Supporting ELLs in Secondary in Using Informational Text

Though there are many ideas here, CUES QUESTIONS AND ADVANCED ORGANIZERS, this section is great prep for ELLs to survive in mainstream class with COMMON CORE.

For ELLs to survive in mainstream classes, they will need how to to use graphic organizers to glean key data from informational text.  They will need to know that not every word is of equal importance. Reading a textbook is not like reading a novel.  Different skills enter the picture here.  The ability to hone in on the main idea, key concepts, important academic vocabulary, etc. is the focus now.   The need to be able to use graphic organizers (see FREEOLOGY for a FREE list of MANY graphic organizers for all content areas) is a must for academic survival (i.e. earning a grade of B or higher).  ELLs will need to be taught how to use them and then be allowed to review, revise, and rewrite them as needed.  With each revision comes a clearer grasp of the academic content.

CUES--here is a vehicle that can be used to boost vocabulary.  The teacher or fellow cooperative group members provide cues to help the ELL make connections between the clue and the word.  The objective on the teacher's part in offering clues is building on the ELL's vocabulary base.  This is quite effective in boosting academic language in reading, writing, and speaking skills.  Secondly, when  asking questions, teachers need to avoid the YES/NO ones (lower end of Bloom's Taxonomy) and instead provide students with questions that necessitate thinking (ex.  judgment).  With challenging questions, ELLs start to experience success with textual analysis.

SETTING OBJECTIVES AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK  Students also must have clear objectives (What exactly will I be learning today?) and regular feedback (without it, students will not be ready to do the homework assignments).  Put the learning objective on the board.  Make students read it with you. Have them track you as you read.  Call on non-volunteers to read with you.  Go to activating prior knowledge activities to confirm that everyone is on the same page (if not, build background knowledge before proceeding to the lesson).  Then as you go through the lesson, monitor students as they interact with others to complete various academic tasks and provide explicit feedback as to how well they are doing something (or not).  "Nice job!" tells a student nothing.  "Nice job...Would you explain to me how you came to that conclusion?" shows you how well a student understood (or not).

There are many more videos and resources there.  I just pulled the high school ones:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

See COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS Delivered in REAL CLASSROOMS--High School

The TEACHING CHANNEL has a wealth of information on how to deliver the common core standards at all grade levels.  For this post, I pulled out the high school video (I will write about elementary and middle school later on this week) because this is the population who is most at risk of dropping out of high school.  This is the group that schools are struggling with to better support them in their academic pursuits.  If they are to have a good future in the business world, they need better skills than what school programs are currently delivering.

For a look at the dramatic transformations taking place in this new learning arena, study the clips of actual model classroom instruction in high schools in New York City.  The teachers selected have been working with the new standards for a year and are impressed with the results they are seeing in their students--all of their students including ELLs.  Notice the shift from straight literature to 70% informational text and 30% literature.  With this shift, teachers are better preparing students to do the work that will be expected of them in the work force or college.  Students will be able to interact with unfamiliar text and be in a position to derive meaning from it thanks to teachers spending time guiding them in unpacking knowledge from such materials. 

Other content teachers will also be addressing informational text reading in their classes as well thereby making every teacher a language teacher.   With every content teacher reinforcing key academic vocabulary (ex. predict, analyze, etc.), students will be better prepared to tackle more demanding (as in grade level and beyond) assignments.  Such challenges will offer English language learners and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds more life choices than are currently available to them. 

This is a major turning point in US education.  It is an exciting time to be an educator! 

COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS SECONDARY 

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Typing Practice With a Purpose! (Plus Many Other Activities)

SENTENCE-WORD GAMES offers a wide range of academic games in English, typing, reading, vocabulary, etc. One of their best games is the one on sentences. The student must type each letter that appears on the screen. Each letter is part of a word and each word part of a saying by a famous figure from history. Even more impressive is that a student can click on the author of the quote and get a detailed biography. Teachers could assign students to report on one author that resonates with them. For ELLs, a paragraph frame or note-taking graphic organizer could be provided so that students have some direction in gathering key data. With such supports, ELLs are far more likely to do well on the assessment.

Another feature of this site is that it is a good use of those extra few minutes from finishing a lesson to the ringing of the bell to change classes:) Don't let kids pick games. You do it to make sure that learning continues.

Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS