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Thursday 2/6 and Friday 2/7 - Living, non-living, dead sort Monday 2/10 - Structure of Living Things Vocab (organ, organ system, tissue, cell)	Name different organ systems	Name different organs	Name different cell (neurons, muscle cells, skin cells, blood cells)

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Thursday 2/6 and Friday 2/7 - Living, non-living, dead sort Monday 2/10 - Structure of Living Things Vocab (organ, organ system, tissue, cell)	Name different organ systems	Name different organs	Name different cell (neurons, muscle cells, skin cells, blood cells)

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I'm going to use the information gap method to teach my students about constructive and destructive forces. Then they will have to share examples of these forces in order to complete their sheets. This is WAY better than me giving direct instruction on this content!

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I am planning on asking Science teacher for up to five vocabulary words for me to focus on with my ELLS. I will create vocabulary graphic organizers with pictures, translations, context, etc. I will preteach these words and then practice them with various games. The students can also make a word wall with these words.

I am also planning on doing more hands-on activities to teach abstract concepts (cellular respiration, photosynthesis, homeostasis, etc). I can get the students involved by using manipulatives or having them act out the concept.

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I am going to utilize the ELL strategies to develop an inquiry based lab for photosynthesis and respiration. The essential/guiding question for the lab will be: Do plants carry out both photosynthesis and respiration?

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Unpacking Juicy Sentences opened my eyes and mind to a whole new way to make passages and texts more accessible to my ENL students in Science and other content subjects. I will need to sit down with the Science teacher to teach her what I learned today and how we can apply it to her curriculum. Whether it be once per unit or multiple times.
I also need to be more productive in helping teachers/giving teachers general sentence frames, stems, and paragraph stems. I hope this will help my students to express their ideas and be more present in their classes.

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Using Peardeck as a quick check in with students. Can include lots of visuals!

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I thought about what I would like to start implementing inside the classroom and set up some goals for myself.

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I thought about what I would like to start implementing inside the classroom and set up some goals for myself.

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Myself and co-teacher discussed visual representation of abstract chemistry concept (distinguishing between physical and chemical changes).

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Myself and co-teacher discussed visual representation of abstract chemistry concept (distinguishing between physical and chemical changes).

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It isn't uncommon to come across PDF files in different languages. In fact, with the large global and international nature of the Internet, it's hard not to come across one.

Whether it's an online information brochure or an offline manual for a digital camera, a PDF file can come in all different types of languages. However, one major issue is that, in most cases, you won't be able to read in every different language fluently. So what do you?

Luckily, if you come across a PDF file in a different language, you don't have to stress yourself out to learn a new language with a translation dictionary or database. Here are some quick, easily accessible ways that can quickly get your PDF content into a language you can understand.
Google Translate
You may already know that Google can translate web pages, text, and phrases to and from 65 different languages. It's as simple as adjusting your browser settings to auto-translate web pages or copying and pasting text to translate in the main Google Translate interface.

Well, translating PDF content with Google is just as simple. Once you're on the main Google Translate page, click on the hypertext link under the main text field. You'll get the above interface where you can click on Choose File to upload your PDF and select your target language.

However, one thing to note is that this tool is geared only towards translating the textual content; formatting and images aren't preserved. Thus, you can expect this to work best when you need to translate and interpret large sections of text. When the translation process is done, your converted text will be available in a new tab in your browser.
Google Docs
While the above method doesn't require a Google account, it's quite possible that you already have one. If you do, and are already an avid user of Google Docs, then you can easily take advantage of its Translate Document functionality and use it on your uploaded PDFs.

Provided that your PDF was imported into Google Docs by selecting all the Upload settings to convert it to the Google Docs format (displayed when you upload a document), you should be able to open your PDF in the main editing interface with the main menu and formatting toolbars.

With your PDF open in Google Docs, click on Tools and select Translate Document. You can then choose your desired language and click on Translate. The results will be generated in a new PDF file with both the original and translated versions included.
DocTranslator
Though the many ads on the site and interface may put you off, DocTranslator has a solid database, using the Google Translate service to process your textual content and containing translation support for more than 50 languages. To boot, the site offers translation for a handful of popular formats without file size restrictions, including the PDF format.

Keep in mind that this tool should only be used for translating PDF content that isn't sensitive, confidential, or in need of any sort of security at all (files such as manuals, brochures, fliers, etc.). The fine print on their privacy statement mentions that it doesn't include PDF files. So you'll have to use your own discretion on which PDF content you want translated.

To access the PDF translation app, click and select the PDF option on the homepage, and you'll be able to upload your PDF and choose your target language. In contrast to Google Translate, DocTranslator works towards retaining the formatting and layout of the file, though your results may vary.

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How to Translate PDF Documents Without Learning Another Language

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It isn't uncommon to come across PDF files in different languages. In fact, with the large global and international nature of the Internet, it's hard not to come across one. Whether it's an online information brochure or an offline manual for a digital camera, a PDF file can come in all different types of languages.

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Your classroom PDF annotator. Students stay engaged with accessible annotation tools. Teachers save time with streamlined instruction and assessment.

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https://web.seesaw.me/

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New Visions for modified text with word banks.

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New Visions for modified text with word banks.

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Adapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

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Adapted from Baker, et al., 2014

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Adapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

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Adapted from Steinhardt, New York University, 2009

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Educating English Language Learners: A Review of the Latest Research

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Educating English Language Learners: A Review of the Latest Research

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It's October in the Rio Grande Valley; the summer heat has receded and the school year is in full swing. Rolando Diaz teaches sixth-grade science at Del Valle Middle School. His class is a mix of English language learners (ELLs) with varying levels of English proficiency. He also has a few newcomer students, mostly from Mexico and Central America. Although all the students are Latino, they have varying degrees of Spanish proficiency.

Today, Mr. Diaz is teaching a lesson on ecology. To prepare for it, he has added several scaffolds to the district-mandated science curriculum. He presents slides to guide the lesson, providing students with visual support for what they hear him say.

Students also have a workbook that corresponds to the slides. For each slide, students engage in an activity that helps them process information. In this case, it is "partner talk" requiring them to describe a variety of habitats in terms of food, shelter, and temperature. They also use a bilingual glossary with pictures and English and Spanish definitions for the lesson's target vocabulary words. The glossary asks students to answer a question about each word and draw a picture or provide an example. For instance, for "ecosystem," they describe one near their house.

Mr. Diaz begins the lesson by introducing the content and language objectives for the day. Next, he explains several general and domain-specific words using the slides.

He quickly gives each definition in English, asks a student to read the definition in Spanish, presents an example for each definition, and asks students to discuss each word's meaning. A few weeks ago, he taught a mini-lesson on recognizing English-Spanish cognates, so they discuss whether "habitat" and "ecosystem" are also cognates.

Students then form groups to explore the schoolyard habitat. In each group, students are assigned various roles-mapmaker, bug collector, vegetation inspector, soil sampler, or data collector-and they complete a corresponding chart. For example, the vegetation inspector measures and records the height of the tallest vegetation and works with the mapmaker to record the location.

At the end of the lesson, students listen and follow along as Mr. Diaz reads the section of the grade-level text that discusses features of the ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park. After each section of text, students answer questions orally about the text, illustrations, and other visual displays. Mr. Diaz provides sentence starters and sentence frames to scaffold responses for his students with lower levels of English proficiency.* He intentionally pairs newcomers with bilingual peers so they can converse in Spanish before writing in English.

A longtime teacher, Mr. Diaz has effectively planned and carried out instruction on a specific science topic. He has ensured that students with varying degrees of English proficiency can access the academic content, strengthen their literacy skills, and engage with and learn from their peers.

I've worked with Mr. Diaz and many others like him to incorporate these best practices into their teaching. His teaching reflects the latest research on educating ELLs. In this article, I discuss this research, which includes seven principles from a recent consensus report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. ¹ The report, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures, examines what the research tells us about learning English from early childhood through high school, identifies effective practices for educators, and recommends steps policymakers can take to support high-quality educational outcomes for children and youth who are learning English.

These principles and practices build on findings from previous reviews on the same topic, ² as well as U.S. Department of Education best-evidence syntheses. ³ While dual language programming for ELLs is effective for developing English proficiency and content-area knowledge in English-with the extra benefit of maintaining and developing students' first language, validating their culture, and providing opportunities to enhance cross-cultural understanding4-this article focuses on instruction delivered in English, an important component of dual language programs. (For more on dual language programs and early childhood education, see " Encouraging the Development and Achievement of Dual Language Learners in Early Childhood.")

1. Provide Access to Grade-Level Course Content

For ELLs, exposure to grade-level course content provides crucial access to the language required for academic achievement and for becoming fully proficient in English. ⁵ This exposure helps students develop the concepts and skills needed to master grade-level coursework as they move up through the grades. Grade-level coursework, in turn, helps ensure students perceive the materials as worth working on, engaging, and meaningful. ⁶

In the reviewed studies that focus on the elementary grade levels, a variety of authentic materials were used to support learning. For example, in an English language arts intervention, newspaper articles, diaries, and historical and fictional accounts were used to teach students about immigration across different time periods. ⁷ In an intervention for young children, the read-aloud books and videos focused on habitats. ⁸ A middle-grades science intervention used the same texts and experiments used with gifted and talented students. ⁹

It is important to keep in mind that many skills and types of knowledge transfer from students' first language to their second, and that ELLs may have already acquired core content in their first language. ¹⁰ For example, students who have learned math concepts and skills in their first language do not need to relearn the concepts and skills, but do need to learn the English academic language associated with them. ELLs whose first language shares cognates with English do not need to learn meanings for cognates whose meanings they know in their first language-only English labels for these cognates.

Because grade-level materials in English are challenging for ELLs, instruction using these materials must be coupled with methods that support ELLs. The following principles elaborate on this theme.

2. Build on Effective Practices Used with English-Proficient Students

Many of the practices that have proved effective for ELLs are adapted from practices that have proved effective for English-proficient students. For example, in the area of literacy interventions, it is helpful to teach ELLs the same skills as their English-proficient peers-the skills of hearing the individual English sounds or phonemes within words (i.e., phonemic awareness); using the letters and spelling patterns within words to decode the pronunciation (i.e., phonics); reading text aloud with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression (i.e., oral reading fluency); using strategies to learn new words; thinking about what they are reading (i.e., reading comprehension); and writing with the organization, development, substance, and style appropriate to the task and audience. ¹¹

Effective practices for middle-grades students similarly build on practices that have been effective with English-proficient students. For example, in science, the 5-E approach-Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate-has been used to guide successful interventions for ELLs. ¹² Approaches deemed effective for building vocabulary in English-proficient students have also been used in successful interventions for ELLs. ¹³ Examples include teaching vocabulary in the context of rich and varied language experiences, teaching individual words, teaching word-learning strategies, promoting word consciousness, and using words in writing. ¹⁴ In social studies, approaches include reading and writing about informational passages that provide multiple perspectives on historical events. ¹⁵

That said, not all practices deemed effective for English-proficient learners are effective for ELLs. For example, one study16 found that the use of literacy practices that included only higher-level questioning and discussion about the meaning of text had a strong relationship to improved reading comprehension for English-proficient students, but had little discernible benefit for ELLs. The study also found differences with respect to teacher-student interactions. "Telling"-defined as the teacher providing students with information, rather than engaging them in the creation of information through coaching, recitation, or other forms of interaction-had a statistically significant positive effect on ELLs' reading comprehension, but a negative effect on the comprehension of English-proficient students. The researcher posits that in the first case, the literacy practices (e.g., higher-level questioning and discussion) may have been at too high a level for ELLs to benefit without the appropriate supports. In the case of "telling," the researcher suggests that ELLs benefited because they were provided with more support for engaging with core content in English-a level of support that was not necessary for English-proficient students.

