Building a district's professional development capacity in support of work on complex texts

1. Building a district's professional development capacity in support of work on complex texts Rebecca Blum Martinez University of New Mexico/ Albuquerque Public Schools

2. APS’ Language and Cultural Equity Office • Six resource teachers - work in schools with high ELL populations - work in schools with bilingual & dual language (Spanish/English programs) • Three American Indian Education resource teachers from the Indian Education Office - work with American Indian students across the district.

3. Professional Development Schedule • 3 intensive days with LWF & Charles Fillmore • 2.5 review with RBM • Bimonthly meetings for 2 hours each • Began with analysis of texts from district adopted series (Treasures/Tesoros) • Analysis homework from the CC suggested texts (this is where things got tough!)

4. What do teachers need to know? • Basic grammatical terminology • Once they have identified the grammatical category, they can begin to understand the function of the word, phrase or clause in the sentence. • That the only way to become “fluent” in this process is through practice! • The ways in which these words, phrases or clauses make particular meanings

5. What makes a text complex? • Informational density, through recursion • Devices for foregrounding and backgrounding • Use of passive voice • How time, place & manner can be inserted • Uses of metaphoric phrasing • How texts cohere/hang together • That there is text complexity in other languages

6. But how do they come to understand text complexity? • Only by examining it closely. • By having to analyze the texts themselves • By having someone guide them through this process (with the help of Longman, Internet, other texts). • By working in pairs or groups so that different eyes catch different aspects. • By disagreeing and having to defend their choices they come to understand better.

7. Bigger Ideas • A change in their understanding of grammar • It is not about a set of prescriptive rules • It is about a flexible, creative system that allows speakers and writers to make choices according to their needs and the context (Conrad et al, 2002; Larsen-Freeman,2003). • The role that grammatical structures play in reading comprehension especially in complex texts. - phonics is not the solution; building vocabulary only gets you so far

8. Bigger Ideas • In order to be able to present a complex sentence/text to students you must analyze it first and understand how it has beenconstructed. • Chicago in 1871 wasa city readyto burn. The city boastedhaving 59,500 buildings, /many of them—such as the Courthouse and the Tribune Building—large and ornately decorated. The troublewasthat about two-thirds of allthese structures were madeentirely of wood.

9. What about second language learning? • Second language learning is much more complex than just giving or receiving comprehensible input. • Students must interact with ever increasing levels of complexity; both oral and written. - They must comprehend complex oral and written texts, but also - They must produce them orally and in written form (Wong Fillmore, Swain, Gibbons,) • It is the teacher’s job to consciously plan the lessons and the environment to allow for these things to happen.

10. What must university faculty know? • Everything that has been mentioned previously +++++PLUS+++++ • There is no one Academic Language but many academic languages that change according to subject, language and tradition (Snow & Uccelli,2009; Scheleppegrell & Colombi,1997; Achugar, 2003). • Vulnerability of teacher-students, and avoidance strategies.

11. What university faculty must know • How to link second language learning theories and reading theories. What is the difference between first language reading, and reading in L2? • How to assist teachers in using theories to inform their decision making about texts, unit plans, lesson plans, and strategies. • How to help teachers-students when they get stuck: what strategies can they use when they can’t figure out a particular text?

12. Most importantly That this is a multilayered process that needs to be scaffolded BUT Teachers can learn to do this! ELL/bilingual students deserve this!!!