Mr. Pitts
ELL instructor
Mr. Pitts serves as the ELL instructor at Trace Crossings Elementary School. My initial thought when I hear about ELL students is that most of them will be Spanish speakers, however in the Trace Crossings alone, there are over 14 different languages spoken. Countries from the Middle East, Africa and South America are represented among the students who attend Trace. Teachers are often given no prior planning time to accommodate for these students and yet are required by the state to provide them with the best practices of education.
Law suits in Texas and California tried to establish the precedent that students who were not legal citizens were not entitled to receive an education from public schools. The Supreme Court ruled that all students, legal or illegal should receive the best education possible to ensure that they will become active members of society.
To best provide ELL students with be accommodations and recourses they need, Mr. Pitts pulls groups of students out of their scheduled class time to work with him in 30 minute sessions. He tries to establish mutual trust with each student and then uses technology to encourage and accommodate language barriers. Google translate works well to translate assignments so students are able to demonstrate what they know, and not be overlooked due to a language barrier.
Former Principal of Trace Crossings Elementary
Before meeting with our class, we Samford students were encouraged to submit a question to Ms. Liaker so she could tailor her seminar towards our interests. Overwhelmingly we students wanted to know what she looks for in a perspective teacher she is interviewing to hire. Although she does not typically look to hire first year teachers, she is most concerned about hiring someone who has experience with students and will be a team player. She has been very impressed with Samford's program and assured us that we would all make excellent, and well prepared first year teachers.
Ms. Smith
Trace Crossings School Counselor
Ms. Smith has served the Trace Crossings community for two years as the school counselor. As the counselor she focuses on providing resources for the holistic family, as well as places an emphasis on student achievement, once they are in upper elementary school. She works with students to develop 504 plans, if necessary which provided accommodations to students who qualify. As future teachers, her advice to us was to befriend our future school's counselor because unfortunately we will face situations where we will need his/her help. Students coming from abusive homes, or who struggle with hunger or disabilities will need to resources of the school counselor and the best thing a classroom teacher can do for those students is connect them to the counselor.
Read for the Record
As a part of a school wide reading initiative, Trace participated in Read for the Record. Our role in this event was to help create an environment of wonder and learning by transforming the school cafeteria into a backyard garden which would be home to the Ladybug Squad. Teacher volunteers dressed up and read the Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad story aloud to the school and certain grade levels dressed up as bugs and performed songs for the community as well. It was a wonderful, fun and creative time for the students to experience the joy of reading.
Ms. White
Annual Meeting of Title 1 Parents
As a result of No Child Left Behind, parents who receive Title 1 accommodations are frist explained what Title 1 means and why they qualify. LEA (Local education Association), CIP (Continuous Improvement Plan) as well as other terms are explained to the parents. Title 1 funds help supplement existing programs within the school. The equipment and materials purchased with the funds are used to help children meet standards.
The expectation of parents in Title 1 is that they will be very involved and are given many rights. Parent Involvement is allotted certain Title 1 funds, and the school works hard to make sure parents stay active and involved.
Parent Involvement Plan (PIP) communications the school's expectation of Title 1 accommodations to the students and the parents.
Through parental involvement and school programming a CIP is developed to assess goals and strategies to accommodate the students' needs. The agreement between school, parent and child is culminated through the School-Parent Compact which Principal, parent and student will sign acknowledging that everyone understands the expectations.
At the end of the year parents evaluate the LEA Parental Involvement Plan and the school and Title 1 program work hard to make those changes for the following year.
Dr. Wood
Differentiation
This semester we have focused a lot on differentiating for students with special needs, but we had not talked much about gifted students who will also need accommodations in the classroom. This group of students is often the most overlooked because teachers are trying so hard to catch all the students up to the same level, they tend not to encourage growth among the top achieving in the class. Dr. Wood provided us with resources on how to continue to engage the gifted students in our class and how to differentiate between students who are high achieving, and students who are gifted.
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