Great meeting last week! There will be two posts before our next meeting. By our next meeting we will complete Classroom Instruction that works with English Language Learners. This week's reading and posting will cover chapters 4 - 9! We are into specific strategies. A few of my own aha moments thus far:
1. We need to identify students that are literate in their primary language versus those that are illiterate, or woefully behind. The degree of a student's literacy in their primary language drive the tactics required to work with an ELL student.
2. I just keep returning to the things we are doing well, particularly having specific objectives for each period of instruction.
This week a team from Altona is attending Dr. Montano's class. I will have a separate post on this next week as it will clarify our Academic Labs.
See you in a few, comment away!
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23 comments:
The strategies explained in each chapter are used with the English Dominant students. Now we are shown how to adapt these strategies to be successful with the ELL's
I was most interested in chapter five, Cues, Questiona and Advance Organizers and chapter six, Cooperative Learning.
I mentioned last week I thought it important to understand the Stages of Language Acquisition. Chapter five mentioned the importance of understanding these stages in order to appropriately adapt questions. Questions to help the ELL's connect their knowledge to new learning and also the questions to help me discover what the ELL's need to know. Another tool helpful to me has been the K W L chart. I always used this chart to help me understand what our Korean students knew about our units in physical education. The chart helped me design the units for their learning and success.
I feel Cooperative Learning, used correctly, is a wonderful tool to insure success for the ELL's. It places the ELL's in a relaxed, non-threatening environment. Summarizing and Note Taking from chapter 7 and Homework and Practice from chapter 8 could all be successful for the ELL's in a cooperative learnig environment. I would also have the ELL's share their Physical Education Effort Rubrics in cooperative learnig groups
Chapters 4 and 5 were some great review chapters for me in that, they mention getting visual and kinesthetic with ELL learners to allow other paths to demonstrate knowledge/ability or try to minimize the language barrier so students who do not understand the language spoken can still accomplish learning. This is where standards-based education fails ELL students. Perhaps when students are younger (and studies show that when students are younger they are able to learn language more easily) it is easier to supplement/complement discussions with pictures and images. Based on my experience at the Middle and High School level with ELL kids, it is near impossible for learning to take place at the level of the standard (especially in High School), mostly because knowledge of the standard in math is not just based on doing the math, but having an understanding of what is going on (conceptual vs. procedural).
I’m sure in some ways, comprehension can be shown with pictures, but I would argue that in most cases, comprehension is not shown as well with pictures than it is with words, or the combination of both. Standards-based education fails these kids here because part of the standard is speaking/communicating the language. I think that having separate ELL standards- for each stage of speech acquisition would help. Otherwise teachers are asked to modify, which will often result in modifying the standard and not meeting it. Bottom line, standards are different because language usage/language knowledge is not the same.
By implementing more pictures/kinesthetic motions/activities we are trying to at least accomplish the standard by modifying how we present the information, as opposed to modifying what we teach. I thought that having students acting out definitions was a cool idea. Having them draw pictures of the actions to remind themselves would be a great way to take notes. I think the combination of a graphic organizer with words and pictures would be a great idea- much like the advanced graphic organizer found on page 53. I think having students draw pictures with their definitions would work well with ELL.
On page 46 three second wait time is the recommended amount of time before asking a student to answer a question. I’d say that depends on the question and situation. If a student cannot speak any English, then it is going to be difficult for the student to respond (unless your question is something like 4+6). I would argue that five seconds on up might even be best. Three does not seem like enough time- especially when the student may still be trying to figure out what is said.
The KWL chart discussed seems to be a great strategy with general learners, but I am skeptical that it would be very effective with ELL, simply because they are having difficulty demonstrating the language side of things. I suppose the only way they will get better at reading/writing is to have them reading/writing, but I feel this gets right back to what Chitra mentioned last week in that, they might be some of the most intelligent people around, but they cannot express it as well because of the language barrier. Still, the KWL chart might give you a way to assess to the slightest extent.
