Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Mr. Tran had an excellent lesson on mummies. He listed easy-to-understand content objectives, posted key vocabulary words, then brainstormed about the words, and added words to the wall the students selected during their reading. He frequently referred back to the words. The students made a sequence chain, which broke down and explained steps used by the scientists and used the words from the word wall (further review). The students worked with a partner, and then shared their graphic organizers with other peers to help make corrections or additions.
The students seemed to enjoy reading the text and each other’s papers and finding new words for the word wall. They had great discussions about the meaning of the words, such as the different meanings of the word “tissue.” Also the different forms of the words, such as “embalm,” “ embalmer,” and “embalming.”
Mr. Tran had a number of informal assessments during his lessons, including listening to the group’s individual discussions, full group discussions, and their graphic organizers. He gave appropriate feedback and corrections throughout the lesson, then at the end of the lesson he reviewed and evaluated the vocabulary and content objectives.

Chapter 8

We all have learned that in order for the SIOP lesson to be effectively taught and delivered, we to need to have clearly defined, student friendly content and language objectives. I have learned that writing student friendly objectives makes it easier for both myself and the students. It helps my students to know what lesson will be taught ahead of time. Content and language objectives should not include abbreviations from the state standards that would be confusing and meaningless to the students.
On FEATURE 25: Students engageed 90% to 100% of the time. My students already know what it means to be on task all the time. I do not allow my students to off task most of the time. Before we start the day, I have more than enough pencils already sharpened with earsers ready to be used (nobody sharpens pencils, if it breaks they get a sharpened one), they all have to hit the bathroom when they come in, blow their noses, and wash their hands. That way way we lessen the movment during class and maximize actively time on task.
The lesson Ms. Chen did was great. Her content and language objectives were all clearly supported by her lesson. The pacing of her lesson was also well done. The way she must know her students very well in order how to pace all of her lesson well. The way she paced along by reading aloud and how she did the whole class activity. Reading the lesson activities have made me see more of how I should do my activities too. When I read the lesson for SRA ahead of time, I gather pictures and objects for the vocabulary words that I know the students may not know. Like for an example for the word shore, I got a picture of the beach, seashells, and have a dried starfish. We discuss where they come from and they get a better understanding of what the words mean.

Chapter 9 - Sabrina

Constant review throughout a lesson is the way to keep tabs on student understanding of what you are teaching. Through various methods, you can test the skills of your students while you are teaching the lesson. For example, during a math lesson concerning patters, you can ask students to name particular patterns while moving forward through the lesson. Constantly asking questions to random students within the group will give you a better understanding as to who is getting your lesson, and who might need a bit more help. These random assessments not only help the teacher understand where the students are, but also gives the rest of the class a chance for an extra review of information. With any lesson including vocabulary, you can ask students to give you definitions of important vocabulary terms at the beginning and throughout the lesson as review. To compare, once again, to the Reading Mastery program, there are ample opportunities to test student levels throughout the lesson; lead, model, test.

I have found that repetition is a fabulous road to student understanding, and retention. I find myself repeating the information three times to my students, emphasizing particular words, and then having the students repeat the information back to me. For example, I might say, "Glad is another word for happy. Glad...is another word for happy. What's another word for happy?" The students will respond with, "Glad."

To ensure students are learning the appropriate way to use the English language, it is important to correct their responses, if they are incorrect. When my students answer with one to three word responses, I repeat back to them the full sentence response, and have them repeat it back to me. This helps them understand what is expected of them within the classroom.

Chapter 9, Review and Assessment - Voni

It is necessary to introduce new vocabulary at the start of the lesson.
During the vocabulary preview, students see the word written and hear it spoken. I like to give the students an opportunity to share how the new word is relevant to them or I will give an example of how it is used. For example, a story we were going to read used the word “dock “, during the preview, the students were baffled as to what it meant, but with the use of a ruler, pretend water and pretend boats we were able to understand what a dock was and its function. When the students came to the word “dock” we did a quick review of the meaning before they read on. This technique introduces the word by seeing the written word and hearing or telling how it is used and then gives the student a chance to recall and reinforce the meaning. I feel this helps them to better visualize and understand the story while helping to cement the vocabulary into their minds. It’s a mini spiral of learning effect.

For the assessment of vocabulary at the end of a lesson, I like the idea of the students writing a sentence using the new word and reading it aloud to me. Or have a fill in the blank , on the overhead or chalkboard and then have the students write their answer on individual white boards. After they show me their answer I can see who may need further help.

Also whenever an opportunity pops up during the day for a vocabulary word or new concept to be reviewed, I take it. Any opportunity to recall the learning is well worth the time, so whenever possible I refresh and review key points of previous lessons, adding to the repetition repetition of newly learned information.

Voni - Chapter 8 Lesson Delivery

On page 154, the text says “We caution against any inclination to list the state standard in an abbreviated form, like CA history 5.2.3, as an objective”

Using the state standard such as CA history 5.2.3 for an objective does not qualify in serving the purpose of posting the objectives for any learner, especially the ELL. It would be like me trying to decipher the meaning of technical jargon. It would not make sense and I would struggle to attach meaning to it. The objectives need to be clearly defined in a language that is comprehensible to the learner in order to take him to the next level.

Read pages 157-158. List 3 things Ms. Chen did to support the content objectives in her lesson? Which of these things do you do? What techniques can you add to your teaching practice that will help students learn the content goal?

I liked how Ms. Chen built up background knowledge with the piece of “fools gold” and pre-taught the key vocabulary words so that when she presented to the class, the ELL’s were more apt to comprehend the objectives. When teaching action verbs in my classroom, I had action words written on cards and the students came to the front of the class and pulled a card out of the hat and then acted out the word. The audience got to guess. This gave real life practice to the meaning of an action word, fitting into our lesson of sentence structure. Thinking back on it, I should have had the students write the action word on their white boards. Next time! AND have a volunteer say the word in a complete sentence.

