A small moment

It is a reward unlike any monetary bonus or plaque. I can't speak for other educators, but I live for the moment when there is that small, fleeting glimmer that there has been a connection between students and teacher.At this time in the school year, I am still sorting out student learning styles and personalities. Still trying to figure out how to engage some students or get out of the way of others.I noticed one of my more quiet second language learners, one who hardly engages in eye contact, trying to avoid any engagement with me for several days. As part of interactive read-aloud, we had been working on verbal stems for acceptable (and polite! Politician take note!) discourse - "I agree with ____ because.....", "I disagree with ____ because....", "In addition to what ____ said, I think...."). This activity may sound stilted to you, but for my students who don't really speak in sentences - second language or not - it is a critical building block for oral language, socially acceptable expression of opinions, and written language.So yesterday, as we "discussed" the plot of Kevin Henkes Julius, Baby of the World, I put my new friend on the spot. At first she did what many second language learners do - she shook her head no, she averted her eyes, and she locked her lips down. Those of you who know me, will know that wasn't going to fly.So gently, I fed her the stem.... and after 2 or 3 cajoling nudges, out came the most wonderful contribution to our discussion! And with that, a small glimmer of a smile previously hidden from me. The moment was so brief that I wasn't sure I had caught it. But for this one student, it seemed to convey, a new confidence and a connection to not only me, but to the safety of our classroom group.And that is exactly why I love teaching!

It's the Vocabulary, Part 2

I marvel at the quickness with which second language learners pick up on the structure of English. Most of my kids give new constructs a try without too much fear of seeming like they don't know what they're doing.  As an aside -- and as an Italian/French language" studier", I wish I could be more like them. Maybe then I would actually start to learn another language.Putting the constructs aside, however, the great big deterrent for kids is vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Even in children's literature. Case in point, this month's Response to Literature was based on the story "City Green" by Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan. One of the major characters, Old Man Hammer,  transforms throughout the course of the story and we ask the students to respond to how that character changed.Problem number 1: the character's name. Most of my kids were familiar with the term "Hammer" but had absolutely no idea that Hammer could be someone's last name. And why would they? Once we finally got past the fact that a hammer could be a tool and someone's name, we had to deal with the expression "hard as nails". Wait a minute! Nails are things you glue on to your fingers, right? Or something you hammer to hang up a picture? What does being as hard as a nail have to do with some old guy?Here's just one place where students with another language background struggle. Now layer on a high-stakes reading test which uses grade level texts similar to "City Green". And take away the vocabulary and language support provided by the teacher. Seems to me that the playing field is already seriously unlevelled. My students will have to jump over the hurdle of vocabulary before they can even show that they can respond to a text with the same level of finesse that their native English-speaking counterparts do.I'm thinking of this as I prepared another grade level mentor text that I want to use to revisit inferencing this coming week.  The book's title alone, "Tight Times" will probably cause some confusion. The vocabulary support, the explanations of idiomatics will be there so that we can focus on inferencing a plot with which most of these students will have copious familiarity: losing jobs and living frugally.The students will be able to access the comprehension skill, they will be able to apply it to another similar text ("Gettin' Through Thursday"). And we will troubleshoot the vocabulary and idiomatic expressions to assist them. Test scores don't tell the whole story, particularly when so much vocabulary presents such a significant impediment.