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[How will YOU adopt ACADEMIC LANGUAGE into your own personal practice?]

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[How will YOU adopt ACADEMIC LANGUAGE into your own personal practice?]

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the    possibilities    are    endless

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Two colleagues took time to sit down with me and discuss literacy and how it affects their classroom as well as the impact in their personal lives as well. DuMont teaches fifth grade ELA, the disciplinary literacy looks different in her classroom than Hargrave’s does teaching fourth grade Mathematics. In the classroom both DuMont and Hargrave mentioned how academic language is present throughout their entire school day. Hargrave mentions how

“It is important to use common language with our fourth grade students as they switch classes. In Math I must clearly explain and identify vocabulary that will be necessary for students to understand the concepts.”

(personal interview, September 13, 2017)
She works with all of the fourth grade teaching Mathematics. She implements the close reading strategy with math word problems and she also uses the Read-Draw-Write strategy for answering word problems (Hargrave, personal interview, September 13, 2017).
On the other hand, DuMont states that

“Vocabulary is integrated throughout lessons, we focus a lot on various strategies (context clues, morphology, etc.) to determine a word meaning.”

(personal interview, September 11, 2017)
DuMont uses close reading strategies, weekly reading logs, and modeling to encourage literacy growth (personal interview, September 11, 2017). She mentions,

“I strongly encourage all of my students to find a genre that they enjoy.”

(DuMont, personal interview, September 11, 2017)
DuMont additionally models the disciplinary literacy expectations; her favorite way is through read aloud where students can hear proper fluency expectations.

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The following trade books cover a variety of math concepts and could be incorporated into instruction:

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! by: Marilyn Burns

Topic: Area & Perimeter

Divide and Ride by: Stuart J. Murphy

Topic: Division

Pizza Counting by: Christina Dobson

Topic: Fractions

Me Counting Time From Seconds to Centuries by: Joan Sweeney

Topic: Time

Tiger Math by: Ann Whitehead Nagda

Topic: Graphing

Using Reading A-Z is a great resource for leveled books.

NewsELA is a wonderful resource for finding relevant articles that can be leveled by Lexile level based on student abilities.

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Students require explicit instruction in the literacy associated with specific disciplines. Providing students with language frames or sentence starters can be a helpful way to promote greater development of disciplinary literacy skills of students.

"Students of any age or level of experience benefit from language scaffolds that encourage them to use academic language and vocabulary. The use of language frames (partially constructed statements and questions that frame original ideas) is highly effective during collaborative conversations"

(Lent, 2016, p. 81-82)

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Previewing vocabulary before a lesson provides students with a foundation of language to use when discussing topics and novel content.

Often times these words are posted on an anchor chart or word wall, so that the students can access them throughout the lesson when they are acquiring the vocabulary into their repertoire.

Beck, McKeown, and Kucan have established levels of disciplinary vocabulary. Tier 2 (frequent for mature readers) & Tier 3 (ow frequency; limited to specific fields of study) vocabulary should be previewed by the students before the lesson begins.
(DeLuca, 2010, p.28)

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"Collaborative learning is more than just grouping students to fill out a worksheet or jigsaw a reading assignment. It is the negotiation and construction of meaning."

(Lent, 2016, p. 149)

Students are able to work together while developing academic language and constructing content meaning. Working with peers allows them to practice using the academic language in context and practice skills and behaviors necessary for the discipline without always having to be instructed by a teacher.

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“Modeling and thinking aloud provide your students with a glimpse of you cognitive and metacognitive process as you read, understand, and interact with a text.”

(Fisher & Frey, 2013, p.42)

As educators it is important to model not only the procedure, but also modeling the thought process that the students should take. This helps students to use the appropriate vocabulary when speaking as well as thinking about disciplinary concepts.

Below is a visual of conversational sentence starters or phrases that the students can look to as they are grappling with a concept that could be posted in the classroom.

** There is also a great Think Aloud bundle available on TpT that would be helpful visual cues. Check it out!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/THINK-ALOUD-Sentence-and-Question-Stems-ELA-Reading-786938

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“In our work, we use purpose, rather than goal or objective, because it forces us to pay attention to what the students think. Teachers write objectives, but students have to get the purpose. While teachers want objectives that are measurable, students want to know what they’re expected to learn and why.”

(Fisher & Frey, 2013, p.39)

Using a learning purpose, or as most educators are familiar with, a learning objective can help to provide language and content expectations.

The following image is an example of learning purposes posted in the classroom.

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There are several strategies that can help to promote academic literacy in the classroom. The following strategies can help to explicitly teach students the literacy expectations within a discipline.

