Week 3 Assignment, Part 3
Draft Action Research Project Progress Report
Title – Bilingual
Children and the Interventions That Really Benefit Them by Maria Benavidez
Needs Assessment – In this research, we will be working with 12 first grade bilingual students from Tuloso Midway Primary. This school is located in a rural part of South Texas. For the most part, these bilingual students are classified as at risk low economically disadvantaged.
I have been teaching first grade for 4 years. One of the
most important things in first grade is getting the kids to read. Because our
school uses a transitional bilingual program, monolingual students are
introduced to phonics and reading instructions focused on English letters and
sounds. We do offer bilingual support, but again, the focus is to transition
the students to English. The problem that I see is that students have to make
the switch to learning abstract concepts to them since they do not yet
understand the language. Because of this, we have students that receive failing
grades as their English Language grades where the focus is to show their
mastery of reading skills in English.
Objectives and Vision of the action research project. (ELCC 1.1) – My goal is to identify strategies and interventions to make the transitional bilingual model more effective for students in their language acquisition and in their reading progress. We want to help these children by providing them with as much intervention before taking the final step of special education referral.
Review of the Literature and
Action Research Strategy – Apply Best
Practice to Student Learning (ELCC 2.3) - I decided on how to best implement my
research based on my questions and needs that I see in my classroom every year.
I also used our 3rd grades' standardized AEIS results to identify the subgroups
needs, weaknesses, and strengths. There is a wealth of information on bilingual
education concerning the various models used to provide services to English
Language Learners. The resources that I have used most frequently have been
resources found on the internet.
Some resources that have been
extremely helpful:
Calderon, M. (2001). Curricula and methodologies used to to teach Spanish-speaking limited English proficient students to read English. In R.E. Slavin & M. Calderon (Eds.), Effective programs for Latino students. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Manage the organization
(ELCC 3.1) – I conducted this research on my own using my own bilingual students. I
did use other bilingual teachers as informal resources for ideas and
strategies.
Manage Operations (ELCC 3.2)
– I have
gathered some of the data, but I am still more than halfway from being
completed. I am using the DRA, Developmental Reading Assessemnt to help level
my student's reading level. I have conducted our first round of TPRI benchmark
at the beginning of the year. Iwill soon conduct our midway checkpoint in
January and there I will be able to use that also to document progress.
Respond to Community
Interest and Needs (ELCC 4.2) – The bilingual students that enter this bilingual model will
benefit from our look into effective interventions because they will be provided
with the language support needed to be successful in the classroom. Any
bilingual teacher can also benefit from this research topic since I feel that
as teachers, we are always looking for ways in which to better help our
students succeed.