She also modeled coloring the map on the overhead and then let the students work in small groups. Working in small groups allow students to help one another and build confidence in knowing how to understand and apply the task. I find in my classroom I basically teach from the standpoint that vocabulary and expected processes and outcomes need to be pre-taught frequently because of the language and the primary grade level of learning.

➢ What makes this component so important to include in your teaching practice?

Time in the classroom is valuable. Clearly stating objectives eliminates the guesswork of where the lesson is going. Starting on a firm base followed by direct and guided instruction leads to comprehensible practice that reinforces the content and language objective.

Component 7: Lesson Delivery, chapter 8!

Chapter 7: Lesson Delivery pages 152 - 185.


Features 23 and 24: Content and Language Objectives Clearly Supported by Lesson Delivery
Feature 25: Student Engaged Approximately 90% to 100% of the Time.
Feature 26: Pacing of the Lesson Appropriate for Students’ Ability Levels


Before reading:  Predictions
➢    How do you know when you know you need to change the pace of your lessons, either to make it faster or slower?

➢    What techniques and strategies have you developed to keep students engaged throughout the lesson?
➢    When and how do you reflect on your lessons to make them better?

➢    What have you learned from your experience with writing SIOP lesson plans this year?


After reading, discuss the following questions:

➢    How do you support the language and content objectives throughout your lessons? How many times during a lesson do you refer to the objectives posted in the front of your class? DO students refer to them on their own?

➢    Why is it important to write out the objectives in student friendly language?

➢    On page 154, the text says “We caution against any inclination to list the state standard in an abbreviated form, like CA history 5.2.3, as an objective”?


➢    What percentage of time do you think students are engaged in learning in your class? What activities work the best for student engagement? Share your ideas with other teachers.

➢    Read pages 157-158.  List 3 things Ms. Chen did to support the content objectives in her lesson?  Which of these things do you do? What techniques can you add to your teaching practice that will help students learn the content goal?

➢    What makes this component so important to include in your teaching practice?

Chapter 8: Lesson Delivery - Sabrina

In order to effectively deliver our lessons, we must prepare ourselves to handle what our students may or may not understand. Posting clear, simple content and language objectives not only help the teacher guide their lesson, but helps the students to track their learning.

In terms of student engagement, students who are engaged less than 50% of the time is extremely unacceptable. Not only are the students not learning, but if they are not engaged there is a high likelihood they will misbehave because they are bored. When considering the lessons I teach, I like to use Reading as an example. Since the students are in small groups, students are able to feel more like an individual rather than student #3 out of 17. Students are given ample opportunities to shine: individual turns (students will say letter sounds, words, and whole sentences); and pretending to be the teacher (when students come to the front of the group and point to certain words or sounds and take a turn as the teacher). This gives the student leadership opportunities as well as a chance to get out of their seats. Students are more actively engaged in the small group setting because there is less of a chance they will get lost within the material. The direct instruction method, I feel, leads to more student engagement.

This ties right into pacing the lesson so that it is appropriate to the students' ability levels. There are tests every five lessons that give the teacher an idea of how the students are doing (in addition to your daily lessons). If all the students are firm on certain sounds, words, and readings, there is opportunity to move forward within the program, bringing the students to the level at which they are currently at mastery. On the other hand, if students are not firm on the tests, the teacher is able to backtrack, and repeat the necessary lessons in order to ensure their mastery.

As stated in the book, having a general objective and refusing to deviate from a lesson's "flow" is not helpful for English Language Learners. Teachers must recognize when their students are not understanding the concepts being taught in order to accommodate those who might need more assistance. If teachers fail to recognize the needs of their students, they will fall behind. I have experienced this in my classroom, and am coming up with ways to rectify the situation. I have found that using my center time in the afternoon to review topics that are difficult for some students, gives them another chance to cement that information and hopefully retain it. While teaching at a slower pace might be difficult for some teachers, it will greatly benefit the students in their retention of information. As teachers, we must effectively deliver our lessons so our students can be successful.

That was a bit wordy...I apologize!

Perfect Practice

Piggy-backing on Voni's statement...Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. I disagree that we should correct only errors that impede communication. I think we should gently, and in a non-threatening way, correct all mistakes in speaking. "My parents sends congratulations to you," can be corrected simply by saying, "Oh! Your parents send greetings to me?" "Mr. Magoo, I have came to get my stuffs," would be, "I see you have come to get your stuff."
-I want to thank you all for your audience

Chapter 7

SIOP Chapter 7

Material learned must be practiced over and over to stick in a student’s mind. Practices should be kept short and meaningful. When we were kids we played a game called “London Bridge” in which we sang a short little song and passed under our friends’ uplifted hands. It was a very short little song and we sang it over and over again. Even 40 or 50 years later, we remember the song as well as the movements. Students’ learning works exactly the same way. They need short, frequent practices and specific feedback. It is much better if they can use manipulatives as well. One teacher said her elementary students practice making letters by writing the letters with glue, then sprinkling salt on them. You could also use sand, glitter, or any very small interesting items. The students then put their letters on the wall and later added to them to spell simple words. They read their letters and words aloud every day.

Language skills practice needs to be integrated. When students interact by reading, writing, listening and speaking, they naturally reinforce language skills.

Chapter 7 - Voni

As the old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect" and to our students that means ample opportunities to practice new skills or concepts in a variety of ways. Looking back at a science unit that I taught my students, I saw hands on activities, an action song, writing and reading. Through these means, the students learned and expressed what they learned about the body parts of an insect.

I read "insect" books aloud to them and I also checked out books about insects from the library so the students had access to insect books in the classroom for independent or paired reading. We learned an "action" song that taught the vocabulary of the body parts of an insect. Last time I checked, some still remember the parts! Students also made a paper sculpture of a butterfly in which they could identify the body features of the insect. As a class we wrote a report, each student wrote his own copy, sentence by sentence. This gave them the opportunity to hear and write in complete sentences what they had learned.

Throughout the unit the students were able to practice what they learned by means of speaking, writing, and demonstration. The end.