For Chapter 6 the authors suggest that groups that are smaller are usually better. I would think that where smaller groups may be better for individual needs in most cases, they might actually be worse for emotional security with the case of ELL students. Plus, you are putting pressure on the English language student to accommodate the needs of the other student AND at the same time accomplish the tasks to be learned. I like to put my students in groups of four. In a cooperative group setting, everyone has the job of doing the math, and every person has a group task as well. I have Task Manager (ends all/any arguments), Recorder (writes the master copy), Time Tracker (ensures the group is on task), and Sound Lord (ensures an appropriate level of sound). Time Tracker or Sound Lord would be great for an ELL student, since minimal discussion is needed, and the group could use non-verbal cues.
For Chapter 7 I really like the idea of using combination notes. Combining Linguistic and Non-Linguistic formats when giving/taking notes is something I would like to work on and implement more. How these notes are implemented would depend on the linguistic ability of the class. For instance, if I had more students who are ELL or ESL, I would take more time using combination notes, and more implementation of combination notes across more and more topics.
I think one way we could revolutionize combination notes is to implement with our technology. Certainly creating/developing power point presentations with images and notes would be a great way to use and reformat combination notes. Our light-ware machines will make this all very convenient.
I thought the three recommendations for homework and ELL students were great items to consider on page 79. I feel that I have implemented each of these well. With 85 minutes, I was really able to spend a lot of time having students show and explain work on the board- a trait that, as mentioned in the text on pg. 79, is really good for many ELL students. I’m a believer that having students take time to show/explain is extremely valuable to the classroom. Next year I will have to give students a list of warm-ups to do at home for each week, to try and ensure that students are getting the proper amount of review. The last few years we’ve had the luxury of taking 20-30 minutes to have quality review, and our CSAP scores have been SO good.
People should be able to do the easy Math: What will happen when we are asked to do the same work (often more) with more students and less time? (Rhetorical question)
Page 84 mentions that English-dominant students need to often practice a concept 24 times to obtain 80% proficiency. ELL students- it is mentioned- will need more time than this. I know that this does not typically apply to math. When I give 10 problems to do, depending on the topic, it can take kids from 2 minutes to half and hour, to even more time. If I assigned 24 problems- which is a ridiculous amount- most students would never finish an assignment. Needless to say, I disagree with this concerning math. Students definitely need guided practice and skill practice, but it does not need to be excessive.
I thought Chapter 9 raised some good questions. Do we need to give a grade for effort? In a standards-based system would we need effort standards (the rubrics would be a great place to start)? How do you include effort in your overall grading system?
I noticed that the rubric for ELL effort contained pictures- which goes right along with the strategies that have been discussed so far.
It seems to me that all of the strategies discussed in these chapters would also be beneficial for all students. They can only help strengthen knowledge and reinforce what is being taught. It does serve as a great reminder that we as teachers should be mixing up our instruction anyway. I particularly think that all of our students would greatly benefit from learning how to take notes effectively.
I really liked that chapter 4 continually reiterated that ELL students need nonlinquistic representations. Using as many strategies as possible opens up different opportunities and helps to individualize the student while focusing on their learning style. Teaching to the student's strengths will help with their language acquisition.
Encouraging a student to ask questions is reinforcing "their" thinking. I am a huge proponent of giving a student wait time to formulate their response while also giving them the message that what they have to say is valuable. It also shows teaches the student accountability.
The chapter on summarizing and note taking has valuable info. for all students...
As long as homework is extended student learning, enhancing concepts, practice, review and long term projects I feel this is a valuable tool. When homework takes over and becomes the teacher, is a filler and/or is instead of classroom learning, I feel the student is being cheated. This chapter opens up a myriad of questions and comments pertaining to homework and its use and abuse. The homework policy in the book should be for all students not just ELL students. These should be stated and formalized.
And, finally, I do believe that the ELL student should be recognized for being bilingual. Most of us are not fluent in 2 (+) languages. Most of us do not learn content in a different language. Hooray for them!
Tuesday June 10, 2008, 10:00
Cooperative groups and paired-work have been very effective with the ELL students in English class, especially when reading is involved. The trick is student selection. Laura and I would talk quite a bit about students who worked well with the ELL students. Many of them like to help and have the patience and kindness to draw the ELL students out in non-threatening ways. I am careful when I select groups, and I let the students know my expectations. Sometimes the ELL students will read and write, and sometimes they will listen. After being together in several classes, and sometimes for several years, the other students are at least partially aware of the ELL students’ abilities, needs, and personalities. I am always pleased to see them take parts when the groups are reading plays out loud.
