Category: Tips for Teachers

Reality vs Myths

Molly Sand on

Reality of an ESL Teacher

It has been 49 days since I saw my students and coworkers. I chose to dedicate my life to helping my students achieve and develop into young adults. I never predicted that the last trimester of my second year of teaching would be online. 

As I spend my days waiting for my students to send a message or join Google Meet, I also reminisce about how long I have known some of these students. I am a second year teacher, but I have been working at the same school for four years. I was a field experience student, teacher candidate, long-call substitute, summer school teacher, and finally full time. With four years at the same school, I have known most of my eighth graders since they were sixth graders. There is one student in particular that stands out from that group because he says, “We go way back.”  He’s right. We do go way back. We met during my first field experience placement when he was in fourth grade. I have had the privilege of watching this student grow up, learn another language, and develop into the jokester we always knew he was. I am saddened to think I will not hear him brag about how long he has known me and I am disappointed they are all missing out on the Spring Fling and other end of the year celebrations.

I miss instructing my students and being able to see and hear their progress. I miss our silly conversations about their lives and how they are too invested in my wedding plans. Even when this pandemic ends, life will never be the same. They have missed out on major moments in their childhoods and as a teacher, I have missed out on helping them get there. There are many things I wish I could have known before becoming a teacher. There are many things I still have to learn myself, but the least I can do for you today is share what I do know. It is time for us to talk about what it is really like to be a teacher of ESL.  Today my goal is to debunk some of the myths that go along with teaching ESL and give you more of an insight to the reality of this profession.

Five Myths About Teaching ESL

ESL teachers need to speak the language(s) of their students.

I cannot count how many times I have been asked if I was fluent in the languages my students speak. If I was, I would be fluent in English, Somali, Arabic, Spanish, and Creole. Don’t get me wrong. Teaching my diverse group would be much easier with a stronger background with their languages. To bridge the gap between languages, I have put an emphasis on learning phrases and keywords in each language, as well as becoming familiar with their cultural traditions. This simple gesture goes a long way in building strong, respectful relationships with students.

Your job will be fulfilling EVERYDAY.

As much as we want to have amazing days everyday, it is impossible. We can strive for great days, great lessons, and great attitudes; and manage to survive a chaotic day, failed lesson, or bad attitude. During my teacher candidacy, my cooperating teacher would say, “Let’s chalk it up as a fail and do better tomorrow.” She knew not every lesson or class would go right, which made teaching that much better. We cannot put high expectations on every aspect of our teaching. We need to leave room for adjustments and be willing to start from the beginning when necessary.

Teaching only happens in the classroom.

Distance learning, e-learning, and traditional learning are all forms of teaching we have become more familiar with during this time. Most people believe teaching only happens in the classroom and students will not learn outside of their regular learning environment. Some of my students have checked out for the year because they do not want to learn from a distance. Others are thriving because they are able to get the help they need from instructional videos and tutorials. It is possible for learning to happen outside of the physical classroom, but it takes time to develop online classroom routines, expectations, and management procedures.

Many of my students began learning English from listening to American music, binge watching shows on Netflix with English subtitles, and making friends who are native speakers or multilingual speakers who share the same language. I really encourage my students to read novels that also have movies. This way they can have multiple opportunities to read and hear the words. Through these outside learning opportunities, they are able to interact with the language and acquire basic skills to continue working on when they get back to the classroom.

Every teacher has their own classroom.  

Wrong. As an ESL teacher, I am also required to co-teach for a portion of my day. When I first began teaching, I had three co-teachers and did not teach a class alone. It was a struggle to find a balance as a new teacher, but it only got worse when I had to ask one of the three co-teachers if I could put my desk (that I had to request from the custodial staff to find) in her room. Almost finished with my second year and I still had to find a new home for my desk back in August. I also co-teach 4/5 classes and had to find an empty classroom to house my advisory and EL Developing Reading classes. Basically, do not assume you will get your own room with a desk and a chair right away. Schools tend to have more teachers than they do classrooms, so if you plan to teach ESL prepare yourself for this possibility.

Anyone can teach English if they speak it.

The reality of the situation is that a lot of people think they could teach something and I admit they are not completely wrong. They might be able to teach a skill like throwing a ball, basic math, or the ABC’s, but can they manage behaviors, while differentiating a lesson for 35 students? Probably not. Teaching is not for everyone, as I am sure you know. Not everyone could handle the stress and excitement of being a teacher. 

