Alex Tucker PortfolioTucker, Alexander

Monday, July 20, 2015

Table of ContentsGraduate TESOL Portfolio

Introductory Documents

Domain 1: Language

Domain 2: Culture

Domain 3: Planning, Implementing & Managing Instruction

Domain 4: Assessment

Domain 5: Professionalism

Action Research

Graduate TESOL Portfolio

Introductory Documents

Cover

Alexander M. Tucker

TESOL for International Educators

Master's Portfolio

2015

Table of Contents

Domain 1: Language

Component 1a: Knowledge ofLanguage

Element 1.a.1. Phonology Element 1.a.3. Syntax Element 1.a.8. English LanguageVariation

Language Transfer Error AnalysisProject­ Nepali to English Learning Log: Top Ten Words

Component 1b: Knowledge ofLanguage Acquisition andDevelopment

Element 1.b.1. Exposure to English Research Paper

Domain 2: CultureComponent 2a: Knowledge ofNature and Role of Culture

Element 2.a.2. Effects of RacismMulticulturalism Paper:Multiculturalism in Japan

Component 2b: Knowledge ofCultural Groups and Identity

Element 2.b.2. Cultural Identityand Learning

Responsive Teaching Analysis

Domain 3: Planning, Implementing, and Managing InstructionComponent 3a: Planning forStandards­Based ESL and Element 3.a.4. Limited Schooling Writing Specific Lesson Plan

Content Instruction

Component 3b: Managing andImplementing Standards­BasedESL and Content Instruction

Element 3.b.2. Authentic LanguageUse Element 3.b.9. Relevance andCoherence Element 3.b.11. ContentPresentation

Unit Plan

Component 3c: Using ResourcesEffectively in ESL and ContentInstruction

Element 3.c.4. TechnologicalResources

School Culture Presentation

Domain 4: Assessment

Component 4a: Issues ofAssessment for ESL

Element 4.a.2. Quality Indicators Element 4.a.1. Purposes ofAssessment Element 4.a.4. Categories

EdTPA Unit Plan AssessmentWebsite Review SIFE Student Essay

Component 4b: LanguageProficiency Assessment

Element 4.b.5. Multiple sources EdTPA Unit Plan Assessment

Domain 5: ProfessionalismComponent 5a: ESL Research andHistory

Element 5.a.1. Historical Context Teaching Strategies Paper

Component 5b: Partnerships andAdvocacy

Element 5.b.1. Advocacy forPeople

Final Paper/ Letter Responses

Component 5c ProfessionalDevelopment and Collaboration

Element 5.c.3. CollaborativeTeaching

Final Paper/ Letter Responses

Action Research Paper Field Research/ Book Review

Preface

Dear Reader,Thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio, my classmates and I have worked very hard in

this program and this portfolio is the culmination of all that work. Within, you will find examples ofall the domains, all the various facets, of my TESOL for International Educators master’s program. Eachof these domains demonstrate my understanding of the elements of my program, and show how much moredeveloped I have become as a teacher thanks to being enrolled at Nazareth College.

Domain 1 deals with Language, within it I have examples of how being from a different culture witha completely different language can affect learning English, I also demonstrate how to effectivelyshare that knowledge with other teachers in a concise manner. I talk about topics such as how Englishis changed and shaped over the years, something that native speakers usually give little thought to,however it needs to be thought about when you are teaching students from diverse backgrounds andcultures.

Domain 2 talks about Culture, specifically the effects of racism in the classroom and how thecultural identities of your students need to be addressed and appreciated for them to learneffectively. These two examples are completely opposite from each other, but are both aspects ofculture. They are also things that I rarely thought about before my program, but now I know about theseeffects, I cannot stop thinking about them!

Domain 3 is all about Planning, Implementing, and Managing Instruction by Using ResourcesEffectively within the classroom. This was a completely foreign topic to me before beginning thismaster’s program, but it is something that is crucial to teaching. Without these steps, teaching wouldbe very difficult, almost impossible, and my students would most likely learn little to nothing.

Assessment is what I talk about in Domain 4. I made sure to include aspects of assessing students,resources and ourselves as teachers. All are invaluable skills to possess as a future teacher. It isimportant to be able to assess your students, that is what most people think about when they hear“assessment,” however it is just as important, if not more, to assess yourself as a teacher at everyavailable opportunity, and to assess the resources you wish to use in your classroom. There are always

improvements we can make to ourselves and the tools we use to teach our students.Professionalism is the topic of Domain 5, and is possibly one of the most important aspects of

this program. This is something that must be experienced; it is incredibly difficult to teach. Somecritical points of professionalism are working hand in hand with content area, and other TESOL teachersat your school, as well as how to advocate for your students effectively. Through interacting with myclassmates, my professors, and students during my internship program I was able to get a betterunderstanding of how important professionalism is, and how to interact professionally with mycolleagues.

The final portion of my portfolio contains my Action Research, an essay example of all theresearch that I have conducted over the course of my program. I chose an example that showcases bothfield work­based research, and book­based research, as both are necessary at times when writing papersin academia.

Thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio, I hope that you enjoy it.Sincerely,Alexander M. TuckerNazareth College '15

Resumé

ALEXANDER TUCKER RESUME

Domain 1: LanguageComponent 1a: Knowledge of Language, Element 1.a.1. Phonology and Element 1.a.3. Syntax LanguageTransfer Error Analysis Project­ Nepali to English

TSL 620 Language and Literacy Development for English Language LearnersSpring 2015We were to examine one of the ten foreign languages that are prevalent in Rochester, and compare their phonology, morphology, sentence structure etc. to English,predicting potential problem areas for ELLs that spoke these languages as an L1.