Something that stuck with me from Chapter 5 was the statement that, “Cues and questions should focus on what is important rather than what is unusual.” With students in 7th grade, the unusual, curious, and even gross is often more interesting than the relevant points, but the students are usually able to filter the information (even if it is after laughs and groans). I can imagine that ELL students would have difficulty with this, especially if the important information is harder to grasp. I think this is another case where I need to take time to review information with them individually to check that they recognize what is important.
It is nice to see that the book mentions several strategies that we already use in the 7th grade. It was always helpful for me to talk to my teammates to see what strategies they found effective. I fear that that will be harder to do with our schedule next year. I will definitely have to make more of an effort to discuss things with the other teachers who have 7th graders. With books like this, it always strikes me how so many of the ideas are common-sense and rather easy to implement. However, it seems that we are not always as thoughtful about our classroom delivery as we could be. Well, maybe I should just say I.
Quick entry as I am still in the process of reading. Victor's last few comments got me thinking, these are common sense strategies and I, too, should use more of them REGULARLY. A hit-and-miss implementation of using them every now and again does not provide the sustainability ELLs/all students need. Joe has charged us with coming up with 8 - 10 strategies we commit to using and I think each of us will have to also come up with a way to keep track of which of these strategies we are using and how often. As a science teacher working with two grade levels next year for the first time in Altona's history, I am also worried about how I will have the time/opportunity to share information regarding ELLs, SPED and all of my students.
One of the concepts in chapter 4 that really resonated with me was the “theater of the mind” concept as it has really helped a lot of students in my Study Skills class learn how to better represent what they are hearing in class and better reconnect with the material from their notes once they get home and review it. The feedback that I have received from students after learning this technique is that they feel that they will be able to keep up in lectures better in some cases by making pictographs of their thoughts on the topics given in lectures, particularly when their writing skills aren’t as strong as some of their other classmates who are better able to keep up with what the teacher is saying. I also liked the KWL chart example in Chapter 5 on page 47 as I have found that to be a very useful way to get to know the needs of my students better at the beginning of each semester in my Technology classes. I like to keep their KWL worksheets all semester long, and at the end of each semester it is fun to revisit them with each student and see how they have met or exceeded their learning goals. In chapter 7 outline formats were covered, and jogged my memory about some feedback about outline formats that I got from my Study Skills students this summer when I covered this topic with them. Students told me that they really liked the idea of having the graphic clustering as an option instead of just going with the standard outline format they had been taught previously as they felt that the graphic clustering helped them to capture their ideas better and made their writing more effective.
I feel fortunate that the strategies discussed and presented in Chapter 4 are most directly relevant to my area and I found myself saying “Yep, that’s what I do” over and over again as I went though the text. Perhaps it is because a huge amount of the class is based on nonlinguistic representations and kinesthetic activities that Art offers that ELL students (and any other student for that matter) can adapt quickly, learn without direct language acquisition, and be a place where they can feel somewhat comfortable. What is not emphasized is written language, and although there is a minimal amount of written work, the main focus is on non-verbal communication, both in the presentation of the units and assignments and the work the students are expected to produce. Students who watch the demonstrations, presentations, and explicit hands-on guidelines can pick up what the focus is without knowing and/or understanding the language involved, and should be able to connect the language with the components through the multiple ways it is presented, and be able to apply the concepts to their own work. And while there is no text, no note taking, and no homework, I understand how important it is for students to be able to glean the important concepts from the text, be able to organize their thoughts well on paper, and be able to take relevant and complete notes. How frustrating it must be for ELL students to not be able to express themselves in either oral or written form (Lauren, you gave us a good insight to this with your experience you detailed last week.)
We also use cooperative learning groups on occasion as well, and Chapter 6 pointed out that it is important that the groups be small. I have found that even in small learning groups, many ELL students apparently do not feel particularly comfortable and often do not attempt contribute a great deal. Sometimes it appears to be the mix of students in the groups, and for that reason I find best not to allow students to select the group they will work with. Sometimes it appears that the ELL student is uncertain of his/her ability to contribute or sometimes appears to lack motivation to contribute. But sometimes it isn’t the ELL student at all – it is the English speaking students who either intentionally or unintentionally seem to exclude the ELL student in favor of their friends, which makes for another good argument to keep the groups heterogeneous and teacher selected.
