Bring POLLING Into Any Classroom and Watch Student Engagement SKYROCKET!

If students are to benefit from a teacher's hard work in preparing lessons, they require regular feedback in a variety of original formats.  "Thumbs up they understand/thumbs down they don't" might not be the most effective way to see how well students grasp key concepts.  So for teachers to keep a finger on the pulse of student progress a new approach is necessary.  How about instant polling on any subject in almost any format-multiple choice, short answer, etc.?  Such a tool would involve every student anonymously in sharing answers.  Teachers would be able to show almost immediate charts on polling results, and this is where the discussions would enter the picture as students analyze the poll results.  The role of teacher becomes one of moderator or facilitator and not lecturer.

Here is an excellent tool to offer such a dynamic change in instruction--socrative polling.  It is free tool for both teacher and student.  Once a teacher joins, s/he is given a "classroom" and that is shared with students.  How does it support instruction?  Watch the video here for a quick overview.  Students will be excited about sharing responses since there would be no risk of embarrassment:)

Denise

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Block Scheduling Might Offer More Opportunities for Teachers to Reach Struggling Students

With English language learners and others with special needs suffering academically, schools are looking at different options to create more supportive learning environments for all students.  With this very present need to reverse the dropout rates, block scheduling as once again resurfaced as a learning environment which has the potential to meet the needs both of teachers as well as the students they serve.

Common core based lessons will offer teachers the freedom to create and deliver lessons that will see textbooks as supports in a lesson.  Teachers will drive instruction in imaginative ways which will motivate even the weakest student to succeed.

To facilitate this transformation, schools may need to revamp the present the middle/high school class schedules.  In this day and age with the demographics of American classrooms radically changing around the country, teachers will need more time to accommodate the unique language and academic needs of a student population including, but not limited to, English language learners, English only, students with special needs, gifted and talented students, etc. 

Such a mixture in a block schedule setting would provide teachers with 90-110 minute class meetings 2-3 times a week.  Yes, the classes would be longer in length, but ideally, the need for "homework" could disappear since all student assigned tasks could be completed within the time period.  This is not to say that projects would never be assigned as homework, but in this scenario, all students would be better prepared to tackle them.  There will be enough time within the class for teachers to provide additional support to those who need it (or have students, who understand the material, assist those who are unsure), allow re-takes of exams, clarify language issues for English language learners or special education students. 

Block scheduling might also ease the stress some teachers are dealing with over the unveiling of common core lessons.  As they enter in the process of re-designing lessons, they will quickly see that a "less is more" approach will be the norm.  Fiction and non-fiction will be the major focus along with writing across the curriculum.   English teachers will not be the only ones teaching writing.  Ideally, this new approach to teaching will better prepare students to not only enter colleges, but graduate from them:) 

BLOCK SCHEDULING HAS POTENTIAL TO REACH MORE STUDENTS THAN TRADITIONAL SETTINGS --offers not only descriptions of what such a schedule would look like, but also many ideas on fully engaging all students in the learning process in this new time schedule. 

Denise

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TWITTER--GREAT TOOL FOR INSTRUCTION, CLASS COMMUNICATION, AND INFORMATION SOURCE FOR PARENTS

Twitter has amazing potential for classroom instructional use.  Many students already use it so the only one who might not be fully familiar with it will most likely be the teacher (humor intended).  So, using a social media tool which kids already use and like motivates all students to take an active part in any lesson.  Even normally quiet students are engaged since silent participation is acceptable.  In fact, as such students demonstrate a deeper command of the content, they will be more confident in taking part in class discussions/projects after completing their tweets as well as reading the tweets of others.

TWITTER IN HIGH SCHOOL  Notice the use of digital media in this high school.  Students are using digital tools which they enjoy-iphotos, blogs, imovie, twitter, etc..  This is a motivator for all.  It actually makes learning fun and there is nothing wrong with that.  Twitter offers immediate feedback (classroom twitter feed) which is available for as long as the teacher wishes to keep the material available.  Ideally, material could be kept there all year in topic folders/lists.  Students could review material as needed as well as add ideas using their individual class twitter account.  Further, teachers could make the twitter feed available to parents so that they would know everything that is happening in class including important class announcements on tests, projects, readings, homework, etc.  It is probably the most efficient way to contact parents since emails don't always work.

