DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION & the English Language Learner:

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2 DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION & the English Language Learner: Best Practices to Use With Your Students (K-12) Jo Gusman

3 Forms in this book may be copied for use in the program for which this video/resource handbook was purchased. National Professional Resources, Inc. 25 South Regent Street, Port Chester, NY

4 Author Profile Jo Gusman is both an outstanding teacher of ESL/bilingual students and an outstanding presenter. She began her teaching career in 1974 as a bilingual education instructional assistant, and later became a Bilingual Education teacher. In 1981, her career led her to the nationally known Newcomer School in Sacramento, California, where Jo worked in a multilingual setting with refugee and immigrant non-english speaking children. There she developed her many Brain-Based ESL Strategies. Because of her extensive experience and exceptional work with English Language Learners (ELL), she has received numerous awards from organizations such as the National Hispanic School Board Association, California Reading Association, and the California Association for Bilingual Education. She has been featured on national television (NBC) in a five day series titled, The New Kids In Town. In addition, Jo has received Presidential and U.S. Department of Education recognition for her teaching excellence. Jo is the author of Practical Strategies for Accelerating the Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students, and Accelerating Your ESL Students Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Development, and Reading Fluency resource handbooks which participants receive at her Bureau of Education and Research seminars. She is a co-author of ACCESS: Building Literacy Through Learning, a program specifically designed for 5-8 grade English Language Learners, published by Great Source. In addition, she is featured in several videos such as, "Multiple Intelligences and the Second Language Learner," and Optimizing Intelligences: Thinking, Emotion and Creativity produced by National Professional Resources, Inc. Presently, Jo teaches Literacy and Curriculum courses at California State University, Sacramento, and at the Multiple Intelligences Institute at the University of California, Riverside. In addition, Jo is an educational consultant and founder of New Horizons In Education, Inc., a company devoted to meeting the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse student populations. Through her seminars and institutes, Jo shares her many ideas with educators, students, parents, and policy makers throughout the world. Her seminars are fast-moving, energetic, and focus on scores of practical ideas and materials participants can use immediately. Jo grew up in a family that experienced the challenges that farm working, non- English speaking families face. She truly understands the complexities and multiple variables that surround English Language Learners. Therefore, it is always her intention to provide educator participants with practical ideas, inspiration, and a vision that all students are highly intelligent and can be successful in all aspects of their lives, regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic level. 3

5 Acknowledgements Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light Albert Schweitzer I would like to thank all of the special people in my life that rekindle my light. My parents, Antonio and Carmen Gusman, who taught me to work hard, honor our culture and language, and most importantly, taught me the importance of serving those who feel they have no voice in our society. My husband, Scott Anthony, who inspires me daily with his faith, patience, loving presence, and unwavering support. Laura Cole, our assistant, who supports Scott and me, with her creativity, organization, honesty, and friendship. Bob, Helene and Angela Hanson who from the first moment that we met, cheer me on, mentor me, and challenge me to stretch and grow. Joseph Casbarro for his supportive guidance throughout the production of this video. The entire National Professional Resources, Inc. staff who helps create the creative and useful tools that empower educators world-wide. To all of the students, teachers, and administrators in this video who generously gave their time, ideas, and inspiration. These ideas will rekindle many children s and teachers lights around the world. 4

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 The Viewers Guide Before-During After Viewing the Video Process 9 Preparing To Watch The Video Note Taking Guide 11 During The Video Viewing Note Taking Guide 12 After The Video Viewing Implementation Plan 13 The Affective Filter 15 The Language Buddy Club 16 Authentic English Language Development Opportunities 18 Comprehensible Input 22 The Language Signal 23 Paragraph Draw 25 Foundation-Framework-Tools 27 Jo s Recommended Bilingual/Multicultural/ESL Web sites 29 Jo s Recommended Assessment, Bilingualism, Policy Issues, Second Language Acquisition 35 Differentiated Instruction 43 Jo s Recommended Brain Research and Differentiated Instruction Web Sites 44 Jo s Recommended Brain Based and Differentiated Instruction Articles, Books, Videos, Audio-Cassettes 50 Multiple Intelligences 55 Multiple Paths To Success - MI Lesson Planning Framework 57 Multiple Intelligences Resources 58 5