I also found the issue of reinforcing effort in Chapter 9 of interest. In a true standards based system, effort shouldn’t be a part of the grading system since students either meet the achievement standards or they don’t. Grading on effort became frowned upon with the adoption of standards based instruction, and in many ways continues to be a source of controversy. Yet we all know that effort is a reality in the classroom; some students may simply lack the ability but still give their very best attempt, while others who are capable of high achievement make little or no effort, and these factors can’t be ignored or excluded from recognition. I have long felt that reinforcing effort and providing recognition is essential to student success, and I was encouraged to see the rubrics provided in the chapter as potential guidelines.
And I like Victor’s comment about so much of what the book details is just common sense. Common sense, along with simple respect for our students will always go a long way when choosing what, when, and how to teach, and the strategies presented in the text refresh our memory on many of those ideas.
I really enjoyed chapter 7 because I have struggled in the past year with how to teach kids to take notes. I remember in college when I was taking organic chemistry and anatomy/physiology, I discovered I was drawing lots of things in the margins of my notes. I decided then to use plain white typing paper for my class and reading notes rather than regular lined notebook paper. My notes took up more paper this way, but because I was not confining myself to writing words on lines, one after the other, I was better able to recall what was in those notes on tests and in general.
I especially like the idea of having the kids make a “comic strip” to summarize. This forces them to choose the big six main ideas instead of trying to retell the entire story. What I feel I might use most in teaching math next year is the definition frame. There are lots of math vocabulary words that students need to be able to use daily and this would be a good way to help them study them. They could make up their own examples to illustrate the vocabulary words, which would make the learning “stick.” Also, in appendix B, I noticed that the “topic-restriction-illustration” frame is pretty much exactly like the stoplight strategy we use when teaching third and fourth graders how to write paragraphs. They start with a “green light” sentence (the topic) and then slow down to write a “yellow light” sentence. This is one detail that supports the topic. In the appendix, this is the restriction. Then they “stop” and give an example of the detail (the illustration). I have used this model for years in teaching writing, but never thought to use it in reverse to also summarize something that has already been written.
One final thing I will take from this chapter is the idea of giving students teacher-prepared notes and then gradually asking for student input on what should go into notes. I have been assuming too much—that students just naturally know how to take notes—and not spending enough time modeling and teaching these techniques.
I really enjoyed chapter 7 of this week’s reading surrounding note-taking and graphic organizers. The new math curriculum actually has specific strategies and ‘notables’ (different forms of organizers) for each chapter of the book that will help students organize their thinking and give them strategies for creating resources to help them study. As in most classes, we often take notes on procedures, vocabulary and important topics but it is always a struggle for students to keep those notes organized and easily accessible. I liked the idea of allowing the ELL students to have ‘pre-printed’ notes with words or phrases omitted so they can still participate in the note-taking process without being overwhelmed by too much material. This idea could easily be expanded to include drawings or other representations of the material being covered.
I agree with Kathleen when she said that these strategies need to be used regularly to be effective, I definitely need to work on building the routine of structured note-taking into everyday classroom procedures so that students can recognize the importance of staying organized and processing information in a meaningful way.
Chapter 4 revealed to me a major mistake I have been making for YEARS. I always work on science vocabulary as if it is a foreign language to all students. I have students write down vocab words, then in a second column they come up with a brief working definition (meaning they can add to it as they learn more details) and then in a third column they must draw a picture, give an example or use the vocab word in a sentence to help them remember the word. I often would excuse ELLs from the third column because I noticed they struggled so with creating their own working definition in the second column. By excusing them (in my mind I was providing a modification of allowing them more time to focus on the definition)from the that third column, I was likely sabotaging their use of nonlinguistic representations. Interestingly, for many SPEDs, I would only have them do the first and third column and I or a parapro would scribe the second column for them based on talking to them per information provided to me in their IEP. I guess I felt doing this for ELLs was providing them with a crutch and I perceived the SPEDs issues as an identified concern because of their IEP. The issue that is majorly perculating in my brain right now is... did I do this because I was stereotyping my ELL students or did I make this mistake because of lack of understanding about strategies for working with ELLs? For someone like me that prides themself on being very open and accepting of all students, for once I hope I have discovered my own ignorance and not something else that would be, to me, far worse.
