Developing & delivering lessons with overt language objectives

Transcription

1 A SCOE Publicatio, Jauary/February 2009 Resource Developig & deliverig lessos with overt laguage objectives At a recet professioal developmet sessio held at the Sooma Couty Office of Educatio (SCOE), teachers voiced frustratio at the difficulty of addressig the double challege facig their secod-laguage learers: acquisitio of Eglish ad accelerated learig of grade-level Today s teachers academic cotet. Although they have a variety must all develop of istructioal strategies i their toolkits, the teachers felt that their studets were t makig expertise as laguage sufficiet progress. These teachers uderstood that differetiatig istructio was key, but how could lessos to iclude a laguage focus they pipoit their studets eeds? Where could they fid clear guidace o providig lessos that would advace studets laguage acquisitio? What modificatios did they eed to make i their cotet lessos to help these secod-laguage learers? What is Eglish Laguage Developmet (ELD) really, ad how should they teach it? Sooma Couty teachers are ot aloe i facig these challeges. Schools ad districts across the coutry are seeig icreased diversity i their classrooms, icludig greater umbers of Eglish learers. As a result, more ad more teachers are takig a careful look at what their studets kow ad do t kow, the tryig teachers ad pla their This Aimig High Resource brief is part of a iitiative to boost the achievemet of Eglish learers. The publicatio was developed by the Sooma Couty Office of Educatio; Suzae Gedey, editor.

2 2 Aimig High RESOURCE to determie what s eeded to move them toward becomig proficiet Eglish speakers who are academically equivalet to their peers. The eed to modify programs, curriculum, ad istructio has spurred some teachers ito actio. Oe pioeerig group of 65 educators has bee meetig over a period of moths as part of a Sooma Couty Office of Educatio professioal developmet iitiative kow as the Eglish Learer Collaborative. With a shared goal of improvig istructio for secod-laguage learers, these teachers are learig from classroom-experieced EL specialists ad from each other. Iitially their focus was o istructioal strategies, but soo they ad the Collaborative orgaizers recogized that strategies aloe were t eough. The teachers really eeded to re-purpose their lessos with a laguage focus, the pla istructio ad select strategies to meet the specific learig goals they had set for their studets. Focusig o laguage whe plaig lessos Research tells us that whe istructioal activities have a specific purpose, more meaigful learig occurs which is why most teachers are taught to write lesso plas as part of their early traiig. But as experieced teachers prepare for the may lessos they deliver each day ad each week, they ofte fid that the lesso pla format they leared i traiig is too detailed. A more commo practice is to cosult a pacig caledar, teacher mauals, ad other supportig resources to pla lessos a week at a time. Ufortuately, carefully defied learig objectives are ofte missig from these shorteed lesso plas. Every lesso must have learig objectives. Clearly, a cotet lesso has objectives based o academic stadards. Whether those objectives are writte dow or assumed, teachers geerally kow what they are. What s less clear, however, are the learig objectives for secod-laguage learers. Studets who are strugglig to access the laguage through which the cotet is delivered eed istructio that has laguage objectives. Ad those laguage objectives must be folded ito both cotet lessos ad laguage lessos. Teachers i the Eglish Learer Laguage objectives Collaborative ca vary widely have bee experimetig depedig o the with a ew laguage proficiecy format for this kid of lesso of the target plaig. May have adapted the studets ad their process to their developmetal age ow lesso pla shorthad, but the key idea they are implemetig is to purposefully develop ad deliver lessos with overt laguage objectives. Their lesso plaig process begis with determiig the purpose of the lesso, which may be cotet-focused, laguage-focused, or both. I the same way that lessos have bee plaed traditioally, the teachers idetify the compoet parts of the istructio they will provide. For the laguage portio of the lesso, they specify the laguage form that is, the grammatical structure of words or seteces ad the laguage fuctio i.e., the laguage purpose or thikig process that they wat studets to master. Next, the teachers idetify the specific stadards their lesso will address, icludig the Eglish Laguage Developmet (ELD) stadards, correlatig grade-level Eglish-Laguage Arts (ELA) stadards, ad ay other cotet stadards that are applicable to the lesso. Key vocabulary words that will be taught are also listed o the lesso plaig form. Brady Raymod, a teacher ad celdt coordiator i the Roselad School District, prepared a ELD lesso for kidergarte studets usig this plaig process. She calls her lesso Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf after the book by Lois Ehlert she ll read to her studets. She has idetified sigular ad plural ad verb usage as the laguage forms for her lesso. She ll teach these forms as the kidergarters lear the laguage fuctio of classifyig ad explaiig how may. The vocabulary for this lesso icludes simple words for thigs i cotiued o page 4

