Chapter One Reflections

I found this chapter to have some very interesting statistics that I had never come across before. While I have taught downstates in a variety of different settings, it never occurred to me the large number of LEP students that we have across the board in this country - almost 10% of our student population. That many of these students may be first or even second generation (not new immigrants) Americans surprised me. Chapter one also underscored for me the fact that our Native American populations may largely be LEP, even if their traditional language is no longer spoken. The fact is that their children's grasp of English may be less than what we would expect because the language spoken in the home is neither fluent in English or another language.

The fact is that there is no one solution for bringing our students up to speed to where we would like them to be as far as proficiency in English. However, SIOP does remind us to not assume our students know all the basic words in a piece, let alone the "new" vocabulary words we are introducing to them. I have found myself digging deeper into the material I am presenting and checking for understanding much more frequently, to insure that my students really understand what they are reading. Already I am noting a difference in their comprehension!