I'm confused about how to be the most helpful to my students

[esldreamer]

I am a new esl teacher in an elementary esl pull-out program in New York. I have no curriculum and the only instructions I was given when I was hired was to teach content-area material. I have been finding this difficult because I have to keep track of the curriculum in all of the content areas in all of the grade levels and the teachers in each grade level are never covering the same topic at the same time. I have found it impossible to teach each grade every content area. I realize that I need to focus on only one at a time but I don't know which one I should cover when. I've been doing this for about 3 months now and my students are not doing any better on their content area exams in the classroom. I am reinforcing concepts and vocabulary but they are still doing poorly on exams. I think a lot of that has to do with their need to practice reading and writing skills.

I also realize that my students need a lot of wordstudy and reading and writing practice (fiction and non-fiction). While I know it is possible to do this through the content area topics, I am finding it difficult to address all their reading and writing needs through math, science, and social studies.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can better help my students in the classroom through a pull-out model? The classroom teachers realize that I should be doing a lot of reading and writing practice using fiction and non-fiction, but I feel a lot of pressure from the administration to focus on content and I haven't figured out a way to effectively do both.

Please help! Thanks!

[moonchild7903]

Hi esldreamer! When I was a new teacher two years ago (I'm still new but I've learned some things already), I had the same problems you were having. When I sat to think about it, I realized that the main problem is that I WANTED TO DO EVERYTHING just like you. So the first step to addressing the problem is to realize that you can't do EVERYTHING and that students are a WORK IN PROGRESS.

So first things first: How old are your students and what do they need most?

I gather from your post that you believe that reading and writing is the most important to you. Then I say follow that. If your supervisors are pressuring you to follow content areas, then pick reading and writing activities that are closely related to your students' content subjects. I, myself, teach reading and writing and teach my student to apply their skills to their other content subjects. I strongly believe you're on the right track!

Next, ask yourself: how much time do I have in a day?

Answering this question will help you prioritize each lesson. Say, will a short reading help your students better if that's all you have time for? Should you let them write a full blown essay or just a short paragraph? Remember that we can't do everything but we can certainly maximize our time!

Ask yourself: how long is the course?

Will you have your studetns for a whole year or just a few months? Answering this will help you develop realistic end of course goals.

Start with these questions first, then I think you should check out the Assessment portion of these forums. You might be able to get a few ideas on how to gauge your students' performance. Good Luck!

[Carol Keeney]

I am going to give you an idea that you can apply right away and that will make you feel like you are addressing content areas. Start a picture dictionary of some sort with your students. Simply designate one page for each letter of the alphabet. Now choose a subject, I would choose something like science or social studies if possible. Next concentrate on just one unit of study that your group is studying this term. It doesn't matter if some of them are not up to it. Look at it this way, they will get to it with a head start from you. As you teach a simple lesson about the subject, isolate some vocabulary words and have them record those words on the correct pages. Depending on their age, you might have them write a sentence with these words. Now add these words to a set of index cards you will keep and plan to use those words in a word game as a ten minute intro to one of your lessons. A simple game would be to post no more than ten words and have them take turns choosing a word you refer to in a sentence. Another time play this game with teams.
I have taught for thirty years and have written a new book called Brand New Teacher. It has been published by Vested Publishing. Good luck to you. Carol Keeney