I really like how we have incorporated book club into our class this semester. This is a tool that I will use in my classroom and I really like that we are able to do it as a model in the classroom. I have kept up with all of the readings and I feel that Roll of Thunder is a great book to do book club with. There is a lot to talk about, and it can be thought of on many different levels.
One of the flaws that I have seen early on when it comes to doing the book club is that not everybody in the class is reading the actual book. I know that we don't spend that much time on it in class which is probably why this happens, but I know if i was to implement this in my class I would maybe read the material together the first time, and then the next time have the students read the book on their own. We are also at a level in college that we do not need to have tasks explained to us, we can just sit in the book club groups and talk amongst our peers and have a valid conversation. These conversation tools may not be present in younger students so it will be important to go over all of this with them before turning them lose on their own.
I really like the book so far. The book can be looked at from many different angles. There is obviously the race issue, but students can also compare their everyday life, to the life of Cassie and her family, as well as many other topics that can be explored with a book of this magnitude.
I really like the book club idea, and I look forward to using it in my own class!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Adaptations vs Accomodations
Reading this article helped me significantly, especially after reading what Mike and Mike had to say about being special Education majors and having knowledge of these terms. I really didn't know much about it before reading these articles. This is where I feel like the College of Ed may fall behind in things of this nature. I think that it is kind of important for Elementary Education majors to have some form of training on Special Education terms and procedeures. This post may not be fully what it is supposed to be, but I have a passionate argument that I feel needs to be stated.
Going through MSU's College of Education has been quite the experience for me. I feel privileged to be part of such a prestigious program, but I do feel that there are a few flaws--of course this is a personal opinion. One of the most prominent, I feel, is that as Elementary Education majors, we are not exposed enough to Special Ed training. The fact of the matter is that there are many many mainstreamed students who need Special Education in some form or another. There should be at least one required class for El Ed majors regarding all things Special Ed. Why haven't I learned how to accomodate for students with special needs? In the real world, I will have students with special needs in my classroom, and reading one article about it will be helpful to me, but it won't be as helpful as an entire class. Why is it that Secondary Education majors have an entire lab class that focuses specifically on Special Education students in their classrooms, but we don't get that? I think it is important enough for some attention.
Going through MSU's College of Education has been quite the experience for me. I feel privileged to be part of such a prestigious program, but I do feel that there are a few flaws--of course this is a personal opinion. One of the most prominent, I feel, is that as Elementary Education majors, we are not exposed enough to Special Ed training. The fact of the matter is that there are many many mainstreamed students who need Special Education in some form or another. There should be at least one required class for El Ed majors regarding all things Special Ed. Why haven't I learned how to accomodate for students with special needs? In the real world, I will have students with special needs in my classroom, and reading one article about it will be helpful to me, but it won't be as helpful as an entire class. Why is it that Secondary Education majors have an entire lab class that focuses specifically on Special Education students in their classrooms, but we don't get that? I think it is important enough for some attention.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Adaptations
Being a special education major, this was an article that hit close to home. I really enjoy reading about the different accommodations that are out there for the students to use. In classrooms that
I have worked in, I have seen the picture system that is described in this chapter.
This picture system is very beneficial to students who are non-verbal, and it can be key in having a classroom run smoothly on a day to day basis. It rids a lot of the frustration that a student may have while being in school. I could not imagine not being able to communicate with my teachers, and these picture books make it possible for communication (even though its brief) to occur.
Mike and I did a project over this past week incorporating accommodations into a lesson plan, and ways to work it in during everyday classroom life. I think that this really meant a lot to me because I was able to put myself in the shoes of an ELL student, and see what it is like to not have any idea what is going on. It is a really scary and lonely feeling, and that was just how I felt about a worksheet that my own group created.
Even though thinking of and making accommodations to lessons everyday can be time consuming, it is 100% necessary for the success of special education students in the general education classroom. A few more minutes of preparation the day before a lesson can save tears and frustration, for both the teacher and student.
I have worked in, I have seen the picture system that is described in this chapter.
This picture system is very beneficial to students who are non-verbal, and it can be key in having a classroom run smoothly on a day to day basis. It rids a lot of the frustration that a student may have while being in school. I could not imagine not being able to communicate with my teachers, and these picture books make it possible for communication (even though its brief) to occur.
