Fourth Session With ELL

My ELLs are beginning to study Africa.  One of my students had completed the worksheet I was given to work on with her, and the other student had just recently taken an exam on another unit and had not yet been introduced to the unit on Africa.  I brought blank maps for them to fill out and use to study.  After completing a map, I helped them practice recalling the names of countries by filling out a third map.

After the last geography lesson I conducted with my ELL students, I thought I came prepared with the map and some ideas about how best to memorize information.  I studied and quized myself right along with my students.  I readily admitted that I was not a student of geography and so did not know where everything was on the map.  They seemed to enjoy my participation, but when it came to the area of the map where countries are difficult to pronounce, tiny, and crowded together in a way that makes it nearly impossible to memorize them, then the lesson seemed to totally fall apart.

It was at this moment, when the air seemed to be sucked out of the room entirely and my students were quietly staring off into space or stealing glances at their classmates around the room, probably wishing that they had not been stuck with me, that I realized that I could have made this lesson something else entirely.  I could have brought in a book on Africa, whether it was an earth science book, a travel brochure, or a book of fiction relating to Africa, I needed something to relate what they were about to learn to someting outside of the rote memorization of a map.  I should have supplemented what they usually get in their geography class with something new and interesting.  Because geography is not my strong suit, I should have thought much more in terms of how to make the information interesting and accessible and less about what their individual teachers will be teaching on the unit. 

I have felt in my mini-teaches and in my work with ELLs that I am trying too hard to try and anticipate what the cooperating teacher wants or will do with the students, rather than designing lessons and activities that are original and interesting.  This sounds odd, but like any new job, I try to observe what others around me are doing and then do much the same kind of thing.  Teaching is different from any job I have ever attempted to do in the past.  The creative thought that is required of good teachers is immense; it is shaped and informed by standards, curriculum, and the needs of the students.  I really hope my last session with my ELL students is much, much more engaging than this one.  I plan on changing my approach by going to their teachers for a framework, but I will rely on my own creativity to design objectives and a lesson.

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