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8 INTRODUCTION Teachers today are being asked to read a plethora of education mandates, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, the Reading First Initiative, and their state content area standards. They are expected to comprehend the complexity of these mandates, and develop curricular and instructional frameworks and delivery systems that will lead to improved academic student performance. Simultaneously, rapidly changing demographics in American schools, and an overwhelming number of recommended best practices appear to have collided with the regulatory nature of state and federal education guidelines. These complex regulations, implementation guidelines, and corresponding curriculum and instruction programs have placed an incredible amount of responsibility on our teachers. Teachers confide in me when they come to my seminars, or when I am working with them in their classroom, that they feel overwhelmed. During this time of opportunity and challenge in American education, I believe we must all take a deep breath and take to heart Robert Browning s guiding words, Less is more. Using the less is more philosophy, I would like to offer two recommendations that will lower your stress during these complex times. My first recommendation is to take the time to mindfully read the No Child Left Behind Act, the Reading First Initiative, and any information on your own state content area standards. Personally investing 1-2 hours reading up on mysterious things called initiatives, standards, mandates, and regulations will empower you with knowledge and comprehension, and will remove any fears, confusion, or misunderstandings, that many times paralyze us and create mental blocks. I highly recommend the following web sites to use for your research. I am recommending web sites that will provide you with research-based information, and best of all, practical ideas you can use tomorrow. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND INFORMATION 1. U.S. Department of Education - Order the free Teacher s Tool Kit and also A Parents Guide for each of your students parents. 2. National Conference of State Legislatures Child.htm 3. American Association of School Administrators 4. National Association of State Boards of Education 5. Free teaching and learning resources from more than 35 federal agencies 7

9 READING FIRST INITIATIVE AND LANGUAGE AND LITERACY INFORMATION 1. Read Write Think A very useful website hosted by the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English. You can find research-based lesson plans and resources to help you meet the English Language Arts standards The National Reading Panel Provided President Bush and the U.S. Department of Education with the research that ultimately became the Reading First Initiative, which is part of the No Child Left Behind Act National Institute for Literacy 4. International Reading Association 5. Education World 25 great teaching ideas from 25 great teachers To provide you with additional support, we have created our idea-filled video titled, Differentiated Instruction for the English Language Learner: Best Practices To Use with Your Students (K-12). It is our intention to help you focus on some of the research-based theories, principles and strategies that have been proven successful in educating English Language Learners. In addition, we hope to help you gain a deeper understanding of differentiated instruction and the powerful implications this instructional model has for providing our English Learners with comprehensible content area instruction, that in turn will lead to their academic success, and will help you meet many of the No Child Left Behind requirements. I have collaborated with the outstanding teachers, administrators, and students in this video to provide you with the sights and sounds of the many ways educators create learning environments where diversity and differentiation are understood and respected daily, and where educators are meeting their states rigorous content area standards. Accompanying this video is a Resource Handbook filled with practical, research-based conceptual frameworks, models, lesson planning formats, and resources that will help you meet the needs of your culturally and linguistically diverse population in your school. Great success to you all, Jo Gusman 8

