Teaching Philosophy

When approaching the English language, we should present "proper" grammar and speaking skills as tools and resources for increasing opportunities. Students with geographical dialects, bilingual students, and English language learners should not have to replace their ways of speaking, but rather build upon them.

A writer's voice is what makes them unique and gives us insight into their culture. It's important to hold onto that voice. This is the voice they use when the school day ends - when they breathe love and laughter to friends and family.

English language and literature should strive to challenge and expand the views of all students. They should be amazed, uncomfortable, inspired, and confused by the perspectives and stories of diverse writers. Brilliant writers stem from avid readers. While there is a wonderful place for the classics (the top shelf, slightly out of reach), students are experiencing life through an ever-changing lens. The writings they read should be reflective of the present world they live in, the world they fear, and the world they will be tasked with creating.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

When I was in elementary school, I was automatically placed into an ESL program as a result of my ethnicity. Despite my proficiency in English, and how that was the only language I was speaking at home, I was pulled out from the rest of the students my age and had to attend additional studies in English. While some people in my class needed that extra help, I did not. The assumption that my English was lacking was a mistake made by both the school and the instructors. When looking at my students, I know that some of them are actually bilingual and have benefited from being placed in ESL programs at a young age. However, some of them are like me and have mastery in English because their home cultures have been pushed aside. As a teacher, my main goal is for students to look at English as a tool or a resource for communication and creativity. I don't teach English as though it is the holy grail of language, but I do make sure my students understand that this is what American society considers to be successful. I try to make them all comfortable by letting them know that it is okay to write like how they speak. They also understand that their cultural dialects, phrases, and grammar are not wrong but rather simply a different way of speaking. Allowing students to freely accept and express their unique cultural linguistic differences enables them to develop and embrace all aspects of themselves.

Thoughts on English Mastery

Achieving perfection in a language is impossible and no student is incapable of developing language. It takes roughly 5 to 7 years for students to develop academic proficiency of a language (Cummins, 1981), but that leaves the assessment of "academic proficiency" up for interpretation. Students born in an English-speaking country and raised by native speakers may go their entire lives without mastering the language, as expected. This is good to note because language is so vast and ever changing, that no student should ever feel as though they are behind or lacking. When a student is learning a language, they are learning to rewire the way they think, communicate, express, and believe. Language is tied to culture and region; there are too many dialects and colloquialisms to establish mastery. It's important for students to feel as though each day they utter a word, they are making progress. Languages, especially English, should be seen as a beneficial tool rather than the ultimatum for success. A student can still be intelligent and lead a fulfilling life without developing fluency in English. Their intelligence is just expressed in a language they are more familiar with and they must be reminded of that during their English-learning journey.

Leveled Texts & Achievement Gaps

Some of the most important aspects of getting our students "on the same page" are establishing a foundation, understanding and evaluating prior knowledge, and collaboratively creating goals and plans for literacy development. An 8th grade teacher may be given 22 students in a class, but only 10 of them may actually read at the "8th grade level" with the rest being either above or below the expected average. Some ways of adapting the content without highlighting differences may be to supply students with the same text, but composed at different levels. Establishing the foundation of important writing techniques, language processes, and even rules for discussions allows all students to develop familiarity and help them understand what to expect. If a struggling student knows that they will be learning phonetics or that they will be doing some reading aloud, they will be able to expect and prepare for it unlike the higher-level students who may be able to think critically and accomplish these tasks on a whim. Lastly, establishing these action plans and understanding how to best educate the students is something that should be collaborative. By giving students a say in their education, they are learning self awareness, responsibility, and metacognition by understanding what they do and do not know. Many students who have "fallen through the cracks" have not had many opportunities to climb back out. They may either be exposed to tier one instruction and not pick up on it or perhaps they have not received tasks that effectively challenge them and promote growth. It is incredibly hard to bring a student up when they've fallen behind, but by exposure to higher language and extra support to reinforce instruction those students can have more growth in their learning and pick up the pace to which they establish literacy.