Component 1a: Knowledge of Language, Element 1.a.8. English Language VariationLearning Log: Top Ten Words

TSL 603 Linguist and Second Language Acquisition Fall 2014 Our assignment was to choose ten of the new linguistic terms that we had learned and to define them, relating them back to real­world experiences.

Component 1b: Knowledge of Language Acquisition and Development, Element 1.b.1. Exposure to English

Research Paper

TSL 603 Linguist and Second Language Acquisition Fall 2014 We had to come up with a topic to research, mine was on how the English language has changed for Chinese and Japanese ELLs since they began learning it, focusing

on their instruction in their home countries vs the instruction/acquisition they acquired in America.

Domain Narrative: Domain 1

Introduction

Domain 1 is all about language, its acquisition, development, phonology, and morphology. There are many varied theories about how language is best learned or

acquired. Indeed, the very nature of how languages are assimilated into somebody’s brain (are they best learned, or acquired?; how should we apply this to our ELLs?) is

debated. In this domain analysis, I aim to prove that I have deepened my knowledge of “language” as it pertains to teaching ELLs. I will do this through an analysis of each

of the above mentioned artifacts; drawing on linguistic theories such as Krashen’s i+1, and relate how I used them in my work back to the domain of language.

Language Transfer Error Analysis­ Nepali to English

This project was done for TSL 620 Language and Literacy Development for English Language Learners in the spring semester of 2015. In this project we were given

ten different languages to choose from, all highly spoken foreign languages in the Rochester area, that a teacher might actually come across teaching here. We were to

examine the languages’ morphology, sentence structure, grammar patterns etc. and compare them to English, noting where there were differences and similarities. We then

created pamphlets with the information that could easily be shared with others. Within these pamphlets, we were encouraged to give some brief strategies to help these

students learn more effectively. The great thing about this project is that it taught us how to assess student’s based on their L1, to locate possible problem areas that we need

to be aware of in the future. Nepali speakers had quite a few hurdles to pass, the morphology of the language is completely different from English, written in the Devanagari

script which is similar to Hindi; sentence structure and grammar patterns are different from English as well. The Nepali language also has a highly developed, ridged respectful

hierarchy, which permeates the culture, lacking in the English language and American culture. This allowed me to know that students coming from a background in Nepali

would need extra help with these areas to make them feel more confident in their language abilities. These challenges, morphology, phonology, and systems of politeness

recalled George Yule (2014) in his book, The Study of Language.

Although I didn’t mention any theories directly in the pamphlet, I was influenced by the concept of teaching explicitly certain things to students that would not be

readily understood. This is a technique that both Cristina Igoa (1995) in her book, The Inner World of the Immigrant Child, and Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe

(2006) in their book, Understanding by Design. Phonology, the study of how sounds can be put together to form words, plays a big part in the learning of a language.

There are several sounds in the Nepali language, not present in English, and because Nepali is an agglutinative language, the sounds that go together to form a word can be

quite a bit longer than in English. This is something that will affect Nepali students when learning English, but it can also be extrapolated out to cover any other language.

Knowledge of how a language differs from English can empower teachers to know what role phonology will play in the students’ education. If the L1 phonology is similar to

English, the teacher might find they have little to teach, but if it contains many sounds that English does not, and is missing some of the sounds present in English, then they

teacher must teach these, and keep teaching them until students have them down.

The alphabet for one, the Devanagari alphabet is similar to Hindi and wholly dissimilar to English. Grammar and syntax, sentence structure, would also have to be

explicitly taught, because they are so different. Syntax plays a BIG role in English. Where we put our words in a sentence determines what role they play. This is not as

important in Nepali, where the role of the word is dictated by adding suffixes. Because syntax is so important, it is necessary to teach it explicitly to students that come from

Nepal, and any other students whose L1 has a similar syntax to it. In my next piece I examine, I will talk more about things like loan­words. This is something that Nepali

doesn’t have, not from English at any rate. I feel that through this assignment, I deepened my understanding of how languages are different, and how this affects the special

consideration that must be made to individualize teaching methods for specific students. I also learned how to analyze students’ L1s and target specific areas that might be

difficult for them to learn; I also learned how to quickly organize that information and present it in a coherent manner so that my colleagues can learn from it as well.

Learning Logs

This piece was completed for my TSL 603 Linguist and Second Language Acquisition class, in the Fall 2014 semester. The goal of it was for our professor to gauge

how we understood various terminology and theories, through defining them and relating them back to our lives in some way. It was an interesting exercise, because it also

allowed us to see how well we thought we understood something, and gave us the opportunity to see these theories at work in our daily lives. Some of the terms I chose to

use that relate to the domain of language are: Productivity, Cultural Transmission, Phonology, Neologism, and Historical Linguistics.

