Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello!

This is my second year teaching ESL in an elementary setting. I'm in a new school where I have a class of eight kindergarteners. I have half of the students for an hour and a half, and the other half of the students join in halfway through. I feel like I am not doing a good job teaching the higher-level students because when they arrive I am doing lower-level activities with the more beginning level students. Not only am I having a hard time finding activities that I can do with the whole group and differentiate for beginners/intermediate, but I am also struggling with how to structure the day to day instruction. I have very little guidance from the school and am really on my own in terms of how I want to structure my lessons, which is nice to have that freedom, but I also am a little lost.

What do you suggest? I want to have a structured way to run the class......e.g., start with vocabulary for 10 minutes, practice writing for 10 minutes, read-aloud for 10, independent work for X......etc. I have done lots of searching for articles or books on how to design and set up my class structure but can't find anything.

With a group of young children, it's essential to be structured and organized but I am really lacking in a good routine that we can stick to. Thanks in advance for any ideas!!!

That is a tough call. Do you have the higher or lower level kids first? In my class I start the day with the more challenging subjects--math and then reading. The students that are more/ less advanced will sometimes get additional/ different work depending on the subject. The rest of the day everyone does the same thing. I also try to take time during independent work time to pull aside each group (higher, mid, and lower) to give them extra work time more on their level. Sometimes it takes a bit to find your routine but you'll get there!