Hi Everyone!
I'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.
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ReplyDeleteThe ELA standards lend themselves to the SIOP model, encouraging integration of speaking, listening, reading, and writing into all content areas. Admittedly, I don't usually stop to think about how language is used in the content area that I'm planning a lesson for; this chapter was a good reminder to do so. I liked the breakdown of the language objectives given for the math example; focusing on the vocabulary would be beneficial for all students, English proficient or not. This chapter made me realize that I need to be better about writing and saying the objectives for each lesson. I'm afraid I'm more like Mrs. Hargroves, rather than Ms. Chen. I appreciated seeing the comparisons of the lessons because it showed me how to put the SIOP model in action.
ReplyDeleteFirst off I am way jealous that I am not in Paris!
ReplyDeleteThe implications for explicit lesson planning is something that has great impact on students and their understanding.I know that for me, it is very hard sometimes to make all the lessons that explicit for all the learning types in my resource room. I know that standards and objectives are always posted, but I dont always review them and prepare them each day.
After reading through the 3 different teachers lessons, it was very clear to see which teacher probably had the best learning outcome. I would love to say that I am like Ms. Chen all the time but I know that is not the case.
I would love to make it my goal to better prepare everything for the Ell's in my room, especially in regards to the vocabulary and how they can relate their lives to what is being taught. But, the SIOP lesson plan is very beneficial to all my students.
I agree with Jackie about the ELA standards lending themselves to the SIOP model. After reading this chapter, I really feel like I do a lot of this, but as always there are places where I need to tweak or enhance my lessons. The stating of the objectives in kid friendly terms is not something that I even do. I have seen floating around the internet "I Can" statements that basically state what the students should be able to do taken from the standards. I am wondering if this would be a good way to put the objective out there so the students know and understand what they should be able to do by the end of the lesson...ex. I can identify the parts of a tree and what each one does.
ReplyDeleteI also have never given thought to making sure I am incorporating language objectives. I realize that is something I need to put more focus and effort into, especially the vocabulary. I really enjoyed the comparisons of the three lessons because it really shows how the same concept can be taught differently. Although there were parts where Ms. Chen and Mr. Henson both achieved the component of the model even though they presented it in a different way. I appreciated reading that and understanding how the same concept can be achieved even if presented in two different ways.
I can really see how this model would be beneficial for all of my students.
I see this as a hanging anchor chart!
DeleteTeaching an EL cluster is definitely out of my comfort zone as a teacher. I am excited to grow myself professionally in this way. Something that stuck out to me was just how much specific language each content area had. That is something I definitely take for granted, but makes sense. Also, I never really thought about all I was asking of my students when I asked them to perform a task.
ReplyDeleteI was also suprised, like Jackie and Rachel suggested, that these standards have been right in front of me in the ELA standards. It is nice to know that I don't have to do an overhaul, but that I can add, tweak, and modify to meet the needs of my English Learners. That is a huge relief!
Ruthie, I too want to learn more about ELL students and teaching. Even if I don't have an EL cluster, I would think that using the SIOP model would benefit intervention and language students as well.
DeleteChristi, I thought about using kid friendly language with the objectives too, as well as rewording and using content vocabulary. A lot to consider!
Rachel I like the idea of the 'I Can' statements to put the objectives in kid friendly language. I don't know that I always do that for students so this is something that I want to focus on this year. I do share what students will be learning about in each area during morning meeting but am usually very general about it. I can also see the 'I Can' statements connecting with what we are reading in our Opening Minds book study because we can easily modify the statements with the 'yet' for those students who have a fixed mindset and think 'I can't...' it can easily be changed to 'You can't yet." Which helps change their mind sets to I can't now but I will be able to achieve the learning objectives after this lesson. I know Lisa likes to see the guiding/essential questions posted on the board when she walks through our classrooms but I am wondering if this could take the place of that seeing as how it really helps the students understand the purpose and expectations for learning in each content area.
ReplyDeleteLike Ruthie, I have not had the opportunity to teach an ELL cluster but I can see the value in this model with all students not just ELL...especially intervention students. I had the intervention cluster 2 years ago with 12 (yes 12) students mostly in tier 3 interventions for reading or math. When you are working with 1st graders, it sometimes felt like I was speaking a foreign language to them because they had such a hard time making sense of what was being taught. I wonder if I had used the SIOP model with my lessons with those students and in my everyday instruction, how much more progress they would have made.
Daphne RenaudJune 8, 2013 at 11:38 AM
ReplyDeleteHaving 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.
Daphne, 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.
Amy Oberst
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Attempt ten...Brooke Noon
ReplyDeleteHello to all! Agreeing with many of you, I do believe that the SIOP model connect to the ELA standards and I think the workshop model too!
ReplyDeleteWhen reading about lesson prep and building background knowledge I made new meaning of schema. I think this is key for all students especially the EL students who may have different or limited experiences than most.
I also agree you all too regarding posting language and content objectives. Daphne and Ashley....the language objectives are a new theory to me too. Christi and Rachel I would love to explore the idea of the "I Can" statements.
Did anyone ever watch a video of Kari Kittelson where she had a PowerPoint clearly stating for the students what she would do...what her students would do with her And what her students would try of their own? Figure 2.1 early in the chapter made me think of this.
Amy I also like your idea of using sentence starters to monitor understanding.
Ruthie and Jackie I would love to brainstorm ideas about how to incorporate content vocab into our lessons next year too!
When I was reading about the use of clearly stated objectives, I kept thinking about how much easier reflecting would be for some students if they had a clearer understanding of what learning they were reflecting on. By using consistent sentence starters and verbage in content and language objectives, I think all students, especially ELs and Intervention students, would more clearly understand what they were learning about and then more effectively reflect on whether or not they understood or mastered that content.
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?
After reading chapter 3, I realized that I may have underestimated the importance of developing the students' personal, cultural, and academic background experiences. It was interesting to me that most school materials (content area texts) basically assume students' prior knowledge especially related to content areas. Chapter 3 did offer some very good suggestions for activating prior knowledge and building backgrund that would be helpful to all students. According to the chapter, ideas need to be explicitly taught in order for students to benefit. Although I am familiar with having the students complete word sorts to reinforce spelling and word structure, I have never created word sorts according to content concepts. This would be a great way to help students learn and remember specific vocabulary. I would also like to try the Vocabulary Self-Collection strategy. After modeling this strategy, I know that the students would soon be able to select their own appropriate vocabulary. Finally,I feel the Four Corners Vocabulary charts would be helpful for students to refer to when trying to learn difficult academic vocabulary.
DeleteAshley, I agree with you. Content word walls are a great idea. I also wonder how one would organize these word walls with the lack of space we have in our classrooms.