3. Provide Supports to Help ELLs Master Core Content and Skills

ELLs also benefit from visual and verbal supports. ¹⁷ For students in the elementary grades, visual supports include the strategic use of pictures, short videos, and graphic organizers to represent complex vocabulary and concepts. ¹⁸ Verbal supports include student glossaries; words glossed in context by the teacher; and whole-class, small-group, and partner discussions that focus in part on clarifying key ideas. ¹⁹ In the middle grades, visual supports include graphic organizers such as diagrams, tables, and concept maps for science, and illustrations and multimedia for language arts. Verbal supports include bilingual glossaries, as well as sentence and paragraph frames. In several studies, students were taught strategies to support learning; ²⁰ in one such study, students learned strategies to help them write. ²¹

For ELLs who are newcomers, especially those in the upper grades, core content provided in their home language will support them in developing their knowledge and skills while they are acquiring proficiency in English.

4. Develop ELLs' Academic Language

Academic language is defined as language used in school, in written communications, in public presentations, and in formal settings. ²² Academic proficiency is "knowing and being able to use general and academic vocabulary, specialized or complex grammatical structures, and multifarious language functions and discourse structures-all for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge and skills, interacting about a topic, and imparting information to others." ²³

It is important to note that academic language differs across content areas. In science, for example, the challenges of mastering academic language apply to vocabulary (e.g., learning everyday words with science meanings, general academic vocabulary, and discipline-specific vocabulary); syntax (e.g., passive voice, compound and complex sentences, and the nominalization of verbs, adverbs, and adjectives); and discourse (e.g., learning to attend to precise meanings in science text and talk). Students must also learn to master the nonlinguistic forms of language prevalent in content areas like science and math (e.g., diagrams, graphs, charts, maps, and equations). ²⁴

One series of experimental studies developed academic language in the context of teaching mainly science content. ²⁵ The studies used the types of visual and verbal supports previously described to help students make sense of content, develop general academic and domain-specific vocabulary, engage in opportunities to talk in pairs and small groups, and practice writing to extend their learning. These studies are well reviewed in two U.S. Department of Education practice guides for educators. ²⁶

With regard to vocabulary instruction, recent research indicates embedded instruction is a promising technique for developing ELLs' vocabulary when that vocabulary is not conceptually complex. ²⁷ In embedded instruction, students are given access to word meanings through on-the-spot child-friendly definitions of the target words (and, in some cases, examples and gestures). The research also indicates that instructional condition interacts with word type, with conceptually complex words much harder for students to acquire and thus needing more instructional support. ²⁸ (For more on helping students with their oral language development, see " Meaningful Classroom Talk.")

5. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Learning Opportunities

One of the key principles of instruction in a second language is enabling students to interact via speaking, listening, reading, and writing with peers in their second language. ²⁹ Speaking is important to generate feedback, encourage syntactic processing, and challenge students to engage at higher proficiency levels. As a result, it is no surprise that in many of the studies cited thus far, peer-to-peer learning was an important component of the intervention. In fact, in some studies, it was the focus.

For example, in one study implemented in the elementary grades, peer-to-peer learning was used to develop first-graders' literacy skills in a dual language program. ³⁰ Using the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) program, the peer-to-peer learning classrooms provided a structured routine in which the teacher modeled the language activities of the day; students practiced the activities in pairs for 15 minutes while the teacher supervised; and students then turned to story sharing, a partner reading activity that lasted for another 15 minutes. Teachers paired high-performing readers with low-performing readers and then taught the students to use the PALS procedures. During each segment of the session, the high-performing students performed the role of coach first, and the low-performing students followed. On average, PALS students demonstrated significantly greater growth than control students in phoneme segmentation, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency.

In the middle grades, many of the interventions that had positive outcomes for ELLs also provided opportunities for collaborative peer learning. ³¹ An important feature of these studies is that peer talk, in pairs or small groups, focused on course content.

In planning for peer-to-peer interactions for adolescents, teachers need to consider students' growing awareness of their social status in peer groups in school and their community. ³² For ELLs, this includes how they are perceived by peers proficient in English. ³³

6. Capitalize on Students' Home Language, Knowledge, and Cultural Assets

Studies on cross-language transfer ³⁴ indicate significant relationships between performance in ELLs' first and second languages in word reading, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading strategies. Findings from evaluation studies comparing bilingual programs with mostly English-only programs indicate that, over time, ELLs instructed bilingually either perform on par with or outperform ELLs instructed only in English, ³⁵ providing indirect evidence of positive transfer.

Experimental studies ³⁶ conducted with elementary school children suggest that instructional routines that draw on students' home language, knowledge, and cultural assets support literacy development in English. Examples of the instructional routines include previewing and reviewing material in children's first language, storybook reading in students' first language, ³⁷ providing opportunities for students to engage in conversational exchanges during instruction that permits some interpretation to take place in their first language, ³⁸ providing first-language definitions for the targeted vocabulary, ³⁹ providing instruction in word-learning strategies that help ELLs uncover the meanings of cognates when encountered in English texts, ⁴⁰ and introducing key concepts by connecting them with children's prior knowledge or experiences at home and in their community. ⁴¹

As was the case for studies conducted with children in grades K-5, middle-grades studies that showed positive effects capitalized on ELLs' assets. While none of the studies were implemented in bilingual settings, the interventions included bilingual glossaries, background materials in students' home languages, teacher explanations in students' home languages, partner work in students' home languages, and instruction to help ELLs take advantage of their home-language knowledge and skills. ⁴²

7. Screen for Language and Literacy Challenges, Monitor Progress, and Support ELLs Who Are Struggling

Historically, ELLs have been both overidentified and underidentified as having a disability. ⁴³ Both cases-identifying students as having a disability when they do not in fact have one (i.e., overidentification) and failing to identify students for special education services that they need (i.e., underidentification)-are problematic. Measures used to assess ELLs for reading and language challenges must distinguish language development from disability.

Most intervention research has focused on ELLs with reading difficulties. Findings from numerous studies cited in previous reviews of promising and effective instructional practices for ELLs ⁴⁴ suggest that districts should establish procedures and provide training for schools to screen ELLs for reading challenges, consider collecting progress monitoring data more than three times a year for ELLs at risk, and use data from screening and progress monitoring assessments to make decisions about necessary instructional supports.

The studies also suggest the types of reading skills that should be assessed at different grade spans to determine whether ELLs are in need of additional instructional support. For kindergarten and first grade, skills include phonological awareness, familiarity with the alphabet and alphabetic principle, the ability to read single words, and knowledge of basic phonics rules. For children at the end of first grade and in the next few grades, skills include the ability to read connected texts accurately and fluently. For students in grades 2-5, oral reading fluency should also be assessed. However, these grade spans are predicated on ELLs beginning their schooling in kindergarten and must be adjusted for students entering U.S. schools in later grades and who may have already acquired these skills in their first language.

The studies provide two other recommendations: first, districts with performance benchmarks should use the same standards for ELLs and English-proficient students in the early grades, but should make adjustments in instruction when ELL progress is not sufficient; and second, teachers should be trained to use formative data to guide instruction. ⁴⁵ With regard to formative data, one study suggests that students' writing samples should be used on an ongoing basis to determine areas for improvement. ⁴⁶ Students' writing samples are excellent sources for formative assessment because they shed light on language challenges common to all children, as well as challenges and opportunities related to primary language influence on English. ⁴⁷

Almost all studies related to screening, monitoring, and intervening are studies of ELLs in elementary grades. ⁴⁸ Recommendations based on these studies include implementing intensive small-group interventions for at least 30 minutes in small homogeneous groups, and providing training and ongoing support for teachers, interventionists, and other school personnel on how to deliver small-group instruction effectively, as well as how to implement effective teaching techniques that can be used outside small-group instruction (e.g., instructional pacing, error corrections, and modeling). ⁴⁹ Another important recommendation is that additional supports should be provided to ELLs struggling in English literacy that address the other skills crucial for success in school, such as vocabulary, listening, reading comprehension, and writing. ⁵⁰

Where Additional Research Would Help

While there are some studies on effective practices for ELLs in science, studies focused on math and social studies are still very limited, compared with studies of English-proficient students. More research is also needed on promising and effective teaching methods for developing ELLs' home language, knowledge, and skills, and equalizing the social status of students from different ethnic/language backgrounds with the social status of white and native English-speaking students in schools.

For bilingual programs in particular, research is needed on the features that influence the successful acquisition of language and content. These features should include student ratios of English speakers to partner-language speakers in two-way programs, the number of instructional hours allotted to each language, the proportion of school staff and leadership who are bilingual, and the use of target languages within and across content areas. ⁵¹ And since most of the intervention research focuses on ELLs in grades K-2, and on pre-reading and reading skills, additional research is needed to understand how to intervene with older ELLs struggling in reading and with ELLs at all grade levels struggling in math, science, and social studies.

Finally, the social and emotional factors that influence student dispositions toward learning and academic performance (e.g., student motivation and engagement) must also be studied. More effective instruction, positive teacher attitudes toward teaching ELLs and high expectations that they can succeed, and engaging school climates can foster ELLs' motivation to learn and commitment to their educational success in the elementary school years and beyond. ⁵²

Experienced teachers knowledgeable about supporting ELLs, such as Mr. Diaz, already incorporate many of these principles in their instruction. But more needs to be done to make sure this research gets into the hands of all classroom teachers, and to ensure additional research is conducted that can strengthen teaching and learning.

Diane August is a managing researcher and the director of the Center for English Language Learners at the American Institutes for Research. Previously, she was a senior research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics and a senior program officer at the National Academy of Sciences. This article is drawn from chapters 7 and 8 of the report Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures, published in February 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which is available online.

*For more on scaffolding, see " One Sentence at a Time" in the Summer 2017 issue of American Educator. ( back to the article)

†A useful resource for finding reading and math programs deemed effective for all students is this website created by the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. ( back to the article)

‡Nominalization refers to using a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, adjective, or adverb) as a noun or as the head of a noun phrase (e.g., using the adjective "rich" as a noun, as in "the rich"). ( back to the article)

§For more on ways English language learners bring cultural assets to schools, see " The Potential and Promise of Latino Students" in the Spring 2017 issue of American Educator. ( back to the article)

Endnotes

1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2017).

2. Diane August and Timothy Shanahan, eds., Developing Reading and Writing in Second-Language Learners: Lessons from the Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth (New York: Routledge, 2008); Fred Genesee et al., eds., Educating English Language Learners: A Synthesis of Research Evidence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 245; and Claude Goldenberg, "Unlocking the Research on English Learners: What We Know-and Don't Yet Know-about Effective Instruction," American Educator 37, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 4-11, 38.

3. What Works Clearinghouse, which has particularly high standards for evidence of effectiveness, has two publications related to English language learners: Scott Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School, NCEE 2014-4012 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2014); and Russell Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades: A Practice Guide, NCEE 2007-4011 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2007).

4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

5. Lily Wong-Fillmore and Charles J. Fillmore, "What Does Text Complexity Mean for English Learners and Language Minority Students?" (Stanford, CA: Understanding Language, Stanford University, 2014), http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/06-LWF%....

6. Ellen A. Skinner and Jennifer R. Pitzer, "Developmental Dynamics of Student Engagement, Coping, and Everyday Resilience," in Handbook of Research on Student Engagement, ed. Sandra L. Christenson, Amy L. Reschly, and Cathy Wylie (New York: Springer, 2012), 21-44.

7. Maria S. Carlo, Diane August, and Catherine E. Snow, "Sustained Vocabulary-Learning Strategy Instruction for English-Language Learners," in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research to Practice, ed. Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Michael L. Kamil (Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2005).

