February 3, 2009 at 7:00 pm (English, English Language Learners, English Proficiency, FEP: Fluent-English Proficient, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, Lessons, Resources, Social Studies, Teachers, Technology)
Tags: AASL, American Association of School Librarians, authentic writing, ELL, ELL Writing, ELL writing activities, ESL, ESL Activities, ESL writing activities, ESOL, interactive, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, news websites, online, publishing student writing, web etiquette, Writing Projects
A couple of weeks ago my cousin passed away, and I traveled to Georgia to be with my family for the funeral. My cousin’s death was published in the local and state news papers and online. I was previously aware of the interactive side of news (being able to comment on an article) but had never commented on any articles or been on the receiving end of those comments. People who new my cousin or our family left notes of sympathy, love, and encouragement after the obituary. I thought this was a wonderful use of the interactive web. However, there were also comments left from readers of the news story (separate from the obituary). Some of the comments and opinions left were uncensored as far as how they may impact and affect the family of the deceased. I saw this as the less attractive side of the interactive web.
Since then, I have been pondering how to blog about my new experience with the interactive web and what I learned from it. First, I think the ability to comment on the news can be thought provoking and beneficial. The comments of sympathy, love, and encouragement were overwhelming and brought joy and warmth to our family. However, I don’t think that it is a place where the random reader should write whatever they want just because they can. Maybe this falls under web etiquette.
So, why did I blog about this and what does it have to do with English language learners? I think that this is another form of authentic writing that can be used with our students. Standard 2 of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards for the 21st-Century Learner states that “Learners use skills, resources, and tools to draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.” As members of a democratic society, it is essential that our students know how to think critically and make informed decisions. It is also important to teach them how to participate ethnically and productively (AASL standard 3). The interactive news websites can be a tool we use to facilitate the teaching of these skills.
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February 2, 2009 at 9:38 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: ELL, ELL Activities, ELL Writing, ELL writing activities, English Language Learners, ESL Activities, ESL writing activities, ESOL, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, publishing student writing, Second Language Acquisition, Technology, Writing Projects
After my classes created a book review rubric, it was really important to begin writing their first review. One of my criteria was that they must finish a book before they review it. While that might not always be necessary, a lot of my students struggle to really describe why they aren’t liking a book. I get a lot of “It’s boring.” I am working to try and get them to really understand why they don’t like it, but they aren’t all totally there yet, but that is another problem.
They had to use the rubric to write their rough draft. We talked about what elements they should include in the review and in what order. Descriptive words, we decided, needed to be added after the rough draft was completed. It was a polishing area as opposed to a component of the review. After they finished their rough draft, they edited it for content and word choice. I then edited it once more. I had my students write out the review because they are not able to draft on the computer and polish their writing in the 20 minutes that I have in the computer lab. There is also no way to save the review to complete at a different time.
After they had created the review and edited it, we headed into the computer lab. In order to post on Amazon, you must have a customer account. Additionally, you must purchase something on the account. If you purchase a book, you can then delete the payment information and still use the account to post reviews. I had created screen shots to help students log in. It is quite a process to login to the account, so there were many steps that they needed to follow. You can see the login sheets here: Logging in to Amazon.
I was very glad that I had the screen shots for my students to use and that they had written their reviews ahead of time. It took them the full 20 minutes (at least) to get the review entered and edited before publishing. They were very excited about publishing it to the internet – I was as well.
We posted our first reviews in December and have since posted one more round. They were able to access the account much faster which meant that they had time to edit their typos. I am now having them post one review a month.
Note: You might check your Amazon profile to make sure that is shows the reviews you have posted (or find your review under the book’s information). I have run into a problem with my account. None of my reviews had posted after my first test. I have contacted customer service, but the problem hasn’t been totally fixed yet. You might not have any issues with this, but it is something to keep an eye on.
