Description: Today we did a small activity called one stay one stray. In this activity it helped me to think deeper into the ELL articles. I understand the strategies that it was advocating but now i am thinking about how it would help certain students.
Analysis: In varying whole class response it is easy to see that this is a warm- up or guided practice activity to check for understanding. But now i see how it helps ELL by relieveing the stress of the usual class involvement. Instead of spot picking students and putting them one the spot, which usually flusters and makes ELL’s uncomfortable, the teacher could easily Use hand signals from the entire class to check for understanding. ELL’s would have less stress and begining Elnglish speakers would feel more comfortable in interacting with the class.
Reflection:
Good comments, John. You have discovered an important idea to keep in mind as a teacher. Never embarrass students in front of their peers. Teenagers (and all people) don’t want to be singled out in front of others. They don’t want to appear uncapable. So, how can teachers make sure that they don’t embarrass students? Allow them to volunteer to share answers. Allow them to pair up with another student and share answers. Ask questions that are respectful towards students. When students don’t know the answer, validate their efforts and ask additional open-ended questions to help them arrive at the correct answer. We teachers must be sensitive to our students’ feelings. NB