Last Semester

After I take my finals at the end of July, I will be finished with my masters program. I can hardly believe the road is ending. It has been such a struggle for me to take all of these courses and work at the same time. I never thought I would make it and here I am sitting on the edge of it! I've learned alot and I'm ready to apply it all in my classroom each year. I started my education courses (undergrad) in the spring of 2006. It seems like so long ago that I took that leap and I cannot believe how far I've come. I hope I can survive 4 or 5 more weeks to see this journey come to an end!

5 more weeks!

I know it seems that I am flipping and flopping from one subject to the next, but I am trying to tie them all in to my overall topic! I cannot believe there are only 5 more weeks of summer. It has truly flown by. I can't help but feel miserable at this thought! I have enjoyed slepping until 8, instead of 6! I have had such a busy summer already and it makes me wonder about my kids. I always catch myself thinking about what Sally Sue or Johnny is doing at the moment. I especially wonder about my ELL children because I know what hard situations they come from. I wonder if they are ready to get away from home and come back to school? I guess I'm always going to wonder about my kids...summer or not.

Overwhelmed!

I am taking Dr. Tunks and Dr. Kinniburgh's online courses along with 2 others this summer. In Dr. Tunk's and Dr. K's courses we have to have "literature chats" or "book clubs". I am completely overwhelmed by this! It is making me so nervous! I realize the time for the chats is coming up fast and I cannot possibly see how it's all going to work out. I've never done anything like this in a course before. It's overwhelming! Especially two different chats! Oh the joy of summer, online courses! We're almost there though!

It is approaching...

I didn't realize it was already June 22nd. It seems like the month June has gone in a flash. That just makes me realize how quick the rest of the summer will fly by as well. Scary! It's so hard to believe that last year at this time, I was terrified I wouldn't find a job...this year I am anxious and excited to get back in the classroom. Yes I know what a dork, but honestly I have learned so much this past year and this summer that I am ready to put it all to use. An area I definately feel more confident in is struggling students/ ELL students. I know there is a large number of both coming my way next year and I am ready for them.

Training in the Summer

The topic of my blog was ELL students and Language and I kind of got off topic there for a couple of posts. Anyway, back on track...I moaned and groaned when I saw how much training (workshops) I had to attend this summer. However, after attending the first few this month, I really did see how it was going to help me and benefit my students. This past week I did a six traits of writing workshop. I learned alot and I was introduced to so many ways I could get my ELL students reading. They are so reluctant to try anything new, especially reading, so I got some really useful tips on how to get them pumped up about it! So all the fussing of training was a waste of whining because I really am benefiting!

STRESS

Summer? Who said summer was really time off? I have been just as busy these past two weeks of "summer" than I was during the last month of school! I guess it is because I am taking four classes, but still! I am also attending a lot of workshops and training for my job this summer. I have one tomorrow for six traits of writing and I just have no idea how I am going to fit it all in! On top of everything I have my comps. on Saturday which completely overwhelms me. I pray I can make it to the end of July. I can't even think about getting that far right now, but I hope I can do it! Once my classes are over, registration is on July 29th so I'll be back on the grind! It never ends!

Change of Subject

Alright, as I'm looking around I see everyone is blogging about very every day things and here I am blogging about school. What a nerd am I? I know! Anyhow, I'll being a little chat on something more interesting I guess...Comps. In two weeks I am taking my comprehensive exam for my graduate program. Scary! No idea what to expect or how to go about getting ready for this. If anyone has any tips, I'd really appreciate it!

Hope

Thank you for commenting! I'm not so sure if I'm doing this blog the right way or not, but thanks for responding to me! Anyway, after I posted last week about my ELL students and their struggle with Language Arts, I just started thinking of ways I actual did help them. First of all, ELL students are hardworkers. They do not want to be different and they all come from strong work ethics at home. This lights fire underneath them and I saw them work in a different way from all of my other general ed. students. This is the glimmer of hope in these students! They may be at a disadvantage linguistically, but with their strong work ethic, they make up for it. Like I said before, I saw half of my ELL kids really step up and get on that level with the other kids. The others tried hard as well, but are still overcoming the barrier. This is something their 4th grade teacher will have to push with them as well! Their battle is far from over! However, knowing they have drive is the definately the hope inside the struggle. Thanks for reading and posting!

Brick Walls

I'll start my blog off by discussing "brick walls" ELL students seem to hit when it comes to the subject area of Language Arts. It is hard for an 8 year old to learn to write in narrative, expository, and descriptive modes anyway...throw a language barrier into the mix...borderline impossible! That's what I thought in August of 2009 at least! Being put into a classroom, as a first year, with 6 ELL students was quite overwhelming to say the least. These children were from Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Spanish background. As the year progressed and we explained to mom and dad the importance of help at home and how much practice was needed just with basic things like reading out loud and learning basic vocabulary, 3 of those 6 students progressed to general ed. students! They ended the year with language not being a factor in their ability to learn. They learned to overcome the obstacles with the help of myself, at home, and the ELL teacher. Proud! On the other hand, the 3 students that didn't make much progress were those students whose parents did not speak english, no family member spoke english, and had no motivation to succeed. I found these students struggling so much when it came to basic Language Arts grades. Proper grammar usage in their speaking was suffering because of their lack of support so you can only imagine their grammar usage on paper. I just believe that if these kids are properly supported it is so hard for them to overcome the "brick wall" or barrier if you will. What does everyone think about ELL children and learning to write in the modes? This was just a little jump start!