We tried to have a content word wall in the past but never used it the way the book discussed. We used the small bulletin board by our doors with a piece of handwriting paper stapled up for each content area. We added to the page daily but it became a tool for spelling in the reflection notebook rather than a tool for learning. When thinking about organizing a content word wall, I think back to our anchor chart pd this year. Stephanie Atkins shared a text, that discussed organizing the charts in your room by content areas so students knew where to go to access information based on the content area so students needing a math strategy could go to the math wall and find what they need, someone needing a strategy for reading could access the information in the reading area. I started organizing my walls this way and it made a huge difference in the way students used anchor charts. I'm wondering if we could use this and add the content word wall? Stephanie creates an anchor chart for students at the beginning of each unit to introduce key vocabulary. I'm wondering if we could have one for each of the content areas that we need (right now I'm really just picturing math, science, and social studies because we already do so many anchor charts with vocabulary naturally through the ELA units) in that particular content area in the room? Maybe using index cards to exchange words as needed when new units are started but leaving up old words that still apply? That way students can access vocabulary as needed by visiting that particular content area of the room?
DeleteAs I read chapter 3 I was thinking about how I enjoyed the narrative examples (Russians on bus, and Arctic story) and that the examples helped me comprehend and connect with the text. I realized how El students are really at a disadvantage when they don’t understand vocabulary. Building background, connecting, and teaching vocabulary is important for all learners. I’d really like to use a read aloud more often, before teaching a content unit to build background knowledge next year.
ReplyDeleteI also want to use the Four Corners Vocabulary Chart (pg.81) to help students with select key terms. Students can do this in their notebooks and discuss their charts with each other to clear up any misconceptions. The Concept Definition Map also peaked my interest as a prewriting activity and as an assessment. I liked how students begin with organizing words on the map, then write sentences, and later a paragraph.
Ashley, you were talking about using content word walls. I made word wall charts for vocabulary during our geometry and economic units. The students referred to them often because they had the definition and a visual with them that they produced. It also helped me to revisit the words quickly. Giving students repeated exposure is something that I need to be more intentional about.
I thought it was amazing that the 14 word roots on pg. 71 provided meaning to over 100,000 words. I have worked on teaching affix meanings but need to remember to focus on word root meanings as well.
Vocabulary is something that I have always wanted to spend more time on because I feel it is so important for all kids. I struggled with finding engaging ways to teach it, so I love the list on pages 76-82! Also, I really like the idea of making connections to previous lessons by intentionally using vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, like you, I was shocked that 14 roots providing meaning to that many words. I immediately thought, well, 14 roots wouldn't be that hard to teach. I can do that. I really like the idea of teaching vocabulary that will help them in the future (when learning a foreign language or when studying to be a specialist/professional).
In my Reading Academy class we learned a lot about assessing and teaching vocabulary. I am working on a PD presentation on teaching vocabulary for the staff, so hopefully this will help our instruction Ruthie.
DeleteAs I was reading through chapter 3, I immediately thought back to what we learned about vocabulary development in the reading academy. Using Marazonos 6 steps approach was a very effective way to teach vocabulary. I am thinking about the beginning of the school year and how I can incorporate the vocabulary into the social skills lessons. I know that I take for granted that when I am teaching social skills that all the students have some background knowledge on friends, listening, body language. A lot of my students are blessed with the experiences that their families give them every day. Even the families that include Els, they just have very different backgrounds, and that it ok. BUt I know that I am not as intentional as I need to be when planning and presenting them with information.
ReplyDeleteI loved how the 2nd teacher introduced her lesson with them imagining they are in Alaska, eyes closed, music, etc. I am just concerned with the time frame of the resource groups and the carry over from day to day as we are working through the skills.
I'm actually making a lot of connections between this book and the other book I'm blogging about, Deep Comprehension. I just recently read in that book that literacy grows from discourse with others who are knowledgeable. Which made me think about our students who haven't grown up in a language-rich environment and what we need to do for them as teachers. Chapter 3 reiterated that point for me. We have to know our students' backgrounds, and not assume that they have the schema needed before we jump into a lesson. Otherwise, we are setting them up for failure before they even start.
ReplyDeleteAmy, like you, I feel like I've underestimated the role that vocabulary plays in our students' learning success. We have to give them these building blocks before we can really teach the content. This is definitely an area I need to improve in. I like the breakdown of the different types of vocabulary because I honestly hadn't give this differentiation much thought before reading this book. I feel like we need to pre-assess content knowledge, background experiences, and vocabulary before we can really know what our students need.
Even though I have yet to teach an ELL cluster, I feel like the information and strategies I am learning from this text will greatly benefit all students, not just the ELL students. Like Ashley, chapter 3 reaffirmed for me many of the strategies that we use at Goshen that we know are best practices for all children. I immediately made a connection to our work with the thinking strategies and building students schema by activating prior knowledge and making connections from new learning to their prior knowledge. Because of my lack of experience with teaching an ELL cluster, I had never considered that an ELL student may not lack the background knowledge but may not be able to make the connection to that concept in their second language. One strategy that really stood out for me to help with this is word sorts. I use the Words Their Way texts with many activities for sorting words and used to have students complete an 'open sort' prior to even teaching the spelling pattern/feature. In an open sort, students were given pictures or words and asked to sort them into groups in any way that they could find. Students could sort the pictures/words in a variety of ways that would show me what they knew about the words already and how they were related or not related. Often students would sort in ways I had never considered. In the past year or so, I have let that activity go and only had intervention students completing this activity but after reading about it in the chapter again, I realize just how valuable of an activity it is and will be doing it again this year...not only in word study but in other content areas as well. By doing this, it would give ELL students the opportunity to connect learning/prior knowledge from their 1st language to what they area learning in their 2nd language and allow me to assess what they already know.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that at Goshen we already do a lot of strategies to help with frontloading, but I did like the list of suggested strategies. I liked the 4 Corners Vocabulary Chart and the idea of a content word wall. I agree with Ashley that it needs to be separated from the sight words word wall. After reading this chapter, I realize I need to put more of an emphasis on vocabulary. I would usually highlight words before a lesson, but I think I could have done an even better job. Once again, I enjoyed reading the example lessons because they provided such insight to what can work and what doesn't and how the same thing can be presented in different ways.
ReplyDeleteConnecting previous vocabulary to new lessons is important with activating their schema and helping to clear up any misconceptions.
Christi, I like the mention of grouping anchor charts according to content. I have done that somewhat, but never made sure to put all math together and so on. I think that is something I will do next year to help my students with using them as a resource.
