Action Research - Reflective Fieldnote Blog #3

Section 1 - Thoughts about action research
As educators, we are constantly looking for ways to reflect upon are classroom practices and ways to provide students with the necessary tools to be successful in the classroom and the real world environment as well. I feel that performing this action research project has provided me with the opportunity to look at a problem I feel exist within my classroom and look for ways to provide my students the necessary tools to be successful. Though I know at this time the Diebel assessment will not be going away for my students, the action research project has made me reflect and looks for ways to provide whole and small group instruction that will provide my students the necessary tools to complete these assessments successfully.

Section 2: Ideas generated as a result of your project
This is my second year teaching English Language Learners and I have spent a lot of time reflecting upon the effectiveness of Diebels assessment with students who speak very limited English if any. Not only is the language a barrier in completing the assessment effectively the environment for which the test are administered are scary to these young students. For many of these students, this is the first time for them to be away from their family and they are scared and are needing to feel safe and secure in their learning environment. Last year at the beginning of the school year many of my students either cried or just sat in silence when being assessed by the Diebels team. So, at the beginning of this year I reflected upon ways to provide my students with the tools necessary to feel safe and secure in the testing environment. I went around and took pictures of all those who would possibly administer the test to my students. Each day before the assessments began we discussed each person, their names, and their job title within the school and where they might see them within the building. As a result of this, none of my students cried and those who were capable communicated with the assessment team.

Section 3: Suggestions to other ESL professionals based on your findings
One of my suggestions to other ESL professionals is to know your students and their needs. I have found students needs in the general education classroom and ESL classroom to be very different. Students with limited or no English background come to our classroom with very limited vocabulary and experiences to understand the vocabulary being taught. These students needs lots of visuals, auditory, and kinesthetic activities to be presented within the lessons taught within the classroom. These learners need lots of cognitive anchors and their affective filters to be low.