Personal Professional Learning Project

As an ELL myself when I was in school, I feel that I can somewhat relate to the experiences that current ELLs are going through now in classrooms such as, struggling to learn new concepts on top of learning English, adjusting to a new country, interacting with peers of a different culture, taking risks with using a new language, etc. Being able to relate, however, is just one aspect out of many in supporting ELLs. After my practicum experience at Ridgemont High School teaching ELD Math, I felt I wasn’t very equipped with the skills in teaching ELLs. The students I was assigned to were of the lowest English proficiency out of all the ELD math classes, and it was a tough class to teach. The difficulties included finding a balance between language and math teaching, communicating math concepts to students, and managing behaviour. This personal professional learning project was an opportunity for me to gain more insights into teaching ELLs, so that I can improve my pedagogy if I have an opportunity to teach ELLs again in the future.