home

My name is Patricia Wagner, and welcome to my ESL toolkit. I truly appreciated the assignment as I learned a great deal, such as the ease of building the site, I liked the organization, and I look forward to collaborating with other professional teachers. Currently, I have the fortunate position of teaching 6th grade in Chicago. The majority of the students are Hispanic students, and they are categorized as ELL students. A little background as to how I gained my position-Last year I was working as a substitute teacher in Chicago. Unfortunately, my brief experiences were intense, and difficult. To illustrate, I witnessed an 8th grade students set his paper on fire, I saw a 4th grade girl bash the head of her classmate into the desk, and I had a security guard look me up and down, as he told me he was going to pray for me. So I was ready to give up and start looking into the suburbs, until I received the call for substituting from my current school. I dreaded the day but when I arrived I loved everything about the school-the cleanliness, the smell, and most importantly, the students. As the day was ending, I walked into the office and asked the Principal if I could return, she said absolutely, and I never left. My goal with the toolkit is to briefly explain my reasoning as to why I chose the websites, and/or my lessons. I think it is important for my colleges to view the sites, as they take time to digest, yet they are valuable to the ELL students. For example, one of my favorite site is within the Technology is Brainpop because it offers many subjects such as drama, music, social studies, geometry, and a whole lot more. Moreover, in the are of music I selected Dr. Jean because her music keeps the attention of the learner. I have used her talent in my kindergarten classroom and we loved the lyrics and sounds from her work. For literature, I chose a thematic unit because it connected ideas, it emphasized vocabulary, and the lessons were based on a real place. Additionally, drama is very important for the ELL student because students love to pretend with movement, and the element of drama opens the door to those students. Games provide opportunities for students to learn context within the curriculum, in addition, they are great for centers. One of the true, key successes with ELL students is creating an anxiety-free classroom, Krashen (2003). Krashen developed five hypotheses about ELL students. One of his thoughts with language learners is for them to feel relaxed and stress free, which allows the brain to respond positively to the lesson. Furthermore, games offer exciting and meaningful language experiences for children, of all ages. To illustrate, the recipe for game activities includes teacher direction, multiple intelligences, and group activities, all of which benefit the ELL learner. I think Social Justice is essential for students to learn in the classroom because the student should be exposed to an all round education. A few weeks ago I asked my students to write a comparison paper between the Nazis who invaded Denmark and the current gangs of Chicago. The students taught me about the gangs, as they experience their awful ways on a daily bases. I taught the students about the evil nature of the Nazis, so together we created a paper that was powerful. Students should be exposed to reality, such as gangs, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and more. In addition, I find that students have a tendency to pay more attention to social justice lessons because the topic does effect them. Lastly, just as math and reading will carry the students to success, well so will good health, safety from harm, and accepting ones self. All in all, I am glad I had the opportunity to create a wikispace because it is relatively new, and I like being ahead of the game, especially with technology.

@1. Technology

2. Music

3. Games

4. Literature

5. Storytelling

6. @Social Justice

7. Drama

8. Jazz Chants