LLED 360

Here is a link to a story about high school English language learners in BC trying to get their ELL courses to count for credit toward graduation.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1234837/immigrant-youth-want-english-courses-to-count-toward-high-school-graduation

The report the story references can be found here: http://make-it-count.ca/report/

There is also an online petition if you are interested in showing your support: http://make-it-count.ca/

The article “ A Focus on Vocabulary” highlighted the importance that vocabulary plays on a students academic success.  If students lack sufficient vocabulary they could possibly suffer the “Matthew Effect” which is that the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. This means that the students that have good reading skills, read more and improve their vocabulary, while the students who lack good skills, read less and don’t improve.  Another important part of this reading was the part pertaining to tier 1 (common words), tier 2 (words students are less likely to know but will encounter), and tier 3 (rare words).  It was stated that teachers should focus mainly on teaching only tier two words as they are encountered many times in students reading.  Having had previous experience in teaching a second language abroad, I could relate to many of the themes touched upon in the chapter.  For example the section dealing with cognates was for me an important part of the chapter.  In my future teaching, instructional methods such as these will be necessary for my second language classes in high school.  As teachers, this chapter is of great importance as it makes us aware of the value of vocabulary and also provides us with some techniques to teach our students.  With the ever-increasing number of ELL’s that we will have in our classroom, the value of seeing the importance of vocabulary instruction cannot be dismissed.

I think that asking open ended questions in a math class can be particularly important and beneficial. Often it is the case that students can come to the correct answers without having any real understanding of the material. Open ended questions can be used to more accurately evaluate whether students are really comprehending the material whereas ‘display’ questions have the possibility of hiding misunderstandings. Additionally, I think that they provide examples that are similar to think-alouds. With the open ended questions, students are able to hear how their peers think and reason their way through problems in addition to the way they are hopefully already hearing their teacher think and reason. They provide opportunities for teachers to correct erroneous understandings that many students may have which helps the teacher address the entire class at once rather than waiting for an assessment where students have made mistakes to realize their mistakes.

Zwiers also talks about the need to avoid creating an atmosphere where students look to the teachers as the validator and corrector of responses. This is something that commonly happens in a math class, I think partially because students tend to lack self-esteem when it comes to math. In other classes I have read articles where authors talk about the tendency of students to look to teachers, textbooks, or other forms of  ‘authority’ to validate their answers rather than thinking critically and validating their answers themselves. I think if students can be taught to participate in thoughtful classroom discussions they will also be better equipped to thoughtfully analyze  and evaluate their own written responses which will have the effect of making them a better math student.

I really enjoyed working on the lesson plan with my group this week because it helped to think about how the concepts we have been exploring through our courses are able to be put into practice. It also allowed us to think about our ” expert blind spots” which Zwiers explains “… keep us from realizing much of our complex and abstract knowledge has become concrete and basic to us” (Zwiers 69-70) When sharing our lesson plan (visual arts) with the group from another discipline I realized that I had made a few assumptions of past knowledge, some about language but also about general trends in Art History. It is also becoming more evident that time is a major factor, as it is we had a hard time fitting our content into the class time and to adequately address the needs of ELL students it will require a great deal of patience and time. I have also found in some art teaching experience that this exists in material knowledge. It will also be important in my discipline to scaffold actions that I take for granted, for example how to hold a paintbrush or how to mix green paint.

-Meghan Leeburn

I think that this article is valuable for all of us as teacher candidates because it’s focused on content-area variations of academic language in the classroom.  Many of the discussions that we have had in class have been valuable for me as an English language teacher candidate; however, I realize that I will most likely be faced with teaching something in a different content-area throughout my career.  In turn, this article was useful because it demonstrated how I can deal with language-based challenges in other disciplines.