Brooke
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading all of your comments and reflections. Reading this book has affirmed my beliefs in what we do at Goshen.
ReplyDeleteSo many of your commented on the 4 corners vocabulary chart. I really like it too. I think it directly relates to the four box strategy that Ruthie shared with me years ago. I think adapting some of the language to match our thinking strategy language would make it more powerful. (ex- illustration to sensory image)
I also believe in the content word wall and found success in it last year in science. I used the color vocabulary cards from our science materials and my students referred to them often. They have a picture on the front with the word, and a definition and sentence on the back. It presents the same information on the four corners chart in a different way. Stephanie I like how you organize your anchor charts by subject. I am pondering how to make a content word wall work with this.
Ashley, I think we can have a sight word and content word wall. I agree that having it organized for the children is key. Last year I started using the ELA grade level words for my sight words word wall.
Ashley, I also want to look into the digital jumpstarts next year. Jackie went to OCLI and learned how to upload videos and articles through edmodo. I think using this as homework is a great frontloading tool!
When reading chapter 4, I really enjoyed the idea on page 108 where the author simplified our job. They said, that we should provide students with key details of the unit and then expose them to those details many times. That sounds like a simplified way of thinking about teaching in general. I love it! This allows everything to be very purposeful and I can see how taking this approach would really help those with different learning styles and those who struggle with English. We are going to do three activities and they are going to be focused on teaching you the same details in new ways. I think time gets in my way and I struggle to spend a lot of time on some tasks, but I think this would have a calmer feel.
ReplyDeleteI am also wondering if there is a good resource for a quick reference for cognates. The book listed one on page 98, but I wondered if there were others. I will do some research. That could also really help with choosing roots to teach (as we discussed before).
Finally, I would really like to implement several of the ideas on the lists for making concepts clear and for comprehensible input. They really seem like good options to mix things up a bit. I think we are good at using a lot of these, but it never hurts to be more intentional.
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.
I thought the same thing, Ashley-These strategies would definitely benefit all students, especially the graphic organizers. Does this text offer a link to some graphic organizers or does anyone have a good resource for them that we could all access?
DeleteI thought it was ironic when I read "avoid using idioms" because of course our 3rd grade ELA standards include teaching idioms. Talk about a need for graphic organizers and visuals!
Basically, in the teaching scenarios, Mr. Lew is the teacher I think we all aspire to be. Whether we're teaching ELs or not, the strategies he used would be best practice. I liked the use of content vocabulary and functional language at the beginning of the lesson; this is definitely something I want to use in my classroom this year.
Chapter 4 had some very good suggestions. Figure 4-1 on clear/unclear explanations made an impression on me. From past experience, I found when I was more deliberate and specific when giving instructions, all students performed better on the task at hand. Due to time constraints, I have been guilty of hurrying through directions which resulted in students being confused and performing poorly on the assignment. It's better to provide clear directions and expectations so that all invloved are free from frustration.
ReplyDeleteAlso, pages 101-103 offered some very helpful teaching techniques. Specifically, the suggestion of allowing EL students alternative forms for expressing their understanding. Instead of having ELs explain a concept in writing, you could have them model or sketch the concept that was presented in class.
Another good suggestion was the use of graphic organizers. As the chapter stated, they are most effective when they match the task and lesson objectives. Graphic organizers proved to be very helpful to my EL students. Sentence frames also worked well when asking ELs to verbally respond to a question.
I agree that teachers at Goshen do a lot of connecting to prior knowledge and building schema in your lessons. I don't know if you're seeing this, though. It seems that with kids spending so much time on computers, and other digital devices at home, there is less and less communication and reading with parents and some children are coming in with some real voids in terms of background/vocabulary knowledge - not just ELs. Sometimes, with the ELs, we'll spend a whole lesson just building background -- and by just taking the time for that conversation and intentional use of certain vocabulary, they are so excited by the connections they are able to make when we start the actual content instruction. I'm trying to be very intentional in my instruction of "Academic" vocabulary (those words that cross disciplines). One EL teacher covers her walls with these words and all their different forms (e.g. revolution, revolutionize, revolutionary). I like the 4 corners vocab. chart as well. When students have a visual to associate with a word, they are much more likely to remember/be able to retrieve it. These charts can be used in a personal dictionary as well. I'd say get the students to make these charts that go up around the room! There's no reason for you to make them. It's one more way for them to practice the words since they need to use a word 12 (or some crazy number like that!) ways to make it their own.
ReplyDeleteAshley 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."
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 was really good in clarifying how to make content concepts clear. I really liked the suggestion of attaching body language or gestures to accompany speech. It is something that is so easy, yet would be so effective. That is one thing I am enjoying about this book. The suggestions of strategies are very helpful. I agree with Molly that many students do not have a wide range of vocabulary and that is definitely something I want to focus on more this year. I think I need to be even more intentional in building background including vocabulary. I also liked the idea of recording the step by step instructions including some questions to help them converse with their partners. That way they can listen to instructions as many times as needed so they get each step as they are ready.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter made me reflect on my own delivery of instruction...do I talk to fast, do I give too much at once, and what do I say to my students? Sometimes tasks require many steps in order to complete the assignment and then once students begin working, they are back asking you about one of the 1st steps. Sometimes it's a lot for the average English speaking student, I can't imagine what it would be like for someone struggling with learning the language. I've notice that when the students and I construct a checklist of directions/steps that it does help them to remain focused and reduce the amount of questions asked because they can refer directly to the directions posted or ask a peer for clarification allowing me more time to work with small groups or confer with individual students without many interruptions. I've often used the projector and simply typed up the directions after giving them orally (although after reading this chapter, I see that I can make changes to that as well by providing visuals, gestures, etc). I have the students help me create the checklist and type up their words. This allows me to assess their understanding of the task while also providing written directions for them to follow. It's also nice and easy to save and refer back to for those lessons/activities that last a few days...I can just pull it back up and refer to it each day. Like everyone else, I too found the list of techniques to make concepts clear helpful. Some techniques that I would like to be sure to focus on this year with my students are: the use of gestures, body language, pictures and objects to accompany speech, allowing students alternative forms for expressing their understanding of information and concepts, and building students' schema with vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI also like that the text provided examples for student proficiency levels and how students might respond at each proficiency level.
Christi I agree with you regarding the personal wonder of "do I speak too fast?" I feel like I speak slowing with pauses when teaching content but speed up when giving directions regarding academic tasks. I need to focus on speaking slowly at all times to give children a clear understanding of what is expected.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea on the page 103 about using an electronic tablet to record step by step instructinos for completing a task or project. I know this is something that Molly and Juana do orally with my EL students but it would be an easy way to support all children if they had this for them all the time. Maybe an easy way to start this would be to start with transfer tasks!