Effective Academic Literacy Strategies:

Setting a clear purpose

Think aloud

Student collaboration

Vocabulary review

Writing and conversation strategies

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Literacy is integrated with the learning of the mathematics as teachers connect the practices with the content standards.
Components:

Reading

Comprehension [predict, draw conclusions, use models, charts, graphs, diagrams, and symbols to interpret information, gather, evaluate, and synthesize data]

Vocabulary [Utilize context clues, use content vocabulary, decode and encode symbolic meaning]

Writing

[compare and contrast, create an effective response to answer a problem, use appropriate symbols to illustrate concepts, analyze models, charts, graphs, diagrams, and symbols to enhance communication, develop, evaluate, and revise an effective plan to solve a complex problem]

Speaking & Listening

[listen actively, understand, evaluate, and respond to an
oral communication, plan, create, organize, and present a product demonstrating understanding, communicate fluently with various technology tools, develop appropriate self-questioning techniques]

(WVDE)

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Mathematical literacy is an individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgements and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen.

(ODEC, 2006)

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Academic language provides access to successful acquisition and mastery of academic knowledge through terminology understanding.

Important ACADEMIC LANGUAGE components for student growth and mastery in MATH include:

symbolic notation

visual displays (charts and graphs)

technical vocabulary

grammatical features (complex noun phrases)

(Willis, 2013)
Please view the video below for an video displaying the practice of mathematical academic language skills in a cute, light-hearted video:

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Kid Snippets: "Math Class" (Imagined by Kids)

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Academic Language is multi-faceted and requires careful consideration in the adoption of the practice into the classroom setting.                                                                                                         (Echevarria, 2008)

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Burns, M. (2008). Spaghetti and Meatballs for all!: a mathematical story. New York: Scholastic, Inc.

DeLuca, E. (2010). Unlocking academic vocabulary. The Science Teacher. 27-32.

Dobson, C. (2003). The pizza counting book. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

DuMont, M. Personal Interview. 11 September 2017.

Echevarria. (2008). The academic language of mathematics. [PDF]. Retrieved from <http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780205627585/downloads/Echevarria_math_Ch1_TheAcademicLanguageofMathematics.pdf>

Fisher, D., Frey, N. (2013). Rigorous reading: 5 access points for comprehending complex texts. Thousand Oaks, California. Corwin Literacy Publishing Company.

Gassaway, L. (2016, November 06). What is academic language? [Video File]. Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdxEAt91D7k>

Haldeman, R. (2012, October 15). [Bored Shorts TV].  Kid snippets: "math class" (imagined by kids). Video File]. Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdxEAt91D7k>

Hargrave, H. Personal Interview. 13 September 2017.

Lent, R. C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: reading, writing, thinking, and doing…content area by content area. Thousand Oaks, California. Corwin Literacy Publishing Company.

Murphy, S. J. (2016). Divide and ride. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Nagda, A. W. (2012). Tiger math: learning to graph from a baby tiger. New York: Square Fish.

NYSED. (2017). Preface to the new york state next generation english language arts and mathematics learning standards. [PDF]. Retrieved from <http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/ela-and-mathematics-standards-preface.pdf>

ODEC. (2006). Assessing scientific, reading, and mathematical literacy. Retrieved from http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/assessing-scientific-reading-and-mathematical-literacy_9789264026407-en#.WdVzR9N97oA#page74

Schleppegrell, M. J. (2012). Academic language in teaching and learning: introduction to the special issue. The Elementary School Journal. 112:3. 409-418.

Sweeney, J. (2002). Me counting time: from seconds to centuries. New York: Random House International.

Willis, M. (2013). The importance of academic language in achieving content area mastery. Retrieved from http://www.seenmagazine.us/Articles/Article-Detail/articleid/3537/the-importance-of-academic-language-in-achieving-content-area-mastery

WVED. Retrieved from https://wvde.state.wv.us/instruction/documents/B-Mathematical_Literacy_Flyer.pdf

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[What does ACADEMIC LANGUAGE look like in Mathematics and the CCSS?]

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[What does ACADEMIC LANGUAGE look like in Mathematics and the CCSS?]

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Mathematics requires a specific set of skills that needs to be explicitly taught to students.

The Common Core State Standards have developed "...a set of Standards that foster the literacy skills, academic language and
requisite content knowledge needed for college and career readiness."

(NYSED, 2017, p.5)

Students in Mathematics are required to obtain a specific language set needed in order to effectively and efficiently participate in the disciplinary demands.

Common Core State Standards Academic Language demands:

reasoning abstractly and quantitatively

constructing viable arguments and critiquing reasoning of others

constructing explanations and designing solutions

engaging in argument from evidence

asking questions and defining problems.

(Willis, 2013)

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The specific language [vocabulary] used communicate effectively and
learn and form complex content knowledge within a discipline.

Critical components include:
Reading
Reasoning
Investigating
Speaking
Learning
(Lent, 2016, p. 5)

Please view the video below for an overview of academic language:

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Nagy and Townsend define academic language as “the specified language, both oral and written, of academic settings that facilitate communication and thinking about disciplinary content.”

(2012, p. 92)

Schleppegrell refers to academic language as “the new set of registers that many children encounter for the first time on arrival at school, a set of registers through which they will be expected to learn and participate as they move through the grades.”

(2012, p. 411)

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The following padlet was developed as a resource for educators by an educator to provide a comprehensive understanding of academic language in mathematics and to provide resources to aid in the integration of academic language into the classroom.