The Multifaceted Identity of an ELL Teacher

MATC Synthesis Paper

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Master of Arts Degree in Curriculum and Teaching
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Eemma L. Iseman
PID A418 20 310
May 2017
 The Multifaceted Identity of an ELL Teacher

My engagement in the MATC program has paralleled my journey from student-teacher to

my professional career as a teacher of English Language Learners (ELL) and English as a

Foreign Language Students (EFL). In the summer of 2014 I traveled to South Africa with the

MATC program where I taught in a local school with 35 learners; each holding multiple

languages and cultures that shaped their identity, world, and classroom experiences. Engaging in

deep conversations with fellow colleagues and professors I reflected on the integrated system of

language, power and identity (Artifact 1). Though this system of support and space for reflection

I discovered my passion and desire to teach ELL students.

The following fall I started my student teaching requirement in a Spanish Immersion

School in Lansing School District. Even through all of the demands and stress I felt fully

grounded through the root system of support that were my professors, seminar instructor, peers,

and mentor teacher. The program supported me in my first year of teaching English Language

students within the Okemos Public School District. The practices and strategies I learnt in my

course was directly applicable to my daily experiences I encountered in the classroom. Michigan

States College of Education undergraduate program laid a strong foundation for me as a

beginning teacher, but the MATC program has guided and supported me through my first years

and will continue to support my teaching practices as I grow as a professional educator.

In the summer of 2016 I traveled to China to teach at an English summer camp for six

weeks where I worked with high school students seeking to improve their English skills to

expand their college opportunities. Without a curriculum resource I was able to use my

experiences from my coursework to support my development of appropriate instruction that met

my learners needs. In the fall of 2016 I moved to San Luis Potos, Mexico, where I currently live
and teach EFL to a wide range of learners from elementary to adults. The MATC ELL plus

program has continued to inform my instruction as I learn to best support my EFL students in an

international context.

This program has given me the opportunity to forge a multifaceted identity, in which I

will synthesize my experiences as a multifaceted educator focusing on the attributes of this

identity which include: a teacher as a learner, an assessor, a curriculum developer, and a

collaborative team member.

Teacher as a learner

While teaching English Language Learners is a relatively new field in comparison to the

overall history of education in the United States, these diverse learners have become a significant

portion of our education system. In this program I have developed an understanding of the

history of ELL instruction and the expansive volume of theory, research, and teaching methods. I

continue to learn about and practice new theories and implement activities that I have learnt

about in my courses. For example in my course on assessment for foreign language teaching I

learned how to develop reliable and valid language assessments. I used the strategies I learned

about in my course to create a unit assessment for intermediate EFL students in Mexico over a

unit I taught on Travel. I was able to implement a wide range of assessments that I learned about

in FLT 808 into the unit assessment. In my ELL Teaching Philosophy (Artifact 5) I describe my

openness to grow in my teaching practice My teaching is not representative of one theory or

method, but is fluid as I learn and try out various activities and see what works best for my

students individual needs. In my Stance on Quality Teaching (Artifact 8) I stated that We live

in an ever-changing world, where the needs of students are changing, therefore our practice must
as well. This is why teachers must demonstrate that learning is a journey and not a destination,

being models of life-long learning.

In my Literacy Inquiry Project and Memoir Unit (Artifact 9) I discussed how literacy is

dynamic as well are the literacy needs of our students. Literacy is not a product, but an active

learning process. As educators we need to be continuously analyzing the literacy needs of our

students in our community, as well as the tools that will help them navigate the disciplines in the

21st century. Our world of information is growing continuously and the way to best access this

information is ever-changing. This requires us as educators to be constantly learning and

changing so that we can prepare our students and provide them with the tools to access their 21st

century literacies.

Teacher as an assessor

Teaching as an assessor has not only taught me how to assess the diverse needs of my

ELL students but has also allowed me to evaluate my views of quality teaching, reflect on my

teaching practice, and assess the ELL curriculum I have engaged with in the classroom. In my

Literacy Inquiry (Artifact 9). I investigated my students home literacies as well as their textual

lineages. This allows me to create a literacy unit on Memoir that was not only reflective of their

interests and needs, but was supportive on their cultural and language identities.

This project allowed me to gain insight into my students literacy practices and lives that

I wouldnt have otherwise had access to. The uses of a textual lineage questionnaire and literacy

practice survey prompted students about their literacy practices outside of schools and provided

me with a much more in-depth understanding of my students motivation, interests, and identity.

This inquiry project allowed me to not only learn about my students literacy practices out of

school, but has created the opportunity to reflect on my practice, as well as the essential
questions that would benefit my students holistically as dynamic and diverse literacy learners.

