Entry #11

Reflection upon Blog

Blogs can be great things for reflection and sharing of your own ideas.  They allow for the exploration of ideas and the free brainstorming that can be instrumental to exploratory growth of critical thinking.  This particular blog, I appreciate as it will be a permanent place for me to reference many of my thoughts from during the course.  In 8 weeks, there is so much to process that being able to go back and review once it is completed is a wonderful tool.  This is extremely evident in that the online system World Class does not allow access to prior courses.  So any and all conversations that were on those discussion boards are gone.  Sad, as there are rich discusion and great resources in there.  There simply is not a way to save it all within the system to be able to access it at a later time.  This allows for that opportunity.

At the same time, Blogs instead of forums, also limit the amount of interaction between students.  With having each student create their own, it makes the collaboration between students not so flowed or with structure.  As a result, there is not as much rich discusion as one finds in a forum scenario.  The structure is not great for anything larger than the small classes that we have for online work.

I have used blogs, but created them as a forum.  This is where I have the page developed and then students all come to that page to share ideas and thoughts about specific topics.  For advance placement students, this is great for use with summer assignments.  For my regular/low achieving students, the forum only works when specifically targeting certain elements of content and using it to measure language development in a more relaxed format.  Students like it for that fact.  It allows for the discusion of ideas without the formality of essay.  Teachers like it as it provides a written record of what is discussed for formal assessment purposes which is much harder in the classroom socratic seminar format.  The biggest issue is that students are not always diligent in posting.  They will also want to know how it is "scored" for a grade as many will take the attitude that it is about the number of posts and not about the quality of posts.  This is a subjective thing then to grade if it is not quantitative and hence harder for students to know exactly what is expected.  The benefit is that teachers can differentiate scoring based upon student ability with critical thinking and with language.

Entry #9

Comparison of Fiction and Nonfiction for ELLs

Characteristic	Fictional Text: The Breadwinner by Debra Ellis (Fictional history)	Non-Fiction Text: World History: Making Connections to Today	Similarities and Differences	Impact on ELLs
Title	Story	Broad General Overview	Both have cover pages with Titles and images, Both also have title pages inside the cover with similar images and titles Differ in purpose even though both connected to historical context.	Each title page would help prepare students with prereading (words and images) but only in a very general way.
Visuals/Pictures	Unique illustrations, designed to aid the storyline	Images appear on nearly every page.  Consist of historical artifacts, maps, charts, photographs, timelines	Both have illustrations within chapters.  Nonfiction has more variety of images (ie. graphs, charts, maps, photographs)	Illustrations help ELLs to comprehend. Nonfiction – images could be an issue as they are organizers that students may have to be taught how to read.
Author/Illustrator	Single author/ illustrator	Team of Authors and Editors	Number of authors and sources contributing vastly different	Ells will have a harder time possibly with the variety of authors in nonfiction as the vocabulary, and structure of the writing can have subtle changes from chapter to chapter.  Fiction can be easier as voice and tone is consistent.
Contents	Chapter organization.  Short number of pages within each chapter	Unit organization with chapters for more unified topics and then sections for specific events and details. Text is leveled as 11 grade text.	Table of contents standard. Fiction lists chapters Non-fiction has chapter, sections and content topics along with highlights	Contents of fiction would encourage ELLs. Nonfiction would support due to imagery, but would also be a hindrance due to the content identifications/vocabulary being complex for ELLs as well as many English speakers.
Print	Overall 14pt font-type same except for chapter headings.  No captions for illustrations	Varying fonts, sizes and colors. Different fonts and colors for chapter, section and topic headings.  Also use of bold font for key identification terms.	Both use a standard font for the most part Nonfiction have variety denoting specific elements of the text	Standard font improves ability to comprehend due to consistency. Nonfiction text does provide assistance to ELLs with the use of bold, color and italics hence benefiting ELLs if provided with the understanding of the reason for each font/color usage.
Structure	Storyline structure – Chronological order of events. Narrative story telling and dialogue of characters, 170 pages	Introduction to format of the text and contents (33 pgs), 37 chapters = 980 pages. Language structure is formal academic base containing mass amounts of fact/information	Paragraphs and structure is in chronological event for the most part. Nonfiction length is vast.	Nonfiction can be intimidating due to the size of the book especially if checked out.  Mentality is that students read each text cover to cover.  Simply cannot happen with these types of text. Nonfiction also would be difficult due to the possible lack of prior knowledge to be able to comprehend graphic organizers and visuals included within the text. Fiction is going to be more familiar to students and easier for ELLs
Ending	Story ends after last paragraph.  No so happy ending which surprises students	Reference section containing Atlas, Glossary, Connections to literature and science = 30 pg	Fiction – Completes the story Nonfiction- has resources that students can use at the back.	Non-fiction has resources to aid students and can have an immediate impact on ELLs comprehension of vocabulary and content Fiction provides a place of completion for ELL students; a measure of completion establishes a sense of success and increases motivation.

