Blog 10

1. Purpose for homework?

The purpose of homework is to provide students the opportunity to practice, review and apply knowledge that was learned in the classroom (Hill & Flynn, 2006, page 77). Homework is meant to re-expose students to the topics and concepts that were previously taught in classroom. Homework is also a way for teachers to check the students’ understanding and comprehension of the given materials and determine what the next teaching points will be. Homework should always be at the independent level of the student so that frustration and discouraging doesn’t occur.

2. What constitutes as meaningful homework?

It is a priority of teachers to give students meaningful homework. Meaningful homework helps students practice skills that were already taught in the classroom or will soon be taught. Teachers need to make sure that what they give as homework will not beyond the level of the student or exceeds a long amount of time to accomplish. The objective of my homework is to emphasize the importance of critical thinking, reading, writing and math. I hope that through the course of the school year, the homework assignments will get easier because they have grown as learners.

3. What are my objectives of homework for students?

My objectives of homework are varied to meet individual student’s needs and topics. Students will engage in meaningful and thought provoking homework that will help them grow as learners. My homework plan emphasizes to the students (and parents) the importance of reading and writing. I want my students to read and write as much as possible so that the task becomes easier and more enjoyable for them.

4. How will I provide feedback?

I want my students to learn to be in charge of their learning. Providing a class designed rubric for each week’s homework assignments will help the students understand the homework expectations, be able to grade themselves accordingly and be prepared to discuss their chosen grade to me (and sometimes to classmates). In the beginning of the school year, I will show the class examples of previous student’s homework (names removed). I will discuss what I expect and how I responded to the example’s homework. Flynn & Hill point out that students, especially ELL students, benefit greatly from seeing homework examples (2006, page 79). I will provide feedback to the students through rubrics, discussion and comments in letter form. I will provide feedback to parents and guardians through monthly email updates (unless something needs to be addressed right away), at parent teacher conferences and telephone calls if desired.

5. How do I incorporate technology into the communication feedback?

Technology is the most current way to communicate to parents and faculty members. Though, teachers need to keep in mind the home life of their students and realize that not every family owns a computer. For those students who have computers at home, they can participate in a variety of learning destinations that incorporate technology such as finding articles, conducting research on topics or of interest, making power point presentations, typing assignments on word or communicate with the teacher via email. Incorporating technology is a great way to promote student learning and enthusiasm.

6. How will I make it clear and understandable for students, parents and ELL students?

To make homework clear to parents, students and ELL students, I will use simple and direct sentences. The assignments (and when I discuss the assignments with the students in class) will focus only on important information. Hill & Flynn state that, “Teachers should be clear about the purpose of homework. The teacher needs to state whether the assignment is designed for practicing a new skill, to introduce a new topic or help students elaborate on already introduced content” (2006, page 10). I will state the purpose of the assignment, read the directions, state my expectations and discuss the grading rubric. Afterwards, I will ask the students if there is any questions and respond accordingly. At the beginning of the year, the parents will receive my homework structure description. It would be very similar to the one at the end of these questions. Students and parents have the right and are promoted to comment on the homework assignments at any time.

7. How will I grade homework?

In every Friday Folder packet there is a rubric that the students fill out. The students personally judge whether or not they accomplished the assignments to the best of their ability. The teacher will review the packet and rubric and then discuss it with the student. The teacher will also take notes of the student’s progress, needs and any other relevant information.

8. How will homework aide in my tracking of progress, reviews and be recorded?

My homework assignments will aide in tracking because I will take notes on any relevant information concerning the students’ growth or learning needs. I will be able to see who needs more exposure to any given topic, who needs different types of exposure and who is ready to move on. I have a section in my grade book that I keep my records of homework. I don’t “grade” necessarily but take notes on what I see. I also track by using the rubric that the students fill out each week. I store them in my personal cabinet (locked unless I am there) in their folders.

9. How can my homework be accommodated in various content areas?

The teacher can easily alter the Friday Folder packet to accommodate various content areas. If there is a change in any of the assignments the teacher can make a flyer, write an email or post a message to the class blog for the parent to read that discusses the new or altered assignment. The teacher will also discuss the new assignment with the students prior to them taking it home.

10. What are the time expectations for homework?

Students have one week to accomplish the entire packet. On Friday, students will take home their Friday Folders with the teacher made packets already in them. The students will accomplish the assignments throughout the week. The following Friday, students will return the completed assignments and the accomplished rubric in their Friday Folder.

