Common Core Mathematics Support Through Illustrative Mathematics:)

As students continue to interact with the common core math standards, they may require a variety of additional supports to build proficiency in the academic demands of math.  Thinking outside the box will be a necessary tool in applying math skills to real world scenarios.  Students will face such challenges as members of task team where collaboration will be the focus in arriving at solutions to a problem.   Such a skill is one that the real world demands in this global workforce. 

Since not every student grasps key concepts at the same time, teachers may wish to employ additional strategies to deliver content effectively to English language learners and those with special needs.  Computers enter the picture here since they have infinite patience.  In this economy, support tools should be free since many districts suffer from ever shrinking budgets.

Keeping this in mind, teachers may like  illustrative mathematics.  All of the math standards are covered here from grades K-12.  Teachers can select the area of math where the students need either to further hone their skills or a real world problem that a team of students must solve.  Another  impressive of this free site is that are a few videos where students explain how they arrived at their answers down to the smallest detail.  This is what common core demands.  Students must go beyond a simple answer to including detailed commentary on how they arrived at their answers.  Of course, this new look at solving problems is probably very unfamiliar to students so such videos might support teachers trying to train students on how to accomplish this goal.

I am not a math teacher, but I do believe that this, along with Khan Academy, would just be another tool to meet the same end---student success:)

Denise

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Common Core Gives Purpose to Grammar:)

All too often, many teachers spend a great deal of instructional time on the teaching of grammar in isolation.  Though the intention is good, it rarely leads to a deeper understanding of the written language.  This issue surfaces often in classes where there are English language learners.  Well-intentioned teachers provide a wide range of activities all around mastering a specific form of grammar--tense, word choice, subordinate clauses, etc.  However, this instruction occurs out of context so students rarely see the "big picture" on the need for specific forms of grammar.

With common core, the shift will be addressing grammar within the context of a novel, piece of informational text, a textbook, the internet, a writing assignment, a math word problem, student writing assignments, etc.  The ten tips for teaching grammar in this Eye on Education link are excellent guides for teachers in this area.  Using them, grammar will take on lasting meaning for students.

I was particularly impressed with #8.  The suggestion here is to avoid writing sentences on the board with mistakes for students to correct (popular in many English classes) because such sentences may stay with students more than the corrections.  This is especially true of those still learning English. 

Grammar will find its place within quality reading and writing activities:)

Denise

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1 Excellent Source With a Proven Strategy to Boost Academic Language Skills of ALL Students--FISHBOWL!

For English language learners and students with special needs to do well with common core based lessons, they must develop critical skills in the use of academic language both in academic discussions and reading/writing academic tasks.  Since many of these students (not all) are operating far below grade level proficiency in reading and writing, they must not only be exposed to academic scenarios where both key content vocabulary and academic language are used regularly, but also be held accountable for integrating this language into their vocabulary base.  After all, without multiple opportunities to use such language in all 4 language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) scenarios, they will not be able to grow in the language skills needed for life beyond high school.

A great tool to build confidence in identifying academic language and using it to defend or take a position on controversial issues is fishbowl.  In life beyond school, taking a position or defending it occurs regularly and for students to survive in this setting, they need practice and reinforcement here in school.  Common Core lends itself naturally to this.   With fishbowl, the teacher creates two circles of students-one inner and one outer.  The inner set could be composed of students with a stronger background and grasp of the concepts initially.  This group would discuss key questions in a debate-like setting.  While they are doing that, the students in the outer circle (ELLs should start out here until they become more familiar with the activity) are taking specific notes on what they heard and whether or not the comments made are valid or not (by citing evidence from the text to support or refute the oral arguments).  Once the class has been through the routine a few times, the teacher could mix up the inner circle with ELLs since the routine by then would be routine one for the class.

With the instructional demands of common core, ELLs will require more than handouts to bridge that learning gap and this is a great start:) 

Denise

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TEXT ANALYSIS A MUST FOR CONTENT TEACHERS OF ELLS IN IMPLEMENTING COMMON CORE STANDARDS

With the common core standards, ELLs will need to acquire those crucial reading skills to access both fiction and non-fiction text.  This will be a major jump from their working with adapted text materials written below grade level and containing very limited academic language.  Without the teacher using focused instructional strategies specifically targeting the  strengthening of academic language skills, ELLs will continue to struggle throughout the learning process earning poor grades and suffering from continued low self-esteem in trying to survive academically.