This assignment relates back to language clearly through the definitions that I chose, as these concepts are the cornerstone of many linguistic domains. Through learning

about these terms, I was able to deepen my knowledge of how languages are learned and acquired. Knowing these terms helps us as teachers to understand some hurdles

that our students will face: not only do they have to know words that are originally English, but they have to know about the wide variation in where various words come

from, and how it can affect their spelling and pronunciation. They also have to learn to deal with the various deviations from “standardized English” through pronunciation

variations like the cockney glottal stop, mentioned in my piece. Through this exercise I was also introduced to some such examples within the English language (such as

skyscraper being a loan­translation word), that I had had no prior knowledge of. This made me realize that although I’m a native English speaker, there is still much for me to

learn about my own language, and that we as teachers learn while teaching our students. These phrases relate back to my transfer error project through terms like Phonology

and Cultural Transmission, and connect to my next piece of evidence through expressions like neologism and historical linguistics.

Research Paper

This piece was completed, like the last, for my TSL 603 Linguist and Second Language Acquisition class, in the Fall 2014 semester. We had to choose a topic to

research, and pick people to interview, and then write the essay; it was a full semester project that required much planning and time­management. Frequent, scheduled

check­ins with the professor helped to keep me on track, and not to become overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task. Through this project I learned much about the

interviewing process, making questionnaires, and that sometimes even the best­laid plans can go awry (some of my interviewees couldn’t interview at the last moment). I also

learned that I have a particular interest in the field of Historical Linguistics, and may want to pursue that for another masters or a PhD in the future.

My topic was all about language, focusing on how the English language has changed for Chinese and Japanese ELLs since they had begun learning it. I focused on both

changes within the country (such as new slang terms), and changes that occurred due to shifting from a country where English is taught as a foreign language, to one where it

is the primary language of instruction. The paper’s topic relates directly to the domain, exposure to English, and it also refers nicely back to my previous piece, dealing with

historical linguistics, and neologisms. From a language standpoint, I was able to observe from first­hand accounts how the English language has changed on a subjective­base

for the ELLs that I interviewed. I was also able to discern where some words or patterns of speech had become fossilized, where some minor interference from their L1

might have affected speech patterns, and which changes took place in their speech patterns as a direct result of being immersed in an English speaking country. It was a very

interesting (albeit drawn out) process, and I believe that it will aid me in my future plans as a teacher to know how language has the ability to change, even in a period as

short as four years. It will also serve me to know how to conduct such research, and write these papers because as a teacher, I might choose to publish papers such as this

in the future.

In this analysis, I examined how these pieces of evidence prove that I have gained knowledge of the domain of language, through new vocabulary, research skills, and

understanding of different languages as they relate back to the English language, and how this will affect the teaching and learning of English. My artifacts relate directly to

concepts of culture such as phonology, syntax, English language variation, and ELL exposure to English. Through examining these pieces together I feel that I have come to a

deeper understanding of how the various classes they come from, and indeed all my classes I have taken, fit together and teach us ITSL students what language is, and how

we can use that knowledge to better serve our students in their goals of learning English.

Works Cited

Igoa, C. (1995). The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Tomlinson, C., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction & understanding by design connecting content and kids. Alexandria, Va.: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Yule, G. (2014). The study of language (5th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Evidence (1)

Language Transfer Error Analysis Nepali-English

Evidence (2)

Learning Log: Top Ten Words

Evidence (3)

Research Paper

Evidence (4, optional)

Domain 2: CultureComponent 2a: Knowledge of Nature and Role of Culture, Element 2.a.2. Effects of RacismMulticulturalism Paper: Multiculturalism in Japan

TSL 604 Foundations of Bilingual and Multicultural EducationFall 2014Our assignment was to write a paper on multicultural laws and practices in either a foreign country (that we would be teaching in in the future) or recent reforms withinthe USA dealing with multiculturalism.

Component 2b: Knowledge of Cultural Groups and Identity, Element 2.b.2. Cultural Identity and Learning

Responsive Teaching Analysis

TSL 605 Culture and Context in TESOL/Bilingual Education Spring 2015 Our assignment was to read through Cristina Igoa’s The Inner World of the Immigrant Child and to write an analysis of what responsive teaching is according to

Igoa, bringing in other authors’ opinions on the topic to ultimately formulate our own theories about responsive teaching

Domain Narrative: Domain 2

Introduction

Domain 2 is all about culture: cultural values, how culture can affect learning in the home and in the classroom, the negative effects of racism, and how you can gain and

use knowledge of a culture to provide a better­rounded teaching and learning experience to your students. In my opinion, culture is one of the most important aspects of

teaching ELLs, as a cultural faux pas can severely impact your students’ learning. Likewise, connecting to your students via culture can bond students of a similar cultural

heritage, and activate background knowledge to deepen their connection to the subject­matter. This is in part, what responsive teaching is about: you need to understand

your students’ specific needs, and teach to them as much as is possible. Thomlinson and McTighe (2006) talk about this and Understanding by Design in their book,

Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design, which I referenced within my first piece of evidence.

Multiculturalism Paper: Multiculturalism in Japan

This assignment was for my TSL 604 Foundations of Bilingual and Multicultural Education class, completed in Fall 2014. The assignment was to talk about recent

legislation in the USA regarding multiculturalism in the classroom, or to talk about multiculturalism practices in another country. As I am an ITSL student, it chose to write

about multiculturalism in Japan, the country I am planning to teach in once I complete my degree. After the completion of our papers we presented our findings to the class.

This paper is related directly to culture, specifically to the negative effects of racism in a culture and in a classroom because Japan, although seemingly fairly multicultural

on the surface is in reality not all that accepting of foreigners or minority students. As a result of completing this assignment I feel that I am better prepared to deal with

situations that might arise within the classroom as a result of bullying minority students. This applies to ethnic minorities, as well as anyone that might have a learning disability,

or differs from the majority population of students in any way. I feel that just knowing that this is a problem beforehand gives me the upper hand as a teacher, and that this

will allow me to better react to such behavior.