Mike and I did a project over this past week incorporating accommodations into a lesson plan, and ways to work it in during everyday classroom life. I think that this really meant a lot to me because I was able to put myself in the shoes of an ELL student, and see what it is like to not have any idea what is going on. It is a really scary and lonely feeling, and that was just how I felt about a worksheet that my own group created.
Even though thinking of and making accommodations to lessons everyday can be time consuming, it is 100% necessary for the success of special education students in the general education classroom. A few more minutes of preparation the day before a lesson can save tears and frustration, for both the teacher and student.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Working my way through chapters two and seven in the Tompkins book was helpful to me in thinking about my own reading comprehension and that of the students that I see during field time. Without even thinking about it, through this last year of working on my teaching certificate I have gone through the five stages of reading almost every time I did work for school. Beginning readers have to learn about these stages of prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying before they can read most efficiently. The kindergarten students that I work with every week in field are obviously not advanced readers and are just now learning what it takes to be a good reader. However, these stages come naturally to me because I am an advanced reader with much experience in and I know how to critically analyze a text. I, like most all college students, understand that "comprehension is a thinking process. It is a creative process in which students engage with the text." (Tompkins, p. 223)
I like how the term text is defined in the readings as "all reading materials - stories, maps, newspapers, cereal boxes, textbooks, and so on; it is not limited to basal reader textbooks." (Tompkins, p. 46) I have heard my CT on several occasions point out to the students that reading is important because they encounter written words so often in their everyday lives. She has talked with them about signs, menus, writing in stores, and many other examples. Also, I like the above definition of text because often when reading with the students, my CT encourages them to look at the accompanying pictures for clues that may help them figure out words in the written text. The point is that the experience of reading can encompass much more than just the words. Last week I worked with a small group of the lower level students in terms of their reading abilities. As a group we read a predictable animal picture book page by page. When a student would struggle with reading a word I encouraged them to both break it up into sounds and look at the picture. This helped because even though some of the students still struggle with their letter sounds, they were able to figure out the word by looking at the picture of the animal. The students were learning how to use the whole text in comprehending their reading.
I have seen my CT walk the students through the prereading stage of reading and ask the class for predictions before they even open the book. Sometimes she will show the class the cover of the book and ask everyone what they think about the book. This is good because it gets the class excited about the book and it teaches them to get in the right mindset before reading. After group readings I think it is great that my CT usually has the students write about the stories either in their journals or on regular paper. The students don't realize this but they are participating in stage three of the reading process, which is called responding. Even though the students are still beginning readers and writers, my CT still gives them the chance to respond to readings with writing. Being able to write about what was read shows whether or not the student could truly comprehend the reading. I like that my CT does this so often because not only can she see how much the students are comprehending, but it also highlights to the students the connection between reading and writing. This connection is laid out well by Tompkins in Figure 2-9 on page 72. Reading and writing are intricately connected, with success in one depending on success in the other. My CT understands this and that is why she tries to use the two together whenever possible in her classroom.
I like how the term text is defined in the readings as "all reading materials - stories, maps, newspapers, cereal boxes, textbooks, and so on; it is not limited to basal reader textbooks." (Tompkins, p. 46) I have heard my CT on several occasions point out to the students that reading is important because they encounter written words so often in their everyday lives. She has talked with them about signs, menus, writing in stores, and many other examples. Also, I like the above definition of text because often when reading with the students, my CT encourages them to look at the accompanying pictures for clues that may help them figure out words in the written text. The point is that the experience of reading can encompass much more than just the words. Last week I worked with a small group of the lower level students in terms of their reading abilities. As a group we read a predictable animal picture book page by page. When a student would struggle with reading a word I encouraged them to both break it up into sounds and look at the picture. This helped because even though some of the students still struggle with their letter sounds, they were able to figure out the word by looking at the picture of the animal. The students were learning how to use the whole text in comprehending their reading.
