· revoicing (repeating the student’s answer in academic language)

· repetition (echoing a student’s answer in class)

· elaboration (prompting the student to justify or lengthen their answer) 

 

2. Metacognition, or ‘learning to learn’ (Coyle, Hood and Marsh 2010: 29). 

· focuses on how teachers support students in completing tasks by making students aware of their own learning processes (Gaskins et al. 1997). 

· one of the most effective ways of creating independent students is by showing them how to solve tasks (Gritter, Beers and Knaus 2013; van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen 2010). Ranging from modelling and providing strategies to create tangible tasks. 

In conclusion, scaffolding is a more comprehensive field in ELL literature than in CLIL (Gibbons 2015; Walqui 2006). CLIL is only now starting to look at the role of scaffolding to support learning, and there is a need for more systematic, empirical research to describe how CLIL teachers scaffold their students’ learning (Mahan, Brevik and Ødegaard 2018; Ruiz de Zarobe and Zenotz 2015).

1.       Identify:  Who are the different people involved in the dilemma?  What challenges are they facing?  

a.     Those planning the assessments (classroom teachers, team level teachers (such as EAL), school leaders), those administering the assessment (any co-teachers involved), and those taking the assessment (students).

b.     Challenges that those planning the assessment face are push-down of skills that are not developmentally appropriate for the age cohort, lack of time and resources to develop and revise assessments to make them meaningful and well-scaffolded, and there might be a requirement by the school dictating what and how the assessments must be delivered.  Challenges facing those administering the assessment are that they might disagree with them but are required to still give or perhaps they were planned by others and do not fit the needs of the students in their class.  Challenges facing those taking the assessment are that the content within them was never taught or only briefly touched upon, the directions or lack of can be very confusing, there are too many or too few scaffolds to show what students really know, and after the assessment is taken there is no proper feedback to learn and grow from it.

2.     Feel:  What do you think each person in the dilemma is feeling?  Why might the situation be hard or challenging for each of them?

a.     Planners:  At our school, the unit planners rotate so everyone has the chance to plan for different units.  they would feel under pressure to create and submit assessments in time to the team.  It could be very hard or challenging because it was not their area of strength to plan for and it might be the first time to teach such a unit in their career.  There is also still a strong co-hort of educators who carry thick deficit lens glasses and are resistant to scaffolding or trying new ways to assess.

b.     Those administering:  They might be feeling their hands are tied.  The school requires certain assessments that they know are truly unfair or impractical, yet they must give them, waste time, and risk their students losing self-confidence or a feeling of happiness and safety in their classroom.

c.     Those taking:  They might feel that during weekly sessions they felt they were learning a lot and feeling very competent due to meaningful scaffolding.  However, when it came time to show what they learned or make connections they could feel that it is either out of reach and too challenging or too easy and “babied” down for them so they quickly complete it without feeling challenged.

3.     Imagine:  Imagine options for how the situation could be handled.  Come up with as many ideas as possible.  Highlight or circle which option might lead to the most positive outcome where most people feel good or taken care of.

a.     In house PD about scaffolding assessments           Looking at a variety of other high-quality assessments to model their own after      An example assessment is given to a few children with varying English proficiencie to determine their response to it.   The assessment is created together as a class.  Classes have more autonomy on how they assess the objectives.  Assessments give extra weight to formative ones and lesser to summative.  An asset lens based teacher with training in scaffolding assessments for all learners is always involved in the assessmsent making progress at the year level.

4.     Say:  Thinking more about the idea you chose for handling the situation, what could the people involved say?

a.     People involved might say:

                                               i.     Great! Let that person handle all the work

                                             ii.     I’m still going to do what I want in my own classroom and keep the old way

                                           iii.     I’m so glad…this way all my students can show what they know.

                                            iv.     What is an asset lens??? I’ve never heard of this.  Tell me more.

                                             v.     Can you show me what that might look like?  I can picture how it would be different from our current assessments?