On a more personal note, my research also better prepared me for what I may face as a foreigner living in Japan. The research pointed to a trend in Japan to Japanisize

concepts: foreign food, clothing etc. Even foreigners themselves are put through this process. By far the easiest way of becoming a Japanese citizen is to be naturalized.

According to the research that I found (which I admit was biased towards proving that Japanese policies regarding foreigners are unfair), the Japanese government makes

the process of becoming a permanent resident and still retaining your cultural sense of self very difficult. It is interesting to note that this is only the case when a person is

planning on living in Japan on a full­time basis, and isn’t simply residing there for study or a short­term assignment. All of this relates back to the concept that the Japanese

culture must be preserved, and stay unique as it has due to the country’s history of isolation. However, I am thankful to say that it seems as though this is slowly changing. It

might not be during my time as a teacher in Japan, but future generations wishing to live and work in Japan may find that Japan has loosened its reigns a bit, and is more

accepting of minorities being minorities, appreciating what minorities bring to a classroom and to a culture. In stark contrast to this piece of evidence, I submit my second

piece of evidence for the domain of culture.

Responsive Teaching Analysis

This assignment was done for TSL 605 Culture and Context in TESOL/Bilingual Education during the Spring semester of 2015. Our task was to read through Cristina

Igoa’s (1995) The Inner World of the Immigrant Child and to write an analysis of what responsive teaching is according to Igoa, bringing in other authors’ opinions on the

topic to ultimately formulate our own theories about responsive teaching. I chose to incorporate Thomlinson and McTighe’s (206) Integrating Differentiated Instruction +

Understanding by Design, which I feel is closely related to the concept of responsive teaching. This piece of evidence is almost a complete turn­about from the previous

one, but I feel that both pieces illustrate important aspects of culture: that culture can be used to bring together and facilitate learning, or to isolate and hinder it.

When I first began reading Igoa’s text, I had little to no idea what responsive teaching was. That has changed a great deal since my first days of class. Our class was

almost entirely about responsive teaching, and I feel that this paper emulates that, and showcases the importance of being able to adapt to your students’ needs based on

culture and the situation. The key point that Igoa emphasized over and over again is that one crucial part of responsive teaching is understanding students’ cultural values, and

working within those values when you are able to. This theory relates back to my first piece of evidence in that if I understand the Japanese way of thinking, and know how

Japanese students learn, I can teach them in a way that they are receptive to. This will be a valuable tool to me, both as a teacher abroad and if I ever choose to teach in

America. For me, responsive teaching really embodies a core principal of being a teacher, and not just within the TESOL context. However, TESOL teachers must learn to

be even more flexible than their mainstream counterparts, as TESOL/ESL teachers in America frequently have to be able to teach both content, and language skills. As a

teacher abroad, I will most likely be teaching in a EFL capacity, so I most likely will not have this hurdle, but if I am preparing students to study abroad, and get them ready

for taking the exams which allow them to do so, I need to be prepared. For me, that is what responsive teaching is all about: watching your students, noting what their

strengths and weaknesses are, and learning how to respond to them to better serve them as a teacher.

One important concept in Cristina Igoa’s (1995) book is that while watching and nurturing your students’ learning you must also nurture them as a person. You need

to be very aware of how their culture may be affecting them in the classroom. As an international TESOL educator I will most likely be dealing with a mono­cultured

classroom, however it is important for me to be aware that each student has a past and a culture that will affect them personally. For instance, teaching in Japan I will

probably be teaching mostly Japanese students with a single culture, but I may also have groups of Korean and other ethnicities within my classroom. As a TESOL teacher I

need to be aware that they have a culture that is distinct from the majority, honor that culture, while teaching them to the best of my ability.

Conclusion

Within this analysis I examined two pieces of evidence that demonstrate my understanding of the domain of culture. My first piece focused on the impact of racism in

the classroom and within the foreign culture in which I plan to teach. The second piece of evidence focused on culture’s ability to help further student learning through the

practice of responsive teaching. In brief, culture can be used as a wonderful tool to help students learn, or it can be used as a mechanism to isolate and stunt students’

potential. It is our job as teachers to always use culture as a means of helping our students to learn to the best of our, and their ability.

Works Cited

Igoa, C. (1995). The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Tomlinson, C., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction & understanding by design connecting content and kids. Alexandria, Va.: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Evidence (1)

Multiculturalism paper

Evidence (2)

Responsive Teaching Analysis

Evidence (3, optional)

Domain 3: Planning, Implementing &Managing InstructionComponent 3a: Planning for Standards­Based ESL and Content Instruction; Element 3.a.4. Limited SchoolingWriting Specific Lesson Plan

TSL 620 Language and Literacy Development for English Language Learners Spring 2015 The assignment was to go through various pieces of writing produced by a range of ELL students with limited schooling, identify one area that needs improvement, and

write a lesson plan that addressed the topic.

Component 3b: Managing and Implementing Standards­Based ESL and Content Instruction; Element 3.b.2. Authentic Language Use; Element 3.b.9. Relevance andCoherence; Element 3.b.11. Content Presentation

Unit Plan

TSL 605 Cultural Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition Spring 2015 Our assignment was to create a unit plan, following the standards of the area that we were teaching in. My partner, Yue Xiting, and I decided to teach in an unspecified

Asian country, following the standards set by China. Our unit was on tourism.

