Emily Crozier

Observation Report

The student that I chose to observe is my next-door neighbor, AF. This ELL student is ten
years old and was adopted from China almost two years ago. Since then, AF has been in two
different school settings, public elementary and catholic/private school. This ELL student is
currently in the sixth-grade class at Grey Nun Academy located in Yardley, PA.

1- What techniques/methods/strategies do you see being used with the ELL student(s)?
Are they effective? Why or why not? (either specifically for the ELL student(s) or in
whole class/small group instruction)
In a whole class setting, I observed the teacher using a variety of different techniques throughout
the school day. Since the students are only in sixth grade, they only change classrooms for
science and math if you are a higher-level student. Every morning the students have morning
work. The day that I observed, the students were given a writing prompt. The response had to be
between five-eight sentences and could include a corresponding picture. More into ELA, the
teacher used visual aids to represent their vocabulary words. Students were required to write a
sentence for every vocabulary word and hand it in for a grade. In all, I saw the teacher using a lot
of academic language during teacher modeling and the students participated in a lot of think,
pair-share. All the strategies were administered in front of the whole class; however, it seemed
very effective. The students understand the task they were assigned along with an example of
how it should look.

2- Do you notice any student behaviors that you would consider out of the ordinary?
Please describe in detail. (This applies to both the ELL student(s) and other
classroom students)
When AF was first placed in the school he went through an Adjustment Disorder. He came to the
United States knowing only his foreign language so it was frustrating for him to explain himself
to others. AF comes from a big family. He is the middle child of four sisters and four brothers.
He was also immediately put in a public-school environment so being consistently around a big
group made it difficult for him to establish relationships. As a result, AF talked very little and
worked independently. Now, AF is comfortable talking to anyone. Although he is hard to
understand at times, his classmates and teachers have patience with him. From what I observed,
he is in a normal classroom setting. I did not see any out of the ordinary behavior from AF or
any other student in his class.

3- What type of interactions do you see between the ELL student(s), other classroom
students, and the teacher(s)?
Knowing AF personally, I am not surprised is well liked throughout his class. Since it is a
smaller class size, the teacher does a lot of small group work. AF takes part in the small group
assignments for math; however, during reading another student will go out into the hall/another
part of the classroom and read to him. This is because AF is not on the same reading level as
most his peers. He currently reads on a 3rd to 4th grade reading level whereas the other students
are on or above the 6th grade level. When it comes time for the reading test, it is given to him in
another room by his reading tutor. The test for the most part is given to him orally; however, he
answers the questions through writing.

4- Identify resources/materials that are being used with the ELL student(s). Please
describe in detail how the ELL student is using them. Do they appear to be
effective? Explain.
AF has first-hand experience with resources. Twice a week AF is taken out of the classroom for
speech therapy. AF was born with a cleft palate and even though he underwent surgery to get it
fixed, he still has trouble with his accent. The speech therapist focuses on simple pronunciations
like long and short vowel sounds and consonants. AF also works with a tutor before and after
school. His tutor is the fifth-grade teacher at his elementary school and works with him on his
reading skills. During his tutoring sessions, they complete extra assignments given by his
teacher. AF has worked with these two professionals since coming to Grey Nun this school year.
In just this short amount of time, AF has already gone up a grade level in both oral reading
comprehension and silent reading comprehension. A material that I have seen been used in this
classroom as well as others I have been placed in is the partner clock. It is a handout in the shape
of a clock and students named are filled in all twelve times of the clock. This teacher filled out
each student clock for them breaking into sections. Depending on the time the teacher says, the
students will either be with a student that is higher, lower, or on the same grade level as them.
With observing this model in other classrooms, I have seen how effective it can be with every
type of student. It gives students an alternative of collaborating with a partner rather than their
best friend.

5- Does the classroom environment seem to be comfortable for the ELL student(s)?
Please describe the environment and explain how you made your decision.
While observing, I thought the students treated AF just like any other student. During snack time,
he sat and talked to a few boys about the technology application called Minecraft. The overall
environment of the classroom was inclusive and welcoming. The students did not give AF a hard
time for asking the teacher to repeat or say he was confused on a topic. Instead, the students
listened intently in case they were confused too.

6- Whats the comfort level of the ELL student(s) regarding the English language?
What observations help you arrive at your decision? Refer to the Vocabulary
Performance Indicators. At what level would you place the ELL student? How did
you decide on that level?
AF has an overall general sense of the English language. Listening to AF speak and the level of
vocabulary he uses, I rank his comfort level as context-bound knowledge. He uses simple
sentences and does not have an elevated vocabulary. Even though he is only ten, I have noticed
AF sticks with terms he knows and can use correctly in a phrase. However, one can argue his
language is rich, decontextualized knowledge of the word because he can comfortable use the
words in a sentence; however, the words are not on his age level.

7- If you feel comfortable to ask, ask the cooperating teacher (or ESL teacher) what
type of accommodations/modifications they make for the ELL student(s). Please
describe the types of accommodations/modifications that were discussed. Do they
 appear on the checklist? Why/why not do you think they are present/not present on
the checklist?
Like I previously stated, AF receives his test orally administered by his reading tutor. His
reading tutor is the fifth grade at the school so she will work with him before and after school on
assignments given by his sixth-grade teacher. He also peer tutoring during reading. His classmate
will work him to read his given passage and answering the accompanied questions. These
instructional modifications also include small cooperative groups. Due to the smaller class size,
AF and his classmates are consistently put into groups to work on assignments. These items are
all listed on the checklist and provided by the school. However, at home AF participates in a
series called Learning Alley. This is an ELA audio tapes series that gives AF extra practice in
reading and spelling. AF reads the story along as the audio tape is speaking the story to him. I
think all these items are listed on the checklist as a way for the ELL student(s) to work to the best
of their ability. At times a general curriculum can be too advanced for a student so an
accommodation or modification is embedded to help the student learn easier.