-       Extended Writing (Literacy). Students explore other text types by producing a text in 30 minutes with no dictionaries or any kind of sentence starters. The prompts are not related to what they are covering in Literacy.

 

 

CBA promise lens:

-       Poverty vocabulary pre-assessment (Inquiry). Students receive a worksheet to work with key vocabulary that will appear in the unit later on. There are a few words with a picture that learners need to translate to their home language, as well as provide an example in English to consolidate vocabulary before moving onto more complex activities.

-       Innovation in Science assessment (Inquiry). After watching three videos with subtitles in Chinese and Korean about people with disabilities, students will work in groups to create a poster that displays a device that might be helpful for them to solve a particular problem.

-       Extended Writing (Literacy). Students explore other text types by producing a text in 30 minutes with no dictionaries or any kind of sentence starters. The prompts are not related to what they are covering in Literacy.

The fact that the prompts are totally unrelated to what is currently being taught makes it harder for emergent bilinguals to make connections and be able to produce a text only in English. There are no sentence starters, no suggested vocabulary that they can rely on. The time limit and the fact that they have to work individually makes it really hard for EAL learners to succeed on this task.

-       Extended Writing (Literacy). Students explore other text types by producing a text in 30 minutes with no dictionaries or any kind of sentence starters. The prompts are not related to what they are covering in Literacy.

To scaffold this task, I think it is necessary to:

1) Add graphic organizers and guided questions in order to determine main idea/details/any required feature depending on text type. I have attached an example.

2) Prompts are translated to native languages to ensure comprehension.

3) Provide sentence starters cards with translations so they can move them around and decide which ones they want to use and where in their texts. Manipulatives can be really useful when organizing ideas.

4) Provide more time for those learners who might need it.

Planners – they might not have experience planning, they lack a deep understanding of curriculum and unit development, they might be pressured by school or time constraints to cover certain content

Teachers – they might not have time to go through the lesson plans in depth, prepare scaffolded resources or they might have a deficit lens mindset that only helps the more advanced students in the group

Students – pressure from parents to get good grades, feeling of confusion when faced with assessment they are not familiar with in a language they are not fully proficient in

Parents – they might not have the time to support learners at home or do not know how to do it

 

Feel:

 

Planners – might feel overwhelmed by dealing with unit plans they are not familiar with, might feel irritated because they disagree with the way the curriculum is laid out

Teachers – tense because they cannot choose the assessment they are administering

Students – lost and confused, maybe embarrassed that they are unable to complete tasks efficiently while peers are completing them with no major problems

Parents – frustrated that the learner is not getting the results they expected from an international school setting

 

Imagine:

 

The most positive outcome would be to provide teachers and planners with quality training and PD that allows them to understand how planning and curriculum works in an inclusive environment with a focus on additive bi/multilingualism. 

 

Say:

 

“This is not going to work because it is not the way we have done it in the past”

“I am scared to try this new assessment system because I have never done it before, but I am willing to learn”

“I am glad that we are finally using a fair assessment model where everyone is included and cared for”

 

1.     Linking the known with the unknown, 

2.     The role of supportive materials (visual aids, graphic organizers etc), 

3.     How to support academic language development so students use correct terminology – allowing students to use dictionaries for translation or letting them explain terms in their own words

 

 Or 

 

·      Linking concepts in L1 and L2, 

·      defining and promoting students to use  subject-specific terminology

·      the use of visual aids.

Task-Solving Strategies in Scaffolding

1. Discourse
Strategies: revoicing a student's answer in academic language; repeating - echoing a student's response and elaboration - prompting a student to justify or lengthen their response
2. Metcognition - making students aware of their own learning processes

Strength of this study: it unifies understandings in SLL literature and cross-compares three subjects
Limitation of this study: no students' perspective is presented and the study is only limited to a few classroom experiences.  Not enough research of how content teachers scaffold learning for their students.

