Helping to Reach our LEP Students

1. Helping to Reach our LEP Students By: Mary Campbell & Mariella Duarte

2. Exc-ell • What is Exc-ELL? • It is an evidence-based instruction model for intergrating academic language, literacy, and content domain knowledge • Basically, its focus is on learning by reading and writing using academic language. • It is NOT something extra you need to do in your classroom. It is a set of tools that make teaching content easier

3. The three components: Vocabulary, Reading, & Writing

4. Vocabulary

5. Vocabulary • How to Select Words to Teach: • Select words outside of the bold ones in the text. Focus on polysemous words (words that have multiple meaning and can be used outside of the text. Example: State)

6. More Examples • Small Talk • Sweet Talk • Talk Shop • Talk in Riddles • Talk your Ears off • Talking to a Brick Wall • Spit it Out • Pep Talk • Talk your Way Out of It

7. Example in Context • One gray winter day the elderly queen summoned all her grandchildren to the castle. “I have been fortunate to have lived a long life,” she said. “But in time your generation will rule the country. You must work persistently to help the people and take care of the land.” • “We will always work hard,” the children replied. • “You must also be faithful to your brothers and sisters, no matter what,” the queen said.

8. How to Teach Vocabulary • 1.) Select Vocabulary to pre-teach before presenting the content, teacher read aloud, or student reading of any text • 2.) Teach vocabulary using 7 steps with ample student interaction • 3.) Students read, discuss, and write using the new vocabulary

9. 7 Steps to pre-teaching vocabulary • 1.) Teacher says the word • 2.) Teacher asks the students to repeat the word 3 times • 3.) Teacher states the word in context from the text • 4.) Teacher provides the dictionary definition(s). • 5.) Teacher explains the meaning with student-friendly definitions • 6.) Engage students in activities to develop word/concept knowledge • 7.) Highlight grammar, spelling, polysemy, etc.

10. 7-Steps in Context • 1.) Continent • 2.) Ask students to say the word Continent three times • 3.) Antarctica is a very cold continent • 4.) Any one of the seven large continuous land masses that constitute most of the dry land on the surface of the earth • 5.) Point to Antarctica on the globe and indicate that it is a continent • 6.) Ask students to show you the continent they are currently in, and which continent their relatives have come from. • 7.) Is continent a cognate with your language? • 1.) Teacher says the word • 2.) Teacher asks the students to repeat the word 3 times • 3.) Teacher states the word in context from the text • 4.) Teacher provides the dictionary definition(s). • 5.) Teacher explains the meaning with student-friendly definitions • 6.) Engage students in activities to develop word/concept knowledge • 7.) Highlight grammar, spelling, polysemy, etc.

11. Reading

12. Reading • Before Reading • Hook the Reader • Build Background • Connect with Prior Knowledge • Pre-Teach Vocabulary Implicitly • Preview Text with Students • Set Purpose for Reading

13. Read aloud & Think Aloud? • Why should you do Read Alouds in Secondary? • 1.) It Builds Fluency • 2.) Models Self-Correction • 3.) Models Fix It Strategies • 4.) Extends Comprehension • 5.) Teaches more Words • *Make sure to select shorter readings that are more in-depth!

14. Sample Read aloud: • From one day to the next, weather can have a big effect on your life. When it rains, you have to stay indoors or carry an umbrella. When it’s cold, you have to bundle up. • Over the course of hundreds, thousands, and millions of years, weather trends affect life on Earth in more dramatic ways. Ice ages or long droughts, for example,can wipe out certain types of plants and animals.

15. Partner Reading • Echo Reading • 1-2-1 • #1’s are the native speakers • #2 is the newcomer or struggling student • Student 1 reads a sentence. Student 2 repeats. Other Student 1 reads a new sentence. Student 2 repeats. Continue.

16. Partner Reading • Option 2: • Partner A reads. Partner B helps. • Partner A retells what happened in the first paragraph. Partner B adds details (The person who reads the page always retells.) • The teacher leads a short discussion of the page to check comprehension. As part of the discussion, partners share a word that was difficult for them and the strategy they used to read it.

