Working with Small Groups in 8th Grade ELA

8th Grade ELA

Matt Perron

Problem Identified: I noticed that the ELL students were struggling to complete writing assignments without direct teacher assistance.

Hypothesis: If I adjust the scaffolding will ELL student productivity increase as measured by number of outcomes met.

Data Collection: The number of Meetings increased and the number of Not Yets decreased from our first writing assignment at the beginning of the year.

Actionable Step: Be sure that your scaffolding has a visual component to help ELLS organize their thoughts.

Overall Findings/Impact: I found that while the ELLS showed vast improvement with the scaffolding, so did an ELL who chose not to use it and so did the rest of the students. I feel this is because we ran a year long literary salon where we read and discussed in detail over 700 pages of text. The decision to run the class in this way, turned out to be our true inquiry project.