Kristen Pryor ESOL Case Study on ELL Student

Student Background
My student is a seventh grade girl whose primary language is Spanish. She is in fourth level of English Language Development classes at Leslie Middle School. At the beginning of the semester she tended to direct her gaze toward the floor or her notebook and almost never makes eye contact with other students or myself. She does not seem to have any friends in the class I teach or in her ELD (English Language Development) course. I went in multiple times to observe her and she sat in the back corner of the room and did not interact with any of the other students. Before I started targeting her specific speaking needs, I observed that she never volunteered information during class either class, never ask a question, and only responded to direct questions with head nods or shakes. Academically she receives slightly average grades (Bs and Cs) in the majority of her classes. Records of grades were only available for last year and this year. GPA Summary
Year 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010 20102011 20112012 20122013 GPA 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.80 2.81

Based on the students body language and facial expressions I concluded that not only does she have low self-esteem as a learner but based on her inability to interact with the teacher I concluded that her self-efficacy is low as well. I wanted to focus on her not only because of her status of an ESOL student but also to try to get her to even talk to me. She was going to be absent for over a week and when she gave me the note she could not look up at me, instead just gestured to the letter explaining that she would need her homework for the next two weeks. The contrast between the beginning of the semester and the end of the semester is fantastic. She came up to me on field day to ask me to sign her yearbook, she looked me straight in the eyes and said thank you Miss Pryor. She was unable to tell me what she was thankful for, but I knew it was for pushing her.

Assessment
Formative Assessments
Attendance In my work sample I focused on how important it is for students to be in class in order to learn. I found a direct correlation between days of school missed and lower grades. Students just had trouble keeping up and retaining information when they have to learn it on their own. Lucky this years attendance has been high and so this has not been an issue for us. Before starting teaching this group of students I reviewed all of their information and looked at their attendance records. I knew that for some of them this would be a challenge to the course work but for this particular student lucky attendance was never a huge issue.
Year 20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010 20102011 20112012 20122013 Attendance % 95.15 92.41 94.05 88.99 96.47 93.11 96.39 95.09

The only time that attendance was an issue was when she had to miss over a week because she was going to Mexico with her mother. I gave her a packet of information so she would be able to do the work and not get behind. She waited until she got back to do the work and when she turned it I thought she didnt do it. However on closer inspection I noticed that she did fill in bubble, but she didnt actually complete the written directions. She just chose the answer that she thought was right, which looking at the assignment makes sense because it does sort of look like a multiple choice test. It was after this assignment that I really began to focus in on her and how I could structure the class so better suit her needs.

History Reflection Journal I regularly look at students history journals to check if they are taking notes and keeping up with assignments. I noticed that while she is fully capable of keeping up and taking notes from either the textbook or power points she has difficulty writing on her own. The photograph below is an example of early in the semester, taking notes from a power point. She was able to get down everything from the slides, yet there is no elaboration, nothing from what I said orally and from the pictures that were included with the slides.

To the left is an example of notes that were taken much later. The notes were on types of government, she added information that was not covered in the slides and added draws as references to the types of people who are in power. She was able to make connections that were not in the power point and added the drawings. I recommended that the students add drawings to their notes so that they would remember which type of government went with what type of ruler. The very top section of her notes is all from my lecture, but the bullet points are from slides. Her notes are always organized and theses notes have lines dividing the different sections and they are sort of set up in Cornell Notes style.

Participation Notecards I have been using the notecards to track who volunteers in class and how I have to call on. After two weeks of using them just for students who volunteered I noticed that she had not volunteered anything in class. There were two other students who had not contributed to class discussions. After those first few weeks I started to use the notecards as targets of who to call on. I would put the students I wanted to make sure to call on directly on the top of the stack of notecards. When I called on my focus student she was unable to give an answer. I used the Teaching Like a Champion strategy and told her that she needed to listen to others respond and that I would be coming back to her to get her answer. After calling on two other students I went back to her and she was still unable to answer the question. I have continued to use this teaching strategy and it has increased voluntary classroom participation because students know they will be held accountable for the answer even if they do not volunteer. However my focus student has never volunteered an answer or question, but has been able to answer a question posed on the first attempt.

Summative Assessments

Thinking Like a Scientist Notebook The assignment was to think like a scientist and record all of your thoughts and questions in a mini-notebook. We spent three days going over the Scientific Method, discoveries made throughout the Scientific Revolution and famous scientists. Then the students were to write down questions and illustrations to go along with the questions. The Aztecs Guided Reading I created this worksheet for students to use as they read through the History Alive chapters 23 and 24 about Aztecs. The worksheet targeted specifics that I wanted the students to focus in on, such as family life, religious practices, and recreation. How-to Book Presentation The How-to Book was the first large summative assessment that the students completed. They created a three page how-to book about a subject related to the Mayas, Aztecs, or Incas. This student choose to do how to build a floating garden and had typed information that she found online instead of authentic writing. She cited what website she got all of the information from so she wasnt plagiarizing and never tried to pass it off as her own work. However, the final part was a presentation of the how-to books underneath the document camera. I told the students they would only get one minute to explain their entire book and show it off under the camera. I used this rubric to grade a more recent speaking activity that we did so I went back and scored this speech using Name: Eye Contract and Smile Loud Voice Clear, Correct Pronunciation Good Posture Outstanding Satisfactory Must Improve X X X X