11. What is my long term homework structure? Friday Folders

Each Friday, I will give the students a homework packet to be accomplished and turned in the following Friday. In the Friday Folder, there will be specific activities for the student to accomplish, a parent letter that explains the week’s activities, any classroom updates and an area for the parent to write any comments.

Work Cited:

Hill, J.D. & Flynn, K.M. (2006) Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Blog 9: Fiction vs. Nonfiction

Fiction Non-Fiction

- Imaginary Events

-Characters are sometimes animimals

- Story line has characters, setting and plot - Real events

- Has a theme - Academic Language

- Entertaining - Discusses real topics and subjects

-Illustrations support the story line - Abstract thinking required

Written to sound like accurate spoken language - Usually has photos or graphs depicting important information

Examples: Short stories, and novels Examples: Text books or research studies

This Venn diagram (This blog site isn't allowing me to transfer the circle outline of the diagram. I am waiting to hear back from the blog tech support.) illustrates the differences between fiction and nonfiction reading materials. Being able to read and comprehend both fiction and nonfiction texts are important for all students, not only English Language Learners. Most children and new language learners start reading fiction because of its consistent themes and predictability language. Fiction is usually easier to read, is similar to normal speech patterns and contains illustrations that correspond to the text. Non-fiction texts expect the reader to engage in abstract thinking. Children are usually introduced to non-fiction in school where direct learning takes place. A great thing about non-fiction texts is that there are usually lots of graphs, pictures, photos, bold/italic words and vocabulary words that are specific to the topic giving more background knowledge to the reader.

Fiction:

- The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

- Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

- The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

- The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

- Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

- Tuesday by David Wiesner

Non-Fiction:

- Fireworks, Picnics and Flags by James Cross Giblin and Ursula Arndt

- Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt! By Jean Fritz

- Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman

- Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain

- Tarra and Bella by Carol Buckley

Blog 7

Last week, I conducted running records on two ELL students at a school that I am accomplishing field hours for. To the best of my knowledge, both students primary language is Spanish. Each of these ELL students were impressive in their English skills and read quite well given the fact that their home language is Spanish.

The first student I conducted a running record on was a girl. When I entered the classroom the students were getting ready for specials. The girl chosen for my running record seemed pleased to read but I could tell that she wanted to hurry through the reading so that she could be with her peers. I listened to her read a level 12 book called The Clever Penguins. She read well with an accuracy rate of 95% and a self correction ratio of 1:5. Her miscues were mainly in visual errors. She used words such as: with/ white, mis/ must, six/sit and were/where. Knowing how she miscues will assist the teacher in teaching strategies that will help her correct her visual mishaps. This student self corrected and was adequate when retelling the story’s main idea and story language. She had complete understanding of the story’s characters and setting. The teacher may want to re-teach main idea and story language for this student so that she can also have complete understanding in the future.

The next student I conducted a running record on was a boy. I interrupted him in class as well though he was excited to share his reading with a classroom guest. I asked him to choose any book out of his book bag. He chose a chapter book. He was so excited about this book that I let him read it to me instead of asking for a shorter book. The book he read was a level 24 called Arthur’s Loose Tooth. He had an accuracy rate of 90% and a self correction ratio of 1:17. This student was less likely to self correct and it should be a teaching point addressed in the future. His miscues were visual errors. He used words such as: healed/held, had/ head, knock/ knocked, ball/ bowl, sit/sat, finger/ fingers and cutton/ cotton. I was glad to see these miscues because they were discussed in Freeman & Freeman’s book Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Freeman & Freeman (2004) explain that, “each language has a different inventory of sounds (phonemes) and these phonemes are perceptual units that differ from one another by the fact that they signal differences in meaning” (Freeman, 2004, p. 88). This Spanish speaking student had a minor struggle with English phonemes, though it didn’t affect his reading comprehension. Because of this, I scored him adequate on story language. He had complete understanding of characters and main idea. His teacher should work on recognizing vowels and their sounds, making sure to pronounce word endings and letter/ sound correspondences.

Accomplishing running records on ELL students is insightful and full of learning points for teachers as well as students. I am amazed at the knowledge and adaptability that these students have in learning a new language. I now have a better understanding of where to begin when teaching ELL students.

Work Cited:
Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2004). Essential linguistics, What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Portsmouth: NH. Heinemann

Blog 8

Blog #8 Sheltered Lesson Strategies

This week’s reading was on sheltered activities. These activities make learning easier and more engaging for ELL students. In essence, it prepares the child to activate schema and helps facilitate their thinking in the new language. The teacher in the video clip provided a variety of different sheltered activities to insure the student’s comprehension during the pre-reading, reading and after-reading phases.