8. Rebecca Silverman and Sara Hines, "The Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction on the Vocabulary of English-Language Learners and Non-English-Language Learners in Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade," Journal of Educational Psychology 101 (2009): 305-314.

9. Diane August et al., "The Impact of an Instructional Intervention on the Science and Language Learning of Middle Grade English Language Learners," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 2 (2009): 345-376; and Diane August et al., "Helping ELLs Meet the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Science: The Impact of an Instructional Intervention Focused on Academic Language," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 7 (2014): 54-82.

10. Cheryl Dressler and Michael L. Kamil, "First- and Second-Language Literacy," in Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth, ed. Diane August and Timothy Shanahan (Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2006), 197-238.

11. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

12. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; and August et al., "Helping ELLs."

13. Michael F. Graves, The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction, 2nd ed. (New York: Teachers College Press, 2016).

14. Nonie K. Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction for Linguistically Diverse Adolescents: Evidence from a Randomized Field Trial," American Educational Research Journal 51 (2014): 1159-1194.

15. Sharon Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension for Seventh-Grade English Language Learners: Findings from Two Experimental Studies," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 2 (2009): 297-324.

16. Jennifer O'Day, "Good Instruction Is Good for Everyone-or Is It? English Language Learners in a Balanced Literacy Approach," Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk 14 (2009): 97-119.

17. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth.

18. Bryan A. Brown, Kihyun Ryoo, and Jamie Rodriguez, "Pathway towards Fluency: Using 'Disaggregate Instruction' to Promote Science Literacy," International Journal of Science Education 32 (2010): 1465-1493; Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction"; and Lorena Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention Focused on English Language Learners," American Educational Research Journal 53 (2016): 395-424.

19. See, for example, Maria S. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap: Addressing the Vocabulary Needs of English Language Learners in Bilingual and Mainstream Classrooms," Reading Research Quarterly 39 (2004): 188-215; and Fuhui Tong et al., "Integrating Literacy and Science for English Language Learners: From Learning-to-Read to Reading-to-Learn," Journal of Educational Research 107 (2014): 410-426.

20. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; August et al., "Helping ELLs"; Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension"; and Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction."

21. Jung-In Kim and Kara M. Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning and Practices to Motivate and Engage Emergent Bilinguals in an Urban Middle School," Teaching and Teacher Education 55 (2016): 122-132.

22. Catherine E. Snow and Paola Uccelli, "The Challenge of Academic Language," in The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy, ed. David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 112-133.

23. Alison L. Bailey, The Language Demands of School: Putting Academic English to the Test (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 10-11.

24. Helen Quinn, Okhee Lee, and Guadalupe Valdés, "Language Demands and Opportunities in Relation to Next Generation Science Standards for English Language Learners: What Teachers Need to Know" (Stanford, CA: Understanding Language, Stanford University, 2014), http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/03-Quin....

25. See, for example, Brown, Ryoo, and Rodriguez, "Pathway towards Fluency"; Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; Kihyun Ryoo, "Learning Science, Talking Science: The Impact of a Technology-Enhanced Curriculum on Students' Science Learning in Linguistically Diverse Mainstream Classrooms" (PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 2009); Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction"; Tong et al., "Integrating Literacy and Science"; and Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension."

26. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy; and Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction.

27. Michael D. Coyne, D. Betsy McCoach, and Sharon Kapp, "Vocabulary Intervention for Kindergarten Students: Comparing Extended Instruction to Embedded Instruction and Incidental Exposure," Learning Disabilities Quarterly 30 (2007): 74-88.

28. Diane August et al., "The Moderating Influence of Instructional Intensity and Word Type on the Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary in Young English Language Learners," Reading and Writing 31 (2018): 965-989.

29. See Rod Ellis, Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review (Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, 2005). The purpose of this literature review is to examine theory and research that has addressed what constitutes effective pedagogy for the acquisition of a second language in a classroom context. In other words, the review seeks to answer the question: How can instruction best ensure successful language learning?

30. Mary Beth Calhoun et al., "Effects of a Peer-Mediated Program on Reading Skill Acquisition for Two-Way Bilingual First-Grade Classrooms," Learning Disability Quarterly 30 (2007): 169-184.

31. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; August et al., "Helping ELLs"; Nonie K. Lesaux et al., "The Effectiveness and Ease of Implementation of an Academic Vocabulary Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Students in Urban Middle Schools," Reading Research Quarterly 45 (2010): 196-228; Lesaux et al., "Effects of Academic Vocabulary Instruction"; and Vaughn et al., "Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension."

32. Brooke K. Cisco and Yolanda Padrón, "Investigating Vocabulary and Reading Strategies with Middle Grades English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis," RMLE Online 36, no. 4 (2012): 1-23; and Kim and Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning."

33. Guadalupe Valdés, Learning and Not Learning English: Latino Students in American Schools (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001).

34. Dressler and Kamil, "First- and Second-Language Literacy."

35. Ilana M. Umansky and Sean F. Reardon, "Reclassification Patterns among Latino English Learner Students in Bilingual, Dual Immersion, and English Immersion Classrooms," American Educational Research Journal 51 (2014): 879-912; and Rachel A. Valentino and Sean F. Reardon, "Effectiveness of Four Instructional Programs Designed to Serve English Learners: Variation by Ethnicity and Initial English Proficiency," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37 (2015): 612-637.

36. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; Lauren Aimonette Liang, Cheryl A. Peterson, and Michael F. Graves, "Investigating Two Approaches to Fostering Children's Comprehension of Literature," Reading Psychology 26 (2005): 387-400; Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; and William M. Saunders and Claude Goldenberg, "Effects of Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs on Limited- and Fluent-English-Proficient Students' Story Comprehension and Thematic Understanding," Elementary School Journal 99 (1999): 277-301.

37. Liang, Peterson, and Graves, "Investigating Two Approaches."

38. Saunders and Goldenberg, "Effects of Instructional Conversations."

39. Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Science Intervention"; Diane August, Lauren Artzi, and Christopher Barr, "Helping ELLs Meet Standards in English Language Arts and Science: An Intervention Focused on Academic Vocabulary," Reading and Writing Quarterly 32 (2016): 373-396; and Silverman and Hines, "Effects of Multimedia-Enhanced Instruction."

40. Carlo et al., "Closing the Gap"; and Darci A. Burns, "Examining the Effect of an Overt Transition Intervention on the Reading Development of At-Risk English-Language Learners in First Grade" (PhD dissertation, University of Oregon, 2011).

41. Llosa et al., "Impact of a Large-Scale Intervention."

42. August et al., "Impact of an Instructional Intervention"; and August et al., "Helping ELLs."

43. Ester Geva and Katherine Herbert, "Assessment and Interventions for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities," in Learning about Learning Disabilities, ed. Bernice Wong and Deborah Butler, 4th ed. (Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2012), 271-298.

44. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy; and Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction.

45. Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction, 6-7.

46. Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, "Assessment and Classroom Learning," Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice 5 (1998): 7-74.

47. Kim and Viesca, "Three Reading-Intervention Teachers' Identity Positioning."

48. Burns, "Examining the Effect of an Overt Transition Intervention"; Carolyn A. Denton et al., "Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties," Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 23 (2008): 79-89; Barbara Gunn et al., "Supplemental Instruction in Decoding Skills for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students in Early Elementary School: A Follow-Up," Journal of Special Education 39 (2002): 69-79; J. Ron Nelson, Patricia F. Vadasy, and Elizabeth A. Sanders, "Efficacy of a Tier 2 Supplemental Root Word Vocabulary and Decoding Intervention with Kindergarten Spanish-Speaking English Learners," Journal of Literacy Research 43 (2011): 184-211; Carolyn R. Ransford-Kaldon et al., Implementation of Effective Intervention: An Empirical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Fountas & Pinnell's Leveled Literacy Intervention System (LLI); 2009-2010 (Memphis, TN: Center for Research in Educational Policy, 2010); Emily J. Solari and Michael M. Gerber, "Early Comprehension Instruction for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners: Teaching Text-Level Reading Skills while Maintaining Effects on Word-Level Skills," Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 23 (2008): 155-168; Sharon Vaughn et al., "Effectiveness of an English Intervention for First-Grade English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems," Elementary School Journal 107 (2006): 153-180; and Sharon Vaughn et al., "Effectiveness of a Spanish Intervention and an English Intervention for English-Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems," American Educational Research Journal 43 (2006): 449-487.

49. Gersten et al., Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction, 10-11.

50. Baker et al., Teaching Academic Content and Literacy.

51. Andrea Boyle et al., Dual Language Education Programs: Current State Policies and Practices (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2015).

52. For a general review, see Allan Wigfield, Jessica R. Gladstone, and Lara Turci, "Beyond Cognition: Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension," Child Development Perspectives 10 (2016): 190-195; and Tahir Jahan Khan, Azlina Murad Sani, and Sarimah Shaik-Abdullah, "Motivation to Read in a Second Language: A Review of Literature," International Journal of Research in English Education 2, no. 4 (2017): 41-50.

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It's October in the Rio Grande Valley; the summer heat has receded and the school year is in full swing. Rolando Diaz teaches sixth-grade science at Del Valle Middle School. His class is a mix of English language learners (ELLs) with varying levels of English proficiency.

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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Institute of Education Sciences

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This practice guide was prepared for the WWC by Instructional Research Group under contract ED-IES-12-C-0016.

The following research staff contributed to the guide: Joseph Dimino, Kelly Haymond, Russell Gersten, Madhavi Jayanthi, and Rebecca Newman-Gonchar.

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WWC | Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School

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This practice guide provides four recommendations that address what works for English learners during reading and content area instruction. Each recommendation includes extensive examples of activities that can be used to support students as they build the language and literacy skills needed to be successful in school.

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Seven Steps to Using Next Generation Science Standards with ELLs

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Seven Steps to Using Next Generation Science Standards with ELLs

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E. Miller

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Seven Steps to Using Next Generation Science Standards with ELLs

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Guest blogger Emily Miller served on the Next Generation Science Standards Elementary Writing Team, as well as on the Diversity & Equity Team. Drawing upon that work, she has put together this seven-step framework for engaging ELLs and for developing language with the NGSS and shows how to use it wi…

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Next Generation Science Standards: Offering Equitable Opportunities for ELLs to Engage in Science

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Next Generation Science Standards: Offering Equitable Opportunities for ELLs to Engage in Science

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E. Miller

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Emily Miller is a second- and third-grade ESL and Bilingual Resource Teacher in Madison, Wisconsin and a member of the Next Generation Science Standards' (NGSS) Elementary Writing and Diversity & Equity Teams.

In that role, Emily served as the lead writer of the NGSS case study for ELLs, which is based on science instruction in her diverse classroom using strategies for English language development and records of her students' experiences engaging with the NGSS.

In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Emily provides an overview of ways in which the NGSS provide ELLs with more equitable science learning opportunities, as well as considerations for implementing the NGSS with ELLs.

Note: For more on the NGSS and our related blog posts, take a look at our NGSS resource section!

Overview

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) identify science, engineering practices, and content that all students at the K-12 level should master to be prepared for college, careers, or citizenship.

As part of the initiative, the NGSS Diversity and Equity Writing Team, led by Okhee Lee, involved teachers who specialize in teaching science to students from diverse demographic groups to inform the writing process, including Netosh Jones, Urban Education; and Rita Januszyk, Gifted and Talented Education. I represented ESL/Bilingual Education.

Our task was to ensure that the NGSS are accessible to diverse populations of students through bias reviews of the standards, teaching the NGSS in our classrooms during the writing process, and writing about our experiences in the form of case studies. (See additional information in Appendix D: Making the Next Generation Science Standards Accessible to All Students.)

NGSS shifts

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) make use of current cognitive research about how students learn science and what they can understand and do at different ages. They describe learning as Three Dimensional, involving a blend of science and engineering practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts (ideas that cut across disciplines).

