LLED 360

Please check out the play, here: http://qix.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/3/279

In groups of 4 or 5, you would share/be responsible for 2 or so scenes of the play in a multimodal way– ie, giving students copies of your section, performing your section, making a short video of your section, etc.. We could use one class period to prepare. Anything you would need to do beyond that one period you would need to do on your own time.

On Monday, we will make a class decision if we’d like to swap out the article reading/response (Section 4 of the portfolio) for this activity.

Writing for Academic Language

This chapter is great in that it addresses the dire need for many students to practice writing academic language.  It is true that as you move on up in school, there is less of an emphasis placed on narrative writing and/or journaling and more of a focus on academic writing, particularly persuasive writing.  I can recall my first time learning to write an argumentative essay.  It was in Grade 6 and I had no idea what a “thesis” was or a “body”.  On top of that, we had to include paragraphs called introductions and conclusions.  We were given a standard template to follow: intro, body (three supporting points in the order of second strongest point, weakest point, and finishing off with the strongest point) and a conclusion.  I remember going from reading things off of a reading card to suddenly have to produce a piece of writing.  It is a daunting task to convey ideas formally into your own words; energy is expended when it comes to churning out grammatically correct sentences that are cohesive.  I liken this challenge to someone who can understand a spoken language but who is unable to engage in dialogue simply because their production of words and sentences is not developed.  This suggests that practice is the KEY to mastering anything, including academic writing.

The example about having seat-belts on the bus (p. 197) conveys the message across clearly but it is written in a colloquial language.  The best solution here would be to repeatedly expose children to the specific genre of writing they are about to engage in.  Over time, they will develop the specific lingo, idioms, and catch onto the nuances of speech commonly used in academic language.  Reading and speaking aloud (much like a song) can indirectly ingrain into children’s minds, the way they should structure their sentences.  I also liked the examples of using graphic organizers.  In my undergrad degree, I ventured out of the regular note taking world into one of cloud formations and funny scribbles.  I attempted this for some time but found that for complex note taking, I needed to write more than I could possibly convey in a diagram.  This is not to say that Venn-diagrams and mind maps are ineffective.  Rather, they should be used in conjunction with proper note taking skills to see the physical connections between the ideas presented in class.  I also enjoyed the teeter-totter method for preparing students to write a persuasive essay.

My short practicum has given me insight into the real experiences of the ELL students. I observed quite a few English Language learners in different subjects, but the majority of my time was spent working with students in art classes. I was glad to see that students of various cultural backgrounds were given the opportunity to make art that was influenced by each of their cultures. They were encouraged to embrace all different factors that make up their identity, including language. There was also a lot of space in the lessons for the teacher to work with students one on one to clarify any language or expectations that may have been unclear.

I taught a class each day and was able to create lesson plans and vocabulary handouts that helped to scaffold the new academic language I was incorporating into my lesson. I soon learned, however, that even if I believe that I have explained things very clearly it does not mean that it translates completely to the students. I had one student in particular who needed time to digest the new information before being able to ask her questions to clarify unclear language and academic expectations. Tailoring my lessons this way was a challenge but such great practice for the future. I am thankful that I was able to have this small glimpse into planning and carrying out lessons that are accessible for ELL students, even though I know that I have a long way to go.

One instance that stands out in my mind was an interaction between a teacher and an ELL student outside one of my observed classes. They discussed the language ability of another English Language Learner. These two students sit next to each other in class, and the first student has been translating what the teacher says to the second student. When the teacher approached the first student in the hallway, she asked that they student stop translating for the second student because she believes this is preventing the second student from learning and practicing their English. After reflecting on this exchange, I realized that from what I observed, it was true. The second student struggled greatly with English and would speak in their first language the majority of the time without using the class as an opportunity to practice English. However, I was puzzled at the teacher’s request to the first student who was just trying to befriend and support the second student. As much as I agree that the student needs to practice their English more often, I do not think it was right to put the responsibility for the second student’s progress on the first student who was trying to help. Though I do not know the whole situation by any means, from what I saw there was hardly any language support from the teacher for the struggling student during my two short weeks. I believe this should to change, and the teacher should be more conscious to address the needs of ELL students when the lessons are designed and presented. I am curious what the best way would be to handle this situation if it arises in my classrooms in the future.

