Students in your class can be queer, or refugees. Teaching with no judgement is essential as their parents might be queer or refugees themselves.
Queer: "of, relating to, or characterized by sexual or romantic attraction that is not limited to people of a particular gender identity or sexual orientation"
Refugee: "a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution"
For queer students:
1. Use intertextuality to create more depth into canonical texts like Romeo & Juliet
2. Use graphic novels to showcase different identities
Who are English Language Learners (ELL)? Students whose first language is not English. English Language Learners are not born in a native English country and often English is not a language they use to speak within their communities.
ELL can be divided into three groups:
1 - Born immigrants/refugees
2 - Born in communities that maintain their exclusivity e.g. second generation immigrants
3 - First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
Language acquisition is, according to language learning theories, divided into cognitive, inherent, and sociocultural and children are very limited in their language acquisition skills as opposed to adults (Cliffbu Malibu).
To support English Language Learners here are my three tips:
1. Speak slowly to develop relationships because speaking slowly conveys to the students that you acknowledge that you are not rushing through your lesson but you are there to teach and connect with the learner that is making the effort. Think of speech as sounds that the student might be hearing for the first time from the point of view of understanding it (developing cognition toward something unknown in the past). You can definitely connect the speaking English skills with writing skills by giving your students Duolingo exercises, ELL support flash cards and to support listening by tapping the learn-it-all-place YouTube's plethora of resources.
2. Engage with culture to create a dynamic way of teaching in the classroom. It honors their culture and it develops a linguistic diversity that values their contribution during the classroom teaching sessions. Acknowledging the list of languages spoken in the classroom is essential as well. Teachers should connect with their families in order to make better lesson plans in the classroom. For example, there are around 500 words from Arabic language that are in English language.
3. Engage in gamification as much as possible and surround the gamification around real life uses of English. Think of settings where your students will be using English to enhance the cognitive connection with the real world, for example: malls, birthday parties, and school clubs etc. Scavenger hunt activities for ELL learners can enhance learning in a fun and creative way and it also releases the stress of being learning as a student and transforms you into a gamer.
Resources:
STEP
"Steps to English Proficiency (STEP) is a framework for assessing and monitoring the language acquisition and literacy development of English language learners across The Ontario Curriculum"
Use #ASK to deescalate the situation in your classroom. A teacher should always remember that you are never alone to deal in dealing with violent situations. There is support in schools for students and staff. All teachers are required to report any situation of violence to the administration.
1) Acknowledge the student: Be polite. Focus on something positive. Make them feel heard by acknowledging their feelings. Make sure no one is at risk of immediate physical harm.
2) Support: Approach the administration for support (or a fellow teacher who is nearby). The teacher should ensure that the other students are safe, call for support if safe to do so, tell the student I see that you are upset right now I am here when you are ready to talk. Calling help from the office is essential.
3) Kindle physical change: Use words carefully. If the student is violent only when approached, maybe don't intervene by getting close, but suggest going on a walk, focusing on another activity, or go outside. Give them the room to relax by changing the physical environment. There are not enough staff in the school so using these strategies might be enough to deescalate the situation.
1) What can I do to know about my students? Activities included in the classroom should be reflective of student interests. It should also be cross curricular and connect history with a ratio of 70% current interests with 30% cross curricular or historical connection. The teacher should engage with the students as much as possible and the assessment must be completed in the classroom, ideally, as much as possible.
2) What do I know about the learning environment I am teaching in? A classroom should be a projection of the teacher and the students. It should reflect an atmosphere where socioemotional development of the student can take place. It is is our responsibility. Students are more stimulated when the teacher takes their time to build connections. Students are also more engaged with lessons delivery having a personal touch
3) What goals should a teacher put in place in order to become a better teacher? The teacher should be passionate about celebrating their students’ cultures. The teacher should teach about diversity and equity. He/She should be able to mediate social conflicts in the classroom or refer the matter to the guidance counselor and other concerned authorities. The teacher should set-up appointments with the parents when the student does not follow expected rules and procedures repeatedly in class after being told by the teacher repeatedly.
4) How important is feedback for the students? I've learned it's important to provide students with different methods for giving feedback, especially if it can be done anonymously. Students care about what their teachers think, but they might care even more about what their peers think about them. I'd like to find more ways to accomplish this going forward.
5) Is there any community to support students and teachers? Yes, the school administration, guidance and resource staff, the school union representative, social worker, Board EAP--Employee Assistance Program, all of these help teachers and students.
6) Is it easy to practice guided authority on students? As a teacher I am comfortable in my authority and typically find it easy when the behavior is predictable to make connections with my students though I do want to challenge myself in my lesson planning and try different activities cause it is easy for my to fall into a repetitive outline
7) How to create a caring and safe environment?
Connecting with students, notice trigger behaviors, inquire by asking small questions, have a stress chart, communicate with the support staff, always maintain professional boundary to focus on the goal of providing a caring and safe environment, if you can verbally stop a physical fight do that else call support staff do not engage in physically stopping a fight.
8) What can teachers do in order to better manage time?
There never seems to be enough time to get everything done when it comes to time management. You can make a real time document of the calendar where you can enter everything you want to share with the students and the parents.
9) Where should teachers report bullying?
Teachers must document bullying and reach out to the support staff. It should not be swept under the carpet and it must be looked at. Social inclusion also comes under the banner of bullying. Social, physical and cyber bullying are the most widespread times of bullying.
10) How should teachers teach in the pandemic (COVID-19/Omicron)?
COVID has been here for two years and it is continuing on for another year. All COVID-19 schools policies must be with your school principal. You must contact your principal and your school board websites to be 100% sure what are the expectations you must adhere to. To implement the policies can be challenging but a teacher must try to follow as much as possible. You must reach for help if you feel stressed out and you are unsure about anything to your higher authorities. For better engagement with the curriculum adding COVID and Omicron conversation in the lesson plan can make the students engage with their current world more.
