ranney, brown, berry and johnson-blanchard bringing a focus on academic language to elementary...
TRANSCRIPT
Bringing a focus on academic language to elementary school co-teaching
Susan RanneyMiki BrownKate Berry
Jenny Johnson-Blanchard
Ideas developed and put in practice as part of an online course
Goals in academic language instruction
"Teachers have the task of preparing students for the future in a variety of fundamental ways. We prepare them to know, think, create, and communicate so that they reach their potentials in different dimensions of life and play a role in making the world a better place."
(Zwiers, Building Academic Language, 2014, p. 285)
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K. Miki Brown-4th/5th ELL Teacher at Seward Montessori School (MPS)
-co-teach 6 Montessori classrooms for WIDA Level 4
-Pull-out WIDA Level 1-3 students
-Check-in with WIDA Level 5
-Last year taught at Andersen, 1st Grade ELL
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WIDA-Level charts for self-assessment
-Clarifies to students what skills they need to work on-Motivating for students to see where they need to go-Clarifies purpose for Level 4 and 5 to concentrate on ELL -Helps EVERYONE understand what you and students do in ELL
Collaborative effort from Andersen, Green Central, and then further developed by Brie Monahan at Seward.
Word Walls as Table Hangs
-include content words, general academic words, classroom discussion terms, and terms for writing
-Encourages students to speak and write at different WIDA Levels-Reminds students to use academic words-Inconspicuous
4th/5th Grade Table Hangs
Force and Motion Unit
Complex expository reading
All Grades: Model complex grammar and using academic words
K-1-“Explore books” so they get exposure to the structure and academic words
2-3-Become familiar with the structure and reading academic words
4-5-Use the text, structure and academic words to learn
“College Talk”-Take a common phrase, and change it into something more academic.
-Example: Instead of saying, “Stop talking!” say, “Stop being garrulous!”
-Pretty soon, you’ll hear your students use the academic language themselves! :-)
Stop being garrulous!https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-student-vocabulary
Using Images and Color
- Systematic- Focuses student attention on
academic language- Helps ELL students understand
academic words, mortar words, and academic tasks
- Transfers across ALL content- -Use it EVERYWHERE
Kate Berry- 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades at
Dayton’s Bluff Elementary (SPPS)
- Co-teach 1st grade reading (WIDA levels 1-5)
- Push-in to Reader’s and Writer’s Workshops
- Meaningful and purposeful- Values ideas over correct
answers- Involves negotiating meaning,
responding to and developing others’ ideas, and respectfully disagreeing
- Uses evidence and good reasoning
- High student engagement
Accountable Talk
Accountable Talk
- Literacy Circles- Chart- Sentence starters
posted under the speaking purpose
- Gestures and pictures- Build slowly- Bookmark
- Pair Work - Sticks!
- Kate Kinsella - Discussion Sentence Starters
Anticipation Guides
- Builds background knowledge. - Increases student engagement
with more difficult texts.
- Sets a purpose for reading.
- Oral language development, discussion with partner.
- Cite text evidence: “According to the text on page __, ________.”
Exit ticket: “At first I thought ______, but now I know…”
Foldables- Story Mapping - Identify and
organize story elements.- Consistent Images- Sentence Starters- Finger Puppet Retell- Compare and Contrast- Writing brainstorm
- Reader’s Notebooks- Author’s Purpose
- Sequencing
Story Mapping
JennyJohnson-Blanchard
-teacher of first grade ELs at Andersen United Community
School (MPS)-work with three Dual
Developmental Language classrooms and one English
Language Development classroom
-WIDA levels 1-5 co-taught in ESL Science and Social Studies
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-prek-8-over 70% ELs-99% free and reduced lunch and breakfast-DDL, ELD, NABAD programs
1. Planning for Academic Language
2. Strategies:a. Fortifying Oral Outputb. Academic Conversations
3. Support Building-Wide
Planning for Academic Language
-unit and lesson level backwards design
-example for Pebbles, Sand, and Silt
-grammatical matrix (Susan Duttro)
-WIDA performance definitions
- use standards, big ideas, and final performance assessments to pull out the language that students will need to:
1) Access the content2) Acquire language (pushingthem to grow above their level)
- use this to create and differentiate all supports- visual aids, sentence stems, strategies, etc, throughout the unit
- this way language is all aligned to what we ultimately want students to be able to do
Academic Language Strategies Fortifying Output
-point is to get kids talking-teach some of the foundations
for what students need to engage in academic accountable talk
Director/Speaker: -comparisons (same/different)
-parts of a whole (habitat or sequencing steps)
Listening Fingers:-listen for three things
Talking ChipsSpeaking in Paragraphs“blue cube sentence” is
main idea
Academic Conversations
Supporting Academic Language
Building Wide
-Building Wide KIP: Academic Language (PD sessions ~every month, all staff have the Zwiers book)
-ESL Department- Vertically Aligned Matrix
Questions?