I also thought a lot about the comments regarding idioms....in our ELA units in 3rd we actually teach children this. Before this instruction I can only imagine how difficult it is for children to make sense of these statements.
Rachel I also like your idea of using gestures, and body language. After reading the example on page 101 about the water cycle it does seems so easy. I think that kinestic learning with help children recall the information too!
Chapter 5 gave some great suggestions to accomplish the goal of having all students become independent thinkers and learners. As the chapter stated, the desired outcome is to have all students engage in a variety of learning strategies while they are interacting with text.
DeleteScaffolding is important when when working with EL students or with students who struggle with processing information. I learned that it is also important to have carefully planned higher-order questions and activities prior to the lesson being taught for these students. I found it interesting that most questions asked by teachers are at the literal level. In the future, I need to remember not to underestimate the abilities of certain students. These students are capable of answering questions that promote critical thinking.
A teaching idea that I would like to try in the upcoming year was the "Squeepers" instructional framework. All students would benefit from becoming familiar with this framenwork when reading expository texts.
Another teaching idea that I would like to try is the "Gist" procedure. I liked the way this could also be done with the whole class while viewing video clips.
What stood out to me in this chapter were two things. This book highlights the same things as the Deep Comprehension text I am reading: teaching students to flexibly use a variety of comprehension strategies on their own and scaffolding. Much of what was said about higher-order thinking skills, we have been exposed before. Yet this quote was important to keep in mind; “..of the approximately 80,000 questions the average teacher asks annually, 80% of them are at the literal level”. Wow! Makes me think about how important it is to really think about prompts and questions and to be very intentional. I agree with you Amy about not underestimating the abilities of certain students. I would like to try using the GIST concept with nonfiction reading this year. My students often had a hard time determining importance and I think this model will help them.
ReplyDeleteThat quote stood out to me too, Daphne! One of the things I enjoyed most about chapter 5 was the emphasis on Bloom's Taxonomy...it was a good reminder and it made me stop and reflect on the type of questions I ask my students. On the bottom of page 125 it says "it is important to carefully plan higher-order questions and tasks prior to lesson delivery." This is something that I need to be more intentional about...planning out the questions I will ask the students before I'm in the middle of the lesson.
DeleteIn the teaching scenarios, Mr. Montoya had some great examples of higher-level questions on the bottom of page 134. I enjoyed comparing his questions to Miss Lee's questions...hers were much lower-level, recall-based questions.
I agree with you Ashley. I really enjoyed the examples of higher-level questions from Mr. Montoya. I noticed that they all were questions that the answer involved answering why or giving support to their answers (they had to supply their own thinking). Miss Lee's questions all came with answers found in the reading.
DeleteThis is definitely something I want to work on this year! I agree that being more intentional by planning out the questions beforehand would make for higher-level questions!.
What struck me first was the point about teaching students to use cognitive strategies. Admittedly, I got lost in the ELA standards last year and didn't do as good a job of this as I know I should have. I encourage students to use the strategies, such as highlighting, using post-its, making connections, and reviewing before reading. But as I read this chapter I realized that I probably didn't take enough time actually teaching the students how to use effectively use the strategies. Again, this would be helpful for ALL students, regardless of their language level.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I loved the GIST model too! I will definitely implement that to help the students determine importance! The quote about the literal level questions being the majority also stood out to me. Ashley is right-we have to be more intentional about asking deeper-level questions throughout each lesson.
Happy 4th of July!
I agree with you Jackie, I feel like after reading this chapter I realized I need to do a better job of teaching how to effectively use strategies. I really want to choose a few strategies that I think would be beneficial for my kiddos and maybe focus on just a few over the whole year. I also liked the GIST model. It seemed like something that would be easy for my students to understand and use. Plus I can see how it would also meet the standards as well!
DeleteEven before the ELA units came out, I feel like we struggled with time and finding a way to squeeze it all in. So what happened was kids were getting strategy work everyday but not always having enough time to work with the strategy before we were showing them something else to do with the strategy or moving on to a new strategy. I feel like there was always conversations at planning where we were saying, "My kids just need sometime to practice using the strategy in their notebooks." A prime example of this is teaching decoding strategies...I feel like we zip through those in a matter of a week, one per day. We give students time to apply them during independent work time but is it enough if we are moving on to another strategy the next day. I do my best to review and apply them when appropriate BUT, chapter 5 made me reflect on how we teach strategy and how much time we allow students to practice using the strategy before we are giving them more. Students need time to become proficient with a strategy before they are ready to move on to a new strategy. As the book suggests, one or two strategies per week with many opportunities to practice the strategies with different texts and genres. I think this will be even more important now with the ELA units as before our units were built around the strategies, now our units are built around standards and strategies are embedded but not the focus. We will have to really be intentional about making time for students to read and apply strategies learned.
DeleteI agree with Christi and Brooke about wondering if I speak too fast. This is something that I have trouble monitoring and wonder how many students that has affected in my classes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read chapter 5, I felt that Goshen teachers could look at this as validation. I feel like I do a lot of the things they were talking about in this chapter. In fact, I believe most teachers hang up the thinking stems (sentence starters) listed on pages 129 and 130. I also feel like many of the teaching ideas listed on pages 126-129 are ones that we use as well.
I did like the GRR graphic on page 122 and thought that might be nice to show to parents and as a visual representation for students. I feel like if they can look to see where we are in a unit and how much they are expected to do at any given point, they will feel more comfortable. This also could be a great way to do a quick self assessment so students can monitor as they mentioned in this chapter. We could ask them to just look at the chart and see where they feel they are right then...what are your needs right now as a learner of this topic? That might give some students the chance to see it rather than write it or just conceptualize where they are in their learning.
attempt two
ReplyDeleteWhile reading chapter five I made immediate connections to the workshop model when reading about scaffolding and the gradual release of responsibility. Ruthi until you mentioned it I never thought to show figure 5.1 to parents as a visual to explain our teaching. I think this is a fantastic idea. I also liked the sentence starters that were shared. In my classroom we refer to them as thinking stems and my students utilize them all of the time. The one group of sentence starters that I wish to include and use next year would be the stems for evaluating. As the other stems have jumpstarted my students thinking I believe these will too when my students reflect.
