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The reference notes for my Podcast Episode on Cross-Curricular Literacy

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The reference notes for my Podcast Episode on Cross-Curricular Literacy

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Must request access from Francesco Principe

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Rose To

Gosuke* is a 15-year-old Japanese student who speaks little English. On this particular day after his orientation tour on the first day of school, he enters gym class, not knowing that he was supposed to change into gym attire before class. Curious students stare at him as the teacher slowly and patiently explains the class procedure. Gosuke is quiet, with a puzzled look on his face. He is an ESL (English as a Second Language) student.

In any given classroom in any given school, there is probably an ESL student representing a country from any part of the world. In this case, Gosuke needs to participate in an ESL class or drop into a resource centre for additional language skill assistance. Regular classroom teachers can enable the language process for these students as well. With a heavy workload and high student ratio, though, how can teachers make the most of their classes for ESL students?

Getting to know your ESL students' background

Recently, TIME magazine looked at Canada's changing demographic profile.

And the biggest change is in Canada's people, an enterprising, polyglot community of 32 million . . . The diversity is driven by a powerful demographic reality. Canada's birth rate declined 25 percent from 1980 to 1998, to 11.5 births per thousand. By 2020, so-called natural-population growth will reach zero . . . Canada's growth now is fueled by an influx of new citizens. . . . More than 200,000 immigrants arrive annually, 70,000 in Toronto alone. The inflow spreads to communities like Calgary, Winnipeg, Prince Rupert and Thunder Bay . . . By 2005, according to Statistics Canada, the proportion of "visible minorities" will rise to 16 percent of the national population, from 12 percent in 1996. (TIME, May 1999, p 33)

As stated, the demographic reality reveals a decline in birth rate and an increase in immigration. One of the main reasons people immigrate to another country is to provide educational opportunities to their children and/or a better future for the family away from war or political upheaval.

What does this imply for teachers in general? First, teachers must know the background of their ESL students. For example, Eugene* is a Russian high school student who came from a country where strict rules are followed in the classroom. In the beginning, he was at a loss to respond to the free expression of students (and teachers) around him. Academic studies confused Eugene because he couldn't understand simple instructions and the course scheduling was different. Then there was Sadaf*, who had lived in Afghanistan, where in recent years women have been oppressed and beatings and rape occur frequently. Sadaf is a strict Muslim who fasts and observes Ramadan. Some days she felt faint in class though overall she progressed academically, unlike Eugene who felt lost in the Canadian school system. Students who are lost become at risk. Usually, beginning ESL students are placed in a high-need category until the transition is easier for them. Thus, Eugene, Sadaf and Gosuke represent a small fraction of ESL immigrant students who must adjust academically, socially, emotionally and culturally.

Second, teachers should consult the counsellor, ESL teacher or assistant about students' backgrounds. Insight might be obtained from testing records, placement recommendations or understanding the family/cultural background. In the most recent TESOL Matters (Jan/Feb 2001), it was noted that an initiative was made for Native Americans of the Navajo Nation in Arizona to allow three to seven years of ESL teaching in order to give them language proficiency required for academic subjects. This idea may be food for thought for Alberta educators as there are significant educational and linguistic implications for the future of ESL students.

The teaching and learning process

How can teachers make the most of their classes for ESL students? Knowing a student's background is essential, as is consultation with other professionals.

Teachers can expand their teaching techniques to include visual and audio stimuli. This can be accomplished naturally if teachers keep ESL students in mind. Point to the page number in a text and write it on the board. Use the overhead, charts or maps. Allow time following questions. Be careful of common English expressions when speaking to an ESL student. A casual remark such as, "Whatcha doing?" can be misconstrued if the student understands only one word, one phrase or looks at his watch ("whatcha doing?"). Extend vocabulary in the classroom and simplify terms when necessary, especially at the beginning of a term or a new unit with many difficult words. Students may rely on their English dictionaries or electronic dictionaries. It is interesting to note that ESL students have said that it is difficult to use their dictionaries if they couldn't spell the word or phonetically sound out the words (for example, the "f" sound in foe is easier to find in the dictionary than the "f" sound in phone). Reading aloud in class is a method touted by many educators; however, it may be disastrous for ESL students who do not have pronunciation skills or vocabulary depth. Remember that many ESL students understand the academic subjects in their own language, but lack the necessary English vocabulary to express their understanding. In six months to one year, how many English speaking teachers could read literature and carry out math functions and science experiments in Chinese? What are we asking of students who must fit in a K-12 system? Without question, some knowledge about second language acquisition is helpful for classroom teachers. In addition, ESL trained teachers are needed for levels 1-5 (beginning, intermediate and advanced ESL) classes or small group assistance on a consistent basis, apart from regular classes.