Chapter 7 - Sabrina

I enjoyed reading about classroom practice concerning new content knowledge. With new knowledge, it's necessary to have lots of practice with the students. In my classroom, after completing our reading instruction, the students need to complete a page in their workbook to practice the skills they just learned. The workbooks also revisit skills from older lessons. To make it real for my students, when discussing "halves" I used our snacks (cherry tomatoes and apples) to demonstrate what constitutes a "whole" and a "half". Not only were they engaged because it was food and interactive, but they were able to hold HALF of an apple as opposed to a WHOLE one - further cementing in their minds that if you cut something "in half" the two pieces are exactly the same size. This was a great hands-on activity to use within the unit.

I try to keep in mind that students must be given various opportunities to practice their language skills. With the "Language for Learning" program, the high structured program allows students to become more confident in their language abilities. Those lessons, and corrections, continue throughout the day - allowing them to achieve the "academic language" necessary for a school setting.

I do have a question. On page 143 it states, "EL's do not need to be proficient speakers before they start to read and write." Maybe I am misreading that, but when students enter my classroom, before they can read and write they need to be able to say the sounds they intend to write. I would like more explanation on the book's statement. Are they saying that just because an ELL they can learn to read and write before they are proficient speakers? I have had a couple experiences, this year and last year, where a student was basically mute, and others that were not strong speakers. Those students are not strong readers or writers. Any further explanation will help! Thanks!

Chapter 6

I like the part where it says in this chapter that we need to provide structured opportunities to practice using the language. It also says, students learning English need to opportunities to practice using the academic language. When doing so, it has to be meaningful to the English learners. We are learning, to me it was going to be a very simple lesson on clock. Only to the hour and half hour. The students had to learn what it is when it's 1:00 and then when it's 1:30. In order for them to show 1:30, they had to learn the word in between 1 and 2. They had learned that when we were learning what number is before, after and in between. Of course they got it, all they needed was a little review on the vocabulary words.

Chapter 6, Interaction

Component 5, Interaction is my favorite component of SIOP. This is the aspect of SIOP teaching which is the most exciting!  The 4 features in this component are:

Feature 16) frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion.

Feature 17) grouping and configurations support language and content objectives of the lesson.

Feature 18) sufficient wait time for student responses consistently provided.

Feature 19) Opportunity for students to clarify key concepts in L1.

Many ESL programs focus on Krashen’s ideas about Comprehensible Input, he wrote about in his book, Input Hypothesis (1985). But now many second language teachers are realizing there has been a lack of emphasis on output.  Linguists and other language acquisition researchers have found many limitations with Krashen´s comprehensible input theory and are conducting more research on student "output" which is the focus of this chapter 6, in Making Meaning Comprehensible.

The beginning of chapter 6 compares the traditional "mainstream" classroom where teacher talk dominates and the classroom that promotes student interaction.
•    Why do you think this is? Why is it especially important for ELLs to be involved in more interactive opportunities throughout the day?
•    Notice the student responses on pages 116 to 118. What is the length of the student responses? What is the difference between the mainstream lesson and the SIOP model?  What would you have done differently?

Feature 16 talks about “frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion,” and begins with a discussion on Oral language Development on page 119.
•    What is your understanding on oral language development?
•    What new things did you learn in this section that can help you with your students?
•    What techniques do you use to get students to elaborate on their responses, if they provide answers that are too short (p. 120)
•    On page 121, it says, “Through meaningful interaction, students can practice speaking and making themselves understood,” and explains that students can interact in pair, triads, and small groups. Brainstorm activities that you can do in your classroom that would promote student interaction.

Feature 18 talks about sufficient wait time for student responses consistently provided. Do you notice some of your students need more wait time than others.

In Western Alaska, Feature 19, Opportunity for students to clarify key concepts in L1, is very important. In one lesson, I asked Maxine to give an explanation in Yup’ik. Since the topic was on traditional storytelling, I wanted her to explain it in Yup’ik as well. What are some ways that students can clarify concepts in their home language? Do you know which students speak Yup’ik in the home?

What are some of the things you learned from the teaching scenarios, which begin on page 129?
I hope you all enjoy reading and discussing this chapter!

I am impressed with your great book study!

I loved the book study in Kipnuk. It was fantastic! Great facilitation and participation on everybody’s’ part. I loved the discussion on strategies, which was intertwined with insights from the classroom. This type of discussion can really help you improve your teaching practice. Many of you brought up relevant topics, like wait time and oral language development.

I appreciated  the comment about how you felt about following a scripted program, without deviating from the script. I know some programs put this message out so that they have fidelity with the implementation of the program.  Language acquisition does not happen in isolation.  Language acquisition has to take into account the learner, the teacher, the community, the culture and the influences of other languages in the community, as well as socioeconomic and political factors.  Every language program should emphasize the influence these factors; thus it is only the teacher who can put these pieces together and teach in a way that is most effective for his or her particular students. That is why research says the greatest factor in approving student achievement is the teacher! There is no one program that  will work the best for all students; so the best answer is that teachers should be highly trained so they can become skillful practitioners.

I like the comment someone said about “Why do experts come from the lower-forty-eight and tell us what is best for our students?” I could not agree more. Many teachers across the state have also said this. When you count the hours you have spent with your kids in your classroom, this make you one of the experts for teaching those kids (along with insights from the parents). It is important to increase the skills in your teaching toolbox and continue to find what works best for your students.  What we do need here in Western Alaska is more research on linguistics, which studies the influence of language, culture, socioeconomic and political that affect language acquisition in this region. We need to have our own experts, and not only rely on outside experts. What they have to offer is great, but we also need our own experts for this region, because this region is very unique compared to Washington DC, New York, California or wherever the research is done.

Your discussion reminded me of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy focuses on knowledge, reflection and action as a basis for systemic change. Critical pedagogy use the word “critical,” which in this context does not mean “ to criticize,” but rather it refers to a “turning point” or “transformation.” Critical pedagogy encompasses three steps: 1) Information; 2) Reflection; and 3) Action.  What do you think of critical pedagogy? Do you see your teaching practices as a process of learning new knowledge, then reflecting on it in terms of your students,  which then leads to action? I see the book study in terms of critical pedagogy because of the new information that you are learning from the book and the opportunity for  reflection that you have.