2nd Note: 4/1/09 – I figured out the posting issue. When your students enter their review, have them select that they are over 13. This will allow the book review to be posted. This was not a privacy issue as the account they were posting under was Mrs. Duarte’s class, so their names don’t appear anywhere. I have also discovered that if one person writes a book review on The 13th Reality, no one else can post a review on it. That means that each student will have to create a review on a different book. This might be a problem depending on how many students you teach, then again, you can always create multiple accounts.
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December 29, 2008 at 9:48 pm (English, English Language Learners, FEP: Fluent-English Proficient, Graphic Organizers, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, Resources)
Tags: ELL, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, ESL, ESOL, SLA, ELL Activities, ELL Writing, Writing Projects, publishing student writing, ESL writing activities, Language Arts foldables, ELL writing activities, friendly letters, mailing letters, letter writing
As part of my continuing attempt to create authentic writing experiences for my students, I had my students write a holiday letter and mail it to a person of their choice. There were many benefits and lessons to be learned here – friendly-letter format, summarization (milestones of their year), what a full address is, addressing an envelope, and the purpose of a holiday letter.
Here is what I discovered. Even though my students are in middle school, most of them don’t know what constitutes a full address, they don’t know how to address an envelope, they have difficulties coming up with things to write about, and they were completely amazed that I was going to mail their letters.
We started by creating a foldable for friendly letters. They needed to know the format before they could write an appropriate letter. I created a powerpoint that broke the letter into three parts. You can view and download the powerpoint here: http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/36868/Friendly-Letter
This is what their foldable looked like:
Outside of foldable
Inside the foldable
We stapled these into their spirals so that they could reference them, both for the holiday letter and their epals e-mails.
After they made their foldable, we started talking specifically about holiday letters and their purpose. I brought several examples for them to peruse. I prepared a powerpoint that shared topics, mood, and overall purpose for the letter. This seemed to help several of my students decide on topics and the type of letter that they wanted to write. You can view and download the powerpoint here: http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/36907/Holiday-Letter
They finally started writing their letters. I created a basic letter format that they would copy their final draft onto. It had some generic pictures and text boxes on it. It wasn’t that big, so they didn’t have to write a lot of information. This was actually a good thing, because some of them really struggled with things to write about.
Here is what I would change next time: I would give them more time to work on the project. Some students struggled getting all of their information written, edited, and their envelop addressed. I also need to work further on editing skills. It is something that they are not proficient at. I do feel, however, that this was a very worthwhile project and will probably expand it a little and repeat it next year.
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December 4, 2008 at 7:13 pm (English, English Language Learners, Lessons, Resources, Strategies, Teachers)
Tags: co-teaching, data collection, ELL, ELL Activities, ESL, foldables, identifying subject and predicate, Language Arts foldables, language arts stations, SLA, stations, types of sentences, using data
I have been working with a teacher who has an 8th grade Language Arts class that has quite a few ELL and SPED students. She is struggling to find a way to meet the diverse needs in the class, work with students in small groups, and maintain classroom management. I talked to this teacher about coming in and co-teaching with her.
I met with the teacher to plan out the lesson and decide what she wanted the focus to be. She has been working on determining the subject and predicate in sentences and is moving into the different types of sentences. She also wanted to be able to meet with a small group of kids. We decided to set up stations. She would create groups based on some classroom data. That way when a group came to her, she would be able work on specific skills that that group was missing. The four stations that we decided on were: teacher station, creating sentences finding the subject and predicate, types of sentences foldable, and a parts of speech bingo. I would create the foldable, provide the game, and an introduction to types of sentences. She would create the stations, the subject and predicate station, and her teacher station materials.
Before class began, we arranged the desks in the class and put the materials at the appropriate stations. When the students came in, we told them the station that they needed to sit at. We did this because we knew that this group would struggle with movement after the instructions. We started the lesson with an introduction to types of sentences. I created a powerpoint (you can view or download it at this address: http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/32470/Types-of-Sentences ). to introduce the topic and explain the foldable.
After the introduction, we explained the task at each station. At the subject/predicate station, students had to write one sentence based on a picture and then highlight the subject and predicate in each sentence. This sheet would be used as a pre-assessment for the teacher at her station (the one right after the subject/predicate station).
