Ohio Dominican MA TESOL Summer Semester Overview

Welcome back! Today, an overview of my first summer semester in the MA TESOL program at Ohio Dominican University.

So as I briefly detailed before, I took TSL 540 (Cultural Diversity and Education) and TSL 570 (Resources for ESOL and Content Instruction) this summer semester at Ohio Dominican University. Here I will go into a little more detail about these classes.

TSL 540 Cultural Diversity and Education

Meeting:
Online Instruction with assignments every Wednesday.

Course Text:
Spradlin, L. (2012). Diversity matters: Understanding diversity in schools. Belmont, CA: Cengage.  ISBN  1-111-34167-2

Grading Process: 
Participation in discussion board = 40%
Reflections (3) = 20%
Person Identity paper = 6.66%
World Religious paper = 6.66%
Culturally relevant lesson = 6.66%
Advocacy plan = 6.66%
Philosophy of Teaching paper = 13.33%


Personal Experience:
As far as online classes go, this one wasn't too difficult. We did weekly readings and assignments from our book and actively participated in responding to questions through a discussion board. I found the information to be beneficial for anyone that hasn't experienced different cultures yet. This class really just puts into perspective your student/learner. Learning different cultural norms and how people function effects our mindset and how to better approach teaching in a diverse setting. Overall I did not learn much I did not know but I did learn about different difficulties that may arise from diverse students and settings. Personally I would have liked to take this class in person, but this was the only option available for summer semester 2013. 

Pers

TSL 570 Resources for ESOL and Content Instruction

Meeting:
Once a week class for 3 hours in an 8 week period.

Course Texts:
Echevarria, J., & Graves, A. (2011). Sheltered content instruction: Teaching
English language learners with diverse abilities (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
(SCI)

Epstein, R., & Ormiston, M. (2007). Tools and tips for using ELT materials; A
guide for teachers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. ISBN-10: 0-472-03203-8;
ISBN-13: 978-0-472-03203-7 (T&T)

Grading Process:
Textbook review = 15%
Collaboration plan = 20%
Video project = 15%
Technology report = 25%
Technology presentation = 15%
Class participation = 10%


Personal Experience:
I enjoyed this class because I have many more resources now because of it but it really didn't teach me a whole lot about TESOL. As it states in the title it is a resources class and that is basically what you get. This class would probably be better if it gave more concrete examples of how to use these resources in the classroom. The course jumps around on sheltered content instruction as well, which I personally had no idea about and still am a bit fuzzy on. I am sure there is more detailed class on this but as I have heard TSL 570 is meant for students that have been in the program for about a year. There was a large range of students and experiences in the class that made it a bit unbalanced academic wise but was nonetheless rewarding in gaining insight from more experienced students.





That's all I'll post for now. Thanks for reading.
I am currently working on TSL 500 and TSL 530 for Fall semester 2013.
Updates will come throughout or when I am done with the classes.
Any questions or experiences are gladly received and reciprocated.






*I do not own any pictures in this post.