American Born Chinese Reflection

This is an ESL classroom of 7 students’ ages 15-19 ranging from low intermediate to advanced. The students were assigned to read the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. They were asked to explore topics such as stereotypes, immigration, moving to a new location, and how art can help express emotions without words. After the unit they were assigned to interpret graphic arts in political cartoons. What were your reactions? The teacher used scaffolding techniques to help her learners understand new vocabulary. She broke down the lesson into manageable chunks because some students become frustrated and overwhelmed when they have to take on too much.

What worked or was effective? The lesson was satisfactory because the students

The students were assigned to read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes a true story about a girl who suffered from leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima. In this video they are discussing the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor. What were your reactions? The students in this video displayed critical thinking and analysis. The students justified why they felt their solutions for negotiation would have been better and resulted in fewer deaths. They were able to determine that those in leadership made the decisions for the Japanese people. They defended the idea that the American people and the Japanese people could have negotiated. Some believed it was basically their fault that we dropped the bomb on them. Some empathized with the Japanese people and said, “We killed so many people

When grouping students together I will make sure that I select students with various abilities. This will ensure that the groups that form will be inclusive and diverse.

This is an elementary self-contained classroom of 23 students in the 3rd grade. They are engaging in a Science lesson focused on force and motion. They will also incorporate Math to use a metric ruler to record the distance a car travels. What were your reactions? The students were excited about conducting their experiments and they were able to come up with their own solutions for making their car go faster. They determined that friction prevented their car from accelerating or placing the car on a slope made the car go faster.

What worked or was effective? The teacher pairs students with ADHD with a peer that encourages on task behavior. The teacher had the students take a pre-assessment to determine their prior knowledge. She had them fill in an OWL chart (Observe, Wonder, and Learn), with questions such as: What makes an object move? What makes an object move faster/slower? Do objects move faster down a slope? This way the teacher could focus on where the students need a refresher, what information they need to learn, and what can be