As I work through my Master’s research, I’ve real­ized it makes more sense to focus specif­i­cal­ly on Eng­lish Lan­guage Learn­ers (ELLs) rather than try­ing to address the broad­er cat­e­go­ry of diverse learn­ers. This deci­sion comes from my expe­ri­ences in the class­room with the grow­ing num­ber of ELLs and my grow­ing under­stand­ing of the unique chal­lenges ELL stu­dents face, par­tic­u­lar­ly in hands-on cours­es like wood­work­ing.

When I start­ed this process, I aimed to address the needs of all stu­dents with diverse learn­ing back­grounds. But as I’ve looked deep­er into frame­works like Uni­ver­sal Design for Learn­ing (UDL) and Tech­nol­o­gy-Inte­grat­ed Learn­ing (TIL), I’ve seen how ELL stu­dents often deal with chal­lenges that go beyond just learn­ing a new lan­guage. They also need sup­port to nav­i­gate cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences and under­stand project instruc­tions, all while adapt­ing to the very phys­i­cal, skills-based learn­ing envi­ron­ment of my wood­work­ing class­room.

In my wood­work­ing class­es, I’ve found that cre­at­ing projects with per­son­al and cul­tur­al con­nec­tions helps bridge some of these gaps. For exam­ple, when stu­dents design their own projects, I encour­age them to include sym­bols or pat­terns that are mean­ing­ful to them. It’s amaz­ing to see how this opens up oppor­tu­ni­ties for ELL stu­dents to share their sto­ries and feel more con­nect­ed to what they’re mak­ing.

I’m also incor­po­rat­ing TIL to bet­ter sup­port ELL stu­dents. Plat­forms like Google Class­room allow me to share dig­i­tal plans, assess­ments, and trans­lat­ed resources, mak­ing learn­ing more acces­si­ble. Trans­la­tion tools pro­vide anoth­er lay­er of sup­port, help­ing stu­dents under­stand instruc­tions and project details in their own lan­guage. As stu­dents gain con­fi­dence with these tools, we also explore more advanced tech­nol­o­gy like CAD soft­ware and laser machines, giv­ing them even more ways to engage with their work. These tools aren’t just about mak­ing things eas­i­er, they cre­ate new oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to learn and grow.

Focus­ing on ELL stu­dents feels like the right path for me. It’s not just about help­ing them learn wood­work­ing skills, it’s about mak­ing sure they feel val­ued and includ­ed. This shift has me think­ing more about how to make my class­room a place where all stu­dents, no mat­ter their back­ground, can suc­ceed. It’s a chal­lenge I’m excit­ed to keep work­ing on as my research devel­ops.