Note-Taking

Note-taking can be an incredibly effective skill for school and life once students know how to do it correctly. Whether it be doodling, summarizing, or writing all of the material over and over again, students must find a way to take notes that works for them. Something that I have done a lot in my experience is simply write everything down, because a teacher gives ONLY verbal instruction; no handouts, no presentations. This causes the same result that Schwartz found when looking at note-taking: "while students take copious notes, they may not be retaining much of what they write down" (Schwartz, 2015). Having students take a lot of notes doesn't always mean that they are working hard. It simply turns them into a middle man for getting words on a page; they are trying too hard to keep up and write everything down that they are not actually spending time reading and understanding what they are writing. Something that I believe would work well for taking notes would be to do an activity or strategy that makes people think about the new material. Doodling notes or writing a summary in your own words forces students to listen to the material, interpret it, and document it in a way that they can remember and refer to later on.

Motivating Students to Read

Motivating a student to read is one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. Many students enjoy reading in some form or another on their own, but many do not. Those students who do not enjoy reading are often the ones that need the most help. Good readers make good writers. If a student does not enjoy reading, it is because they are reading from the wrong source. Sometimes books are too overwhelming for students; the words start to blend together, the page total is too high, and they feel as though they'll never finish it. It's important to promote growth and to value progress. There is no shame is reading a comic book or graphic novel, because it establishes that comfort with picking up a text and reading it. Later, a student may move to an article, then a short chapter book, then a full length novel. In order for this transition to even begin, students must be able to read about things that interest them, in a format that they understand. If a student is not interested in the content, they have no reason to want to read it.

Homework

Students do not often receive homework in my class. The only homework is to always finish what they have not completed in class. There have been a few problems that I have encountered when attempting to assign homework to students, and they are: only half of the students will turn in the assignment, many students will either cheat or look up answers online, students will continuously ask to turn in the assignment late because they've forgotten to bring it on the due date. I would much rather use class time meaningfully and to its highest capacity than assign homework. Students receive enough from other classes, I don't personally feel compelled to add-on to their to do list if they are performing well in my class. However, students who choose not to participate in class will be expected to complete through assignments on their own time.

Philosophy of Language

While language learning for the purpose of academic success should always be a goal for educators, my personal philosophy of language education is socially rooted. Students must be able to communicate and express themselves both creatively and effectively in everyday society. To put it bluntly, not every ELL will have the opportunity or funds to attend university or higher education of any kind. Whether they immediately enter the workforce or go to college, all students must be able to communicate their needs, wants, and ideas with others. Students must develop knowledge in English not to replace their home language, but to use as an additional tool for success in North American society. The expression and development of the English language as a medium for creativity and collaboration will be placed at a higher priority than exact grammar and pronunciation. As long as communication is delivered effectively and the message is understood, students are prepared for real-life scenarios and everyday success.

Writing

Students will be writing every day in my class. Whether it is a short journal entry, taking notes during a presentation, or working on an essay - students will be writing every day. Writing is a skill that is going further and further into extinction with each new year. Students have gotten used to texting, typing, or having things written for them. Just the thought of writing is a daunting task for some students. By having students write and get comfortable with the idea of putting pencil to paper, that anxiety should go away. Students are required, per writer's workshop, to compose a new essay every seven days. They will compose a rough draft by hand, receive feedback, then type their final. The final draft will focus on formatting skills, revisions for clarity, and overall presentation and expression of their own ideas.

My Language Learning Experience

Despite having two parents who are ELLs from different countries, I grew up speaking and learning English as a first language. I am not trilingual or bilingual, but I do have a basic understanding of both languages. Learning how to understand these languages has been a positive experience for me because I can pick up the pieces of culture that I missed out on. However, it is also a negative reminder of how much I have left to learn and my inability to speak either language. One of the major factors that has contributed to my development of these additional languages has been differentiation and exposure to the language. A quote that effectively addresses English language learning is: "bilingualism is the goal, of course, not replacement" (Kaplan, 2019). I think that a lot of ESL programs and English courses seem to forget this. We aren't trying to erase culture, we're trying to contribute to the skills that these students have and help them adapt to the society they currently exist in.