ReplyDeleteChapter 6 provided a lot of information to reflect upon. As the chapter stated, studies conducted show that teachers do the majority of talking during lessons. At times, I know I have been guilty of too much teacher talk. This happens when I feel pressured to cover so much content. It is my goal to have all students actively engaged in the learning process. This chapter helped me to realize that although teachers are required to cover more and more material each year, it is far more beneficial for the students to be given ample opportunities to discuss their learning in small groups. I plan on being more deliberate and structuring my lessons so that the students are allowed the time needed to process new information as they work in groups so that this information will be retained.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of this chapter that gave me something to think about was the section on Oral Language Development. At times, it can be routine for a teacher to do most of the talking and accepting yes or no answers from students. This section offered some very good suggestions on how teachers can question students to encourage more elaborated responses. Not only will the students' responses give the teacher insight as to what the student actually knows, it also gives the student the opportunity to practice processing and using the English language.
This chapter made me think about all the talking teachers do and how we should have shorter mini-lessons. (Reminds me of how the other book said our one-on-one conferences should be 3 minutes.) Having the objectives on the board and getting straight to the point, then modeling and having discussion is something I want to work on this year. Once we see the students discussing their learning in small groups, we can also go back and "swoop and regroup" (as Cindy says) if needed. I think sometimes we under-estimate our students. The group work will give them more time to practice and work on oral language development as well, when we move around the groups and ask them open ended questions.
DeleteChapter five made me think about the length of my mini-lessons as well. I know that it is important to cover topics, but I also want to provide my students with plenty of time to discuss and understand the information. Overall, I will take away the need to slow down and give the students time for discourse. I will also focus on not accepting minimal answers. I will try to probe them to explain more, "can you tell me more about that?" so that they have the opportunity to explain their thinking, instead of me assuming I know what they were talking about.
DeleteThis chapter also made me think about the quality of instruction for all of my students. With EL students and students who struggle, it is easy to give them worksheets and remedial work, because we know they need extra practice. However, I am going to continue to focus on high expectations and standards for all of my students.
*ch. 6
DeleteChapter 5: As an EL teacher who pulls students out of class to work individually and in small groups, it's my tendency to want to be involved with every step a student does with me. The discussion of the Gradual Release model reminds me to make sure to provide the instruction and modeling, but then to allow students to work independently without my constant input. That takes a lot of self control when I'm working one on one with a student, but is so important. Also, the reminder that scaffolding is a temporary structure. This is especially true with ELs who are making constant progress with their language acquisition.
ReplyDeleteAs others have commented, I also like the idea of teaching my students how to monitor their comprehension of a reading passage independently through a strategy such as SQP2RS. Mr. Montoya's lesson was a great example of this strategy.
Chapter 6: I thought the quote on pg. 153 was pretty powerful -- " Given what the research shows, it should be apparent that presenting more content per minute or moving from one piece of learning to the next too rapidly, virtually guarantees that little will be learned or retained." This leads us to some of the interaction strategies discussed such as providing sufficient wait time (something we all know about, but is so hard to be consistent with!) which is SO important for ELs and allowing time for clarification of the key concepts, something several of you have mentioned. I know I constantly feel like I'm in a hurry and have to remind myself to slow down and be very intentional about actually carrying out the different parts of a formal lesson plan which are very important to good instruction. This is the whole point of SIOP, isn't it? Being very intentional about each part of a lesson plan.
ReplyDeleteFor chapter 6, a lot of what was discussed about interaction was huge. Since my groups are already small and grouped for same learning, that part is not as difficult but it is difficult for me to not do all the talking.
ReplyDeleteI think that I pre judge how they are going to interact with one another and if they will be effective group members when they have partners. Most of them need more explcicit instruction with being a group member and I think that I don't allow for enough time for them to practice that.
I agree with Molly and feel that i am often in a hurry because the way our schedules are made and so little time for different groups.
I also noticed that while I do allow for wait time and encourage them to participate, I also notice that I just automatically give answers for them instead of asking more questions to see if they can conclude it on their own.
I went ahead and read chapter 7, as I will be on vacation next week. This chapter didn’t have a lot of new information or as many activities as I hoped it would have. The big idea of applying their new knowledge in relevant, meaningful ways is what we try to have students do after each mini-lesson. We just need to keep in mind the differentiation that EL learners may require and that they need more practice. I am glad that the issue of whether or not to correct English learners’ language errors was brought up, because I hadn’t really considered taking into account their stage of language development. It said some errors may be developmental and that impromptu corrections are less effective than setting aside time to teach a lesson on grammar and usage. I also learned that if errors impede oral communication, it is good to gently correct students by restating the sentence correctly. I wonder if after you have taught a grammar lesson and the student continues to make the same kind of errors over and over again after practice and re-teaching, how to break the student’s “habit”, if that is what it becomes.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the clarification of correcting EL students with grammar. It makes sense that we should only correct them if we have taught them how to say or write the phrase correctly. It would be unfair to correct students if we have not taught them and reminded them how to use a word or phrase correctly. Of course, we can always restate their phrase using the correct grammar which would be a gentle way of communicating the error.
DeleteIn chapter 6, I highlighted this passage:
ReplyDelete"It can be particularly tempting for teachers to do most of the talking when students are not completely proficient in their use of English, but these students are precisely the ones who need opportunities to practice using English the most."
This passage helped me realize that small-group work for ELs is beneficial in more than one way. It not only helps them retain information by talking with their peers, but it gives them a "real-world" opportunity to practice the language they are learning!
I also liked the section on page 156 about wait time. I constantly have to remind myself to wait before calling on students for answers, though the silence is sometimes awkward. This section reminded me that wait time is critical for all students, but particularly ELs. They have to have time to process and plan what they will say, and how they will say it.
Molly, I also was struck by the quote about moving too fast leads to little to being retained. It really made me think more about how I need to be more intentional about slowing down! I can't let stresses outside the lesson get in the way and cause me to rush.
ReplyDeleteThe part about wait time was a very good refresher about how important it is and how I need to be more intentional about giving sufficient wait time. The strategy about restating the students' responses to help scaffold was great and actually reminded me of PEBC because they also stressed restating their response to help pull more out of the student which leads to more student control of the discussions.
I also want to be more intentional about my group work and being mindful that the discussion is just as important as the work for EL's. They need the speaking practice!
Just like you said, Molly, the SIOP model is all about being intentional in planning and presenting the lesson.
Much of the information in chapter 6 made me think about some of the things discussed in my other book study for Opening Minds. The chapter titled Thinking Together, Working Together in that text states that "learning to think together doesn't just impact achievement in a subject area. It affects the whole child and his/her relationships to himself and others." It also discussed the importance of arranging for children to have engaging and productive conversations which is what so much of this chapter is about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Amy and Daphne...it is hard to find balance and reduce the amount of teacher talk. I think what happens is we sometimes get so caught up in our schedules and time that we hurry through and sometimes do not provide enough time for students participate in the discussions. It's especially hard when you have students in your class that once you give them the floor, it's 10 minutes later before they finally take a breath for you to redirect the conversation back to the focus! :) I used to really strive to make my reflection/share time more student centered where I may pose a question and then simply bow out of the conversation and jump in to restate or ask for clarification from students. This year I got away from that because I was out for the beginning of the year and didn't establish that community. I really want to focus my efforts this year with reestablishing that dynamic in my room...where the share time if really more focused on student learning, questioning, reflection than teacher centered conversation.
