensible input and the affective filter. When ELLs are taught vocabulary and grammar, and then given opportunities to repeat and practice what is taught, they are more likely to retain that knowledge. Likewise, the environment in which they learn plays a vital role. When teachers create an environment where anxiety is low and enjoyment is high, students will be able to obtain and retain the knowledge they are taught because their affective filter is down.

Teaching content and language through comprehensible input and helping students disengage their affective filters comes through various teaching strategies. By accessing student background knowledge, you help them feel that they can master the content. I will do this by asking them to state what they know about something based on their own cultural background. I can also access their background knowledge through self-starters, KWL note sheets, response cards, etc. Often times, they are taught this knowledge in their families. I can use student family assets by asking parents for information on how I can help their child. They know them better than I do. Through emails, home visits, or conferences I can ask them what they know motivates their child or what is expected of them at home. I can also ask the student these same questions. As I do this I will gain ideas of instruction and learning activities I can us in class. Some activities I will use include Happy Hour review activities, response cards, games, and cooperative learning. In these activities students will be able to interact with each other in low anxiety settings and ultimately help each other. My students will also be engaging in the different forms of language, reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as they participate in such activities. My instruction will also have to be culturally relevant. I can do this be asking them to look for similarities and differences between the cultures being taught (namely Latino) and their own. As I do this I will need to be careful not to reinforce cultural stereotypes. I will do this by teaching my students that we all have our own personal cultures and therefore everyone is different. As they discover those similarities and difference, I can have the students express them through projects, assignments, or presentations.

One of the first things I will do to create a safe and productive learning environment is create a seating chart. I have noticed this helps manage student behavior because of who is around them. This can create an environment where students will feel less likely to be interrupted by their peers when they are responding to my questions. Making a seating chart also helps me control the organization of groups for cooperative learning activities. When I use cooperative learning activities students will be able to feel more like a community because they will get to work together. I will also create community by constantly soliciting participation. Participation is more likely to occur in a respectful environment. Throughout the year I will model for my students what is respectful towards their peers, their selves, and me. This should prevent any mocking from happening, but if it does happen, the student will be reprimanded. When discipline becomes a big issue I can solicit parents for help. I will do this through phone calls, emails, home visits, or conferences. From time to time I can also get a hold of parents to tell them the good things their students are doing. Throughout the year I will differentiate my assessments so that my students receive full and productive feedback. This means I will use alternative assessments as well as traditional assessments. These different kinds of assessments will help me measure their learning and performance in my class. I will use pre-assessment mostly when it comes to writing. I will do this by having my students hand in drafts of their writing, giving them points, and then offering verbal and written feedback about their work. As a Spanish teacher I plan on having my students write a short story as a project. This pre-assessment method will come into plan with such a project. I will also use selfassessments. I will use these after projects and tests. Some of the questions I ask in those

assessments will include: How well do you think you did, How prepared do you feel you were, What was your favorite part, What is one thing you learned from this, etc. I feel that this will help me know how to prepare my students for future assignments and tests, as well as help my students reflect and their own efforts. When I give feedback I will be as productive as possible. I show students what they are doing well and what they need to improve on. While I give them feedback I will show them examples of how they can do better next time. I will do this through using different colored pens. This will help me avoid using only red marks when offering feedback. That way my students wont automatically shut down before they see my feedback. When it comes to grading I will accept late work, but for partial credit. Tests and projects will be worth the most points while worksheets and similar assignments will have less weight.