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| "Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners, SIOP Model" Book Study |
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Hi Everyone! My thoughts for this blog is that we will read one chapter a week (there are 6 chapters total) starting the week of June 25 and ending on Aug. 3. Each person should blog once a week during this time (more if you want!), addressing the following questions: 1. Were there any new theories introduced in this chapter that resonated with you? (Or, did the chapter bring new meaning to a theory you were already familiar with?) 2. Are there any teaching strategies mentioned in this chapter you would like to try in your classroom?
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What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteA test to see if Molly's directions make any sense.
ReplyDeleteI am excited!
ReplyDeleteI am excited, too!
DeleteMolly, this is a great idea, can't wait to get started!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to starting the book. This is such a great way to do it!
ReplyDeleteI am eager to get going! Thanks Molly!
ReplyDeleteSounds great, I'm excited!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Thanks to Molly for organizing! I have my day to start reading marked on my calendar!! :)
ReplyDeleteAshley Howard
Got my name and picture working now....
ReplyDeleteJust got everything working!
ReplyDeleteI will be gone all this week but will post something before I leave. Hope everyone is having a great summer!
ReplyDeleteIn the first chapter I thought the conversational language v the acedemic language was interesting. It makes sense though when I try to learn French, I am just learning the basics of the main conversation points so I can get around.
ReplyDeleteEll kiddos need to be able to speak english so we can understand what they need but they also need to understand us and what they are reading and how they can remember as they go though the school day.
I also would love to try and get the students more involved with hands on activities though a garden or more nutrition.
First of all, it was great to take a break from my morning Mickey Mouse Clubhouse routine and actually read something that made me think!
ReplyDeleteAs I read chapter one I thought about what an awesome foundation Goshen already has in so many of these areas. We really strive to create a sense of community each year and I believe this is very important for all our students, but most importantly our ELL students. Discourse is so important for our students to develop and tweek their thinking and learning, but they HAVE to feel comfortable doing so first. They also have to feel comfortable working alongside each other and see one another as resources. Third grade did habitat podcasts last year and it was an awesome group project in the sense that everyone had a part and no one student could 'complete' the project on their own. I saw my ELL student shine in this project and after reading this I see why!
This chapter also reminded me of the importance of the think aloud and aiding students in activating schema. We must set students up to acquire our language....we can't teach it to them :) If we set up our classroom community effectively, the ELL students will hopefully feel confident to not only see their classroom teachers as resources, but also their peers.
In the last few years (and even more now with the new standards), we have begun to 'teach' the structure of English at Goshen and this seemed to be supported by this section. I have seen great growth in students' ability to understand the language and use it correctly because of the direct teaching and emphasis we have put on the conventions. I know our ELL students may need additional support in this area, but I agree that this knowledge is so important!
Until next week....:)
Ashley Howard
I agree with Ashley...as I read Chapter One, it really affirmed to me the great things we have already in place at Goshen. We have so many things in place that at times it is hard to be intentional, more to the point keep all the balls in the air. I know with the new Common Core Standards we have even more to jungle.
DeleteTo me Chapter One was a common sense chapter, something we all know...it's just making sure to be more intentional with ELL students in building that background knowledge for them. Challenging them and expecting just as much from them as any other student but having scaffolds in place.
As I read chapter 1, I really see Goshen as a great example of the types of learning that are mentioned in this chapter. First and foremost I feel that we as teachers spend a great deal of time creating a safe, nurturing environment for our students especially in the beginning of the year. As a special education teacher who collaborates in many classrooms I feel this aspect is also very important for my students who many times feel inadequate among their same age peers due to their academic difficulties. I see this more in the upper elementary grades. As I read through this chapter I am very excited to come back to school and work alongside the regular ed teachers to develop and maintain the collaborative strategies talked about to increase the learning of not only ELL students but my students as well.
DeleteI really appreciated both Ashley's comments listed above. In reading the first few chapters, I'm realizing how important it is to build and maintain contextualized learning which I believe we do well at Goshen. I was thinking about 3rd Grade's restaurant reviews as the habitat podcasts Ashley mentioned. Also, concepts like nutrition and immigration can easily be expanded to include a relevant cultural component much like the 5th grade cookbooks this year.
ReplyDeleteA quote that stood out to me was p.9 " lectures and drills do not provide enough understandable messages....English language learners acquire language when they receive interesting, understandable messages in an anxiety free environment". How can we continue to do this at Goshen? What are your thoughts?
I totally agree with Ashley in that Goshen does a great job of building community. This is so important for our ELL students in helping them feel a sense of belonging in an environment that can be uncomfortable with the language barrier.
ReplyDeleteI also marked that part about how important interacting with students helps ELL students learn to make meaning and improve their understanding of the English language. I believe through our workshop approach, we allow for the students to interact with other students through partnerships, small groups, turn-and-share, etc. As I was reading that section, I did however begin to ask myself if there were times throughout the day that I could allow even more interaction through partner/small group work.
The last thing that stood out to me was where Stephan Krashen suggests that language can be acquired better through reading because people can read faster than they can speak. This is something that I can help support in first grade classroom where most students are still learning to read. They are surrounded by books and are constantly exposed to reading through read alouds, partner reading, whole group reading, small group reading, and so on. I saw my ELL student really grow as a reader this year and as she grew in reading, I saw her oral vocabulary increase as well.
I agree that Goshen does a great job of building community. I also see a lot of collaborative work and conversation with the workshop approach.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, the author stresses a structured approach to collaborative work and, as pointed out, this is very important for the ELL -- making sure they have a job that is important/necessary to the completion of the project and, also, making sure they have a job they can actually do. At the high school level. I often see teachers let students decide on jobs and have seen other students put a new ELL in charge of the writing :) The student was set up for failure and disgrace. I don't think elementary teachers would do that, but we can make sure we are intentional about the jobs each student receives.
Ashley mentioned podcasts which I think is fantastic! Social studies can be a really difficult topic to teach to ELLs (science and math are easily hands-on and reading and writing can easily be differentiated, but the content 3rd - 5th graders are expected to learn in Social Studies is daunting and can be very dry). My daughter's 5th grade teacher had her students do a presentation of some kind for every unit (in small groups); they did radio and T.V. newscasts and did several plays acting out key historical events. (They did this in addition to reading out of social study books and doing the quizzes on-line.) I was stunned and thrilled at how she grasped the concepts and how she was fascinated by the various historical events. I know she'll always remember the lessons she learned through the preparation for those presentations. These kinds of activities are great for ELLs.
