Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

I As A Learner: Project Description and Narrative Reflection

By: Varsha Srinivasan

Dr. Chyllis Scott CIL 621, Fall 2017

University of Nevada Las Vegas

Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

I As A Learner: Project Description and Narrative Reflection

As a first year teacher with no prior educational background, my priorities for this

course were to ensure that I would be especially well equipped to interpret, communicate,

and efficiently scaffold my ELL and CDL students in the classroom. Having a

background in the Spanish language has proven to be one of my greatest assets

throughout this past semester, especially when communicating with parents of many of

my students. However, my goal of providing ELL students with more helpful resources

to enhance their growth mindsets was not as easy or attainable as I had initially imagined.

In fact, finding appropriate Spanish language resources for my two ELL students has

been one of the greatest limbos I have experienced, particularly because Google Translate

has failed to be an accurate interpreter of many texts, in addition to the lack of

accessibility to Spanish versions of various worksheets and supplemental materials used

in class.

My first goal was to gain a better understanding of how demographics and access

affect rates of progress of my own students in comparison to those of neighboring areas.

This goal was very important to me at the time because of the mission Teach for America

stands for and its reinforcement in my own personal and professional goals as an

anthropologist. The socioeconomic gap I have witnessed at my school, compared to that

of my own schools back in rural Tennessee and metro Atlanta have and continue to shock

me because of the inequity of resources and opportunity in comparison to the high need

for more educators in the district. One interesting observation I made was that many of

the teachers at my own school are neither natives of Las Vegas nor of Nevada, and as

such, I believe that the range of perspectives are very limited and unable to make
Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

authentic connections with our students. Even I, as a younger POC immigrant woman,

have struggled to identify with and motivate my students in multiple situations,

particularly in relation to demonstrating effort and attempting their schoolwork. For me, I

found this piece the most challenging because of my own high academic expectations of

myself. Furthermore, I was always surrounded by privilege, access, and endless

opportunity, which really altered the way I viewed my own educational experiences,

especially because both of my parents and most of my family graduated from high

school and attended college.

Through my own personal observations of student educational experiences at my

own school, in addition to the general conversations I have had with other teachers, I

have come to understand that student satisfaction and success are directly related to

teacher satisfaction and support. Being at a Title I school adds an additional layer of

complications, as the majority of our students come from low-income backgrounds.

Additionally, our school is home to approximately 40% of ELL students, who

predominantly represent Spanish-speaking countries, but also includes a student from

Ethiopia. With the budget cuts as well, many newer staff members have been frustrated

and overwhelmed with the state of education in North Las Vegas. Overall, from what I

have seen and heard, I think it is fair to say that community morale is very low amongst

the teachers, and as such, it can have a pessimistic effect on the students in turn. The most

important takeaway from this observation for me has been to ensure teacher wellbeing

and provide scaffolds for first years to better manage the stresses in and out of the

classroom. I myself have found that myself and my peers have had numerous moments of
Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

self-questioning, and it has been one of the most challenging experiences to maintain a

work-life balance when so many entities have differing expectations.

My second goal was to provide more helpful resources in an effort to enhance the

intellectual growth mindset of my ELLs and CDLs, which has been one of my greatest

challenges this semester. Focusing on my AEs for this semester, I immediately think of

my ELL student, Angie Lopez, who is stuck in a linguistic limbo between Spanish at

home and English at school. Using Google Translate to convert documents in English to

Spanish, Angie answers the same content-based questions in the Spanish language as her

peers do in the English language. Angie has lived in the United States for less than a year;

she moved here from an urban environment in El Salvador, where she grew up speaking

the Spanish language. She speaks little English, and she talks to her family in Spanish

only, but her conversational English language skills are improving significantly. She has

received a B in my course for the first quarter because, in conjunction with her advanced

level of content comprehension, Angie has come to work after school one on one in an

effort to improve her overall mastery of the content in a more controlled classroom

setting.

Transitioning to the end of Q2 in the academic year, the main focus for English-

language learners, such as Angie, has been to encourage them to engage in the English

language and eventually, feel equally as comfortable in the predominantly English-

speaking environment of their peers. I was able to observe and collaborate with the

teacher for the bilingual reading and language courses, and it was clear that the students

who used the English language, especially in daily conversation with bilingual teachers

were able to show more success in English comprehension overall. As a follow-up, Angie
Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

had been administered a prompt to respond to for an academic text students were engaged

in for class, but she was given a set of accountable talk stems in both English and

Spanish, side by side, to better understand if she could pick up on linguistic similarities in

the context of peer-based discussions.

My third and final goal was to be an effective communicator within my school,

which was important for me to focus on because of how disorganized I can be when I

have so many things on my plate at once. While I prefer to have a busy schedule, it has

been a great challenge for me to balance Teach for America, UNLV, and CCSD

expectations while simultaneously adapting to a new place across the country from my

friends and family. When things seem as chaotic as they have been, effective

communication is far from my focal point, so it is crucial that I keep myself accountable

for even the smallest things, like responding to emails and contacting parents. I have

definitely shown growth in terms of communication with my school supervisor, as I

particularly struggled with that at the beginning of my tenure at the school. I have

developed a stronger sense of confidence in myself, and more of a rhythm in my

workflow, which has, as well, contributed to my overall personal and professional growth

as both a teacher and student.

Overall, I strongly believe that my IAAL goals have motivated me to be a more

efficient professional, both in terms of my role as a student and educator. Assigning these

goals for myself has provided me with a sense of urgency to complete even the smallest

of tasks with a strong sense of pride in the work I do. I have learned to be more confident

in myself, less critical in the outcomes so that I can celebrate more of the positives, and

ensure that all students are provided with appropriate scaffolds.

Running Head: I As A Learner (IAAL)

References

Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. (2012). 2012 Amplification of

The English Language Development Standards Kindergarten Grade 12

(Brochure).

Herrera, S.G. & Murry, K.G. (2016). Mastering ESL/EFL Methods: Differentiated

Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (3rd ed.). Upper

Saddleriver, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

UNLV Online Education. (2017). TESL 752 1005 2017 Fall. UNLV WebCampus.

Retrieved from https://webcampus.unlv.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/

listContent.jsp?course_id=_125558_1&content_id=_3317067_1&mode=reset

Wright, W.E. (2010). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research,

Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Inc.