Thousands of FREE Photographs to Enhance ANY Lesson in ANY Content Area and at ANY Grade Level!

With more English language learners and students with special needs entering mainstream content classes, teachers with limited experience in working with such students will require instructional support to address both language development and access to core content material.  Add to these new populations, the implementation of Common Core Based Lessons in which textbooks will take a back seat in the classroom.  So, teachers are faced with the task of enabling students to build those vital links to interact with content while simultaneously developing proficiency in academic English.

A major key to progress in these areas is the use of key content images.  The expression that a picture is worth a thousand words is quite accurate here.  A detailed image often times has the potential to fill in the gaps in background knowledge that an ELL especially might have in say a class on the US Civil War or the Great Depression.  Build in photos of people of the time, newspaper front pages, videos (yes, videos can be uploaded to boards as well), etc. and students can better visualize the historical event.  Their interest rises since they can better imagine the time period as the lesson proceeds.  

Here are three of my boards:

US History

Teaching

Science and space

Though students over 13 can open their own accounts, it might be better for the teacher to open his/her own account and then send students copies of boards the teacher has created (it also keeps students from wandering). 

To open an account, go to PINTEREST.  Once your account is open, you start pinning anything that suits your needs for school or personal interests.  As you find a photo you like, you PIN it to a board that you give a title for.  You may have as many boards as you like.

To provide access for students to teacher created boards, type  http://pinterest.com/(your username)/(name of the chosen board).

Later on this week, I will share with you how to create a digital online magazine.  Your students will definitely be motivated to read if they have a say in what reading material is added to their online digital magazine:)

Denise

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All Teachers Must Be Savvy in English Language Development

For many teachers, teaching non-native speakers of English is somewhat new.  Though many states have growing numbers of ELLs in their schools, not many have offered specific training to content teachers on how to best deliver content and language development to them.  Since all teachers want their students to succeed in class, they are under self-imposed pressure to find effective teaching strategies to reach these students while simultaneously addressing the academic needs on their English speakers.  Though this may seem overwhelming on the surface, it can be done.

Dr. Jim Cummins offers some key insights into what teachers must do to be sure that ELLs can academically not just survive but also do well in social studies classes (his advice here would also work in other disciplines).  

First and foremost, teachers must be able to identify the different levels of English language proficiency among their ELLs.  State departments of education provide them as well as individual school districts.  If this approach does not yield results, teachers need to see their ELD/ESL coordinator.  S/he would be able to fill in the missing pieces as to what each language level is able to do in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  This knowledge assists a teacher in tweaking lesson delivery to make it more accessible.

Second, activating prior knowledge is a must (see earlier posts on this through SEARCH THIS BLOG link).  Once a teacher has helped students make connections between past experiences and upcoming lesson, the student is ready to handle any new material with confidence.  He relates it to past experience from school or from life.

Third, never miss an opportunity to build on and extend language.  There are many ways to do this:  visuals, skits, video clips, etc.  Add to this word parts, concept maps, frayer models, mind maps (posted on a year ago and in top 10 blogposts on home page).

3 PILLARS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

Denise

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Before the Start of ANY Lesson, Teachers Must Activate ELL's Prior Knowledge!

This topic has been addressed before in this blog, but now I would like to share my own personal strategies in this area.  They are easy to implement and work at any grade level with most subject areas.

Though all students benefit from this, ELLs probably benefit the most.  Tying new knowledge to past learning experiences makes content more accessible, and, with content more comprehensible, language skills develop further.  Typically, activities here need only last for 5-7 minutes.  The feedback the teacher receives tells her/him if any changes might be called for in the delivery of the lesson.  For example, if the feedback received shows that 90% already have a handle on the upcoming concepts, the teacher can speed up a bit and move on to more challenging aspects of the lesson.  On the other hand, if more than 50% of the class seems confused, the teacher proceeds on to addressing the gaps in knowledge before moving into the lesson.  Time spent here in the first few minutes of class leads to students reaping the full benefits of the lesson.

Now, here are some of my favorites in activating prior knowledge.

1.  Concept webs--I have a huge sheet of butcher paper with the term or concept written in the center.  It is written within a circle.  Students then share any and all items they believe are connected to the concept.  I write down everything (this way I validate all attempts).  When we are done (no more than 3 minutes), we start to make connections.  From the connections, come some eliminations (I guide this part).  The results stay on the chart which is taped to the wall to go back to after we have completed the lesson.  Now students will know more and revise the chart as needed.

2.  Anticipation Guides--Here the teacher generates 10-20 extreme statements on the upcoming topic.  Students can only choose YES or NO for each statement.   For example, for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, one statement might be "Juries always reach just decisions."  Another one might be "Girls are smarter than boys."  Each statement should almost be guaranteed to be extreme enough that even the quietest students will want to take a position one way or the other.  Students do not share their responses initially.  They hold on to them until later when they are almost done with the book. At that time, they revisit their original responses and discuss them within small groups.  Many want to change positions by that time since they have more information on the novel than they had at the start.  How does this help the ELLs? They now have a far more thorough knowledge of the theme and will be in better position to take a test, write an essay, do a project, etc. on the book.

3.  Elbow partner brainstorming is also fun.  Using this approach, the ELL can ask for help as s/he tries to share her/his understanding of the topic.  Once the partner share is complete, the teacher can do some random calls on pairs to share out what they came up with.  Here there is no right or wrong.  Upon completion of the lessons, the pairs will revisit what they wrote about earlier and revise where necessary.

What I have just shared are my all-time favorites.  What I plan on trying out this year in my university class is TWITTER.  I will throw up the topic/question and have students tweet their reactions.  Since TWITTER is limited to 140 characters, stress levels should be low:)  Further with a class twitter account, I will be able to easily review tweets to see who might have experienced some difficulty with my lesson or assignment.

ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE Here, EDUTOPIA goes over the basics of APK (Activating Prior Knowledge).  It is an integral part of the learning process and can't be stressed enough.  Time spent here is time well spent! :)

Denise

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