Component 3c: Using Resources Effectively in ESL and Content Instruction; Component 3.c.4. Technological Resources

School Culture Presentation

ITSL 607 Technology for Language and Cultural Instruction Spring 2015 Our assignment was to create a presentation on a culture and present it using the proper technology resources to a class in a local school.

Domain Narrative: Domain 3

Introduction

Domain 3 is all about instruction: planning for instruction, managing and implementing instruction, using resources effectively during instruction, and reflecting on your

instruction after the fact. Instruction is the very core of the TESOL discipline; it literally is what we are training to do: instruct children and adults that come from cultures

where a language other than English is spoken as a primary language in English. In this domain I will use a writing plan specific to teaching children with limited schooling, a

unit plan, and a presentation that utilizes technology appropriately in the classroom.

Writing Specific Lesson Plan

This lesson plan was completed for my TSL 620: Language and Literacy Development for English Language Learners class in the spring of 2015. Our assignment

was to look at an array of original writing samples created by ELLs with limited schooling, choose one and write a lesson based on one of the errors we found within. This

lesson plan taught me many things related to instruction, such as how to go through a piece and pick out the most problematic areas, leaving the rest so as to not overwhelm

the child you are helping. This process of selection is important because if one of your students is showing difficulties in an area that seriously impacts their writing, others may

have the same problem as well, and a refresher lesson might be needed.

This lesson plan also prepared me for working with students with limited or interrupted schooling. I had to plan it for students that might not have had a lot of

schooling, or have had very broken lines of education. This meant that I had to moderate how I wrote my plan, working in exercises that can get children moving, having fun,

and not simply stuck at desks the entire time. I also had to think about the fact that many of the students might be dealing with emotional issues stemming from war or other

trauma, and how to either avoid such topics, or work them into their writing as a coping mechanism. These were topics I had not had to think about previously, and are

things that regardless of where I teach, I need to be prepared to handle.

Another thing that this lesson plan prepared me for is writing a lesson plan to fit certain standards. As an ITSL major, I have not had to deal with the common core

much, but it is something that I may have to deal with eventually in my career, and it is good to be prepared. The next piece of evidence I will use, utilized not common core

standards, but the standards of Chinese education, and you can see that while the standards are different, they are set up to accomplish the same goal: helping to set

benchmarks for children’s education.

Unit Plan

This assignment was for my spring 2015 TSL 605 Cultural Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition class. We were divided into groups of two and

had to create a fictional classroom, thinking of everything from where we were teaching to how many students we had, down to how many of our students were male, and

how many female. We had to decide what class we were teaching, and what our unit was going to be about, then create a unit plan. At the end of the assignment we were to

create three lesson plans for our unit, and fill out an edTPA narrative for our unit. This was a singularly unique experience for me, never having created a unit plan before. It

was definitely a challenging experience, but one that I will hopefully be more prepared for if I am ever asked to serve on a planning committee.

This evidence demonstrates my understanding and working knowledge of the planning phase of instruction because while planning a unit, you must think of

EVERYTHING that could happen and plan for as many obsticales to your (and the other teachers that will be sharing the unit) instruction. This artifact shows that I can use

relevant instruction in combination with authentic language to instruct my students (and it can be easily adapted to suit other teacher’s needs). The unit that we wrote dealt

with tourism in America, it was aimed at students that were going into the tourism industry, or wished to study abroad in America. We hoped that through the exercises and

lessons that we planned, our students would feel better prepared to study abroad in America, work closely with those that are planning to go to America, or actually work in

America themselves. While planning we attempted to make use of every available resource in our admittedly fabricated classroom, much like in my last piece of evidence.

School Culture Presentation

My final piece of evidence for domain 3 is a cultural presentation that I worked on for my ITSL 607 Technology for Language and Cultural Instruction class in the

spring of 2015. Our assignment was to pick a partner and a culture, then create a presentation using the available resources to our best ability. My partner and I chose to

write about Italy, and the medium we chose to present with was PowerPoint.

This piece demonstrates my ability as a teacher to utilize the resources I have at hand to the best of my ability in a few different ways. First, we were made aware

that the room we would be teaching in would be equipped with a smartboard and a projector. So we planned our lesson to be able to write on our PowerPoint as we went

along, soliciting answers from our students along the way. Second, the manner in which we chose to present Italy to our students was a mix of our knowledge­bases: my

partner grew up in an Italian­American household and as such had knowledge of how an Italian family in America functions; I on the other hand know almost nothing about

how Italian­Americans operate, but I did spend a year in Italy, and am very comfortable about talking about general Italian culture topics. We blended our knowledge, and

presented to the students in a way that compared the Italy they may know through family, with the Italy that I witnessed while studying abroad. We thought this method

would be best because it builds off any background knowledge that they may have already possessed, allowing us to scaffold the topic for them and help them learn. This

method was chosen because according to Diaz­Rico (2013) and Igoa (2013), activating students’ background knowledge by asking them about their personal experiences

and getting them engaged in the class, is one of the most effective ways of teaching students new information, and we followed Krashen’s i+1 theory, not giving students too

much new information at one time.

