Student teacher- Need interview ?'s Answered

[Post]

Hi,
I am still working on getting everything done. I need a few questions answered by a SECONDARY teacher.
Any takers?

1. What does it mean to be a good secondary teacher?
2. What specific practices do you have to support your ideas/theories?
3. In your school, how do you instruct the ELL students? Team teaching? Separate class? Pull out?
4. Do you think that is effective? How would you change the methods of teaching ELL students? Why?
5. What are the most important expectations/guidelines to establish for your ELL students?
6. What do secondary ELL students struggle with the most? How do you help them overcome?
7. What is your greatest challenge as an ESL instructor?
8. What is your advice for a first year teacher?

Thanks for your help
H Post

[Chef Dave]

1. What does it mean to be a good secondary teacher?

1. Teach to the state standards.
2. Be firm, fair, and consistent in matters of class management.
3. Have a sense of humor.
4. Listen to your students.
5. Let the students get to know you as an individual while maintaining appropriate boundaries.
6) Maintain high expectations with regards to academic performance and student behavior
7) Support/enforce school policy. Nothing undermines policy more quickly than when teachers don't consistently enforce the rules. Cell phones are a classic example. If your school has a zero tolerance policy regarding cell phones and you fail to confiscate phones upon sight, what happens? Students start playing teachers off against each other. Parents use this as leverage to demand phones back that were confiscated citing your class as an example i.e. "Why did Ms. Brown confiscate my child's phone when Mr. Jones didn't?"
8) Diversify instructional methodologies to maintain interest and to accommodate diverse learning styles.
9) Provide prompt feedback i.e. grade promptly and add constructive comments as needed

2. What specific practices do you have to support your ideas/theories?

Cooperative learning with hands-on activities, paired discussion, class brainstorming, simulations, cross curricular thematic instruction, non-traditional group presentations i.e. song, poetry, skits, student produced digital recordings for commercials, newscasts, or documentaries, collages ...

3. In your school, how do you instruct the ELL students? Team teaching? Separate class? Pull out?

In Arizona, ELL students are mainstreamed. All teachers in this state must have SEI (structured English immersion) endorsements.

4. Do you think that is effective? How would you change the methods of teaching ELL students? Why?

ELL seems effective at the secondary level. I don't know about primary or elementary. Generally, by the time kids get to high school, they've already developed a fair amount of fluency.

5. What are the most important expectations/guidelines to establish for your ELL students?

1. Work may need to be modified.
2. Lesson objectives need to be posted.
3. New vocabulary needs to be posted.
4. Teachers need to introduce new vocabulary relevant to the day's lesson.
5. ELL students need to use this vocabulary. They also need to speak in complete sentences.
6. Teachers should prompt ELL students as necessary to help them articulate what they would like to say.
7. ELL students need opportunities to develop fluency. Paired sharing or small group discussion is a big help.
8. Teachers need to monitor ELL students to make sure they're taking advantage of paired sharing or small group discussion.
9. ELL students need the opportunity to integrate oral discussion with written information. Worksheets or textbooks can supplement instruction.
10. ELL students need the opportunity to write by taking notes, answering short answer questions etc.

6. What do secondary ELL students struggle with the most? How do you help them overcome?

Specialized vocabulary is probably the single biggest issue. Teachers typically post new vocabulary on the board, model its use, use it in the lesson, and encourage ELL students to use them in group or class discussions.

7. What is your greatest challenge as an ESL instructor?

The biggest challenge is probably the modification of lessons to accommodate ELL students. Excessive focus on accommodating ELL students can penalize non-ELL students. The single greatest mistake made by novice teachers with regard to ELL students is "dumbing down" a lesson to accommodate that student. The quality of lessons should never be reduced in the interest of expediency or convenience.

8. What is your advice for a first year teacher?

1. Learn and teach the state standards.
2. Learn to manage your time by prioritizing what needs to be done as opposed to what you would like to do.
3. Set time aside to relax/unwind. You can't spend every waking hour in the classroom or on school related work. Teachers who don't build relaxation time into their weekly schedules are prime candidates for burn out related to stress, physical exhaustion, and/or depression.
4. Adopt an attitude of self reflection. As time permits, think about what you've been doing. Identify techniques that work for you. Identify problem areas. Keep what works. Adjust what doesn't.
5.Avoid gossip. You never know who is listening. Some schools have problems with internal politics and you don't want to alienate yourself by making comments that might get back to your building administrator or department head.
6. Be aware that administrators expect teachers to volunteer to sponsor clubs or to coach various sports. This is especially true in small rural schools where high school teachers often have multiple roles.
7. Don't be afraid of the students. Don't take any of their comments personally. High school students may look like young adults, but they're still kids. As a novice teacher, you could well be only four years older than a high school senior. Don't let this faze you. Stay calm.
8. Avoid the buddy-buddy approach made by many novices. Remember that there are boundaries between teachers and students. You are not there to be their friend. You are there to teach. Example: Maria doesn't have her homework assignment. You like Maria. You want Maria to like you. She bats her eyelashes and begs for another day to turn in the assignment. If you said that students who don't have their assignments will receive a 0/F, you HAVE to follow through. Why? If you don't you'll undermine your entire class. If you give Maria a pass, you're telling her (and everyone else), that your expectations don't matter. Come the next time assignments are due, not only will Maria not have her assignment but Hector, George, Charles, and Rebeca will also be missing their assignments.

[Post]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I did not expect such a long response. I really like what you have say. I will be keeping this response in my quick reference binder. I appreciate your advice and the time you spent on your answer.
Thanks again!
H Post