I have two considerations about Chapter eight, both of which based on the many valuable observations and reflections derived from our recent practicum experience. The first point is that, amongst all the activities proposed to build vocabulary and grammar patterns for academic writing in the Chapter, the “Written Recap” activity (p. 215) is definitely the one that I most identify with. This is because, during the practicum, I did notice that the last minutes of class are usually not productive, often turning out to be wasted on the await for the bell to ring. Hence, the “Written Recap” is a flexible activity that can lead students to reflect upon the lesson informally, thereby synthesizing and wrapping up the content. In parallel, it is also a low-risk situation in which they can use newly-acquired mortar and brick expressions. Finally, the notes yielded can be used as an excellent hook for the next class.

My second consideration is, however, a caveat about the “Written Dialogue” activity which Zwiers presents (p. 216). One of the lessons I taught in my practicum coincided with the example given by the author for this activity. In the occasion, I proposed a debate about the second amendment of the American Bill of Rights, which regards the individual right to bear arms. Although the debate was not exactly a written dialogue, I found that students’ opinions were shallow and based on common sense, after all they had not previously researched about the matter (the implications of non-restricted right to bear arms), and therefore did not have elements to build their opinion on. Thus, it is important to emphasize that any debate or perspective-taking activity must regard content which has already been worked in class, so that students have enough grounds to build solid arguments.

During the practicum there were many instances where I observed classroom teachers encouraging academic writing development as discussed in this week’s chapter. One of the most effective strategies I found in terms of student understanding and applicability is an essay outline developed by my sponsor English teacher. The structure addresses a typical literary analysis essay, breaking down into one thesis supported by 2-3 premises, each of which is supported by at least 2 proofs which are then linked back to the thesis through explicit explanations and analyses. The premise is defined by the teacher as a literary tool such as character, plot, atmosphere, etc. which form the topics of the body paragraphs of the essay; within each body paragraph, proofs — or textual evidence mostly in the form of direct quotations — are given, explained and analysed with respect to the thesis. The teacher went over this outline with three different classes: IB English 11 as well as regular English 11 and 12.

I felt this outline was effective mostly in how prescribed and methodical it was; the way the teacher presented it was almost scientific. He did stress though that top marks require more than the bare structure given. He gave some examples of where students could show their own creative flair such as in their use of language and sentence variation. In terms of addressing the needs of ELLs, I feel that giving such a solid and detailed structure for the typical English essay is extremely helpful in orienting these students who may be unfamiliar with the English academic writing style.

Lucy Yang

The reading on “Language for Academic Writing” is one that resonates strongly with me.  I can’t stress enough the importance of writing.  As stated by Zwiers: “Academic writing usually requires the thinking skills of analysis, casual reasoning, argumentation, and evaluation” (Zwiers 196).  These skills are valuable and will be used in any job that a student will apply for in their future.  Furthermore, writing is extremely important because it teaches students to learn “new ways to organize and present new language” (Zwiers 195).  For many students, they only experience oral language at home and do not engage in any type of written language.  As teachers, we are able to give students the tools required to express themselves in another form of language that they will only benefit from in the future.

After completing my short practicum over the past two weeks, it has reinforced in my mind the importance of both reading and writing in the classroom.  The benefits that come from reading and writing are immense.  In every classroom that I observed, students were required to read some sort of text and respond in writing to those texts.  For example, I observed a chemistry class.  The students were given a worksheet where they were required to read a word problem, analyze the problem, and then answer the question appropriately using both mathematical skills and writing out a final answer in a sentence.  In the drama class that I observed, students were asked to read a script that they would later be performing, analyze the script, and then write a series of stage notes that would be able to assist them in their performance.  I also observed numerous English and Humanities courses.  In these classes, students were continuously asked to read texts, decipher their meanings, and often argue for or against a particular point.

These numerous observations have affirmed in my mind that reading and writing are two of the most important skills that students can take away from their education.  We can scaffold the language of writing by giving students a variety of activities for analyzing texts and expressing their ideas.

