"I've Been Waiting for Someone to do My Math Homework With!"

I recently visited with my ELL student at Winooski Middle-High School, and after helping her with her Algebra II homework, I was able to make some observations on their WIDA standing. My first interaction with my student was endearing, and I was actually waiting to find out what room my assigned ELL was in when she started talking to me. With no introduction shes asks me, “Why are you here?” and I tell her I’m there to meet and tutor another student. She sighs and says, “I’ve been waiting for a partner like that since January, but I haven’t gotten one and I don’t know why.” I tell her I can see if another student from Saint Mike’s also wants a partner and wrote her name down. As it turned out, my assigned partner was double booked; and I immediately mentioned to the woman that supervises placements that there was another student waiting for a tutor and I would be more than willing to work with her. When I told her I would be working with her instead of my original assigned partner she smiled and said, “Finally! I’ve been waiting for someone to do my math homework with.” I hesitated for a second and thought, I study history, and math is my worst subject. How am I going to help this high school sophomore with her Algebra II? Instead of telling her I wasn’t confident in math, I told her how excited I was to help her as much as I could, and that we could teach each other. 

For her WIDA level placement, I inferred that she is at WIDA level four for reading and speaking. The assignment we worked on together was graphing from tables, and she was able to logically explain and defend her stance when I asked questions such as, “Are you sure that row is the X-axis?” which demonstrated how she was able to choose a side and defend it, one of the WIDA level four speaking descriptors. I also placed my student at the WIDA level four for reading because she was able to read, comprehend, and work through problems such as, “If Alice’s height doubles when she drinks 1 ounce of liquid, how tall will she be if she drinks 1, 2, 3, etc. ounces of liquid?” Having the ability to work through a math problem like this demonstrates her ability to infer meaning as well as match cause to effect, both of which are descriptors of the WIDA level four for reading. It is important to note that I am not a professional, nor do I have the qualifications to professionally place a student within the WIDA can-do descriptor chart; but I am using my educated inference and opinion based on observation. I look forward to continuing my work with my student and learning more about each other through the process.