I hope I was not too long-winded, but I kept thinking of what you said reflected on your comments as you discussed the chapter and your students, and I kept mulling these ideas over in my head.  Keep up the great work on your book study! I am looking forward to your discussion on interaction.

Chapter 6 Interaction
Voni

Reading the teaching Scenario – Mr. Charles - got me excited about teaching. I like how he changed things up to keep the students interested and involved. It is easier to assess what they are comprehending when you can see them think through actions, such as the clothes pins on the paper plate activity. I also like how he stressed the vocabulary by having them identify and circle and underline the addends and sums. They need to hear, recognize, and understand the vocabulary. Even at that I wonder what it takes to get some students to learn or make the information stick. today during ELPT testing, I discovered that a number of students couldn’t identify a picture of a calendar. This surprised me because they have been ‘doing’ calendar since they have been in Kindergarten.
The End.

Liane- Chapter 6 Interaction

I like the idea to promote interaction in chapter 6. We just had the Speech Path. come and stay for a couple of days. He brought a Jeopardy game with him and in the game he used several of the techniques described in the book. His game allowed the discussion of information about the four seasons and facts therein and aforementioned. All the kids were involved in thinking and in preparing answers. He allowed kids to work in teams of four and he wouldn't accept answers that weren't in a full sentence.
My students need to be able to write friendly letters properly. So, I practice interaction with them by requiring a letter each week. They keep a journal and every week have to write me a letter on Thursday or on Friday. I use the weekend to respond to them. I've been working more oral interaction into my lessons with the inside/ outside circle exercise. The kids on the inside have to state the content objectives to the kids on the outside. The kids on the outside have to state the language objectives to the kids on the inside.

Chapter 5-Liane

Scaffolding is the gradual transition from dependence to independence. I have noted that sometimes this transition can't be done in one lesson, one week, or sometimes, not even in one month. The more complex a task, the more explicit teaching needs to be done; the more deliberate modeling needs to be done; the more guided practice needs to be offered; and the longer it takes to achieve independent application. Learning is a process and scaffolding is its guide rail.
It is our charge as much to impart information as to teach how to think. We want to produce problem solvers not just students who regurgitate. Therefore, questioning can never be considered a wasted venture. Even when there is no answer, the curiosity of questioning leads to invention.

Chapter 4- Liane

Maria's illustration of comprehensible input drove the point home. It was much easier to follow her instruction when she used a lot of models and a lot of body language. It also made me want to talk during the lesson. I was lost at some points and I really wanted to turn to someone else to find out if they were understanding. I wanted someone else to explain it to me. Perhaps that is what goes on when audiences chat during presentations??
Eighty-five percent of us are visual learners so it stands to reason that visual aids and models can increase comprehension. Since most of us are not auditory learners, the 10th feature of SIOP should be heeded no matter what language we speak. Slowing our speech, especially with enunciation and complexity, will increase the understanding of most people. I love the tip to use gestures, body language, pictures, realia, and objects to accompany speech. This takes more time to prepare and requires more initial investment of energy. However, if that gives a net gain in less repetitions, we can save time and energy in the end.

Chapter 6 - Sabrina

Even in my Kindergarten room, I encourage the students to talk as much as possible. This is much easier to do at this point in the year, seeing as in the beginning they are pretty much clams. The Language for Learning program I am using encourages students to use language properly. For example, when pointing, in my teacher's book, to a dog I will ask the students, "What is this?" I will not accept "dog" as a response - it must be "a dog." I utilize this throughout the day; the learning doesn't stop when we're through with the Direct Instruction. Taking off my "Direct Instruction" hat, when discussing a story, or with anything we are doing, I will ask students if the topic reminds them of anything else. We were discussing "equal parts" a few days ago and that led into a discussion about past birthday parties, and sharing your cake, cookies, and jello equally - so that it would be fair. Anything can lead into a discussion amongst the students; the teacher just needs to take those opportunities when they come up.

The hardest thing for me to keep up on is "wait time." It's hard to gauge the wait time, and it differs with each student. I find it interesting that some of my students who speak Yugtun at home need less wait time than other students; and with other students it's the opposite.

One thing I try to do throughout the year is vary my instructional groupings. As it says in the book, if you switch it up every now and then, you will keep the students interested and help them retain the information. I am utilizing the SMARTBoard mostly for Math so that they can be more interactive in their learning. Allowing the students to get up and participate in a giant video game keeps their attention for a longer amount of time (sometimes...).

I use whole-group instruction to introduce new topics, split into smaller groups if the topic is not being absorbed well and eventually move into independent work. I would like to work on adding more independent structure to my center time; giving the students a chance to work in pairs or triads on their own. I now have students working independently with file folder games, and other math games.

Chapter 5 * Voni

In the midst of a science unit on ‘Insects’, I did an art lesson using an Art Kit from the media center. Maria had recommended using the Art Kits because of their colorful pictures and step-by-step instructions. The project was excellent because it reinforced our new knowledge using a kinesthetic approach, allowing the students to create the body parts of an insect and show their understanding of symmetry on the butterfly’s wings.
Before we started the lesson I had the students verbally identify the parts of an insect and I wrote them on the board. I referred back to the words during the step-by-step instructions, pointing out or asking them what part of the insect are we now making?
The art kit I used taught the works of E.A. Seguy, providing beautiful intricate, designs of butterflies, all of which were researched, drawn, and labeled from different parts of the world. I keep the globe close by during instruction so we can locate “where in the world” is ??????This also overlapped a class written report about butterfly’s, including where they live.
Directions for the butterfly paper sculpture were clearly posted on a laminated fold out. After reading each step as a group, the students independently followed them. When most of the students were finished we moved on to the next step. At each step, or body part, we referred back to the words written on the board prior to beginning the art project.
The Art Kit provided a great way to integrate the unit on insects into social studies and math AND the general concept of following directions. If I were to do this lesson again I would have them choose a specific butterfly to replicate the symmetry rather than design their own. Then I’d have them make a card identifying the butterfly by scientific name and where it lives. I would frame the sentence indicating that information.
My initial plan was to just use the pictures from the Art Kit, but after seeing the lesson set-up, it turned out to be a great way to help cement and extend the learning.

