Blog Entry #8 sheltered literacy lesson

Blog Entry #8 video clip of a sheltered literacy lesson

After watching Isabella Yurkovetsky teach a second time, it became even more evident to me that she has passion for her students and refuses to accept low-level performance from any of her students.  I like how she connected her pushing students to physical therapy and how she said, “you have to be a little bit tough and I know it hurts, but you gotta do it.”  The three important components that made her classroom so successful were creating community, making connections and teachable moments.  She demonstrated many of the sheltering techniques through her lesson.  Listed below are some examples.

I noticed the teacher used visuals when she was reviewing the rules as well as body movement when the kids practiced the rule of raising right hands for permission to speak.
Another example of sheltering her instruction was when she took the opportunity to give a brief preposition lesson and had the students actively engaged by standing up and repeating the sort of chant with her.

Another example of sheltering her lesson was her spontaneous preposition lesson.  I love how she had the kids all stand up and repeat the chant and the word clarification of on and in.  The students seemed very engaged in this portion of the lesson.  She was a master at adding meaningful vocabulary through the example of describing the spoon and pushing for explicit word choice.

She used body movement and pantomime in her rocking chair example as the students were listening and following along in their books.  She made no assumptions that they would know the meaning of rocking chair so she made sure there was clear understanding of that portion of the story.

I also noticed her quick conversations with the Russian boy about the Aloe Vera plant and how she honored his home language.  Her body language demonstrated to the kids that what they had to say was important and valued.

I loved, loved, loved the origami spinners and how she incorporated them into learning.  She obviously is very in tune with her kids and knows when she’s “got” them.  She was willing to put herself in the place of a learner in the room and let the kids teach her.  What a great example for her students.

I did not hear any idiomatic expressions but rather short simple statements with lots of clear expression and articulation.

Lastly, I appreciated how she told her own story of coming to the United States at 15 and feeling like she didn’t have a voice because of the language barrier.  It is obvious that she appreciates her students and makes no assumptions that they are not smart because they need support in learning English.

What a fabulous example of great teaching!