April 16, 2013
April 16,
2013
1. You are posting your
Journal 3 for your online assignment today. Yay! Last journal!
2. Comprehensible Input assignment Due (email Dap)
Read Chapter 8 (RWL) and Chapter 18
(FUN TESOL)
Requirements for your Journal
From the reading, identify two (2) important
concepts and how you see those concepts reflected in the student learning in
your classroom. In your journals, discuss how you can apply the concepts to make
you a better teacher for English Language Learners (ELLs).
Happy Posting! I
look forward to some rich discussion.
Click where it says, "comments" and then paste
your post. Check back on the blog throughout the week in order to respond to a
colleague.
Materials Review:
ReplyDeleteBy
Muu Nguyen
Naomi Onike
Phani Duggirala
a) Materials are appropriate for (state grade level, language proficiency level, literacy level, age level)?
Oxford Picture Dictionary is appropriate for sixth grade science, language arts, social studies, and math. The ESOL students should be at the Level 3 or higher in language proficiency level, and it is required for level 3 or higher of literacy level. The students could be from 12 – 14 years of age.
b) How does this material provide opportunities to create comprehensible input?
The text has plenty of colorful pictures, and it has sentences filling in the blanks. The book also has word bank for a variety of topics. For example, language art has prepositional words, adverbs, subjects, verbs for the students to choose. Furthermore, it poses problems and solutions that the students can have a better understanding of the content. Also, the book presents the concept maps, portrays specific regions, and has flow charts. The Picture Dictionary also has the workbook for the students for each content area and provides ideas for the teachers to plan.
c) What goals might this material accomplish?
The book is for developing key vocabulary words in social studies, language arts, and science, and math. It has bilingual vocabulary words for all subjects. Using this book, the students can enhance their writing skills and understand the basic concepts of each subject matter.
d) What approaches to language teaching does it support?
The book provides variety of visuals, graphic organizers, simple sentences, and filling in the blanks. Also, it has practical conversations, simple test questions, scaffold writing sentences. Moreover, it presents EQs for teachers to follow and provide variety of tests. It is a simple text so that the students can comprehend.
e) Is it engaging to students? Do students play active roles in its use? Is it culturally relevant and appropriate? Does it encourage/allow high standards of academic achievement?
It is engaging to the students because the book contains colorful pictures, and the language is easy to comprehend. Having the picture book, the students will be able to build the content vocabulary and write simple sentences for all core courses. This book is supporting the students to achieve high standards of their academic achievement.
f) Recommend how to use this material with ELs.
I definitely recommend this book for all ELL students because it has colorful pictures, organized materials, and provides specific content vocabulary words that the students need to connect the words to the pictures, and it also assists them to understand the concept matter.
Review - What did you learn?
ReplyDeleteChapter 8 addresses reading and literature instruction for English learners. Research has consistently shown that reading processes are similar whether reading English as a first or second language. When readers look at the printed page, they use their knowledge of sound/symbol correspondences, syntax, and semantics to make predictions and monitor their comprehension. Readers use their background knowledge and linguistic knowledge along with their fund of reading strategies to come up with an interpretation of a text. In the process of comprehension, readers engage cognitive processes such as memory, inference and visualization. As they become more aware of their own comprehension processes, they may learn to use metacognitive strategies to set a purpose for reading, monitor their achievement of that purpose, and fix up comprehension when the process breaks down.
Reflect – What did it mean to you?
Though processes of reading are similar for first and second language learners, there are two important differences that make the process harder for English learners: English language proficiency and prior knowledge related to the text. When these resources are limited, reading can be slower and more difficult for English language learners. For example, a second language learner may be unfamiliar with the workings of Congress and the balance of powers among Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court. Lack of this background knowledge would most likely hinder student comprehension when reading about these institutions. Unfamiliar vocabulary found in an article or chapter about the U.S. Government would also affect the comprehension process, making it slower and more arduous. Fortunately, there are many strategies you can use to build your students' background knowledge, vocabulary, syntax and text structure relevant to the text. In so doing you boost their chances for reading success. Many such strategies are provided in this chapter.
Refine – How will you use the information in your classroom?