Chapter 5

One thing we as teachers to the English Learners, should do to is to
get to know who our students are, and where they are coming from. Yes,
on the summary it says, "Just because the students can't read well doesn't
mean they can't think!" or, "Just because they can't speak English proficiently
doesn't mean they can't think!" and I say, "Just because the English Learners are
not responding to a question right away doesn't mean they are not thinking."
It is important to teach different kinds learning strategies to the students to help them
to connect what they know to what they are learning, problem solving, and to promote
retention of newly learned information. scaffolding is an instructional technique where
teacher models the desired learning strategy or task , then slowly shifts the responsibility
to the students. Whatever strategies are emphasized, learned, and used, it is generally
agreed that they should be taught explicit instruction, careful modeling and scaffolding.
This scaffolding reminds me of how my mother taught me how to do many different
things as I was growing up. One of the things I remember the most is when she did skin
sewing and she had me watch, and sometimes without saying a word. After carefully
her, she gives me a needle and thread, I work on a project with her there to help me. From
then on I would practice and finally work on something like making yo-yos without her
help. That is something like model, lead, teach what we do in SRA.

Chapter 4

Knowing exactly what it is like to be, and to feel what it is to be an English learner, I try and maybe without much effort I slow down my speech when teaching to my students. For any or
all teachers, comprehensible input is very important technique in order to help the English
learners understand what they are teaching.
My students were at a beginning level of English proficiency when they came to my class, and some of them are still there, but we are working on that. The Language for Learning that we
are doing in SRA is a great help, because it is working on improving that level of Language. The
students are getting used to that part of working on language. That is also helping our science journal writing on weather. First, we talked about all different types of weather we have for this season and wrote them on the cards with pictures on them. Next, we check the weather, and we
made a sentence starter, "Today the weather is.....". They knew exactly what to do, and did it every day until they could write today's weather without copying the sentence starter from the board. They even started writing what they will do after school if the weather is good.
Variety of Techniques used to make content concepts clear is what some people do naturally.
I had an uncle who became deaf at around lower elementary school age. Everybody talked to
him using normal voice, but with their hands and lots of body language. So, I know very much
how important it is get your point across with both voice and lots of gestures, body language and
objects to make someone understand what I am trying to say. I guess we all knew what SIOP is,
right now we just need to put it into words.

Questions for chapter 5, Strategies

Questions prior to reading:

•    Why is it important to teach students how to use learning strategies?

•    How do we teach learning strategies to ELL students?

•    What learning strategies do you already use in your classroom that helps improve student achievement?

Chapter 5 - Sabrina

"Just because they can't speak English proficiently doesn't mean they can't think." I liked that summary at the end of the chapter, because it's true. Just as the statement before that one; "Just because the students can't red well doesn't mean they can't think." Comparing that from Kindergarten up to the higher grades. My students might not be able to perfectly read or write, "We're going on a picnic, and this is what I'll bring," but as a whole group, they contribute fully and are creative, and correct, in their responses. I agree with the statement that lessons should include higher-order questions that promote critical thinking, because just because they are developing their English proficiency, students shouldn't be denied higher level of thinking.

As teachers, we must scaffold lessons to best assist our students in their learning. Just like I do with my students in the beginning of the year. They come in knowing little or nothing about the behavioral and academic expectations asked of them. It's my job to teach them, in a way that will be effective and in a way that they will understand. Each year I am learning something new to do in the following years to make Kindergarten an easier transition for new students. My hopes are to make instructional and procedural scaffolding more concrete approaches in the future. That means I must be certain of my plan and lay it out for my students without any room for error. For example, I am implementing more structured center time into the day after lunch for about an hour and a half. The students will go from academic work to structured play, to reading with me, and then academic file folder games. This is something that I am finally getting a handle on, and at this point in the year my students are much more independent, and able to handle more independent tasks. When I tried this in the beginning of the year, I was mistaken in the amount of independent work the students could handle, so we didn't have such lenient centers as we do now. With this system, so far, the students are enjoying it. They also know that if they do not complete their academic work (their Reading workbook page) they will not move on to participate in the games or in the structured playtime (we have a small "town" that Kris gave me, and they LOVE it, so it's a big deal when they're not allowed to use it).

Chapter 4

After reflecting upon the three features of Comprehensible Input, which are appropriate speech for students’ proficiency level, clear explanation of task, and various techniques to make content concepts clear, I immediately thought of SRA.

The 2nd grade students in my reading group are at a 1st grade reading level, which is also their appropriate speech level. The simple text allows for the comprehension of the majority of the story, therefore when we come upon an unfamiliar word, it is incorporated more easily, allowing the fluency of thought to continue. The surrounding simple sentences and basic text makes it easier to understand.

When new words surface, they are discussed and internalized in a variety of ways. First I ask for student input to find out how much they know. From there I move into understanding the new word according to their responses. Whenever possible I tie the word into something relevant to their understanding, building on that background knowledge by drawing pictures
or modeling examples. After the word is understood, we go back to the reading and apply its meaning. My kids LOVE to act out the story using their newly discovered word, a fun way to instill new vocabulary knowledge.

My new words are already in print in the book so I do not rewrite them on the board, but I normally would if it is a word that comes up in class during another type of lesson. I want them see, hear and ‘know’ the word.

The SRA workbook frequently changes the directions to complete a task, which makes it clear to me who is comprehending and reading carefully. (ie. put a box over the correct answer)

This is an example of how the three components are put into use in my classroom.
Voni

Chapter 4 - Sabrina.