the conventions of this rubric. When in front of the class she was extremely quiet. The rest of the students were extremely respectful and got very quiet so they could hear her, but sitting in the back of

the classroom I was unable to hear her. She never looked up throughout the entire speech. Honestly I couldnt tell if she used clear or correct punctuation because I could not hear anything she was saying. In the last two weeks of the semester we went back over explorers and the students had to teach the class about an explorer they were assigned. She was able to choose her own group and choose other girls who she had been in ELD with the last year. They immediately got to work and when she presented her paragraph (see below) she was rated as below on the rubric.

Name: Eye Contract and Smile Loud Voice Clear, Correct Pronunciation Good Posture She stood tall and strong

Outstanding

Satisfactory X X X

Must Improve

Strengths
Group Work She works every efficiently with peers of her choice when doing group work, while her primary language at home is Spanish in class she speaks English with her peers. We have done many group work projects and these seem to be her favorite. She also diligently works independently but I think she gets more information and a more rounded view (just as any student would) when working with her peers. Written work When taking notes from either a power point presentation or prewritten notes the student is extremely successful. She can write quickly, neatly, and gets all of the information. In summaries and short responses she does well in relation to content material but her sentence structure and grammar need work. Below is an example of a summary paragraph written in the first few weeks of class. There are errors in tenses and sentence fluidity. She writes short choppy sentences and makes no effort to connect them together.

Motivation The student seems very motivated related to course work, and her overall work ethic is commendable. She is always on time, prepared and gets right to work when instructed to do so. I have never witnessed any objection to the assignment or the material we are studying.

Areas Identified for Growth

ELPA Results

2006-2007 Composite

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010 515 Early Advanced

2010-2011 515 Intermediate 518 Early Advanced 506 Early Intermediate 515 Intermediate

2011-2012 521 Early Advanced

20122013 528 Advanced

504 501 508 Early Early Early Intermediate Intermediate Intermediate

Comprehension

502 499 506 511 Early Early Early Intermediate Intermediate Intermediate Intermediate

514 527 Intermediate Advanced 535 Advanced 544 Advanced 527 Advanced 529 Advanced

Grammatical

Illocutionary

Listening

490 Beginning 515 Intermediate 497 Beginning

496 506 Early Early Intermediate Intermediate

514 Early Advanced

517 Early Advanced 519 Early Advanced 514 Intermediate 510 Intermediate

513 526 Intermediate Advanced 516 Early Advanced 529 Advanced 537 Advanced 528 Advanced 529 Advanced 531 Advanced

Reading & Literature Speaking

502 507 509 Early Early Intermediate Intermediate Intermediate 492 Beginning 499 Beginning 522 Early Advanced 519 Early Advanced 519 Early Advanced

Writing

512 510 Intermediate Intermediate

Based on all of my observations, ELPA scores, and classwork the student has created I believe that while her written language skills are proficient, orally she struggles with academic language and fluidity in her speaking. She also lacks the ability to take notes from an oral lecture, but she can take notes from a power point. I have chosen to focus on a speaking goal for her. I wanted to make sure that she could gain the self-confidence to stand in front of her peers and look up. I wanted her to be able to speak loudly and clearly. I based these goals and my professional goal of creating more student centered lesson plans, I started having the students work more in small groups and in pairs. The ELPA scores were very helpful for my instruction. I went through and looked at all of the test data for the class and I was able to pin point spots for improvement. I learned that they need support in looking at primary sources and evaluating information to use as support in arguments or essays. As a class we have focused on analysis.

Instructional Plan
Speaking
Goal: I can volunteer to speak in class by asking questions or reading aloud from various sources. In order to support the student I have chosen to focus on my plan includes scaffolding speaking in class by practicing speaking for a variety or audiences (independent, pairs, small groups, and whole class). Each day I will try to create an opportunity for students to read, write, listen and speak. This has been one of the easiest goals I have set for myself. After all the class is social studies and the students need to practice being social and interacting with their peers. The students have all come out of their shells and can be partnered with any student in the class and work together to accomplish the assignment. This has been extremely beneficial for the ELL students because the confidence that they gain by being able to work with peers outside of their comfort zone will benefit them in life as well as in other classes. Ive been working on gradually shifting the responsibility from the teacher to the students. I wanted to gradually switch to the students working more and more independently and in small groups. In order to accomplish the goal of student independence I had to start the semester very structured and scaffold in independence. I also had to be specific with my objectives and expectations especially when we switched to sitting in table groups later in the semester.