For beginning readers who are new to English, strategies such as the language experience approach offer a good introduction to English reading because students provide the topic, vocabulary and syntax during dictation. In addition, texts that use patterns such as poems and predictable stories provide a good introduction to reading for beginners. Activities for intermediate readers naturally involve longer, more complex texts. For these texts, strategies such as cognitive mapping help students synthesize and summarize the content of their reading. The more I can involve my students in responding and sharing literature in collaborative groups, the better they will be able to understand the literature and learn strategies from one another. We always want to remind ourselves that we are not the only teachers in our classroom; students can learn from one another as well. Finally, I can introducine basic reading assessment procedures such as running records, informal reading inventories, and portfolio assessment. These strategies will allow me to informally and authentically keep track of my students' progress in reading.
I completely agree with Ms. Hamlet. Students learn a lot from their peers. Collaborative learning is a great way to promote student learning. In my math class, I had a student who was struggling with several concepts in statistics. I was working with her every day but still she was constantly forgetting about the steps to solve the problem. I put her next to a bright and responsible student. Throughout the unit- statistics, I directed the two students to work together every day. Finally, the student succeeded in understanding the concepts and getting a good score on the unit test.
DeleteI agree with both of you ladies. Often times the peers in class have as much influence on the students as we do. The ELL is always looking for a support system he/she can make their own. Colloborative learning groups helps students with skills we don't measure like leadership, maturity, and responsibility.
DeleteSimone Bayley-Hamlet and Elbretta Carpenter: Materials Review
ReplyDeleteMaterials are appropriate for 6th grade; LPL: 1-3; Literacy level: 2nd grade to 8th grade; Ages 10- 14: Picture books
How does this material provide opportunities to create comprehensible input? Using the Picture Books strategy fosters visual literacy through a process of guided viewing. Students develop awareness of meaning, not just through the content described in the images, but through the compositional aspects of the images themselves. As children develop awareness of the language of images, they better appreciate the written language that accompanies it. Students have the opportunities to identify stylistic differences and similarities, and seek out these meaning patterns in other books by the same and different illustrators.
What goals might this material accomplish? By viewing picture books and engaging in illustrator studies, ELs develop an awareness of visual text, and identify the expressive elements in visual texts. Students develop awareness of connections between visual texts and accompanying written texts. The teacher models, through guided discussion and questions, the process of critical, guided viewing, and students are led to examine elements in visual texts. As students read various books by authors, they have opportunities to practice, transfer, and extend the process of critical viewing to other illustrations and books, and to other visual material.
What approaches to language teaching does it support? Is it engaging to students? Do students play active roles in its use? Is it culturally relevant and appropriate? Does it encourage/allow high standards of academic achievement?
Offer students opportunities to read and view other works by the same (or different) illustrators. You may wish to post key terms that emerged during the lesson, to assist individual students to read and view independently. Offer a variety of viewing engagements in the classroom, both guided and independent. Invite students to bring other illustrated books that employ similar or different styles, and share them with the class.
Recommend how to use this material with ELs.
The first thing to do is to consider the developmental stage of the students. Select picture books based on knowledge of the students, and skills they need to develop.
Clearly identify the task; and select, read and pre-review the key vocabulary words. Using a graphic organizer students create a vocabulary diagram which includes the word, illustration, and the word in the student’s language. Students are read to by the teacher, clearly identify vocabulary words previously discussed, and identifying and discussing illustrations.
Teacher questions: What do you see in this picture? (Main idea?)
What are the characters doing in this picture? (Main idea?)
Where do you think the story taking place? (Plot)
Students can then create their own picture book. Teacher can give the students sentences starters.
The examples shown by Ms. Hamlet continue to emphasize the need for differentiation for the ELL student. I also like the idea of students selecting their own text. When we have novels in our classrooms that students really like to read it's an interesting phenomenon to see them upset we don't keep reading. It just goes to show that if the students like the text they will learn more and retain more.
DeleteJournal 3
ReplyDeleteChapter 8 (RWL) and Chapter 18 (FUN TESOL)
Review:
Chapter 8 (RWL) discusses the reading and literature instruction for English learners. This chapter talks about how independent reading is a powerful way to promote language and literacy development. In this strategy, students will be assigned a self-selected text and then read independently for 20 to 30 minutes. To model and demonstrate the value of reading, the teacher will also read silently during this period. Chapter 18 (FUN TESOL) addresses English language reading development and instruction. This chapter also talks about various strategies including graphic organizers for intermediate learners to help develop their vocabulary skills. Graphic organizers can be used to help ELLs to understand difficult content and vocabulary. This chapter gives many varieties of graphic organizers such as an attribute wheel, an character map, a decision-making model, a Venn diagram, a web, a story map, a sequence chain, and a main idea table.