Erin Milne

This week’s chapter on academic writing made me think about how difficult academic writing must be for some students who are ELLs.  When thinking about the types of academic writing that high school students have to undertake, a few things come to mind such as science lab reports, English essays, or short answer questions on tests.  Each of these examples represents a very different style of academic writing.  I think that many of the writing strategies provided in this chapter would be very useful for ELLs and are strategies that we as teachers must use in our classrooms.   During my practicum I saw some writing strategies in use by some of the teachers I observed.  One of these strategies was used in a Social Studies 11 classroom, where students were put into groups and given a question.  In their group, students were then asked to come up with a thesis statement based on their question, as well as three supporting points and a concluding sentence.  The next day, the groups presented their arguments to the rest of the class.  After, students were then asked to choose a partner who was not in their group, and pick one of the group topics to write a paragraph on.  The partners then wrote a “proper” paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting points, and concluding sentence.  The teacher told me that she would repeat this activity for every unit this year as she was trying to get students to learn to write proper paragraphs before even writing proper essays, both skills that her classes needed to work on.  Something else the teacher did to help students was to intervene in their partnerships.  For example, two ELL students who were struggling in the class paired up with each other because they were friends. However, the teacher split them up and paired them each with a non-ELL student because she knew by their writing level that they would not be successful together, but could be scaffolded by another student who could write at a higher level.  The teacher also paired other weaker writers with stronger writers in the class for this reason.  I thought this was a good strategy because she did not single out the ELL students or other students who were weak writers in the class by telling them what she was doing.  Overall I found the strategy to be a very good exercise in writing a proper paragraph and I could see myself using a similar strategy in the future.

Zwier’s chapter for this week relates directly to a lesson I taught for a Composition 11 course last week. According to my SA, this course is intended to enhance academic writing and act as a supplementary course to their required English 11; it is largely targeted towards students who just emerged from ESL.

Zwiers points out that graphic organizers can be very useful in teaching students how to write academically, as structure becomes critical in this genre of writing. In order to help the Comp 11 students organize their thinking and understand the structure of the standard 5-paragraph essay (which I don’t entirely agree with, though this is what is taught by most teachers), I suggested using graphic organizers. My lesson was comprised of modelling how to identify the thesis statement and topic sentences in a sample essay, and transferring that info to a graphic organizer. The visual I used was the common sandwich/hamburger template for organizing essays, one which I’m sure many of us have encountered. I then broke the students into groups with the task of creating their own graphic organizer to better remember and eventually internalize the essential components of a 5-paragraph essay. Some interesting ones took the form of a human body, a caterpillar, and a house.

Hence, teachers can use graphic organizers (and encourage students to make their own) to teach the structure of academic writing, which can be just as important as the language used in academic writing.

During my short practicum, I had the opportunity to observe a grade 9 English class.   After the lesson I had a brief conversation with the teacher, during which she lamented the fact that many of her junior classes had come into high school unequipped with some of the basic language requirements expected to be met by the time they reached high school.  Some demonstrated fairly shaky understanding of some of the key features of academic writing, such as identifying parts of speech such as verbs, adjectives, proper nouns etc.

Her remedy to this was to return to the base expectations of the curriculum, building the foundations of language and giving them the basic tools of academic language before asking them write creatively or expressively.  I liken this to the arts;  a student could have grandiose ideas of  a project or piece they want to undertake, yet without the tools to enact their concepts such as an understanding of line, form, shape, shadow, tone, color etc., their voices are lost or misrepresented.  It is difficult to make the translation of thoughts and ideas into any type of language, especially academic or school writing.
One way to teach academic language is to repeat the brick words in context, and to have to students repeated the words.  Hand gestures are a great way to model language in a kinesthetic way, for example when talking about ‘form’ and shape’ having the students create forms with their hands, and then in turn asking them to describe the gesture with adjectives such as round, sharp, straight, large etc.  Perspective writing can also be another useful tool as it incorporates a theatrical quality that is fun and interactive.  Asking students to embody the person, object, or place, and having them describe something from an imaginary perspective are effective methods to add humor and imagination into the writing process.

Kathy

At this point in our education, many of us have become fairly proficient in academic reading and writing within our disciplines.  It has becomes so familiar and so far to say ingrained in our minds that it is easy to forget that this type of academic language is learned, and would not come naturally to many native English speakers, never mind English Language Learners.  I am becoming aware that some of the vocabulary and terms used in art, such as objectivity, aesthetics, formal, might have incredibly different contexts outside the discipline.

Keeping this in mind, teachers must play the careful game of simplifying and explaining complex terminology and paraphrasing them into more digestible sentences, as well as building up their tolerance to these sorts of texts.  One suggestion that I would make for the more visually inclined learners is to associate themes to colors.  For example you may ask students to group things like statements, predictions, persuasions, and questions, into red, blue, green, and purple instead of simply highlighting through an academic text.  Anything that helps make stronger connections between the words and the ideas will increase understanding of the subject.

I like the texts suggestion of using kinesthetic activities to break down complex texts.  These include the more, some might argue, intuitive gestures such as hand motions and emphasizing word intonation, as well as involving gestural metaphors, swooping hand gestures for broader concepts, abrupt or condensing motions for simpler ideas.

Kathy