Actual classroom practice may include pair work or a buddy system, by which a regular English speaker is paired with an ESL student. Though peer pressure and a lack of understanding about ESL students (or immigrants in general) contribute to student resistance at the junior or senior high level, it is up to the discretion of classroom teachers to create an accepting and affirming environment for all students. Margaret Dwyer reported on a districtwide effort in New York State to improve content-area instruction with a group of math and science teachers who collaborated on teaching strategies for units in which LEP (limited English proficiency) students, or ESL students, could benefit interacting with regular classroom students ( TESL Journal, Autumn 1998, p 8).

Oral (listening and speaking) skills are more easily acquired and tend to surpass reading and writing skills in a K-12 school system. Reading and writing skills demand attention from an ESL professional or resource setting. Portfolio assessment should be considered in evaluating language learning skills from a spectrum of sources.

Will I have to do more?

Many regular classroom teachers might ask just how much responsibility in their already busy schedules and crowded classes they have to take on. Are teachers expected to be super teachers? The answer is no. However, regular classroom teachers need to be aware and purposeful in what they are currently teaching and keep ESL students in mind. Discretion should be used in teaching style and materials.

There is a definite need for professional ESL teachers who take time to assess language needs, determine student placement and transfers, or recommend course and schedule changes. Administrators can actively support ESL teachers as well. More often than not, ESL teachers are in support roles, have only part-time or temporary contracts, are replaced by ESL assistants, or suddenly find themselves teaching other subjects in addition to ESL while juggling beginning students and immigrant parents. There are few full-time ESL positions. As well, ESL resources, such as text, audio, media or computer resources, are scarce. However, government funding is provided for each ESL student accountable. There needs to be a balance between expenditure and needs and some changes are necessary in the near future.

In the meantime, teachers can access available resources from a variety of organizations, including TESOL (international association for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), TESL Canada (national organization), ATESL (provincial), the Calgary and Edmonton boards of education, ESL departments or CLCs offer resource material and interesting conferences. Online resources include TESL-L (discussion group on current issues) and Dave's ESL Café, among other internet ESL resources.

How can teachers make most of their classes for ESL students? It takes the cooperation and joint effort of principals, counsellors, ESL teachers/assistants, parents and the ESL students to make a difference. The adage "It takes a village to raise a child" is true. It may be the who, why, what and how questions that need answers. If the goal is to take ESL students and help them become better citizens in the future, it would answer the who and why questions. What is done, and how educational goals are accomplished need to be determined through policy, procedure, action plans, funding allocation and an ongoing belief that change is good for all involved. Professional educational standards for ESL students in the K-12 school system are in the process of being fleshed out by international TESOL. Perhaps students like Gosuke, Eugene, Sadaf and other ESL students can benefit soon, linguistically and culturally. In our diverse world where English is an international language, teachers can make a difference by bringing the world of their classroom closer.

*Student names represent general profiles.

References

Boyd, Monica and Michael Vickers. (2000). "100 Years of Immigration in Canada." Canadian Social Trends, Autumn, 2-12.

Dietz, Kathy. (2000/01). "AZ-TESOL's Argument Against the English for the Children of Arizona Ballot Initiative." TESOL Matters, Dec-Jan/Feb, Vol 11, No 1, 15.

Dwyer, Margaret A. (1998). "Creating and Sustaining Change for Immigrant Learners in Secondary Schools." TESOL Journal, Autumn, 6-10.

Gottlieb, Margo (1995). "Nurturing Student Learning Through Portfolios." TESOL Journal, Autumn, 12-14.

Krashen, Stephen D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. London and New York: Longman.