Reflect:
Independent Reading which was addressed in Chapter 8 (RWL), is an effective way to motivate students to read and build background knowledge. This strategy also improves the students’ content vocabulary and reading comprehension. Different independent reading strategies such as sustained silent reading, extensive reading and narrow reading, not only develops students content knowledge but also improves students’ English language proficiency. As it is discussed in Chapter 18 (FUN ESOL), graphic organizers are the great way to enhance students’ understanding of content vocabulary. While reading the text, students will organize their thoughts and important key words in the graphic organizers. Once students understand the words, they reread the whole text and understand the concepts of content. They can also talk about their thoughts and ideas with their partners. Graphic organizers are very effective tools for improving students’ learning and thinking skills.
Refine:
I will implement the two instruction strategies from above in my science classroom. I will combine these two strategies to enhance my ELLs’ science content knowledge. When I start a new unit, I will give my ELLs an opportunity to select their own topic in that chapter. The students will read the self-selected text independently and silently while the teacher will read her selected text. While reading the text, students will complete the graphic organizer called ‘web’ where they will write the important vocabulary words of that particular topic. They will look at the meaning of the unknown words and write them down. Once they understand the words, they will reread the text. Then, they will share the facts in small groups and with the whole class. This strategy also develops the ELLs’ motivation to learn and their self-confidence.
Creating independent readers and thinkers is a goal of every teacher. When ESL students read independently, they most often miss the main points of the story because of lack of background knowledge, unknown vocabulary words, syntax, etc.; students will not be able to complete simple comprehension questions. Though independent reading requires more from students than teachers, teachers continue to play an integral role in their students' development. Making independent reading fun and engaging at the same time is very important. Emphasis should be on training students to apply reading strategies (annotating, identifying and defining unknown words, chunking paragraphs, log reading time, and creating charts and posters) independently in a group setting first, then how to apply those same strategies independently.
DeleteChapter 8 and Chapter 18 had some valuable information that helped bring into focus all of the other things we’ve been learning in the class. The ELL student processes and learns both languages in a similar way. The text offered a strategy that encouraged different levels of text within the same class. If a student read on the third grade level then that student had third grade level text. The idea is borrowed from the elementary school model. The goal is to move the students up as many levels as possible in any given school year. Middle School students are reading on the elementary level but we insist on giving them text that is grade level. It’s an exercise in futility. The Common Core literature clearly states that if text is too rigorous then the entire lesson is a waste of time. The process has to begin in August and build up to the spring standardized assessment. We really don’t teach reading in middle school. We probably should do a lot more of this in all classes.
ReplyDeleteThe research the text was most influenced by was the model that taught reading and writing in unison. Our school has embraced the Common Core directive but we have been slow to look at the nuances of the program that actually have the biggest impact. I mentioned rigor earlier. Our text is often too rigorous and the students end up listening to the instructor model the difficult text. Listening is the one skill that many ELL’s already have developed to a level that helps them make sense of the new language. The rigorous text is just another class period reinforcing their strength and neglecting their weaknesses. Reading is the basis of learning and if they come to us without that skill then we have to improve that incrementally as opposed to throwing grade level text they can’t understand for nine months and hope that translates into better test performance.
I completely agree with you about teaching reading explicitly. I really think that we should set some time aside during the day for nothing but reading because clearly our kids are not doing there part at home and parents are not making sure that their children read regularly. I feel that the material we use is too high level at times, and not just in ELA, but math, too. In math, we're too quick to pass a student along before making sure they are proficient at the material they need to know to be successful at the next grade level. Reading is similar to math in this regard, since both are skills that require practice to succeed--we need to give students more time to do this since they can't get it done at home.