Subject/Predicate Station
We got some good data from this station. One entire group neglected to add a subject to any sentence. This allowed the teacher to know exactly where she needed to begin her instruction – even further back than she had anticipated.
At the foldable station, students made a hotdog fold and cut out four sections. Each section would be used to describe one of the types of sentences. They would write a definition, a sample sentence, and a picture illustrating that picture. They will use this foldable as a study guide for future assignments.
Types of Sentence Foldable
Inside of foldable.
With our short classes (only 45 minutes), we ran out of time very quickly. Students did not get to finish the foldable. We decided to create an overhead and have them finish it as a warm-up. We would provide the definition and they would add the sample question and picture. This would provide a quick assessment for the teacher to see if they comprehended the various types at a very simple level.
Students working in stations.
At our debriefing, we talked about how great a job the students did, how surprised she was that a group of students didn’t add subjects to any of their sentences, how she adjusted her instruction to that, the fact that students were upset when they couldn’t finish their foldable (how many students do you know who complain when they can’t finish their work?!?), and how to build in the time to finish the foldable during a later class.
All in all, the kids did a great job. I think that this might be a strategy that will be successful with this class.
On a different note, the more foldables that I make, the more excited I am about this strategy and using it with students.
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November 21, 2008 at 10:32 am (Lessons, Resources, Teachers, Technology)
Tags: education, ELL, English Language Learners, online sharing, powerpoint, presentations, slideboom, Technology, website
Slideboom.com is a place where you can host your PowerPoint presentations or search for presentation that have been uploaded by other users. The website is very easy to use and quickly uploads presentations. Slideboom is a great tool for sharing your presentations with other educators and students. Also, if you create a presentation at home or at school, just upload it to slideboom and you can access it from any location. I hope you find slideboom.com as easy to use and useful as we have. If you would like to look at the presentations we have uploaded, you can find them at slideboom.com/people/ellclassroom. Feel free and please download them and modify the presentations to meet the needs of your students.
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November 15, 2008 at 9:38 pm (English Language Learners, Resources, Strategies, Teachers)
Tags: ELL, ESL Activities, genre, identifying book genre, identifying genre, interactive bulletin board, reviewing books
This year, I have especially noticed that my students struggle identifying genre related to literature. They can identify fiction or nonfiction, but they have been unable to identify specific genres within each. I decided to develop an interactive way for them to begin to explore different types of genre.
I decided to begin with five main genre types: realistic fiction, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and historical fiction. In addition to the board I created, I also found a descriptive chart that students can read through to find the genre type. I made sure that I put picture examples of genre under each heading so that students could have a visual image that would help them decide what genre a book fits into.
Whenever a student finishes a book that they rate a 9 or 10, they can fill out the pieces of paper that you see on the board for extra credit (5 points). This serves as an advertisement for other students and a way for them to figure out genre. The information that they place on the paper are: title, author, reviewer (their name), rating, and location (where someone else can find the book).
I have found that students enjoy sharing their favorite books in this way. They also use the pictures to help them figure out the genre.
I plan on adding other genres over the course of the year.
I have been incredibly pleased with these results. My students are really starting to use these tools to help place books into different genres.
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November 5, 2008 at 9:23 pm (Classroom Management, English Language Learners, Lessons, Strategies, Teachers)
Tags: 6th grade, 9 square, active engagement, Ancient Egypt, authentic conversation, brain based teaching strategies, effective structures, effective teaching strategies, ELA, ELL, ELL Activities, ESL, ESL Activities, ESOL, exit cards, foldable, group projects, group work, Instructional Strategies, interaction, SLA, Social Studies, stations, structures, TESOL
I had the opportunity to team teach a lesson in a 6th grade Social Studies class today. The teacher and I decided to use stations for the structure. The material was not new (ancient Egypt) so we didn’t have to worry about presenting new information. We wanted to give the students the opportunity to “play” with the content and review what they knew.
We developed three different station activities with four actual stations. One of the activities was longer and needed a little more time to complete.