2. Feel: What do you think each person in the dilemma is feeling? Why might the situation be hard or challenging for each of them? Teachers may be challenged to provide the correct scaffolds for the students who need them; however, all students will benefit from the scaffolds in various ways as they can benefit different preferences and learner styles by differentiating all aspects of the learning. EAL teachers will be challenged to make time to meet all learners and they may be unsatisfied with the scaffolds the HR teacher is providing. Additionally, they need to adapt to different teaching styles classroom environments. Curriculum coordinators may be challenged to ensure there is appropriate complexity of the scaffolds being offered and increased challenge throughout the grades. They may also feel a crunch to ensure all standards are addressed while adding scaffolds to the learning. Administrators will need to be strong cheerleaders to all members by providing encouragement and providing opportunities for professional growth and development. Students and peers may feel anxiety if the scaffolds do not support their learning and they are constantly unsure of what to do. If their work looks different than their peers (‘dummying down’)      they could feel inferior to their peers. Therefore scaffolds should be the answer. 

3. Imagine: Imagine options for how the situation could be handled. Come up with as many ideas as possible. Highlight or circle which option might lead to the most positive outcome, where most people feel good or taken care of. The best option is to view students through an asset lens and highlight what they can do and build up these strengths. Encouraging translanguaging would benefit the students who have good ideas and knowledge in their mother tongue. For instance, in PYP unit of inquiry (UoI) we try to use any language to communicate ideas. In this way, all students can work together, but also ensure to invite and support other languages. 

4. Say: Thinking more about the idea you chose for handling the situation, what could the people involved say? Our students all have assets! Let’s work together to provide the scaffolds necessary to leverage and highlight their abilities.

For the final task in the IDU Students will complete a written reflection of their interdisciplinary experience. For this task, they are required to demonstrate two specific things:  

1) Evidence of how their interdisciplinary understanding has developed through completing this project  

2) Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary knowledge in anticipating the possibilities and consequences of innovation 

 

Rationale for Deficit Lens : 

This task didn’t provide any scaffold for the students. The length of writing (500 to 800 words) was too much for EAL students and there was no accommodation/modification.  

Content Teachers – Centered on the comprehension of the content and not language improvement.

EAL Teachers- unfamiliar with the in-depth subject content and scarce

Learners – don’t know what they don't know, therefore need advocates on their behalf.

Feel: all the parties might feel unsupported and therefore frustrated at any time of the teaching or learning process.

Imagine: More planning time for teachers to collaborate and discuss cognitive development aims (both Content and Language)

Say – Yes, make the admin aware of the need for extra planning time incorporated in teachers’ schedules. 

“I understand that you are frustrated with the student’s inability to do this Math task. Let's work together and discuss how we both can help Vittoria in her learning. I can provide the academic language support – math terms Quizlet and sentence patterns she can practice on her own or with me. Can you allocate enough time for Vittoria to go over the instructions esp when we are online and when it comes to the summative assessment? Vittoria does not have a voice in English to express her needs yet, and she is new and adapting to the new cultural and school environment. Can you please talk to her separately to make sure she is on task?” 

Conversation with Victoria. I know the math stuff in Italian, but the teacher doesn’t know this. I do not understand the instructions are hard. I need help advocating for myself. 

Bottom Line: Everybody is engaged to help Vittoria in her learning, including Vittoria herself and her counselor.

 

English Language Arts:

• Focus on vocabulary building

• Use more accessible texts to prepare students for more difficult texts within the same units (6)

• Focus on grammatical structures that help students to make meaning and translanguage

• Provide opportunities for students to practice individual, small group, whole class discussions

• Use collaborative tasks that use rich discussions

• Allow students to use strengths in home language when developing writing in English

• Expose students to a variety of text-types and genres

• Ensure students get and receive feedback on writing

 

Mathematics:

• Encourage full participation in mathematics instruction regardless of English proficiency

• support with mathematical reasoning

• support and scaffolding is especially important for word problems

• promote and encourage translanguaging

 

-        Ways students are expected to use listening, reading, speaking, and writing to participate in tasks and show their learning (4)

-        Academic vocabulary: words used in science, history, geography, mathematics, language and literature, etc.

