As I read through the powerpoint presentation I came across many points that were also made from the Opitz text. I do agree that many ELL students struggle with reading and writing because they are not familiar with the language and that is why it is important that they are completely immersed into the language within a classroom. They should be given the opportunity to hear as much language as possible. Sometimes teachers fail to question if the student struggled in their native language and immediately think that because they are ELL they will struggle with the English language. If a student struggled in their native language then there may be a serious learning issue that needs to be evaluated and addressed, however, any child or adult will struggle with a new language. The command of a language is what will determine success. If a student did not sturggle with their native language then they will be able to successfully learn the English language.
AS I have tested my 5th graders I see decoding issues as the main problems. Many times my students are skipping over the words and not attempting to decode and replace the word with something that has the same letters but doesn't make sense within the sentence. This decoding issue then affects the comprehension. Many times as a result of this issue, students are put through the RTI process in order to prevent major gaps and remediate the issues with interventions.
In my reading workshop I encourage students to read something that interests them and believe in the power of free choice. I teach mini lessons that introduce skills and then use conferences or guided reading groups to reinforce skills that the students need to work on.
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