Some suggestions for its use?  Why not use it for vocabulary building activities?  For example, provide sentences where students must use context to determine meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.  Students would have to twitter their guesses on the meaning of the word in say 10 seconds.  Since they are limited to 140 characters, they will not be able to be wordy in their responses.  Another use might be to put up a photo related to a content area and have students tweet their reactions to the photo.  For mathematics, teachers could tweet problems and then time kids to find and post their answers as tweets.  The class could then poll the results to see how many had the correct answer.  Also, students could challenge responses by other students to document their findings.  This would necessitate having kids research the sources from the web which would support their position.  In an English class, teachers could pose an open ended question as a check for prior knowledge and have students tweet their reactions in 140 characters or less.  Later, the teacher and class could try grouping the responses by topic.  This would provide writing support for the weaker students especially (like the ELLs).

 Could TWITTER be used in lower grades?  Sure.  I have seen 4th graders use TWITTER.  It can be done.

100 WAY TO USE TWITTER IN CLASS BY DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY

How does a teacher start TWITTER in class?  Check out the suggestions in this link.  Whether a teacher is a beginner at this or a pro, this site will offer some new ideas for everyone willing to give it a try.  If a teacher struggles a bit, s/he only needs to ask a student for help since they are probably already pros at it:)

Denise

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Implementing Common Core Standards WITH Current Instructional Strategies Will Satisfy Demands of Common Core With Ease!

With common core, many teachers worry about whether or not the creative strategies that they have used in the past will still be effective with the new standards.  What some may not realize is that road to meeting the standard can take many routes.  Creative strategies used in the past will still fit here with a few adjustments to accommodate ELLs.

So what does BACKMAPPING look like?  Dr. Patrick Schwarz gives a quick description on this link:  COMMON CORE STANDARDS STRATEGY:  BACKMAPPING (National Louis University's Patrick Schwarz, Ph.D)

How do I use this approach?  I plan backwards.  That is I create a clear picture in my mind of what I want students to do or generate by the end of the lesson first.  Then I start weaving in the strategies I will need to use to have them reach the common core standard goal I have set for them.

Here are some of the approaches you could use to ensure that all of you students will be prepared by the end of a lesson (which could be done over a 1-3 day period for example)  to complete the main assignment or task whatever that is:

1.  Activate prior knowledge--You want to see what they already know so that you can adjust my instruction early on.  After all, you want every student to be able to link new knowledge to the familiar.
2.  Use clearly stated learning objectives in student friendly language and go over the objectives with them a few times.
3.  Use lots of modeling of what you expect students to do--"I do it first, We do it together, You do it with a partner, You do it on your own."  ELLs need lots of modeling, practice, feedback, more practice,
4.  Provide ELL with lots of activities involving talking and sharing with peers who have more English--think pair share, elbow partner work, carefully structured cooperative groupings, fish bowl, learning logs, skits, games, and much more.
5.  Recognize or validate everyone's efforts and you will find a fully engaged class--hold each student accountable by doing random call-ons.  If a student doesn't know the answer, give him/her time and then ask again.
6.  Provide models of what you expect students to generate for you--if it is an English class, provide students with sample student writings of what you expect from them OR place a couple of good essays on chart paper fully visible from all corners of the room for all to see
7.  Use pencil or NON-red pens to correct work and only correct glaring errors not every error on an assignment.  For an ELL, that can be devastating to see a sea of red marks on a paper he might have spent several hours working on.
8. Have lots and lots of checks-for-understanding throughout the lesson to make sure that everyone is on the same page.  Typically that may mean checking every 5-7 minutes, but it is worth it since you can catch the kids having difficulties early on.
9.  Post language related to the lesson all around the room using FRAYER model layouts so students can make connections to other words related to the content word in question.
10. Have a closing activity where students must respond on an index card as one last check on their understanding.  Some call it an exit slip others an entrance ticket.