There are five major shifts in the NGSS:

1. The standards are organized around a small set of disciplinary core ideas.

2. They build and apply these ideas coherently across time.

3. The science and engineering practices take a central role.

4. They include crosscutting concepts.

5. They focus on explaining phenomena and solving problems in the natural and designed world. (In science, the term "phenomenon" refers to any naturally occurring event that will take place under certain, predictable conditions (i.e., a sound when a chair hits the floor, a waterfall, a chemical reaction, etc.).

The NGSS will offer new opportunities for ELLs in science class. Based on current college and career trajectories, ELLs, as a group, have been excluded from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) opportunities. As the NGSS are more rigorous than most current states' standards and involve language intensive practices, they present both opportunities and challenges for ELLs.

However, among the eight science and engineering practices outlined in the NGSS, there are four components that are particularly exciting in classroom practice because they provide equitable learning opportunities for ELLs. These components include the following and are explained in more detail below:

the use of crosscutting concepts

the science and engineering practice of modeling

the practice of developing explanations and designing solutions

the addition of engineering practices and core ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

Scientists observe phenomena in the natural world through a specific (scientific) lens that can be taught to students through the use of crosscutting concepts (Miller, E., et al, in press). These are essential but implicit ideas (e.g., patterns, systems and systems models, scale and proportion), that scientists use across settings to make sense of natural phenomenon, but they have been largely overlooked by teachers and invisible to students. These crosscutting concepts can be acquired intuitively after many experiences in science, but without explicit teaching, students do not flexibly use the lenses to ask questions and describe phenomena.

Now, with the NGSS, the teacher might guide the lesson and/or unit with one of the seven crosscutting concepts emphasized in the standards in mind. For example, when a child observes the ice caves (ice pillars fused together to form caves in the red cliffs on the shoreline) of northern Wisconsin, they might say, "Wow, that's amazing!" They would observe and delight in the caves' "magical" features.

However, a scientist would approach the same phenomenon differently; their lens inspires different types of questions:

"Where have I seen something similar to the ice caves, and under what conditions are they formed?" (Crosscutting concept: Patterns)

"What is it about the molecular structure of water that cause these to be formed this way?" (Crosscutting concept: Structure and function)

A scientist might also consider the entire system involved, the weather changes and climate specifics that interacted with the earth and water to form the ice caves. (Crosscutting concept: Systems and systems models)

Crosscutting concepts and ELLs
Crosscutting concepts can be positioned explicitly in the driving question. They should frame the experience of the phenomenon and the approach for the entire unit.
The seven crosscutting concepts provide a repeated structure of language support because they can occur repeatedly throughout the year, across science disciplines. Understanding for ELLs can be reinforced as each crosscutting concept calls for specific language, discourse, and vocabulary with which to approach making sense of science. Teachers can explain and build on the continuity of the crosscutting concepts, even across the school day, and use tools such as conceptual webs, a picture dictionary, and purposeful, guided lessons to provide more access to the science content and encourage participation in collaborative sense making.

Modeling

Developing models is an active process in which the student engages and will progress throughout the years, from Kindergarten to twelfth grade. Models can be drawings, diagrams, 3-dimensional objects, and representations that are student-created and are revised as new evidence comes to light. They must show relationships between variables, have a causal mechanism, and predict or explain phenomena. The model serves as a student-centered, often conceptual or abstract, explanation of the student's own understanding of the phenomenon. It can provide valuable insight for the teacher as to planning next steps to appropriately build learning and progress the lesson.

Modeling and ELLs
Teachers should attempt to include the practice of developing and using models into every lesson that is designed with ELLs in mind.
For ELLs, the evolving model can serve as a language scaffold supporting the students' communication of their science and engineering ideas while enabling discourse between students. Not only are the students more determined to learn the vocabulary of the components in their model in order to describe and predict the phenomenon, they also have a developing, often pictorial, description of how they make sense of the science. This process of referring to the models can enable receptive and productive language and aid in meaning making between students.

The process of revising models based on new information is also language intensive. It requires that students work collaboratively to account for contradictory evidence in their models. The conceptual model can become the conduit for other science and engineering practices; the students can engage in argument about why they should revise their model in a certain way or ensure that the patterns they observe in the data are represented in the model. Finally, the student-generated model is a window into the students' current understanding of the core ideas and is an opportunity for informal or summative assessment.

Modeling provides for:

An authentic and meaningful discourse around complex science ideas

A student-centered language scaffold

An avenue for engagement with other science and engineering practices

Informal or summative assessment opportunity for ELLs

Developing Explanations

Another NGSS practice that involves complex language and offers more equitable learning opportunity for ELLs is constructing explanations and designing solutions. The Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (C-E-R) approach is a useful tool for helping students understand this process.

Claim-Evidence-Reasoning approach

The scientific explanation involves a claim about the phenomenon under study; evidence, which is the scientific data that supports the claim; and reasoning, which is the justification linking the evidence and claim (McNeill, K. L. & Krajcik, J., 2012; Zembal-Saul, C., et al, 2013). This complete scientific explanation represents a structure of English language that needs to be taught to all students, and one that all students (ELLs and non-ELLs) struggle to produce.

Table 1: Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Summary

Developing Explanations

Claim

Answers the question; might be a "yes or no" question

Evidence

Scientific data that supports the claim with appropriate and sufficient evidence

Reasoning

A justification linking the evidence and the claim and showing why the data counts as evidence to support the claim

The process of developing these explanations mirrors how scientists communicate, insisting that each other's claims make use of the appropriate evidence in a logical manner. Developing solutions in engineering similarly relies on generating ideas through language and makes use of the evidence collected. To engage in this practice, the student needs to take all of the information that they have encountered about the natural problem and design the best solution, keeping in mind the constraints of the problem.

Developing explanations/designing solutions and ELLs
Developing explanations and designing solutions can leverage classroom discourse in an authentic context that involves engaging with the scientific phenomenon and making sense of the phenomenon.
The science and engineering practice of developing explanations and designing solutions makes use of general science understanding, logical reasoning, creativity, and language, and can be scaffolded so that it is an arena where ELLs shine and contribute in meaningful ways to the overall discussion. ELL students can be supported to develop explanations by having the Claims-Evidence-Reasoning template remain static so that the ELL can expect the same structure and participate in high-level thinking.

C-E-R Examples & Templates

As you teach your students how to use the C-E-R method, it may be helpful to look at some examples. For example, younger students can use the following basic template:

For older students, you may wish to try a more detailed C-E-R Template, which you can see filled in with this sample lesson on plants, or this scientific explanation template, which provides a C-E-R chart and sentence frames for constructing a scientific explanation.

Evidence walls

Another way to support students in developing explanations is through the use of an "Evidence Wall". The Evidence Wall is a centrally located display of evidence composed of sentences on sentence strips, graphs, photos and drawings. It provides a way for students to locate and use the language they need for their C-E-R. In addition, the constant use of the student-created conceptual models can be leveraged to generate claims that adhere to the use of evidence. Non-ELLs do not have the corner on abstract thought, logical reasoning and creative ideas, and with purposeful, "planful" lesson design, ELLs have an arena to demonstrate their capacity in science.

Engineering

Engineering, in the spirit of NGSS, can be thought of as applied science. Students must use the core ideas that they developed in the unit to solve an engineering problem based on real-world issues in the natural or designed world. The Framework for K-12 Science Education, which provides a foundation for the NGSS, describes specific engineering practices that correspond to, but are not the same as, the science practices in NGSS. Engineering can be introduced at the beginning to set the context for the science learning, or it can occur at the end of the unit to assess the students' understanding of the science ideas.

Example: Flooding in Cities

For example, the teacher could set up a problem on the sand table that mimics a city being flooded and pose the engineering problem, "Based on what we know about how rivers respond to changes in water volume and velocity, what is the optimal solution to keep the city safe?"

The students would then need to go about developing the prerequisite knowledge about rivers to solve the problem. The unit would end with the students developing, comparing, and refining their solutions.

Another equally engaging way to introduce engineering into the curriculum is at the end of the unit. In this example, the students would first learn about water and how it travels over, and changes, land. The teacher could assess the student understanding of the disciplinary core ideas by posing the problem of the city being flooded and then see if the students' solutions showed correct application of the core ideas through the generated solution. In the first approach, engineering is used to frame the learning; in the second approach, engineering is an assessment tool.

Engineering and ELLs
Engineering provides a relevant context for ELLs to connect between their real-world knowledge and school science.
ELLs can demonstrate an understanding of the disciplinary core ideas through their solutions. Through the engineering application, they are extended more than one avenue to grapple with the complex ideas and demonstrate science mastery. Also, engineering presents another contrastive opportunity for students to use the discipline specific and general language involved in the disciplinary core ideas. This repeated experience of making sense of science through meaningful application generates flexible and creative thinking in a highly engaging setting, without a new barrage of required language. Finally, engineering is the perfect context for collaborative grouping and is an avenue for authentic discourse that involves academic language.

Possible lesson template for ELL inclusion: A possible lesson template for ELL inclusion incorporates many opportunities for ELLs to engage in all of the high leverage language and complex thinking tasks. Within each step of the unit design, strategies for ELLs are incorporated appropriately to meet content and language objectives. Here is a brief outline of the template, with a more detailed description below:

Develop a Model - Literacy connection: Explain relationships and causal mechanisms

1. Experience Phenomenon - Driving Question
Investigate Phenomenon - New evidence

2. Revise Model - Literacy Connection: Argue for revision
Investigate Phenomenon -Collaborative Research

3. Revise Model - Based on research

4. Engineering Connection - Assessment:Use evidence to explain optimal design of engineering solution

Example: Planning a rain garden

In step one the students might conduct an investigation of their school yard to answer the driving question "How does rain water move across the land and how does it affect the organisms that live there?" They might collect data about the different topography they encounter, where water collects in puddles, and the patterns in the distribution of plants and animals. They would develop an initial model that predicts and explains the changes rainwater has on earth materials and organisms. This is an opportunity to use the model to describe in writing or orally a causal mechanism for the phenomenon. The teacher could select one model to serve as a class model. Next the students conduct a series of new investigations to prepare for refinement of their initial models based on new and more detailed evidence.

In step two, students would collaboratively engage in revising their models to account for their new evidence. This could include new information about the amount of water that flows into storm drains, new understandings about how permeable different types of soil are to water, and ideas about the moisture requirements of different plant species. Students could argue in writing or orally for different revisions of the class model, supporting their arguments with evidence. In the above example, many students might have initially expected water to seep into the soil in the field. They might notice after further investigation that the rainwater flows in sheets across much of the field to storm drains.

Step three: Students will follow up their evidence gathering with research (reading literature, conducting an interview of an expert, or a video), based on a question generated in the step two revision. Once again, the students return to their model to account for the new evidence they have gathered. (For example, the students may discover that the water in the storm drains flows directly into the lakes, but it likely carries materials that are unsuitable for organisms living in the lake.) Student should be able to explain with the model the impact of a new situation, like heavy rain fall, or loose gravel, on the system.

Step Four could be the assessment opportunity for the teacher. After inspecting rain gardens and researching the positive impact they have on the ecological system, students could individually use their models to predict an ideal place for a rain garden in their school yard. The engineering design problem would be ideal for students to show their newly acquired science understanding of the relationships among rainwater flow, earth materials and organisms to solve a problem (lesson based on Follow the Drop (2013), Earth Partnership for Schools).

Strategies for ELLs in Science

In order to ensure that ELLs can fully engage with the practices described above, it's essential to continue to support their language development throughout the year, which can be done in a number of ways. The following list of strategies provides some ideas for reinforcing the practices described above, particularly in terms of academic language and discussion within a scientific context.

