ELL Identity Comparison

Being able to understand a student's background and identity is imperative to being able to reach them as educators. I have written down in the document attached below similarities and differences between my ELL student, T, and myself, and have found multiple differences in our backgrounds that could affect the way we act in our everyday life. These differences need to be carefully observed to maintain progress and continue to build upon ever growing relationships between teachers and students.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wv5OMETeTg2DP0fE_Wcu-TqDVyiIdWdJ42WsaE7_hWw/edit?usp=sharing

ELL Student Speaking WIDA Level

Following the first few weeks of working with T, I've determined what I believe is her WIDA level in speaking. Out of the 5 possible levels, I have found she is a 4. I've determined this by using can-do descriptors and comparing them to our interactions and conversations that we have had. The level 4 speaking tier states that students should be able to take a stance and defend it, compare and contrast points of view, explain content related issues, and respond to slang. Level 5, however, states students should be able to engage in debates using technical language, give multimedia oral presentations, and explain metacognitive strategies for solving problems. During our meetings, T has created a pros and cons list between our two presidential candidates, and also discussed her reasoning for supporting one of the two for her own reasons. We have also held causal conversations on what we did over the past week, containing occasional slang or casual terms that was easy for T to discuss with. However, she is approaching level 5, as she has told me she presented multiple PowerPoint presentations for classes, but her ability to fully debate over a topic using high level vocabulary is not so direct. She engages in reading highly advanced books for an early high school student, specifically a Dan Brown novel, and in it keeps tabs on words she doesn't know so she can research what they mean and know exactly what the author is describing. This can in turn effect her ability to speak professionally in public and in debating topics and very high levels. By reviewing this, I can determine as an educator to focus on her development of vocabulary and academic language to assist in her oral and presentation skills.

Future Aspirations of Culturally Diverse Students

During my last meeting with T, I noticed she had the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown with her, which she told me she was reading for fun. This surprised me, as not only is the book advanced, but she was reading it as a hobby, which many students don't do as often as they used to. This lead to a conversation about her collection of books still back in her old country, which her family goes back to every so often and allows her to bring more of the collection back, a little at a time. She also told me about a special country-wide book fair that draws hundreds and thousands to buy books from vendors every year. Hearing about this interest in books completely changed my view on other countries. As a world power, we are told most countries have little educational opportunities, which may hold true in some places, but they have plenty of passion to learn and succeed. This eliminates the preconceived notion that students from other cultures have less interest to learn in schools, and that they have the same drive other students have as well. To drive this point home, T also discussed her intensions of becoming a surgeon, and to try and attend the best school she could possibly get into, and during the time of the meeting, that was MIT. These high goals set up this student for great success, and I feel that she has the potential to get where she wants to be simply because she is sincerely working hard to be the best she can.