I have seen my CT walk the students through the prereading stage of reading and ask the class for predictions before they even open the book. Sometimes she will show the class the cover of the book and ask everyone what they think about the book. This is good because it gets the class excited about the book and it teaches them to get in the right mindset before reading. After group readings I think it is great that my CT usually has the students write about the stories either in their journals or on regular paper. The students don't realize this but they are participating in stage three of the reading process, which is called responding. Even though the students are still beginning readers and writers, my CT still gives them the chance to respond to readings with writing. Being able to write about what was read shows whether or not the student could truly comprehend the reading. I like that my CT does this so often because not only can she see how much the students are comprehending, but it also highlights to the students the connection between reading and writing. This connection is laid out well by Tompkins in Figure 2-9 on page 72. Reading and writing are intricately connected, with success in one depending on success in the other. My CT understands this and that is why she tries to use the two together whenever possible in her classroom.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Adaptations and Accomodations
I was especially interested in the Breitfelder article because I am in special education. I will be getting certified in learning disabilities and am still thinking about getting additional certification in cognitive impairments. Either way, it is beneficial to me to learn about adaptations and accommodations that teachers use for students with special needs. I would actually argue that learning about how best to work with special needs students is important for all teachers, not just those who are in special education. The mainstream classroom is becoming more and more inclusive every year, meaning that all teachers will at some point in their career have students with special needs.
Breitfelder writes early in the article that the "best ways students with special needs learn is by having adaptations and accommodations that can be used for that specific child, to meet their needs, so they can be successful in the classroom." (p. 3) The hard part for teachers is finding out what works best for each student. In an inclusive classroom this is even more difficult because the teacher has all of the regular education students in addition to those with special needs. This article is nice because it gives several examples of adaptations and accommodations that teachers use and with which students these are generally most effective. However, there is no one correct way for every type of student. For example, what works well for one student with autism is not necessarily going to work well with another autistic student.
I read this article on the way down to Cincinnati to visit my parents, both of whom are in special education. My dad does more administrative work right now and my mom is still in the classroom with severe cognitively impaired kindergarten through second grade students. I was asking my mom about school and her students, when, without prompting, she started talking about PECS, Picture Exchange Communication System, and TEACCH, Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication and handicapped Children. Both of these adaptations are described in the article and mentioned as being great tools to use with autistic students. My mom told me how she loves both of them and has been using some form of them in her classroom for years. Actually, in three weeks she is going to another PECS training session. She said that even though she is familiar with PECS and has used it effectively before, she still likes to go to the training sessions because it can only help her as a teacher. The article mentions how beneficial PECS and TEACCH can be, and talking to my mom, who has real classroom experience, reinforced that point.
Breitfelder writes early in the article that the "best ways students with special needs learn is by having adaptations and accommodations that can be used for that specific child, to meet their needs, so they can be successful in the classroom." (p. 3) The hard part for teachers is finding out what works best for each student. In an inclusive classroom this is even more difficult because the teacher has all of the regular education students in addition to those with special needs. This article is nice because it gives several examples of adaptations and accommodations that teachers use and with which students these are generally most effective. However, there is no one correct way for every type of student. For example, what works well for one student with autism is not necessarily going to work well with another autistic student.
I read this article on the way down to Cincinnati to visit my parents, both of whom are in special education. My dad does more administrative work right now and my mom is still in the classroom with severe cognitively impaired kindergarten through second grade students. I was asking my mom about school and her students, when, without prompting, she started talking about PECS, Picture Exchange Communication System, and TEACCH, Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication and handicapped Children. Both of these adaptations are described in the article and mentioned as being great tools to use with autistic students. My mom told me how she loves both of them and has been using some form of them in her classroom for years. Actually, in three weeks she is going to another PECS training session. She said that even though she is familiar with PECS and has used it effectively before, she still likes to go to the training sessions because it can only help her as a teacher. The article mentions how beneficial PECS and TEACCH can be, and talking to my mom, who has real classroom experience, reinforced that point.
Digital Natives Quiz
Well, I too took the digital navites quiz... the answers I didn't know were "modding", "smart mobs", and "wiki". I knew the rest of the answers to a certain extent... but I still feel like there is a lot about technology that I don't know. As the times speed along fairly quickly, technology is created and constantly changes faster than we can blink. I think that this project is going to help us learn how to explore a new technology not only now, but in our future. By doing this, we will have the ability to discover and create our own classroom technologies and that is going to become increasingly important, especially as our students are growing up learning things that we did not.
I am going to try to do something with this project that I have not done before, I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet, as I've experienced most of the options. I may create the option of combining a few of the literacies together for one classroom "experience" if you will. I am thinking of creating a classroom blog, but we'll see how that goes. There is still a lot I need to learn about blogging and the intricacies that come along with it. Overall I will say that I am excited to get going on this project although it may be a little bit overwhelming, it seems like it will be fun because we can personalize it.