Table 2: Science Support Strategies for ELLs

Strategy

Description

Example

Literacy strategies

Literacy strategies clarify and unpack the structure of texts, graphs, and scientific genres of writing. With literacy strategies ELLs are prompted and supported in accessing academic language.

teaching the uses of graphic organizers

reading trade books or literature with scientific themes

language functions: Describe, Explain, Predict, Infer, Conclude

concept map, word wall, Venn diagram

science journal

activating prior knowledge

Language support strategies

Language support strategies are often referred to as ESOL strategies that support the development of language, structures, and new vocabulary (academic and non-academic) in the science classroom.

hands-on activities,

realia (real objects or events)

multiple modes of representation (gestural, oral, pictorial, graphic, textual)

presentation of key science vocabulary in context - both general academic terms and discipline specific terms

Discourse strategies

Discourse strategies involve tools and protocols that enable student-to-student communication to promote authentic sense-making in academic contexts.

expertise groups (jigsaw)

purposeful turn and talk

monitoring tone and speed of speech

collaborative group protocols and roles

Home language support

This strategy involves building on and making use of students' home language to support science learning in English. It includes teaching students how to create linguistic and cultural bridges between school science and the home to capitalize on emerging bilingualism.

introduce key science terminology in both languages

making contrasts explicit (use of language as well as words and structures)

highlight cognates as well as false cognates in both language

allow code-switching, opportunities for bilingual communication in the classroom

Home-culture connections

Students have historical, socio-cultural and community based "ways of knowing" and making sense of science. These connections allow teachers to access and build on the assets which the students bring from their homes, communities and locally-based natural settings.

students' cultural artifacts

community resources (e.g., local scientist)

place-based

socio-political action

funds of knowledge (a passed down family skill

conceptual web

allowing code-switching

Author's Note: Emily Miller is consulting with Earth Partnership for Schools and Community, a place-based program in Wisconsin. Some of the materials in this article are being adapted for Earth Partnership.

Earth Partnership for Schools, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. (2013).

Fathman, A., Crowther, D. (Eds.) (2006). Science for English Language Learners: K-12 Classroom Strategies. Arlington, VA: NSTA.

Lee, O., & Buxton, C. A. (2013). Integrating science learning and English language development for English language learners. Theory Into Practice, 52(1), 36-42.

Lee, O., Miller, E. & Januszyk, R., "All Standards, All Students: Next Generation Science Standards," Journal of Teacher Education. In press.

McNeill, K. L. & Krajcik, J. (2012). Supporting grade 5-8 students in constructing explanations in science: The claim, evidence and reasoning framework for talk and writing. New York, NY: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

Miller, E., Niemi, K.J., Brunsell, E., Kneser, D.M. (In press). Exploring Crosscutting Concepts. In E Brunsell, D.M. Kneser, & K.J. Niemi (Eds.), Introducing Teachers and Administrators to the NGSS: A Professional Development Facilitator's Guide (79 - 82). Arlington, VA: NSTA Press

Next Generation Science Standards. (2013). Case Study 4: English Language Learners.

Rosebery, A. S., & Warren, B. (Eds.). (2008). Teaching science to English language learners: Building on students' strengths. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.

Zembal-Saul, C., McNeill, K. L., & Hershberger, K. (2013). What's your evidence? Engaging K-5 students in constructing explanations in science. New York, NY: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected] incolorado.org.

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The Writing Recipe: Essay Structure for ELLs

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English Language Learners in Ms. Sackman's 8th grade class practice adapting a writing prompt into an essay introduction. As part of their introduction, they identify three main arguments, which will become the topics of their body paragraphs. Students write their introductions on large index cards to help them visualize the various parts of a multi-paragraph essay.

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establish | Free On-Line English Dictionary | Thesaurus | Children's, Intermediate Dictionary | Wordsmyth

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Definition of establish. Free online Dictionary including thesaurus, children's and intermediate dictionary by Wordsmyth.

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Using context clues to understand specific vocab at the sentence level

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Using context clues to understand specific vocab at the sentence level

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I found this a while ago, and I have been using consistently in my classes.

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MK Jarvis

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West Virginia Council of Teachers of English

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by MK Jarvis

The DO WHAT chart is one of my favorite lessons to teach. It is more of a technique than a lesson, but it helps students understand what they are about to do in an upcoming text. Each story in our ELA text Collections has a short paragraph beforehand that is called Setting a Purpose and the DO WHAT chart can break down exactly what the student is going to do or discover during and after the story.

The week before I plan to use a DO WHAT chart, I will review verbs and direct objects, but you don't have to do that if your crew doesn't need the review. Seventh graders have chronic short-term memory loss, so it is helpful to touch on what an action word is. I use the DO WHAT chart a few times a year, and the first chart we complete together. The chart is pretty simple and can be completed in just a few steps.

STEP ONE: Read the paragraph. From Setting the Purpose Collections here is an example from the story "Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century" by Jeanne E Arnold found in Collection 5 (221):
Perhaps no other technology is more widely shared as the television. As you read, keep track of how the popularity of this consumer good has changed over time. How will archaeologists of the future track its significance? Write down any questions you have while reading.
STEP TWO: On the second step the students rewrite the purpose (task) on a graphic organizer. You can find a nice organizer something like this one:

Or you can just use a piece of notebook paper or have the student create their own table in a favorite program or app.

STEP THREE: Identify all the actions or verbs in the sentences of the purpose (task). This is when the students dissect the paragraph and pick out all the "DO" words and write them in the "DO" column of their organizer.
Write down any questions you have while reading.
STEP FOUR: Identify all the direct objects or "WHAT" words and write them in the "WHAT" column of their organizer.

After all the "DO" and "WHAT" words are recorded, I have the students connect them with lines or arrows so they know exactly what they are doing to what.

STEP FIVE: The organizer I use has a section in which the students rewrite the prompt in their own words. I always use this section so that the students have a chance to rethink some of the words and use any synonyms they can come up with.

Super easy-peasey.
WVCTE is wondering: How do you help your students define and understand a text's purpose? Leave us a comment, Tweet us your thoughts @WVCTE, or connect with us on Facebook!
I really love this technique for understanding purpose. The students are always confused at first about what we're doing, but by the end of the lesson, they know exactly what is expected of them and what they will discover in the text. It's an eye-opener and I find that the reading and activities go a little smoother when we've done a DO WHAT chart.

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by MK Jarvis The DO WHAT chart is one of my favorite lessons to teach. It is more of a technique than a lesson, but it helps students understand what they are about to do in an upcoming text. Eac...

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S. Shoudy

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Quizizz - The world's most engaging learning platform

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Find and create gamified quizzes, lessons, presentations, and flashcards for students, employees, and everyone else. Get started for free!

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Dr. Kate Kinsella Models Academic Language

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Dr. Kate Kinsella Models Academic Language

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YouTube

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rewordify.com

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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Differentiated and Bilingual Non-Fiction Texts 

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Differentiated and Bilingual Non-Fiction Texts 

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

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Achieve the core

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Achievethecore.org :: Academic Word Finder

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--Races
--Challenges

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Lesson plan for introducing stems, including video of math lessons and questioning stems in Spanish

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This technique gives students the opportunity to respond in the form of a complete sentence to effectively communicate. Sentence stems provide scaffolding to help students get started in speaking or writing without the added pressure of thinking about how to correctly formulate a response.

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Virginia DOE, 2012

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Listening and Speaking Formative Assessment video

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Listening and Speaking Formative Assessment video

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does Ms. Horwitz's use of the checklist help students focus on their speaking and listening goals?

2. How does Ms. Horwitz use the data from the checklist?

3. How could you adapt this checklist for use in your own classroom?

School Details

Acorn Woodland Elementary School
1025 81st Avenue
Oakland CA 94621

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Listening & Speaking: Formative Assessment

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Sarah Horwitz explains how she uses a checklist to formatively assess listening and speaking skills during academic conversations. She uses the checklist to target specific goals, and says that her use of the checklist encourages the students to focus on those goals.

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NYS Department of Education & The University of the State of NY, 2018

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year.

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Read more here about the Kagan approach to group work  and the 4 components to effective group work: PIES.

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Kagan’s FREE Articles - Articles by Dr. Spencer Kagan and Research & Rationale

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Free Educational Articles for Teachers and Administrators. Research Studies and data collected by Dr. Spencer Kagan, practicing schools and teachers.

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Why are Academic Discussions So Important for our ELLs?

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Why are Academic Discussions So Important for our ELLs?

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One of the many things I love about working for Oakland, California schools is serving a community rich in diversity of culture and language. At the same time, it is no easy task ensuring that our English Language Learners (ELLs) are meeting grade-level content standards while mastering a second language.

Much of ELL instruction has been focused on 30-60 minutes of English Language Development (ELD) each day. Taken alone, this daily block of language instruction, isolated from any grade-level content, is not going to get us the results our students need and deserve. Rather, we need to see language-rich instruction throughout the day, embedded in and woven through the content areas.

What would it look like if language instruction occurred throughout the day? What would it take for every teacher to be a teacher of language in their discipline? These questions led us to identify Quality Academic Discussion as one district-wide strategy to foster collective responsibility for accelerating the language and content outcomes for our ELLs.

WhatIsan Academic Discussion?

In Oakland, we are greatly influenced by Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford's bookAcademic Conversations (2011), and we believe academic discussion demonstrates the following characteristics:

Purposeful and sustained conversations about content

Anchored in grade-level texts and tasks

Students work together to co-construct knowledge and negotiate meaning

Students use "talk moves," such as asking for clarification, paraphrasing, and building on or disagreeing with a previous idea

Why are Academic Discussions So Important for Our ELLs?

Academic discussions help all students develop reasoning skills and deepens understanding of content and multiple perspectives. For ELLs, academic discussions are critical to language and content development because:

ELLs need the opportunity to hear language in authentic and varied contexts.Teachers, as well as students with higher language proficiency, serve as language models. Particularly important is exposure to discipline-specific language so ELLs hear what it sounds like to communicate in an array of academic contexts.

ELLs need opportunities to produce language in contextualized and purposeful ways.They need to practice applying form (e.g., grammar, vocabulary) and function (e.g., language used to clarify, explain, argue) to communicate and build ideas.

ELLs benefit from redundancy of ideas and their related vocabulary.Discussion allows for multiple opportunities to hear new concepts and content explained, analyzed, and interpreted.

How Do We Make Sure Our ELLs are Fully Engaged in and Benefiting from Academic Discussions?

Just because we give students the opportunity to discuss, doesn't mean they will. We need to provide additional supports and structures so that the students who can benefit the most from academic discussion actually do! Here are five important teaching strategies you can use to support your ELLs to fully participate:

1. Mix up your grouping structures, but give more time to pairs.Whole group discussions provide a great opportunity to model discussion skills, to hear a broad perspective of ideas, and to synthesize learning from small group or pair conversations. The biggest payoff, however, is paired conversations, because they maximize speaking time and increase overall engagement. Even when the structure is a whole-group discussion, consider inserting paired conversations ( Turn and Talk or Think-Pair-Share) throughout to allow for ELLs to rehearse their ideas and related academic language.

2. Use discussion strategies that require every student to talk.You can simply open a discussion with a Round Robin, or use Talking Chips or Discussion Cards that allow for equitable participation. Watch students actively participate in discussions in Participation Protocols for Academic Discussions.

3. Provide language support.Providing students access to language resources, such as sentence stems and word banks, gives students both the academic language and confidence to participate. A note of caution: overuse of prescribed sentence starters or stems can actually stifle talk, as students just fill in the blanks. Better yet, have students rehearse a few choice sentence stems and relevant vocabulary before they engage in academic discussion. The goal is for students to know how to access and use language supports when neededand independently( Watch Talk Moves in Academic Discussion).