Entry #8

Sheltered literacy video evaluation.

What does the teacher do?
Explicitly explains the lesson in kid friendly language (verbally and visually)
Creates a comfortable environment. One where risk is valued and accepted.
Reviews all reading strategies
Previews vocabulary
Uses pictures to help cue context
Involves spelling within the lesson
Creates relevant stories to promote relationship to text
Previews the text
Saves time at the end of lesson for reviewing materials
Front loads students with knowledge necessary for reading text
Models reading AND thinking while reading a text

What do students do?
Recall prior learning from earlier lessons
Interact verbally with teacher as well as other students by building upon input
Compare background experiences to main concepts
Predict text
Use images to help clarify comprehension
Contribute to group work
Works independently with the text
Provides input via post-it notes process proposed by Tovani
Students use planned strategies to enhance comprehension of text


Reading Strategies used:
Visualization
"I Wonder ..."
Student development of questions
Inference
Summary of learning (non-fiction and historical biography)
Diary Board
"I'm confused"
Connections to culture

General observations:

Many of the sheltering processes are the same for struggling readers and writers. The major difference between how ELLs use the process is the pace of learning that occurs.  ELLs need time to process lessons and cannot be rushed to go through the 3 phases of sheltering too quickly.  There needs to more conscious effort by the teacher to cycle through the phases throughout each chapter or section of a text.

ELL students require the opportunity to scaffold their comprehension.  Not all reading strategies are appropriate for all student levels at the same time.  Therefore there needs to be a utilization of multiple strategies at each of the 3 phases.

Teacher reinforced contributions of students quite often even if not directly on target.  By doing this, there is a promotion of students wanting to contribute within the lessons.  It is something very subtle, but can make all the difference for struggling students to feel accepted and willing to take risks.

Entry #7

I had the opportunity of doing running records with two high school English Language Learners. One was a native speaker of Chinese and one was a native speaker of Japanese.  The one true speaker of a language other that an Asian language within the ELL curriculum speaks a dialect of Mayan and just arrived in the United States.  As a result, it was recommended that he not be used for this assignment by the cooperating teacher due to the fact that he just went through a set of measurement tests and it may be overload for him.

For this assignment, I used a format assessment for the running record.  When chatting with the ELL teacher, she actually thought it would be a good idea to use something that would provide a measurement of leveling.  So it was agreed that I would use the Classroom Reading Inventory (12th edition) by Warren Wheelock and connie Campbell.  This format provides level readings from 1-8 grade.  They are currently producing a secondary version as well that will provide assessment materials into high school levels.  The CRI has three versions. Version A focuses on the students ability to decode words in and out of context as well as comprehension on a basic level (factual, vocabulary) and then infer conclusions based upon the reading.  Version B focuses upon prediction and retelling of the text with an emphasis on characters, problems, and outcomes/solutions.  Version C is a combination of the two incorporating all parts and is designed for high school usage grades 9-12.  For this assessment, Version A was used as to target the decoding of words within written passages.  The assessment was able to start at a level and then build up to find the level at which the student effectively struggled.  We did not access the graded word lists as we wanted to focus upon the ability to comprehend meaning as well as decode.  In the high school ELL classroom, there is a much bigger emphasis on comprehension then on the ability to use perfect decoding of every word.

The results of the data are interesting.  It was suggested to focus upon non-fictional pieces within the samples over the use of fictional pieces.  The female Japanese student was one of the higher achieving ELL students in the class.  We started her at level 5 (5th grade).  Her biggest issue decoding was with names of people and places.  The Chinese student also had issues with names and vocabulary, but since he was a much lower level of English proficiency, he also had difficulty with the dropping of endings (i.e. -ed) of words and the substitution of similar words (i.e.- charging for chasing).

Most of the miscues were found in the introduction of new vocabulary and the necessity for a visual cue to help explain the meaning.  Words like astronaut (for the female student) had to be visually cued to establish meaning.  This made it hard to establish an independent level of functioning of reading due to the necessity to sound out and have the instructor verbally pronounce and define some words.  This is attributed to the fact that it is a second language as both students function fluently in their native language.  The instructional level in English was also difficult to assess due to the language learning.  When asked comprehension questions, there were miscues in understanding the vocabulary of the question.  If the instructor reworded the question for the student into vocabulary they understood, then the student was able to answer and provide a measure of instructional level.  This made the validity of the assessment slightly in question.

Some of the miscues are ones that are found with students who have a foundational base in English.  In order to get a solid comparison, I ran the same tests with a very low, struggling non-proficient freshman from the Read/Write strategies.  The results showed that the same miscue in word substitution.  So these are not unique to just ELL students.  Where English as a primary language students succeed is in the ability to recognize the words as vocabulary.  There are fewer words requiring assisted pronunciation by the teacher and fewer requests for definitions of vocabulary.