DeleteAllowing our ELL’s to start out at their true ability level is the best way to keep them engaged in the classroom and increase their ability in a more natural way that will help promote long-term learning. The Zone of Proximal Development strategy is the preferred method to bring ELL’s through the English language. The students need to have text they can understand but have to work hard to do it. This keeps them challenged enough to remain engaged and at the same time builds the skill at a pace that it becomes part of long-term learning. A recent conversation took place with a colleague from Florida that described reading stations of ability. All Level 1’s would read together, Level 2’s, and so on. The goal was to move up to the next table. I had mixed feelings about the transparency of that strategy. Kids are savvy enough to figure out which table can read better than the other one. I envisioned a separateness that would invite as much difficulty as it would healthy competition to go up to the next level. The model currently used in our school wouldn’t endorse that kind of pairing strategy. Our school does a good job of blending the students with disabilities and ELL’s into the general education setting. The overall attitude in our school is one of acceptance. If students had multiple levels of text they were reading in the classroom, I don’t think there would be any stigmas or ridicule that would go along with the reading of a lower text.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite idea in the chapter was assessing students by what they brought to class to read. The students knew the expectation was to read out loud. They inevitably picked a book they could read so their pride wouldn’t be hurt when they read out loud. Over the years I have co-taught in many types of language arts classes and I always cringe in class when a teacher calls on a kid to read that I know will make a lot of mistakes when reading to the class. It becomes uncomfortable and I make it a practice not to do that to kids I know can’t read to the entire class if I know they can’t do it. I can read with them in small groups and assess their reading in that setting. The goal is to get them in front of the class. In order to do that, they have to have a comfort level in the text. The students would bring magazines and articles that interest them. It would help teachers identify future topics students respond to and incorporate them into future lessons.
One of my favorite types of learning method is Montesory.... this sounds like that right?
DeleteIn chapter 8 of the RW&L, I learned different concepts to the reading process for ELL’s. Two important concepts where background knowledge. Background knowledge is a fundamental key to learning, but it serves as a foundation to the reading process for ELL’s. Background knowledge facilitates comprehension of written stories by helping you predict where the story is leading. It is very important to inform ELLs before the reading selection to help balance the difficulties to their reading comprehension due to limitations of the second language. Before instructing any class, I always try to make it a habit to ask my students what they know about the lesson before instructing the lesson. I will incorporate the same strategy, but just on the level of each of my ELL’s proficiency level.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 18 of the Fun TESOL, the strategies for teaching beginning readers include language approach, reading aloud, choral speaking, literature circles, shared reading with big books and thematic units. Language approach allows students to dictate their stories based on their personal experiences. Read alouds are fun activities that can help students develop print concepts, phonics knowledge, sight vocabulary and comprehension. Choral speaking encourages students to take part in dramatic activities such as poems, songs and pattern books. Literature circles are discussion groups that incorporate cooperative learning principles and provide students with materials based on the student’s choice. Shared reading with big books is a guided reading with the teacher. Shared reading is predictable and easy for students to follow along. Thematic units organize the instruction is centered on the main idea or topic. Reading comprehension is key to being successful in every subject. When language arts are integrated with math students have a higher chance of being successful in math. I include thematic units in my lesson now by relating certain lesson to real life situations. In the near future, I am going to use choral speaking through a song.
I agree with you in addressing what knowledge students bring to class. The background knowledge that they possess will help to determine how much they already know and will be an indication of where to start in any given lesson. It is also good to have several different strategies when teaching students who are beginners in reading. You have to find a median that works well with most of the students and then be flexible enough to make adjustments in teaching and learning.
DeleteThe concept of using thematic units of instruction is also appealing to me. I noticed this year that when we read several pieces centered on the same theme or topic (like beauty/human value in different fairy tales), students' understanding was deepened. Mr. Smith and I also noticed students talking a lot about Nelson Mandela when we read from his autobiography in Language Arts at the same time as the students were studying South Africa in Social Studies. I could tell that student engagement was increased; it was like they were amazed that the things they were learning in their classes could actually connect! I really want to try to using more thematic units in the future. The challenge will be planning ahead sufficiently to make it work.
DeleteTaken from:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/can-you-read
Take a look at this paragraph. Can you read what it says? All the letters have been jumbled (mixed). Only the first and last letter of ecah word is in the right place:
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.
Not sure if you have seen this before or not, but reading these chapters made me think about having read this paragraph a year or two ago. My students love this activity, but I hadn’t thought much about how an ELL student would react to trying to read this paragraph. As easy as it is for the to read and understand this paragraph, I can’t imagine the challenge a non-English speaking student would have with this.