Also in this chapter, the subject of academic vs. social language was discussed. It's important that we distinguish between content and academic vocabulary as well. They need to learn both. "Academic" vocabulary goes across curricula and we often don't think to focus on these words. An example off the top of my head is "revolution" and the different forms of that word -- revolutionary, revolutionize,.... Another word is "alter" -- alternate, alteration. Or "visual" -- visualize, visually. I know those are higher level vocab., but there are a lot of words at all levels we assume kids know that aren't "content" words and need to be taught to the ELL.
Another important topic mentioned above is language skills and embedding instruction of these skills in the content areas. Something our ELL department is trying to do is include at least one language objective as well as content objective(s) in each lesson. Most of the "content" ELL teachers address is reading and writing skills and vocabulary. We often address these through reading non-fiction so that we are addressing the language of science, social studies and math. Kentucky does not have standards written specific to ELLs, but a language objective could be taken from the language standards we're going to be looking at more closely on August 2. These language objectives can help ALL students, not just ELLs. I'll probably talk about this more as we read more of the book.
I hope everyone is having a great summer! Thanks for the great responses on the blog!
So sorry I am blogging late, but we just returned from vacation!
DeleteThis chapter reminded me how important it is for the students to use each other as resources in the learning process. As the chapter stated, it is extemely important for English language learners to discuss the ideas and concepts they are learning. Unfortunately, in many classrooms, the teacher does the majority of talking and the students work independently on assignments. Luckily, I do not see this occurring at Goshen.
In the upcoming school year, I plan on providing even more opportunities for interaction between students as they learn new concepts and ideas so they can achieve a deeper understanding.
I also found the concept of conversational language and academic language very interesting. If English language learners can communicate fluently, it is easy to assume that they have the abilities to process and understand academic language.
It is my responsibility to provide these learners with the appropriate background knowledge and problem solving opportunities in order for deeper understanding to occur.
Chapter one made me think about the six traits of language arts. The book mentions 4, reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and the other two (not mentioned) are viewing and visually representing. I think it is important to allow students to learn through all of these traits. If students are expressing their knowledge through different avenues, then they are more likely to truly comprehend the material. Many of the strategies mentioned in chapter one are beneficial for all students, not just ELL students. The part about activating schema really stuck with me. Often times I catch myself simply discussing the topic, and then proceeding with the mini-lesson. However, next year I am going to try to bring in actual artifacts, objects, colored pictures, or present video clips that will interest the students. The students will not only have an immediate excitement about the unit of study, but they will also be able to add their own discussions about the topic.
DeleteChapter two continued to make me feel good in the teaching practices we have in place at Goshen. I feel like we are strong in terms of the I do, we do, you do concept in our literacy blocks and math workshops. However, I would like to see this put into practice in a social studies/science lessons. I don't feel like I am strong in terms of thinking aloud and modeling in these subject areas. I feel like we have always focused on literacy and this past year focused on math, so my confidence levels are high in those areas (as high as they will be in math...:)). However, during unit study I feel like I do a lot of information 'unpacking' for my students. We do as much hands on as we can, but often I feel as though I am in lecture mode in these areas especially since moving to third grade where note taking and studying became such a big deal. I would love to see sample lessons or better yet a lab classroom that focuses on this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ashley that this chapter continued to support what we do at Goshen. Being in a younger grade, I do a lot of modeling and highlighting of new vocabulary. In writing and reading especially I do a lot of thinking aloud and then putting on paper. However something I feel that I could work on more is providing more graphic organizers for my students. I do use them, but I don't use them across all content areas and I defintely could offer them more choices. Making sure my students know they don't have to necessarily write, but they can draw their thinking down as well. That is something I need to model more consistently. I start out the year showing them some how to draw, but then quickly move into writing. I always worry about my students not pushing themselves to write when they are capable and taking the easy way out by drawing. Now I see that I need to make sure that I allow my students who aren't capable of writing to draw and not push them into something they may not allow them to get their thoughts down which could lead to more frustration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ashley on the science and social studies and spending most of the time giving the students information and talking at them instead of allowing different ways to process the information. From this chapter, I saw how I could model even more and make sure that I model in all content areas.
This chapter definitely reminded me of the importance of modeling. I model more in the beginning of the year, and then I find myself "telling" the students instead of "showing" the students. As the year progresses, I get rushed and don't give modeling enough time. However, now I really see that modeling is important throughout the entire year. I truly understand that modeling provides students with ability to see an expert reader/ thinker first hand. It not only provides them with more clarity about directions, but it also gives them words to use when they go to write about their thinking.
DeleteI also liked the idea of drawing for those that can't write. I think this is an easy way to allow students to show their thinking without the pressure of writing complete sentences. This would be good for ELL students and students who received language services.
This chapter also made me feel so blessed to be teaching at goshen and collaborating with awesome teacher!! I feel I can do this a lot better even with the struggling readers. I use visuals and conversations as they are leaning different parts of basic reading but I don't think I would call it thinking aloud and giving them the chances to hear how I respond to it. Even though they are still putting all the reading blocks together, it's still important for them to get the opportunity with me as well as what they get in their other classes.
ReplyDeleteI also think we all do a great job of having a lot of visuals for all learners. Im going to be more intentional with all areas that i will teach.
Chapter 2 reminded me of the importance of modeling accompanied by structured think alouds in all subject areas. As I reflect on my own teaching, I feel comfortable with these processes in the subject areas of Reading and Language Arts. In other areas of the curriculum, I need to remember that telling students what to do is not as effective as showing students how to do something.
DeleteI appreciate how Chapter 2 focused on nonfiction reading and the importance of directly teaching the text features that can be so confusing for all students. I agree with the author that graphic organizers can be really helpful when students need to make sense of nonfiction material.
I agree with Amy about Chapter 2...we need to do more think alouds other than in Language Arts. We need to be modeling our thinking as we solve math problems or how we felt about something in history.
DeleteI liked how this chapter focused on nonfiction...our new ELA standards are really focused on this aspect.
Chapter 2- Modeling
DeleteAs I read this chapter, I was reminded about the importance of modeling and using think alouds with my students. I realized I do not spend enough time actually modeling my thinking for the students. I feel I do a decent job creating visuals and using graphic organizers on a daily basis. I really thought the example script of the teacher doing a think aloud of the nonfiction text was very helpful. I also will be reading more nonfiction text with my students this year, modeling and doing think alouds with them in order to break the text down, comprehend and understand what they are reading. I feel this will help them in other areas when they are in the classroom during science and social studies.