-        Words used frequently in discussions, essays, articles in academic settings

 

2 aspects of academic language knowledge are:

Language functions – how students use language for different purposes (explaining, informing, etc)

Language features – at word, sentence, and discourse levels

 

Academic language is seen as the bridge that connects language development with academic achievement (4).

-        explicitly teach academic English

-        consider how academic language impacts instruction during our planning process

-        notice, teach, use, and reinforce academic language across all disciplines

-        identify language demands in lesson tasks and devise supports for ELLs 

 

Strategies for integrating English language instruction into different disciplines (according to the What Works Clearinghouse):

• Use instructional tools (videos, visuals, graphic organizers) to help students in meaning making

• Explicitly teach general academic vocabulary (Tier 2) and discipline-specific academic vocabulary (Tier 3)

• Provide daily opportunities for content-based discussions (low stakes)

• Provide writing opportunities where students can apply skills learned and extend understanding

 

Other Tips for Teaching Academic Language:

• Choose accessible, content-rich texts (such as newspaper articles) that include academic vocabulary

• Select and intensively focus on a small set of academic words to teach and reinforce over several lessons

• Teach word-learning strategies so ELLs can transfer to unknown words

• Employ extended discourse as a method to develop academic language knowledge

• Use mentor/model texts to examine academic language and how it is used

-Teacher TEMPORARILY controls the more difficult aspects of the task

-Student uses what know and can do to address the parts of the task that are in their current range

-provides structure and targeted language support while students develop proficiency in both language and content understanding

-As student progresses, teacher removes supports 

 

-Supports strong instruction for all students through equitable access (not just ELLs)

-Sends supportive message that all students take ownership of learning, and that ALL students belong to and participate fully in learning community

-Addresses unique learning needs while setting the stage for independent learning as supports are systematically removed

-Bridges the gap between what a student can do now and will be able to do in the future

-When successful, it provides multiple opportunities to gain understanding, putting in place supports that address both language and concepts

 

Verbal: prompts, questions, etc. that support thinking skills to improve language proficiency

 

Procedural: tools, resources and other supports used before, during, and after instruction

 

 

 

Modeling: give a preview of appropriate performance, using academic language

Bridging: activate students’ prior knowledge and experience and show relevance

Contextualizing: embed materials in sensory contexts (film, realia, manipulatives)

Schema Building: encourage students to find how new information fits into their preexisting understanding of a concept

Re-Presenting Text: find ways for students to apply linguistic connections across genres and text types

Developing Metacognition: support students in developing learning strategies that can become part of their lifelong learning repertoire

As population of ELLs(MLLs) grows (especially in my current school), these learners require resources that support as they develop proficiency in English as well as acquisition of deep content knowledge (1).

 

Further, college-readiness assumes understanding of both academic and disciplinary language and literacies (Moore et al 2018).

 

Therefore, it is up to educators to support ELLs and address their learning needs in the classroom across subject areas, looking at three focus areas.

 

This Brief’s Focus:

Three areas of instruction to support ELLs in classroom:

• scaffolding learning

• academic language

• disciplinary language and content knowledge

 

The stakeholders in this dilemma of deficit-lens versus promise-lens for assessments are:  ELLs, L1 learners, EAL teachers, subject teachers, administrators, and parents; in effect, all constituents in the learning community.  For different reasons, each stakeholder faces the challenge of making sure that the assessment for the learning is valid, equitable, rigorous, meaningful, and anchored in promise instead of deficit-based.

Feel: What do you think each person in the dilemma is feeling? Why might the situation be hard or challenging for each of them? 