10 RESOURCE HANDBOOK AS A VIEWER S GUIDE guide: 1. To show somebody the way. 2. One who leads the way, directs, or advises. 3. A guidebook. 4. Something serving to indicate or direct. 5. To direct the course. Webster s Dictionary Effective teaching research recommends that teachers implement an instructional process that moves the learner from passively listening to information, to actively participating and ultimately to meaningful application. With this in mind, we present this Resource Handbook that provides guiding questions, note taking guides, and a personal Game Plan worksheet that will ensure the ideas you are learning in this video will be applied in your classroom and school. BEFORE VIEWING THE VIDEO Read the video description on the video cover. Ask yourself the following questions. You may wish to record your responses on the form supplied. 1. What is your personal definition of the term differentiated instruction? 2. What do you know about differentiated instruction? Have you attended any seminars, read any books or articles on this topic? 3. Describe 3 things you would like to learn about differentiated instruction. 4. How might an instructional framework like differentiated instruction help you meet the needs of your English Language Learners? Share your predictions. 5. What do you hope to learn from this video? Write 3 goals you hope to meet. DURING THE VIDEO VIEWING Use my Preview-Reflect-Review-Implement Process as you view this video. 1. PREVIEW -Watch the entire video without stopping the video to discuss. Mindfully study all of the practical ideas being shared by your fellow teachers. 2. REFLECT - Use your Note Taking Guide and write in your thoughts, insights, affirmations, and questions. Write down the things that you already do that provide your students with differentiated instruction. Identify the new ideas you intend to implement. 3. REVIEW - Play the video again. After viewing the entire video, take some time to process all the things you learned by: re-reading the notes you made on your Note Taking Guide, discussing your thoughts with your colleagues, or looking at some web sites I recommend in this Resource Handbook 4. IMPLEMENT - Now it is time to make a commitment to yourself. Revisit the 3 goals you wrote before you viewed the video. Reflect on how you plan to use the information you learned from this video. 9

11 AFTER THE VIDEO VIEWING 1. It s time to develop your action plan! Use my Implementation Plan to help you move from simply watching the video to implementation in your own classroom. 2. Visit some of the recommended web sites to get lesson plans, activities, materials, and other resources that will inspire, support, and nurture you as you create a Differentiated Instruction classroom for your English Language Learners. 3. Monitor your students progress using questionnaires, interviews, and written comments. During a Class Meeting, ask students to share their thoughts about the Differentiated Instruction activities and processes you are using. Students may draw, act out, or write their responses. 4. Monitor any changes in student achievement, motivation, and comprehension. Share these changes with parents, fellow colleagues, and administrators. 5. Give yourself a big hand! Orchestrate a Learning Celebration party where you all celebrate your successes. HAVE A GREAT TIME!! 10

12 prepare: To make ready in advance for a particular purpose, event, or occasion. To get ready. Webster s Dictionary REFLECTION QUESTION 1. Presently, what is your personal definition of the term, differentiated instruction? MY RESPONSES TO THE REFLECTION QUESTIONS 2. Using an internet search engine such as GOOGLE, find the research-based definition for the term, differentiated instruction. Write that definition in the response box. 3. Compare your definition with the research-based definition. How are they different? How are they the same? Write your thoughts in the reflection/response box. 4. Describe 3 things you would like to learn about differentiated instruction. 5. How might an instructional framework like differentiated instruction help you meet the needs of your English Language Learners? 6. What do you hope to learn from this video? Write 3 goals you hope to meet. 11

13 DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS I LEARNED IN THIS VIDEO MY THOUGHTS

14 3 THINGS I LEARNED FROM THIS VIDEO 2 PRACTICAL IDEAS I WILL IMPLEMENT DAILY IN MY CLASSROOM 1 IDEA I AND FELLOW STAFF MEMBERS WILL IMPLEMENT SCHOOL-WIDE 13

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16 Dr. Stephen Krashen s Affective Filter Hypotheses suggests that an individual s emotions can directly interfere or assist in the learning of a new language. According to Krashen, learning a new language is different from learning other subjects because it requires public practice. Speaking out in a new language can result in anxiety, embarrassment, and anger. These negative emotions can create a kind of filter that blocks the learner s ability to process new or difficult words. Classrooms that are fully engaging, non-threatening, and affirming of a child s native language and cultural heritage can have a direct effect on the student s ability to learn by increasing motivation and encouraging risk taking. Source: Reed, Bracken, & Railsback, Jennifer. Strategies and Resources for Mainstream Teachers of English Language Learners, Bracken Reed. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Dr. Krashen hypothesizes that when an English Language Learner perceives threat, their Affective Filter is raised, thus blocking input from reaching the language acquisition centers. He recommends that teachers lower the affective filter by fostering a spirit of mutual respect, raising expectations, and creating a safe environment in which the student s primary language and culture are valued and respected. Following are some practical ideas for lowering your English Language Learners Affective Filter. Have you ever asked your English speaking students to help an ELL? If you think about it, we many times send the English speaking tutor off without training or materials. The Language Buddy Club idea helps you to properly prepare your English speaking students, to assist you, and provide additional support to your English Language Learners. The Authentic English Language Development Opportunities is a list of real-life school jobs that require authentic oral language practice. These activities promote self-esteem, active participation, and help your English Language Learners feel included in their school community. 15