As far as making the language more understandable for the students, there are a few things I try to do. I have in the back of my head at all times, to slow down my speech, make sure I'm speaking clearly, and to make the directions simple and to the point.

In reference to Feature 10, I need to speak slowly and make my directions simple and clear enough for my students to understand. This is especially important considering my grade level. I would say my students are at the beginning levels of English Proficiency in August, but have made great strides since the beginning of the year. From the examples in the book, I would say my students are now in between Beginning and Early Intermediate - some students leaning more towards one end or the other.

While I slow down my speech for better understanding, I do not let my students off easy. I push them to strive for more each day, and I believe that it shows in their abilities. I feel that by giving them as firm a start as I can in their school career, they will be set up for success in language for many years to come. I paraphrase for my students during guided reading, and make sentences simpler in order for them to better understand. The SRA program, Language for Learning, helps greatly with their language skills - and will hopefully improve their scores on the ELPT.

Feature 11 discusses the need for clear instructions - and I couldn't agree more. I am utilizing CHAMPS in my classroom so my behavior expectations are simply stated and visible to the students. This has helped immensely since I implemented it in my classroom. It helps them immediately understand what they need to be doing; rather than hearing my voice repeatedly telling them what to do. Depending on the activity, I will put up what we will do in words they can read or sound out. I keep the more naive students closer to me while we are doing seat work so that I can give them more support.

Feature 12 discusses techniques teachers can use to make concepts clearer for students. I use body language, manipulatives, and pictures whenever possible. When discussing solid figures this week, it was extremely helpful to have the SMARTBoard and wooden solid figures (thanks to Voni!) at my fingertips. The interaction with the SMARTBoard and the manipulatives helped my students understand the concept. I am amazed at how they are retaining the information, not to mention the "faces" of them!!!

In terms of previewing the material, whenever we do anything requiring seat work, I review the activity while they're sitting on the carpet. I make the directions as short and sweet as possible, and write them on the board when necessary. By explaining all the necessary information to the students beforehand, including behavioral expectations - sets students up for success, which is what all teachers should strive for each and every day.

building background

I liked reading "Links Explicitly Made between Past Learning and New Concepts" and "Key Vocabulary Emphasized..." because when I am teaching new concepts I know that it is important to link the past learning to what I am teaching. The book says that it is important for the teachers to make explicit connections between new learning and the material, vocabulary, and concepts previousy covered in class. In order for learning to happen, new information has to be integrated with what students have previously learned.
I am teaching the names of coins and for example, "how many nickels is equal to a quarter?" So, before I teach that, we discuss the past learning we did on, greater than, less than and equal to, and I ask the students something like what the book says. "Who remembers what we learned about equal to?" "Who remembers what equal to means?"
It says vocabulary development is critical for English learners and that it is strongly related to academic achievement.

Chapter Two Reflections

What jumped right out at me with this chapter is that LEP students don't need their material "dumbed down", which has been a problem. It is the lack of experience with the English words, and the background, that makes the material different. It requires more background teaching, true, but eventually enough background will be laid that at some point my students will be able to learn how to scaffold for themselves... at least that is my hope. Just as we learned in grade school to use a dictionary and an encyclopedia to expand our knowledge, I hope that eventually my students will internalize questioning for themselves and be able to reach out to books and the internet to find out more information. However, as long as language remains a barrier for them, this will not happen (or at least not very successfully).

I thought the examples given in the text for supplementary materials to use were great. Many of these things I use or have used, but not to the extent I think I should be using them. It is a wake up call for me: I need to work harder at reaching my students on their level, and through their learning style, instead of just through my own. I do use graphic organizers quite often, and I was pleased that outlining and highlighting were recommended. Since reading this chapter, I have spent more time adapting text, which I have done occasionally, and the results have been good. While I have a very content-rich book for 8th grade science - too rich, I feel, for the grade level, my students struggle with it. By re-writing it in a way that gives them the information I really feel they need to know, and focusing on that, I feel that I am helping them to understand it much better than just letting them loose with the text and some vocabulary work, since much of what is in the text is more than they need to know at this point, anyway.

I found that the teaching scenarios were very enlightening, and I really liked what Ms. Chen did with her students, it would take awhile for me to get to a point where I could do all of the activities she did with her students in one lesson. For my students at this point, it would take at least two lessons to cover all that she did. Perhaps by the time the current third graders reach the 7th or 8th grade, they will have been trained enough in all of the activities and transitions that less time would be spent teaching the procedures as well as the material itself.

Chapter One Reflections

I found this chapter to have some very interesting statistics that I had never come across before. While I have taught downstates in a variety of different settings, it never occurred to me the large number of LEP students that we have across the board in this country - almost 10% of our student population. That many of these students may be first or even second generation (not new immigrants) Americans surprised me. Chapter one also underscored for me the fact that our Native American populations may largely be LEP, even if their traditional language is no longer spoken. The fact is that their children's grasp of English may be less than what we would expect because the language spoken in the home is neither fluent in English or another language.

The fact is that there is no one solution for bringing our students up to speed to where we would like them to be as far as proficiency in English. However, SIOP does remind us to not assume our students know all the basic words in a piece, let alone the "new" vocabulary words we are introducing to them. I have found myself digging deeper into the material I am presenting and checking for understanding much more frequently, to insure that my students really understand what they are reading. Already I am noting a difference in their comprehension!

Chapter 4: Comprehensible Input

Thanks for your great reflections! I enjoyed reading your posts on the blog. We are now starting Chapter 4, Almost halfway finished with the text. I have enjoyed being part of the process of the Professional Learning Communities, as all of you share your insights on the information about SIOP and discuss the relevance to your teaching practice.


Chapter 4: Comprehensible Input
Let's start with a little review. Many English Language Learners do not understand much of the academic English used in our schools. The learner must understand the message that is presented in class. Comprehensible input is a hypothesis first proposed by Stephen Krashen in 1981. He says that ELLs acquire language by hearing and understanding messages that are slightly above their current English language level. This is known as Comprehensible Input +1.

The 3 features of this component are:

10) Speech appropriate for students’ proficiency levels (e.g., slower rate, enunciation, and simple sentence structure for beginners)

11) Clear explanation of academic tasks

12) A variety of techniques used to make content concepts clear (e.g., modeling, visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, gestures, body language)

Prior to Reading
• Which feature do you think about the most when you are preparing your lesson plans?
• Which feature would you like to improve on?
• How much of your speech in class do you think students understand?
• What techniques do you already use to make content concepts clear to your students?


After Reading

Read about feature 10 on page 80-81.

Observe your class and think about their proficiency levels.

• At which proficiency level would you describe your students as: Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Advanced or Transitional?

• How do you explain or clarify this concept and/or vocabulary for students?

Feature 11: Clear Explanation of Academic tasks. On page 81, the text says, “Oral directions should always be accompanied by written ones, so ELs can refer back to them at a later point in time as they complete the assignment or task.” Do you think that this would be good to do in your class? Would it help your students follow directions?

• What types of grouping and interaction strategies do you use to help students explain academic tasks? Checking individual students, small groups? Any others?

Features 11 and 12.
Identify a concept you will teach soon and think of one content objective and one language objective for the lesson.

How you would adjust your explanation to ELs to students who are at various proficiency levels?
• Beginning
• Early Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Advanced

On pages 82-84, there are 10 activities that you can use to make content clear.
• What techniques can you use to make new concepts clear?
• What techniques do you already use that are not listed in the book?


Teaching scenarios on pages 85 through 88
• How do teachers make content accessible to all students? Notice the strengths of the activities that Mr. Lew used to help his students gain access to the curriculum (p. 86-87).

• How do these activities provide ELLs with access to the content material?

Chapter 3 - Paula

The examples given on page 57 and beyond are very good to explain activating prior knowledge and building background. If a student doesn't have any knowledge of the subject you are studying, you can talk about a similar subject they know, show a video that will give them knowledge of the subject, read a story about the subject, give a pretest activity with a partner, or use the Insert Method. Prior knowledge would be a lot more general, perhaps, than you would be looking for, but is very important to build on to help the child understand. Building background would be specific facts about the subject that the student could relate to which would build his understanding.

Chapter 3-Liane

It was interesting to discuss the difference between schemata and building background. Even with people whose first language is English there can be different interpretations of the same situation, so even more so with ELs. The analogy to 'building background' that I use with my students is coat hooks. In order to retain and remember new information in our brains, we need to find a coat hook on which to hang it. If there is no coat hook, we teachers must help build one. Once that hook is built, the new information can be hung (or is it 'hanged' Eunice... :-). Once the new information finds a hook to occupy, it is then accessible to long term memory.
I liked the third idea on page 57. To activate prior knowledge or build background, there are many suggestions that begin on p. 57. The third one has the teacher copy a short non-fiction article on the topic in question. Partners read the article and place shorthand symbols in the text. One of the symbols is a '?' That indicates a concept that is confusing or that the reader does not understand. The book says that once the misunderstanding is cleared change the symbol to an asterisk. I like changing it to a light bulb instead.
I love to study words and the ideas to teach words are terrific in this chapter. I appreciate learning from Maria that three words per day is optimal for ELs to tackle.

My students' background strengths are their Yup'ik culture, basketball, and to an extent, technology. I find this interesting, since while they have not been immersed in technology to the extent their peers in other parts of the United States have been, nor are their parents particularly technologically-fluent, like children of their generation, they seem to naturally pick up anything with regards to technology. By relating ideas to one of these three areas, I find that I have more success with many concepts I try to teach. In those cases that I am unable to build on their existing background, I use a lot of pictures, drawings, and simple explanations. My students are very concrete, and not abstract thinkers or learners.

In class, particularly in Social Studies, I try to relate ideas to existing, or previously existing living situations and cultural situations that they have likely experienced or know about through their families and church. By doing so, it engages their interest, and they grasp the concepts much more readily.

I think that by providing more opportunities for them to see and experience physical things (through photos, films, the internet), it will provide possible links for more non-concrete, abstract concepts. Also the use of short literature pieces, short nonfiction writings, and the like, my students will be able to absorb abstract ideas in small chunks.

Chapter 3: Building Background

Discuss these questions prior to reading:

1) What are your students´ strengths in the area of background?

2) How have you helped your students make connections to their background in the past?

3) How will making greater efforts to connect to students’ background knowledge help students make greater gains in achievement?

Before you read a chapter, ask yourself: What will this chapter be about? Jot down any questions or predictions you have.

Questions after reading:
Pick one or more questions you want to discuss in your study groups. Or you can come up with your own questions.

On page 54, feature 7, “Concepts Explicitly Linked to Students’ Background Experiences” is explained. What strategies do you use to connect concepts to your students’ experiences? What new ideas did you learn?

Have you heard of the word “Schemata” before? How would you define it? What does it have to do with students’ background knowledge?


Answer the 3 questions on page 56:
What does activating prior knowledge mean?
What does building background knowledge mean?
How do they differ instructionally?

List 3 additional ways you can introduce, write, post, repeat and highlight vocabulary for students to see.

Page 61 to 62. Do you think it is important to spend time teaching academic words? What are some of the academic words that your students struggle with?


On page 63, the book says “There is little benefit to selecting 25-30 isolated vocabulary terms and asking ELs to copy them from the board and look up the definitions in the dictionary. Do you agree or disagree?
Why do you the research would indicate that this is ineffective?

Page 63 to 68. Pick 2-3 new ideas for vocabulary instruction. Share your favorites with your colleagues in your books study.

Alternate activity:Read the Lesson on Building Background and Teaching Scenarios in the section from pages 68 to 77. Score each teacher according to the rubric on pages 70, 73 and 74. Share your scores with your colleagues.


For your Chapter 3 reflection, think about the discussion and new ideas you learned from the text. Reflect on what you feel was most important to your teaching. Write a 2-3 paragraph reflection.
Quyana!