I had the same thoughts about time because we have so much content to get in throughout the year. Like you said many students get the chance to speak and never stop. I think we need to remind them that they need to stay focused or they will be cut off. We need to teach our kids to determine importance. Clear and concise is key! I know it is easier said than done.
DeleteThis chapter really made me think about how much wait time I allow my students. I'd like to think I allow plenty of time, but after reading chapter 6 I fear that I still don't allow enough. After teaching a Language inclusion class a few years ago I learned just how crucial it is to allow the kids the time to think and process. There are times when it is so hard to wait but we have to keep in mind how much they need that time. I know we tend to be in a hurry because we have so much content to get in throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteI like some of the ideas they suggested for allowing kids to work with one another on academic activities. I know at Goshen we do many of these things already but reading it in a book just solidifies that we are doing the right thing and have great teachers doing the best for the kiddos.
I know I need to work on keeping my mouth shut and allow the kids to converse with each other so they have more real world experiences. I often want to speak for a child that is having trouble to alleviate any fear or stress, but realize that they will be better off if I allow them to grapple a little and work through it on their own without them hitting the proverbial wall.
Julie, I agree with you...I tend to swoop in and rescue students too soon. This chapter made me realize that something I thought was helpful, could actually be impeding language development for my students, regardless if they are ELs or not.
ReplyDeleteAshley, the same quote about allowing ELs to do more of the talking struck a chord with me too. Of course the students would feel more comfortable talking with their peers! It made me think that we need to be intentional so that our lessons/activities encourage all students to speak, rather than just sit back and listen.
Molly, the point about wait time is what really stayed with me after reading this chapter. Too often, I get caught up in the day-to-day schedule and think "we have to get this in and that in so we've got to hurry up," which of course means the lessons are rushed and the probability that students are retaining anything is slim to none. Again, I appreciate the realizations that this book is sparking for me in terms of teaching not only ELs, but all of my students. Great reminders here!
I had the same quote that Molly pointed out highlighted in my text. I feel like all the research says to take your time, let the students talk, allow time for inquiry and discussion (you get the picture), while the standards are such that we have to move, move, move! I feel very torn about this as I want what is best for my students and their learning and I want to help them become critical thinkers and analyzers of information, but I also want to keep my job and that is dependent on high test scores. It is a frustrating situation to be in and I don't really know which side to "give in" to. I love what they said about allowing students to do the talking and it is very easy to want to jump in because we know where we want the conversation to go to meet the standards we want to meet. I definitely want to work on letting ALL students speak more on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7 reminded me of the importance of giving students the time needed to practice new content in ways that are meaningful. I could really relate to the learning to ride a bike example and the need for practice. This chapter also stated that hands-on materials will really benefit EL students by connecting abstract concepts with concrete experiences. I can only imagine how difficult it is for an EL student to understand an abstrat idea. This needs to be taken into account when planning lessons.
ReplyDeleteSome suggestions that this chapter gave that I can personally use in my classroom are more graphic organizers, asking students to generate solutions to real-life problems, and having them write their opinions of new learning.
Some specific ideas that I would like to do more often in my classroom are Reader's Theater, role plays, and character diaries. I would like to try out Numbered Heads Together. Although it feels like there is never enough time to incorporate all of the students' needs and content that needs to be met, it is so important that all students are given the time to practice and apply new learning in meaningful ways.
Amy, I had the same thoughts you did when reading chapter 7. I know that more practice time with new content is going to be at the top of my goals list because I don't feel like my students retained the new concepts introduced last year. There is the pressure to get all the standards in, but best practice tells us that overloading students with new information isn't what they need.
ReplyDeleteI will say that before the new standards, I felt that our school was very strong in planning lessons that were based on inquiry and included hands-on activities. But i know that this is something that has suffered in my classroom as a result of the new standards. It's not an excuse, but I know that it's true just the same. As this chapter said, these hands-on experiences help students to truly make connections with the content. Obviously, this would also help with retention.
I think ch 7 also focuses on providing student enough time to grasp the grammar of their second language. It stated that many children understand the majority of grammar in their L1 by age 5 and just learn more about more sophisticated subjects. However, they are not as proficient with showing this grammar through writing as they are through speaking. We must understand that a student may sound as though they are understanding, but they may still have difficulty explaining these concepts in writing.
DeleteI keep going back to how all of these skills and strategies apply to all our learners. I agree with all the comments about practice time. I think that I have to rush what they are doing because we are so limited with our time to begin with. I tend to forget that I can do the same lesson more than once and continue it over multiple days. I should be making sure that they can practice their skills, especially learning social skills concepts. I need to learn how to trust them more and let them spend more time engaged in the lessons and practice.
ReplyDeleteI went ahead with chapter 8 because I will be out of town.
when I think about how I actually deliver my lessons, I am not so sure that I am doing the best i can with the EL students. They dont have academic goals but more so social and self help but I need to remember that they may or may not grasp some social concepts because they were not learned at home the same as some others were. it all goes back to BK and what they can pull experiences from. It talks about 3 aspects to student engagement during lessons; allocated time, engaged time, and learning time. I feel that it is very hard for me to control the allocated time that i have to spend with them all ready, due to specific goals, that balancing things is very difficult.
I know that when I am planning lessons next year, I will not worry so much about the time of the groups but making sure that they are always engaged and understanding.
Chapter 7 was a good reminder for me. I am like you all and a lot of times I feel like I rush the students because we need to get through the concept and move onto the next. I always feel like we are running out of time! However the example of learning to ride a bike really made a good point. If I am not providing meaningful, hands-on lessons, my students are not going to get fully what I am trying to teach them. I can talk to them and explain it, but their own experience is what is going to make the difference.
ReplyDeleteI did feel like I differentiated for my students better this year, but I can definitely see how I can do it even more. I liked the activity where some were writing their own letters, others in partners, and a few in a group with the teacher. I think I tend to leave out the middle group. In the past I have either made them independent or not independent and there is the group that isn't quite independent, but doesn't need the teacher right there either. I need to remember that this year as I plan.
I agree that chapter 7 was a great reminder to give students time to practice with what they learn. This brings back all of the ideas I knew were important when I started teaching. Pedagogy that includes all learning styles and multiple intelligences as well as using the thinking strategies to allow students time to "process" and work through the concepts they have been taught. I feel like these strategies lend themselves to activities mentioned in this chapter like real world application and the use of graphic organizers.