Purvis, Andrew. (1999). "The Changing Tapestry." TIME Special Report, Canadian Edition, May 31, Vol 153, No 21, 30-44.

Websites

TESOL Online: www.tesol.edu

Dave's ESL Café: www.daveseslcafe.com
Rose To has taught for the Calgary Board of Education on various ESL contracts from junior to senior high. She has TESOL education toward an MEd. She has been a professional educator for 16 years, mainly in ESL, in both Canada and the United States.

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How to Make the Most of Your Class for an ESL Student

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How to Make the Most of Your Class for an ESL Student

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Strong Teacher Example for Curriculum Teaching

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Strong Teacher Example for Curriculum Teaching

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January 18th is celebrated as Thesaurus Day to honor the birthday of the author of the first thesaurus, Peter Mark Roget. Get into the spirit by reading our two-part interview with Roget biographer Joshua Kendall here and here. Also check out an ode to the thesaurus penned by Franklin P. Adams here and Johnny Carson's hilarious "Funeral for a Thesaurus Editor" sketch here.

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EDUC 409 Assignment #2 Video Portion

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
When I worked with student teachers on developing effective lesson plans, one thing I always asked them to revise was the phrase "We will discuss."
We will discuss the video. We will discuss the story. We will discuss our results.
Every time I saw it in a lesson plan, I would add a note: "What format will you use? What questions will you ask? How will you ensure that all students participate?" I was pretty sure that We will discuss actually meant the teacher would do most of the talking; He would throw out a couple of questions like "So what did you think about the video?" or "What was the theme of the story?" and a few students would respond, resulting in something that looked like a discussion, but was ultimately just a conversation between the teacher and a handful of extroverted students; a classic case of Fisheye Teaching.

The problem wasn't them; in most of the classrooms where they'd sat as students, that's exactly what a class discussion looked like. They didn't know any other "formats." I have only ever been familiar with a few myself. But when teachers began contacting me recently asking for a more comprehensive list, I knew it was time to do some serious research.

So here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you've struggled to find effective ways to develop students' speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.

I've separated the strategies into three groups. The first batch contains the higher-prep strategies, formats that require teachers to do some planning or gathering of materials ahead of time. Next come the low-prep strategies, which can be used on the fly when you have a few extra minutes or just want your students to get more active. Note that these are not strict categories; it's certainly possible to simplify or add more meat to any of these structures and still make them work. The last group is the ongoing strategies. These are smaller techniques that can be integrated with other instructional strategies and don't really stand alone. For each strategy, you'll find a list of other names it sometimes goes by, a description of its basic structure, and an explanation of variations that exist, if any. To watch each strategy in action, click on its name and a new window will open with a video that demonstrates it.

Enjoy!
a.k.a. Chat Stations
Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Small groups of students travel from station to station together, performing some kind of task or responding to a prompt, either of which will result in a conversation.

Variations: Some Gallery Walks stay true to the term gallery, where groups of students create informative posters, then act as tour guides or docents, giving other students a short presentation about their poster and conducting a Q&A about it. In Starr Sackstein's high school classroom, her stations consisted of video tutorials created by the students themselves. Before I knew the term Gallery Walk, I shared a strategy similar to it called Chat Stations, where the teacher prepares discussion prompts or content-related tasks and sets them up around the room for students to visit in small groups.
a.k.a. Values Continuum, Forced Debate, Physical Barometer, This or That
Basic Structure: A statement that has two possible responses-agree or disagree-is read out loud. Depending on whether they agree or disagree with this statement, students move to one side of the room or the other. From that spot, students take turns defending their positions.

Variations: Often a Philosophical Chairs debate will be based around a text or group of texts students have read ahead of time; students are required to cite textual evidence to support their claims and usually hold the texts in their hands during the discussion. Some teachers set up one hot seat to represent each side, and students must take turns in the seat. In less formal variations (which require less prep), a teacher may simply read provocative statements students are likely to disagree on, and a debate can occur spontaneously without a text to refer to (I call this variation This or That in my classroom icebreakers post). Teachers may also opt to offer a continuum of choices, ranging from "Strongly Agree" on one side of the room, all the way to "Strongly Disagree" on the other, and have students place themselves along that continuum based on the strength of their convictions.

