L400/500 Instructional Issues in Language Learning

Casey Ward Assessing English Language Learner's Content Knowledge in Middle School Classrooms -Pappamihiel & Mihai          For this week's Blog Post I have decided to switch it up a bit and do a question/response scenario. I will be taking the five main questions for teachers that are "seeking to make their classroom tests and quizzes more valid" (Pappamihiel & Mihai, 2006) for ELL students. These questions are: Do I know my students' English language proficiencies? Have I designed a test that mirrors classroom objectives, strategies, and activities? Have I made use of all relevant and available visuals and graphics? Have I incorporated true accommodations to level the playing field for my ELLs? Have I created a clear scoring rubric that will allow me to provide culturally sensitive and useful feedback? Before I go into answering these questions I would like you to take a look at what an ELL assessment classroom looks like. This v...

Imagine this.....you've just turned 5 years old and your mother excitedly tells you, "You get to go to school now!" You're so excited to go somewhere where you'll learn why the sky is blue and learn bigger numbers than 10...if that's even possible. Your mom takes you along to a thing called Meet the Teacher Night and you're so excited to meet the person who will teach you everything you could ever possibly want to know. You get there and are just bumbling in your seat ready to explode at any minute....the teacher walks in and says, "Are you guys ready to embark on this wonderful journey of taking approximately 112 mandatory standardized tests up until the day you graduate?!?!?!" Now you didn't really understand anything else this lady said, but you definitely heard her say 112.... you think Wow that sounds like a-lot. While your mother thinks huh???? Why so many?  What would you guys think if you were told that on the first day? ...

           Wear this dress, act like a lady, pink is a girl color, play with your dolls.                         Blue is a boy color, boys like trucks, cars, and sport. Some common phrases I am sure majority of us heard throughout our childhood. A great way to start teaching social, cultural roles and behavior of gender *sarcasm*. However, we know the older children get gender attitude and behaviors become more intense and new gender roles appear. Inequality becomes even more visible. And it tremendously affects girls.  It is not so much about what toys girls can play with anymore.We know women deal with problems such as the unequal pay in the work force, lack of women in leaderships, discrimination in education settings, violence and human trafficking. If we want change then we have to stop continuing the myth of gender roles. And that means helping women and also men...