Ms. Quincy teaches a class of English learners who range from the Expanding level that have been life long language learners to Emerging new learners. The lesson goal she is teaching towards seeks to analyze a written text that focuses on persuading the audience. The ELD standards seek to include any ELLs through contribution to the class using discussions, adding relevant information, and understanding organization and cohesion of the text. Ms. Quincy begins her lesson by checking her student’s prior understanding of persuasion and arguments by having them discuss, with a partner, times that they have used these ideas in the past. A shift that could encourage learning of language and engagement would be to ensure everyone knows what words like persuasion and argumentation are before the students group up to discuss. After the students have discussed their own experiences, Ms. Quincy instructs the class on the purpose of a persuasive text and how it differs from the way we try to persuade someone when we talk. Identifying the idea that written language is different from spoken language is an important idea for students learning English in the classroom to understand. Ms. Quincy hands each student a copy of a persuasive article written by a student for them to read, she also shows it up on the board as the class engages on “choral” reading, meaning they all read it out load in unison together. A shift in engagement could be to have the students remain in their groups and read to each other out loud instead of as a class. So often students who do not want to read can easily be overlooked, especially when the teacher is engaged in reading as well, since their lack of participation is drowned out by the rest of class. In order to satisfy the analyze portion of the learning goal Ms. Quincy models how to chunk their text down into sections. She instructs students to chunk the text into stages that include the ideas of position statements, arguments, and reiteration. A written explanation tells the students what each of these words mean and how each section help organize a written argument. Further modeling is done on the board after the students have chunked their text when Ms. Quincy shows students how to highlight key sentences within each chunk. Ms. Quincy tells students that if text structure and organization ideas are not clear now that it is okay since they will spend the next few weeks learning about it. A shift in engagement and language learning would be to focus on understanding instead of ensuring students that they would learn everything later. Ms. Quincy had used this phrase more than once and left me with the feeling that she knew students did not fully understand what they were asked to learn and chose to address it at a later date. Students are broken up into pairs, unless you are an Emerging language learner in which case you were to group with two other ELLs, leaving a group of three language learners to work together. In their pairs or groups students would move through their chunks to highlight language resources. Ms. Quincy walks the room to listen to conversations and helps steer understanding of groups that cannot quite reach the correct conclusions. After the lesson it says that Ms. Quincy will check in with students at the end of class that she noticed might need extra support, but it does not say how. I would like to know how this “check in” would look since a quick verbal check in is not indicative of her struggling student’s understanding of the material. The class shares out their observations of language resources within the text and writes them on a chart that remains visible for students to see their progress and understanding of the material throughout the unit. Ms. Quincy uses an example from the chart to further explain what one of the resources means and how it leads to a better argument in writing. She explains the idea of credibility and how it connects persuasive ideas within the text. This style of lesson will be repeated for the next two weeks as students continue to analyze texts and share their understanding. At the end of the first week Ms. Quincy met with Mrs. Massimo, a partner teacher who specializes in English language development, and mentions some of her question were hard to answer for some students. They plan to co-teach a lesson to team up and make sure students are acquiring the language needed to succeed. This lesson and its implementation have showed me the rigor needed to expose ELLs to high levels of learning and complex academic language, but also the pitfalls of moving ahead while understanding is lacking. Ells need to learn the material as well as catch up on the academic language understanding, and can fall behind. It is good that Ms. Quincy partnered up to offer more support for her students. I would like to see time to clarify new ideas instead of telling the students that if they don’t understand it is okay since they will learn it later. Showing understanding through assessments would be a much needed exercise during this unit instead of quick check ins at the end of the period for those who are struggling. I really like the idea of having the students fill out their understanding so that they are meeting their ELD standards for contribution and discussions as it focuses in on the acquisition of specific terms that the students are trying to understand.