17 THE LANGUAGE BUDDY CLUB Invite your English speaking students who want to assist the English Language Learners to join this honorary club. The Language Buddy Club members are assigned an ELL to assist in the classroom, on the playground, cafeteria, bus, etc. Each Language Buddy receives a special t-shirt, button, or sweatshirt that identifies him/her as a Language Buddy. The Language Buddy Club is a great self-esteem booster for all students. My students loved this time where they could be of service to their limited and non-english speaking friends! LANGUAGE BUDDY CLUB MINI WORKSHOPS Provide your students with mini workshops on second language acquisition strategies. This will empower them to do an effective job when they are helping their ELL buddy with a classroom assignment or out on the playground. THE LANGUAGE BUDDY CLUBHOUSE Set up a Language Buddy Clubhouse, or special area in your classroom where the Language Buddies can independently find the school supplies and instructional materials they need to work with their Language Buddy. 16

18 LANGUAGE BUDDY CLUBHOUSE SUPPLY LIST 1. sketch pads, construction paper, lined paper 2. colored markers, colored pencils 3. picture cards 4. math manipulatives 5. content area resource books 6. audio-cassettes, cassette player 7. children s books 8. ESL teacher idea books so that the upper grade students can get ideas DESIGN AND DESCRIBE YOUR LANGUAGE BUDDY CLUB AND CLUBHOUSE From: Jo Gusman, Practical Strategies For Accelerating The Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students,

19 AUTHENTIC ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES JO GUSMAN Assign the following jobs to your English Language Learners. Create buttons for your students to wear when they are serving in the following official roles. In fulfilling these roles, your students will use their primary and new language, in natural language learning contexts. OFFICIAL MORNING GREETERS Language Structure: Greetings Invite bilingual caregivers, seniors, community members, bilingual business leaders, and others to serve as English language models for your English Language Learners. The adult models appropriate English greetings as your students actively listen to the words, and pay attention to the body language that accompanies those words. Together they can now greet each individual that enters into your school. OFFICIAL BUS GREETERS Language Structure: Greetings My friend, Dr. Michelle Borba, recommends that all schools should be Cheers Schools, where everybody knows your name and everybody s glad you came. Assign your ESL students to the bus loading and unloading area of your school. LANGUAGE Ask the students STRUCTURE: to greet their fellow GREETINGS students as they get off their school buses. Teach them greetings such as, Good morning, how are you today, Good morning. What is your name? My name is. 18

20 OFFICIAL SCHOOL CONCIERGE Language Structure: Question and Answer Have you noticed that students ask the same questions each day? Instead of you answering all of these questions, delegate this job to your students. Just like at fine hotels, a School Concierge can answer all of the students questions about school procedures and daily activities. Strategically place some desks and chairs around the school, where your School Concierges can sit and take questions from students, parents, caregivers and visitors. The School Concierges are given School Information binders that provide them with answers to commonly asked questions such as, Are they selling popcorn today? How much will it cost? This is a great opportunity for your students to further develop their primary and English language, while at the same time, using a variety of problem solving skills. Give each student an Official School Concierge button. The concierges should be at each entrance, outside the school office, inside the cafeteria and library. Think about having a couple of Official Classroom Concierges that would sit outside your classroom each morning to answer classroom procedure and activity questions. OFFICIAL TRANSLATORS Language Structure: Primary Language Development We often solicit the assistance of our bilingual students when we want to communicate with a student who does not speak English. Let s make this an OFFICIAL classroom role! Whenever you are assigned a new English Language Learner, greet them with a Welcome To Our Classroom Gift Bag. This special bag contains their school supplies and a special button that says OFFICIAL CLASSROOM TRANSLATOR. Using a Sharpie pen, write the student s name, primary language, and new language they will learn. Whenever you need translation assistance simply say, I need an official (identify language) translator. Please help me explain (content area concept or skill, procedure, etc. ) to 19

