Field Notes 3- 2/13/13

Elementary School 2: 2/12/13

• First Day at Elementary School 2
  • In the same district as Elementary School 1 where I spent all of first semester
  • More standardized ELL Access Tests
  • I found out that while Elementary School 1 has 29 ELL students, Elementary School 2 only has 8 ELL students
    • Why such a difference?
      • Same district, same type of area- affluent, upper-middle class
      • Before we started testing students, we discussed the new student at Elementary School 1, “Joey,” who I met in the previous week
        • Came in for testing- scored under a 1 on the W-APT test
          • W-APT test= very first test ELL’s take
          • Under 1 is the lowest my placement teacher has ever seen in an incoming ELL student
            • How will he fit into the classroom?
            • There are some lower level ELL students in his class, but all of them have at least been in ELL since September
              • Nina likes the idea of having high and low level students in the same class- higher students feel like they’re helping, lower students have an example
              • I agree to a certain extent, but also think there’s a chance that certain students could feel burdened.
              • I don’t think my classroom teacher is abusing the system, but I do think it could lead to that
• Joey’s dad asked Nina if Joey’s mom, Tara, can come in and volunteer once a week
  • Nina is for the idea- although Tara does not know any English and may not be able to help in the traditional sense, she can learn from the class and make her son feel comfortable.
  • Problem is getting Tara to the school- no car, can’t speak English, etc.
  • Nina was originally going to pick her up and take her home once a week, but now I will probably do it
    • Very interested to see how these car rides will be- very short, but she does not speak my language and I don’t speak hers
    • All conversation/planning had to go through her husband
    • Testing Session 1- Tier C Grades 3-5
      • One boy (3rd grader from China) and one girl (4th grader from Korea)
      • Writing section
      • Students were complaining about the test- “it’s long,” “do I really have to do more?” “I don’t want to”
      • They also asked why they had to take the test- Nina answered by- “to measure improvement or lack there of”
      • I saw another problem with students understanding the directions, even with Tier C (high level) students)
      • Testing Session 2- Tier B Grades 3-5
        • One girl (3rdgrader from Korea (I think))
          • Listening section
          • Nothing notable- test went smoothly
          • While the Tier B student was tested, Nina asked if I would organize a box of old ELL books, games, flashcards, etc.
            • She asked if I could not only organize, but pick out and show her tools that I think would be helpful specifically for Joey
              • I felt like I was playing a huge role in Joey’s early education in America. I enjoyed the task and was glad she trusted me to do it but it was a bit stressful
              • I did not finish the organizing (it was a huge, unorganized box with a lot of materials) but will finish tomorrow

Elementary School 2: 2/13/12

• I got the chance to see more of the physical building of the school today (more going to different classes to pick students up, etc.)
  • I was struck by the physical differences between the differences between Elementary School 1 and Elementary School 2
    • ES1- older, seems more crowded (not sure if it actually is), more cramped.
    • ES2- newer, spread out, well organized
      • Do both schools get the same amount of money/resources?
        • It doesn’t seem like it to me, but my placement teacher didn’t know
        • Neither building is under-resourced or in bad condition, but ES2 is clearly a little bit nicer.
        • ES2 also has smartboards in every class, I don’t think ES1 does
          • Adding them could be a gradual process but I’m not sure
          • Do students at one school typically perform better than those from the other school? If its ES2, could it be attributed to different resources?
          • Testing Session 1- Kindergarten
            • I had never encountered Kindergartners before during my placement since the district (state?) does not mandate the number of hours they must go
              • Nina pulls them out whenever she has extra time and its more sporadic
• One girl from China
• The Kindergarten test is not tiered so all Kindergarteners take the same test
  • There are the same parts (speaking, listening, reading, writing)
  • The sections are more intertwined as opposed to the older grades tests where each part is done sepearately
• Facilitated almost entirely by the teacher, even the writing portions
  • Used flashcards (for matching things, etc.), a story book, and a story board in addition to the test booklet (the test was majority supplemental materials and little was written by the student in the test booklet).
• I thought the test was set up better than the 1st-2nd and 3rd-5th tests since it allowed the teacher to give an example or model the task before the student began. The directions were still a bit confusing but not as bad as the 1st-2nd and 3rd-5thtests.
  • I was concerned, however, about the jump between the Kindergarten test to the 1st-2nd grade test. The 1st-2nd grade test is very similar to 3rd-5thand much different from Kindergarten.
    • More of a progression is necessary
    • Students need to progress and to be challenged as they advance through grades but it seems like too large of a jump from one grade to another. It makes sense why some of the 1st graders struggle as they may be used to a Kindergarten style test.
    • Testing session 2- Tier A Grades 1-2
      • One boy from China
      • Speaking and writing section of the test
        • He really struggled. He is new to the country and cannot form sentences yet. He still uses simple words when speaking in English.
        • Testing session 3- Tier B Grades 3-5
          • Same third grade girl from the previous day
          • Reading section
            • Test once again went smoothly. I sense she’ll be moving up a level since Tier B is not difficult for her.
            • Every student I saw at ES2 is of Asian descent, while at ES1, this is not the case.
              • ES1 has Middle Eastern, European, and Hispanic students, in addition to Asian students
              • Why the difference?

Questions I’m left with…

• Why are there such differences within the same district?
  • Number of ELL students
  • Physical setting
  • Student background/home country