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Case: Change Style of Teaching? Mr. Taylor has been enjoying his first year of teaching sixth grade in a comfortable suburban setting. He has been implementing the new and innovative teaching techniques recommended for ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Mr. Taylor's sixth grade ESL students outnumber his English speaking students in the classroom. Mr. Taylor has been very motivated about the visuals and manipulatives he has added to his lesson information in order to enhance the learning opportunities for all of his students. The animated read alouds and the fun role playing activities certainly have been assets when presenting comprehension skills to the second language learners. Mr. Taylor feels strongly about his successful unconventional strategies that seem to close the language gaps and truly help make learning connections for the ESL students. While the school year is progressing smoothly, Mr. Taylor starts to worry about the conventional end of the year standardized achievement tests. He knows that these scores will be a reflection of his teaching profession as well as an integral part of his school's overall assessment averages. Questions: 1. Should Mr. Taylor change his style of teaching? 2. Is Mr. Taylor's concern about the end of the year assessments a valid concern? 3. Will the conventional assessments administered at the end of the school year reflect Mr. Taylor's teaching ability? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) If Mr. Taylor is seeing improvement and success in his students then he does not need to change his style of teaching. It is important to be teaching the information that will be included in these assessments but he does not need to "teach to the test" and change his styles of teaching. A solution to this would be to incorporate additional strategies that will prepare the students for the assessments. His concern about the end of the year assessments is valid, many teachers feel that all the pressure is on them, but if he is teaching to the best of his ability and is covering the proper material with all students understanding then he should not be concerned. Mr. Taylor should be sure that students understand the required information before moving on. He should be confident in his students abilities to perform on these assessments. |
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