Chapter three continued to confirm many of my beliefs as a teacher. I agree with the author that using illustrations are so important to ELL students (and many others) when making meaning of text. However, we really struggled this year to help students in third grade select good fit books. So many of my kids (including my ELL student) would book hop and just wanted so badly to hold big chapter books in their hands without really understanding what they were reading. I would love to have additional strategies, ideas, and even new authors to help out with this issue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author that graphic organizers are so important. I would like to really beef up my use of these next year. I felt like I did it more in first and second than I did last year in third.
I also believe that video clips are so important to aiding students' understanding. We use Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr. frequently and also accessed United Streaming a lot. Discussion and note taking were key components of these activities. My ELL student struggled with note taking for a large portion of the year thinking she needed to write down everything. However, as the year progressed she became able to determine importance independently.
I agree that the use of manipulatives in general are so important. I loved the idea of the reading boxes. I even thought this would be a great activity for students to complete after reading a text independently of as part of a literature circle. Then the reading box can be used to build schema for others before reading the text.
Until next week...
Chapter 2 made me reflect on the think alouds we use for all students, not just our ELL population. I appreciated Rachel's comment on the need to get students writing and away from picture drawing. Sometimes these prewriting activities are more relevant and schema building than we realize.
ReplyDeleteMolly, I was wondering in which content area do ELLs struggle the most? You mentioned social studies above, but I was wondering about science. I think the science vocabulary in 4th is especially challenging. I wanted to pose another question. As we increase our time teaching transfer tasks, are our ELL students missing some foundation critical to understanding? I will leave you with a quote that stood out to me:
"Teacher modeling in a think-aloud manner alerts students to what the focus is, what the text tells them, and how the book is organized for comprehension. This is an important step before asking students to find the structure on their own or make a graphic organizer containing the information from the book".
I see teachers using Think Alouds constantly at Goshen. I need to be more consistent in my use of them and in modeling. We try to cram so much into our sessions with ELLs, that we sometimes rush through things and forget the importance of taking the same steps as a classroom teacher in our lessons.
DeleteIn terms of graphic organizers for the different structures of non-fiction passages, Chapter 2 made me think about being more consistent in my instruction of how to make sense of nonfiction at all grade levels. At the high school level, I try to keep handy the graphic organizers mentioned for when a student is trying to make sense of a history book (or other content area) passage. I also teach the different structures during writing lessons at all levels, using nonfiction passages as examples. What I haven't done is ask students to figure out what type of structure the nonfiction piece is and have THEM choose the appropriate graphic organizer. If I want my students to be independent readers and not depend on me to help them understand these informational texts, I need to help them do this on their own. And, I need to be doing this from a very young age, according to this author.
Melinda asked which content area ELLs struggle with the most. Science and social studies are both very challenging for our ELLs because of the vocabulary, but I think most teachers find it easier to make Science hands-on and easier to model those concepts. The author mentions acting things out a lot while doing think-alouds and I agree that this is very important for the ELL.
Molly, I appreciate your observations and I love the idea of expanding the use of graphic organizers to where the student chooses which one is best for the task at hand. This reinforces the "thinking about thinking" that's so important in the application of concepts. Also, to comment on Ashley H's comment about her 3rd graders choosing chapter books beyond their level of comprehension, I've actually seen Special Ed students do the same thing. Molly and everyone, what is your opinion on the availability of high interest/low vocabulary texts for emerging readers? How can we get these books into their hands?
DeleteAs Chapter 3 stated, every lesson should contain some form of contextualization in order to meet the needs of all learners. I am convinced that in order to clarify new concepts, especially those difficult abstract concepts, I need to make use of and incorporate even more collaborative grouping in my lessons. Although whole class discussions can be valuable, more collaborative grouping will allow students to develop a clearer and deeper understanding.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, I found that there were some helpful lesson ideas. I plan on using the Reading Boxes idea with in-depth discussions to develop adequate background knowledge for reading assignments. Also, I liked the lesson plan idea of Community Games. This would be an appropriate activity for the beginning of the school year.
I really want all of my lessons to be both interesting and memorable. This chapter gave me some great ideas on how to achieve these goals.
Just finished my summer grad classes... I will be posting on this book soon!
ReplyDeleteErin Roberts
I really loved this chapter. It made me happy to know that these are tools that we use every day. I know that when I collaborate with teachers, they are always using sme form of contextualizing to help the kids understand. I can relate with the beginning of the chapter where the teacher used the lecture approaoach. I know that a lot of my teachers did the same, especially in college. I can see how using visuals helps so much in nay subject. I wonder what classes would be like on college campuses if all the professors used more visuals and manipulatives as they taught philopshy or statistics. Lol
ReplyDeleteI also feel that we are lucky as teachers to have the technology available to use in our classrooms. My kiddos love using many forms of technology and other hands on materials. The almost always need many forms of manipulatives when they are working on their reading. Each kid will use different ways to help them learn the phonetic basics. It goes along with the idea that not all children learn in the same way.
I can speak from my experience last year when I worked with my first ELL student. I saw huge gains throughout the year with his communication. He loved using technology as well as working with others. I was great to see how happy he was.
I feel as though I can definitely relate to the teacher at the beginning of the book. My first two years of teaching were at a very traditional school. We planned by asking each other what chapter they were covering. I tried to incorporate more hands-on learning with projects and discussions, and the students were immediately interested in the content. I can also see how using visuals can help ELLs and language students. I agree that we are lucky to have so much technology at our school. We can bring in pictures, artifacts, or allow students to see a video clip on united streaming.
DeleteI like the idea of introducing a books topic before reading the book. I think the younger grades do a great job of picture walks and pre-teaching vocabulary. However, I think if students can discuss objects related to the book and activate their schema, then they will be able to comprehend the text (fiction or non-fiction) better. Also, I loved the idea of book boxes. I might start out small by creating boxes for our read aloud books!
I just attended an Arts and Humanities Professional Development yesterday, and some of the same topics about sensory learning were included. Next year, I would like to provide students with more opportunities to get up and move. I can see how their creativity will blossom and how they can share their knowledge through a different method. I want to give the students more choice. Students might be able to create a skit, a poem, write a letter, or an interview. Providing students with choices allows them to use their preferred learning style and display their knowledge through a comfortable and interesting medium. This would also allow ELL students to work with a group and discuss information in a less intimidating manner.