I am going to try to do something with this project that I have not done before, I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet, as I've experienced most of the options. I may create the option of combining a few of the literacies together for one classroom "experience" if you will. I am thinking of creating a classroom blog, but we'll see how that goes. There is still a lot I need to learn about blogging and the intricacies that come along with it. Overall I will say that I am excited to get going on this project although it may be a little bit overwhelming, it seems like it will be fun because we can personalize it.
Digital Natives Quiz
As technology has progressed over the past ten years, I have always thought that I knew a lot compared to most people. I have known how to operate a computer well, as long as many other little things such as the GPS my brother got over Christmas. If i haven't used a piece of technology before, I can usually figure out how to use it quickly and effectively. When I took the Digital Natives Quiz, I was alarmed with how poorly I did on it. I did not know about 50% of the terms that were used on that quiz, and therefore I did not do very well on it.
I recently had a class on the technologies that are being used in schools, and I appreciated the class greatly. I know that this upcoming assignment is going to take some time to do, but I look forward to using a new form of technology to teach a subject. I wish that we could have other projects similar to this in the future, and I wish we had more of these in the past. These projects are the real life experiences that we need as future teachers to be effective in the future.
I recently had a class on the technologies that are being used in schools, and I appreciated the class greatly. I know that this upcoming assignment is going to take some time to do, but I look forward to using a new form of technology to teach a subject. I wish that we could have other projects similar to this in the future, and I wish we had more of these in the past. These projects are the real life experiences that we need as future teachers to be effective in the future.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Digital Natives Quiz
I have always thought of myself as being pretty good with computers and have never really been intimidated by new technology. However, when I took the short digital natives quiz in the online article from last week I only got three out of six correct. That quiz, coupled with all of the new technology that we were introduced to during Monday's class, has made me feel out of the loop technologically. I now feel that I am behind the curve on technology knowledge and it will be hard to catch up. I think that this is a feeling that many people have because technology is always changing and improving. Hopefully, working on the new literacy project and then being able to see what everyone else in class does on this project will help alleviate some of my deficiencies in technology.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Alphabet Soup
I actually chose to focus on Tompkins' chapter 4 in which she talks about "Cracking The Alphabetic Code". Mrs. Firpo uses a Basal reading throughout this chapter--I think that this is important to note that a lot of times in our education here at MSU we have been taught that a lot of the "traditional" teaching tools are not effective and that we need to be new and innovative in our own right to provide things in our classroom for our students from a different angle. I think this chapter is a perfect example of how to use something to our advantage although we may not originally think it is innovative enough. Not only does she just use the Basal readers for her students to build phonics, she has a focus wall that incorporates the things they are getting in the books. She makes up little packets [p 112] to have the students use at school and then take home to extend their learning beyond the classroom. "Each week the students receive three take home boks that MRs. Firpo has duplicated, folded, and stabled together; the purpose of these books is to reinforce the phonics focus of the week...The students keep the book at their desks to use for a seatwork activity...they take them home each day. Alraedy they have collected more than 75 books!" [p 111-112]
I think the way that Mrs. Firpo is allowing her students to have this collection of books is enhancing their learning so much, particularly for those students whose parents aren't able to buy books and keep them at home. This is something we will definitely need to pay attention to as teachers at this time in our Nation's history.
Moving on to the phonics in the chapter, I wanted to note something that I see in my placement almost all day every single time I visit. On page 122, Tompkins talks about segmentation. "One of the more difficult phonemic awareness activities is segmentation, in which children isolate the sounds in a spoken word (Yopp, 1988)". Our CT has a list of words with three phonemes in them [for now], and she uses that list to do what she calls karate chopping with the students. She has them use their hands to mark each phoneme of the word. For example “fun” would be ‘chopped’ into /f/ /u/ /n/ Using their hands to karate chop the air in the order of the phonemes. Another way she does this is to give each child three chips. They sit on the floor with the chips in a row in front of them. For each phoneme [she calls them sounds] the students are to push a chip forward. This is a new technique that they’re learning and it is slightly more difficult than the karate chopping that the students are used to. By asking all of the students to participate in sessions like this, it helps them to incorporate these “manipulatives” in hearing and feeling the phonemes in different ways, showing that the words can be broken up into sounds.
I think the way that Mrs. Firpo is allowing her students to have this collection of books is enhancing their learning so much, particularly for those students whose parents aren't able to buy books and keep them at home. This is something we will definitely need to pay attention to as teachers at this time in our Nation's history.