On a lighter note of reflection, I have used the comic strip summary regularly with my doodlers - students that like to draw. I have found that given the opportunity to draw and show me what they were learning during a lesson has provided me a way to (pardon the pun) draw them out of their little doodle world and make sure they are really listening.
Chapter 5 - I have always had a beef with people who approach science with what I call the "Ooh and Aah Method." Science is full of the unusual, but if that is the hook you use to engage students in science, or worse, if that is all you show them of science then they don't come away with much knowledge. Glad that this common mistake is number one on the list to be pointed out regarding cues and questions (p 46.)
Chapter 6 - I have the same observation that Laura described regarding cooperative learning, which is also frequently used in my science classroom. I wish the authors would have at least identified the issue of the English speaking students excluding the ELLs. I often hear comments like 'He won't help read.' or 'She isn't helping with this.' I would have liked to hear some suggestions on how the teachers that were identified in the Acknowledgments section handled this.
The information about notetaking in Chapter 7 was interesting to read, especially because we have addressed this in the Montaño class this week. We have been introduced to several methods of notetaking and different ways of approaching information, especially vocabulary. The book suggests we teach students a variety of notetaking methods so they have choices and realize there is not just one correct method. Different methods certainly lend themselves to certain types of assignments, and students often find one that works best for their learning styles. However, during a break we discussed the possibility that students still aren’t always efficient at taking notes and might not even be able to state how they take notes. There is the possibility that we present too many options and they might benefit from a more uniform approach. I have mixed feelings about this. I have almost every type of organizer you can imagine, and I prefer to have the students organize information using one. I also try to match the organizer to the assignment. Of course, I also like making them! Right now I’m feeling that I need to concentrate on gathering the information in the first place. Then we can figure out what to do with it.
Related to this, I need to spend more time with the students on paraphrasing and summarizing. We have various activities we use, and Laura and I worked together on this so the students could transfer the strategies from one class to another. They still often have problems sifting through information to find what is relevant. Perhaps I just need to have them practice it on a regular basis in class. I would think this is something most of us could help the students with, especially since we all have content that would work. This is something all the students could probably improve, especially as they get ready for high school.
On pg. 38 it mentions TPR. I tend to talk with my hands anyhow, but this gets the kids up and moving (which they want to do anyhow). The students (ELLs and others) need repetition and a variety of sources (p.56). For those taking over lit labs next fall, SOAR is based on reciprocal teaching (p. 65). I really liked the comment on p. 78, “some parents hesitate to discuss homework with their children because they do not understand the language of the assignment… When parents use their native language to relate a story, their narrative will be rich with vocabulary and explanations.” The student that has a grasp of the L1 (language 1) will eventually be able to transfer the knowledge to the L2 (second language). Montaño, the speaker of this weeks class, calls this “quality verbal interaction” and explained how needed this was to help students achieve. Think alouds (p. 85) were something suggested for literacy labs as well when I took various lit courses. One strategy that I would like to use even in my Spanish classes would be the effort and achievement rubrics (p. 90). If they are keeping track themselves of how they think they are doing, it might mean something to them.
There was a great deal of information covered in the course of these 6 chapters. In an effort to be both thorough and concise, I’ll comment briefly on each chapter:
Ch 4- Nonlinguistic representations are indeed important. Using graphic organizers is a strategy accessible to all teachers regardless of grade level or content. However, it seems to me that after you have used multiple types and students are familiar and comfortable with them, they should be given the opportunity to construct their own. This is a step in the process of student independence, and if they can construct their own, then it really is a tool they can take and apply throughout their educational career.
Ch 5- Using advanced organizers helps me both as a student and teacher. I like to see what the big picture is and why each of the parts is important. At the beginning of every new unit, I give students the unit outline and assessment directions. Knowing what is coming as well as what is expected of them leaves them without excuse if work is not completed.