I believe each constituent in this situation is feeling pressure to “get it right.” ELL learners want to succeed not only in terms of English-language proficiency but also in all content areas. They also feel pressure to perform as well as their L1 peers and may even find that challenging to impossible if not given the supports to access the content equitably. L1 learners may feel that promise assessments give an unfair advantage to ELLs, making it more difficult for them to succeed. Content teachers may feel ill-equipped to design and assess learning that supports all types of learners, or some may resent the need to make any changes at all to their instructional plan. Administrators may feel pressure from parents of both L1 and ELLs. In a deficit-lens environment, parents of ELLs may feel pressure to give meaningful support at home and/or pressure to secure tutors and outside class to provide access to the content. At the center often are the EAL teachers, who likely feel pressure to support not only their ELLs in language proficiency and deep content learning, but also all the other stakeholders as they advocate for equity of opportunity and access to curriculum for all learner differences.

Imagine: Imagine options for how the situation could be handled. Come up with ideas. Highlight or circle which option might lead to the most positive outcome, where most people feel good or taken care of.

One options that produces the most positive outcome for all stakeholders is to put in place practices that ensure that the entire community is involved and sees itself as a learning community where everyone participates fully according to their perspective and roles. This calls for a culture shift which can often be successful when carefully planned and when all peoples’ perspectives, opinions, feelings, wants, and needs are considered. Shifting from seeing ELLs as people for whom things need to be “simplified, dumbed down, removed, excluded” to seeing them as full participants in the learning community who bring unique strengths and assets to the entire community will pave the way for all the community members (parents included) to feel welcomed and respected.

Say: Think more about the idea you chose for handling the situation. What could the people involved say?

While I hope the people involved would all be receptive, I believe some might have reservations and/or complaints. Two concerns we often hear in education are: 1) the lack of money for training;  and 2)the lack of time available to train up the learning community in order to make such a shift. 

(Erica)

 2) Feel: What do you think each person in the dilemma is
feeling? Why might they situation be hard or challenging for each of them?
Homeroom teacher: Frustrated, outside their comfort zone, stressed because now
they must rethink how to best assess learners whose mother tongue is not
English and if running records are required officially twice a year that could lead
to A LOT of extra time spent with each student. EAL Teacher: Frustrated and
overwhelmed because the scaffolding they provide to help ALL students are not
used. Also, the EAL teacher might not speak a child’s language and therefore
not able to help offer translanguaging without the support of the Teaching Assistant.
TA’s worried that they aren’t prepared or trained to do this kind of
assessment. Administration: Resistant because they need to make sure that testing
conditions are reliable and not different by each teacher. Administration must
spend time listening to what is best practice for Language learners and put it
into practice. Change takes time and there will always be lots of push back. Students: frustrated that they can’t communicate their understanding fully. 
 
 3) Imagine: Imagine option for how the situation could be
handled. Come up with as many ideas as possible. 

- Professional development in creating “responsive adaptations” to standardized assessments like F&P running records.

- Put teachers in the shoes of students and have them complete an assessment in a language not their own.

- Offer students option to speak in a combination of languages and language modes – written or spoken responses

- Value translanguaging around the school in the classroom, during lessons, during read alouds, etc

- Provide teachers across grade levels with structured planning time to collaborate on how to scaffold standardized assessments and build agreements on how they will be conducted.
 
 4) Say: thinking more about the idea you chose for handling
the situation, what could the people involved say? 
 “We have to be faithful to the assessment.”
 “I don’t feel qualified to change a standardized assessment.”

“I don’t speak Chinese. How could I offer a combination of languages?”
 “If we refuse to provide responsive adaptations, we cannot detect
and respond to the full span of our students’ reading abilities. So, our
assessments are already inaccurate.”

“I think I can answer that in my other languages. Do I have to speak only English?

 

 4) Say: thinking more about the idea you chose for handling
the situation, what could the people involved say?
Homeroom teachers: "It's not fair for the students who already understand the assessments or familiar with it."
"I really want to know where my students are in this learning process, so I don't want to simplify the test just so they can past it anyway."
Students:"Now I know what do you mean." 
"Oh, I get it. Let me show you my answers."