In the pre-reading phase, the teacher introduced vocabulary by introducing key terms that the students will encounter within the reading. The teacher provided pictures and stories to help activate the student’s schema. Using these pre-reading sheltered activities, help ELL students make connections between their native language and English. Sheltered activities also aide the students in making sense of the text. I appreciated that the teacher not only stated the objectives and expectations of the students but that they were written on the board for all the students to see. Students work better when they know what to expect and what the teacher expects from them.

During the reading phase, the teacher helped shelter the activity by stopping frequently throughout the text, asking comprehension questions to the students. She also provided adequate wait time which Hill & Flynn says, “Waiting at least three seconds before accepting responses from students increases the depth of answers”. This proved to be true. Also during this phase, the teacher connected the student’s backgrounds to the text. This will help in the student’s comprehension and retention of the story. Lastly, in the reading phase, the teacher made sure to emphasize the vocabulary words that were introduced in the pre-reading phase. This helped the students connect the pre-reading activity to the reading phase. It will also help them prepare for the after-reading activity.

In the after-reading phase, the teacher provided many comprehension activities for the student s to engage in. Some of the activities included, reviewing and working independently with key vocabulary words and concepts. The teacher also provided the opportunity for reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching involves students summarizing, clarifying and predicting to aide in furthering knowledge and understanding (Hill & Flynn, 2006 p. 68-69). The post it note sheltered activity was of interest to me. The post it notes made reviewing, predicting, altering the predictions and questioning fun for the students.

In conclusion, this video clip was very interesting and brought light to how I can incorporate sheltered activities in my classroom. During the clip, the students were engaged and seemed to enjoy the flow of the lesson. This teacher did a very good job at not only the lesson but with the set up of classroom management. I wish to have witnessed more cooperative learning for the ELL students. I believe that having ELL students work in groups to discuss, learn and teach is an easy and great way to promote learning in the language.

Work Cited:

Hill, J.D. & Flynn, K.M. (2006). Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria: VA.

Blog 6

Determine if the activity is Learning (L) or Acquisition (A) based on Freeman & Freeman's (2004) book: Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Chapter 2- Written and Second Language Acquisition. The student:
L	Students look up words in the dictionary to write definitions: A classroom activity supplied by those who believe in word recognition is learning vocabulary words in advance (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 25). Students are pre-taught vocabulary words that the students may not be able to figure out or are a part of their current vocabulary (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.28). Looking up words in a dictionary and writing definitions holds true to this theory. “Pre-teaching often consists of defining words for students or giving students a list of words and having them look up in a dictionary” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 28).
A	Students make a Venn diagram to compare two stories: Finding commonalities and differences is a strategy that can aide in comprehension. Sociopsycholinguists believe that teaching reading strategies such as, how to use a Venn diagram, will aide in independent reading comprehension (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 25).
L	Students practice sounding out words: Sounding out words is based on phonics. “Students should use phonics as the primary tool for word identification” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.27).
L	Students read in round~robin fashion: Two activities that word recognitionists practice is read alouds and round~robin reading (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.28). Their belief is that reading aloud will aide in using correct words and correct pronunciation of a word (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 28).
L	Students correct peers when they make a mistake during reading: Students usually correct (other) students if they mispronounce a word during round~robin reading and read alouds (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 28).
A	Students identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound: Teachers who use big books with illustrations, help make written language understandable for students. Reading from a big book, helps students connect oral language to written print (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 25)
L/A	Students group cards with classmates' names by a criterion on such as first or last letter: This lesson could be found in both a traditional and acquisition classroom. Names are authentic and real world sources for language instruction. It also is a creative way to teach phonics, patterns, sorting and alphabetizing (Freeman & Freeman, 2004 p. 31).
L/ A	Students write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound: Word recognition teachers “use phonics rules to sound out words” and then discuss different spellings for the same sound (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.25). In a process classroom, teachers provide many opportunities for students to produce different kinds of writing; poetry is one that is taught (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 30).
L	Students ask the teacher how to spell any word they don't know: Word recognition teachers supply words when the reader does not recognize them (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 28). “In many traditional classrooms, the form of writing becomes more important than content. Students who focus on form many not even try to use new words for fear of misspelling them” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 30).
A	Students read a language experience story they have created with the teacher: “Teachers help students say what students want to say and also give them strategies to communicate (in a variety of modes) when they do not have the linguistic resource” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.34). