Ells Chapter 3 Summary

Summary

Pulling from the experience of successful strategies and accommodations used by educators, chapter 3 outlines how English language learners can be supported in the classroom. Strategies for enhancing instruction through planning, supporting student involvement, building vocabulary and fluency, as well as comprehension are discussed. In regards to planning, it is recommended that educators plan with high expectations in mind and not underestimate the knowledge and abilities of ELLs. Higher order thinking such as creating, synthesizing, evaluating, analysis, and application are encouraged as approaches to instruction that is combined with engagement traits such as personal response, clearly modeled expectations, emotional and intellectual

Therefore, I found it beneficial that this chapter addressed this concept and the importance of reducing a student's anxiety, while also increasing their motivation and self-confidence in order to shift their mindset in regards to language and content learning. To me, this is one area where educators can quickly miss the cues that their students are giving them. For example, a student not actively participating in a class discussion or writing activity because they feel that they do not have the communication skills in order to express their thoughts with their peers or with the teacher. Consequently, the educator must not first label this child incapable or lazy, but rather, address the discomfort and general comfortability of the student. Additionally, I think it is important for teachers to keep their content at an appropriately rigorous level while ensuring that students still acquiring the English language can find symbolic, graphic means, or other means of representing the content and drawing a clear comprehension of what it is that is being taught. Moreover, I think teachers have to do some intense thinking outside the box on how to reduce the level of communication breakdown the student might encounter in directions or presentation of content and work with teacher-tested strategies in mind to reduce these barriers in communication while also challenging these