3 Closig the gap for Eglish Learers 3 Sample lesso pla format for a ELD lesso Grade/Title Grade 2, Irregular verbs Proficiecy levels Itermediate to early advaced Laguage form Past/preset tese of irregular verbs Laguage fuctio Express actio ELD stadard ELA stadard Itermediate Produce idepedet writig that is uderstood whe read, but may iclude icosistet use of stadard grammatical forms. Early advaced Produce idepedet writig with cosistet use of stadard grammatical forms. 1.3 Writte Covetios: Idetify ad correctly use various parts of speech, icludig ous ad verbs, i writig ad speakig. Laguage objective Studets will be able to write seteces usig the past ad preset tese form of irregular verbs to compare historical actios to today. I the past they, but ow we. Vocabulary Past, preset Ate/eat, wet/go, had/have, sat/sit Gettig ad keepig studets egaged Itroduce past ad preset, give examples, ad have studets tell whether specific icidets i their lives are i the past or preset. Itroduce a book o historical Thaksgivig through a picture walk, explaiig that the boy is i the preset, but thikig about the past. Have studets idetify whether pictures are i the past or preset. Check for uderstadig by listeig to choral ad idividual oral resposes. Practice, practice, practice Set expectatio that we will use irregular verbs today. Itroduce setece frame ad review graphic orgaizer (Bridge Map). Model the setece frame I the past they ate acors, but ow we eat mashed potatoes ad how to use the Bridge Map. Have parters complete setece frame, the reverse roles. Have studets share ideas with the whole class, usig the frame writte o the board ad ate/eat o the Bridge Map. Repeat with wet/go, had/have, sat/sit. Check for uderstadig by observig, checkig i with parters. Itegratio through speakig ad writig Break studets ito proficiecy groupigs to write seteces usig frames ad the irregular verbs o the Bridge Map. Work with Early Itermediate group util they are ready to write their seteces. Check for uderstadig by moitorig ad observig studets as they complete seteces. Demostrate proficiecy Itermediate Write seteces with the help of the teacher, followig the modeled setece frame. Read fiished seteces to parters ad/or the teacher. Early Advaced Follow the model frame to write at least four seteces idepedetly.

4 4 Aimig High RESOURCE ature: leaf, tree, squirrel, seeds, plat, root. This lesso for itermediate ad early advaced Eglish learers addresses two ELD stadards. Studets at the itermediate level will be learig to make themselves uderstood whe speakig Eglish (although they may make radom laguage errors). Early advaced studets will focus o speakig clearly, correctly, ad comprehesively, usig stadard Eglish grammar. With this framework, Raymod formulates laguage objectives for her lesso. She writes the objectives i terms of what her studets will be learig or doig: Studets will be able to classify pictures as oe or more tha oe. Studets will be able to use the sigular ad plural forms of to be i setece frames: There is oe. There are may. Laguage objectives ca vary widely depedig o the laguage proficiecy of the target studets ad their developmetal age. Thus, a itermediate Eglish learer i the primary grades will require a very differet laguage lesso tha a immediate-level high school Detectig laguage objectives Plaig laguage objectives is t always a simple, straight-forward process i fact, you could say that it takes a bit of detective work. With the Eglish Laguage Developmet stadards i had, try aswerig these questios to help guide the developmet of overt laguage objectives: What laguage forms are studets strugglig with? studet. I cotrast to the kidergarte example above, a laguage objective for a itermediate high school studet might be to read seteces aloud, correctly idetifyig ad prooucig all verb teses. I the lesso plas developed by teachers i the Eglish Learer Collaborative, laguage objectives are framed i what they ve termed the SWBAT format that is, Studets Will Be Able To Describe a photograph usig adjectives. Persuade their parters usig modals (would, could, should). Quiz each other usig who, what, whe, where, ad why questios. Predict what will happe i a sciece experimet usig future tese, the explai the results i past tese. Use academic mathematical vocabulary to explai the steps for reducig fractios. The articulatio of laguage objectives has ofte bee a missig compoet i lesso plaig, says Patty Diee, director of Eglish Laguage Learer Services at SCOE ad oe of the coordiators of the Collaborative. Yet, these teachers are discoverig that establishig clear, studet-cetered laguage objectives helps focus their istructio. It also allows them to What laguage fuctios do they eed to access cotet learig? What gaps most eed to be filled? What will icrease their fluecy? What will help prepare studets for the ext proficiecy level? u Roselad Elemetary School kidergarte studets Alejadra Ruiz, Sebastia Gozalez, ad Litzy Ariza practice classifyig objects as sigular ad plural, the use the words i setece frames: There is oe cow. There is oe shirt. There are may boots.