ReplyDeleteLike Ashley, trying to keep students engaged is what struck me as important in chapter 8. This goes back to planning the lesson. It’s so important to make sure your lessons aren’t too long and that the activities you plan are varied and interesting to the students. I know there are ELA units that I teach that the kids really like and so they are more engaged. I need to work on making the other units just as engaging by using other materials and activities. As far as differentiation, I had never thought about how projects are great for letting students work at their own ability level, language, level, and interest level. I would like to plan more in class min- projects as activities and assessments next year.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of student engagement time also stuck out to me. I know that students need to be engaged or they won't connect to the lesson, but I didn't realize that they needed to be engaged 90% of the lesson. This really makes me think about the workshop model and ensuring that I keep my mini-lessons short. I know some will be longer, especially towards the beginning of a unit, but I could still engage my students through turn and talks and written reflections.
DeleteChapter 8 restated the importance of explicitly stating objectives for all lessons. I agree with the section on Pacing the Lesson. It can be very difficult to find a pace that is just right when presenting information to EL students. As the chapter stated, each teacher must know his or her students as learners in order to pace lessons effectively.
ReplyDeleteUnder the section on "Teaching Ideas for Lesson Delivery" I saw some ideas that would work well with second graders. The "Roam and Review" would work be a great way to conclude a lesson. "TV Talk Show" would be a really motivating activity for when the students are learning new content.
I agree with Amy about pacing. It can be very difficult to find a good pace that fits all the students. J definitely see the importance of finding a good pace to keep them actively engage. Something I will continue to work on! I also thought this chapter really emphasized the importance of student engagement. I agree with Daphne that I have some lessons that really engage the students and others that I need to revamp to allow for more engagement. I liked the strategy, chunk and chew. I think that would be great for my little ones to stop and do a quick review with them to make sure they are understanding the lesson. I thought the podcasts might be something that my littles could handle later in the year and would be a great way to allow them go to present their learning and understanding.
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm posting late for Chapter 7...Brayden's birthday was last week and we were super busy getting ready for his big party!
ReplyDeleteThe ideas for differentiating in multi-level classrooms made me reflect on my own practices within the classroom especially when it comes to grouping students. I know we are supposed to group students in a variety of ways but in reading that section, it made me realize that I have gotten away from doing that with my students. At tables of 4 I typically have students seated with mixed abilities at the table but where each person has a partner that is close to or on his/her academic level. When we partner for different activities, I have students working with partners or in groups with others who are at their instructional level. My experience with grouping by mixed ability does not usually result in both students growing from the experience. More often than not, the more emergent student feels overwhelmed by the experience with the more advanced student or feeling that their work 'isn't good' because it doesn't look like the other persons work. However, when I think about my purpose for placing mixed abilities at the tables what kinds of behaviors and strategies my more emergent students pick up on and strive for by observing others at their table without needing instruction from me I realize the value in grouping students according to mixed abilities for other purposes as well, especially ELL students. Grouping ELL students together because they have similar needs will keep them from being able to observe and learn from others within their groups.
I like that this book always provides ideas for use within your classroom because it shows you just how easy it can be to apply the information from the text to your everyday lessons in your classroom. Like the others mentioned, I do think pacing can be difficult especially with such diversity within the classroom but I think we are always making revisions to our pacing when needed like when we come to planning and half of us need 3 more days to complete the lessons or in other cases, the kiddos got it and we are ready to move on. I think we are always striving to find the pace that works for our students.
ReplyDeleteAs others mentioned, the importance of student engagement stood out to me as well. There are some units/lessons that lend themselves so well to have students engaged but then there are also units where this is not the case. I think that when we feel that this is the case and the lessons/units we are teaching do not actively engage our students, then we should be thinking about the ideas listed in the text like the think-pair-share, chunk and chew, roam and review, etc. I think those kinds of strategies can really make a difference in student engagement especially when they are practiced all the time. If students have opportunities to practice these activities, they will develop their favorites and be more engaged during the lessons because they'll want to do the activity that goes along with it.
In the chapter about review and assessment, the following stood out to me as key ideas I want to implement or remember:
ReplyDelete• In informal assessment, collect multiple indicators or pieces of evidence that the objectives have been met-not just one. (Content areas as well!)
• Highlight and review key concepts and academic vocabulary during the lesson and at the end.
• Give regular specific feedback to clarify or correct misconceptions. Can be oral and written, provided by teacher and peers. (“Good job” doesn’t cut it!)
• ELL students need assessment adaptations so that teachers can more accurately determine students’ knowledge and understandings. (Many of these sounded similar to IEP accommodations I thought.)
Sorry I am late, but I was out of town and had no internet (which was kind of nice to be honest). Unfortunately this site wouldn't open open on my phone as expected.
ReplyDeleteAs I read chapter 7 about hands-on activities I was immediately reminded of my own experience in college. I took a chemistry lecture and the lab at the same time. I barely made it through the lecture part of the class, where I aced the lab. At the time I didn't realize that it was the actual doing of the learning that was so important to me. I just couldn't wrap my head around the concepts by just listening and reading. The lab on the other hand made much more sense to my brain because I was seeing and doing. With that being said, I have tried as a teacher to be aware of my students' need for hands-on activities as often as possible. Like many others said I feel the pressure to get through so much content that some things do go by the wayside. After reading this chapter it simply reinforces the need for these activities.
The idea of pacing brought up in chapter 8 struck a chord with me. It is so hard to figure out a pace that meets the needs of all of the students in our classes. I feel like when I slow things down I am losing the higher students because they are bored. When I speed things up I lose the lower kiddos.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the ideas they gave for lesson delivery. I can't wait to try them this upcoming school year. In particular I like the ideas of the chunk and chew and roam and review. I see these being very useful strategies for my student. Third graders love to talk so I may as well give them a chance to chat in a structured format.
The best ideas I took from this chapter were the "Chunk and Chew" and "TV Talk Show". I will definitely implement the "Chunk and Chew" delivery; this is just best practice and it's something I needed to be reminded of.
ReplyDeleteThe "TV Talk Show" is something that the kids would love! I've done podcasts & had the kids write scripts using the Show Me app and this is along the same lines. Fun!
It's easy for us to get caught up in the new standards and getting everything in, which can make our lesson delivery take a back seat. Chapter 8 was a great reminder of the best practices that students need to stay engaged and be successful.