Listening for Instructions

Goal: I can understand the expectations for the day based on oral and written instructions. I will change my instruction method so that all necessary steps are written clearly as well as delivered orally. Either on the whiteboard or on the document camera as I go through the expectations of students for the day I will write/reveal the steps. I will also make sure I read the objective and clarify any new vocabulary at the beginning of each period. Ive also started to both write and say the instructions which allows me to refer the students back to the instructions that are written on the board when they are off task. This is a benefit for the student I focused on because she tends to take a few minutes to process what the assignment is and needs the time to think about each instruction.

Differentiation and Support

Scaffolding speaking in a variety of situations
Independent Students will be encouraged to read aloud to themselves if asked to read independently. I will model this skill the first few times we try it in order to ensure students know why they are using this particular technique. I liked having the students do this because it forced them to slow down when they are reading and think about each word, opposed to scanning the text. Pairs Alternating reading paragraphs out loud for Indian Removal Act went well. The first article we read aloud as a class but time was getting short so had the students work with their elbow partner and read together every other paragraph. I have always placed her next to another Transitional student so they could work together. Small groups Reading out loud articles paragraph by paragraph when we looked at Native American mascots articles was extremely helpful. By this point in the year I had placed all of the ELL students at one table for this specific assignment because I knew that they would have more questions and need more support. When this lesson was taking place I pulled up my chair to this table and listened in. I had chosen articles that were above the reading level of the student on purpose but I wanted to challenge them with primary sources. Whole Class I chose to have the students volunteer to read aloud in class. This student has never volunteered to read in class and I never pressured her to do so because I knew that she was capable of reading in small groups.

Outcomes
Post-assessment
Student Progress
As a result of the practice, encouragement, and support I gave to her, the student was able to volunteer to read in class without being prompted. While she has not asked any questions during class, she has come afterschool one day to ask a question about an assignment.

Student Self-Efficacy
While I never asked her about she felt about volunteering in class (I completed this assignment without the students knowledge, as I did not want her to feel pressured or that I was watching her specifically) I did observe a general improvement in her body language and facial expressions. At the beginning of the semester she was jerky, tense and robotic in her movements. She almost never smiled and tended to keep her face pointed at her desk during class and at the floor when I would talk with her. However, within the last few weeks she has a more fluid movement, she smiles and does not look at the floor, she also talks to her peers. Ive had to ask her to be quiet during instructions, for any other student this behavior would be an indication of misbehavior but for this student it was important for her to be actively engaged with her peers.

Next Steps

While the student was able to pass her ELPA exam this year and graduate out of ELD classes she still has not been able to achieve beyond Does Not Meet on the OAKS tests for Reading and Math. (see scores above) She had demonstrated improvement in both areas but not at a significant enough level to catch up to a Meet score. For this student I would recommend a Math intensive course to support the regular math course work in order to improve overall grades and scores. Her next year Language Arts teacher should be aware of her levels and give extra support in order to bring up her scores. Ive noticed that a majority of the teachers just give students readings that are at or below their reading level so they can understand the content. However if we are not challenging them how are they going to improve. I think there should be an understanding in the school community that the goal with Transitional ELD students is to provide continued scaffolding and support for them, but to also challenge them so they can improve their standardize test scores. I really hate to push for using standardized testing scores but they are a measurable and the students can visualize their improvement from year to year.

2008-2009 Mathematics Reading & Literature Science Writing 207 Meets 209 Meets

2009-2010 213 Meets 212 Meets

2010-2011 223 Does Not Meet 220 Meets 221 Does Not Meet

2011-2012 224 Does Not Meet 215 Does Not Meet

2012-2013 231 Does Not Meet 223 Does Not Meet

26 Does Not Meet

Process of Embedding Differentiation into Daily Instruction

I was surprised how easy it was to embed the goal of public speaking confidence into my daily instruction. The scaffolding I planned was to practice reading and speaking in a variety of methods to build confidence and fluidity. I believe all of the students benefited from the availability to practice speaking in front of others; whether in pairs, small groups, or whole class. Imbedding my lesson plans with spots for two standards (a content standard and a language standard) was the first step. This made me thoughtful and daily mindful of how I can put language into my daily lesson plans. The modifications section has also been helpful, Ive had to put thought into how to make each lesson modified for specific students. Days Standards Activities/Objectives In-class Assignments Work 6.2 Identify examples I can create a mini-biography note card Biography of social, political, summarizing the achievements over a figure cards due cultural, and in the Renaissance. when economic walking out Randomly read through names to have development in key of class students choose between 10 figures of the areas. Renaissance (chapter 32) No more than 3 1 6-8.WH.10 Write per person routinely over Biography short writes extended time Name, sketch, training, and achievements on frames notecard Modifications: Teacher will walk around and check in with students consistently, students got to choose their own person so they should be interested in the subject matter, allowed to work with the people around them.