There was one other point that really struck me in this chapter. On p 46, the authors communicated that higher level questions produce deeper thinking and learning. This is obvious; however, even after reading the section and the referenced section in chapter 2 several times, I am still unsure how to do this for students at lower levels of language acquisition. If I am asking students to think about why an author is giving the details of a setting in a given passage, how can I possibly get a student who may not even understand those details to think critically about that question?
Ch 6- This was my favorite chapter because I love using cooperative learning groups. For ELLs, the interaction piece is critical- the more relationships (both social and academic) with native speakers, the better. One thing that I learned this last year is to be sure to define roles within those groups. Each student should know what he/she is responsible for and the whole group will hold him/her accountable. These smaller groups, especially if they are answering questions that they are responsible to report back to the class, get more students involved at the same time. Also, this communication helps build a classroom community, which in turn helps students who may not have previously had confidence to share with the whole class do so.
Ch 7- As an 8th grade teacher, I feel particular responsibility when it comes to teaching students how to take notes because it is their last year before H.S. It is really teaching them how to be good students. In my opinion, study skills and test taking strategies fit into this category as well. I love having the opportunity to teach all of my students the things I wish someone had taught me in middle school or high school even. I had to figure them out on my own and a lot of it didn’t click until college. And here again, this is something we scaffold for them. They get a lot of support at the beginning, but gradually they take more and more on themselves until the reach independence in this area.
Ch 8- Given that English and Math teachers will lose 2 ½ hours of instruction a week next year, the thought had crossed my mind to use homework to compensate for some of that lost class time. However, I dispelled the thought, and this chapter was a good reminder as to why. The purpose of homework is to give student the chance to practice what they know. And, I appreciated the point the authors made on p 78 about teacher availability when students are working. That is why I give my students a lot of time to work on things in class. I want to be there to clarify and answer questions when they get to that application stage.
Ch. 9- The emphasis on the link between effort and achievement seems obvious to us, but it is surprising how many people attribute success to other things. In some of my work in the schools in Greeley during my teacher ed program, I was very surprised to talk with students regarding why they were not succeeding. It amazed me how many kids thought they simply weren’t smart, or they weren’t LUCKY enough to get good grades. Resultantly, making the connection between effort and success clear is something I always stress; I want to be sure that my students are making that connection and understand that THEY are responsible for their own success or failure.
Thank you, Wendy! Yes, the ELLs are doing something most of us cannot do – work IN more than one language. Good news, while Cummins says CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency) takes 5 – 7 years, Montaño says that this is only if the students are trying to do it alone. IF we use the strategies, we can help them gain academic proficiency sooner!
As I read the blogs I remembered another thing Montaño said, another thing that helps academic achievement by developing the “public voice” is the formal study of music. So, maybe we can talk some of the lit kids (who are not in math lab as well) to take music of some kind: band, orchestra, and choir.
Another Montaño strategy is recording and listening to notes after they have been taken. That may not have come from the book, but if I jot it down now as I recall it while reading blogs, I may remember it next fall when I can go back and read these.
This week I did not read any posts until AFTER I had done my post. I saw the comments about not grading effort, but I think effort is still important. Some students will not need much effort to achieve in some areas and others may need to put forth a lot of effort in all areas. Some may be like my brother who thought taking a C was better than putting forth the effort to do a book report. His English teacher at the time said you could NOT get better than a C without a book report and that was fine with him. Even in Montaños class today I was again reminded that students (ELL and lit kids) need to compare themselves to themselves. When two tests were given in class today, some at the Altona table did better than others, but by comparing the increase on the second test to the first test OF EACH STUDENT rather than comparing test scores to each other, students can see how they improved. Yes, the goal is to meet the standard, but if they just keep comparing themselves to others they will not see how much they improved, just how much they are sill behind.
Great strategies in chapter four. I really liked the summarizing and note taking recommendations in chapter seven. I think our students would benefit from using some of these strategies. I know that I will be teaching my lang. arts students how to take better notes and how to summarize for all classes. It was also nice to read the last page of chapter eight in the summary about differentiating homework and practice for students. We don’t have to assign the same thing or amount for all kids. More to come later.
