ELL TEACHER INTERVIEW

Rachel Doran

DECEMBER 10, 2016

T&L 333
Rachel Doran
November 28, 2016
Interview Essay

I chose to interview a Para educator in the South Kitsap School District. Her name is Gail

Christopherson. During the interview she talked about how she currently goes to five schools

and works with forty-two children total. When asked how many students were in each school,

she informed me that there are the most at Sunnyslope elementary school, with twenty

students. Sydney Glen has nine students, South Colby, the elementary school I attended, has

seven students and lastly Manchester and Olalla elementary school make up the rest of the

forty-two. Mrs. Christopherson has been with this school district for only three years but has

been teaching about fourteen years, however she does not have an endorsement in ELL she

just goes to workshops and other training so she can help the students the best she can. So, she

has a lot of experience working with children and being in the school system.

She had said something during the interview that made me think about what these ELL

students are really subject to. When asked how she assess her students she told me that

because she has the luxury of meeting with the students one on one or in pairs she asks the

mainstream teachers to keep her updated on how those students are doing in the class and

what else they need more support in. She can also see their progress from meeting with them

each day. She also informed me that the district adopted the Smarter Balance standardized

testing curriculum. Mrs. Christopherson told me one of the main reasons she doesn’t regularly

test her students is because they take these tests all year round and it starts in Kindergarten.

They take an entrance test when they first start school every year in order to see if they need

the extra help in the classroom and during the year they take tests in order to track their

progress it’s called stars testing. Stars testing is basically the smarter balance test for ELL
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Interview Essay

students. This really got me thinking about how much testing these students really do go

through. In each chapter of the Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners it discusses

the Common Core standards that the ELL students need to learn during that lesson or section

(Wright 2015). When these students come from all different proficiency levels, and have to take

tests so often, many of them become pretty good test takers. Mrs. Christopheson told me that

she had students whose English was not to the level that it needed to be to not need support in

the classroom any longer. But, that student had become really good at test taking and even if

he passed the test by one point he still passed and moved onto the next grade with no ELL

support so he started to struggle in the classroom. She does not believe that tests prove how

much a student knows and you can see more of their progress in everyday activities and

lessons.

The next thing that we talked about what how she interacted with the students. She

told me that she usually works with the students one on one, or in pairs it really depends on

their proficiency levels. She usually asks the teachers at the beginning of the year if she wants

the students to be pulled out of the class for help or to stay in the class. Usually, the teachers

request the student to be pulled out of class. As stated in the Foundations for Teaching English

Language Learners book “Pull-out ESL is a commonly used model particularly used in

elementary schools where ELL’s make up a small portion of the school’s population” (Wright

2015 pg. 107). It makes sense as to why the teachers request the pull out method because

there could be only one student in the class and it could be distracting to the other students

learning especially because elementary school students are easily distracted. There really is no
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curriculum set in place for the students. The school district has adopted the journey reading

program so if the student needs help in reading or writing, she uses ELL readers or games that

include writing and vocab or readers responses. She informed me that it really depends on the

student’s needs at that time. In the book it talks about sheltered reading, I would relate this

way of teaching the ELL students to the way Mrs. Christopherson teaches because she is using

the content area instruction in English but making it more comprehensible for them (Wright

2015 pg. 92). There are four levels of proficiency defined in the school district, and sometimes

she needs to group a level two student with a level four. When asked how she accommodates

for every student she said that she usually just has the same activity that they would be

working on in class but, for the higher level student she may ask them to elaborate or work on

their sentences/ paragraphs. Wright says that “there is no one size fits all program appropriate

for all ELLs in the school” (Wright 2015 pg. 89). The students don’t usually need a big push to be

motivated, this is because they are in small groups or one on one and they want to learn, they

are eager. .

From the ELL teacher interview I found it really beneficial that I learned what it is

actually like when teaching these students and how rewarding it sounds. When she explained

how she gets the know the students in a personal level and she has an individual relationship

with each and every student, it really brings perspective into what it is really like to teach. I

think that she really opened my eyes to the testing aspect of ELL’s and mainstream classrooms.

They do get tested so much and I never really thought about it or the affects it could have on
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Interview Essay

those students. I think it was eye opening to realize what it is really like for ELL students in

these school districts.

In the future, I will use this information that I learned from the interview to make me a

better teacher. I learned how to assess ELL students without giving a formal test, because there

are so many throughout the year to begin with. Plus, it is important to have a relationship with

my students like Mrs. Christopherson had said. It allows my students to trust me more and

accept me as their teacher. I want to be that teacher that impacts a student’s life for the better,

and it will always stick with them for the rest of their school life. Understanding the needs of

different students and trying to accommodate everyone, I think, will make me a better teacher

because it will allow me to see student’s growth and help them with what is needed instead of

just assuming everyone is on the same path and need the same thing. I think that is what a lot

of teachers do and it hurts a lot of students who are not quite at that level yet. ELL students

specifically are not at the same level as other students in the classroom usually, and it is very

important to recognize that and help in any way that you can. Being a good teacher to me does

not mean being a friend to the students because you need that authority over them, but being

helpful and making sure the students know you are always there to come to if they have

questions or concerns and you know each student individually definitely helps one become a

better teacher.