My ELL Teaching Philosophy (Artifact 5) reflects my beliefs on being a lifelong learner

and the refining my practice I am continuously refining my ELL teaching practice through

Michigan States College of Education. Reflective teaching allows us to expand our

understandings of the teaching-learning process, expand our repertoire of strategic options as

language teachers, take ownership of our own theories of language teaching, and to enhance the

quality of learning opportunities were are able to provide in language classrooms (Murphy,

2014). I have also learned that as an ELL educator reflective teaching is vital to my practice.

Richards and Lockhart (1994) define reflective teaching as an approach to second language

classroom instruction in which current and prospective teachers "collect data about teaching,

examine their attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and teaching practices, and use the information

obtained as a basis for critical reflection" (p.1). Reflective teaching has been a theme through all

my courses in the MATC program, where after each unit development, curriculum change, or

assessment I am required to examine the results of the implementation as well as peer and

student feedback.

Teacher as a curriculum developer

From the very beginning of the MATC program I have been taught how to design lessons

and units that include inquiry (Artifact 3 & Artifact 2), meet students diverse needs, interests and

are culturally responsive. During my year of student teaching I created a writing unit on cultural

folktales (Artifact 2) where students completed a genre study of folktales from around the world

and then created their own folktale that was reflective of their culture. My first year as an ELL

teacher I created an ELA unit on memoir that created a space for students to share their stories

with the world. (Artifact 9).

 The MATC program has also given me the research and format for analyzing and

developing curriculum. When I was teaching in Okemos I was able to analyze the curriculum

that is used for ELL students. In my Curriculum Evaluation (Artifact 4) I discussed how I

believed that when this handbook is used as a tool and resource for content classroom teachers to

differentiate and better support their ELL students it an adequate resource. It incorporates best

practices such as building on background knowledge, sheltered instruction, scaffolding, as well

as adapting literacy activities appropriate for ELL students through shared reading, read-aloud,

and paired reading. However, for an ELL pull-out situation, the handbook is best used only as an

informative tool for the ELL teacher to see what concepts and vocabulary could be front loaded

or reinforced.

When working with this curriculum I found myself injuring on the actual effectiveness of

the resource for my teaching context. While all the methods and practices are clearly supported

by research, it fails to account for the entire ELL population and the diverse environments in

ELL classrooms. I had continuously found myself at a loss when I was expected to teach the

same content with such a diverse range of age, language, and English language proficiency. With

my limited amount of time with students I tried to decide what would be the most useful to teach,

vocabulary, phonics, grammar, or comprehension. All of these skills are vital for the

development of a students language, but teaching each as a separate skill, in a bottom-up

approach feels meaningless and not motivating for ELL students.

This unideal situation created an excellent opportunity for me to develop a curriculum

plan for the ELL pull-out program in my school. In my Curriculum Evaluation and Development

(Artifact 4) I developed a plan to implement curriculum in the ELL pull-out program in my

school using the steps I learned about in my course on Curriculum Design, Development &
Deliberation in Schools, I designed a scope and sequence that follows Jon Wiles (2014) format

for curriculum development. Using these guidelines, WIDA ELD Standards, WIDA Can Do

Descriptions, my schools scope and sequence for the English Language Arts Curriculum

(Reading Street), and resources from TESOL 2016 International Conference I was able to create

a scope and sequence for grades K-5 in the ELL pull-out program implemented in my school.

Teacher as an advocate

The MATC program has allowed me to synthesize research on how ELL students are

perceived and treated in our education system. In my Literacy Inquiry in (Artifact 9) I stress the

need for our education system to focus more on our ELL students. The CCSS aims to move all

students toward a common benchmark, there must be room for teachers to implement supports,

scaffolding, and differentiation for emerging bilingual students. The CCSS do not acknowledge

bilingualism in a substantive way, they devote only two and a half pages to English Language

Learners (ELLs) (Flores, 2014, p.468). The National Center for Education Statistics states that

ELLs encompass 10% or 4.7 million students in the United States in 2010-11 (NCES, 2015).

With ELLs encompassing such a large part of our student base and growing, it is a concern that

emergent bilinguals continue to be an afterthought.

In my ELL Practicum Reflection Paper (Artifact 7) I examined the attitudes of deficit in

regards to ELL students in the current field of our education system. I discussed how it not only

negatively impacts ELL growth and identity, but also restricts the potential value that ELL

students and families could add to the district and community. Once stating that only once these

attitudes are addressed at the administrative level and strategies for improvement are

implemented will the ELL students be set up to meet their full potential, I argued the possible

ways that ELL teachers can advocate for these learners.

 In my Literacy Inquiry (Artifact 9) I discussed my frustrations when looking at the

national and state standards for ELL/EAL students to see that all of the standards and goals were

mainly foundational English language skills, the literacies necessary to be successful in schools

such as: decoding and reading compression of print-based texts; written composition of academic

texts; and the oral fluency of Standard English grammar and vocabulary. While these foundation

literacies are necessary for students to be successfully academically none of these standards for

EAL students represent the social practice of literacy and how students cultures, contexts, and

histories are embedded within their literacy learning.

