ESL
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Proud
This will be a short post. I just wanted to share how proud I am of my two newest ESL students. They spent several periods over the last week researching about a “person of interest” in social studies.The task was to find out their person’s contribution and why it’s still important to us today.Then, they Read more
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Read to Self
In my ESL pull-out class my students come in and find a comfortable spot for read to self, which lasts for 20 minutes. For the most part, and this is always interesting to me, they choose the same place day in and day out: sitting on a table, crouched under the sink, sprawled between two Read more
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Team Teaching?
This year, the ESL team has decided that we need to provide more push-in rather than pull-out support for our ESL students. In my case, this means that I will be pushing-in to grades 6 and 8 during their language arts, math and social studies times, and pulling-out some grade six beginner students for an Read more
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Day #8
Day #8 No students, yet. As an ESL teacher I spend the first two weeks of school testing and testing some more, meeting and meeting again, setting up lists, and organizing schedules, until finally I can start servicing students. This is my second year as an ESL teacher though I have been in this position Read more
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Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)
I’m a hoarder. There, I’ve said it. I try to deny that I’m a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional Read more
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ESL Ruminations #3
OK. I’m on a roll. I have been energized by thinking and writing about what’s working and what isn’t going so well with my ESL classes. I have enjoyed trying out new routines and activities with my students. I’ve written about some of my ruminations and attempts to improve learning for my students here and Read more
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ESL Class Ruminations
I have been using the Daily5 with my beginner to intermediate middle school students and have been fairly happy with the results: children who like to read and write. They are finding authors and series they enjoy and are discovering that writing can be a powerful way to communicate with others. I work with my students in Read more
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Full Writing Disclosure
I have decided, yet again – but this time I will come through, I promise – to write every day. Pinky swear!I may not publish what I write as a blog post every day but I will write as if I were. That’s a big proposition and, to be honest, it scares me. But, I Read more
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Patience
In my new role as ESL teacher I am learning self-discipline and patience, even before the school year begins. Although I can be self-disciplined when I need to be, I am not a very patient person. I am thrown off course when confronted with ambiguous situations and unresolved issues, such as not knowing exactly what Read more
Elisa Waingort 