Teaching Literacy Strategies and Academic Language

1. Teaching Literacy Strategies and Academic Language Lisa Hoelmer Shelby County Schools ESL Teacher

2. Quick Write • Who are the language learners in your classroom? How do you know? What are you already doing in your classroom to help them? What would you like to do differently?

3. Today’s Purpose To consider… • What makes a student a language learner • The need for reading and comprehending academic language in content areas • Understanding the difference between literacy and reading • How do you address language needs? • Applying some of these strategies back in your classes.

4. Literacy versus Reading • Literacy is the ability to comprehend the text, talk about it, and apply what you have learned. • Reading is the ability to decode the words on the page. • All of our students read in some capacity. But, many are not literate!

5. What students think… • Students find academics to be intimidating, confusing, and boring therefore just skip the reading. • Students expect the teacher to be the expert, do all the talking, and be the center of the classroom. • Students say the best means of learning are: • “hearing an explanation” • “asking someone” • “being told what to do”

6. Our Responses • Teachers “tell” students all necessary information therefore releasing students from needing to read the textbook. • When students don’t know the answers to difficult questions, we let them off the hook or lower our questioning to easier questions. • When are we making them THINK??? • Let’s take a look at an example….

7. Do you understand?? Flingledobe and Pribin Last serny, Flingledobe and Pribin were in the nird-link treppering gloopy caples and cleaming burfy greps.  Suddenly, a dutty strezzle boofed into Flingledobe’s transk.  Pribin glaped and glaped.  “Oh Flingledobe,” he chifed, “that Dutty strezzle is tunning in your grep.”  1. Who is this story about?  2. When did this story take place?  3. What were the two main characters doing?  4. What happened to Flingledobe? 5. How did Pribin react?

8. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE NEEDS OF All LEARNERS • Develop academic vocabulary. • Understand and use the correct form and function of your subject area. • Read to acquire new information. • Understand information presented orally. • Participate in classroom discussions and use the vocabulary presented. • Write and speak to communicate their knowledge and ideas.

9. What we can do… • Don’t teach as if they have never had or never will have the opportunity to use the material! Make it relevant!! • Scaffold. Give them the support they need to access the material • Front-load your teaching before they read – point out possible difficulties they may encounter. Use questioning to help them get started thinking! • Provide lots of opportunity for students to talk and write about what you’ve taught (APPLICATION)

10. So What Now? • Identify student needs (before) • Provide comprehensible input (during) • Expect authentic and appropriate student products (after)

11. Strategies for increasing background knowledge before reading (Identify Students’ Needs) • Establishing background knowledge AND their English fluency helps level the playing field for all students. • Carousel graffiti • Anticipation Guides • ABC Brainstorm • Word Sorts • Word Splash • Quick writes

12. Graffiti • Forms groups; provide colored markers • You have two minutes to write down everything you know about this topic. WRITE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES!! • Pass chart paper on to the next group

13. ABC Brainstorm • Students list all the letters of the alphabet on a sheet of paper leaving room to write out the word or phrase • First think/work individually on a “big topic” • Then work in pairs • Have students share their terms of the alphabet

14. Word Splash • Write a paragraph using all the words • Write sentences using these words that put the meaning in context – if students don’t know the words make educated guesses • How can you predict how these words might be connected • Now you try it…

15. Word Splash Nomadic Metal Egypt Papyrus cuneiform Sumer Ur Arch Flax Kish Clay tablets City state The Sumerians Goats Nobles Ziggurats Slaves Algebra

16. Word Sort 1. Create a list of vocabulary words from the reading. 2. Create Word strips. • Ask the students to sort the words into categories. • Yup, you’re right, you try it….

17. Quick Write • Use a question to get students to think about what you are about to read. Have them write their answers quickly and then discuss their finding. • Based upon their writing have them Predict or Infer what the story/text will be about. Example: Why do we learn about patterns in school? Think about nature, what patterns do we see in nature. List at least three.

18. “As I See It” “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” • Determine the three big/main ideas from the lesson. • Specify the two immediate actions they plan to take as a result of what they have learned • Reveal one major insight that resulted from what you learned.

19. So What Happens after I pre-assess? (Provide Comprehensible Input) • Let’s take a look at a passage that is at a 12th grade literacy level.

20. Do you understand? What would help?

22. Front Load Vocabulary • Before you begin: • Start with the required subject vocabulary • Whitening • Economy of market (market economy) • Academic Vocabulary: • Obtain • Multilateral • Legitimization Use pictures, gestures, etc. to help

23. Function versus Form • Language Function: Summarizing: Where do your students fall on this list? Will they recognize the vocabulary that tells them the text is summarizing information?

24. Reviewing During Reading Strategies • Work with a shoulder partner to discuss which strategies presented today you would apply in your classrooms or what you might add. • Discuss your reasoning (justify!!) • You have 5 minutes…yikes!

25. What do you do after they’ve read? Assessment… • Summarize • Tag it in 10 • GIST summaries • Somebody Wanted But So • Comic strips • Q and A with TPR • Drawing most important part of passage

26. Summarizing • “…research suggests instruction and practice in summarizing not only improves students ability to summarize text, but also their overall comprehension of text content • French Fry Summary • Story Impressions • Five Finger Summary

27. Tag it 10 • Select several important paragraphs from the text • Photocopy and cut out the paragraphs. • Ask student to write 10 word summaries of the selections. ____________________________________________________ On 07/04/76 the Congress declared independence from Britain ____________________________________________________ When delegates to a Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. The spirit of independence was stronger. The delegates voted to declare their freedom from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, they adopted the Declaration of Independence, which established the United States of America as an independent nation. Thomas Jefferson, the declaration’s principal author, expressed American sentiments with nobility and grandeur. The Americans wanted the whole world to read their declaration.

28. GIST • Give a copy of the text to each student • Ask the student to read the paragraph looking for the most important information and the main idea. • Ask the student to create a 20 word summary of the first paragraph • Ask the student to read the second paragraph • Ask the student to create a 20 word summary of the first and second paragraph • Ask the student to share their paragraph with a partner • Ask the pair to create a new summary paragraph • Allow the students to share their summaries with the class - discuss how the summaries are similar and different.

29. Somebody-Wanted-But-So • Think about the age of exploration and Columbus:

30. Direct Paraphrasing • Remember: Literacy and Reading skills rely on your ability to talk about what you’ve read/learned • Now take a minute to summarize these activities and how you will use them in your own words!

31. Final Thoughts… • An education that assumes to prepare students without providing them with ways to access the text falls short of truly educating students” (Draper, 2002). • “The priority of instructing for reading comprehension must be balanced with the priority of teaching the content area itself” (RAND, 2002, p. 30).