This has initiated me to adopt a stance on culturally responsive teaching explained in my

ELL Teaching Philosophy (Artifact 5); As an ELL teacher I feel the need to foster positive

attitudes towards all languages. All language learning should be additive, where the language

being studied should not replace the L2, but should enrich the learners language capacity

(Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011, p.369). The goal of language teaching should be

successful language use and multi-competence, not trying to get students to imitate monolingual

native-speaker use (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2001, pg.169). Our education system

for the most part encourages subtractive bilingualism. My engagement in culturally responsive

teaching has caused me to do my best to counter these effects by providing a space that

encourages students to embrace their bilingual identity.

In my Literacy Inquiry Project (Artifact 9) I created a survey and a textual lineage

questionnaire to inquire about my students literacy practices outside of school as well as to learn

more about their literacy practices outside of school and the textual experiences that they bring

with them to the classroom. This inquiry project allowed me to see how my students were not

making deep connections with books and the need for texts to create a bridge between school and
their home lives. In response to the question Do you read books in school or out of school about

people who have similar cultures, languages, or experiences as you? many students responded

that they did not read books that represent them (language, culture, experiences) in school and

chose often to read these books outside of school because that is where they feel comfortable

doing so. One student stated where they read these books at Out of school because I dont

comfortable talking about my culture in front of Americans. This response shows me that my

ELL students are not able to see themselves in the curriculum and this can leave the impression

that their culture and identity are not valued by their teachers and peers. Also, if students dont

see themselves or share similar experiences with texts than it becomes difficult for students to

make the critical connections they need to by active literacy learners. Recognizing and

validating multiple cultural identities in the classroom community and developing positive

studentteacher relationships strengthen individuals sense of worth and, ultimately, their

academic performance. Through this inquiry project I developed a Unit Plan that utilized

students 21st century literacies as well as integrated texts that were reflective of their culture,

language, and identity.

Teach as a collaborative team member

I think the largest takeaway I have from the MATC program is the benefit of

collaborating and communicating with fellow teachers on the needs of our students. I have had

many opportunities to collaborate on lessons and projects through the MATC program as well in

my own teaching practice. I have found that the benefits of collaboration is endless and only

provides a better outcome for student learning. In my own practice working on a collaborative

team has allowed me to gain access to perspectives and experiences that I otherwise would have

not had the opportunity. Communication has been a key to my success as a student and I have
made it a priority in my teaching practice as well. Collaborating and communicating with my

fellow teachers in the school setting creates opportunities for me to grow daily.

Through my ELL practicum course I was encouraged to be a leader and an advocate for

English Language Learners in my school. In this course I created a professional development

presentation that will give teachers information and resources that will help teachers better

support their English Language Learners in the classroom. (Artifact 8) In this course I created a

Professional Development presentation (Artifact 8) that will help teachers identify the various

level of English language development, ideas on appropriate assignments and assessments for

each level of language development, and necessary instructional strategies that will best support

their ELL students. I believe that if ELL teachers and mainstream teachers worked towards

closing the gap between the mainstream classroom and the ELL classroom we could together

better support our ELL students in the classroom. Byrd, Fairbairn and Jones (2010) state that In

order to ensure that diverse learners enjoy equal access to the curriculum and, therefore, and

equal opportunity to realize their maximum potential, every teacher must embrace the notion that

she or he is responsible for the learning of each of her or his students (2010, p.3). I am hoping

that this professional development session will be useful in getting teachers onboard in sharing

the accountability for the success of the ELL students in the school as well as create a positive

collaborative teaching partnership between the ELL teacher and the mainstream classroom

teacher.

Collaboration has been pivotal in my success as a new teacher and specifically as an ELL

teacher. As a support staff member I have learned how vital it is to collaborate with general

education teachers as well as other support staff members. This communication with other
teachers has provided an opportunity to support teachers in the mainstream classroom, but also

has given me opportunities to better address the needs of my ELL and now my EFL students.

Conclusion

The MATC program has created a strong foundation for me in my internship year, provided

space for me to grow professionally in my first years of teaching providing support through

teachers, colleagues, and best practices, and launched me into a field of international teaching.

This program has created opportunities for me to evolve a multifaceted identity as an ELL

teacher, a learner, an assessor, a curriculum developer and a collaborative team member. It has

taught me that the journey of a teacher is never over and reflection is key to being a quality

teacher. I am looking forward to where this journey will take me next.

Works Cited

Fairbairn, S. & Jones-Vo, S. (2010). Differentiating Instruction and Assessment

for English Language Learners: A Guide for K - 12 Teachers.

Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques & principles in

language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Murphy, J. (2014). Ch 39: Reflective Teaching: Principles and Practices. In

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Snow, M.A. (Eds.),Teaching English as a

second or foreign language (4th ed.) (pp. 613-629). Boston, MA:

Heinle.

Wiles, J. (2008). Leading Curriculum Development. Corwin Press.