At the same time, when working with ELLs at the secondary level it is the comprehension and ability to explain what they are reading that is key.  The co-operating teacher and I discussed this aspect of tests like this to determine what is the goal.  For her mind, she would rather see a student get the basic understanding of a passage then worry about knowing every word perfectly.  She also admitted that she sees a ton of frustration within the students as they have so many new vocabulary terms/ new words presented daily that they do not have the capacity to learn all and internalize them.  As a result, ELL students must focus upon vocabulary that is frequently presented to them and then be given lessons with which to utilize those terms.  This includes more oral reading and the repetition of samples from throughout the semester.   Students also need time to collaborate and be able to explore vocabulary at the secondary level.  Most who arrive in the secondary ELL classrooms and have very little English foundation have a curriculum that is designed to be functional for society.  This requires an emphasis upon social language and the ability to communicate orally.  The reading aspect is taught with a focus upon everyday visual reading (i.e. street signs, business directions).  This type of vocabulary is very different from the vocabulary found within textbooks and novels.  There is a sense of urgency as once these students reach the age of 21, they no longer can be serviced in the high school setting.  In fact, all seven of the students within the ELL class are classified as either a Freshman or a Sophomore, but are 17-19 years of age.

As I continue to work with these high school ELL students, I am finding that the rules of what the theory states for teaching the five elements of reading are blurred.  The goals and targets change and it is about using as many strategies as possible to prepare them for life on their own; in a supportive community setting that fosters continued learning as an adult.  High school ELL classes are about establishing this transition, whether it be work or extended education, that students can find themselves able to function at a base level within society.

ENTRY #6

Blog post #6

Diections: Label each activity (L) for learning/word recognition or (A) for acquisition/sociopsycholingiustic view.

Some activities can have both labels.

Be prepared to explain your choices.

The students:

L  Look up words in the dictionary to write definitions.

A  Make a Venn diagram to compare two stories

L/A  Practice sounding out words

L  Read in round-robin fashion

L/A  Correct peers when they make a mistake during reading

L  Identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound

A  Group cards with classmates’ names by a criterion on such as first or last letter

A  Write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same word

A  Ask the teacher how to spell any word they don’t know

A  Read a language experience story they have created with the teacher

A  Work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences

L  Divide words into syllables

L  On a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound

A  Make alphabet books on different topics

The teacher:

L/A  Preteaches vocabulary

A  Does a shared reading with a big book

L  Makes sure that students read only books that fit their level

L/A  Has students segment words into phonemes

A  Writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words

A  Asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter

L/A  Uses decodable text

L/A  Sets aside time for SSR each day

L/A  Teaches Latin and Greek roots

A  Has students meet in literature circles

L  Conducts phonics drills

L/A  Chooses predictable texts

A  Teaches students different comprehension strategies

A  Does a picture walk of a new book

L  Uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills

Reasons for selection:

I see many activities that students do as part of the acquisition process if not explicitly told to do it.  By this I mean that any student who has internalized strategies that help them in comprehension and articulation has acquired learning.  This also means that there is a grey area within the definition due to the fact that students have to be taught the strategy first before it can be internalized.  To separate this, I then looked at the formality of the task and how much of a “routine” is forced upon the students without much room for personalization.  Those tasks were then labeled with an L instead of an A.  Maybe it is due to my teaching experiences, but I often find that activities done by students involve the act of rehearsal and internalization with the ultimate goal to provide the skills that can be used upon command at a later date.  Some of that is formulaic. Hence the idea that students use a base format for writing essays in high school (5 paragraph).  The structure provides the beginning place and the security for students to have a target of what to produce.  The key is then progressing further by allowing students to deviate from the structure as they see fit.  This is where the teacher actions become so important to the process.  If a teacher stifles that exploration by “grading” the essay on a straight formula rubric that is too structured, the student then begins to fall into the idea that there is only one correct way of writing.  So a balance has to be maintained.  This is not simple either as every student is at a different pace in their ability to explore other ways of articulating that go beyond the base rubric.

            So for example; a student may need to know how to break words into syllables; a strong learning/word recognition process.  At the same time, if the syllable process is used to denote roots (Latin and Greek) that then can be used to apply to new contexts and readings outside of school that they may not consciously be aware of using then they are getting into the acquisition of knowledge within the present world students live in.  That effectively begins the process of taking learning beyond the classroom.  Ultimately, I see that there needs to be a combination of both processes within the teaching of students.  Just one way never seems to work with students. A quality teacher must acknowledge and be able to utilize both aspects at appropriate times.  Of course, in order to get students to be able to function in a world of English language on their own, the target must be on reaching acquisition methods in a majority of lessons that students learn.