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as "provocateurs," tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the "speaker") sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Variations: When high school English teacher Sarah Brown Wessling introduced this strategy in the featured video (click Pinwheel Discussion above), she used it as a device for talking about literature, where each group represented a different author, plus one provocateur group. But in the comments that follow the video, Wessling adds that she also uses the strategy with non-fiction, where students represent authors of different non-fiction texts or are assigned to take on different perspectives about an issue.
a.k.a. Socratic Circles
Basic Structure: Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence. There is no particular order to how students speak, but they are encouraged to respectfully share the floor with others. Discussion is meant to happen naturally and students do not need to raise their hands to speak. This overview of Socratic Seminar from the website Facing History and Ourselves provides a list of appropriate questions, plus more information about how to prepare for a seminar.

Variations: If students are beginners, the teacher may write the discussion questions, or the question creation can be a joint effort. For larger classes, teachers may need to set up seminars in more of a fishbowl-like arrangement, dividing students into one inner circle that will participate in the discussion, and one outer circle that silently observes, takes notes, and may eventually trade places with those in the inner circle, sometimes all at once, and sometimes by "tapping in" as the urge strikes them.
a.k.a. Affinity Diagramming
Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as "What were the impacts of the Great Depression?" or "What literary works should every person read?" Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Variations: Some teachers have students do much of this exercise-recording their ideas and arranging them into categories- without talking at first. In other variations, participants are asked to re-combine the ideas into new, different categories after the first round of organization occurs. Often, this activity serves as a good pre-writing exercise, after which students will write some kind of analysis or position paper.
a.k.a. Speed Dating
Basic Structure: Students form two circles, one inside circle and one outside circle. Each student on the inside is paired with a student on the outside; they face each other. The teacher poses a question to the whole group and pairs discuss their responses with each other. Then the teacher signals students to rotate: Students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of a new person (or sitting, as they are in the video). Now the teacher poses a new question, and the process is repeated.

Variations: Instead of two circles, students could also form two straight lines facing one another. Instead of "rotating" to switch partners, one line just slides over one spot, and the leftover person on the end comes around to the beginning of the line. Some teachers use this strategy to have students teach one piece of content to their fellow students, making it less of a discussion strategy and more of a peer teaching format. In fact, many of these protocols could be used for peer teaching as well.

Basic Structure: Another great idea from Sarah Brown Wessling, this is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers' ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn't happen to have the right chemistry. Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group's conversation. For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

Basic Structure: Two students sit facing each other in the center of the room; the remaining students sit in a circle around them. The two central students have a conversation based on a pre-determined topic and often using specific skills the class is practicing (such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, or elaborating on another person's point). Students on the outside observe, take notes, or perform some other discussion-related task assigned by the teacher.

Variations: One variation of this strategy allows students in the outer circle to trade places with those in the fishbowl, doing kind of a relay-style discussion, or they may periodically "coach" the fishbowl talkers from the sidelines. Teachers may also opt to have students in the outside circle grade the participants' conversation with a rubric, then give feedback on what they saw in a debriefing afterward, as mentioned in the featured video.

Basic Structure: One student assumes the role of a book character, significant figure in history, or concept (such as a tornado, an animal, or the Titanic). Sitting in front of the rest of the class, the student responds to classmates' questions while staying in character in that role.

Variations: Give more students the opportunity to be in the hot seat while increasing everyone's participation by having students do hot seat discussions in small groups, where one person per group acts as the "character" and three or four others ask them questions. In another variation, several students could form a panel of different characters, taking questions from the class all together and interacting with one another like guests on a TV talk show.
a.k.a. Pyramid Discussion
Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined. Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

Variations: This structure could simply be used to share ideas on a topic, or students could be required to reach consensus every time they join up with a new group.

Whereas the other formats in this list have a distinct shape-specific activities you do with students-the strategies in this section are more like plug-ins, working discussion into other instructional activities and improving the quality and reach of existing conversations.