So where can a teacher start in this process?  Straight lecture can be deadly boring.  Bringing in a variety of interactive learning activities which stimulate reading and discussion skills can provide a low-stress venue to build those necessary skills.  TEXT ANALYSIS SUPPORTS FOR STUDENTS offers teachers a wide range of free activities to build that all crucial academic foundation which all students must have if they are to do well in school. 

What areas are covered in this site?  Text analysis, Comprehension, Fact or Fiction, Inferences, and much more.  Students will have many opportunities to hone those all too crucial academic skills which, once mastered, will build self-confidence and boost self-esteem.

Denise

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Specific Strategies to Boost Academic Language Skills of ELLs

If ELLs are to survive in mainstream classes, their teachers must employ specific instructional techniques to build academic proficiency into all classroom activities.  These same techniques also benefit English speakers, but are a must for ELLs.  If these approaches are not used, the ELL gets neither content or language.

Dr. Short identifies the major issue facing ELLs.  They must do double the work just to stay afloat and, at the high school level, they are struggling with this 6 periods a day.  So though the obstacles may seem immense, they are not impossible.  Key areas of language support must be addressed in every class regularly.

1.  All 4 language language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) must be integrated into every lesson for all English proficiency levels.  Teachers need to find a variety of on-going formative assessments to weave into every lesson to provide multiple opportunities for ELLs to use the academic content in a many different venues.

2.  Reading and writing skills must be directly taught. Teachers must employ scaffolding devices to assist ELLs in navigating academically challenging text.  They need to develop those key pre-reading skills which provide access to chapter content (ex.  looking at pictures, charts, sub-titles, chapter summaries, learning to use SQ3R, etc.).  Through a varied approach in delivering content, teachers can easily make such activities routine since everyone benefits from them.  Further, good reading skills lead to good writing skills.  Through activating reading skills at the higher end of Bloom's taxonomy, ELLs start to build the skills to write increasingly more sophisticated sentence structure within well-crafted essays.

3.  Academic vocabulary must be addressed.  Memorizing word lists is the probably the least effective.  Instead, teaching students how to use context of the text in which the word is found to provide insight to word meaning is far more beneficial.  Then, there are affixes.  If ELLs are provided with regular practice in analyzing words parts and applying this knowledge to new unfamiliar vocabulary on a regular basis, their vocabulary base grows.  In addition to this technique, there are visuals.  A picture is definitely worth a 1000 words.  Posting pictures of key concepts with accompanying word provides access to content while building vocabulary.  These are just some ideas.

4.  Never miss an opportunity to activate prior knowledge.  If students can connect a concept with a prior experience, they will benefit more from the lesson than if the teacher had not helped them make that connection.

5.  Use technology with ELLs.  There are many supports on educational sites that would provide ELLs with many options to hone their skill development in English.  Many are free (SEARCH WITHIN THIS BLOG FOR THE ONES I HAVE FOUND AND RATED).

There are many more suggestions in this article.  Share it with colleagues.

WRITING FOR ELLS

Denise

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FOUR (4) CORNERS ACTIVITY--Provides Excellent Academic Discussion Setting to Make Core Content Accessible for ELLs

This cooperative learning activity is a favorite of both teachers and students because it is highly interactive.  ELLs thrive in such a setting because often times they generally are more proficient in speaking English than in reading or writing it.

So what could it look like in a classroom?

Picture in each of the four corners a controversial quote on chart paper from the upcoming lesson.  Students receive a handout with the quotes to assist them in taking a stand on the issue.  ELLs would need to be able to see the quote beforehand so that they would be able to identify what position resonates with them. (Note:  the use of chart paper is an approach I have used since not all students, ELL or not, are auditory.)  Students have a couple of minutes to see which quote best represents their opinion.  When they receive the signal from the teacher, students go to the corner with the quote that reflects their feelings on the issue.

Once in that corner with students who share the same feelings, they would enter into a discussion  on their take on the topic.  Students would take turns discussing and then writing down individual contributions on the topic on the chart paper.  After the group's comments were noted, they would prepare to verbally share out their reactions with the rest of the class.  EVERY student in each group would be accountable here to talk.  This is a must for the ELL.  S/he needs to talk.  Now, since s/he has had time to explore the topic with like minded students, s/he would be prepared to share some of the issues her/his group touched on.  If shyness enters the picture, s/he would have 6 or students around him who could support her/him in speaking out. 

How does it benefit students, especially ELLs?

It moves students from conversational English to academic language.  It activates those parts of the brain dedicated to higher thinking skills, encourages and scaffolds student attempts to reflect on course material and relate it their own lives, and offers an opportunity to enter into meaningful communication with their peers.  ELLs need all of these skills.

DESCRIPTION OF 4 CORNERS ACTIVITY Here is a detailed description of what the activity is and its benefits.

STARTER ACTIVITIES FOR 4 CORNERSThis site offers more information on the activity along with some  easy to follow directions on conducting the activity in class as well as some activities.

SAMPLE FOUR CORNERS ACTIVITY
(RAFT--mentioned in SAMPLE FOUR CORNERS LINK)
Would you like even more classroom application ideas?  If yes, click here.  There is also a link to RAFT which was mentioned without a description.

Denise

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Common Core Demands More Verbal Communication From ELLs--Here Are Some Suggestions to Achieve This

Every teacher wants students to actively participate in lively academically oriented discussions.  After all, the more they argue or state their points of view, the more proficient they will become in using academic English. 

The problem which surfaces here is that often times English language learners only possess conversational skills and that leaves them ill-prepared to tackle academic discussions.  Since development of reading and writing skills hinge on oral language development, teachers need to incorporate a variety of meaningful class activities where ELLs have multiple meaningful opportunities to use the content vocabulary in interacting with peers, text, writing, and teachers. 

Why aren't many ELLs more engaged in class routines? 

Some students have limited proficiency in speaking.  There is an embarrassment factor in place here.  These same students don't want their weaknesses revealed to all so they stay quiet and hope that they are not called on by the teacher. 

Other students might not understand a teacher or English speaking classmate completely.  After all, they are still trying to learn English.  If an English speaker speaks too quickly, the ELL loses the content of the conversation. 

Then there are ELLs who resent being asked low level questions when they feel that they are knowledgeable enough in the content to be asked challenging questions.

Further, in some cultures, students do not ask questions of a teacher since that is disrespectful.  Here, by asking questions, students are saying that the teacher does not know the content.

So what is a teacher to do? 

This article offers several practical and easy-to-implement solutions to the problem.   One highly effective approach is taking the student's comment and scaffolding it to include a more academic tone.  Here the teacher asks probing questions to guide the ELL in transforming his/her response from a limited one to a more developed academic one.

Teachers should also set up many opportunities for think-pair-share talking opportunities with students who are more proficient in the use of English than the ELL who is struggling. 

Structured cooperative learning opportunities are also highly effective.  In such settings, groups are built with more proficient speakers of English, and the activities are structured where everyone has an assigned task.  Of course, members of the group can support each other in tackling the assignment, but each one will be held accountable for the work.  Once the time is up for the assignment, the teacher does random call-ons of students.  If the ELL doesn't have the answer, the teacher notes it and then returns to that student who by the second call-on, may have heard the answer from another student.


Many more ideas are in the article.  It offers a good opportunity for teacher self-reflection on how effective s/he is in challenging the ELL to grow in academic language proficiency.  BUILDING AN ELL'S ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE EFFECTIVELY IN CLASSROOM DISCUSSIONS

If you have a very effective routine that you would like to share here, please do:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Performance Based Assessments Will Play a Major Role In Common Core Lessons

Do standardized tests truly reflect the academic abilities of students in general?  How are the skills of ELLs accurately projected with these tools?  The answers to both questions are that such tests do not truly portray a full picture of student potential.

Common core standards in ALL content areas will offer teachers many opportunities to design lessons with multiple types of assessments.  These assessments can take on many different forms with something that will appeal to each of the learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, and auditory).  Technology and team-building will become instrumental tools for students to use in accomplishing their goals here.  In such a setting, the ELL will be actively engaged in a subject of interest to him/her so anxiety will be low.  Further, this type of activity builds academic language, provides access to content in a non-threatening learning environment, and addresses English language development.  Skills acquired here are those that are requirements in the global workforce of today.