17. Sponge Activities • Partners discuss what they learned • Map out main ideas or critical elements • Find word meanings they don’t know • Work on their word banks • Give each other spelling pre-test • Practice formulating questions from the reading • Work on pronunciation of new words • Write about the reading • Play word games

18. Round Table • 1.) Put students into heterogeneous groups • 2.) SW clear their desks, except for one piece of paper and pencil for the whole group • 3.) Each student writes an answer and passes the paper to the right • 4.) Everyone must write an answer • 5.) Continue this process until time is called

19. Round Table • Give students one minute to look over a text with vocabulary or key concept • Groups should have about 1 minute to take turns writing a word or word cluster from the text • Stop the students after 1 minute • Have groups count how many words and word clusters that they have (for word clusters, count every word. Example: Over the course of hundreds of years = 7 words) • Give students another minute to look over the text. Have students put their heads together to come up with a strategy to improve their team total • Repeat the same activity and have groups try to beat their first score (this is great to build fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and to practice rereading carefully)

20. Questioning • Have students create questions or tasks based on the Bloom’s Taxonomy • SW make up the questions and assignments based on what they learned throughout the unit or just in a week. It is a great activity for ELL’s (English Language Learners) because it allows them to critically think about the text and encourages them to read, reread, and reread again to make up their own questions and assignments. ( Let me know if you would like a spreadsheet of all of the Bloom’s Levels like the example table above)

21. Examples of Questions • Example: Unit: Insects • Level 1: Knowledge/ Remembering = What is an example of an insect? • Level 2: Comprehension/Understanding = Describe the parts of an insect. Draw and label an example of an insect. • Level 3: Application = Explain the difference between an insect and a worm. • Level 4: Analyzing = Categorize different types of insects based on the reading • Level 5: Evaluate = Judge the life of an insect. Would you want to be an insect? Why or why not? • Level 6: Create = Make a 3D model to show the features of an insect and how it lives in its natural habitat or Make a play with dialogue where you impersonate and think about the challenges you would face as an insect

22. Writing

23. Writing • Students should be writing for a specific purpose every day! Some great ways for students to assess student’s comprehension quickly are: • Data Journal: SW summarize what they learned today and highlight vocabulary or key concepts • Ticket out the Door/ Exit Pass: Ask students a simple question based on the lesson. This can be a concept, vocabulary, strategy, all of the above, etc. Students can write these on an index card, stickey note, or a blank sheet of paper. You can quickly glance to see if they got it. Keep track of these exit passes to track students’ growth throughout the year. • Creative Writing: Have students write a story of their choice using the vocabulary words or to explain a concept (Let the students be as creative as they want. Example: if you are learning about water, have students write an adventure story about a water droplet using vocabulary or write a mystery story about people who lived in ancient Egypt.

24. Modeling Writing • Modeling the Writing Process is one of the best ways to improve writing skills. • Collaborative and Cooperative Strategies have proven to work the best for students learning English

25. Practicing Writing • Give students regular practice with good writing skills. A great tool for this is to show a sentence or several a day and allow students to make corrections. • Example: miguel was gonna go to skool n help with the Student fundRaiser but he overslept. • This is only useful with repetition. Students should share as a class to help all students writing skills. This exercise is also great because it makes students read, reread, and correct. It is essential to start training students to practice reading what they wrote and correct it. This is also great because it builds students critical thinking skills, necessary for EOGs/EOCs.

26. Write Around • Put students into groups of 3 or 4 • Clear their desks except for pencil and paper. Each student should have a pencil and paper • Provide a sentence starter/ prompt or two and let them choose: • Example: Humans are the cause of global warming due to… OR Nature is the cause of global warming due to… • Students will take turns adding a sentence and then passing the paper to the right • Students should continue adding on a sentence to the paper until time is called

27. Door Prizes

28. Question #1 • What are the three components of Exc-ELL? • Answer: Vocabulary, Reading, & Writing

29. Question #2 • What is a Read Aloud/ Think Aloud and why is good for Secondary students? • Answer: It is modeling how to think as you are reading. It is great because it builds fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and teaches good reading skills

30. Question #3 • Name one way to integrate writing into your lesson as a quick assessment • Answer: Data Journal, Exit pass, Free Write, etc.

31. Visiting our Wiki Site:

32. CMS Wiki Site • Our site is: • http://whitewateresl.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/home • Please feel free to stop in or observe my class to see any of these strategies!

33. Thank you!