Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jones (pseudonym),
I am delighted that I have the opportunity to continue
working with Julia (pseudonym) and the rest of Mrs. Smith’s (pseudonym) 4th
graders on their literacy learning for the remainder of my internship. I have
had the opportunity to observe and assess Julia on her literacy learning during
the beginning of the school year. I am very impressed with her progress
considering that your family has only been in the United States for a little
over a year. I contribute much of Julia’s success to your strong involvement in
her education. With this letter it is my goal to keep you informed of Julia’s
development, what aspects of her literacy still need improvement, and how I
plan on implementing specific practices that will help Julia continue to
progress.
Because Julia is an English language learner, she has
specific literacy learning needs. Julia is currently reading at a second grade
level due to her lack of vocabulary comprehension while reading. Julia often
reads texts word by word and without expression or pause for punctuation. There
are many content specific words and ideas within the texts she is reading that
she is unfamiliar with. Because of this vocabulary, Julia is often unable to
fully comprehend the main idea of texts that she has read, thoroughly
understand and answer questions about the texts, or fluently
read the texts. When writing, Julia struggles with organizing her thoughts into
coherent sentences that are properly sequenced. Fortunately, these components
of her literacy development that need improvement are completely normal issues
for an English language learner. Her vocabulary, comprehension, and
organizational skills can be addressed and improved by making specific changes
to her literacy instruction.
For the remainder of the school year I have chosen some
specific books that I feel Julia will be enthusiastic about. These books will
challenge her, but will also help improve her vocabulary and comprehension
skills while being age appropriate. In order to increase Julia’s vocabulary
these books will be varied in topic. Julia will be participating in whole class
discussions, partner work, independent study, and private instruction with
myself and another English language literacy instructor. Her instructor and I
will be focused on using mini-lessons and activities that will help broaden
Julia’s prior and background knowledge about different topics. We will create
many different opportunities for Julia to read aloud and listen to us read
aloud. This technique will help her become exposed to different types of texts
and vocabulary. We will provide instruction about idioms and phrases, synonyms
and antonyms, and ways to help learn new words. We will also teach the key vocabulary
and subject matter before we begin
each book so that Julia will have background knowledge about the different
texts. If Julia is better prepared for what she is going to be reading, I
expect she will begin to read more fluently and be able to comprehend more of
what she is reading.
In addition to vocabulary and prior knowledge instruction,
Julia and the entire class will work on skills that will help them to
comprehend and sequence what they are reading as well as their own arguments
and ideas. As a class, we will discuss and practice the proper way to retell a
story. I will provide activities that require students to practice sequencing
an event of their own, as well as sequencing an event that happened in a story
that they read. These activities will help Julia organize her thoughts so that
she can better comprehend the things she has read, and accurately transfer them
to paper. These activities will translate nicely into her writing and should
help improve her organizational skills. I will spend time with Julia helping
her to identify the main idea and details of a story. I will also teach the
entire class how creating a graphic organizer or idea web is a great tool for
organizing what you would like to write, and different transitional vocabulary
words that are beneficial to know when sequencing events.
By implementing the above activities in the classroom, I believe
we will see more progress in Julia’s literacy learning, and she will be ready
to progress to the fifth grade next year. If you would like to discuss any of
these ideas in greater detail please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you
for taking such an interest in your child’s education, and I look forward to
discussing Julia’s progress with you in the future.
Sincerely,
Hope Dokho
Miss Dokho,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate receiving your letter informing me of how my daughter is doing in school. I have been worried that she has been falling behind since her father and I speak very little English. It is difficult for us to help her at home with her American homework since we struggle our self in those subjects.
I am very pleased with the information you have provided us about what your plans are for the future in helping her improve her reading level. I understand that by selecting a couple different books for her to read and practice this will hopefully improve her reading level and comprehension of information. I also agree with having her participate in whole group and partner work. Since she is not able to receive the help from us as her parents I think it is important for her to receive help from her teachers and fellow students. However, what worries me is that since she is reading at a second grade reading level and her lack of American understanding I fear that she may be made fun of from her classmates and that instead of the small groups/ partner work helping her improve her literacy it will make things worse with her peers. Is there any way that she can get individual attention with a teacher for some parts of the day so that she is having an adult helping her since she does not receive that at home for literacy?
You also mentioned in your letter that you plan on working with Julia and the other students with graphic organizers, I am not sure what this is however if this is an easy concept to understand I can try and help Julia at home. I do agree that she needs additional help with her writing and developing her vocabulary; she struggled with this in her old school before moving to America. I want to help her as much as I can however I do not want to get her confused. I was wondering if we work with her on her reading fluency and comprehension in her native language if you think it would help her when reading English books. Reading is very important and her father and I know the importance of reading. We are willing to help her in anyway we can, I would just like your input on if it would provide her confusion if we help her with her reading and writing in our native language and you help her in English. Last, I am worried that you said that she is reading at a second grade reading level, she is in the fourth grade and I feel that she should be reading at a fourth grade reading level. When she reads at home she reads at fourth grade reading level. I am worried that she will fall behind and struggle in school if she is at this second grade reading level. Thank you for all your work with her and your time you are spending I appreciate it, please keep me informed with how she is doing and let me know what we can do to help her at home, Mrs. Jones
Miss Dokho,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the fact that you took the time to inform my husband and I about Julia's literacy development during her time in your classroom. I have noticed that she often lacks motivation to do the homework that is assigned, even when we try to help her. This is very difficult for us because we know very little English. We feel that if we did try to help her, this would discourage her more by seeing both my husband and I struggling with understanding the assignment. Because of this, I feel that all of the interventions and instructional adjustments you discussed will be very worthwhile.
My husband and I fully agree that Julia's discrepancies will require additional instruction, especially with you and the English language literacy instructor. When will this be done? If not done during the literacy block you have set up each day, we fear that Julia may also fall behind in other subjects, such as math or science. If possible, I would prefer if you would work with her individually only during times when the other students in the class are reading or writing to prevent from a regression in all subject area. But, I assure you that all of the things you have in mind, like graphic organizers, sequencing, and extensive vocabulary instruction, are great ideas. These, of course, are essential for Julia's literacy development; we want her to be as prepared as possible for 5th grade and to be fully functional in settings other than school.
Aside from this, how is Julia doing socially in your classroom? Are there any other English learners? Is she having trouble making friends because of her language barrier? The last thing we want for her is to be isolated or cut off from her peers because she has not yet become fluent in the language. Is there anything that you can do to facilitate communication between her and her peers? In all of the instructional strategies you have mentioned, she is learning the language of the academic context. This may be a lot to take on, but is there anything that you can do to enhance her conversational language?
Again, thank you for informing my husband and I about Julia's progress and areas of improvement. As you said, her education is very important to us, and we want the transition from our previous home to America to be as easy for her as possible. Let us know if there is anything we can do at home, despite that we struggle with understanding the language as well.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Jones