Moving on to the phonics in the chapter, I wanted to note something that I see in my placement almost all day every single time I visit. On page 122, Tompkins talks about segmentation. "One of the more difficult phonemic awareness activities is segmentation, in which children isolate the sounds in a spoken word (Yopp, 1988)". Our CT has a list of words with three phonemes in them [for now], and she uses that list to do what she calls karate chopping with the students. She has them use their hands to mark each phoneme of the word. For example “fun” would be ‘chopped’ into /f/ /u/ /n/ Using their hands to karate chop the air in the order of the phonemes. Another way she does this is to give each child three chips. They sit on the floor with the chips in a row in front of them. For each phoneme [she calls them sounds] the students are to push a chip forward. This is a new technique that they’re learning and it is slightly more difficult than the karate chopping that the students are used to. By asking all of the students to participate in sessions like this, it helps them to incorporate these “manipulatives” in hearing and feeling the phonemes in different ways, showing that the words can be broken up into sounds.
Week 5 Readings
When I read the articles for this weeks class, the one that stuck out to me the most was the Gibbons chapter on Writing in a Second Language. Often as a writer I do not think about all of the processes that I do on a daily basis when writing papers for class, or an e-mail to my father. When I think about it though I do understand that "writing is a recursive process-that writers continually revise and edit at all stages of the writing process..." (Gibbons 52). When I first read this I kind of figured that all good writers do this no matter what language we are writing in, and bad writers do not do this, no matter what language that he or she may write in. Gibbons continued to break it down by saying "They tend not to plan at a whole-text level, and they are less able to anticipate the language and content information that a reader will require in order to fully understand their writing" (Gibbons 52).
This makes a lot of sense to me because people who are learning the language have so much to try and focus on in order to try and write that they do not even think to re-read what they wrote and fix it, more then likely they would not know how to properly fix a mistake anyway. I know that when young student is trying to write he or she can not always put down on paper what is in their mind due to vocabulary or other types of wording issues, and I can imagine this is the same for ELL's.
This makes a lot of sense to me because people who are learning the language have so much to try and focus on in order to try and write that they do not even think to re-read what they wrote and fix it, more then likely they would not know how to properly fix a mistake anyway. I know that when young student is trying to write he or she can not always put down on paper what is in their mind due to vocabulary or other types of wording issues, and I can imagine this is the same for ELL's.
Digital Literacy
I focused most this week on the Buckingham article about digital literacy because Mike and I are presenting on that tomorrow with Michele. Buckingham talked about the evolution of literacy and how as the world advances there are many new media that could be looked at as a literacy. As computers and the Internet have come to dominate society more and more, the idea of digital literacy was born.
Buckingham argues that computers and everything that encompasses digital literacy need to be taught differently. He writes that digital literacy "cannot be adequately understood if we persist in regarding them simply as a matter of machines and techniques, or as 'hardware' and 'software'." (p. 1) This means getting beyond teaching the basic functions of the computer and digital technology, and instead critically looking at the substance of this media. To do this Buckingham points to four aspects of the media that should be analyzed. These are representation, language, production, and audience. Within each aspect, Buckingham has questions that one should ask in relation to the piece of media in order to determine its validity and understand the media on a deeper level. For example, under audience, one should try to figure out who the piece of media is intended for and whether that results in any kind of bias. This critical analysis of digital literacy seems to me to be an obvious benefit to students and their learning. I would take this idea a step further and argue that a critical analysis is important for any type of literacy if students are going to come to a more complete understanding of what they are studying. For example, just as it is helpful to analyze a website for bias and deeper meaning, it could be just as helpful to critically analyze a book in the same manner.
From the other readings this week, I thought that the Tompkins chapter on the alphabetic code was very helpful. Lots of what was in the chapter was a refresher from what we had learned in TE 301, which is always nice to review. In addition to that, there are many potential quick resources that could prove beneficial to me in my education to become a teacher and then during my career. The list of wordplay books for phonemic awareness on page 119 could prove valuable my classroom if I am working on that skill with students. On pages 128 and 129 there are two good charts for rimes and general rules taught in phonics. Also, I really like the chart on page 131 that details the sequence of phonics instruction. We talked about phonics in TE 301, but did not get into the details about when to teach what skills. Looking at this chart and the GLCEs for the corresponding grade levels will give me a better sense about how to teach phonics. Overall, this was a chapter that I am sure I will use in the future as a resource.
