Observation Update

I had two good days of observation this week, both in the classroom and in pull-out sessions with the ESL teacher. I had been informed that Jane, my case study student is extremely shy and does not engage in much social activity with her peers. As was the case with my ESL student last semester, Jane is quiet and reserved, but taking everything in. even when called on to provide an answer and give it "nice and loud", she is so soft-spoken that it is at times hard to hear her.

As I had not met Jane up until this point, I made it a point to do these observation hours in a more general way rather than to engage her directly. As she is so shy and withdrawn, I feel the need to draw her out a little so she can feel a sense of trust with me. I know she plays the violin, as I once did in elementary school. I am hoping to use this mutual ground to develop a rapport with her. As I mentioned in another post, I shared my digital book with the ESL teacher. My book is about a singer and a bully and has a bunch of scaffolded multi-media supports that I thought would be useful for any student. But, I am not sure if Jane is up to the reading level of my book. Since she is a fellow musician, I thought it might help with motivation.

In small reading groups, Jane was focused on the book and the group discussion. Jane was not tempted to let her eyes wander around the room and get distracted like some others in the group. the teacher leading the reading group led by example, using think alouds to recall what they have read previously. The instructor explained the concept of the look back and the reasons why we would use a look-back (to help with comprehension and discover details we may have missed the first time around). Lots of leading questions here..."What do you think?", and "Why do you think the character was upset?" The teacher often directed her comprehension questions at the student who had just finished reading. Then, after that student had a chance to answer, she would call on another student for an answer. Jane read 1-2 paragraphs and the teacher praised her with "excellent reading". Then the teacher took a turn reading, demonstrating appropriate pacing, volume and pronunciation.


In the ESL room, there were two other students in the class besides Jane. The ESL lesson was given on the SMART Board and was about the main idea. The students were asked to read a short paragraph and then choose the correct answer about the main idea in a multiple choice format. Students were prompted to read and answer "nice and loud", and given an opportunity to come up to the board and use the touch screen and interactive features of the SMART Board. This seemed to help with engagement and motivation. The ESL teacher mentioned that Jane hardly opens her mouth to answer. This affects Jane's pronunciation and volume. Jane's demeanor could also be a cultural factor as Jane's mother is also somewhat shy and reserved.

Also, when reading aloud, Jane did not add the "s" onto certain words like "slice", and "piece". However, in another paragraph, Jane did pronounce the "s" in "guinea pigs". The ESL teacher wondered if Jane was having an issue with the letter s on a word that ends in a vowel (piece, slice) versus a consonant (pigs). Omitting the letter "s" on a word, in my mind counts as an error on a miscue analysis. However, I want to double check that.

The ESL teacher gave students some strategies about writing complete sentences and writing topic sentences. She offered numerous examples of topic sentences to the students. One of the strategies offered was for students to use key words they find in the question to help create their answer in a complete sentence.

Some examples from this activity helped the students relate to their own lives, and also helped students with present and past tenses. Some example include:

• What would your topic sentence be if you were writing a paragraph on the perfect birthday gift?
• What would your topic sentence be if you were writing a paragraph on your first day of school in the United States of America? - one student said he was sad because he didn't know how to speak English and that his "heart was crying". - What a metaphor!!

As the lesson ended early, the ESL group was then able to play a game about the 5W and H questions (Who, What, Where, When, Why, How). Students were given cards and they had to use the word on a card and direct a question to someone in the room. The students also played a game of "W&H Bingo" which the kids really enjoyed. (example: "When do you call 9-1-1").

The ESL students were prompted to choose a book and Jane chose a book called "The Hundred Dresses". I thought this might point towards one of Jane's interests. It was a long book, so the teacher told her to stop reading at page 10, one chapter. The next day, Jane told her teacher she read 2 chapters instead of just the one suggested by the teacher. Jane was obviously motivated to read this book.

Jane has journal topics that she is required to write about. I discussed the writing journal with the ESL teacher and how it can relate to the writing sample I need to complete the assignment for this class. The ESL teacher will also get me copies of Jane's work so I can identify specific lessons and strategies to work on those areas where she needs some scaffolded instruction.