Conclusion

In this domain, we examined three pieces of evidence that demonstrate my understanding of the domain of instruction: a limited schooling/interrupted education ELL

writing targeted lesson plan, a unit plan, and a cultural presentation. All three of these artifacts focus on different aspects of instruction: planning for instruction following

specific standards, implementing instruction with specific standards, and using ever available resource at hand to better teach your students. I feel that through these exercises

I have a better understanding of what instruction is. I always knew it was important, it is the core of teaching at least as far as a student is concerned, but until you go through

the process of actually planning for it, you never fully understand and appreciate all the work that goes into the lessons you were taught as a child. I feel that after having done

some of this myself, I definitely have a better appreciation and understanding of what it means to be a TESOL teacher.

Works Cited

Diaz­Rico, L. (2013). Strategies for Teaching English Learners (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Igoa, C. (2013). The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Evidence (1)

writing specific lesson plan

Evidence (2)

unit plan

Evidence (3)

school culture presentation

Evidence (4, optional)

Domain 4: AssessmentComponent 4a: Issues of Assessment for ESL; Element 4.a.2. Quality Indicators; Component 4b: Language Proficiency Assessment; Element 4.b.5. Multiple sourcesEdTPA Unit Plan Assessment

TSL 605 Cultural Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition Spring 2015 The assignment was to assess a unit plan we had created prior, using the EdTPA assessment model.

Component 4a: Issues of Assessment for ESL; Element 4.a.1. Purposes of AssessmentWebsite Review

TSL 620 Cultural Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition Spring 2015 Our assignment was to assess a website’s usefulness as it related to teaching or helping ELLs learn or supplement their English skills.

Component 4a: Issues of Assessment for ESL; Element 4.a.4. Categories

SIFE Student Essay

ITSL 620 Language and Literacy Development for English Language Students Spring 2015 Our assignment was to create an assessment of the types of students that would fall under the name of SIFE, distinguish between SIFE students and other special

needs students and why it is so important they are categorized as SIFE rather than having a learning disability.

Domain Narrative: Domain 4

Introduction

Domain four is all about assessment: the issues with assessment, how to assess students’ language proficiency, and how to modify assessment for classroom based

ESL as opposed to one­on­one assessment. Assessment is not limited to students’ abilities, but also covers topics such as quality assessors that push teachers to assess

themselves, their teaching methods, and their lesson plans and units. Another section of this multifaceted domain is how to know what you are assessing for, locking down

the purpose of a specific teaching tool, or element of a student’s learning path.

EdTPA Unit Plan Assessment

The EdTPA assessment of a unit plan was completed after creating a unit plan based on a fictional class in an unspecified Asian country for my TSL 605 Cultural

Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition class in the spring of 2015. The purpose of going through this process is to make you stop and gauge how you

crafted your unit plan, and more importantly why you did it the way you did. It is all about justification, something that as a TESOL teacher I will have to know how to do. I

believe that this form of self­assessment is extremely important for teachers so we do not forget that we need to know as educators why we choose to do what we do in any

given lesson or unit. For me, this recalls Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe’s (2015) book, ,Integrating Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design,

because they recommend that when you create a lesson or a unit plan that you think of the outcome first, and built towards it. That is what we did when creating our unit

plan, and we had to really think about why we chose to create the way we did when we evaluate our unit with the EdTPA. One example of this is looking at the specific

standards that we need to meet for our unit; Another example is that we had to be informed about our students’ backgrounds, and use that information to plan: for instance,

our students taken English for a few years but they needed speaking practice. So we made sure that every lesson included a speaking component. The other aspect that I

found useful is that the EdTPA not only makes teachers think about the students, the standards and the desired outcome, it encourages teachers to think of different ways

that they could have created their plan. It really does force you to be critical of yourself as a teacher, which is something that I believe is healthy, no matter how long you

have been teaching.

Website Review

The website review exercise was completed for my TSL 620 Cultural Content in TESOL and Bilingual Curriculum Acquisition class of spring 2015. The purpose of

the exercise was to review a website that is a resource for teaching English. I believe that this artifact exemplifies the domain of assessment because this exercise encouraged

us as future teachers to think about the resources that we use with our students, and how to be critical of these websites.

The employment of such reasoning will be an invaluable help to me in the future when I have to make the kinds of decisions such as which sites will I use to help plan

my lessons, what sites will I send my students to for homework or extra practice purposes? In the process of preforming this activity, we were told to look for certain

aspects of the websites: how user­friendly were they (keeping in mind the target age group), what did the websites focus on etc. Many of these points I would not have

thought of on my own, but never the less are valuable aspects to think about when recommending or using a website with children.

Being able to assess resources for specific purposes, knowing what and why you need to evaluate something, is another aspect of the domain of assessment, and

through this review I learned many concepts that I can extrapolate out to cover different facets within my teaching career. For instance, I will also be able to evaluate a

student’s work and know what I am looking for, rather than marking everything I will probably wish to focus on one or two specific problems that impede comprehension; I

will also be able to evaluate other forms of instructional materials and myself as a teacher using techniques employed in my review. Many of the assessment criteria for

students and websites employed in this review came from Margo Gottlieb’s (2006) book, Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges from Language Proficiency

to Academic Achievement.

.

SIFE Student Essay

The SIFE student assessment essay was completed for my ITSL 620 Language and Literacy Development for English Language Students class during the spring of

2015 semester. The purpose of the essay was to talk about the identifying characteristics of SIFE students, what impact SIFE students’ backgrounds can have on their

learning outcomes, and why it is so important to categorize these students as SIFE, rather than students that need specialEd, finally talking briefly about the process that

students must undergo yearly to ensure that either their SIFE or SpecialEd services are still needed.