4. Accept imperfect language. When ELLs are engaged in academic discussion, privilege communication over precision of language. Overcorrection or too much attention to grammatically correct language can hinder ELLs language production and interrupt the flow of ideas. During a discussion, we want our ELLs to approximate correct and sophisticated language, not perfect it.

5. Expect and require extended responses. One of the biggest disservices to our ELLs is to accept one-word or abbreviated responses -- even worse is when we complete their sentences. Instead, provide wait time, encourage students to continue, and press students for evidence by asking, "Why?" or, "Can you give me an example?"

Resources

Ready to add this strategy to your class work? Here are some of my favorite resources on academic discussion:

PDF Download: Academic Discussion Continuum of Teacher Practice

PDF Download: A Distinction between Output and Interaction

Academic Language and Literacy: Be sure to check out the tools and resources page for discussion strategies and activities, as well as language supports for students.

Academic Language Development Network: Find resources and articles on academic language development and fostering student interactions.

The Inquiry Project: Focused on science instruction, you'll find "video cases" and a guide for using teacher "talk moves" to deepen classroom discussions.

Understanding Language: This is the site of the Stanford based Understanding Language initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of the critical role of language in the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. The site includes academic papers, exemplary lessons, and professional learning opportunities. Teaching Channel also has a six-part video series showcasing an exemplar unit focused on ELA instruction for middle school English Language Learners.

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Why are Academic Discussions So Important for our ELLs?

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One of the many things I love about working for Oakland, California schools is serving a community rich in diversity of culture and language. At the same time, it is no easy task ensuring that our English Language Learners (ELLs) are meeting grade-level content standards while mastering a second language.

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. What kinds of notes do Ms. Hegg and Ms. Carey take?

2. How do they use these notes to adapt and plan instruction?

3. How might you use this strategy with your own colleagues?

School Details

Banting Elementary School
2019 Butler Drive
Waukesha WI 53186

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Enjoy your first video for free. Subscribe for unlimited access. Have questions about subscribing? Click Here to learn more. Enjoy your first video for free. Subscribe for unlimited access. Have questions about subscribing? Click Here to learn more. What kinds of notes do Ms. Hegg and Ms. Carey take?

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Six ways to help English Language Learners Benefit from Shared Reading

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Six ways to help English Language Learners Benefit from Shared Reading

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Fountas & Pinnell Literacy

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From the very simple texts that kindergartners and first graders read in a shared way to the more sophisticated poems and readers' theater texts that upper elementary and middle school students enjoy, shared and performed reading are highly productive for English language learners. Here are some suggestions for helping English language learners benefit from shared and performed reading:

1. Select texts for shared reading that have simple, easy sentences. Learning a new language is much more than decoding words. English language learners are learning new syntactic structures, and they need to absorb simple sentence patterns before they go on to complex ones.

2. Once a shared reading text is learned, it becomes a language resource for your students. You can use it as an example, revisiting the text to help children remember specific words or phrases. Individuals can refer to it to recall vocabulary or pattern their own writing after the language structures.

3. Rhythmic and repetitive texts are beneficial to English language learners. The repetition will give them maximum experience with the syntax of English and will help them develop an implicit understanding of noun-verb agreement, plurals, and other concepts.

4. Personal poetry books made up of poems used in shared reading are texts older learners can return to again and again to revisit meaning, vocabulary, and language structures. Rereading this material, even overlearning it, will support fluency.

5. If you are able to find some traditional rhymes or songs from students' own languages, you can use these for shared and performed reading. If they are not too complicated, all students will enjoy reading them in a shared way.

6. English translations of traditional rhymes or songs in students' native languages are a great resource. Try "echo" reading with one group reading a line in English and the other group echoing the line in the other language.

Adapted from Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2006 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.

Tue, Apr 25, '17

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Six ways to help English language learners benefit from shared reading: A Teacher Tip from Fountas and Pinnell

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From the very simple texts that kindergartners and first graders read in a shared way to the more sophisticated poems and readers' theater texts that upper elementary and middle school students enjoy, shared and performed reading are highly productive for English language learners.

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Scroll down to the March 19, 2018 webinar "Webinar: The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELs"

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5th Grade Language Arts - Argument Scale - Scaffolding Output

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5th Grade Language Arts - Argument Scale - Scaffolding Output

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JEFFZWIERS.ORG

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Colorin Colorado

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Albuquerque teacher Ali Nava walks her students through a cooperative paragraph summarizing the beginning, middle, and end of Burro's Tortillas and uses the exercise as an opportunity to practice their writing skills.

School Name: Lew Wallace Elementary School, Albuquerque, NM

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Ali Nava is an elementary teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico and a member of the first-grade cadre in our Common Core in Albuquerque project.In this video, Ali walks her students through a cooperative paragraph summarizing Burro's Tortillas, a southwestern adaptation of the classic folk tale "The Little Red Hen."

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5
How Teachers Learn

Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder

Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance.

It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting. As you enter the meeting, you can tell from teachers' sighs and grimaces that they are dismayed about something. "The problem is," one teacher begins as she pulls out her grade book, "the students are struggling with writing. We thought helping them broaden their vocabulary to develop word choice would be one step in helping them write better. But it hasn't made a difference." Frustrated, another teacher turns to you and asks, "Doesn't the district have a new approach for improving writing? There's got to be something out there that will work." But in your heart, you know that a new technique will not be the panacea they are seeking.

As teachers discuss various writing methods, it occurs to you that an essential clue for solving the problem is missing from this conversation-the student work. Only one teacher has any work with her. "Why don't we take a look at some of this student writing together and see what's going on," you begin. "But before we begin, let's just set up some ground rules for looking at work together." You take a deep breath. Formative coaching has begun.

As literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a large neighborhood school on the South Side of Chicago, we have often struggled to provide high-quality professional development to our staff that would lead to direct changes in classroom instruction. According to Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the field of adult learning, adults learn best when they are engaged in activities that directly affect their work. However, the process of adult learning sometimes feels as hit or miss as a game of bingo. Districts or schools choose an instructional method to promote, and if it matches with a strategy already in the teachers' repertoires, they insert it into instruction. Small-group instruction. Graphic organizers. Metacognition. Bingo! If the teaching method does not fit on the instructional bingo card, it is quickly discarded and the game continues. But most schools do not have time for meaningless games.

Formative Coaching

To avoid the bingo game, we developed formative coaching, a collaborative process of examining student work and other formative data to bridge the gap between professional development and actual classroom practice. Throughout the day, students produce work (journals, responses to questions, graphic organizers, and verbal responses) that is an indicator of their understanding. These formative assessments provide a much more accurate measure of how students are progressing than standardized tests alone can do. However, making sense of formative assessments is like solving a mystery. Although each piece of work is filled with clues about individual learners, knowing what to do with the information takes skill and practice.

A formative coach guides teachers in using student work to determine the course of instruction, curriculum, and their own professional development. The coach might be an administrator, a mentor teacher, or even a peer; but regardless of who is doing the coaching, student work is always part of the equation. Learning strategies such as team teaching, modeling, or co-planning are born out of an authentic need that is evident in the students' work, increasing the likelihood of retention and transference into a teacher's daily practice.

The Coaching Process

We begin the process of formative coaching by regularly meeting with individual teachers to examine student work. The process of deeply analyzing formative data is often challenging-sometimes there is so much information embedded in even a single piece of work that teachers do not know where to begin. In an effort to make sense of the information, we developed a variety of protocols to help teachers sort through the data and make it usable. (See, for example, our Quick Sort Protocol.) As our community became more proficient at analyzing student work, a natural process of identifying instructional methods to support student learning emerged. To further support this process, we developed a formative coaching cycle ( fig. 1) that guides our work.

During the coaching cycle, we meet with teachers to identify a formative assessment we will use to discuss student progress, develop future strategies for instruction, and evaluate student learning. We base conversations about teaching methods on the formative data, not on an individual's personal opinions about an instructional approach. The following coaching conversation is an example of the type of dialogue that might happen as an individual teacher begins to deeply analyze student work and reflect on instruction.

Coach: After looking at the students' work, you've narrowed down what you feel are problems in their essay writing. You mentioned that many of your students are not using appropriate word choices-they are either using words incorrectly or using very basic words such as happy or sad to illustrate a point. Let's look at these papers briefly and separate them into two piles: pile A for students who consistently use challenging vocabulary and pile B for those who do not.

After making two piles, the teacher and coach decide to examine pile B in more depth. They make notes on what they observe.

Teacher: There appears to be a group of students who attempt to use new vocabulary but often use it incorrectly. I think they know the definition because these kids always ace their vocabulary quizzes, but those are multiple-choice assessments. When it comes to writing, they're just not sure how to use the word in a sentence.

Coach: Can you show me an example?

Teacher points to several papers where students have used words incorrectly.

Coach: So, what opportunity do they have to practice using these words correctly?

Teacher: Well, when I introduce a word, I give them examples of how to use it in a sentence. And I always choose words from their reading, so they get to see it in a sentence there as well. But from what I'm seeing here, it seems like that may not be enough reinforcement.

Coach: So what other ways can you support your students as they learn how to use these new words?

Teacher: Maybe if they could practice thinking of sentences and saying them out loud to each other, without having to write them, it might help students get it in their ear.

Coach: That's a great idea. Also, maybe just posting a few examples around the room of how to use the word in a sentence might serve as visual reminders for the students.

Teacher: I could try that, too.

Coach: Are there formative assessments you currently use that would provide more opportunities for students to practice with word choice and obtain feedback about their progress?

Teacher: They write letters to me in their journals about the books they are reading. I think encouraging them to take chances with vocabulary in their letters would give them more practice using new words. I could focus specifically on word choice with them for the letter writing.

Coach: Great. So let's make a time to get together in the next few weeks and look at the student work and note any changes or progress.

A few weeks later the coach and teacher reconvene.

Coach: You've been looking at your students' journal entries. What do you notice as you look at these papers?

Teacher: Well, more students are using challenging vocabulary words and using them correctly. I think having a chance to practice using these new words by speaking to one another has made a big difference. But there is still this group of students who rely on simple words in their writing and don't even try any of the challenging vocabulary.

Coach: OK. Why don't we start by looking at that group?

Teacher and coach read through several papers.

Teacher: I feel that some students think it's not worth trying out a word because they might get it wrong. Or maybe they don't understand why writers use interesting vocabulary. I guess I haven't really made that clear to them. I am also wondering if a rubric might help; maybe they aren't sure what I'm looking for.

Coach: I'm wondering what type of data we can use to support your hypothesis. For example, have you met with students individually to talk about their word choice?

Teacher: I have conferences with some students, but I'm just not sure what we should be talking about. I could encourage them to use some of the vocabulary or find out what is stopping them.

Coach: I think conferences are also a way to provide feedback for students on their use of vocabulary and provide them with examples of how writers engage readers through words. Your conference notes can help you figure out why some of the students continue to struggle. I have some information that can help guide you during conferences and organize any data that you gather.

Formative coaching helps teachers naturally become more reflective about their practice as they look for progress in student work. Teachers take the stance of researchers as they ask, How did students respond to a specific method of instruction? For which group of learners was this method successful? As we meet with teachers and look at the student work, they become more aware of the importance of feedback to students and the explicit instruction necessary to support student learning.

Beyond Individual Coaching

The process of analyzing formative data has also transformed how we plan professional development sessions for larger groups of teachers. Instead of choosing topics that we think the teachers might be interested in, we now base our professional development on needs determined by the student work. The days of creating professional development in a vacuum are gone.

In planning professional development we make sure our adult learners have numerous opportunities to collaborate and establish common goals with clear outcomes. No longer are they asked to come to a workshop to "sit and get"; they are now at the center of professional development, responsible for the learning of their students and their own growth as educators.