Chapter 3 Reflection

Building background is very important to a student’s understanding of the material studied. We all connect with what we read by comparing it to our own knowledge or experiences. When you have students who have no background knowledge of the subject, you must build in activities to help them learn about that subject. Brainstorming and other techniques can help you learn what the students don’t know about, then you need to provide activities to build the background. This can be showing a video related to the topic, read a story or article about the subject, or use the Insert Method on page 57 to learn about the subject.

Teaching the vocabulary also helps a child understand the material. Word walls, vocabulary journals, personal word dictionaries, word sorts, and concept definition maps are ways to help them learn the vocabulary. Academic language is particularly difficult for English language learners. Content words, process or function words, and words that teach English function should be included. Using the words in context, posting and reviewing words, and using visuals to provide concrete meanings are used to promote academic language development.

I'm not sure this is what we are supposed to do, but here it is anyway.

Paula

Chapter 3 Reflection.

Discussion Question 1 in the book questions the importance of linking a students’ cultural background to new information to make content concepts more meaningful, even if they have been ‘Americanized’. I believe it is polite and right to acknowledge a persons background even though they do not necessarily flaunt their cultural differences. I would imagine that an ELL student born in this country still has strong roots in the parents’ culture. Even though a student may not display or sound like someone from their parents culture, he is raised by parents who grew up in a different culture. Undoubtedly there will be cultural differences in the home, for example, values, food, views on medicine, schools, etc. I say these students have the benefit of comparing and possibly getting a broader idea of a concept. Regardless of the background knowledge, it is the teachers’ job to find a link between it and the new information in order to make a new concept more relevant and memorable.

Voni

Chapter 3 - Sabrina

This chapter on Building Background gave various suggestions to help students achieve greater understanding of vocabulary before diving into a lesson. Brainstorming about a topic before going into greater depth helps students have a firmer grasp on the subject at hand. When I was in school, we would always read the book first, and then watch the movie - as a kind of fun ending to the unit. What I'm reading here, and I've also heard other teachers in Kipnuk mention, is that watching a video before reading the story might help EL students understand what they will be learning a bit more than just beginning with reading the book. It also gives them a chance to have a visual when wrapping their minds around the abstract concepts they might encounter in the text.

New information must be integrated with what students have previously learned. This helps students realize that there is a process to learning, and that you must build on what you already know, simple concepts, to new, more complex concepts. The 3 Tiers of words helped me understand the type of scaffolding to use when introducing new vocabulary (and other concepts) to students. I also liked the idea of keeping the Word Wall current, not continually adding new words to the wall ending up with a crowded mess of words. After students master certain words, you can take them off of the Word Wall, and maybe have students write them in their word journals. I like the idea of the word journals for my students, especially since they're learning to sound out more words on their own, it could be like their own personal word wall, and they can practice reading those words on their own.

Reading this section was kind of a blast from the past - it had me reliving my elementary and high school experiences, since some of the activities mentioned were ones my teachers used in the classroom.

Sabrina

3) Supplementary materials are very important to use when teaching students of all ages to master the language and content objectives. I use hands-on materials when introducing in a new unit in math almost all the time. We are starting a new unit on coins, and the only way the students will understand and learn the coin names and to count on is by using play money.

Share your reflections

Thanks for sharing your reflections

Making Meaning Comprehensible, Ch 2: Lesson Preparation

Pages 22 through 51.

We are going into our 5th month of SIOP implementation here in Kipnuk. By now you have learned a great deal about SIOP Lesson Prep. How is it going? You can share with your colleagues some of your successes and some things that you still want to improve.

Just to review the 6 features of Lesson Prep:

1) Clearly define content objectives for students
2) Clearly define language objectives for students
3) Content concepts appropriate for age and educational background level of students.
4) Supplementary materials used to a high degree, making the lesson clear and meaningful (e.g., computer programs, graphs, models, visuals)
5) Adaptation of content to all levels of student proficiency
6) Provide meaningful and authentic activities that integrate lesson concepts with language practice opportunities


Pre-reading Questions

1) Why do lesson plans for Sheltered Instruction take extra considerations?
2) What has been your experience with SIOP lesson planning over the last couple of months? What has worked well for you? What feature of Lesson Prep has helped you the most?
3) Do you notice any improvements with your students and their learning in your classes, since you have added some of the SIOP features to your planning?
4) What feature would you like to work on more?
5) What do you not understand about SIOP Lesson Prep?

After reading Ch. 2: Lesson Prep (you may choose from these questions or come up with your own)

1) What do we need to do, if a major part of the information we need to teach are students is in textbooks that are above their level of English proficiency? (p. 24)
2) What is one new thing you learned about content and language objectives that you learned from reviewing the information on pages 24 to 32?
3) What supplementary material could you add to your lessons that could help students master the language and content objectives? (Feature 4, pgs 33 to 34)
4) Share one example with your colleagues about how you can use a scaffolded outline (p. 35) for the grade level and subjects that you teach?
5) How could you use Native language text in your class to help increase comprehension (p. 38)
6) Read the SIOP lesson teaching scenarios about the Gold Rush, on pages 39-45. Score the lessons according to the protocol for lesson prep on pages 42-45. You can have 1-2 people in each group read about one teacher and score their lesson. Then compare your scores with the scores and analysis on pages 46 to 50.

You can also use the questions on pages 50 to 51. Question 2 is a great one to discuss with your colleagues.

Next meeting

When will we be meeting next, Maria?

SIOP Book Study: Making Meaning Comprehensible

This blog is for Kipnuk teachers to post their reflections following their book study. We have just read the introduction to the book, Making Content Comprehensible. Our first book study took place on Friday, January 29th, was great. It was wonderful hearing all your ideas.

If you did not answer the following questions in your book study, take time to share some of your thoughts now. "How does the book define Sheltered Instruction? How is Sheltered Instruction different than Content-based ESL Instruction?"

Also: Skim through pages 15 through 20. What is one new thing that you have learned about SIOP that you did not understand before? What makes you excited about teaching SIOP? Write a 1-paragraph reflection.