LLED 360­307 Fall 2017                                                                                              Dr. Lorna Ramsay

Reading Analysis Reflection Template for Presenter

Date: September 28^th 2017

Facilitator name: Jessica Pellegrino

Text Chapters:​ Chapter 4: Differentiated Instruction and Assessment for Newcomers and Language Learners

Name of Outside source:

• Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
• Reiss – Perspectives for Classroom Practice: Theory and Culture
  • Cummin’s Framework for Evaluating Language Demand in Content, Activates CHART

Main Themes:​

• Progress
• Assessment & Evaluation
• Language Learning
• Reporting
• Language performance

My Critical Argument or Thesis

• Differentiated instruction benefits all learners no matter what level of language they have. Touching on all of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences is bound to maximize student learning.

New Vocabulary:​

• Continua/ Continuum
• L1 / l2
• CEFR
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Scaffolding
• Cummin’s Model
• Differentiated Instruction

Educational Implications:

­         Insights and connections to educational themes and theories or more global issues

• “Students who began their schooling in other countries have not had the opportunity to develop the same cultural knowledge on which the curriculum is based”
  • Significant because cultural knowledge is often overlooked when it comes to newcomers
  • Cultural knowledge & language are very interconnected and almost dependent on one another
• New comers need to process new ideas in two languages
• Differentiated instruction should be touched on regardless of the presence of newcomers or not, should be used to touch the learning needs of all students

­         Insights and connections on practical teaching strategies

• Staying consistent will benefit newcomers
• Zone of Proximal Development
  • Make success attainable for all students
  • Providing support
  • Shifting toward independence when appropriate
• Maximum scaffolding ideas
  • Graphic organizers, reading through stages, models of writing, giving students steps, provide alternative source material

­  Questions

• Shouldn’t the CEFR be used globally? Why isn’t it?
  • Its not completely possible
  • But should be used and is ideal
• Article argues that teachers should be encouraged to compare mainstream student’s work to that of the newcomer’s work in order to demonstrate to their parents the level at which his or her child should be at. Is this comparison necessary? Is it ethical?
  • Create anxiety for newcomer’s parents
  • Demotivation is a possibility
• How does a teacher maintain support and provide challenges (simultaneously) for a variety of students and their needs?
  • Requires guidance
  • Direct instruction à transition toward freedom to work independently