The authors (FUN) describe fluent readers in the first section of the text. Fluent readers use a process consisting of six skills:
1. Automatic recognition skills
2. Vocabulary and structural knowledge
3. Formal discourse structure and knowledge
4. Content/world background knowledge
5. Synthesis and evaluation skills
6. Metacognitive knowledge and skill monitoring
I really appreciated the Figure 18-1 on page 209 and the accompanying text section. This is definitely something I will use in future classrooms. The top of the triangle are features unique to sheltered instruction while the lower part includes features shared by sheltered and effective instruction. All of the strategies or features can be used in most classrooms regardless of whether it is a sheltered classroom or not. I know very little about sheltered classrooms, so for me this is an invaluable tool. The author points out that it is important to remember the students’ knowledge when planning. This is where differentiated instruction becomes imperative.
OMG!!!! I never seen this before was so much fun reading this.. At the beginning I toughth was another language but when I read it carefully I figure it OUT!!!!!!!
DeleteWhat an interesting passage! This just shows that when we are fluent in a language, we do not spend much time decoding each word we read. Imagine how difficult this would be for a level 1 EL student when has a hard enough time understand what he/she is reading when the words are spelled correctly. This is actually very encouraging. If we can only help our students become more English language proficient, we can help them gain meaning from the more confusing of passages!
DeleteI also appreciated diagram 18-1 and the discussion of effective instruction for students who are proficient in English and sheltered instruction for students who have limited English skills. It reminded me that ALL students benefit from modifications, scaffolding, manipulatives, a variety of grouping strategies, clear instructions, etc. It seems that for EL students, the need for these strategies is amplified. I'm happy that while we have spent a lot of time learning specifically about teaching EL students, much of what we have learned is applicable to other types of students as well.
DeleteWhat did you learn?
ReplyDeleteTwo chapters present various strategies, techniques, and styles to scaffold students in reading independently. There are basic characteristics—graphophics, syntax, and semantics-- that readers often employ in reading in order to improve their comprehension. By implementing these tactics, the students can decode, connect, and decipher words, sentences, and paragraphs individually. Moreover, the chapter offers a myriad of strategies for ESOL like target questions, the cloze, and a mental sentence that students can imitate a basic sentence structure provided by the teacher to construct one of their own. One of the strategies demonstrating the understanding of reading is metacognition that readers utilize to grasp the text. Metacognition is a powerful technique because the students may apply other strategies that they feel comfortable to master the reading. For example, while reading a passage and if the students do not understand, they can reread sentences or look up essential vocabulary words before continuing reading. Moreover, understand the text structure can assist students to follow the reading because each text structure entails specific signal words which students can recognize such as compare and contrast, cause and effect, sequence, problem and solution, or descriptions to support the students in summarizing a main idea. What’s more, most text books include Internet hyperlinks that allow readers to discover the topics in-depth. This inclusion provides ESOL students additional insights and supports by connecting them to real photographs or environment and presenting them real voices and graphics. Most importantly, EL students can use translation to clarify any misunderstandings or difficulties of the text.
How will you use information in your classroom?
To start, I can apply DEAR that allows students read independently and silently on the book they desire, for I have not apply this strategy in my classroom. To assist them choosing the right book, I would teach them the Five-Finger Rule that the students can select any book by testing their reading level on the first page of the book. The students will hold out a finger for every unknown word that they read, and if they hold up five fingers before completing the first page, that book is too challenging for them to comprehend. For beginning readers, I will use Big Book that has large, easy prints and colorful pictures helping the readers to connect the pictures to the words. Also, I can introduce pattern books that readers recognize repetitive words recurring in the sentences which help beginners recognize and decode the words. Likewise, I will meet with ELL students in a guided reading session to scaffold them in deciphering perplexing words and explaining the unknown vocabulary words as they read. If they mispronounce the words, I will ask them to reread. To assess them, I can ask them to draw pictures depicting on what they read and what they understand. Other strategies such as double entry journals, literature journals, listening in, miscue analysis, Informal Reading Inventory, and running records aid me to prepare a new lesson or reteach the students by implementing strategies that support them to succeed.
Miriam Martinez
ReplyDeleteELL students should select their own books and responds to those books in literature response groups. These allowed ELL students to feel comfortable with their reading and level of understanding. A good teaching strategy is to allow students to read in their primary language to help them boost success in second language reading. Chapter 8 on RWL also shows different reading strategies to help ELL in different reading levels such as: level 1 could underline words in the story, level 2 can use a story mapping to help them use story grammar or the basic structure of the story for comprehending, Intermediate readers could use cognitive mapping which is a story map or a life map using graphic drawing to summarized the text. All these with the only purposes to help ELL better understand what they have to read. On the other hand chapter 18 on Fun presented three important concepts when talking about ELL readers: 1) Shelter instructions which provide the ELL student extra time, highlighting vocabulary, languages objectives, backgrounds experiences, etc. 2) scaffolding techniques to support students’ language and academic learning, and 3) reading assessments to get information about strategies using by ELL students, attitudes about reading and their comprehension. I conclusion both chapters shared useful teaching strategies to help ELL on their way to become independent readers.
