Packerbacker

Hi, everybody,  Wow — my own blog! It’s the first one I’ve ever had. Although I used to post quite frequently to message threads when I subscribed to CompuServe years ago, I’ve never been much for posting to blogs. This is an adventure for me. A little bit about myself: I’m a grad student at a large university in Atlanta, studying to become an English teacher at the secondary level. This is a second or third career for me; in the past, I’ve worked as a writer, an editor, a cartoonist and an animator for various employers. I’ve certainly had a lot of life experience. At age 48, I’m probably the oldest student in my classes. Currently I work as a student teacher at a racially diverse high school in the suburbs. Its race breakdown is about half Latino, 30 percent African-American, 20 percent Asian, and a smattering of Caucasians. One of the things I hope to learn in my coursework is how to teach such a mixed bunch. Unfortunately, the syllabus for ESOL kids is about the same as that for students who speak English as a primary language. To me that seems ridiculously unfair. And you can see it in the eyes of some of the students — there’s simply no way a lot of ESOL students can keep up. What I’d like to learn is how to reach the stragglers while working within such a system. Also, I want to polish my lesson planning and spoken delivery. Several times I’ve planned lessons and have been caught short of material. When that happens, not surprisingly, the class gets out of hand. At the same time I need to work on my delivery, especially for the ESOL kids. Any comments? Welcome aboard!gbpackers