Mod 9 Discussion of my English Language Learners

For my junior and senior ELLs in Test Prep/Reading (a class containing a total of 18 students, all of them ELL of varying fluency ranging from emerging language acquisition to advanced fluency, also a mix of Spanish and Portuguese students), we read the text (shared reading) as a whole group out loud, taking turns as we read, just for the experience. I will often start off the reading session to model good oral reading skills. Then we do a close read, where we annotate together (identifying vocabulary words we don’t know, phrases we don’t understand, etc.). During the annotation process  I pose open-ended questions and encourage discussion trying to draw connections to the personal experiences of the students. The next step is to have the students take an exit ticket assessment. For those who do not do well on the assessment, I meet with them in a small group setting to go over answers, trying to determine why they answered as they did, providing more background as needed. During these small group sessions, those students who did well on the exit ticket work with a partner to do a deeper dive into the text (this is an opportunity for these student to engage in higher order thinking).