There are so many more approaches as I am sure you know:)  Another major source for ideas is your next door colleague.  Teachers are always willing to share if only asked.

If you have some approaches you use, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Denise

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Add Some of These Great Teaching Strategies to Common Core Lessons:)

Classroom instruction will need to be much more interactive than in the past if students are to truly benefit from common core based lessons.  For this new approach to teaching to be successful, teachers must have access to a wide variety of instructional strategies on a moment's notice so that every student can be actively involved in every lesson. 

Here is a site that has a fairly extensive list of them.  Click on the label for each section and a detailed description of the activity appears.  Notice that many of these ideas are not new.  The difference is that they will be used on a more regular basis with common core based lessons along with random call-ons so that every student is held accountable for learning the material.  Teachers will no longer just call on the students with their hands up.  Since they already know the answers to the teacher's question, they do not offer the teacher true feedback on how well the entire class has understood the lesson.  Random call-ons on students is far more accurate.  If the majority (80-90%) have correct responses, the teacher can continue along in the lesson. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO HELP ELLS AND OTHERS ACCESS CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

Please note that this list only contains some practices.  Teachers should try the ones that they feel most comfortable with initially.  With time, teachers can add on a few more activities a little at a time.  Asking colleagues for ideas is also effective.  New teachers and veterans normally have many great things going on in their classes, and, as teachers, they enjoy sharing instructional strategies with colleagues. 

The bottom line is to fully engage ALL students in the learning.  This is the only way to begin to reverse the high failure rate of ELLs.

Denise

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5 EASY THINGS TEACHERS CAN DO TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ELLS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR:)

It never hurts to have several instructional strategies at a teacher's disposal at the start of the school year.  With this approach, a teacher doesn't have to scramble to try to find effective ways to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse classroom with a sizable percentage of ELLs of varying English proficiency levels.  So, with this as the goal, here are some additional powerful, highly effective, and easy-to-implement instructional strategies for mainstream classes with ELLs in them. 

5 THINGS TEACHERS CAN DO TO HELP THEIR ELLS IN CLASS

1.  Provide many opportunities for ELLs to interact with peers in structured group interactive activities.  This approach will require that ELLs use English to explain concepts.  With an understanding of the concepts, they can become productive members of the group enabling them to develop their language skills while mastering content.  Further, as the ELL interacts with peers on assigned tasks, the teacher can easily monitor language used as s/he moves from group to group.  This type of assessment tells the teacher what, if any, assistance the ELL may need to access the content or follow the language.  One additional point here that the article makes is for the teacher to include measurable goals of having the ELL demonstrate his/her verbal abilities at lease 3 times a week.  Unless the teacher creates settings where the ELL can use English risk-free, s/he will be quiet and leads to no progress.

2. English language and vocabulary must be explicitly taught and reinforced throughout the lesson in a variety of ways addressing the different learning modalities because ELLs are individuals first each with his/her own learning style and English learners second.  Some content teachers might not feel comfortable in teaching English language, but they can.  After all, every teacher has at least one degree (most 2) so every teacher knows English.  Do they have to teach English in the same fashion as an English literature/language arts teacher?  No.  Content teachers assist students in expressing themselves in ways suitable for their discipline.  Again, with the implementation of the new common core standards, writing will be a key focus across all content areas thereby making all teachers English teachers.

As for vocabulary for any given discipline, teachers must teach the vocabulary.  A glossary will not work.  Content words must be explicitly taught.  Mind maps, concept maps, word walls, etc. are all tools that teachers can use to help ELLs master the vocabulary tied to the key concepts.  How many content words are suitable for a content class?  Ideally the number of words should not exceed 7-10 per week and those words need to be reinforced in many activities throughout the week if students are to internalize them.  Frayer models help here (index cards 3 X 5).  Once the cards are complete, have students hold them together with binder rings.  Just before a test, have students pair up and quiz each other with the weaker students testing the stronger partners first.  Once the stronger one is done being quizzed, the weaker student would be quizzed.