The activities were a 9 square game, decoding hieroglyphs, and creating a foldable using Egyptian cartoons. Each group would have about 11 minutes to complete a station based on the amount of time in the class.
9 square answer key and student copy
Student attempt at answering 9 square puzzle.
Decoding Hieroglyphs
Creating foldable for Egyptian cartoons.
When the students came into the classroom, I had four steps written on the board. The teacher wanted them to copy down the lesson objective and I wanted them to get out a blank sheet of paper. I learned a couple of new brain based strategies at the NMSA conference this past week. One of them that struck me was that we can hold about 10 things in our short term memory at a time. The speaker (Dr. Kagan) suggested that instead of a warm-up we have students write down everything that is going on in their brain when they first come into class (all the things that are bothering them, what they just learned, what they need to do after school, what they need to remember, ect). Sort of clear out the short term memory. I explained to the students why we were doing this and how I would not want the paper. I gave them one minute to write, but had to extend it as they kept making their list for over two minutes. I was amazed about how serious they took this activity. When they finished, I began explaining the stations and they seemed more focused. I will definitely use this activity again. I am thinking about having my students do this every day before class.
I then began explaining the various stations. When I am explaining various activities, I explicitly state what they will and will not do. I show them the actual materials that they will use to complete the activities. I make sure that I have an example for them to follow at each station. I then took them out to their table in the pod area.
Pod area set up for stations
They immediately began working. We made sure that we checked in with each station at the beginning of each rotation to make sure that they understood exactly what they needed to do. The level of engaged conversation was really incredible. The 9 square game was by far the most difficult activity, but students also had to work hard to find the information from the cartoons and decode the hieroglyphs. Out of two classes and almost 50 students, I had one student in one class that was not engaged. It turned out he just didn’t understand exactly what he needed to do and hadn’t asked another group member or a teacher.
Students working in stations.
Another view
At the end of the class period, I had students return to the classroom and write one thing they learned and one question that they still had on the back of their foldable and turn it in. This was an exit card and a way for us to assess what they knew and what they were still struggling with. The foldable can also be used as a review for an assessment.
As an additional exit ticket, I asked each student as they left to tell me one thing they learned.
Overall, we were really pleased with the activity. The students were engaged in meaningful dialog about the topic and were focused for the entire 45 minutes. This activity just reminded me how much I like stations. There is a lot of prep work, but when that is finished, you just facilitate during class periods. It is a great way to teach.
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October 31, 2008 at 10:10 pm (English, English Language Learners, Lessons, Resources, Teachers, Uncategorized)
Tags: articles, ELL, English, English Language Learners, Español, famous Latinos, fashion, free, free subscription, high school, languages, latino, LàTeen, magazine, middle school, online, second language learners, spanish, sports, subscription, teenagers
Today, while I was viewing the exhibits at the NMSA conference, I came across a very interesting magazine. The magazine is specifically for Latino teens and is appropriately named LàTeen. LàTeen was originally created by a class of 8th graders and their teacher. At this time, I do not know all of the details as to how the magazine became what it is today. There is a website to accompany LàTeen, but it is still under construction. However, you can visit www.lateen.com and register your school or classroom for a free 6-month subscription (must have tax id). Teens or Youth can also register for an individual free 6-month subscription.
LàTeen Magazine contains articles in Spanish and English (the same article is not featured in both languages). The articles are about fashion, sports, famous Latinos, and much more. I look forward to receiving my first copy to read through and report back on some ways to incorporate this magazine into the classroom. If you or your students have already had the opportunity to read LàTeen Magazine, please share with us your thoughts
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October 30, 2008 at 10:11 am (Teachers)
Tags: academic vocabulary, classroom procedures, Colorado, Conference, content vocabulary, Denver, Discipline, ELL, English Language Learners, foldables, Graphic Organizers, handouts, Methods, modifications, modified lesson, National Middle School Association, NMSA, Performance, Resources, Strategies, Understanding, wiki, wikispaces
We are off to the National Middle School Association’s 35th Annual Conference in Denver. How exciting!! The last time I went to the NMSA conference was in 2001 as a college senior. Having been in the classroom now, I am looking forward to all of the great things that will be presented such as technology, strategies, methods, resources, and freebies from the exhibit hall of course.