Buckingham argues that computers and everything that encompasses digital literacy need to be taught differently. He writes that digital literacy "cannot be adequately understood if we persist in regarding them simply as a matter of machines and techniques, or as 'hardware' and 'software'." (p. 1) This means getting beyond teaching the basic functions of the computer and digital technology, and instead critically looking at the substance of this media. To do this Buckingham points to four aspects of the media that should be analyzed. These are representation, language, production, and audience. Within each aspect, Buckingham has questions that one should ask in relation to the piece of media in order to determine its validity and understand the media on a deeper level. For example, under audience, one should try to figure out who the piece of media is intended for and whether that results in any kind of bias. This critical analysis of digital literacy seems to me to be an obvious benefit to students and their learning. I would take this idea a step further and argue that a critical analysis is important for any type of literacy if students are going to come to a more complete understanding of what they are studying. For example, just as it is helpful to analyze a website for bias and deeper meaning, it could be just as helpful to critically analyze a book in the same manner.
From the other readings this week, I thought that the Tompkins chapter on the alphabetic code was very helpful. Lots of what was in the chapter was a refresher from what we had learned in TE 301, which is always nice to review. In addition to that, there are many potential quick resources that could prove beneficial to me in my education to become a teacher and then during my career. The list of wordplay books for phonemic awareness on page 119 could prove valuable my classroom if I am working on that skill with students. On pages 128 and 129 there are two good charts for rimes and general rules taught in phonics. Also, I really like the chart on page 131 that details the sequence of phonics instruction. We talked about phonics in TE 301, but did not get into the details about when to teach what skills. Looking at this chart and the GLCEs for the corresponding grade levels will give me a better sense about how to teach phonics. Overall, this was a chapter that I am sure I will use in the future as a resource.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Developing as Readers and Writers
In a few of my previous classes we have discussed what it means to develop as a reader and a writer and what needs to be done in order for both of these processes to be done well. One theory of this is to begin knowing the concepts of print through reading and seeing how text works. Then after a student knows the alphabet and begins to write out the letters they can begin to make connections with what letters make up which words, and what each word means.
It takes many years for this to happen, as to this day I know I am still learning different words and quirks to the English language that I did not know the day before. After a student builds up a strong enough vocabulary by practicing reading and writing, they will be more fluent in their own writing, and writing papers becomes easier.
I feel that it makes it easier to read when you practice writing, and I feel that it becomes easier to write when reading is done on a consistent basis. Both of these functions make up literacy, and being literate makes mastering language much easier.
It takes many years for this to happen, as to this day I know I am still learning different words and quirks to the English language that I did not know the day before. After a student builds up a strong enough vocabulary by practicing reading and writing, they will be more fluent in their own writing, and writing papers becomes easier.
I feel that it makes it easier to read when you practice writing, and I feel that it becomes easier to write when reading is done on a consistent basis. Both of these functions make up literacy, and being literate makes mastering language much easier.
Supporting ELL Learners
In a group situation we often forget about how much thought and the amount of processes that need to be mastered before a person can partake in a discussion. If a ELL student is mixed in with the a general education classroom, it can be even more difficult to recognize the struggles that an ELL student is undergoing.
I feel that in order to be a working member of a group discussion a student needs to have a strong grasp of the language in order to comprehend the topic at hand, the questions being asked in the group, the responses that other students bring, and the ability to respond to questions and answers that other students give.
It is amazing how difficult all of this is to put together when you are learning the English language for the first time. In order for a student to master this skill he is going to have to have a lot of support inside the classroom from the teacher, and probably a speech and language pathologist. It needs to be assumed that the student will not get a lot of the English language spoken at home because the parents are probably only fluent in their home language. If a student is in a good classroom with a good group of classmates that are understanding and helpful to the student it will also help in the process.
I feel that in order to be a working member of a group discussion a student needs to have a strong grasp of the language in order to comprehend the topic at hand, the questions being asked in the group, the responses that other students bring, and the ability to respond to questions and answers that other students give.
It is amazing how difficult all of this is to put together when you are learning the English language for the first time. In order for a student to master this skill he is going to have to have a lot of support inside the classroom from the teacher, and probably a speech and language pathologist. It needs to be assumed that the student will not get a lot of the English language spoken at home because the parents are probably only fluent in their home language. If a student is in a good classroom with a good group of classmates that are understanding and helpful to the student it will also help in the process.
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