With the arrival of COMMON CORE STANDARDS, ELLs will be expected to tackle grade level content and succeed in doing so. The English Language Arts standards address specific skills which carry over to other content classes such as doing research, analyzing primary sources, reading informational text, understanding textbook content, writing essays, and more. This type of instruction will call for the teacher to also do more with students who have limited skills in English (or those who need more time to process information).
To provide full access to science class instruction for ELLs, teachers will need not just more visuals, but visuals accompanied by activities that are hands-on and naturally scaffold an ELL's attempts to follow instruction. Teachers will need to model more and provide time for students to process new information in a variety of partnering settings. Further, key vocabulary must be a manageable amount (no more than 10 a week and those 10 words must be used regularly in the lesson so that students will remember them). ARKIVE EDUCATION has resources that will enable every student to not only understand the main idea, but also develop a deep enough knowledge of the concepts to teach others about what s/he has learned and that is the best indicator of a student's mastery of content.
In addition, a teacher will find already prepared powerpoints, lesson notes, student handouts, flash cards, and more. Instructional packets for students ages 5-18 are all found here as well and all are free! There are also online games based on the concepts learned as well as a
list of additional websites that might provide additional insight for
both students and teachers in exploring any given lesson on ARKIVE.This would be an excellent resource to supplement any science lesson.
Denise:)
ELL TEACHER PROS
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
COMMON CORE STANDARDS and ELLS--How Will This Support Instruction for ELLs?
With the arrival COMMON CORE STANDARDS in 46 states, the question on every teacher's mind is how will ELLs survive in this new arena? Will they fall behind their English speaking peers or do well? Will teachers be overwhelmed with creating additional modified assignments to meet the special needs of ELLs (and other struggling students), or will these standards make lesson design more effective and therefore easier to plan for and implement?
With the natural excitement that comes from bold new ideas also comes some anxiety. Colorin Colorado is an open advocate of ELLs and the teachers who support them. On this site, you will find webcasts on every area of instruction affecting ELLs, free new teacher tool kits, academic articles on every ELL issue, etc. Since the site can be a bit overwhelming for the new viewer, it is highly recommended to use the SEARCH area to effectively navigate the site. For this post, we will be looking at how Colorin Colorado can assist teachers in teaching ELLs under the new standards.
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS AND ELLS "Key Shifts of the Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts and Literacy" by Susan Lafond (2012) does an excellent job of taking the overwhelming and making it comprehensible. There will be shifts in teaching and learning that will occur. Students will be more independent. They will be analyzing increasingly more complex text. They will be working more with primary sources to look for evidence, etc. Teachers will scaffold more, provide more informational/non-fiction text, facilitate learning, etc. There will be a major shift in English classes in that fiction readings will be no more than 30% of the class. Universities have been asking for this for years since many incoming freshmen need to take remedial courses in college writing when they enter as freshmen. There will also be a push to build academic language levels for the ELLs. Think of it as tiered vocabulary of 3 levels with level 1 being the simplest and level 3 being college. Most ELLs are still at level 1. The CCSS will do much to change this.
Take a look at the site and see if it works for you. As I noted earlier, my June Newsletter (released on 5/31 at 9PM) will deal with this topic in greater detail. To get the newsletter on time, please subscribe at NEWSLETTER link.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
With the natural excitement that comes from bold new ideas also comes some anxiety. Colorin Colorado is an open advocate of ELLs and the teachers who support them. On this site, you will find webcasts on every area of instruction affecting ELLs, free new teacher tool kits, academic articles on every ELL issue, etc. Since the site can be a bit overwhelming for the new viewer, it is highly recommended to use the SEARCH area to effectively navigate the site. For this post, we will be looking at how Colorin Colorado can assist teachers in teaching ELLs under the new standards.
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS AND ELLS "Key Shifts of the Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts and Literacy" by Susan Lafond (2012) does an excellent job of taking the overwhelming and making it comprehensible. There will be shifts in teaching and learning that will occur. Students will be more independent. They will be analyzing increasingly more complex text. They will be working more with primary sources to look for evidence, etc. Teachers will scaffold more, provide more informational/non-fiction text, facilitate learning, etc. There will be a major shift in English classes in that fiction readings will be no more than 30% of the class. Universities have been asking for this for years since many incoming freshmen need to take remedial courses in college writing when they enter as freshmen. There will also be a push to build academic language levels for the ELLs. Think of it as tiered vocabulary of 3 levels with level 1 being the simplest and level 3 being college. Most ELLs are still at level 1. The CCSS will do much to change this.