Tomorrow afternoon, Jennifer and I will be presenting in one of the concurrent sessions. The title for our session is Strategies, Methods, and Resources for Increasing ELL Student Understanding and Performance. Some of the things we will cover during the 75 minute session are Who are English language learners?, Characteristics?, Structure- discipline, classroom procedures, graphic organizers, Academic vs. Content Vocabulary, Foldables, and Example of a modified lesson. Believe me, we have tons more that we could talk about but this was all that we could fit into the time. If you would like a copy of our handouts, visit our wiki (some pages are still a work in progress) at http://ellclassroom.wikispaces.com/NMSAhandouts.
I look forward to reporting back on all that I learn over the next few days!
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October 29, 2008 at 10:02 am (English, English Language Learners, English Proficiency, FEP: Fluent-English Proficient, LEP: Limited-English Proficient, Lessons, Methods, NEP: Non-English Proficient, Resources, Teachers, Technology, Uncategorized)
Tags: 20 questions, 20Q's, academic vocabulary, Categorize, Compare and Contrast, content vocabulary, dyslexia, ELL, ELL Activities, games, handheld, inexpensive, interactive, online, reading, struggling readers, Technology, toys, vocabulary
Last Christmas, my husband and I were invited to a white elephant party and were looking for a nice but fun gift to bring when we came across the handheld game 20Q’s. My husband was immediately addicted and we bought one as our gift. That little bit of background leads me to my current thoughts on an inexpensive but useful classroom tool for English language learners or struggling readers.
In order to play the game, you must pick a common object that most people would know about, be able to read or have someone read the questions for you, and then answer questions about your object’s characteristics. The choices are yes, no, and sometimes. The online game provides more answer choices. Here is a sample question. (I indicated that my object was an animal.)
Q2. Does it have fur?
Yes , No , Unknown, Irrelevant, Sometimes, Probably, Doubtful
Fun for struggling readers:
My nephew turned 15 this summer and I was stumped as to what to give him that wouldn’t just be thrown in his room and never used. Thankfully, I remembered the 20Q’s game and thought that it would be something he would enjoy. I was right. He and my husband played with the game pretty much all day and then again at dinner that night. My nephew is what most educators would classify as a struggling reader due to dyslexia and isn’t interested in reading. However, this “toy” required him to read the questions presented in order for the game to guess his object. My husband commented later that he thought the 20Q’s game would help our nephew with his reading because there were times when he did not know a word and would have to ask for help.
Reinforcement/Fun for ELLs:
In an ELL classroom (only ELL students such as NEPs or NEPs and LEPs), 20 questions could be used to teach vocabulary and the characteristics of vocabulary. For example, if students are learning English for the first time, it is important for them to learn common school objects. The facilitator (teacher, instructor, para, tutor) will show them pictures of these objects or point them out around the school or in a book. Once the students are familiar with the names of these objects, identifying their individual characteristics creates a deeper understanding of the object and allows the students to then begin comparing and contrasting the objects or categorizing them into groups (comparing and contrasting and categorizing are higher level thinking skills).
In addition to the content vocabulary such as the school objects, ELLs would also need to understand the academic vocabulary that is included in the game such as yes, no, unknown, irrelevant, sometimes, probably, and doubtful. If the students have no knowledge of these words then it is impossible for them to answer the question correctly.
In a content classroom with ELL students, this “toy” could be useful as a “filler” (something that they could do after they have finished their work or if there are a few minutes left of class).
The game is available in stores such as Target, Wal-mart, K-mart, and Toys r Us for approximately $7-$10.
It is also online at http://www.20q.net/.
If you have used 20Q’s in your classroom or have any other ideas on how 20Q’s could be incorporated into the classroom, please share your experiences and ideas with us.
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