Knitting, crocheting, sewing, uh, huh!

Okay, I'm in a better frame of mind now. After my meeting with the medical oncologist last week, my fears were calmed. I had a pet scan and everything was clear except for some arthritis in my collar bone. I can live with that! I will have my first treatment this Thursday. I'm ready to get started so it can be done with. J is going fishing for three days starting tomorrow. He really needs some time away to get his head cleared. I only have plans to go to dinner with my girlfriends on Wednesday evening at Blue Koi.
I finished Owen's sweater except for the buttons and blocking. The sleeves are a bit short, but he looks so cute in it. I then made a spiral blanket in Jayhawk colors. I may save it for Bryan and Niclole's next baby. I am finishing a french market bag in green hemp that will probably be a Christmas gift and have my shell on the needles, dying to begin a lace shawl and baby booties.
I have also been slowly working on Owen's fabric book. I have all the pages cut out and the appliques cut and marked. Now I just need to put it together.
My usage goal this quarter is to use as much of the body lotion as I can. I have samples, hotel bottles, gifts from people. It should last me at least a year. I was successful using the shampoo and haven't bought any until today. How ironic! It'll probably last a year with the amount of hair I will have by this time next week. Whata ya goin' to do?

Home Sweet Home

I totally identified with Freeman's observation that Second Language Learners who anticipate leaving the country of the L2 have a more difficult time learning the language. I have a young man in my 6th grade class who has been in the ELL center for 2 years but still lags behind most of the students in language acquisition. He hesitates to speak in English, he still didn't know the word for bread after attending Kansas schools for two years. Part of this explanation can be that he desperately wants to return to Mexico and anticipates that his parents will send him there eventually. Other students who have been in the program for less time than him, have surpassed him with their skills. They like being in the US and are planning a future here. That part of Freeman's ppt really jumped out at me. Attitude is everything!

SIOP

SIOP or Sheltered Instruction etc. has been utilized in schools for many years. Training that I know of has been minimal with little follow up. Although teachers see the values of SIOP, it is difficult to stay enthused when there is no one to discuss the lessons, the benefits, or the student achievement. As the author of the article says, most teachers are either content teachers or language teachers. One of the biggest draw backs or barriers in using the SIOP method is the amount of planning time and resources needed. As I looked over the questions for MTSS or Multi Tiered Student Service implementation, the question that was asked over and over again regards planning time. The KNEA will go to the Shawnee Mission School Board with its requests and included in those request is more time for teacher planning. It is impossible to do a good job, much less an excellent job, without sufficient time and resources. Support and ongoing dialog about SIOP, is needed also to keep it in the forefront of teachers' minds. My experience has been that teachers believe SIOP training is not only beneficial for ELL students but for ALL students.

Brown's Redemption

H. Douglas Brown really redeemed himself in my eyes with his last section of Chapter 10 in the book. He encouraged teachers to trust their instincts and believes that we know our students best. I had been thinking this all along. The theorists have their place, but after awhile, the research seems redundant. Just get on with the business of teaching. Granted, there is probably better approaches than others, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it! From this chapter I garnered that Krashen is a bit pompous. I can see why others would get so worked up about his hypothesis. However, he at least generates dialogue. Once again, most of the remarks are pretty obvious to any educator and would cross over boundaries into other areas of learning. I'm glad I read this chapter: it affirmed my own hypothesis that I was doing the best for my students in every way I knew how.

Pidgin and Creole Languages

My understanding of pidgin is different after reading the articles. If I am to understand correctly, pidgin is utterances or words made up in order to communicate with a person of a language different from the first speaker. This is used for a specific purpose, usually a work situation where no formal learning of a second language can take place in a short enough time to keep the project going. I picture pidgin occuring during the laying of the railroad in the west when the Chinese and other minoriites were used as laborers. In order to talk to other workers or the bosses, a way of communicating had to be invented quickly. Therefore, pidgin would satisfy the requirements. Since the words did not necessarily survive, and there was no need for the language after the job was completed, the pidgin did not develop into a creole, or combination of two languages.

Bilingual Education

As I was reading Porter's article on bilingual education, I kept saying "yes!". He has the statistics and studies to back up everything I've been thinking since I first got into ELL teaching and supervising. In my previous job, our ELL population was about 60% of the student body of 150 students. We were a small Catholic school so we received no federal funding. Therefore, our approach was not based on money but what worked for the student. Total immersion into the classroom where only English was spoken worked well. By year 3 almost all of the sutdents were approaching grade level. If there was a student who was not progressing at the expected rate, they were tested for learning disabilities and received the extra help that was needed.
At my current job, there is a center classroom that mimics the ones Porter wrote about. I have students who have been in the ELL classroom for 6 years. Something else is going on there! I had them tested and lo and behold, they have a learning disability. You can be ELL and have difficulty with learning. It's not just an Language thing!

I like that Krashen criticizes the Reading First results. Makes me wonder who is getting the money for this program and how critical is its use since KCMO didn't get funding for it last year because they failed to apply in time for the grant. If it is that beneficial it seems that the feds would have reminded them to get in their application so the students did not miss a year of reading improvement.