Sorry all, I am behind but will catch up. I have enjoyed reading everyone's comments thus far and can't wait to dive into the book.
ReplyDeleteChapter four.
ReplyDeleteAs I read this chapter, I immediately was once again proud of where our district is in terms of trying to teach big ideas in great details. I had a mental image of the banner on Dana's wall with the empty chair and was taken back to the words we heard at our PD last year. We aren't just educating the student for the year we have them in class, but for the future.
I feel like we do a really great job teaching our students about and discussing schema. I know that all of my third graders came to me with the ability to discuss and articulate this idea. Sometimes I fear that I get in a hurry and rush through a true, true discussion of current schema. I want to improve upon that. I also want to truly work on getting to know each of my students (much harder with the change from multi-age to straight grades) so that I can be of help in working with them to make meaningful connections.
I loved the idea of having the students go over their tests and figure out why they missed each one to improve their test taking skills. Parents in the third grade STRESS out over tests, test results, points earned, etc. which is fine, but unfortunately their stress doesn't help their child to improve or gain independence as a test taker. I feel like this idea (if done in the classroom) would be really meaningful.
I also really liked the journal entry for what I learned and how I came to learn it. This would be awesome to do periodically throughout a unit to check understanding in content notebooks. I often felt like my ELL student knew information but could not explain herself or her thinking....wondering if these types of activities would help and even if it would be better if done in a partner setting verbally initially.
Have a great rest of the week.....not too many weeks left....:(
I have to say I agree with Ashley on the great job we do teaching our students about schema. Many of my students can fully explain what schema is and many of them also have rich schema on topics being discussed, but I feel the breakdown for many of my students is making the connections between their schema and new information presented. Many times my resource groups lack the rich discussions that happen in the regular classroom due to the size of the group and the lack of varying ability levels. I love when I collaborate in the classrooms and see the interaction between my students and their peers. My students have great thoughts and opinions to share and seeing them interact in a small group is very rewarding.
DeleteI also liked the different graphic organizers presented in this chapter. I am going to be more mindful this year in developing different and more personalized graphic organizers for my students to use to help them become more independent in their reading and learning.
I really enjoyed this chapter and the discussion of contextualizing. Being in a first grade classroom, I regularly use visuals to help my students understand new content and vocabuarly. Of course after reading this, I am already considering where I can use even more visuals. Since the beginning of the year is coming up, I have been thinking how I can implement visuals to help students learn procedures and routines. I think that can be overwhelming for ELLs and have visuals may help relieve some stress.
ReplyDeleteI loved the reading boxes. I can totally see using this with a small group. The students will have a good support in place after seeing, touching, and hearing how the objects are connected to the story before they even begin reading. It is also a great way to introduce new vocuabulary.
The rest of the chapter just reaffirmed what we already do at Goshen. We use manipulatives regularly and students collaborate also through our workshops.
P.S. This is the second attempt at this post! Sutton was able to lean over push the one button that deleted the whole thing first time around! So I am not sure if I was able to rewrite all my thoughts from the first attempt.
I think the thing that resonates the most with me from Chapter 3 is when the author quotes Gardner -- "The brain learns best and retains most when the organism is actively involved in exploring physical sites and materials asking questions to which it actually craves answers. Merely passive experiences tend to attenuate and have little lasting impact." At one P.D. I attended, the presenter said that the more teachers talk, the less students learn. I definitely see this in my youngest daughter who is definitely not an auditory learner and requires visuals and hands-on experiences to comprehend and retain concepts. I think, as teachers, we know how important it is to contextualize lessons, but consistently doing this is the key. Thank goodness for smart classrooms where we can so easily pull up a picture or video!
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea of the Reading Boxes. I've seen teachers use this as a book report assignment for students when they complete a book, but like the idea of starting off a unit of study or reading of a book this way. Maybe as a staff or as teams, we could start pooling resources and collect realia for various units and books.
I really liked chapter 3...once again it's an affirmation to the already great things Goshen is doing. I would like to see our teachers try to use the Reading Boxes to help build background knowledge not just with a read aloud book but across content areas.
DeleteChapter 4 began by discussing the importance of schema and metacognition. After reading and thinking about this chapter, I realize the importance of developing these concepts with my English Language Learners. As the chapter stated, I really need to take the time to learn about each student's culture and experiences in order to bridge the gap in their learning.
ReplyDeleteI found the idea of using metaphor very interesing. As the book stated, this is a difficult concept to teach, but a natural extension of the way students make sense of their world. Next year, I plan on using and/or adapting the ideas from the metaphor lesson suggested in the book in my classroom.
In addition, I loved the idea of having students reflect on their exams. In the past, I would have my students reflect on their test answers but we did not use the in-depth process described in the book. I also plan on using this great strategy in my classroom in the upcomong year.
Again, I really liked chapter 4. I do find it hard though to help kids who are already behind because of a delay or a disability to help build on their background knowledge.many of them do have similar backgrounds but their own delay's are so different it makes it hard to find a common ground, or adequate time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with ELL kiddos, especially when they are younger, have a difficult time sharing and communicating on what they know. I love visuals and other manupulatives to aid me in instruction, but having the conversation about those can be hard, even with the kids who speak great English. Due to the delays, its very hard for the kids to share what they know, what they are thinking, and hard to connect on what they learned the previous day. I would love some feedback on this. How can I do better with building background knowledge with the low learners?
Hi everyone! Sorry I am behind on posting, things have been crazy since returning from vacation. Will be posting soon!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this chapter, I realized there are two things that continue to be suggested for ELLs...graphic organizers and movement. Both of these allow for them to get their thoughts out there when otherwise they may have a difficult time through talking and writing. I am really going to look at how I can incorporate more movement with showing understanding.
ReplyDeleteWorking with the younger ones I feel like I help/teach/work with the students to access their schema and of course we start out the year learning what metacognition is and build on it throughout the year. However I don't know that I always take into account their very different backgrounds. This year I want to make sure I am always remembering their different cultures and try to highlight what experiences they have had and how they can use them.
Like Amy, I liked the idea of really going over assessments in-depth to help the students where they lost understanding. I have gone over assessments with students, but never so in-depth. I think I would like to try a modified approach with my students.