Before the interview I did not really think about how interactions among ELL students

and other students might be different. ELL students might need more help socializing and might

need that support system from you in order for them to excel in the classroom. I did not think
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Interview Essay

about how I could do that in the future until talking to Mrs. Christopherson. While she is strictly

ELL, she mentioned even in the mainstream classrooms it is important to recognize the

students who need more help and to go above and beyond to help them. Thinking back to my

experiences in the classroom my teachers always pulled students aside who were struggling,

me included, and it always made me feel like the teachers really cared about how well we do. In

the future, I will definitely be observant in my classroom and help those students who are

falling behind, even if they try to reject it. That is one thing I think I really took away from this

interview. I always knew I wanted to do good for these students but, I did not necessarily know

how I was going to do that until this interview.

Overall I really got a sense of passion from Mrs. Christopherson. She really enjoys

teaching and being able to work with those students on a personal level. She did recommend

that for a new teacher, taking some classes on ELL or Special ED classes will really help being in

the classroom because there all different types of students in the classroom nowadays. She

definitely helped me see how important being aware of different student’s needs is, and it is

important to connect with your students on a personal level.

References

Wright, W. E. 2015. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners. Philadelphia, PA:

Carlson Inc.
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November 28, 2016
Interview Essay

Appendix

1. How long have you been working with ELL students?

a. Three years in this district but I was a first grade teacher for 10 years in Everett.

2. How many students do you work with per school?

a. 42 total students in 5 elementary schools. 20 are in sunnyslope, 7 are at South

Colby, 2 at Manchester, 4 in Olalla, and 9 at Sydney Glen.

3. In what ways do you work with your students? One on one? Small groups? Take them

out of class? Work in class?

a. At the beginning of the year I give options to the teachers to pull the students

out of the classroom or work with them inside the class. It changes over the

weeks sometimes there are things the teachers don’t want them to miss out on

so I work with them in class but, other times the teacher may want them to be

pulled out because it could be a distraction. Usually it’s one on one but

sometimes it’s in pairs.

4. What are your teaching strategies?

a. Varies, there is no curriculum set in place, I draw from the class. The school

district adopted the Journey reading curriculum with ELL readers and writing

readers to help the students understand better. Sometimes we play vocab

games if that is what the students need help with or we work on reading

responses. It again, really depends on the student’s needs.

5. What is the most common language spoken among your students?

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Interview Essay

a. It depends on the year, but this year it is mostly Spanish.

6. What do you see your students struggle with the most?

a. It depends on the level of proficiency they are at. There are 4 levels, generally

the students understand first, then speaking, reading and for the most part they

have a hard time with the writing, they get mixed up with sentence structure or

verbs and how to properly use them.

7. Do you find that you need to constantly motivate your students to complete

assignments or stay on task?

a. Not usually, the students want to learn. But, when there are other learning

difficulties such as some of my students are not only ELL but some have ADHD or

are on the autism spectrum it can make it a bit more difficult so it requires some

more effort but for the most part they like coming to meet with me, and they

stay on task the whole time.

8. What steps do you take in order to ensure a positive environment for your students?

a. I get to know them on a personal level. You make connections with them

through their culture and things they are into. Also, it is important to make sure

you have the same expectations as their teachers would. When they try to do

things that would not be okay in the classroom you enforce the rules and make

sure they are aware of that.

9. What seems to be the best way to assess your students?

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Interview Essay

a. I don’t personally assess my students through tests. They get so many tests

throughout the year and it seems unfair for me to just build on that. They take

entrance exams every year to see how much support they will need throughout

the year. If they pass that test, then we can still track them for two years to

make sure they are doing okay in the classroom. They also have a stars test

which is basically the ELL version of the Smarter Balance test. So I don’t find it

necessary to test them on their progress because it is not accurate. Some

students could be very good test takers and not actually understand the main

ideas. I rely on the teachers to inform me how my students are doing in the

class. Also, you can tell in daily practice because it is one on one or in pairs.

10. What made you want to become an ELL instructor?

a. I wanted to go to school to be a teacher because of a friend’s mom. She was like

my inspiration and mentor. It was hard back then to get into the education major

because there was not a demand for teachers like it is now. After I graduated I

did some sub jobs and finally settled in Everett where I worked for 10 years.

After my kids were born, I wanted a part time job so I started to work in

resources and life skills. But, after a while I applied for the ELL para educator

position and loved it.

11. What is most rewarding about your job?

a. Getting to know the students on a personal level. They are eager to learn and

that makes me excited to teach and learn about them.

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Interview Essay

12. What are some struggles?

a. Creating your schedule. When you work for the district you have to go off of

every school’s schedule and deal with what the teachers need. It is hard because

there are not enough hours in the day for what you feel needs to get done. That

is the most challenging part.

13. How do you meet each student’s needs? Is it possible?

a. Well, you modify the same activity or assignment depending on what they need

at that time. Make it harder for the higher level students through asking them to

elaborate or work on their paragraphs and maybe make it easier for the lower

level students who need to work on vocabulary.

14. Do you feel it is beneficial to know a second language? Why or why not?

a. Oh totally, it’s wonderful these kids who are learning English and have their

native language they are going to have many advantages over other people. Like,

in jobs and higher education.

15. What is one thing you wish you knew before working with ELL’s?

a. Definitely get certified. Also, to learn a bit about scheduling because it does

depend on what the students need from you.

16. What advice would you give a new teacher?

a. Just go for it!! Take some classes in ELL/ special ed because there will be

students who need those needs in your class and it is important to know how to

deal with it.