CTEL 2 (Assessment and Instruction) was the first domain that I was able to pass. This domain focused on assessments relating to ELL’s and instructional strategies to support their needs. I had taken many courses in college that taught me how to support an ELL in your classroom. My prior knowledge on these strategies was how I was able to pass this domain. I currently have only one ELL in my classroom this year. However, I believe ELL classroom strategies support many of my other students as well. An instructional strategy that I try to use as much as possible is backwards lesson planning. When you use this strategy, the first thing that is identified is the desired outcome. Once you are able to identify the outcome, you must come up with an assessment for that outcome. After that, the curriculum and instruction is designed. This strategy is designed to help students gain proficiency in the assessed area. For example, if the desired outcome is “the student will be able to read sight words” and the assessment is “the student will correctly read 5 out of the 7 sight words,” then the curriculum will be created to teach sight words using an array of instructional strategies and the student will practice until she can correctly read 5 out of the 7 designated words. I teach 1st grade, so it is crucial for my students to be able to read all 126 sight words by the end of the year. I like to use this strategy for sight words because it allows the students to become proficient with a few sight words so that they do not get discouraged when new sight words are introduced. This strategy also allows me to identify which strategies are most effective for my students when they are trying to decode words. Another strategy that I apply in my classroom relating to this domain is feedback. This is my first year teaching and I have learned how crucial it is to use feedback at the appropriate times, specifically with my ELL student. My ELL student lacked confidence when reading, so pointing out insignificant errors such as inflection or errors in tense, was not appropriate. I quickly learned that the best way to provide feedback was to simply rephrase or explain the error he had just made. The only time it is necessary to point out an error is if it changes the students intended meaning. By letting the little errors slip, I watched my student gain more confidence because it allowed him to feel successful when reading. Those are just two strategies relating to this domain that I use frequently in my classroom. There are many more and I have found some strategies work and others don’t. I believe it is crucial to try and apply as many instructional strategies as possible because you never know which strategy will make the lightbulb go off in one of your students minds.