Chapter 3 provided me with some great teaching ideas! I also loved the points made about contextualizing and collaborative problem solving. I loved the quote on p.40 "there is a tremendous increase in positive personal interactions among students of different ethnic backgrounds as a result of working collaboratively". I often do several team building activities at the beginning of the year as I know many of you do as well. Both the "community games" on p.41 and "classification game" on p.43 were great for kids with limited English proficiency.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the literature focus and how some of the titles have been brought to life. I'm eager to see if our library has Sadako and Tortilla Quilt. These could be used not only in the ways explained in the book, but also building cultural awareness and appreciation.
I know the topics of Chapter 4, metacognition and schema, are nothing new to Oldham County teachers, but, hopefully, we can think about this more in terms of our ELL students. I am continually stunned at things my ELLs have never been exposed to -- concept and vocabulary-wise -- even the students who were born here and whose English speaking skills are high. Most often, they will not ask questions on their own because they're embarrassed to let their classmates know they don't what others are talking about. This even happens in my small groups. I thought the use of metaphors was an interesting and simple way to build schema. Rather than just teaching isolated lessons on metaphors, I'd like to start making metaphors an integral part of my lessons to help students better comprehend and express themselves.
ReplyDeleteI also think that making students aware of metaphors is extremely important. We use metaphors daily and it would be neat to get the students excited to find metaphors in their daily verbal language along with in their books. I agree with Molly that some ELL students, even great English speakers, don't have some schema that we take for granted. For example, I had a very bright 4th grader last year who knew 3-4 languages fluently and was one of my highest achieving students in all subjects. However, we did a math investigations worksheet on identifying money and making change, and she wasn't sure the difference between a nickel and a quarter. Many adults use credit cards so frequently, that we need to make sure to provide the students with schema for actual coins an dollars.
DeleteI do believe that schema and metacognition are terms that we are familiar with at Goshen and I think it is important that we continue to teach the students how to learn, and not just teach them what we know.
While reading Chapter 3, I came across a great teaching idea, Reading Boxes, that I plan to incorporate into my reading resource groups. I feel it is very important to build upon the students schema and to make sure all students can make some connections to the topic or text before reading. I feel that the use of Reading Boxes in subject areas such as science and social studies would be very beneficial for ELL students and my special ed. students to provide help them understand vocabulary prior to beginning a concept. One way my son's science teacher helped them understand their science vocabulary was to work collaboratively with a group of students to read about, define, illustrate and explain the word or concept in their own language. I saw a great increase in his ability to use and apply the concepts they were learning in his everyday life. I will definitely try and work with the teachers I collaborate with to help build Reading Boxes for content material in Science and Social studies.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with using video clips, movies and technology to help students build their knowledge about a topic. I use a variety of websites when teaching and my students really embrace and are motivated by using technology to explain their thinking.
Cheryl, I think it would be great to keep this conversation going throughout the year and share resources/ reading boxes that we create for our students. I would like to create reading boxes for the read aloud books that I do this year and I would be happy to share them with you. We can also share any video clips we may find, especially for science!
DeleteChapter 5 reminded of me of something I did every year in my classroom, but did not last year. Reader's Theatre is a great way to support students in reading, speaking, and listening. Reading about it in this chapter and how it helps ELL students with understanding reminded me how important it is to make time for this activity. The students enjoy it and it is such an easy way to have them read a text over and over to build fluency and understanding.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea of miniperformances for students who are not quite ready to read a script. I loved the example lesson and how the teacher brought in a familiar folktale for the students so they already knew it well and were much more comfortable acting it out and coming up with their own "script." I think that I something I would like to do with my students who aren't ready to perform in a reader's theatre.
The idea of integrating Social Studies and Science with poetry was a great suggestion. I have done that in the past, but again with new things, have let it go by the wayside. I definitely would like to find a way to incorporate poetry back into my classroom. It is a great way to bring up a Social Studies or Science concept and help students to build some schema. The poems tend to be shorter and I think that would make it less overwhelming for students.
This chapter really reminded me of things that I know are good for the students and that I need to bring back into the classroom.
Chapter 5 provided me with some great suggestions on how to get students to revisit information. I have had great success in improving students' reading fluency using Readers Theatre. When learning their scripts, the students were engaged and highly motivated to do their best.
ReplyDeleteI have never attempted to have the students write their own scripts from books read in class. This seems like a great idea. Has anyone tried this with the younger students? It may be too difficult for them.
In 2nd grade, we do a great deal with poetry. Next year, I plan on incorporating more poetry in Social Studies and Science class. Students at this age level are very fond of poetry and it really makes a lasting impression on them.
Hey Everyone! At some point we'll need to get together to do a final discussion about the book. I'd be happy to have it at my house on the patio one morning before school gets started or we could do it after school one day a week or two into school. Any preference?
ReplyDeleteMolly, I don't care when/ where we meet. Just let me know!,
ReplyDeleteAs for chapter 5, this was a more difficult chapter for me to fully understand how I can utilize the strategies with my kiddos. I agreed that they need to be presented the information differently, but for their level, it is hard to use readers theatre, etc.
I can start to let them listen and watch others perform using traders theatre. I think even though they are still learning the words, how to comprehend, decode, they can benefit from the tableau approach. I can see them enjoying the different characters, scenes as they are listening and watching me.
Chapter 5
ReplyDeleteI think the multiple intelligences are so amazing. I really try to be aware of this in the classroom. I loved the readers' theater ideas and want to do more integration of these strategies outside the literacy block. I loved the oxygen/carbon dioxide lesson. I loved how the lesson set the kids up to read and discuss the non-fiction text and then manipulate the information they learned in the form of a poem. I liked the idea of having students present poems in groups of four in an effort to ease the fear for ELLs.
I love the book Encounter so I enjoyed the lesson that used it as well. I really don't incorporate art as much as I would like to and I felt like this lesson used art in a really meaningful way.
Chapter 6
ReplyDeleteThis chapter once again referred to the importance of formal and informal discourse. I think truly valuable discourse can be achieved if a classroom community where students have established boundaries and expectations for academic discussion. Students must be accountable for their conversations whether it be through anecdotal notes, rubrics, etc. I agree that front loading or building upon schema is so important.
Molly- My kiddos return to daycare :( on August 6th. I was have an easier time meeting then!