In chapter four, Zwiers states that teachers often have “‘expert blind spots’ that keep us from realizing much of our complex and abstract knowledge has become concrete and basic to us” (Zwiers 69-70).  I think that this is a really important thing to keep in mind when I construct lesson plans because I want to ensure that even the terms and phrases that seem incredibly simple to me are made clear for my students.  It might even be easier for me to teach something in a different content-area because I won’t have as much expert knowledge in these areas.  Therefore, I would be able to see more clearly what aspects of the lesson might be confusing for students because I won’t personally have as much background knowledge in these areas.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the “language of math” during the reading for this week because it is something that at times was an incredibly “foreign language” for me.  I can see how math can be extremely difficult for students because the language used is quite abstract in comparison to other subject areas.  In addition, Zwiers notes that in math, there is “less overlap with concepts, ideas, and terms found in other subjects” (Zwiers 92).  I definitely encountered this when I was in high school.  I felt like the terms and concepts that we learned were so different from most of the other subject areas that were covered so I felt completely lost when I tried to do my math homework.  My teachers never took the time explain what the phrases and terms meant that I encountered everyday in my math textbook.  If I ever have to teach math during my career, I think I will try to spend a bit of time at the beginning of each class going over what some of the key terms or phrases are from the lesson and why we are learning what I am teaching.  I think that finding a way to apply the language of math to a real life situation would really help high school students understand why it is important to learn math and how it will benefit their life.

Although my blog post this week is not particularly relevant to my own content-area, I think it is critical that I am aware of how language affects other content-areas at school.  This way, if I ever need to teach or substitute teach a math class, I will be aware of how my background in English language can enhance student math education and perhaps allow them to see math from a different perspective.

By: Erin Milne

As I read chapter four of the text, I was constantly trying to relate the information to my content area—theatre. I was trying to analyze which of the “thinking skills” that were deemed as necessary for other subjects also pertained to my own.

The subject of the first section is language arts and its skills are broken down into “interpretation, persuasion, and figuring out causes and effects” (71). All of these apply to theatre. In analysing the plots, themes and characters in a piece of theatre the skills of interpretation and figuring out cause and effect are paramount. Therefore, I found the examples of academic expressions in relation to these areas to be particularly helpful. For instance, when a student is studying Othello they may say that he was “angry” and that is why he kills Desdemona. I could scaffold this by saying “So Othello was motivated to kill Desdemona by anger? What was he angry about? What other words could we use to replace “anger”…how about jealousy or “he felt betrayed”? What caused Othello to feel betrayed?” etc. Understanding a character’s motivation to act in a certain way is crucial to the art of acting. Therefore, the scaffolding methods addressed in the text will be very helpful, not only in helping to build academic language, but also in helping the actor to specify his objectives in a scene.

The skills of persuasion are also helpful in theatre class, as students often must write reviews or critiques of productions. They must be able to explain why they hold a certain opinion by providing convincing arguments and displaying relevant evidence. Consequently, the advice from the text of how to express opinions in a persuasive way is also important for the study of theatre.

As I continued to read, I found more relationships to other content areas, such as history, that share their set of necessary skills with theatre. Overall, I found that this was a very practical and helpful reading in which I found much that is of worth for the teaching of theatre and the building of academic language.

Melanie Reich

In chapter five I can really relate to the subject of “Rethinking the Use of Questions” (Zwiers 110). Throughout secondary school and even through university I often felt that being bombarded with questions through work sheets or tests was the least enjoyable part of the learning experience, and also where I often learned the least. I would sometimes become so caught up in trying to memorize the names of authors, the plot development or the correct spelling of a character’s name and thereby lose the essence of what was important. However, I always felt I had to put these things as a first priority in order to achieve high test marks or to score well on the provincial exam. The funny thing is, I certainly don’t remember all of the characters or key plot development from memorizing and regurgitating all of the information from my grade twelve exam on George Orwell’s 1984, but I remember why the book was important and I attribute that more to class discussions and activities than any questions I answered on a work sheet or test.