Take a look at the site and see if it works for you. As I noted earlier, my June Newsletter (released on 5/31 at 9PM) will deal with this topic in greater detail. To get the newsletter on time, please subscribe at NEWSLETTER link.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
POPULAR SCIENCE--137 Years of Back Issues for FREE Thanks to Google!
This is an amazing resource which can be used with the new COMMON CORE STANDARDS in English, social studies, history, science, and possibly math classes. These clips from the past will offer a wealth of resources for research papers, essays, presentations, projects, etc. An interesting aside here is that even the ads within each issue are authentic. They provide another window into the past--fashion, transportation, communication, etc..
As students "thumb through the pages," they will see that some of the predictions of what the future would hold for us have turned out to be true while others were far off target. POPULAR SCIENCE has made a mission to predict how technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for everyone.
You may browse at your pace by exploring articles year by year, or simply type in a word and have the searching tool look for every issue that had that word in it. I chose BATTLESHIP and found an article written in 1901. You pick the topic and the searching tool will list results. Some results might go as far back as 1870!
POPULAR SCIENCE ARCHIVES
Try to share this with your students before summer vacation arrives. It should be fun reading for them:)
As students "thumb through the pages," they will see that some of the predictions of what the future would hold for us have turned out to be true while others were far off target. POPULAR SCIENCE has made a mission to predict how technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for everyone.
You may browse at your pace by exploring articles year by year, or simply type in a word and have the searching tool look for every issue that had that word in it. I chose BATTLESHIP and found an article written in 1901. You pick the topic and the searching tool will list results. Some results might go as far back as 1870!
POPULAR SCIENCE ARCHIVES
Try to share this with your students before summer vacation arrives. It should be fun reading for them:)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Explore the Wonders of the OCEANS With Your Students!
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A.) has some incredible resources for all grade levels on earth's oceans. The photographs are stunning and would fill a room of students with thoughts of wonder and awe---even high school kids.
NASA OCEANOGRAPHY AND EARTH SCIENCE--Here the focus is on expanding our knowledge of the planet: global atmosphere, global oceans including sea ice, land surfaces including snow and ice, ecosystems, and interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, and ecosystems, including humans. This section provides memorable context breathes life into any textbook or lecture.
The more we understand our changing climate and its interaction with life, the more attention we will pay to our everyday activities and how they affect the planet. As educators, the more time spent on making this topic accessible to our students, the more responsibility they will take on in safeguarding the planet for future generations.
NASA FOR EDUCATORS offers educators free access to much of its vast resources on earth and beyond. This type of support for ELLs especially makes the textbook accessible. With such access, learning occurs.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
P.S. If you are looking for more resources on COMMON CORE STANDARDS, don't forget to subscribe to ELL TEACHER PROS' newsletter. The newsletter for June will be released on the evening of May 31st. Only subscribers get the newsletters on time. Non-subscribers can visit the June letter in July.
NASA OCEANOGRAPHY AND EARTH SCIENCE--Here the focus is on expanding our knowledge of the planet: global atmosphere, global oceans including sea ice, land surfaces including snow and ice, ecosystems, and interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, and ecosystems, including humans. This section provides memorable context breathes life into any textbook or lecture.
The more we understand our changing climate and its interaction with life, the more attention we will pay to our everyday activities and how they affect the planet. As educators, the more time spent on making this topic accessible to our students, the more responsibility they will take on in safeguarding the planet for future generations.
NASA FOR EDUCATORS offers educators free access to much of its vast resources on earth and beyond. This type of support for ELLs especially makes the textbook accessible. With such access, learning occurs.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
P.S. If you are looking for more resources on COMMON CORE STANDARDS, don't forget to subscribe to ELL TEACHER PROS' newsletter. The newsletter for June will be released on the evening of May 31st. Only subscribers get the newsletters on time. Non-subscribers can visit the June letter in July.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Will Common Core Standards Help ELLs? See What The GUARDIAN (U.K.) Thinks.
The U.S. is moving from individual academic core standards that varied from state to state to something like a national standard (for those states willing to participate) in all academic subjects. It is a first for us, and one that offers a great deal of potential if school districts are supported so that teachers will be set up to experience success in implementing it. Only 4 states elected not to take part: Alaska, Virginia, Nebraska, and Texas. The other 46 have embraced it.
LANGUAGE LEARNERS ARE "CORE" CONCERN (need for common core standards) offers Great Britain's view on the matter and they see the same urgency many in the US feel. As the language minority population grows here, schools must do more to raise high school graduation rates thereby offering students a chance to attend universities or technical colleges. These students have the same right to aim for the American Dream that all the native speakers have.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
LANGUAGE LEARNERS ARE "CORE" CONCERN (need for common core standards) offers Great Britain's view on the matter and they see the same urgency many in the US feel. As the language minority population grows here, schools must do more to raise high school graduation rates thereby offering students a chance to attend universities or technical colleges. These students have the same right to aim for the American Dream that all the native speakers have.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Challenging Science Content Presented in Non-Traditional Layout---GAMES!