ReplyDeleteChapter 6 really made me think about last year and the abilities of some of my ELL students. Some students spoke English so well yet fell short on certain academic tasks. To help this situation, the chapter stressed the importance of providing ELLs with opportunities for both formal and informal language development. I thought I was thoroughly preparing these students for their academic tasks, but there must have been work left to be done. Next year, I plan to allow for even more opportunities for students to discuss their learning.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I totally agree that language needs to be taught and woven into all content areas. I am anxious to learn more about the new ELA standards and how they apply. These new requirements will hopefully benefit all students.
Chapter 5 reminded me about the importance of readers theatre. I have used this strategy in the past to improve fluency, especially in my RTI groups. However, I don't usually use it for the entire class. I think it would be great to have my 4th graders create their own readers theatre scripts. They could work in groups to write a script about a time period in history or to explain non-fiction science topics. I love the idea of using s.s. and science in reading because it is the only way that we can get it all in.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea of the "thinking" tableau. I have heard of using a tableau to have students stand still and create a scene from a book, but they always stood quietly. I had never thought of them using this strategy to verbalize the characters thinking. This would also be a great strategy to link reading to writing and show students how important it is for the reader to understand what the characters are thinking.
Molly, I would prefer to meet sooner than later. I am taking two graduate classes this fall, so I will be busy once school starts. We can still wait until after the 6th, so people have day care.
ReplyDeleteChapter 6 pretty much summed it all up. I think that it's hard to juggle all of the instruction for each kiddo sometimes. And I only have 10!!
ReplyDeleteBut, I do think that we do a great job of using visuals, modeling, getting the ell kids interacting with others and engaging them.
It sounds like a lot of you are already doing, or have done, a lot of things discussed in Chapter 5, especially Readers' Theater. I agree that having students write their own scripts could be a great enhancement of this activity. I also like the idea of using this in Science and Social Studies. It also sounds like the Miniperformance could be a great option for younger students. If classroom teachers let me know content vocabulary lists and main concepts, I could support by having ELLs write and perform a "readers theater" in my room to reinforce concepts and promote the development of the language of those concepts.
ReplyDeleteChapter 6 discussed two areas the ELL department focused on this past year -- academic vocabulary and language skills. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, when we plan lessons, we write content objectives and language objectives. Most articles we read and professional developments we attend suggest that the classroom teachers do this as well. Figure 6.1 on page 81 shows the areas the language objectives can come from. I'm guessing that in our training tomorrow on the ELA standards, we will be encouraged to integrate the teaching of language skills during content instruction which will be FANTASTIC for our ELLs. I'm looking forward to the training.
ReplyDeleteALSO -- RE: GETTING TOGETHER FOR A FINAL DISCUSSION. I'm wondering about going to get a drink (maybe at Los Aztecas in Prospect) immediately after the P.D. next Wed, the 8th, for about an hour. That way, we wouldn't use up another chunk of another of our last precious summer days! Would that work for others?
Chapter 6 was good in showing me some things I need to work on. While I think that I really allowed my students to have a lot of opportunity for conversational language, I don't think I took in account the academic language enough. Yes, I think I introduced vocabulary that I felt my students wouldn't have the schema for, but I took for granted some of the vocabulary and didn't think about my ELL's backgrounds. When they talked about frontloading, I thought about how much more I need to frontload academic vocabulary for my students. The example of the student who didn't know what label meant, that is the type of vocab. I can see my self taking for granted with students.
ReplyDeleteI do think the our district's approach to the ELA standards will be really benenficial for ELL students because everything is so interwoven.
I can do Wednesday.
I can do Wednesday too.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to work more with frontloading this year. Last year I focused too much on just previewing vocabulary. I want to focus on not only preteaching vocabulary, but also activating the students schema through visuals.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Rachel that we take for granted words that students understand. I want to keep a high frequency list for my students that include not only dolch sight words, but also academic vocabulary such as label, explain, compare, etc. I want to be more intentional about teaching these words all year, and not just in the spring before testing.
Hi Everyone!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited that we have so many people participating in this summer's EL (English Learner)book blog! The name of the book is "Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners, The SIOP Model." I'm suggesting you go ahead and read the 1st chapter, which is an introduction, anytime over the next couple of weeks and then we'll start with comments about Chapter 2 during the week of June 9-15.
Each person should comment once per chapter (ideally, once a week so we're all talking about the same chapter, but you might need to double up chapters some weeks and that's fine!). In your comments, please address the following questions: 1. Were there any new theories introduced in this chapter that resonated with you? (Or, did the chapter bring new meaning to a theory you were already familiar with?) 2.Are there any teaching strategies mentioned in this chapter you would like to try in your classroom?
Here will be our schedule:
June 9-15 Chapter 2 Lesson Preparation
June 16-22 Chapter3 Building Background
June 23-29 Chapter 4 Comprehensible Input
June 30-July 6 Chapter 5 Strategies
July 7-13 Chapter 6 Interaction
July 14-20 Chapter 7 Practice & Application
July 21-27 Chapter 8 Lesson Delivery
July 28-Aug.3 Chapter 9 Review & Assessment
You can read the last closing chapters at your convenience. We will find a time when school starts back up to meet, share and put closure on the readings.
Having content and language objectives is a new theory to me, as I haven't had ELL students who needed differentiation. I can see how they would help students though. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the difference between ELA objectives and language objectives. Like the book said, they can be very similar. I feel we do a better job of posting the lesson objectives on the board. I would like to make sure I have the students read them out loud, not just me. I would also like to have the students evaluate whether or not they feel we accomplished our objectives at the end of the lesson.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, that is a good point. It's important to not only have the content objectives posted on the board, but to be intentional about reading them out loud daily so the students know what they will be learning about that day. Coming back to the objectives at the end of a lesson is also a great way to assess what the students are ready for next, though the tendency is to skip that step when time runs short.
DeleteI liked the suggestion on page 44, the second bullet point. This seems like a quick, easy way for students to assess themselves on the learning objectives before and after the lesson but it wouldn't take more than a minute or two.
I really liked the way chapter 2 started out by discussing the importance of being deliberate when planning lessons for all students. With proper planning and differentiating, the teacher is less likely to have to reteach the lesson. In addition, in order to present effective lessons, the chapter stated that the teacher write both content and language objectives. Although I am familiar with content objectives, writing language objectives is somewhat new to me. Writing these objectives in kid-friendley language and then having students read orally and discuss then will help ensure student understanding. Next year, I plan on presenting both content and language objectives before my lessons. I feel that all students would benefit from this and my teaching and lessons would be more focused on particular goals. With students selecting key or important words from the objectives and predicting possible activities for the lesson, they will be more prepared for the learning to begin. With classes filled with students of varying abilities, I appreciate that chapter 2 had a section on differentiation. The activity using sentence starters is one that I plan on using.Converting essential questions into sentence starters is a greaat way to monitor students' understanding of the topic.
