Teaching Heritage Speakers III: Differentiated Teaching and mixed classes

1. Teaching Heritage Speakers III: Differentiated Teaching and mixed classes STARTALK, 2012 National Heritage Language Resource Center, UCLA

2. First presentation (Monday morning) • The elements of HL teaching; • Identifying good materials; • Adapting not so good ones

3. Second presentation(Monday afternoon) • Introduction to differentiated teaching with a focus on three tools: templates, agendas, centers.

4. Today • Two more tools of differentiation (cont.) Formative assessment Group work (paired work, ½ class) • Mixed pairings (HL + L2) Ask me later, if you are interested: Small groups Contracts

5. First: The exit card question • Question: How do you differentiate with a fixed syllabus? • Answer: Design the syllabus for the “typical student”. Build in pathways for students at different levels to meet course objectives.

6. The exit card question (cont.)

7. Conditions essential to differentiation • Instructors: Need to know students’ needs and strengths and be able to use the tools that support differentiation; • Students: Need to know where they are, relative to where they need to be. Need to become independent learners;

8. Formative assessment makes this possible • Instructors:Need to know students’ needs and strengths and be able to use the tools that support differentiation; • Students: Need to know where they are, relative to where they need to be. Need to become independent learners;

9. Templates and exit cards can help with this • Instructors: Need to know students’ needs and strengths and be able to use the tools that support differentiation; • Students: Need to know where they are, relative to where they need to be. Need to become independent learners;

10. Creating independent learners

11. What do you need in order to differentiate? • Instructors: Need to know students needs and strengths and be able to use the tools that support differentiation; • Students: Need to know where they are, relative to where they need to be. Need to become independent learners;

12. How do these tools support differentiation? • Templates • Agendas: Vary pacing • Centers: Vary process (how you acquire knowledge) • Group work • Contracts

13. Back to today • Two more tools of differentiation (cont.) Formative assessment Group work (paired work, ½ class) • Mixed pairings (HL + L2) Ask me later, if you are interested: Small groups Contracts

14. Assessment • Diagnostic (pre-instruction) • Formative (during instruction) • Summative (post instruction)

15. Assessment • Diagnostic (pre-instruction) • Formative (during instruction) • Summative (post instruction)

16. Formative assessment Adapted from Checking for Understanding. Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, ASCD, 2007

17. In essence, formative assessment… Provides information to instructors, learners and programs about a) where they are; b) where they need to be; c) how to bridge the gap between (a) and (b)

18. HOW DID THE EXIT CARD ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS YESTERDAY?

19. Almost everything can function as formative assessment Exit card Quizzes, practice tests (group + individual) Quick checks Templates Homework exercises Class activities The KWL chart (What I know, What I want to learn, What I learned)

20. Why do we need formative assessment?

22. Suppose the following HL Learners are all in the same class: Advanced bilingual, schooled: Born abroad. Arrived in the US at age 9; Typical HL learner: US-born. Both parents are native speakers, immigrants. Receptive bilingual US-born. Speaks HL only with mother. Father does not speak HL.

23. Two-track program:Arabic 100 for HL learners Arabic: Diglossia • Modern Standard Arabic (High prestige, formal situations, written, known by educated speakers, lingua franca among Arabs from different countries); • Colloquial Arabic (Low prestige, home language, informal communications, not commonly written, mutually unintelligible regional dialects) (Maamouri 1998) Arabic 100: • 11 students from six Arab countries (Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt) and 1 student from Indonesia (Muslim). • 2 have four or more years of education abroad, 3 have three years of religious education in Arabic in the US; the rest have no literacy skills in Arabic;

24. How do you assign a grade to these students and • Maintain standards • Address issues of fairness

25. Answer: Differentiate instruction BUILD IN PATHWAYS FOR ALL STUDENTS TO MEET COURSE OBJECTIVES

26. Example from my own class

27. Back to outline • Two more tools of differentiation (cont.) Assessment Group work (paired work, ½ class) • Mixed pairings (HL + L2) Ask me later, if you are interested: Small groups Contracts

28. Types of groups • Learning partners (1/1) • Small groups (3-5) • Half-class/half-class

29. Grouping strategies By ability By interest By learning style By student choice By chance/proximity Flexible By HL/L2 status

30. Grouping strategies: Earlier activities By ability By interest By learning style By student choice By chance/proximity Flexible By HL/L2 status

31. Grouping strategies: Focus of this presentation By ability By interest By learning style By student choice By chance/proximity Flexible By HL/L2 status

32. Learning partners: HL-L2 pairings • In Bowles (2012) HL-L2 pairings worked on an oral information gap activity involving home vocabulary. Results: L2 learners benefited more from the activity than HL learners. • In Bowles (2011) HL-L2 pairings worked on oral and written tasks involving wider range of vocabulary. Result: both types of learners benefited equally from the activity.

33. What made the difference? • Material + task HL learners are better at spontaneous tasks that tap into intuitive use of language, L2 learners, on the other hand, do better at tasks that require meta-linguistic knowledge; HL learners are more familiar with home vocabulary; L2 learners, on the other hand, are more familiar with academic vocabulary

34. Key ideas about HL + L2 pairings • Take advantage of complimentary strengths of learners • To the extent possible match HL-L2 pairs for proficiency • Mix tasks that require intuitive knowledge with tasks that require meta-linguistic knowledge • Hold both students accountable for contributing to the task

35. The house comparison task: HL + L2 learner pairings • Using the house…yes or no? • Having only an oral component…yes or no?

36. Activity for the geography reading • Task: Discuss the reading with the goal of identifying differences between Mexico and the US. Write 15 sentences that compare and contrast the countries. Ten sentences must draw on information in the reading and 5 on background knowledge.

37. Another activity • Designing a word cloud for the reading

39. Activity • Task: Design a word cloud consisting of 30 - 40 key terms – not based on frequency, but on importance to the main ideas; • Why is this a good task?

40. Types of groups • Learning partners (1/1) • Small groups (3-5) • Half-class/half-class

41. Use agendas to break up the class into two groups… Group 1 works with the instructor; Group 2 works on their agenda (a list of activities students must complete in a given time. Vary the pace and product. Support self-directed learning and effective classroom management)

42. With the little bit of time left…

43. A challenge for the most intrepid… • A native speaker in a class of HL learners; • What do you do with this student? How do you challenge him/her? How do you make sure that other students’ learning is not compromised?

44. Contracts • Contracts: An agreement between the teacher and student. Individualized. • Agendas: A list of activities all students must complete in a given time.

45. Contracts • What can you put in a contract for very advanced/native students?

46. Summary: Differentiation

47. Summary – group work • Paired work, HL-L2: To the extent possible, match students for proficiency. Design activities that tap into complementary strengths. • Half class: Use agendas when meeting with one half of class.

48. All classes • Use templates to differentiate instruction by learner needs and foster independent learning; • Use agendas and centers to vary pace, process, and content; • Use contracts for students whose abilities far exceed those of the class.

49. Thank you!