I fully agree with Zwiers’ suggestion that as teachers we can assess learning through other means than questioning all of the time (110). He argues “[t]he real world doesn’t have as many lists of questions as we hear in school and see on tests. Real-world people are asked to produce or perform, asking their own questions along the way, and are not being stopped every few minutes to answer less important questions. Questions should be a means to learning, not the end” (110). I believe that creativity in planning can assist in finding new ways to assess learning. I hope to provide a variety of English classroom activities such as group projects, skits, art-driven assignments and debates to name a few. While questioning, both orally and written, is an essential tool in the classroom, I don’t believe it needs to become the dominant vehicle to control the learning process.

Sara Martens

Every student has a variety of needs and many of those needs can be fulfilled based on how we use language in the classroom to facilitate and moderate classroom discussion. We don’t need to utilize the traditional methods of lecture style teaching because most of the time students will just zone out. As teachers, we need to figure out ways to engage our students in the classroom.

Zwiers defines interpretation as “the process of understanding messages and underlying meanings from a text” (pp. 71). Teachers will for the most part have a different view of interpretation compared to a student with regards to a text. Students for the most part may just not find the text interesting at all. If we as teachers find ways to make students some kind of personal connection with the text, students will be able to analyze, critique, and have fun with the text.

Phrases like, “One way to interpret her words is…,” and, “If we read between the lines, and see that…” are great ways to illicit responses from students. You can then use persuasion and cause-and-effect thinking to help a student hone in on a particular view and have them think criticality about it.

            “Yet many diverse students struggle to understand persuasive elements, due in part to their lack of experience in reading and talking about controversial issues. Indeed, some cultures avoid any type of confrontation in public.” (p.75).

This quote sums up my experience. I never understood why we had to write persuasive essays in high school. I understood expository essays. Describe and explain? No problem. Take a side and make an argument? Problem.

I didn’t grow up in an environment in which taking a side on an issue in a discussion is an important, valued skill. I was implicitly taught that making counterarguments is synonymous with rebelling against authority figures. Arguing means open fire, consequently, disturbing the superficial peace between people. At school, debate was certainly not on my teacher’s agenda. The first and only time I participated in a debate was in my grade 11 social studies class. It was brief but memorable for whatever reason. Looking at my high school years, on the whole I lived in my own little universe struggling to conquer the English language. The political and social issues beyond the walls of my home and school—the comfort zones—were outside of me.

It was not until university that it hit me why it is important to discuss controversial issues. They concern people’s lives. Not just one person but many, many people. I met interesting people who are rebellious in their thinking. They are able to use academic language to express their viewpoints. I was then enlightened that learning English is not just about learning the grammar. It’s more than that. It is a way of empowering oneself to express through the use of academic language.

The lesson in Chapter 4 is incredibly important. ELLs are not learning academic expressions for the sake of learning them. Yes, they are learning them to pass courses so they can graduate from high school and move onto post-secondary education. Their ability to use academic expressions deeply affects their future, as Chelsea pointed out in class. It affects them on the professional, social and political levels. It affects the job they get, their social life, and the extent of their influence in political discussions that impact their lives. We need to learn how to scaffold to help ELLs master academic expressions so they can be empowered to make a difference for themselves and the world.

I just re-read the chapter to refresh myself on the content and again I am struck by how “lucky” I was to have been brought up in a well educated, middle class home.  Given my personality, that I tend to take the path of least resistance, if I did not have that advantage I may not have gone as far as I have in school.  Thinking back, I feel that sometimes the only reason I passed some courses was my understanding and ability to use academic language.

I agree with the author’s conclusion that accepting the students’ language and teaching them academic English should both be done.  Accepting their language will engage the students in class and their work, meanwhile the use of academic language should encouraged as it will be needed further on in their education.

Tying this into more current readings, I see no reason why this could not be done with ELLs, assuming the teacher is fluent in the mother tongue of the students.  Though, if done in a class setting, more time should be given to the subject as the class becomes both a class of what ever the subject is and a language course.