As an ESL teacher, I have experienced a lot of people saying it must be easy since I am a native speaker. Trust me, it is not easy at all. Teaching students who have various English proficiency levels and learning styles has many challenges. Currently I work with students considered level 3, meaning they are not beginners but more so intermediate. Typically, conversational speech happens quickly for many learners and reading and writing are the most difficult. Teaching someone how to read and write takes a lot of time and lots of phonics practice. Repetition is key when learning a language. Students need multiple interactions with a word before they are able to read, write, say, and hear it. This only happens when a teacher provides those opportunities throughout a lesson. 

For example, to learn academic vocabulary I will read a story from the textbook to my class that contains the words they are learning. Then I will have them read with a partner or they will take turns reading aloud to the class. They are required to participate in discussions about the text and I provide them with sentence frames to encourage an academic discussion. They will also complete various writing activities to practice using the vocabulary words. These are not things every teacher is trained to provide to their students. But an ESL teacher is trained and will be able to scaffold a lesson to fit the needs of all of their diverse learners (with practice, of course).

Even though teaching ESL is not at all what I expected, I have been able to learn so much through my many experiences in the classroom. Teaching has its ups and downs like any profession, but I believe it is one of the most rewarding. We get to experience our students learning from mistakes, achieving, and establishing their personalities. If debunking one myth at a time is what it takes to encourage more people to be educators, then that is what I will do.

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Tips and Tricks for a Successful Online Classroom

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The hardest part of the season is upon us, with the end of the semester coming up and students struggling to get make it to the end. As we continue to make adjustments to our teaching to fit into distance learning, our students might be thinking about how they did not sign up for an online class. Certain policies have been put in place to limit students to 30 minutes of instruction per class per day, when reality they might need a couple hours per class per day. The question you might be asking is how you teach someone a condensed lesson from a distance when they might not be computer literate.

Digital Guides

An important tip I have for transitioning to distance learning is developing a step by step video guide on how to use video conference applications available to you. Whether you are using Zoom, Google Meet, Discord, Skype, or something else, you have access to many YouTube tutorials on how to properly use these. Navigating new software can be confusing. It might even seem like a headache at first, but once you get the hang of it you will be able to make accessible distance learning lessons for your classroom.

With most colleges in Minnesota are using Zoom to continue to educate students from a social distance aspect. Unfortunately, not all of us are tech-friendly people, Zoom has some great resources out there; when it comes to easing the frustrations of using new technology. One of the suggestions when using Zoom or any other form of online teaching is to password protect your meetings. This helps keep your students safe from cyberbullying and discrimination from outside sources. Many Zoom classrooms have been Zoombombed and racially motivated hate has been spewed in the lecture from an outside group. Be sure to take precautions to protect your students and yourself.

A difficult part about a lot of this is we need to remember that many of us have always had access to computers and the internet in our lives. While some of these students might have only had access to educational technology for the first time in their lives in the past few years.

When making these guides for students and families:

  • Keep the instructions simple
  • Use audio whenever possible
  • Record your screen
  • Add subtitles when necessary

Family Resources

Now, what do you do when a student does not have access to the internet or have the ability to pay for reliable internet? With social distancing in place and most places closed it makes it a lot more complicated. Do not panic help is out there, numerous companies have partnered together to help students and families struggling with internet access and computer access. While there are many companies out there helping, the easiest way to find out who is helping would be through a list of numerous resources made readily available. Another way to receive assistance is by simply asking the student’s school. A lot of schools have developed ways to provide internet and technology access for their students.

Educating someone is about more than what happens in the classroom. Being the person that can help get solutions to questions, and find where to turn to for help increases the rapport that makes an excellent educator. Especially when students are going to be turning to you in the first place when they don’t understand something and can’t complete assignments. Most of the time it is not until they receive a failing grade or incomplete on their assignment that they eventually reach out. Understandably, a lot of this can be very frustrating for both parties, but just remember that this will pass at some point. Some ways to alleviate frustration can be in the ways our lessons are presented. While everyone learns at a different pace and are at various levels when it comes to learning a language, we need to be flexible with their understanding of a new learning environment.

Educator Resources

Depending on your level of experience as an educator you might find some of this information more useful than others. I am fairly new to teaching, or tutoring in that effect. The one thing that has made my experience more enjoyable is being able to build a greater community and building that relationship with outer mentors and educators. Building a community base will help you as an educator because it allows us to share ideas and share what is working amongst our students. There are multiple resources available in online educator communities.