This essay is all about the different categories that students can be placed in (in this case mainstream, SpecialEd, or SIFE) and why it is so important that they be

assessed correctly so that they may get the best possible education. If students are categorized incorrectly, then the teachers that are dealing with them might believe they

have a learning disability, when all that is wrong is that they are still in shock from experiences before being a refugee; or they may not be literate in their L1, causing the

concept of literacy to be completely foreign to them no matter their grade level.

Conclusion

The domain of assessment is very important. Teachers need to be able to assess their students, their classroom, their resources, and themselves to teach their

students to the best of their ability. Assessment can range from assessing the issues in teaching a student or group of students to assessing what track a student should take

be it mainstream, specialEd or SIFE. Teachers must also be able to justify themselves and their teaching methods, and be able to know when something could have been

done better, to correct for the future. Assessments permeate teaching and as such it is an invaluable skill to have, these artifacts will serve me well in my future career.

Works Cited

Gottlieb, M. (2006). Assessing English language learners: Bridges from language proficiency to academic achievement. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.

Tomlinson, C., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction & understanding by design connecting content and kids. Alexandria, Va.: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Evidence (1)

EdTPA Unit Plan Assessment

Evidence (2)

Website Review

Evidence (3, optional)

SIFE Student Essay

Domain 5: ProfessionalismComponent 5a: ESL Research and History; Element 5.a.1. Historical ContextTeaching Strategies Paper

TSL 611 Principles and Practices of TESOL Fall 2014 The assignment was to go through various books and websites and compile a list of ten teaching strategies. We had to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each

strategy, and talk a bit about the theories associated with them. These strategies would later be compiled into a resource for all of us to use in our careers.

Component 5b: Partnerships and Advocacy, Element 5.b.1. Advocacy for People; Component 5c Professional Development and Collaboration, Element 5.c.3.Collaborative Teaching

Final Paper/ Letter responses

TSL 604 Foundations of Bilingual and Multicultural Education Fall 2014 Our assignment was to choose three “emails” and respond to them, addressing the concerns of the teachers such as “why do we have an ESL program” or “why do I

have these students” and, “I feel lost, how can I help these kids learn both English AND subject content?”

Domain Narrative: Domain 5

Introduction

Domain 5 is all about professionalism: the history of our profession, where our teaching methods come from, advocacy for our students, materials, and jobs; and how to

work well with collogues to be the best teachers you can be for your students. Some aspects, like the history of TESOL, can be taught. Others, such as getting along with

coworkers, and building relationships in order to provide students with the best education possible, come with time and experience and are things each teacher must learn for

his or herself. Knowing where your profession started, as well as where it is going is invaluable. Paying attentions to the history honors what has happened in the past, and

allows us to feel grateful for what we have now, so that we learn not to take it for granted. Being able to effectively advocate for our students, and our materials (especially in

an increasingly internet and tech filled world) continues on the tradition set down by the pioneers of our field to get our students the best possible education, using the tools

that will be most likely to help them achieve their goals of learning English.

Teaching Strategies Paper

This assignment was completed for my TSL 611, Principals and Practices of TESOL, class during the fall of 2014. We were to go through various books and pick out

at least eight different new teaching strategies, give a brief description of them, and write about their strengths and weaknesses and how you might modify them to fit your

needs. This assignment connects back to the domain of professionalism specifically research and historical contexts because through using books from different time periods,

we were able to observe the teaching practices that were popular based on the current theories of the time. After talking about each method, we gave our opinions on each,

and talked about how we would modify these practices based on the current knowledge we have, using modern theories.

One of my favorite teaching methods is appropriate for elementary, intermediate and higher level students, basically the students need to have something of a grasp

about how English works to perform the exercise. It is called Amazimbi, and students effectively create a new language in ten minutes and attempt to communicate with other

groups in their made up language or by gesture. I love this method for a few reasons: it can be a great way of getting students to loosen up by putting them in the role of

“someone else,” they have to assume the role of someone that speaks a made up language. This is a technique of the desuggestopedia method of teaching which became

popular in the 1970s. Larson­Freeman describes desuggestopedia as a method of teaching that emphasizes teaching techniques that focus on lowering the affective filter.

One such technique is “becoming someone else” during the learning process which makes students less self­conscious (Larson­Freeman, 2011). One other reason this is a

useful technique this technique is invaluable for letting other content area teachers understand for themselves just how hard it can be when you do not understand what is

being said to you. These techniques and theories that I explored in my paper are linked to the history of TESOL’s practices, but they are also linked to its future. By using

such methods to help other teachers understand how hard being in class can be for their ELL students, we can advocate for our students far more effectively than by just

using words alone.

Final Paper: Letters to Teachers

This assignment was the final paper for my TSL 604 class, Foundations of Bilingual and Multicultural Education, for the fall 2014 semester. The goal of this paper was

to give us examples of the types of questions that we will receive and be expected to be able to answer as TESOL teachers. We were to choose three different letters and

respond to them drawing on our knowledge of advocacy for our students, and our history. The great thing about this type of final is that it has such a broad range of topics

embedded within it. In my first letter, I answered a question regarding why children in a predominately white suburb would benefit from multiculturalism, especially when the

teacher is so busy preparing the students for tests. This gave me a chance to be an advocate for multiculturalism, a key part of what we do, and explain to the teacher how it

is possible to work multiculturalism into every lesson with very little effort, even lessons to prepare for regents exams! I also used Noel to get my point across that a major

benefit of ELLs learning about multiculturalism is that: in teaching multiculturalism we can instill a sense of pride in ELLs in their home culture (Noel, 1995).