5 Closig the gap for Eglish Learers 5 begi their lessos by tellig studets exactly what they ll be learig. This is importat, says Diee, because research has show that studets experiece greater success whe they kow the learig expectatios at the oset of lessos. Teachers should always state orally ad i writig what the objectives are ad how istructioal activities cotribute to that learig. Teachers of Eglish learers, especially, must be very explicit i developig purposeful, overtly stated lesso objectives. This tells studets where they re headed ad prevets them from waderig aimlessly dow a istructioal path with o idea of the purpose or expected destiatio. Providig opportuities to practice Whe studets are learig a ew laguage, they eed may opportuities to practice. Through practice, laguage structures ad vocabulary are assimilated ad studets ca become fluet. This meas that, to be effective, lessos with laguage objectives must iclude the time ad structures for studets to use the laguage they are learig. Too ofte, however, Eglish learers sped oly miutes per day i academic talk. So, a key strategy for teachers i the Eglish Learer Collaborative is to icorporate a sigificat amout of practice time ito their laguage-focused lessos. There are may ways to provide laguage practice. Structured parter ad group work, for example, ca give every studet the opportuity to use target words ad laguage forms. Choral resposes, thik-pair-share, setece strips, ad sortig iformatio/words usig graphic orgaizers are other commo practice structures. Setece frames are frequetly used to guide ad scaffold laguage practice. They are especially effective because they embed practice ito a lesso ad are easily adapted to varied levels of proficiecy perfect for differetiatig istructio. For this reaso, teachers i the Collaborative are icorporatig setece frames i all their laguage-focused lessos ad usig them for guided practice with studets. For example, begiig studets learig adjectives might use a simple setece frame like this: I see a (adjective) fish. Ad they might repeatedly use this frame to lear a few ew words ad to practice hearig, sayig, readig, or writig those words. For studets with itermediate laguage proficiecy, the teacher could develop a loger, more complex setece frame, oe that requires two adjectives joied by ad. For example, I see a ad fish i the water. The frame for advaced studets would use a eve more complex setece: The photograph has a, fish i a eviromet. The followig setece frames, which feature modals, could be used to help secodary studets at the itermediate to advaced level lear the laguage fuctio of persuasio. Frame Seteces Frame Seteces should because. You should eat vegetables because they are good for you. I should coserve water because there is a drought. The federal govermet should help the auto idustry because it would be good for the ecoomy. could, but that would You could always eat at a fast food restaurat, but that would ot provide a balaced, healthy diet. I could leave the spriklers o all ight, but that would oly waste water. The govermet could help the auto idustry, but that would make the federal deficit bigger. Whe providig practice opportuities i their lessos, teachers should remember that studets eed practice i all laguage domais listeig, speakig, readig, ad writig. Setece frames provide a effective startig place for guided practice, but laguagefocused lessos should also iclude strategies ad structures for extedig laguage learig through both speakig ad writig.