DeleteI like how they said we should post and go over the content and language objectives. I post my guiding questions each day but I don't give them a chance to discuss them.having more specific objectives would keep teaching more focused.
ReplyDeleteI love all the comments! And, I'm glad many of you feel the language objectives will be helpful to all your students, not just the ELs. It is difficult sometimes to tell the difference between content and language objectives, especially when they're for a language arts lesson. I think the categories they provided on pp. 33-34 are helpful and I can give everyone some handouts as well that help with that. I'm working on it as well; in fact the whole EL staff is. It really does make a difference when you are intentional about it. I think that for the regular classroom teacher, it gives you a great way to integrate many of the ELA standards into other content areas so that you're not trying to cram everything into your language arts time. They often don't require much of your lesson time -- just the fact that you emphasize certain skills for even a brief amount of time can be helpful.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 made me feel good about a lot of the strategies we use at Goshen because they support the learning of all children, including English learners. For example...activating background knowledge prior to teaching new material, connecting new learning to concepts previously covered in class, using visuals, word sorts, word walls, etc. One point regarding background knowledge that I hadn't considered before was that I shouldn't assume that ELs necessarily lack background experiences, they just lack the ability to communicate/connect their experiences in English terms (which is why visuals are important).
ReplyDeleteThere were two strategies presented in this chapter that I've never tried before and would like to try out next year: digital jumpstarts (page 76) and a content word wall (page 80). I have tried "frontloading" in my classroom before through the use of choral reading passages, but the idea of a digital jumpstart for a small group of kids is a great idea and sounds like a really efficient use of time.
The only word walls I've ever used have been for sight words, but having a word wall specifically for content would be a great way to help ELs learn content vocabulary. My only question is this...is it okay to have two word walls (one for the sight words listed in the ELA standards and one for content words)? The book advises against it, but I think it could work as long as you're careful about organizing them so they don't look cluttered. Has anyone ever tried having two word walls and how did it work?
I have my regular sight words word below my whiteboard. This past year I put content words on the other whiteboard. Each content area was a different color...so science words were green, math words were red and so on. This year I think I am going to do charts for each unit instead so they will be more organized. So I will have a chart for geometry, addition, subtraction, etc. I think this will make it easier to find specific words.
DeleteI have heard several times that using more than one word wall can be confusing for the students. However, I think that as long as the word walls make sense to your classroom and your students, then they will work. I used word walls for sight words in the past and personal vocabulary words in each students' notebook. However, next year I think that I would like to do content vocabulary word walls as well. I saw a teacher last year use anchor charts for individual content areas. I like this idea and think that it will help the students to see the importance of words in education and understanding.
DeleteChapter 2 helped me to remember the importance of lesson preparation. As teachers, we understand the time and effort that goes into planning a 50 minute lesson. I think that we must remember to plan for our EL students as well. I don't think we should think about it as another thing to add to our already full "to do list," but as a necessary part of our planning. I had two EL students that year that spoke very little English at the beginning of the year. Sometimes, I felt as though I was spending more time planning for my EL students than the rest of my class. However, I felt that this planning was essential to their understanding. I was also excited to discover that many of the lesson preparation tactics that I used for my EL students benefitted the rest of my class as well, especially my students who received speech and language services.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the supplementary materials that I used included pre-annotated texts, pictures and short videos. In fourth grade, we teach the students annotations at the beginning of the year. I would give the students and article (fiction or non-fiction) and then they would write down their thinking in the margins. Some of their thinking included questions, connections, new ideas, and confusions. During the middle of the year, my EL students were given the same article, but their copies had annotations prewritten. This allowed the students to use my thinking to help them understand the article in a similar way as their peers. I also tried to use pictures whenever possible. This included books, regular pictures and digital pictures on PowerPoints. I also used short video clips, which can be found on unitedstreaming or BrainPop, as mentioned in our book. However, I found BrainPop videos to be the most useful, because I would allow my students to preview the video in their native language before watching the video in English with the rest of the class. I know that BrainPop has most of their videos in Spanish and French, but I"m not sure about other languages.
By far, the biggest change to my lesson preparation included adding language objectives to my lesson. I was extremely hesitant to begin using LO's, because I knew that I would have to be consistent in order for them to be useful. I simply explained to the students that we would be bringing literacy into all of the subject areas. I focused on science and math. The students would write their GQ and then the LO. This did take a little extra time, but it helped me to stay focused while preparing my lessons, as well as the teaching. For review, the students would reread the GQ and LO and check for understanding. Sometimes the LO was the same over several days, as not all content can be taught in a single lesson.
Chapter three really validated the class I just finished for grad school. Some of the activities I had to complete on class had me questioning their use in my classroom. After reading ch. 3 I can see multiple ways to use my newly acquired tech skills. For example, I love the idea of "digital jump starting." I learned about using screencast. With this you can create a video up to 15 minutes long. What I really like is you can use whatever background you want. When I did mine I had a word problem in the background that I could use all the Word accessories like highlighting and underlining. Then you can put it on YouTube so your students have access prior to a lesson so they have some schema ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteI also learned about Mindomo to create mind maps, which would be another great way to front load. These can be designed in many different ways and you can embed photos and video links.
I have had kids work together read articles and annotate but I love the specific codes they suggest on page 77. Word clouds are really cool and something I just learned about in my class. The text recommends wordle which I have not used, but I can recommend Tagxedo as an option for creating word clouds. Word clouds are new to me, but I am excited about using them with all my kids, not just my EL kiddos.
I am not sure having third graders choose their own vocabulary words is a good idea, but it is something to consider. Word walls and content/concept word wall are something I have used for several years now.
The 4 corners charts are a great idea and I can see my students putting these in their content notebooks. Word searches are a great tool and there are several sites where you can create your own.
I will be taking away a lot of ideas from chapter 3.
The suggestions given in chapter 4 seem like they would be effective teaching strategies for all students, not just ELs. For example, the techniques listed on page 101-103 would be beneficial for all students - providing models, previewing material, repeated exposure, graphic organizers, etc. This chapter had a lot of great suggestions on how to make tasks and concepts more clear for students.
