Bridging the Gap in Standardized Test Results in Math and Reading Can Be Done!

Many students tend to score higher on standardized math tests than reading tests.  English language learners, for example, tend to pass the math section of the California high school exit exam a year or two before they pass the reading/writing section.  However, similar gaps are present in the scores of English only students.  Why is the gap so wide?

As seen in this inforgraphic, READING, poverty plays a big role.  Students from poor households have less access to all the supports that their classmates from households of higher incomes have-books, library cards, iPads, laptops, etc.  Children from low income homes often times are from single family homes where the parents are struggling to just survive.  This scenario does not lend itself to building those crucial literacy skills needed to do well in school.  Parents here are busy just trying to make ends meet with low paying jobs.  Further, parents here often times have limited educations of their own so they are not in the best position to fully prepare their children for school without the support of pre-school and after school programs. 

Does this mean that such students are incapable of raising reading scores?  Of course not.  Within the classroom, teachers can build reading into every lesson. Common core calls for literacy to be covered in all disciplines at all grade levels.  So within the classroom, teachers can address reading skills development through free online reading resources.  Since most schools now have computer rooms or iPad carts for class use, such tools could be used to personalize the reading process by having students not only find reading material of interest to them, but also at an accessible reading level which can advance as they feel more comfortable with the reading process.  Also, when technology is involved, student interest rises.  So it makes sense to address the academic weakness through an instrument which excites students:)

Denise

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5 Tips For Teaching Close Reading for All Students (Especially English Language Learners)

With national standards sweeping the United States, teachers will be in the position of having to address the key reading skills their students will require to ensure success with more demanding reading materials in every content area subject and at every grade level. English language learners will be facing far more challenging academic tasks than in the past and teachers will require creative instructional approaches to support them in completing such activities.

Here are 5 tips for teaching close reading.  First of all, "text" covers a wide range of reading materials.  Think of newspapers, magazines, historical documents, science articles as well as text, paintings, photographs (create a pinterest account so that a wealth of incredibly varied photographs will be available with a click---I just started a free account under DENISE STEWART-TOOLS FOR TEACHERS and intend to use many of the items I have "pinned" in class next year).  Allow students to analyze items of interest to them with partners or small groups.  Within such settings, ELLs will have built in support in gathering meaning from the text in ways accessible to to them.

Make sure that the ELA standard being covered aligns with the reading material.   For example, if analysis is required, find material that addresses that standard.  If comparison contrast is the standard, find an historical figure and have students look at two speeches over a period of time on the same topic.  Have students look at the change of view and support it.

One great point here is to not forget to bring fun into the process.  The article mentions having students study an email from a friend and look for, say, nuances.  I like to bring in editorials of interest to them and have them consider additions to the editorial.  By the same token, students in teams could pose a fun counter-argument. 

Here is the infographic:)

Denise

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Great FREE Tool to Build Reading Fluency and Academic Vocabulary

Common core demands students build a strong background in academic vocabulary.  Though teachers do their best in trying deliver grade level lessons with the vocabulary demands which accompany them to all of their students, they sometimes feel overwhelmed in addressing those language needs of their long term English language learners who have a long history of academic failure. 

This post offers just one tool to add to the teacher tool kit-the CLOZE.  I have seen many online cloze generators and this still ranks number one on my list due to its price (FREE), ease of use, and friendly formats.  It can be use for any subject area and any grade level.  Teachers will have to save what they generate on their own computers since the site does not store what is created, but that is only a minor inconvenience:)

Below are the options available for selecting words to remove.  Note that the last one leaves the choice completely up to the teacher to decide on.

every words

articles

prepositions

link words

auxiliaries

wh- words

quantifiers

modals

let me choose

Further, with older students, why not have them create "quizzes" for their peers?  They would be exploring the best passage to use and the key academic vocabulary to select.  They must know what the words mean that they pick.  This provides practice with academically challenging vocabulary in an engaging activity which builds self-confidence.

Students might also find passages of interest to them and create cloze activities for fun for their classmates to tackle.  All of this builds a foundation in gathering word meaning from text-any text.

CLOZE GENERATOR

Denise

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ELLs Need to Learn HOW to Use Context Clues for Word Meanings in Informational Text

With class sizes of 30+, teachers sometimes have students go to dictionaries to locate meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary.  Though a dictionary does serve a purpose from time to time in developing vocabulary, it should never really be the first place a student turns to when s/he doesn't know what a word means.  Why?  Frequently, students are presented with several definitions for one word.  Not all the definitions equally fit the bill so to speak.  In fact, many English speakers are confused on which choice is correct and why so imagine what an English language learner must feel trying to process all this information in foreign language.

Good readers in any language use context to arrive at a workable definition of unknown words.  Will such results be a detailed as those found in the dictionary?  Probably not, but they will be close enough to continue reading with understanding.  After all, proficient readers build their vocabulary base this way all the time, and by doing so, they maintain their focus in doing their reading.  Such readers turn to a dictionary when they can't follow the context (not a frequent occurrence however). 