Chapter 7: That which you teach, you learn. Reciprocal teaching is a great idea for both ELL and English-dominant speakers particularly in math. To explain it to someone else one must have thoroughly thought through an idea to formulate the words to explain the concept. It’s a great tool.
Chapter 9: I loved the statement on page 88 recognizing that effort leads to success, “One rarely hears athletes credit their success to luck.” Shaq used to tell me often, “Oh no, Ms. Goertz. That is too hard.” Finally I replied, “I’d like to hear you just once tell that to your quarterback in the huddle that the play was too hard; choose a simpler play.” He never complained about the difficulty in class again. I liked the idea of using their role models as inspiration to motivate effort.
Chapter 11: I am glad rereading this strategy to be reminded the power of identifying similarities and differences. For example, comparing and constrating linear and exponential relationships can help students clarify their uses. However, as a teacher of mathematics I am still struggling greatly with some suggestions like on page 102, “Have students begin with a familiar topic, such as comparing school lunches over two days…” With only 55 minute classes, how do I get through all the required math standards and have time to address the basic language needs of some students. I have to teach how to conjugate a radical in the denominator and the book is suggesting that I compare hotdogs with hamburgers.
Once again, as I often will, I am entering the conversation late when everyone has commented on the good stuff. :) I love pushing up against deadlines; I can't seem to help myself.
These chapters were nice in-depth discussions of the overview sections we read earlier. I found it interesting how many strategies (SQ3R, TPR) I had forgotten about from my days as an ESL teacher; how it all came flooding back to me! Outside of these, I had trouble formulating ideas about some of the other suggestions in the book until I read the teacher-written examples in the margins. It was there where I found the concepts of comic-book styled summaries, the drawings for the different group members (clarifier, summarizer, etc.), and the multiple discussions on note-taking very enlightening and user-friendly.
Another text-to-self connection (!) I made was thinking about the freedom technology has given teachers when creating notes for students. I don't think it would have been nearly as easy to design graphic representations-- or even the notes sheets themselves-- for students when I was teaching ESL early in my career. The examples on pages 73-75 and 81-83 were real eye openers for me as to the brave new world that is available to teachers if they are willing to reach out and seize it... and I am more than willing to help with the technology piece as needed!
June 14, 2008
Chapters 4 through 9 gave some excellent examples of ways to help ELLs retain and reuse information taught in class. I was pleased to note the strategies I already use to help my students as well as excellent ideas for future implementation. I especially liked chapter 5 and the discussion on cues, questions and advance organizers and Chapter 6 and the effectiveness of cooperative learning. I hope to improve on adapting to stages of language acquisition for my ELLs next year.
Students learning math build their skills in math from concept to concept. Within that growth pattern cues and questions are key reminders to students to strengthen and reinforce learning. Since math is a lot of pencil/paper work it is important to spend a little time daily discussing prior class work with reminders of what was taught, learned, and where we go from there. The cues and questions mentally stimulate the brain and remind students before they again work out the problems on paper. The cues and questions can focus on what was learned a month ago or two days prior. Sometimes we play short mental games in the beginning of class to build on the daily activity which will be finished on paper. These games provide the cues needed to solve the class work. For example playing a short game of finding multiples of several numbers helps the students then later on in class finds the least common multiple of several numbers. The advance organizers that I find effective in math are basically note taking of vocabulary words. Learning these key words at the beginning of a new unit can then be related to the skill that the word is connected as students continue to learn. I also have students draw pictures or show an example that goes along with the vocab words. Drawing pictures allows each student to put their own creativity in their work. Then daily mental review becomes the glue.
Cooperative learning has great value to math teachers. My students start out in groups of four but basically work with one other partner. This is a great way to allow discussion and study student work without intimidation. Proper placement of ELLs and sped students is essential and should take careful thought.
My goal next year is to focus on classroom practice for fluency and homework geared to the conceptual understanding for my ELL and sped students. With the 55 min. class schedule I worry about being able to properly check for understanding of the concepts taught and reviewed in class.
The fun thing about teaching choir is the ability I have to use visuals, movements, pictures, language, you name it, in our learning everyday. I feel each of these activities helps ELL and all students a like grasp the topic better. It is fun to watch mono-lingual students learning a song in a foreign language. I like to use those opportunities to have a bi-lingual student say something about how hard learning a new language is. It is really eye opening to them.