Just like most people mentioned about chapter 8, I am glad they discussed pacing. This is something that I have struggled with a lot in my classroom and am glad to have the reminder. Like Jackie, I feel like the new standards make me rush a bit and I would like to work to make myself slow down a bit.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the section on "Teaching Ideas for Delivery." They had some great suggestions and I feel like if I spend some time with these activities, especially the "Chunk and Chew" and the "TV Talk Show" I could slow down and really spend the time I need to on a concept while making sure that the students have a solid understanding of the topics taught.
Chapter 9 discussed the importance of constantly reviewing key information (especially vocabulary) and explicitly reminding the students of each lesson's focus. Holding students more accountable for using key vocabulary in their writings and discussions is something that I plan to incorporate more often in my lessons. Pages 215-216 offered some good suggestions that I plan on utilizing in the upcoming year.
ReplyDeleteAnother good suggestion I found was located in the section Comprehensive Review of Key Content Concepts.This section discussed the importance of posting and then frequently referring back to content and language objectives throughout the lesson. I plan on creating a poster of the Outcome Sentence Starters located on page 217 and using this technique in oral and written form at the conclusion of a lesson.
This chapter also stated the importance of providing EL students with effective feedback. After reading the suggestions on pages 217-218, I need to remember to keep my feedback very specific to what I observed the student do well and to include modeling and paraphrasing when needed. Another interesting aspect that I would like to try is having students provide effective feedback to one another.
Amy...I agree that chapter 9 was a great reminder about feedback, and it is definitely something I'd like to continue working on in my classroom this year as well. I'm guilty of giving feedback that is too general like "good job" and "nice work," assuming that the kids will know what I'm referring to. I need to be more specific with my feedback, especially with my EL students. I thought it was interesting that this section of the chapter mentioned facial expressions and body language as important factors when giving feedback because that's easy to overlook. But for a shy child or one who is learning English, it can make all the difference.
DeleteI agree with both Ashley and Amy about realizing the importance of specific feedback. I too have given too general of feedback and realize how that did not help my students at all! I also thought this chapter was a good review of assessment and review. I liked the list of ideas and liked the simplicity of thumbs up/thumbs down as well as 3, 2, 1 for self-assessment. Both of these are quick and give the teacher a quick assessment of who still needs more work with the concept.
ReplyDeleteThe differentiating ideas list was a great reminder. I knew all of these ideas, but it is a great reminder as we get ready to head back to school. They are small, but go a long way in supporting the EL learner while helping them to show what they know and feel success.
I also like the sentence starters and think they would be great in helping the students reflect on their learning. I think that is a great idea to make a poster Amy!
Giving specific feedback is another goal of mine. I realize too that the general feedback doesn't help my students much. However, specific feedback cannot only lead them in the right direction, but it is also an opportunity for students to see correctly modeled writing.
DeleteI also like the idea of informal assessments that help us to get an idea of the class without having our EL students feel nervous.
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ReplyDeleteAmy, I love the idea of making the sentence starters into a poster! These are great! They would be so much better than "I don't get it" which is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.
ReplyDeleteIn turn, this chapter made me really think about the feedback I'm asking for. I know that I say "Does that make sense?" at least 20 times a day and of course they say "Yes". But I know that isn't really giving me any insight into whether they understand the content or not.
This chapter also made me realize that I need to be clearer about my expectations. I like to use self-assessments with my students often, but I'm not sure I've taken enough time to teach my students what a "3" rating means (if using the 3, 2, 1 self-assessment). Chapter 9 was a good reminder for me to "show" students what I want them to be able to do.
I love that this book continually refers back to vocabulary. It is a great reminder to me that vocabulary is so important for all students, but especially for EL students. I feel like with increased vocabulary will come enhanced conversation with scaffolding (like Amy talked about with the posters) and with being able to do the activities suggested in the previous chapters.
ReplyDeleteI also feel like the self assessment would be a great way for the EL students to really think about what they are understanding and could be a great time for them to just reflect for a moment on how much they truly comprehended. There are definitely some strategies that allow for this to be a private assessment of one's skills.
Finally, I felt this chapter went along with a lot of our PD from the past couple of years on feedback and making it more meaningful by being specific. I appreciated the reminder in this context.
I really liked the sentence starters in chapter 9. Making a poster to keep up would be perfect. Of course the feedback section brought back all the suggestions from Dana in her feedback related PDs and just reinforces the importance of specific feedback for our students.
ReplyDeleteThe review and assessment section gave some really great ideas for ways to assess our kiddos. I like the idea of the 3, 2, 1. My fear would be that the students may not always be completely honest. As educators we still need to be on our toes at all times to ensure adequate learning is asking place.
I agree that the sentence starters are a great way to provide students with the words to say. They help students to begin their sentences and express their thoughts in a way that is meaningful to the entire class. I thought these would make a great anchor chart!
ReplyDeleteHaving already started the school year and just now getting into chapter 9, I feel good about what I am doing in my classroom. Our team has really focused on providing feedback in student writing this year, something we have struggled to manage in the past. We created pictures (about 5) that we can quickly draw in a student's notebook and taught them what each of the pictures mean. For example, a ? means I am confused, this doesn't make sense, a railroad track means you are on track and have answered the question, a railroad track with an X over it means you are off track and need to go back and reread the question and your answer, a thinking bubble means tell me more, and a star means wow, you went the extra mile! This has been really beneficial because it allows students to assess their understanding and what they need to work on while also providing us with assessment information about student learning. The pictures have also helped because with the little ones and ELL learners they can't always read all the words that we would write to them in their notebooks but since we have taught them the pictures and use them often in the classroom...they know exactly what it means and can respond effectively.
ReplyDeleteI do always feel that I get caught up in the same share time routine so I would like to try the outcome sentences listed as an opportunity for students to write to learn at the end of a lesson. This would be a great assessment tool for me to use as a way to see if students are ready to move on, need more time, or to determine small group needs. I also liked to see some of the things I already do in the teaching ideas for review and assessment with a new twist to them. I already use thumbs up/thumbs down, do on the spot assessments by making notes on post its and sticking them in a notebook that I have where each student has a page (this allows me to have all of my student observations in one place rather than spread out over content notebooks), and rubrics. However, I like the idea of using numbers 3, 2, 1 for Self Assessment as a twist on rubrics.
I love the pictures Christi and her team are using to provide feedback to student writing! Definitely helpful to ELs as to all students. I agree that the Outcome Sentence starters could be a great, simple way for students to hold themselves accountable for fulfilling lesson objectives as well as providing feedback to the teacher. Just like so many strategies in this book, the ideas on page 218 are also simple suggestions that just require slowing down and doing them to give needed feedback -- modeling (rather than correcting) proper English, paraphrasing and body language are all easy to do, but need to be intentional.
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