Explicit instruction on metacognition is extremely helpful as it gives students the tools need to fully understand reading passages that may be difficult. By helping students guide themselves out of a “rut” when reading, we can better facilitate student understanding. Questions like “What is the main idea?” or “What are they trying to say?” help students break down the passage and find meaning despite not understanding every word they read. I have seen this in my math classroom when I give my students a story problem to work through. Often, the students just stare at the words and guess what the answer is. When I prompt them and ask probing questions, many students are able to construct meaning from the text and start to look for the answer. In order to best facilitate metacognition in a classroom with multiple EL students, I would form reading response groups. This way, EL students would have the opportunity to hear other’s opinions and thinking before formulating their own responses in English. By allowing students to work in groups, I can help them “think about thinking” while also thinking about other’s thinking. This has the potential to help students form a fuller understanding of what they are reading. As part of the literature response groups, I would also incorporate a literature response journal that would allow students to share their ideas after processing the text with their peers. In my math classroom, I plan to use reading response groups when solving word problems to help students break the problem down and understand what is being asked. In the past, I have provided the students with guiding questions to help with this, but I have not incorporated much time for peer discussion. In the future, I plan to read through the problem with the class, and then, place them in groups to allow time for metacognition and peer interaction.
ReplyDeleteChapter 18 helped me see the importance of structuring questions that are appropriate for EL learners. I rely heavily on questioning during instruction as I use it as a way to constantly assess. Often, I am looking for non-verbal responses, such as hand gestures. This technique has really seemed to help my EL students. But, many times, when I ask questions to individual EL students and require a thoughtful response, I see these students struggling to explain themselves thoroughly. This chapter provided the following guidelines when asking EL students questions in class:
- ask questions that suit the ability levels of the students
- focus on important concepts, not trivial facts
- ask clear questions using simple and clear language
- sequence questions to start with least demanding and more toward higher-level questioning
The last guideline really helped me see my flaws in questioning, especially when questioning EL students. In the future, before asking any questions that require more than a one or two word response, I am going to use scaffolding and ask a simple yes/no question. This will help the student gain a better understanding of what is being asked and how to best respond. For example, before asking “Why is the x-coordinate of each y-intercept zero?” I would first say, “Show me the y-axis with your arm. Now, point to the y-intercept. What is the ordered pair you just pointed to?” These questions would guide the students toward the answer before putting them on the spot and asking for their explanation to the higher-level question. After helping them see that every y-intercept is sitting on the y-axis, I can better facilitate their understanding that all y-intercepts have an x-coordinate of zero because when you sit on the y-axis, your x isn’t negative or positive; it’s zero! Therefore, moving forward, I plan to use lower level questioning techniques to scaffold learning for EL students as I help them understand and respond to higher-level thinking questions.
Chapter 8:
ReplyDeleteThe two concepts which I found interesting are directed listening-thinking activity (DL-TA) and cognitive mapping.
The first of the two important concepts is directed listening-thinking activity (DL-TA). DL-TA is where the teacher asks questions throughout a story while guiding students to make predictions and to monitor these predictions as subsequent text is provided. Usually more questions are generated by the teacher at the beginning. However, students are encouraged to generate their own questions as the story proceeds. Eventually, students incorporate the DL-TA questioning procedure as a natural part of their independent reading.
The second concept is cognitive mapping. A cognitive map is a graphic drawing summarizing a text. It assists students with comprehension and memory of more complex stories containing many characters, settings, and plots.
In using DL-TA, students would come more involved in understanding the social studies content lessons through reading. They would learn how to make predictions when reading and would get a better understanding of what they read. They would also see that reading stories in social studies can be fun. They would learn to use drawings to make their own stories to share with their peers. Students would also learn that good readers may make inaccurate predictions but that they can improve on their predictions as the story progresses.
With the use of cognitive mapping, students can increase their comprehension skills and memory of more complex stories. After practicing this concept, students can begin to create individual maps to summarize information from their textbook readings.