In subsequent letters to different teachers I cover topics such as how to accommodate ELL students within a classroom of mostly mainstream students, and why

bilingual education is important, not just for ELLs, but for mainstream students as well. These are both real topics of debate that have been plaguing our community for years.

The first one is easy enough to answer: I advocated for good communication between myself, the TESOL teacher, and the subject teacher. Through daily communication it is

possible to work through any problems that might be occurring within the classroom, such as ELLs not understanding vocabulary. It allows the TESOL teacher to know how

to work with their kids during the time that they have them, and this whole process is an important one; As TESOL teachers we need to know how to communicate to the

subject teachers that we are there to help them and the students, and that they can rely on us. This is an important part of being a professional, building trust and relationships

with your co­workers. When we write letters like this, we are reassuring our fellow teachers that we will back them up to the best of our ability and help our students at

every opportunity.

The second topic is a little more difficult to tackle because there have been many areas of the country that have seen fit to ban bilingual education, because of the views

of a few parents that did not want their children to “fall behind,” despite the fairly overwhelming evidence that children that are educated in a bilingual atmosphere not only

learn more about another culture, they learn a new language, and consistently perform better on all exams than do their monolingual counterparts. This subject is tricky

because there will be some people that will not read the reports, and just look at the fact that bilingual education has been banned in California, and Massachusetts. It is

important to know how to advocate for teaching methods like this that while they might not be popular with everyone, can offer students a quality of education that can

enable not only the ELL students, but the mainstream students to outperform others on tests, and learn to the best of their abilities. Throughout the piece I offer some

teaching techniques which relates the second artifact back to the first, and websites that I think the teachers might find useful, as sharing ideas and resources is an important

part of collaboration between teachers.

Conclusion

Within this analysis I examined two pieces of evidence that demonstrate my understanding of the domain of professionalism. My first piece focused on the history of

various teaching techniques, and how major theories within the profession have impacted how we teach our students. The second piece of evidence focused on advocacy

and collaboration with fellow teachers. Professionalism comes in many forms: knowing where your profession came from, its history, pays homage to the people that have

come before you and honors their struggles that you might be where you are today; Working well with other teachers and being able to advocate effectively for your

students, and their resources is another part of professionalism because it is our job to get our students the best possible chance at learning English, and succeeding in this

country as is possible.

Works Cited

Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and principles in language teaching (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Noel, J. (1995). Multicultural Teacher Education: From Awareness Through Emotions to Action. Journal of Teacher Education, 267­273.

Evidence (1)

teachingstrategiespaper

Evidence (2)

Letter Responses

Evidence (3, optional)

Action ResearchAction Research: Field Experience/ Book Review

TSL 611 Principals and Practices of TESOL

Fall 2014

The assignment was for us to observe in our school’s American Language Institute (ALI), and to blend one topic from what we observed with research done from

several book sources.

Modified Narrative

Action Research: Field Experience/ Book Review

This exercise is an example of the active research that has taken place during my graduate studies in the International TESOL program at Nazareth College. The

paper was completed for my TSL 611, Principals and Practices of TESOL class for the Fall 2014 semester. The essay is a blend of field research, book research, and a

book review showing my knowledge of all these writing skills.

I decided to write about the teaching of adjectives to English Language Learners (ELLs), and backed up what I observed in the ALI with works such as Diane

Larson­Freeman and Marti Anderson’s (2011), Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching, and Lynne T. Diaz­Rico’s (2013) Strategies for Teaching English

Learners. I also chose to review How Languages are Learned by Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada (2013), The Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and

Written English by Douglas Biber et all. (2013) and The Study of Language by George Yule (2014). I learned many things about the differences between physical field­

research, and the research that comes from reading what other people have done (which is the style of most of my research up to this point).

Observing in the classroom allowed me to see in action the techniques that I had been reading about. I was able to see different methods for teaching adjectives to

students (and even participate in a few game­like activities) and how you can modify certain methods to fit classroom size and needs. I used the books and theories

contained within to backup and rationalize what I witnessed in the classroom. I also learned that when doing field research, it is imperative that you take notes of everything

that you see and any questions that arise while you watch and interact with both students and the teacher. Notes were an invaluable part of this research, as there was no

way I was going to be able to remember everything that occurred while I was there. These notes served me well when I tied in the book review to the research portion.

The final component of my paper was the book review. For each book that I talked about I gave a brief review of the strengths and weaknesses therein. This ties

this action research to other domains such as domain 4 (assessment) and domain 5 (professionalism).

This paper is an exemplar of my research methodology because it combines real­world experiences with typical book and website research. Both are skills needed

when teaching, both are used frequently when writing, and both types of research will serve me later in my career as a teacher, and later on when I begin my doctoral

studies.

Works Cited

Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Leech, G. (2013). Longman student grammar of spoken and written English (10. impr. ed.). Harlow, Essex: Longman.

Larsen­Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and principles in language teaching (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned (Fourth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rico, L. (2013). Strategies for teaching English learners (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Yule, G. (2014). The study of language (Fifth ed.). Cambridge: Universtity Printing House.

Action Research Project

Field Experience Book Review