21 (name of student(s). This role promotes pride, fosters a positive self esteem, and helps students feel like an important part of the classroom community. BUTTON EXAMPLE OFFICIAL TRANSLATOR NAME PRIMARY LANGUAGE ENGLISH Here are some additional roles you can implement at your school: * OFFICIAL SCHOOL/CLASSROOM NEW LANGUAGE TOUR GUIDES * OFFICIAL CAFETERIA HOSTS/HOSTESSES * OFFICIAL BILINGUAL CONFLICT MANAGERS * OFFICIAL BILINGUAL SCHOOL BUS BUDDIES * OFFICIAL BILINGUAL OFFICE ASSISTANTS * OFFICIAL PARENT/CAREGIVER WAITING ROOM HOSTS - Set up a small waiting area in your school office. Provide the parents with bilingual magazines, books, videos, community information, and refreshments. This gives your clients the clear message that you are glad they have come to register their children at your school. Have fun creating a language-rich learning environment! From: Jo Gusman, Practical Strategies For Accelerating The Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students,

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23 Dr. Stephen Krashen (1981) refers to comprehensible input as the understandable linguistic input required for successful second language acquisition. He suggests that comprehensible input, to be effective, must have the following characteristics: 1. Context clues such as experiences, situations, concrete referents. 2. Paralinguistic clues such as gestures, facial expressions and total body language. 3. Linguistic modifications such as intonation, repetition, paraphrasing, reduction in rate of speech, syntactic and vocabulary simplifications. 4. Structures and vocabulary already known to the student, together with some language not yet acquired is referred to as input + 1. Dr. Krashen recommends that we take student s current level of language competence ( i ) and increase the input by introducing language input which contains new language structures that are just beyond the student s current level of competence ( + 1 ). 5. Culturally relevant and meaningful content which is enough to connect to students prior knowledge. Following you will find some practical, easy to implement ideas for making your input comprehensible during your directed instruction time. 22

24 THE LANGUAGE SIGNAL Do you remember taking a foreign language, where the professor spoke in that language the whole class period? Did the professor ever go beyond language practice exercises, and move you to a highly conceptual content area lesson? Did you ever feel left behind, frustrated, overwhelmed in that foreign language environment? Welcome to the life of your English Language Learners (ELL). When I realized I sounded like Charlie Brown s teacher during my content area lessons, I started to mindfully observe my students responses to me, and the content I was asking them to process. I discovered that my ELL were overwhelmed! Their response to my highly conceptual lessons was frustration, fear, headaches, anger, and ultimately they would tune me out. To help them, I started using what I call, The Language Signal. The Language Signal is a new pattern and program for the brain that alerts the ELL to important information coming their way. Your Language Signal should have exaggerated physical, verbal, and visual cues that you consistently use each time you present a key point in a lesson. My language signal was, Get ready! Key point number 1. I would use my hands to JO GUSMAN, NEW HORIZONS IN EDUCATION, INC. 23

25 number off the key points in the lesson. I would state the key point, then draw, show a visual, guide students through a hands-on activity, or have them observe a demonstration. My students received a verbal and visual cue from me that let them know what was important in the lesson. This technique helped me make my input more comprehensible to my English Language Learners. 1. Be consistent. Create a signal 2. Use lots of body that you only use during language and content area lessons. visuals to help you communicate your key points. LANGUAGE SIGNAL KEY POINTS 3. Less is more! Present only 3-5 key points per lesson. From: Jo Gusman, Practical Strategies For Accelerating The Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students,