In conclusion, in applying these concepts in my classroom, I can truly see how beneficial each of them would be.
Student comprehension relies heavily on student background knowledge. Depending on their second language proficiency, the comprehensible input is limited and reading instruction can be problematic. Chapter 8 and Chapter 18 gave good strategies to implementing reading instruction. According to the book, providing reading material on content familiar to your students and by building background before reading a text, you can offset reading comprehension difficulties stemming from limited second language proficiency. Reading fluency is based largely on syntax which is word order. Students benefit from instruction on using both linguistic and conceptual background knowledge to make predictions and other inferences, while reading. Metacognition is the process of analyzing one’s own comprehension processes. Some metacognition strategies include rereading more closely and questioning. There were several strategies that I would love to implement for future reading instruction.
ReplyDeleteOne of the approaches to independent reading that is discussed is Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading. This is where students drop everything and read. This approach helps build vocabulary, background knowledge, and interest in reading. Most importantly this helps to improve reading comprehension. The book talks about the Five-Finger Exercise. This is where students begin to read a book independently and hold up a finger for each word they do not know. If they hold up 5 or a given number by the teacher, the book is considered too hard for them.
For Level 1 students, pattern books are excellent ways for readers to become involved in independent reading. The book mentions Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? This is a book that my children used to start reading. Even though they were just learning to read and were just repeating the phrases, this helped them to feel independent and they were comfortable with independent reading.
Readers’ Theater is a good way for intermediate second language learners to begin expressive reading from script reading. As the teacher it is important to select stories that have several characters. Teachers can extend reader’s theater by creating a podcast. Podcasts are audio-recorded of a performance that can be posted online. This is a benefit because it creates a permanent record of the performance.
Story Mapping is a way for students to focus their attention on important parts of a story that they are reading. It helps students deepen their story comprehension and gain awareness of how stories are structured. It provides a starting point for their students to share their individual responses to the events in the story.
Implementing effective and sheltered instruction with language objectives will help ELL students develop strong comprehension skills. Focusing on students background knowledge will help them make connections to what they are reading.
One of the concepts I most appreciated from Chapter 18 of Fundamentals of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages was the discussion of the role of questioning in reading instruction. The text encourages teachers to mix low and high level questions for English Learners. I agree with that approach, but I also struggle with this balance. Wanting to build confidence in EL students' communication skills, it is tempting to offer them softball questions that they can easily answer. Nothing is more embarrassing than struggling with a teacher's question in front of the class, right? Why not build them up by offering the experience of success in answering a question correctly in front of the class? The text helped me understand some strategies I can use to build EL students up through the use of high level questions. First, students can have options in the way that they respond to questions. Second, students can build up to high level questions by answering low level questions first. Third, high level questions should be asked in clear, concise language. Since students rise to teacher's expectations, asking high level questions can actually build more confidence and produce more learning in a student than sticking to low level questions.
ReplyDeleteI was also encouraged to read (not for the first time in this course) how first language fluency supports fluency in a second language. Not only that, but the practice of switching back and forth from multiple languages and navigating the space in between also fosters greater problem solving and critical thinking skills. I think as newly ESOL endorsed teachers, we should all take up the cause of bilingual education in Gwinnett County, or at least push for students to have more language class options. (Latin is wonderful, so why not also offer French, Spanish, or Vietnamese as a connections class?)
Questioning strategies are one of the things I need to work on most, and I agree that it is hard to find a balance of high level and low level questions. Questioning in math seems like it would be really easy (What's the answer?), but it's more than that. I really need to find a way to question students that makes them really think about different strategies they can use when solving problems. I also like talking about mistakes, such as "where did he/she go wrong?" This type of questioning goes a long way to help students understand, and it is something I will be focusing more on as I continue to teach.
DeleteAs far as bilingual education...you're preaching to the choir. This course has truly opened my eyes to how important it is for someone to know their first language before trying to learn a new one.
I found both chapters interesting, and as I read them I thought about how I could apply the information and strategies in my 7th grade math classroom. Reading is a surprisingly large part of our math curriculum due to the amount of problem solving and with the amount of algebra we teach. Algebra is tough for just about everyone to grasp, but for ELL students, algebra is an extremely difficult concept to grasp. Algebra is a more abstract form of math as opposed to concrete math that many kids are very familiar with by the time they get to 7th grade. For example, many kids can perform math operations like subtraction with fractions and decimals; but ask them to translate an algebra expression such as, twice the difference of fifty less than a number, or ask them to pick this expression out of a problem context that includes distractors and sometimes complex vocabulary, and students run into a lot of difficulty. The new math PARCC assessments that students will be taking in a few years, which replace the CRCTs, will have more reading and writing components. That means that it’s important for teachers to focus more on reading and writing even in math since students will be assessed on it during high-stakes tests.
