English Language Learners Pedagogical Philosophy and Professional Growth

My pedagogical philosophy for teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) is one reflecting the influence of ministerial Resource Guides (e.g., see Supporting English Language Learners, 2008), public service monographs (e.g., Canadian-born English Language Learners, 2013; ELL Voices in the Classroom, 2009; English Literacy Development, 2014; A World of Words, 2009), trade research publications (e.g., Promoting Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 2007; Teaching English Language Learners, 2012), and practitioner-based perspectives (e.g., Himmel, 2012; Robertson, 2015).

I believe that all students require a caring, trusting, and respectful learning environment in order to demonstrate their strengths, unique talents, and learning needs. Integral to this vision is the need for students to develop "communicative competence," a term employed to encompass four fundamental but interconnected spheres of communication - listening and reading (receptive skills), and speaking and writing (productive skills). For ELLs, learning the curriculum occurs simultaneous with developing their proficency in English language usage. Some ELLs have strengths in receptive skills, while others have greater strengths in productive skills, and some further have some combination of receptive and productive skills. Along this continua of communication, ELLs might be assessed at different steps or stages in their English language development all the while progressing through the school year.

As a mainstream classroom educator, I am more prepared to support the developmental stages of English language acquisition with respect to ELLs. Having participated in the Queen's English Language Learners Part I program, I commenced my studies of this subject with an instinctual knowledge of how to support ELLs. But over the course of readings, viewings, and reflections I have come to understand in more breadth and depth of insight how ELLs both inform and shape classroom culture, offering opportunities for students to co-learn with each other and to build a strong and vibrant multilingual learning environment. My Artifact blog postings are designed to showcase the influential texts I have found to be most transformative to my pedagogical practice, enabling me to further build and refine my assessment, evaluation, and reporting of ELLs everyday (BICS) and academic (CALP) English language acquisition.