ReplyDeleteThe section called "Clear Explanation of Academic Tasks" on page 99 was a great reminder for me about how to be clear when giving directions to students. This section said that "oral directions should always be accompanied by written ones," which makes sense, but I forget to do that consistently in my classroom. I've got to remember to not only tell the students what their task is, but also write down the steps so students can refer to it throughout their work time. This is critical to the understanding of EL students and students with processing difficulties.
This chapter mentioned several times that teachers need to monitor their vocabulary and sentence structure to match the students' proficiency levels, but I am still wondering how that level is determined exactly? Do EL students take an assessment to determine their proficiency level or does the teacher just use her best judgement? I've never been an EL cluster teacher before so I was just wondering how that works.
Ashley, I just found out last year that EL students will take a literacy test the first year they arrive; I think it has to be conducted within 30 days or something like that. They will then take a test every January. However, the EL teachers don't get the results until May. If you have EL students then they should have a PSP. It is kind of like an IEP for other students. The scores will be between a 1 for beginner level and a 6. I believe student can test out of EL services if they have a 5 or higher. They are tested in several different categories, reading, writing, listening, etc.
DeleteAshley, I will help you ;)
DeleteHey Ladies, Daphne brought it to my attention that it looks like we are making comments in two different places. One is just under the first paragraph where it says Molly has 19 (or however many) comments and the other is when you click on the blue paragraph. Most are doing it in the first place. Why don't we switch over to that spot.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 reminds me about the importance of building background knowledge before a lesson or unit. EL students must be able to connect previous learning to their new learning. In the past, I have asked students to think about the GQ, pair-shair or simply write down their schema about our upcoming lesson. However, I have realized that building background knowledge needs to be more intentional when it comes to EL students. We understand the importance of scaffolding, but must make sure that we are using it enough with our students. The book states, "All students benefit from scaffolded instruction, but it is a necessity for English learners," (p. 54... However, I have the third edition, so the page number might be different). This quote shares the need that EL students have for scaffolding and simple language during instruction.
ReplyDeleteI have found that several of the techniques mentioned in the book are already in place at Goshen. We use word sorts through Words Their Way, many of us use personalized dictionaries (and the EL teachers are great with this too!), and we share a love and focus of words. If students are blessed to have a good education, then many of them will be able to transfer their academic and social language into English terms. However, if they have had gaps in their education, then there will need to be more focus on words and more time will need to be taken to explain the words.
Two strategies that I hope to use next year include pre-teaching and focusing on connecting lessons. I have used pre-teaching with some small groups, but I would like to discover a way to fit it in better and provide more of my students the needed background knowledge so they can feel successful during the lesson. I also hope to connect my everyday lessons better. I want to begin almost every lesson with a simple look back at the previous days' lesson and refresh the students memories on what we have learned and what we will learn today.
Chapter four discusses the importance of using clear and concise language when giving academic tasks. I think that it is important for our students to understand exactly what we expect of them. Goshen does a great job of modeling for our students and showing them what they should be doing and how it should look. Students should be allowed to struggle when it comes to academic skills, but they do not need to struggle when it comes to understanding the directions for an assignment or task.
ReplyDeleteOnce again this chapter focuses on the importance of EL students understanding words. Students must hear words repeatedly, "Then they need to see and hear the words repeatedly, in a variety of ways. Brain research tells us that repetition strengthens connections in the brain (p.81 or so). I think we do a great job of have word/vocabulary-focused classrooms.
Ashley and Amy both mentioned the part in the book about giving clear explanations. We have read a lot about using visuals, technology, and modeling, but I think body language and gestures are techniques that shouldn't be over looked. They were briefly mentioned on page 101. Having a French stepfather who does not speak English well, I have had to learn to use gestures a lot. To me it sounded like we really need to know our children's level of proficiency in English, in order to modify our teaching instruction to make it meaningful. One point that really stuck with me was not to oversimplify language, because it "eliminates exposure to a variety of sentence constructions and language forms."
DeleteReading this chapter reminds me of the year I spent co-teaching a language inclusion class with an SLP. Many of the strategies suggested were similar to those we used with those kiddos. I had to be very clear and concise in order for them to understand. I love how the suggestions they give are so universal. It doesn't matter whether the students are ELs or reg ed. It is really just good teaching. The speech/language pathologist and I used lots of graphic organizers and visuals to aid in learning. I feel like I have gotten away from some of these things because I have not had an EL or language student in several years.
ReplyDeleteI like what Erin said about students having to struggle a little with a task, but not with the directions to the task.
On page 104 it mentions the important role we have contributing to a positive student attitude. I agree with this 100 %. The kids feed off our attitude whether we want to believe it or not. When we come in grumpy they know and react to it. Leave that stuff at home and show the kids how important they are so they have an enhanced learning experience.
Chapter five gives a good review of many strategies that I have learned during my graduate program. I appreciated the Questions review and Higher-Order Thinking Skills with Bloom's Levels. I know when my students are focusing on thick or thin questions, but I haven't felt like I have been able to distinguish these questions for my students. When students reach the intermediate grades, they certainly need to be able to answer literal questions, but they must also be able to read between the lines and answer inferential "think and search" questions. I like the phrase of "think and search" questions. I foresee using this phrase on an anchor chart next year to help my students ask deeper questions and use strategies to have discussions about possible answers.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this chapter because it builds onto stuff that we already do. I continue to see the el kids that I teach as I read over the lessons and how I can use the strategies even with the younger kids. I need to make sure that I always begin with making sure we discuss the lessons purpose and talk about connections if there are any.
ReplyDeleteI loved the cue cards that are on pages 129 and 130. These will probably be more helpful tools for me to use but I think that they are important language to teach them.
Like Ashley, I like the idea of the cue cards. These would be so useful for many students. I know I need to do a better job with all of my students asker better questions. Our kids, even ELs, need to grapple sometimes with figuring out the answer to questions. I have a little flip book of question starters based on Bloom's taxonomy that I haven't used in a long time. This chapter just reinforces my need to pull it back out.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley, Julie, Erin and Daphne -- don't know if you saw my message on June 24. Most everyone else is commenting in a different spot. Instead of clicking on the blue paragraph, click on the number of comments under the first section where I explain this year's blog. Thanks!
ReplyDelete