What types of projects might teachers consider trying?  Here are a few.  A class students might present a power point on farming techniques of the future that will feed more while using less land.  This will involve use of reputable resources on the internet plus their own creative ideas to arrive at a plan with potential to meet the rising need for food on this planet.  Another project idea might be to plan out the ideal city for 2050.  They could take the city they currently live in and address the changes which would be needed to accommodate a 20% increase in population.  They could also design a new city set off the land--the sea.  Again, lots of research must be done on what effects a jump in population would have on schools, housing, sanitation, water, etc.  They must identify specific potential problems and well thought out solutions.

With every project, common core content standards would be addressed so the teacher would have more than enough material to grade (still a must in any school system), but more importantly, all students would be actively engaged in addressing a problem of importance to them.  Teachers may find talents in their students (especially the quiet ones) that they never knew existed:)

PERFORMANCE BASED ASSESSMENT WILL BE PART OF COMMON CORE LESSONS 

Denise

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Fully Engage Your ELLs in Social Studies--Strategies for Implementing Common Core!

When ELLs enter mainstream classes in the fall in big numbers, teachers will need a wide variety of teaching techniques to ensure that ELLs not only learn the content, but also grow in their language skills in English.  In this website, the focus will be on social studies classrooms and ELLs.  Please note that the strategies used here would also work in other content classes.

SOCIAL STUDIES In social studies, the ELL faces several obstacles.  Textbooks are written for those with background knowledge of the country (US history for example).  New arrivals to the country don't share a general understanding of American culture, American politics, landscape, etc.  Though American students might not know all the details, they still have a general understanding of those areas which the teacher must address so that ELLs can fully take part in the learning process.

Also, ELLs bring a different perspective to the world.  These viewpoints should add valuable components to a lesson.  Imagine teaching a world geography class.  You are working on India and you have several students from that  country in your classroom!  They become a resource for all as they talk about their culture and customs.  When teachers have a theme to the lesson, no one feels singled out to have an uncomfortable spotlight on them.  Every student would have an opportunity to discuss his/her culture in such a setting. 

Last there is the need to address academic vocabulary.  When teachers create lessons with built in academic language activities, they set the ELL up to be fully engaged in lessons.  The more exposure and practice with academic vocabulary, the more proficient the ELL will be in English over time.

CHAPTER 2 ON SUPPORTING ELLS IN MAINSTREAM CLASSES This chapter offers a great checklist to assist teachers in modifying lesson plans for ELLs.   It is amazing what a few simple adjustments can do to enable ELLs to fully grasp key concepts and build language skills.  Use it as a model to create your own.


TIER 1, 2, AND 3 WORDS
Last, Tier 1, 2, and 3 words can be found in every content class area.  Bring in cognates, teach how to use context to arrive at meaning, etc.  Lots of great strategies here as well.


Denise

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COMMON CORE ELA AND MATH STANDARDS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

The last group to observe is middle school.  As in K-5 and 9-12, grades 6-8 are being academically challenged as never before.  The theme of "preparing students for the work force or university" is the goal, and teachers will be using a laser-like focus in equipping students with those vital skills so that when students do go out into the world, they might be productive citizens in this information-driven society.

In this video, you will first see math classes.  Notice the collaboration among small groups to arrive at solutions to problems AND how they justify their solutions to their peers.  This entails using academic language in context to make their point.  Further in this setting, students are demonstrating/explaining to their peers how they arrived at their solutions.  Since there are often several ways to come to an answer, students have opportunity after opportunity to see how others reached their answer/solutions.  In the real world, this skill will be a must in any position in the business world.  Team work and the ability to clearly articulate one's opinion are key requisites if one is to succeed in any career.

In the second half of the video, you will see a middle school working with poetry and non-fiction material.  Why the two? Per the new Common Core ELA Standards, 50% of all reading must be in non-fiction/informational text with the remaining 50% being in literature.  This shift will prepare them for high school where fiction drops to only 30% and persuasive writing predominates.  In middle school, the process of persuasive writing is developed.  Personal narratives are not done in college/university/business world so they will not be the writing objective here. 


COMMON CORE FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

I plan on putting together a short list of websites on  COMMON CORE ELA MATH STANDARDS  with newsletters you might like to subscribe to. The more information you have, the smoother the transition will be:) 

Denise


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