Hello to all! My name is Margaret and I just completed my first year of teaching History at a South Shore Charter Public School.  The experience was both challenging and fulfilling.  The interaction with high schools students was very different from my experience teaching at the college level.   Honestly, each day was a learning experience for all of us.  Most of my classes were diverse and each student brought a unique perspective.  Many of my learners were ELLs or flepped ELLs.  The school has learners or family members from Haiti, Kenya, Ukraine, Nigeria, and Puerto Rico to name a few.  Thankfully, I had the assistance of an ELL specialist who worked with students outside the classroom on my assignments.  In addition, I had students that needed scaffolding.  Many of the modifications worked for both sets of students. Special needs students were also supported outside of the classroom in a directed study

I especially liked the article by Zacarian because it focused on group work.  I found that it was easy for some ELLs to withdraw, unless they were paired with helpful students or prompted by the teacher.  Other ELLs were able to show what they know because they are able to have a discussion which allows them to use BICs, as well as CALPS.  Occasionally, I would get an ELL that hated to write, but loved to talk.  These students would shine during the group work.  Zacarian’s article highlighted the effectiveness of a contribution tally sheet, which would ensure everybody’s participation. (Zacarian 92).  I will add this in the future.

Depending on the subject, it was clear that there were varied gaps in background knowledge.  This year it was helpful using additional books from lower grades because they had more illustrations and charts.  Zacarian’s suggestion that tasks be simpler or modified was given to me by the specialists. (Zacarian 100).  Their job was easier with the help things like a Guided Reading Workbooks.  In addition, quizzes and tests were often modified with visuals.

The most difficult assignments to parse through with students that needed support were those that required analysis of primary source documents or other research.  As De Oliveira noted, a focus on simple nouns and verbs can help students analyze the text and causal relationships (De Olivera 10).  This was more difficult than the other modifications and required extra time with students during focused instruction time, directed study or after school.  I took this class for further insight.

9 - 12 Social Studies/History Bilingual Education/ESL