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Generally I like to follow an "I-We-You" format for my lessons: first I demonstrate the skill I want the students to learn; next I lead the class through practicing the skill; and finally I allow the students time to practice the skill on their own or in groups. At the moment, I am unable to project paper documents for the whole class to see, which hinders the "I" and "We" steps. When I hand out a worksheet, or lead students through a passage from a book, they have to follow along the best they can with my spoken instructions and my attempts to demonstrate and model skills on the whiteboard, rather than seeing me demonstrate exactly what I want from them on a page that matches the one in front of them. A document camera will provide visual learners and English learners a more equitable opportunity at learning in my classroom. This is especially important for the English Learners in my class, because they often struggle to understand spoken instructions. With a document camera, everyone in the class can see exactly how I am marking up a passage or answering the first questions on a worksheet. When we are all looking at the same document, there is less room for miscommunication to interfere with the learning process. For example, if I want students to underline examples of alliteration in a paragraph, I can demonstrate on my copy as the class follows along. Students will be able to participate and learn, even if some do not understand every word in my spoken instructions. I think it will go a long ways toward leveling the playing field, and closing the achievement gap between English Learners and native speakers.
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