3.  Activate prior knowledge.  See how much a student may already know on the subject of the lesson.  How can prior knowledge be assessed?  Short video clips, realia, brainstorming, journal writing, anticipation guides, etc. are all effective.  The benefit in checking for prior knowledge is that if the students are totally unfamiliar with the topic, the teacher can fill in some of the gaps before the actual teaching of the lesson.

4.  Involve parents as much as possible.  Parents do not have to be experts in the subject areas.  Their goals should be to support their children in learning.  Provide a place for their children to do homework.  If their child is having academic difficulties, parents should contact the bilingual parent representative on the school campus to join any parent teacher conference.  Further, teachers should try to find bilingual support personnel to make any parent contact beneficial for both parent and teacher.  Google translate does not solve the problem.

5.  Increase writing opportunities as much as possible.  Though practice does not necessarily make perfect, it does make better:)  ELLs need to write often on the content if their use of English grammar is to grow.  One approach is the inclusion of learning logs ("Today in geometry, I studied.......).  Done regularly, the ELL has a record of activities s/he successfully completed and this tool could assist him/her in taking a test.  Another quick writing activity (to assess for understanding) is the EXIT SLIP.  Give it 5 minutes before the period ends (or use them as admittance slips).  Great quick assessment that provides teacher with a clear picture of how well the ELLs and others understood the major components of the lesson.

Hope these suggestions help:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

NEW TO TEACHING ELLS? HERE IS YOUR SURVIVAL GUIDE:)

With more challenging curriculum to address in classes, teachers will need to have access to some easy to implement instructional techniques which will make demanding content less frustrating for ELLs. After all, they are still learning English while trying to learn content in English.  Knowing this, teachers will need to be both language and content teachers. 

Sounds a bit overwhelming?  Relax.  It is easy to carry out with planning.  In fact, what supports ELLs here will also aid native speakers who struggle with similar issues.  This article from the Alliance for Excellent Education lays out 6 key areas where language development must be addressed and offers ideas to implement them.

6 KEY STRATEGIES:

1.  vocabulary and language development--tie vocabulary to the content.  Vocabulary taught in isolation is highly ineffective.  That type of activity does not lead to schema building.
2.  guided interaction--scaffolding challenging reading materials/assignments is done here.  All 4 language skills should be used to enable ELLs (and others) to process the language demands of the lesson--both those of academic English and lesson content.  Teachers need to skillfully incorporate a variety of lesson driven activities to set students up to eventually do the final assessment activity before given independent practice (homework).  To further help ELLs master the content, bring in activities tied to the different learning styles.
3.  metacognition and authentic assessment--teachers must explicitly model thinking strategies.  Think-alouds on the teacher's part are highly effective here.  The teacher goes through the learning activity allowing students to "see" how one should process new information.  Ex.  teacher says, "Hmm.  I wonder building a moon base should be a world effort.  Well, I see from the article that the expense would be overwhelming for the US.  This might justify securing the support of the world community to make this happen.  I wonder how this could be arranged on the world stage. Maybe the US could..."
4.  explicit instruction--teachers must use direct instruction to show students how to navigate course materials.  For example, teachers would teach how to use context to gather meanings of unfamiliar words. 
5.  meaning-based context and universal themes--here teachers activate prior knowledge.  If students can build connections between their own lives and the content, they will do well in the lesson.  If the background knowledge is not there, teachers need to fill in the gaps.
6.  modeling, graphic organizers, and visuals--pull out the teacher toolkit.  Posters, visuals, videos, graphic organizers, mind maps, modeling, skits, diagrams, charts, graphs, videos, learning logs, reflection journals, etc.

Pages 4 and  5 provide excellent charts to guide teachers in implementing each of the 6 strategies.  LAMINATE them and keep them in an easily accessible place.

Great support for common core standards:)

6 PROVEN TEACHING STRATEGIES TO ACCELERATE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT


Denise


ELL TEACHER PROS