They can be found through:

  • Personal blogs
  • Support groups on Facebook
  • Google Hangouts
  • Expert blogs
  • Forums directed at teachers by teachers

One of my mentors had shared a post about what are we supposed to do for students struggling with online learning and have developmental educational issues. It got me thinking about how we have students struggling, whether it be developmentally, emotionally, or linguistically. We know those students very well and a lot of these resources can guide you as an educator through what steps to take and what options are out there. In my opinion, one of the greatest resources we have as an educator is other educators, reaching out to these individuals, and seeing what is working for them is one of the greatest resources we have.

University Student Tips

When it comes to students that are struggling in general, they are going to need a lot more face-to-face interactions. Unfortunately, with COVID-19 this has limited typical face-to-face interaction and we are attempting to help our students through digital face-to-face meetings on the previously mentioned video conferencing applications.

Some tutoring services are limiting students to 30 minutes a day per class. If we are having a student that was working before this with 3 to 4 hours of help each day how can we expect them to succeed with less help?  Setting up the student with the correct way to study online and getting the help they need is going to be one of the few ways the students will succeed. This is strictly just my opinion.

When creating your weekly lesson plans it is suggested that you create these like you would in a classroom setting. Turn on a webcam with your lesson plan behind you so your students can follow along. This small gesture attempts to give each student some normalcy in their learning experience. It also gives them a chance to go back and view it again later.  With some students possibly being essential workers, their schedules could have been flip flopped at all hours of the night and day. They may also have kids at home, on top of their work obligations. who need their help with schoolwork.

Tips for Staying on Task

While a lot of this can be completely subjective, it might work with someone’s students and might not work with others. Everyone learns at a different pace and through different means. Some of the best ways, in my opinion, to get a student to stay on track are:

  1. Making homework due every few days, but allow yourself to be fluid when it comes to turn-in dates. I recently had a conversation with a fellow educator that his student’s parents were laid off and still have not been approved for unemployment. With this child being the sole income, he is working 50 hours a week currently to provide for his family, while continuing to attend class. We have to consider unique situations like this and be flexible with our students.
  2. When a student does fall behind allow them to catch-up within reason. There might be numerous aggravating factors out there that are causing them more of a heartache. Recent studies show the use of the helpline for suicide prevention has increased exponentially in the past month. By allowing your students to continue to succeed, you might be able to keep them on the right path.
  3. When a student misses an exam that cannot be reopened, allow them the chance to write a paper about the information that would have been covered on the exam. Even before COVID-19 had hit us, a lot of us were not amazing test takers. I know I sure wasn’t, test anxiety hit me every time.
  4. While individual extra credit might feel like we are just trying to push students through, it also helps decrease the dropout rate of courses. Depending on the student you are working with some of these might be a collectivism culture so the family comes first then schoolwork. This is something that should be taken into account when it comes to building that rapport with students. A student that feels like they matter in a classroom will always succeed.

Above all else, take time for self-care at some point in all this. A burnt-out educator does not help anyone. Just remember to be patient at all costs.

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The New Normal: ESL Tutoring Online

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When we left for Spring Break, it seemed like business as usual and we expected to return to school a week later picking up where we left off. As the writing center coordinator at St. Cloud Technical Community College (SCTCC), I took a few days off to rest, relax, and recharge for the remainder of the semester. When I returned to work, Spring Break had been extended for two weeks and instructors were informed they would deliver courses online for the remainder of the semester. For those of us working at SCTCC’s tutoring center the Center for Academic Success (CAS), it meant finding ways to continue to offer our services to students, but from a distance.

With these changes came new guidelines for students coming to the CAS for help, and also my staff as well. Not only are my tutors dealing with the challenge of taking all of their classes online, but now must learn a new manner for tutoring. No more will they have the opportunity for physical contact with a student’s paper, or have the chance to sit across from the student having a conversation on assignment expectations.

Their interactions will be with computer screens through Zoom chats or responding to student drafts by typing comments. As a tutor who overall believes in minimalist tutoring, I fear that tutors may begin acting as editors rather than tutors. Instead of giving explanations for why a change should be made, they may make the change for the student returning a paper improved from a writing perspective. While the student may appreciate this, the encounter has hurt the tutor’s standing with the student and has stultified the student’s writing journey. While I am concerned with the possibility of this happening to any of the students, it raises particular concern for our ELL students. If they become reliant upon tutors making corrections to papers, these students will be placed in a precarious position moving forward both at SCTCC and at other academic institutions.