26 PARAGRAPH DRAW Our English Language Learners many times are not able to read the English language, but they understand when it is read aloud to them. Use this pre-reading process to help your students comprehend a story or chapter in a content-area textbook. 1. Give each student the Paragraph Draw worksheet. 2. Teacher reads aloud one paragraph at a time while students actively listen and visualize. 3. Students write the number of the paragraph the teacher is reading aloud in each box of their Paragraph Draw worksheet. 4. Students draw a picture of the main idea(s) for each paragraph in the corresponding boxes. Teacher checks the students drawings to make sure they correspond with main idea read aloud. From: Jo Gusman, Practical Strategies For Accelerating The Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students,

27 PARAGRAPH DRAW PARAGRAPH # PARAGRAPH # PARAGRAPH # PARAGRAPH # PARAGRAPH # PARAGRAPH # From: Jo Gusman, Practical Strategies For Accelerating The Literacy Skills and Content Learning of Your ESL Students,

28 THE 3 BUILDING BLOCKS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND BILITERACY PROGRAMS FOR YOUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS Have you had days when you feel like you are not meeting the diverse needs of your English Language Learners? Do you remember that day when you put your students on the bus at the end of the day and felt like you had met your culturally and linguistically diverse students emotional and cognitive needs? I have come to the conclusion that when I felt like I was not meeting the needs of my English Language Learners, it was because I was only focusing on English as a Second Language (ESL) language lessons. My primary focus therefore, was on moving the students from one language lesson to the other, and then testing them to see if they had moved to a higher level of language proficiency. On those days when I felt like I was meeting the needs of my students, it was because I had mindfully attended to all of their linguistic, academic, and emotional needs. As teachers of English Language Learners, we all want to meet the complex needs of our students. From my experience as a K-12 grade classroom teacher, and as an educational consultant to many schools and school districts, I have concluded that an effective language acquisition and bi-literacy program has three components. They are foundation, framework, and tools. These three components must be in place in your classroom, throughout your school, and district-wide in order to provide a researchbased and comprehensive program that will lead to academic success for your English Language Learners. A SOLID FOUNDATION: We all need a solid foundation to build upon when creating our personal and professional lives. In our own core, or foundation, are the beliefs and principles we live by. Likewise, the language acquisition and bi-literacy programs we build for our English Language Learners also need a solid foundation. As you build an effective program for your students, begin the process by asking yourself, fellow staff members, and district policy makers the following questions: 27

29 How well do we know and understand our new clientele? This is a time to assess the amount of information we have about our students culture. Without a deep understanding of our students culture, we cannot provide them a meaningcentered, culturally relevant context for learning. What do we believe about language? Begin by examining research on language acquisition, bilingualism, language policy, and literacy philosophies. Equip yourself with information about your students primary language - the graphophonic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic cueing systems. This is a time to reflect upon your own beliefs about language instruction, and to understand that our personal belief systems about language influence the types of language programs we would be drawn to, support, and ultimately adopt and use in our classrooms and district. Understanding your personal beliefs and your students primary language system will help you avoid making mistakes as you teach your students how to read and write in English. A STRONG FRAMEWORK: According to Webster s dictionary a framework is, A set of ideas, principles, agreements, or rules. The question to ask ourselves at this point is, What theoretical frameworks are we using to help us make curriculum and instruction decisions? Meeting the bilingual, bicultural and bicognitive needs of our English Language Learners requires that we mindfully identify and select specially designed instructional frameworks that were developed for English Language Learners. Re-examine the curriculum development, lesson planning, lesson delivery, and assessment frameworks you are presently using at your school. Were these frameworks developed for culturally and linguistically diverse populations? If the answer is no, then it is time to retire these inappropriate frameworks and select those that would help you deliver linguistically and culturally relevant differentiated instruction. RESEARCH-BASED TOOLS: What are the most effective strategies, processes, and skill development techniques to use with our English Language Learners? Not every best practice that is recommended to you is based on bi-literacy research, or was created with the English Language Learner as the primary focus. As a staff, seek out only those tools in reading instruction, content area, and assessment whose research base is bilingualism, second language acquisition, and bicognition. The following recommended resources and web sites will help you find the best tools to use with your English Language Learners. 28