As coaches, we have also worked to create a safe environment that is conducive to adult learning and professional discourse. Initially, teachers were reluctant to share their ideas or their students' work with their colleagues in professional learning communities, but they began to build trust as they looked at student work over a sustained period of time and realized the importance of sharing results and progress with the larger school community. They understood how the teaching and learning in the classroom next door was vitally important to the success of the students who currently sat in front of them.

As our collaboration and trust strengthened, teachers transferred their skills about formative analysis to areas other than literacy. When the teachers received results from the statewide math assessment, the formative coaching cycle prompted teachers to look at trends, pinpoint next steps as a team, and seek out instructional strategies from one another.

Closing the door to your classroom is no longer an option; collaboration is necessity if our students are to succeed. A new way of thinking about teaching has been born.

1. Discuss the work: Discuss the formative work that you have chosen.

1. What is the purpose of this formative work? How does it relate to grade level goals or standards?

2. Did students work together or individually?

3. What type of scaffolding did the teacher provide? Was the assignment differentiated for certain students? If so, how?

2. Describe the criteria: The teacher should describe how the work will be evaluated.

1. What evidence of learning did you hope to see in this work?

2. How will you evaluate student work? (rubric, checklist, exemplar, previous work done by students, other)

3. Do a quick sort: Sort the work.

1. The coach and teacher should discuss how to examine the work. What can you look for quickly when analyzing the work?

2. Take a brief amount of time to examine the work and make three piles. For example, you might make piles of student work seems that below standard, on-target, and above standard for that grade level.

4. Analyze: What do students have in common in this group?

1. What strengths do you see in this group? Identify examples.

2. What areas are challenging for them? Identify examples.

5. Reflect.

1. Is this formative assessment a good way of evaluating students' knowledge or skills?

2. Do the students understand the purpose of this assignment?

3. Do students know how their learning is being evaluated? Do they know what good work looks like?

6. Plan: Based on your discussion, what type of instruction does this group of students need?

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for other groups.

Endnote

Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species. Houston, TX: Gulf.

Gabrielle Nidus ( Gabrielle@bshor.com) and Maya Sadder ( mayasadder@gmail.com) are literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a preK-8 public school in Chicago that also serves as a teacher training institute for Chicago Public Schools. They are the authors of The Way In: The Literacy Coaches Gameplan (International Reading Association, 2009), to be published this spring.

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5 How Teachers Learn Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance. It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting.

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Unlock Every Writer's Potential | NoRedInk

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NoRedInk offers authentic assessments, adaptive practice, personalized content, and actionable data to improve your students' writing and grammar skills!

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I love this strategy and use it quite frequently with my EL's to help them activate background knowledge and connect it to their new academic language.

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A strategy that helps educators to meaningfully take advantage of "students' unique perspectives" to help their learning through guidance.
How does it work: The teacher picks images that are stimulating enough to link students' thinking with their own "language and culture" to the task. From the student's insights, a bridge is developed through "peer interaction" linking thinking to the content.
As Herrera et al. write, visuals are beneficial because they "evoke emotional responses in learners" especially when they are in "color" ultimately helping students to make vivid connections (14).

Materials Needed - poster papers with pictures in the center (one per group), markers/ colored pencil

* Separate students into groups of four or five * Request students to regroup and review the information placed on their original charts * Allow students few minutes to discuss their overall comprehension of the topic

* Choose no more than four pictures that reflect key concepts or the vocabulary from the lesson (clipart, magazines, or textbook pictures)
* Tape picture in center of poster
* Encourage students to draw/write everything they think/feel when they look at the image in whichever language they choose (1-2 minutes)
* Ask students to circle or connect with a line, the common vocabulary/ideas on their charts (connecting words or synonyms)
* Share with students the academic vocabulary for the day. Ask them to look for associations between the ideas/vocabulary on the poster and the academic vocabulary.
* While they share, encourage them to add the word to the poster.
* Have students use the words on the poster to create a rich description/paragraph of the vocabularies learned (pairs/individuals) or have them create sentences based on the target word with the aide of the information on the poster.
* The product from student work in the lesson can be used for review and/or assessments.
* Ask students to then predict what they think the reading/lesson will be about based on the information on the posters
* As the lesson begins and proceeds, encourage groups to confirm/disconfirm their predictions
* Refer to the posters; give students time to talk about their predictions; clarify their understanding; encourage them to add words that connect to the information on the poster that they learn.
* Allow groups to rotate and do the same for all the other pictures
* As a facilitator, walk around to the posters and circle words/ or indicate the drawings that reflect or depict the target vocabulary for the day. Reflecting on what students bring to this activity is a sign of developing "knowledge one's students."

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A strategy that helps educators to meaningfully take advantage of "students' unique perspectives" to help their learning through guidance. How does it work: The teacher picks images that are stimulating enough to link students' thinking with their own "language and culture" to the task.

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SupportEd

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Video: Assessment with Tech

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Thought starters

1. What are the benefits of using technology to gather student data?

2. How can technology be used for student communication?

3. How might you use this strategy with younger students?

School Details

Mariner High School
200 120th St Sw
Everett WA 98204

Data Provided By:

Teachers

Math / 9 10 11 12 / Teacher

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Using Tech Tools for Formative Assessment

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Joshua Kwon explains how he uses technology to engage and formatively assess his students. He explains how tech tools can be used to easily gather and analyze student data. In addition, tech tools can be used for communicating with students and families.

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Kevin Jepson & Anne Vilen, 2018

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Staehr Fenner, 2014

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Available Formats

ISBN: 9781452257693

Paperback

Suggested Retail Price: $34.95

Bookstore Price: $27.96

ISBN: 9781452278407

Electronic Version

Suggested Retail Price: $30.95

Bookstore Price: $24.76

Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email sageheoa@sagepub.com. Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html.

1. Need for Advocacy for English Learners

2. Creating a Shared Sense of Responsibility for Teaching English Learners

3. How ESL Teachers Can Collaborate to Expand Advocacy Efforts for ELs

4. Advocacy Overview for School and District Administrators

5. Increasing EL Families' Involvement Through Building Their Advocacy Capacity

6. Advocacy Through Effective Instruction of ELs

7. Advocating for ELs in Assessment

8. Advocacy for ELs' Success Beyond Grade 12

(1) A comprehensive resource which raises educators' awareness of the areas in which ELs need advocacy and offers practical suggestions for EL advocacy
(2) Provides an overview of research that informs EL advocacy in each chapter and tools to apply the research on the ground (3) Focuses on hands-on professional development activities to build a sense of responsibility for ELs' achievement in school and beyond
(4) Includes checklists for schools and districts to use to provide a framework to guide their discussion of ELs' advocacy needs in a number of areas
(5) Contains an abundance of practical examples of EL advocacy in action, taken from a variety of schools and geographical regions
(6) Weaves in voices of EL advocates at the school, district, state, and national levels (including Tim Boals, Catherine Collier, and Margarita Pinkos)

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Available Formats ISBN: 9781452257693 Paperback Suggested Retail Price: $34.95 Bookstore Price: $27.96 ISBN: 9781452278407 Electronic Version Suggested Retail Price: $30.95 Bookstore Price: $24.76 Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email sageheoa@sagepub.com.

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Colorín Colorado

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In this classroom clip, Albuquerque teacher Marty Dreskin talks about the role of scaffolding for an 8th-grade lesson plan focused on "The Story of an Hour."

Teacher: Ida Demos, Martha Dreskin, Lynne Harper, Deborah Mathen, Maria Padilla-Enyart

School Name: Harrison Middle School, Van Buren Middle School, Kennedy Middle School, Los Ranchos Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School

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Scaffolding for Middle School ELLs: The Story of an Hour

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In this classroom clip, Albuquerque teacher Marty Dreskin talks about the role of scaffolding for an 8th-grade lesson plan focused on "The Story of an Hour," as well as her strategies for removing scaffolding as students showed more confidence with complex text.Things to watch for:Scaffolded lessons to support reading comprehensionSmall group work and group instructionMore Watch & Learn videoStudent engagement and the Common Core

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Gabrielle Nidus &  Maya Sadder, 2009

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5
How Teachers Learn

Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder

Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance.

It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting. As you enter the meeting, you can tell from teachers' sighs and grimaces that they are dismayed about something. "The problem is," one teacher begins as she pulls out her grade book, "the students are struggling with writing. We thought helping them broaden their vocabulary to develop word choice would be one step in helping them write better. But it hasn't made a difference." Frustrated, another teacher turns to you and asks, "Doesn't the district have a new approach for improving writing? There's got to be something out there that will work." But in your heart, you know that a new technique will not be the panacea they are seeking.

As teachers discuss various writing methods, it occurs to you that an essential clue for solving the problem is missing from this conversation-the student work. Only one teacher has any work with her. "Why don't we take a look at some of this student writing together and see what's going on," you begin. "But before we begin, let's just set up some ground rules for looking at work together." You take a deep breath. Formative coaching has begun.

As literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a large neighborhood school on the South Side of Chicago, we have often struggled to provide high-quality professional development to our staff that would lead to direct changes in classroom instruction. According to Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the field of adult learning, adults learn best when they are engaged in activities that directly affect their work. However, the process of adult learning sometimes feels as hit or miss as a game of bingo. Districts or schools choose an instructional method to promote, and if it matches with a strategy already in the teachers' repertoires, they insert it into instruction. Small-group instruction. Graphic organizers. Metacognition. Bingo! If the teaching method does not fit on the instructional bingo card, it is quickly discarded and the game continues. But most schools do not have time for meaningless games.

Formative Coaching

To avoid the bingo game, we developed formative coaching, a collaborative process of examining student work and other formative data to bridge the gap between professional development and actual classroom practice. Throughout the day, students produce work (journals, responses to questions, graphic organizers, and verbal responses) that is an indicator of their understanding. These formative assessments provide a much more accurate measure of how students are progressing than standardized tests alone can do. However, making sense of formative assessments is like solving a mystery. Although each piece of work is filled with clues about individual learners, knowing what to do with the information takes skill and practice.

A formative coach guides teachers in using student work to determine the course of instruction, curriculum, and their own professional development. The coach might be an administrator, a mentor teacher, or even a peer; but regardless of who is doing the coaching, student work is always part of the equation. Learning strategies such as team teaching, modeling, or co-planning are born out of an authentic need that is evident in the students' work, increasing the likelihood of retention and transference into a teacher's daily practice.

The Coaching Process

We begin the process of formative coaching by regularly meeting with individual teachers to examine student work. The process of deeply analyzing formative data is often challenging-sometimes there is so much information embedded in even a single piece of work that teachers do not know where to begin. In an effort to make sense of the information, we developed a variety of protocols to help teachers sort through the data and make it usable. (See, for example, our Quick Sort Protocol.) As our community became more proficient at analyzing student work, a natural process of identifying instructional methods to support student learning emerged. To further support this process, we developed a formative coaching cycle ( fig. 1) that guides our work.

During the coaching cycle, we meet with teachers to identify a formative assessment we will use to discuss student progress, develop future strategies for instruction, and evaluate student learning. We base conversations about teaching methods on the formative data, not on an individual's personal opinions about an instructional approach. The following coaching conversation is an example of the type of dialogue that might happen as an individual teacher begins to deeply analyze student work and reflect on instruction.

Coach: After looking at the students' work, you've narrowed down what you feel are problems in their essay writing. You mentioned that many of your students are not using appropriate word choices-they are either using words incorrectly or using very basic words such as happy or sad to illustrate a point. Let's look at these papers briefly and separate them into two piles: pile A for students who consistently use challenging vocabulary and pile B for those who do not.

After making two piles, the teacher and coach decide to examine pile B in more depth. They make notes on what they observe.