ReplyDeleteOne of the strategies I read about in the chapter that I felt would be really useful to me would be adapting the idea of reading discussion groups to exemplar problems that I assign to students. Exemplars are problems that require students to read a complex math problem and solve it along with writing a detailed explanation about their thought process. It’s basically a model for what students will be required to do on the PARCC assessments in a few years. Many ELL students can perform the math required to solve an exemplar problem, but one thing many students have a problem with, not just ELL students, is reading directions and/or a question and knowing what they’re supposed to do. I think student discussion would help remedy this, and I like the idea of grouping students based on skill or proficiency level and assigning the students in that group to read and discuss exemplars—really focusing on the planning and strategy, and the “what to do”, before the group breaks up and each student individually executes the group’s plan and completes the assignment.
Another concept I thought a lot about, while a small part of the reading, was the incorporation of the internet. I would like to incorporate more webquest assignments to my students in the future. I think this would be tremendously helpful for ELL students. Scaffolding information to help with reading seemed to be a major theme throughout both chapters and the internet can be a powerful tool in this regard. The presence of pictures, online dictionaries, and links to tons of information can be helpful. Another thing that has become popular on the web is language immersion software (Google chrome has it as an app you can get for free). This is normally used by English speakers that want to learn another language, but it can be adapted for the classroom. Students go to the websites they are assigned to go to where the software, when turned on, allows for the switching of certain words and phrases from English into a language of your choice (it has 64 different languages available). It’s really an easy way to scaffold for ELL students and you can set it to different levels. I’ve used it myself personally, but the reading really sparked my enthusiasm for adding this to my curriculum in the future. It would make differentiating, especially for ELL students easy because there are so many languages available and it makes the technology more accessible to everyone.
I completely agree with you when it comes to the use of technology in the class. One thing I have learned from this technology issue is that the teachers better get savy with them in classroom or our students will start teaching us when it come to the use of technology in the class. I may not be completely against this concept however when students help out every time we plug in electrical cord then there may be a problem soon. What exactly am I saying? teachers need to know how to use them and also use them in class.
DeleteNaomi Onike
ReplyDeleteWith introduction of the Common Core concept into every subject, there will be a lot of reading with comprehension by students and to be able to respond to questions asked accurately. Based on this premise, I decided to choose two concepts under reading. They are:
• Guided reading – this involves the teacher working with small groups of students and guiding them as they read. The teacher helps in choosing the material to be read which has to be at the students’ instructional reading level. The teacher puts the students in small group according to similar reading level, although they may vary in the specific kind of help they may need to ensure understanding of what they are reading. While the reading is going on, the teacher provides needed help.
• Story mapping – involves the students using the basic structure of a story to understand and to compose story. Every story has a main skeletal structure which once identified by the students, could be linked to all the other minor events or characters. The students can also adapt the story and come up with something similar.
The important aspects of these two concepts are that they will help student learn how to extract the main concept in what they have read and to link that concept to every other important ideas in what they have read. These reading strategies would help the students see the connections that exist between the main concept or character and other main ideas. In literature, students can use the map to create similar stories of their own. By so doing, it will help them to have better understanding of what they have been assigned to read.
In my class I will use these strategies especially during the writing test. I make sure to choose materials that are at the reading level of students. I will guide them to identify the power words and make sure that they understand the words before the reading. These will help students to understand what they are reading. They will discuss story in their groups using some guided questions that I will provide for them.
The strategy of Story Mapping will be used by the students to identify the main concept in the assigned reading material. They will extract all the important main ideas that can be connected to the main concept and actually map it out and use the arrows to connect all the main points to that main concept. A typical example could be seen on the students being assigned to write about local winds. The main concept is the local winds. The other main ideas that are connected to this topic are the sea breeze and the land breeze. The two breezes will later be linked to the time each takes place and under what conditions. By conditions they will identify the relationship to high pressure, low pressure, how hot or cold and then to land and water. By the time they finish mapping this information out on their paper; most part of the essay is written. The remaining part is just to connect the key points and they are done.