With the number of ELLs increasing at record numbers in the U.S., schools must make demanding core content materials accessible without watering them down. Science classes have very challenging content which ELLs struggle with on a regular basis. One support for teachers to use with them is the internet.
Here is a science academic game site which can be used as part of a lesson or for additional instructional support for ELLs when time permits in class (or to use at home if they have a computer and have access to the internet). ACCESSING SCIENCE CONTENT THROUGH EDUCATIONAL GAMES offers review game-like activities in evolution, plants, animals, bacteria, cells, DNA, ecology, fungi, etc. When sites like this one are brought into a class with ELLs (or other struggling students), they provide more time for such students to better familiarize themselves with key vocabulary and major concepts.
With final exams fast approaching, this might be another way to assist students in preparing for their finals.
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Take Your Students on Virtual Trips to the SMITHSONIAN to EXPLORE HISTORY!
With Common Core Standards coming in social studies (along with math, science, and ELA), students need to learn not only what primary sources are (see BLOG post Thursday, May 17th), but how to find them. Here guidance is needed so time spent on the internet is not wasted time. Creating your own GOOGLE search engine for them is the ideal (I will address this over the summer both in this blog at at my website ELL TEACHER PROS in the AUGUST BACK TO SCHOOL newsletter), but if time is limited, having a collection of pre-approved sites by you is a must.
To illustrate how an example of how this site could become a class resource in a World War II lesson, look at the following link to the plight of Japanese Americans and the discrimination they faced in the US at that time. A MORE PERFECT UNION: JAPANESE AMERICANS AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Students will see several forms of primary sources including testimonies of survivors, photographs of the camps and their internees, clips from news articles of the time, historical video, etc.). So when students must write an opinion paper on the prejudice of the time (Japanese Americans were sent to camps, but Italian and German Americans never suffered such humiliation), they can study sites such as this one (and others) to provide concrete evidence to support their thesis statements.
AMERICAN STORIES
This section offers a look at America's past through cultural artifacts familiar to many. Look at those ruby red slippers! There is probably no item more famous world wide than Dorothy's shoes from the Wizard of OZ! It is available in over 100 languages and still viewed regularly all over the globe. This is a look at the culture of Hollywood and its lasting imprint on the American soul. Then there is that lovable Kermit the Frog. Every child on the planet knows those muppets (from both the TV series and of late the movies). Then there is a rock from Plymouth. Many Americans have an emotional connection to that since it is "romantically tied" to the Thanksgiving myth, but actually, Jamestown, Virginia was there first. In fact, the first African slaves were brought there.
SMITHSONIAN ONLINE EXHIBITIONS offers many more sites of interest to students pursuing primary source supports for their social studies classes. In fact, material found here could supplement any subject area class and therefore make adhering to the new common core standards easy for both teacher and students alike:)
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
To illustrate how an example of how this site could become a class resource in a World War II lesson, look at the following link to the plight of Japanese Americans and the discrimination they faced in the US at that time. A MORE PERFECT UNION: JAPANESE AMERICANS AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Students will see several forms of primary sources including testimonies of survivors, photographs of the camps and their internees, clips from news articles of the time, historical video, etc.). So when students must write an opinion paper on the prejudice of the time (Japanese Americans were sent to camps, but Italian and German Americans never suffered such humiliation), they can study sites such as this one (and others) to provide concrete evidence to support their thesis statements.
AMERICAN STORIES
This section offers a look at America's past through cultural artifacts familiar to many. Look at those ruby red slippers! There is probably no item more famous world wide than Dorothy's shoes from the Wizard of OZ! It is available in over 100 languages and still viewed regularly all over the globe. This is a look at the culture of Hollywood and its lasting imprint on the American soul. Then there is that lovable Kermit the Frog. Every child on the planet knows those muppets (from both the TV series and of late the movies). Then there is a rock from Plymouth. Many Americans have an emotional connection to that since it is "romantically tied" to the Thanksgiving myth, but actually, Jamestown, Virginia was there first. In fact, the first African slaves were brought there.
SMITHSONIAN ONLINE EXHIBITIONS offers many more sites of interest to students pursuing primary source supports for their social studies classes. In fact, material found here could supplement any subject area class and therefore make adhering to the new common core standards easy for both teacher and students alike:)
Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS
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