One of the limitations of discussion is that rich, face-to-face conversations can only happen when all parties are available, so we're limited to the time we have in class. With a tool like Voxer, those limitations disappear. Like a private voice mailbox that you set up with just one person or a group (but SOOOO much easier), Voxer allows users to have conversations at whatever time is most convenient for each participant. So a group of four students can "discuss" a topic from 3pm until bedtime-asynchronously-each member contributing whenever they have a moment, and if the teacher makes herself part of the group, she can listen in, offer feedback, or contribute her own discussion points. Voxer is also invaluable for collaborating on projects and for having one-on-one discussions with students, parents, and your own colleagues. Like many other educators, Peter DeWitt took a while to really understand the potential of Voxer, but in this EdWeek piece, he explains what turned him around.

A backchannel is a conversation that happens right alongside another activity. The first time I saw a backchannel in action was at my first unconference: While those of us in the audience listened to presenters and watched a few short video clips, a separate screen was up beside the main screen, projecting something called TodaysMeet (update: TodaysMeet has shut down. Use YoTeach! instead.) It looked a lot like those chat rooms from back in the day, basically a blank screen where people would contribute a few lines of text, the lines stacking up one after the other, no other bells or whistles. Anyone in the room could participate in this conversation on their phone, laptop, or tablet, asking questions, offering commentary, and sharing links to related resources without ever interrupting the flow of the presentations. This kind of tool allows for a completely silent discussion, one that doesn't have to move at a super-fast pace, and it gives students who may be reluctant to speak up or who process their thoughts more slowly a chance to fully contribute. For a deeper discussion of how this kind of tool can be used, read this thoughtful overview of using backchannel discussions in the classroom by Edutopia's Beth Holland.
a.k.a. Accountable Talk
Talk moves are sentence frames we supply to our students that help them express ideas and interact with one another in respectful, academically appropriate ways. From kindergarten all the way through college, students can benefit from explicit instruction in the skills of summarizing another person's argument before presenting an alternate view, asking clarifying questions, and expressing agreement or partial agreement with the stance of another participant. Talk moves can be incorporated into any of the other discussion formats listed here.

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of teaching and classroom management methods that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. One of WBT's foundational techniques is Teach-OK, a peer teaching strategy that begins with the teacher spending a few minutes introducing a concept to the class. Next, the teacher says Teach!, the class responds with Okay!, and pairs of students take turns re-teaching the concept to each other. It's a bit like think-pair-share, but it's faster-paced, it focuses more on re-teaching than general sharing, and students are encouraged to use gestures to animate their discussion. Although WBT is most popular in elementary schools, this featured video shows the creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, using it quite successfully with college students. I have also used Teach-OK with college students, and most of my students said they were happy for a change from the sit-and-listen they were used to in college classrooms.

An oldie but a goodie, think-pair-share can be used any time you want to plug interactivity into a lesson: Simply have students think about their response to a question, form a pair with another person, discuss their response, then share it with the larger group. Because I feel this strategy has so many uses and can be way more powerful than we give it credit for, I devoted a whole post to think-pair-share; everything you need to know about it is right there.

TWO MORE YOU'LL LOVE

Since writing this post, I have learned about two more discussion strategies that teachers are finding to be incredibly effective and powerful for getting students to talk, especially about books and other texts:

This protocol has students come up with their own Thoughts, lingering Questions, and Epiphanies from an assigned reading. Teachers who have used this method say it has generated some of the richest conversations they have ever heard from students!

This strategy places students into one-on-one conversations, getting them to learn each others' names better and create a track record of what they talked about. Excellent for classes where you want to assess for discussion and help students get more comfortable with each other.

So what else do you have? I would like to think this is a pretty complete list, but I'm sure more strategies are out there. If you use a discussion strategy that's not mentioned here, please share it below.

Come back for more.
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The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

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Here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging.

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Areas of Vocabulary

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Change the reading level of a piece of text for learners

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Reading Level Conversion | Brisk AI Assistant for Busy Teachers

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Convert the reading level of any Google doc, article, or website. Brisk converts the material into a document that is suitable and leveled for your students. Brisk will simplify complex ideas, shorten lengthy sentences, adjust the word choice, and more.

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In-slide Interactions

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2. Click the New Quiz button in the top right corner of the Quizzes page. This opens the Create a Quiz dialog.