What about having students memorize random vocabulary words with the belief that such a practice leads to a richer deeper vocabulary base?  This process is the least successful.  Memorizing words outside of context is rarely, if ever, retained because this is not how good readers develop word knowledge.  Instead, teachers need to model how to use context clues to arrive at a working definition.  This is skill that will travel with them to university or to the workforce.  It is effective and efficient.

Below are three videos on how to teach this skill. 

TEACHING CONTEXT CLUES  This one seems to be aimed at students at the elementary school level.

HOW TO BE A WORD DETECTIVE  Here, nonsense words are the ones students work with in trying to following a story.  Dictionaries won't help here since the "words" are not real.  This is great because students can't run to the dictionary.  This may be aimed at middle school learners.

USING CONTEXT CLUES TO ARRIVE AT WORD CHOICE  Here, an older student audience is the target.  The techniques provided are ones that assist students in high stakes testing, reading informational text, reading newspapers, reading anything.

Such skills will support students in tackling the new common core standards:)

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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Set ELLs Up To Experience Success In ANY Lesson Through the Use of ANTICIPATION GUIDES

For students to benefit from a good lesson, they need to try to make connections to prior knowledge or life experiences which relate to the upcoming lesson. There are several ways to do this, but one of the most effective ones is the anticipation guide. 

With anticipation guides, students are provided with a series of 10+/- statements on a topic students will be studying.  Students must either AGREE with it or DISAGREE.  They do this quietly first.  Initially, it is not meant to be a partner activity.  Once the silent reading is complete, students go to the reading and check their answers.  They must note the page and paragraph number where they found their answers and be ready to defend it if other classmates disagree.  As a slight variation, I have had my students take their results and discuss them with a partner before we review the answers as a class.  For ELLs, this is time to practice defending their choices using academic language.

ANTICIPATION GUIDES  -- This site offers two samples - one in social studies on the Japanese internment camps in the US and the other in literature on The Odyssey by Homer.  Ideally, these guides should be created by classroom teachers since this is the only way to tailor them to the content and language levels of their students.  Also, anticipation guides should NEVER be graded.  The idea behind them is to build a student's confidence in reading core content materials.

Here is a clip of an anticipation guide activity in middle school ANTICIPATION GUIDES IN SCIENCE CLASS  This teacher does an exemplary job of using this tool to fully prepare his students to tackle academic text.  From the video, we can see that he has trained his students on the use of the guide.  With each one respecting the routine, it becomes a positive learning experience for all.

Denise Stewart
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COMMON CORE and NON-FICTION READING SKILLS--a Must Combination for ELLs!

How will ELLs master the art of reading non-fiction?  There are several mini-steps teachers will need to model and support ELLs in the process. These are steps that all teachers are fully familiar with since teachers have degrees and therefore probably mastered those skills as a means of surviving the demands of college/university assignments.  ELLs often times are not equipped to undertake such assignments because at the high school level, they generally arrive with gaps of several years in their school history.  Does this mean that they can't learn to do this?  Of course not.  They just need regular guided practice across all content areas (and Common Core focuses on this).

Now, what those necessary skills?  This short video clip highlights the WHAT.  It is a starting place in re-evaluating lesson plans covering non-fiction to make sure that ELLs are not left to their own devices  to attempt tasks with which they are unfamiliar.  Once students have enough regular practice in interacting with non-fiction in all their non-elective classes, they will their grades improve and their confidence build in tackling academics in any subject area:)

READING SKILLS FOR NON-FICTION

Denise

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FREE AND SIMPLE TO USE TEACHING TOOLS FOR ELLS AND EOS:)

Here are two more sites that should make your job a bit easier in creating materials to support your ELLs as well as your EOs:) Both are free as well.

TEACHER TOOLS covers all three levels of English proficiency: beginners, intermediates, and advanced. Here you can create not only the activities, but also the answer sheets. This definitely saves time for the teacher. All basic areas of grammar are covered as well as sentence word scrambles (practice for ELLs on word order within sentences) and paragraph organization (sentences need to be arranged in order to make a cohesive paragraph). All the teacher has to do is input the material to be learned. Another bonus here is that teachers can create assessments include multiple choice and true false tests! EOs who occasionally struggle with language would benefit from this as well.


CLOZE CREATOR is another favorite. This tool works with any grade level. Both ELLs and EOs can use it. Teachers can differentiate the assignment easily here by inputting reading passages of varying difficulty OR by using the same reading passage with a word bank for the ELLs but not for the EOs. Reading material from ANY CONTENT AREA can be used here. With this tool, teachers can boost academic vocabulary and strengthen reading skills. Reading academic textbooks might become a bit less overwhelming with time and the support of the teacher:)

I hope these two sites meet your needs:)

Denise

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