My Greatest Concern
A reason for my concern is finding the balance between instructor/student expectations and what it means to be a good tutor. Often ELL students come in with assignment sheets that read “for every grammatical or spelling error, one point will be deducted from this paper” or similar expectations. As a result, many students want to focus on sentence level issues like spelling or subject/verb agreement. An experienced tutor will notice these errors in the paper, but usually there will be bigger issues such as organization or lack of a coherent thesis statement (or the complete lack thereof). While these problems are not exclusive to ELL students, they occur with more frequency. Balancing the student’s desire for grammar and spelling help against higher order concerns like assignment expectations and learning about the process of writing is just one of the many challenges a tutor faces.

A Resource to Help
In an effort to prevent negative practices from occurring, I revisited by Ben Rafoth’s article titled “Responding Online.” The article is chapter ten in the book ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors 2nd Edition edited by Rafoth and his colleague Shanti Bruce. The entire book is a great resource and has been a constant companion throughout my tutoring and coordinating journey. If you work with ELL students on any subject, this book is fantastic resource filled with information on working with ELL students, and I highly recommend it.

In the tenth chapter, Rafoth discusses how he helped his writing tutors provide constructive feedback to ELL students who had emailed papers to the writing center. Rafoth gave many useful tips, but in particular offers four guidelines for his student tutors to follow when responding to online submissions.

  1. Less is more when it comes to writing comments
  2. Focus and consistency is paramount
  3. Direct but polite feedback is regarded as most helpful
  4. How tutors read a writer’s paper affects the responses

Each of these tips builds upon the previous one making it a practical progression for the ESL tutor to follow when responding to student drafts. While Rafoth is primarily concerned with his tutors responding to ELL students (as am I), his suggestions are ones that would be applicable for any tutor responding to online papers.

Less is more when it comes to writing comments
The first issue Rafoth delves into is giving too much feedback. Often in an effort to be thorough, student tutors comment on every problem in a paper. They do not necessarily ‘edit’ the paper, but they comment on every missed comma, additional space, and misspelled word along with higher order concerns as well. While thoroughness is admirable, it creates situations where the student is overwhelmed by the number of comments and suggested corrections. If a tutor has more comments than the student has text, the tutor has made too many comments.

Rafoth admits that the conscientious nature of the comments comes from the right place, but it lacks the direction that some ELL students require. If students see too many comments, they may think starting over would be easier. I have seen this tendency with some of my own student tutors and feel the need to fight this habit in myself occasionally.

Focus and consistency is paramount
The second element Rafoth emphasizes is the need for focused and consistent feedback. I have noticed that at times tutors will not have an overall goal with the comments they write. Sometimes it concerns punctuation and other times content. Rafoth mentions it is best to stay on one track when working with an ELL student. The tutor should focus on one issue and giving advice and pointers in regard to that issue. If the tutor starts to discuss other issues in addition to the primary one, it may cause confusion in the student who might believe that the spacing issues in the fourth and sixth paragraphs are linked to the issues with the thesis statement in the first paragraph. Thus maintaining a focus throughout the paper is not only useful for the student, but also for the tutor.

Direct but polite feedback is regarded as most helpful
Rafoth’s third suggestion is the one I struggle with the most. He mentions direct, yet polite feedback is the most useful and helps to build the confidence the student has in the tutor. Frequently, when offering feedback, I write a sentence like: “Perhaps you might want to consider thinking about it this way,” or “It might be beneficial for you to restate your thesis at some point in your conclusion.” When I reread my comments, I make them more positive and declarative statements as opposed to suggestive and wishy-washy comments.

Statements like the ones above are not useful as the student may think the tutor is unsure of their advice. Stronger statements like: “modify your thesis to discuss what the rest of your paper is about” or “you should restate your thesis in your conclusion.” This tendency to offer suggestive comments no doubt comes from a history of wanting the student to maintain ownership over his or her paper. If I come across too strongly with my comments, the paper may become more about what I envision for the paper as opposed to what the student wishes to write. This was useful to reread during this time of online tutoring and was something I passed on to all of my student tutors.

How tutors read a writer’s paper affects the responses
The final point Rafoth makes refers to how a tutor reads a paper and how the feedback will be affected. Tutors need to come into the tutoring session with realistic expectations of what the writer is capable of and where they are academically. Many tutors hope to get their students to the point of being able to produce a solid academic paper at the end of a tutoring session. This is not always possible. In fact, what it does is create unrealistic expectations for some ELL writers early in their academic careers. It is better to meet the student where they are in the writing process, and understand that there will be some errors you may not fix. There might be some issues that are not addressed until the next assignment, but the important thing is to have realistic expectations. An ELL student, taking their first college class, will most likely not produce the same quality paper as a NES (Native English Speaker). Thus, we should not read their papers with those expectations in mind.

