Entry 3

BLOG ENTRY THREE: Georgia Hemrick

Section #1 / Thoughts about action research—in general—as a tool to improve practice.

My thoughts about my action research were a rude awakening to me. I never thought that the assessment tools used to place the ELL into the correct level is not accurate. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that all are inaccurate, but the student must know what is being asked of them before they can answer a question. It’s as simple as that. There I did it. I changed the world…and you my fellow bloggers can say that you were there when this happened. (LOL)

It took me forever to figure out a good action research plan for this project. I thought about it for days and then one day, I was at the school and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt so silly for missing something so simple yet so important. The way you assess your students, i.e. the written test, oral test or project, you must learn how to align your test in order to meet the needs of your ESL students when determining LEP.

Section #2 / Ideas generated as a result of your project.
-Determining what teaching and learning methods work best for your students.
-Flexibility in teaching. Be a reflective decision maker. If it doesn’t work, improve it by the results of the assessments given.
-Go over questions by using visuals, games and media, a few days before the assessment to determine if the ELL’s will understand the assessment.
Get to know your kids. How do they respond? Do they understand?

Section #3 / Suggestions to other ESL professionals based on your findings.

Be calm and flexible.
My mentor teacher is absolutely amazing. I asked her how she learned to do such a wonderful job. When I leave the classroom not only does my cheeks hurt from smiling but I am in awe of the flexibility of her lesson plans and how she “tweaks” them to fit the class if the lesson didn’t quite work out as planned.

Learn about your students’ culture. See what they can relate to best? Are they a visual thinker? Learning by doing student?

Make sure the student knows what the questions mean?
-The student that understands the questions on the test, score better.

Be creative
Make learning fun. Don’t be scared to try something new. Make it your own if need me. Lesson plans aren’t set in stone. They can be changed.


With the risk of sounding redundant, my mentor teacher is amazing. She has complete control and they students really enjoy her teaching. She is the boss. I am very lucky to have such a great mentor. I hope to be as effective a teacher as she is.

Until I blog again,
Georgia Hemrick

MTSU Honor Statement:
This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I
plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated
the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations
of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State
University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed
Georgia Hemrick 10/13/2010