There was a lot of good stuff in these chapters. I'll try to be as concise as possible. Here's my feedback.
Chapter 4 -- It is incredibly important to demonstrate concepts using objects, words and pictures on the board, as well as physical gestures. I have made big efforts to be more conscious of this, and I need to continue to do so. Giving the students hands-on activities makes a huge difference too. I love the idea of having students discuss mental pictures, use drawings, and act things out, especially for spelling and vocab words.
Chapter 5 - Once again, sketching something on the board or pantomiming in front of the class can be very effective as well as humorous (esp. if you are a terrible artist like me). I plan to do more of this, when appropriate. Speaking of humor, I agree with Victor that the unusual aspects of the concept are often the parts that help draw kids in, and we shouldn't abandon that. I'll make an effort, though, to clarify whether that weird fact is really important enough to focus on when studying for the test.
Chapter 6 - Struggling students should definitely be grouped with more proficient kids who can help them out. It's also worth noting that putting two like-language users together may help them to analyze the material in more depth together, as well as provide them with a buddy to empathize with as they struggle with the English.
Chapter 7 - Moving from 5th to 7th grade, both summarizing and note-taking become a bigger deal for me, and I'll be very interested to discuss this chapter and hear more feedback from others. In general, though, I support the idea of giving them graphic organizers to fill in, and selecting different organizers based on the assignment. Also, I love the comic strip format, as well as saying "Pretend I speak very little English, and you summarize it for me in three simple sentences." I also have two questions about this chapter:
A) I'm very interested in reciprocal teaching but I'm confused by the explanation. Am I to choose one student each time, to lead this whole process in front of the entire class? Or would it make more sense to split them into groups of four, and assign one task to each kid? I think the latter seems more logical.
B) On page 70, are they suggesting that I hand out the notes already filled in at first, or simply that I should model and practice finding which parts are important? Perhaps I'm a bit unclear on the difference between teacher-prepared notes and teacher-generated notes.
Chapter 8 - It bears repeating that homework becomes A LOT more effective when we provide timely feedback. I'm also a fan of scaffolding HW assignments, as long as it doesn't lead to certain kids slacking off and claiming "I worked on it for 30 minutes, but this is all I got done." Think-alouds are great, to make sure everyone understands why we are doing an assinment.
Chapter 9 - It is so important to have a positive and supportive environment where the kids encourage each other. Some may call me naive, but I fully expect this behavior in 7th grade, just like I did in 5th. I'm considering creating Effort and Achievement rubrics, and then creating an Effort and Achievemtn chart that they can fill in as they complete different assignments. Regarding recognition... Abstract recognition (verbal praise) is obviously very important, but does this mean that tangible rewards should be avoided? Also, on page 94, the authors assert that certificates, coupons, and stickers "should not be offered as 'rewards' per se, but simply as 'concrete symbols of recognition.'" What's the difference? Aren't we splitting hairs here?
I'm looking forward to our discussion; we have a lot to cover.
In reading this I was particularly struck by how many of these strategies are already inbedded into our new science curriculum.
For chapter 4, I really need to work on modifying assignments to allow for more nonlinguistic representation. In science, where so much is visual anyway, this should be doable.
From chapter 5, I, like Kathleen and others, will focus on asking questions about what they need to know rather then what is unusual.
Chapter 6, Cooperative learning is something that I use all the time, but have really struggled to use effectively with ELLs, as well as other students who struggle in science. Like Kathleen, I wish they had some suggestions to make cooperative learning more effective.
Chapter 7, This is an area I really need to work on, making notes more meaningful, and explicitly teaching note taking, I like others, have taken for granted that students will know how to do this, I usually put on the board notes in the format of an informal outline, but I like the idea of combination notes. I also like the idea of the comic strip
Chapter 8, I, as others, am constantly struggling with homework issues. I usually use homework to elaborate on what has been learned, but I can do a better job at letting students know the purpose of the assignments. I also like the idea of using more peer feedback in assignments.
Chapter 9, Here is an area I really fall down on, I rarely praise effort or provide enough recognition. Something to really work on for me. I am going to try to work on having more than just intrinsic rewards for my students.
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