"This past year, I worked with several ELL students and really felt like I didn't do enough in providing reading support. I chose this chapter hoping that I would gain more insights into how to help these students. After reading this chapter, I had a better uderstanding of ELL children and how I could help them.
I could relate to the section on "Many Subtypes of ELLs," because each of the children that I worked with were very different. Also, the ideas for culturally and linguistically responsive and appropriate assessment and instruction as described on pages 137 - 138 resonated as a definite truth to me. Additionally, Table 6.1 on page 144 had insightful questions would could be used when discussing ELL students during my district's PLC's. Finally, I felt there were some good suggestions on the domains of literacy and examples of strategies that I would also like to share with classroom teachers."

"I chose this chapter because of working with an ELL this past year. I feel that I did him a disservice in that I did not know enough about HOW to help him with his reading challenges. This chapter helped to validate some of my thoughts in regards to this student in particular, and ELLs in general. On page 135, the authors stated that "ELLs are just as capable as their fluent English-speaking peers to engage in higher level thinking, although it might take them longer to process language, especially when a task is cognitively demanding." All too often, ELLs are looked upon as having limited intelligence, but we need to be cognizant of the fact that they are working to process the language, and it has to be done in a different, and perhaps slower, manner than those who are proficient in English. We need to have an accurate understanding of the students' levels of English proficiency in order to be able to support them in their learning. On pages 136 and 137, the authors reviewed the factors that must be considered when teaching ELLs: creating a responsive learning environment, knowledge of research-based practices and approaches, and knowledge of the second-language process. As more ELLs come through my classroom, I will need to collaborate more with experts in this area in order to support the students in a better way."