Teacher: There appears to be a group of students who attempt to use new vocabulary but often use it incorrectly. I think they know the definition because these kids always ace their vocabulary quizzes, but those are multiple-choice assessments. When it comes to writing, they're just not sure how to use the word in a sentence.

Coach: Can you show me an example?

Teacher points to several papers where students have used words incorrectly.

Coach: So, what opportunity do they have to practice using these words correctly?

Teacher: Well, when I introduce a word, I give them examples of how to use it in a sentence. And I always choose words from their reading, so they get to see it in a sentence there as well. But from what I'm seeing here, it seems like that may not be enough reinforcement.

Coach: So what other ways can you support your students as they learn how to use these new words?

Teacher: Maybe if they could practice thinking of sentences and saying them out loud to each other, without having to write them, it might help students get it in their ear.

Coach: That's a great idea. Also, maybe just posting a few examples around the room of how to use the word in a sentence might serve as visual reminders for the students.

Teacher: I could try that, too.

Coach: Are there formative assessments you currently use that would provide more opportunities for students to practice with word choice and obtain feedback about their progress?

Teacher: They write letters to me in their journals about the books they are reading. I think encouraging them to take chances with vocabulary in their letters would give them more practice using new words. I could focus specifically on word choice with them for the letter writing.

Coach: Great. So let's make a time to get together in the next few weeks and look at the student work and note any changes or progress.

A few weeks later the coach and teacher reconvene.

Coach: You've been looking at your students' journal entries. What do you notice as you look at these papers?

Teacher: Well, more students are using challenging vocabulary words and using them correctly. I think having a chance to practice using these new words by speaking to one another has made a big difference. But there is still this group of students who rely on simple words in their writing and don't even try any of the challenging vocabulary.

Coach: OK. Why don't we start by looking at that group?

Teacher and coach read through several papers.

Teacher: I feel that some students think it's not worth trying out a word because they might get it wrong. Or maybe they don't understand why writers use interesting vocabulary. I guess I haven't really made that clear to them. I am also wondering if a rubric might help; maybe they aren't sure what I'm looking for.

Coach: I'm wondering what type of data we can use to support your hypothesis. For example, have you met with students individually to talk about their word choice?

Teacher: I have conferences with some students, but I'm just not sure what we should be talking about. I could encourage them to use some of the vocabulary or find out what is stopping them.

Coach: I think conferences are also a way to provide feedback for students on their use of vocabulary and provide them with examples of how writers engage readers through words. Your conference notes can help you figure out why some of the students continue to struggle. I have some information that can help guide you during conferences and organize any data that you gather.

Formative coaching helps teachers naturally become more reflective about their practice as they look for progress in student work. Teachers take the stance of researchers as they ask, How did students respond to a specific method of instruction? For which group of learners was this method successful? As we meet with teachers and look at the student work, they become more aware of the importance of feedback to students and the explicit instruction necessary to support student learning.

Beyond Individual Coaching

The process of analyzing formative data has also transformed how we plan professional development sessions for larger groups of teachers. Instead of choosing topics that we think the teachers might be interested in, we now base our professional development on needs determined by the student work. The days of creating professional development in a vacuum are gone.

In planning professional development we make sure our adult learners have numerous opportunities to collaborate and establish common goals with clear outcomes. No longer are they asked to come to a workshop to "sit and get"; they are now at the center of professional development, responsible for the learning of their students and their own growth as educators.

As coaches, we have also worked to create a safe environment that is conducive to adult learning and professional discourse. Initially, teachers were reluctant to share their ideas or their students' work with their colleagues in professional learning communities, but they began to build trust as they looked at student work over a sustained period of time and realized the importance of sharing results and progress with the larger school community. They understood how the teaching and learning in the classroom next door was vitally important to the success of the students who currently sat in front of them.

As our collaboration and trust strengthened, teachers transferred their skills about formative analysis to areas other than literacy. When the teachers received results from the statewide math assessment, the formative coaching cycle prompted teachers to look at trends, pinpoint next steps as a team, and seek out instructional strategies from one another.

Closing the door to your classroom is no longer an option; collaboration is necessity if our students are to succeed. A new way of thinking about teaching has been born.

1. Discuss the work: Discuss the formative work that you have chosen.

1. What is the purpose of this formative work? How does it relate to grade level goals or standards?

2. Did students work together or individually?

3. What type of scaffolding did the teacher provide? Was the assignment differentiated for certain students? If so, how?

2. Describe the criteria: The teacher should describe how the work will be evaluated.

1. What evidence of learning did you hope to see in this work?

2. How will you evaluate student work? (rubric, checklist, exemplar, previous work done by students, other)

3. Do a quick sort: Sort the work.

1. The coach and teacher should discuss how to examine the work. What can you look for quickly when analyzing the work?

2. Take a brief amount of time to examine the work and make three piles. For example, you might make piles of student work seems that below standard, on-target, and above standard for that grade level.

4. Analyze: What do students have in common in this group?

1. What strengths do you see in this group? Identify examples.

2. What areas are challenging for them? Identify examples.

5. Reflect.

1. Is this formative assessment a good way of evaluating students' knowledge or skills?

2. Do the students understand the purpose of this assignment?

3. Do students know how their learning is being evaluated? Do they know what good work looks like?

6. Plan: Based on your discussion, what type of instruction does this group of students need?

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for other groups.

Endnote

Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species. Houston, TX: Gulf.

Gabrielle Nidus ( Gabrielle@bshor.com) and Maya Sadder ( mayasadder@gmail.com) are literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a preK-8 public school in Chicago that also serves as a teacher training institute for Chicago Public Schools. They are the authors of The Way In: The Literacy Coaches Gameplan (International Reading Association, 2009), to be published this spring.

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5 How Teachers Learn Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance. It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting.

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Colorín Colorado

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Many English language learners (ELLs) can speak English confidently in the lunch room or on the playground, yet when it comes time to read, write, or give a class presentation, they need more practice with the skills required to complete their work successfully. Learn more about the difference between social and academic language and take a look at some strategies by veteran ELL teachers and researchers that will benefit all students in the classroom.

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Many English language learners (ELLs) can speak English confidently in the lunch room or on the playground, yet when it comes time to read, write, or give a class presentation, they need more practice with the skills required to complete their work successfully.

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Implementing the CommonCore State Standards forEnglish Learners:The Changing Roleof the ESL Teacher

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Implementing the CommonCore State Standards forEnglish Learners:The Changing Roleof the ESL Teacher

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TESOL International, 2013

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Jeff Zwiers

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Focusing Formative Assessments on the Needs of ELLs

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Focusing Formative Assessments on the Needs of ELLs

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Laura Alvarez, Sri Ananda, Aida Walqui, Edynn Sato, & Stanley N. Rabinowitz, 2014

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By Laura Alvarez, Sri Ananda, Aída Walqui, Edynn Sato, Stanley N. Rabinowitz

Description

How can formative assessment enhance the teaching and learning of English language learner (ELL) students? What, if anything, from our experience with summative assessment of ELL students can inform effective formative assessment practices? And finally, what are the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating formative assessment into instruction for ELL students in this era of Common Core and other next generation standards?

This paper addresses these questions. In addition, the authors, all former or current WestEd researchers, argue that in order to use formative assessment effectively in classrooms with ELL students, teachers must attend simultaneously to the students' needs both in learning content and skills, as well as in developing the English required to express their learning.

Resource Details

Related Resources

Formative assessment is a key component in next-generation assessment systems. This paper, authored by former WestEd researcher Elise Trumbull and WestEd's Nancy Gerzon, outlines how different programs and studies have responded to educators' need for professional development on formative assessment.

This paper focuses on the ways that technologies can support effective formative assessment planning and implementation.

Formative assessment in the classroom aims to reveal not just what students are learning, but how they are learning, with results used to inform instruction. This policy brief highlights the formative component of next-generation assessment systems and makes recommendations for state and federal policymakers.

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Focusing Formative Assessment on the Needs of English Language Learners

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How can formative assessment enhance the teaching and learning of English language learner (ELL) students? What, if anything, from our experience with summative assessment of ELL students can inform effective formative assessment practices? And finally, what are the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating formative assessment into instruction for ELL students in this era of Common Core and other next generation standards?

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Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017

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Supporting English Language Learners Through Station Rotations

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Supporting English Language Learners Through Station Rotations

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Juliana Finegan & Nithi Thomas, 2018

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ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

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Teaching Channel

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. What are academic conversations?

2. Why is it important to value oral language?

3. How can you engage students in academic conversations?

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Academic Conversations with ELLs: Series Overview

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Discover how to engage ELLs in academic conversations. Maria Santos and Jeff Zwiers provide an introduction to a video series on academic conversations. Jeff describes the importance of oral language while Maria introduces how OUSD has been focusing on academic conversations.

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Scaffolding Instruction for ELs Resource Guides

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Scaffolding Instruction for ELs Resource Guides

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engageNY

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The New York State Education Department is no longer supporting the EngageNY.org website and it will no longer be available for use after April 15, 2022. NYSED encourages educators to download any EngageNY content they wish to use in the future.

All ELA and mathematics curriculum files will be available at the links below, and will remain free and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.

Archived EngageNY Curriculum Files:

Grades 3-8 ELA and Mathematics Test Materials:
Questions regarding this change may be directed to the EngageNY Help Desk.

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The New York State Education Department is no longer supporting the EngageNY.org website and it will no longer be available for use after April 15, 2022. NYSED encourages educators to download any EngageNY content they wish to use in the future.

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Natalie Regier, 2012

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Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for. These fourteen questions will work for just about any kind of writing-from cutting edge journalism to revealing personal essays to experimental poetry.
For a printable version of this handout that you can use tomorrow as well as 29 more pages of practical how-to's, handouts, and charts to teach your students to write better, check out my Writing Workshop Resource by clicking .
First, instruct students to read the text through one time, annotating it with a simple system. (For example, they might write a check mark for important information, a question mark or confusing parts, and a heart for parts that they especially like for whatever reason.)

Then, have them work thorough the following questions to help them notice the important elements of the writers' craft in any kind of mentor text.

1. Having read the piece once through, what is the most impactful or important part? This could be an image, a fact, a sentence, or even a word that stays with you for whatever reason.

2. What is the main point of the piece? Where does the author state that idea? Quote it and then explain it in your own words.

3. How does the writer grab a reader in the first sentence or few sentences? Describe the specific technique that is used.

4. Which details or descriptions or facts are most surprising, vivid, important, or memorable for whatever reason? Make a list of those details.

5. How does the author draw your attention to those details? What techniques are used?

6. How do the details that you noticed help the author to make the main point as you explained it in question #2?

7. How is the piece organized? Make a very rough outline of what the author includes in the beginning, middle, and end. (If you can, divide the piece into three parts-but don't be worried if one part is significantly shorter or longer than the rest.)

8. How might you imitate that structure? How might the author's choices in terms of organization be applied to your own writing?

9. How does the author help the reader to transition from one part to the next? What are some key words that signal a change or shift or movement to something new? Quote those words or phrases here.

10. Which transition words do you find especially effective? Why?

11. How does the author conclude the piece? With what impression are you left as a reader at the end? What does the author want you to take away with you after you are done reading?

12. What techniques does the author use to make that conclusion especially memorable? Describe them here.

13. Which elements of the piece would you most like to try on your current piece of writing? How can you incorporate the techniques that you have analyzed in this piece into your own work?

14. Which techniques would you like to try on a future piece of writing? Why?

Have you taught with mentor texts before? What questions do you have about teaching with mentor texts?
Learning to write can be nebulous and confusing and intimidating-but it doesn't have to be that way. When students and teachers alike can focus on the elements of a great piece of writing, they will both learn from it. Breaking it down into the basic elements of solid communication go a long way towards making the process of writing more approachable for everyone.

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14 Questions for Examining Mentor Texts (Of Any Kind) - Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for.