Running Head: WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT

Week 6 Assignment: Final Essay

Sara Gretina
UCLA Extension
August 9, 2015

WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT: FINAL ESSAY

v Do you currently have ELLs in the classes you teach? If so, what problems do they appear to
have comprehending and learning the content? What strategies do you use to make both
language and content more accessible to them? How do you encourage other students in your
classes who are more proficient in English to play a role?
My classes have approximately 10% Initially- or Reclassified-Fluent English Proficient
students. I work in Southern California at GATE/High Ability Magnet. Considering the location,
it seems the percentage of my EL students would be greater, however, it is clear that GATE/High
Ability criteria escapes many ELLs. Much criteria for these privileged labels lie within the scope
of standardized test scores. These summative assessments focus on reading, writing, and
listening. Consequently, I consider the ELLs in my classes incredibly gifted and capable. They
not only scored Advanced on the CST a few years ago; they did it in their second language.
That being said, my EL students struggle in two specific ways. Understanding idioms is
the biggest obstacle. In order to scaffold, I simultaneously act an idioms meaning or
immediately explain its explicit meaning. For instance, if I said Thats a bitter pill to swallow,
I would cock my eyebrow with a disdainful look and reiterate, I really hope that doesnt happen.
It would be hard to live with that. Because safe cooperative learning is integral to my classroom
structure, my students are accustom to asking each other for clarification. I know my students
use their table mates as support systems. They ask each other, What does Ms. Gretina mean? I
encourage this every time it happens. I hope all my students, especially my ELLs, take this
excellent inter-dependent habit with them beyond the doors of my classroom.
Simultaneously, correct syntax poses a different issue for my ELLs. When it comes to
syntax, I have found that Small Group Work or One-on-One conferences work best. These two
structures give me the opportunity to formatively assess each students individual needs and
address them accordingly. They all exhibit this obstacle differently in their writing because their

WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT: FINAL ESSAY

first languages are different. From Mexican to Tagalog, my ELLs have heritages and syntax from
all over the globe.
v In your experiences with assessment as a student yourself, reflect upon the extent to which
you felt the assessment was worthwhile and fair. Be as specific as you can about the type of
evaluation, its intended purposes, and the strategies that were used to implement it.
As a young student, I only remember summative assessments, whose purpose or meaning
was compared to the almighty 100%. I was only as good as the number was high. I remember the
phrasemostly on stickers: Good job! There were not formative assessments. I do not recall
conversations or conferences with my teachers regarding the quality of my work. These tests and
quizzes were a part of an era of testing that used evaluation to determine the value of a students
ability to absorb rote information. The intended purpose was to tell my parents how well I had
done meeting the related standard. The strategies my teachers used were study guides and
memorization, front-loading and lecture. Ultimately, these strategies did not teach me to value
education. They taught me competition and self-doubt.
As a young adult, however, my experience with assessment has vastly changed.
Instructors now teach with the intention to grow the student, to unlock the students potentiala
potential that the student does not recognize. As a young adult, my instructors have valued
formative assessment much more prominently than summative. They ask questions and provide
feedback. They follow up on lessons to ensure comprehension. They encourage conversation
among peers, guiding our discourse and language. By engaging their students in collaborative
academic discussions, my recent teachers utilize strategies of which my former teachers were
nave.

WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT: FINAL ESSAY

v Analyze your school and or districts assessment program in reading and language arts. Are
reading specialists available to help with the assessment and instruction of students with
reading problems? What happens to teachers district-required literacy assessment results?
Are professional development programs in place to assist teachers and administrators in
analyzing results? Are new teachers mentored by older teachers? Do grade levels work
together to create rubrics and assessments?
Ideally, reading specialists assist with assessment and instruction of students with reading
problems. As a GATE/High Ability teacher, however, I often run into the prejudice claiming that
these students do not need services as much as main school students. I have fought this tooth and
nail. The issue is resolved when students with IEPs have parents who get involved. Litigation
speaks.
Ideally again, the district-required literacy assessment results should be returned to the
school site and teacher. Yet, this is not the case over the past couple of years. Teachers prep,
facilitate, deliver, and score periodic assessments for their sections. Scores are delivered to the
district but not aggregated for overall comparison.
Luckily, my school site does an excellent job encouraging professional development to
facilitate analyzing our individual sections. New teachers are monitored by older teachers in a
cooperative environment where new teachers have an equal and valued say. My disciplinary
team works especially well at cooperative conversation. We all learn from each other.
This cooperative work has inspired our department to vertically articulate our
expectations for our students. This past year we spent time analyzing rubrics from the Writers
Workshop Curriculums Units of Study. By the end of the year we developed Ins-and-Outs
expectations for each grade level of skills a student should come in to the school year with and
what skills a student should go out of a school year with. It was a very fulfilling process.