6 6 Aimig High RESOURCE ELD stadards are ot like cotet stadards Eglish Laguage Developmet (ELD) stadards are ofte called o-ramps to the highway that lead studets to the Eglish-Laguage Arts stadards. The ELD stadards defie what studets should kow or be able to do i order to progress toward grade-level Eglish laguage skills. ELD stadards are ot writte i the same maer as the Eglish- Laguage Arts stadards. They re based o broad descriptios of the five Eglish proficiecy levels that cross all grade levels ad are ot specific to the lexico, sytax, rules, ad structures of Eglish withi these bads of proficiecy. That s because studets withi the proficiecy bads may have very differet istructioal eeds. For example, early itermediate Eglish learers i the primary grades will require very differet istructio tha early immediate studets i middle school, sice they differ so sigificatly i their fuctioal use of laguage. u Checkig for uderstadig Whe developig ad deliverig lessos to meet the eeds of Eglish learers, a teacher s goal is to: Get ad keep studets egaged. Provide opportuities for studets to practice laguage usage. Exted learig through multiple speakig ad writig activities. Advace studet proficiecy. Assess studet learig to determie if objectives were met. Oe strategy that greatly stregthes laguagefocused lessos is frequet checkig for uderstadig. This ca be as simple as careful listeig to studets oral resposes, movig from table to table to check writte work, moitorig pair-share ad group work, ad askig questios to ascertai studets level of comprehesio. Teachers should always icorporate checkig for uderstadig strategies i their lesso plas. Checkig for uderstadig must be doe throughout a lesso, ot just at the coclusio ad the learig of studets at all levels of proficiecy should be checked. If studets are ot uderstadig, the teacher must re-teach, provide more practice opportuities, or exted the lesso. I some istaces, lessos will eed to be modified to develop studet uderstadig. Checkig for uderstadig should also ecompass the idea of correctig misuderstadigs ad icorrect laguage usage. This is particularly importat because whe Eglish learers do t lear laguage correctly ad cotiue to make the same mistakes, it s harder for them to acquire proper usage. For istace, if a studet cosistetly says he istead of she ad is ot corrected, that studet may ever lear to use these words properly. The fial compoet of checkig for uderstadig is providig a formal assessmet activity at the coclusio of the lesso. This assessmet should give studets the opportuity to demostrate proficiecy i what they have just leared. Whe some or all of the lesso objectives are laguage related, the assessmet should also be focused o studets use of laguage. Likig laguage ad cotet learig A key strategy for teachers is to icorporate a sigificat amout of practice time ito laguage- Plaig istructio with a focused lessos laguage focus is importat ot just for Eglish Laguage Developmet istructio, but for cotet lessos as well. The process developed by the Eglish Learer Collaborative is also beig applied to cotet lessos. I this istace, lesso plas iclude both cotet objectives ad laguage objectives. Istructio follows a Specially

7 Closig the gap for Eglish Learers 7 Desiged Academic Istructio i Eglish (SDAIE) model, which delivers cotet istructio alog with istructio related to the laguage forms ad fuctios studets eed to access that cotet. The itegratio of laguage ad cotet objectives is beig practiced by teachers i the Cloverdale Uified School District. Here, a group of teachers is workig as a team to develop districtwide laguage objectives for lessos that also deliver sciece cotet. Several of these teachers have atteded Collaborative traiigs, the retured to their district to share what they ve leared with other staff. They ve taught their colleagues to write laguage objectives usig commercially available form-ad-fuctio charts from Eglish learer specialist Coie Williams, Ed.D., ad a matrix developed by ELD expert Susaa Dutro. The teachers collaborate to pla multiple-week laguage objectives for sciece lessos. For example, oe objective is for studets to explai Eglish learers eed what happeed i a sciece laguage objectives experimet by folded ito both usig past-tese verbs to describe cotet lessos ad a sequece of laguage lessos actios. The team develops a plaig sheet of proposed laguage objectives as a startig poit for a three-week cycle of istructio, which idividual teachers the icorporate ito their daily lesso plas. At the ed of the cycle, the staff reviews studet achievemet ad plas ew laguage objectives based o studet eed. I a secod-grade classroom, a lesso for itermediate ELD studets scaffolds a sciece experimet desiged to demostrate the impact of usig more or less force. Studets are actively egaged i pushig bottle caps across a umbered game board, usig differet degrees of force. They add weight to the bottle caps by fillig them with clay. The teacher provides a chart showig past, preset, Wedy Bedolla ad Edmudo Foseca, secod graders i Jefferso School s itermediate ELD class, use setece frames to tell Cloverdale Superitedet Claudia Rosatti what happeed i their sciece experimet. ad future teses of verbs related to this game-like experimet. Usig the words i the chart, the studets make predictios about the results they expect, the report o what happeed after the actios are complete. They use the followig setece frames, fillig i the proper verb teses. I (will push or pushed) the bottle cap to make it move. I (will get or got) two poits. The cap (will move or moved) to the umber 3. The teacher also addresses aother laguage objective usig more ad less before a ou i a setece. Setece frames like these provide guided practice: I used force to move the object with clay. I used force to move the object without clay. Aother SDAIE example combiig cotet ad laguage objectives ca be see i a algebra class for eighth- ad ith-graders. A lesso o solvig two-step liear equatios from a Glecoe/McGraw Hill text is scaffolded for Eglish learers at the itermediate ad early itermediate level of laguage proficiecy. These studets maipulate tiles o a math mat to help them visualize the mathematical thikig required for