Closing Thoughts
Rafoth’s book was a great help to me when I was learning the ins-and-outs of working with ELL students and it has helped me to learn different methods for working with these students. Revisiting his book at this time helped me provide insights to the student tutors I am working with and will help us to better serve the students that will be making use of our online tutoring services for the remainder of the semester.

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The New Normal

Molly Sand on

This post is not typical for our site, but I felt its relevance should be shared. I will be sharing some tips for working with students through this difficult time and some resources I will be using to provide an e-learning environment.

COVID-19 takes on a new light when children need answers and they are looking to their teachers to explain it to them. The pandemic is creating a new learning environment I only briefly want to be a part of. Not seeing my coworkers and students is taking its toll on how I want to be a teacher during this time.

When I became a teacher, I knew I would be responsible for creating a safe learning environment, free from judgment, and open to expression. These responsibilities are beginning to be more challenging as COVID-19 takes a toll on my students and coworkers mental health. The constant discussion, misinformation, and media coverage has made the learning environment chaotic. In my crazy classroom, I like to remind myself of a few tips.

  1. Honesty is the best policy. When something extreme happens in our world, we need to be proactive about the information shared with our students. I am not saying hold back. I am saying when you choose to discuss things, like COVID-19, do so in an educational fashion. For example: students are learning about viruses in science this trimester, which has led their science teacher to dedicate a lesson and discussion about this virus. We may not have all the answers, but we can help them find reliable sources for information. Accuracy is the way to go.
  2. Encourage good hygiene. This may seem like an easy concept, but for some students it is not. Remember to explain to your students the importance of washing their hands, covering their sneezes and coughs, and overall cleanliness. They are still young and need those reminders.
  3. Remain calm. Openly panicking about whether or not you should stock your pantry and cleaning supplies cupboard is not something your students should be witness to. They are children and are exposed to enough on social media, and most likely at home. We as educators are not here to cause our students more stress.
  4. Maintain daily routines. Even though many people are panicking, “the show must go on.” Maintaining daily routines during a regular school issue has proven to be more effective than letting imaginations run wild to the point of panic stricken faces. During this time, I am actively engaging with students about the lessons, projects, and assignments. Yes, I do go off on a tangent to talk about current events with students who feel the need to bring it up. The time spent on that is minimal, because after all we still need to help them be better learners and human beings.
  5. Know your technology. As I am writing this, I am not working. Governor Walz announced on Sunday, March 15th that all schools would be closed by Wednesday, March 18th. The school district I work for decided to shut down schools March 16th, with the possibility of returning March 30th. Due to the closure, I will be teaching through Schoology. This online system let’s me create classes to add lessons and assignments to. Without training, some of the technology required to teach online can be difficult to navigate. Before events like this occur, teachers should reach out to their school’s or district’s technology integration staff. They are there to help you understand and educate using technology. 

 

  1. CamScanner can be used on a laptop, iPad or tablet, and smartphones. I use CamScanner to upload assignments and share documents with students and coworkers. It can be used anywhere with Data or WiFi connection.
  2. Edpuzzle is a unique resource to provide informational and instructive videos. Videos can include voiceover, notes, questions, and more. Luckily, the school I work for uses Schoology and Edpuzzle is an extension teachers are able to use to enhance their lessons.
  3. Google Drive is one of my favorites. I have been able to organize all of my lessons and supplemental materials in one space. It is convenient and accessible on just about any device with Data or WiFi connection. Google Drive is not only about making documents, slide shows, and spreadsheets. It also has the capabilities to create drawings, forms (surveys), and much more.
  4. Teachers Pay Teachers is an amazing resource for teachers. This site brings educators together to share activities and lesson materials for free or low price. Lesson planning can be overwhelming for anyone, especially during distance learning. Take advantage of the great materials ready for distribution.
  5. YouTube can help educators make their own videos or find videos for almost any lesson. Currently, my co-teacher and I are using videos from the “The Story of Stuff Project” channel. These videos are both educational and entertaining. 

Even though we cannot always be prepared for something this extreme, it is important to remind yourself of these tips and resources. I am not a perfect educator, but I do strive to make my learning environment safe and available to all my students.

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Update March 20, 2020: These tips were developed before Governor Walz cancelled school for at least two weeks. I still recommend these tips when teaching students from a distance.

Update April 10, 2020: Schools across the nation have transitioned to distance learning. Minnesota extended the school closure until May 4, 2020.