8 8 Aimig High RESOURCE Defiig ELD ad SDAIE The focus of Eglish Laguage Developmet (ELD) is learig Eglish. ELD is core curriculum ad should be taught every day by a credetialed teacher. Istructioal compoets iclude vocabulary, laguage forms (word ad setece structures), ad laguage fuctio (the social ad academic purposes for commuicatig with laguage). Specially Desiged Academic Istructio i Eglish (SDAIE) is applied whe teachig core cotet subjects to Eglish learers. It is focused o teachig specific academic cotet, but also icludes istructio that gives studets access to the laguage forms ad fuctios beig used i discussios, texts, ad resources related to the cotet learig. u two-step equatios, the the teacher uses umbers ad mathematical symbols o a white board to represet what they ve just leared. For each teacher-guided example, the studets are also asked to explai the steps usig trasitio words first, ext, the ad preset-tese verbs. The teacher plaed this lesso with two key learig objectives i mid, oe related to cotet ad the other related to laguage. Cotet objective: Studets will be able to solve two-step liear equatios (3x + 1 = 7), first usig the math mat with x tiles, the o white boards usig the subtractio property of equality. Laguage objective: Studets will be able to explai the steps for solvig two-step equatios usig trasitio words ad the correct presettese commad verb form. Collaborative are modelig this idea by purposefully developig lessos with overt laguage objectives. For ELD lessos, they are writig laguage objectives. For academic cotet lessos, both cotet ad laguage objectives are plaed. Objectives are purposeful, clearly based o cotet ad/or ELD stadards, ad matched to the proficiecy level of the studets. While most schools are probably a year or two away from adoptig ew Eglish-Laguage Arts materials that will provide better resources for Eglish learers, the teachers i the Collaborative are ot waitig. They are acquirig the backgroud kowledge ad skills to improve Eglish learer istructio, ad applyig it i their classrooms, to help their studets right ow. Oe of the beeficial aspects of the Eglish Learer Collaborative is that participatig teachers are receivig support for this effort from their peers. The Collaborative has created a cross-couty workig group whose members are learig from each other as they pursue strategies for refiig ad improvig istructio for secod-laguage learers. The idea of teacher-toteacher metorig ad peer support is ot ew, but here it is focused o a priority issue for local schools Eglish learer achievemet. It s importat for teachers to remember that they are ot aloe i addressig the Eglish learer achievemet gap. Through grade-level ad cotet-area meetigs, peer coachig, ad iitiatives like the Collaborative, every teacher has access to other experieced educators who are addressig the same challege. Fidig ways to share ideas, problem-solve together, ad support oe aother i implemetig strategies for Eglish learer istructio is key. u This publicatio was developed by the Sooma Couty Office of Educatio i support of Aimig High For iformatio, cotact Patty Diee, pdiee@scoe.org Replicatig the process Give the demographics of our couty s studet populatio, today s teachers must all develop expertise as laguage teachers ad pla their lessos to iclude a laguage focus. The teachers i the Eglish Learer 5340 Skylae Boulevard Sata Rosa, CA (707)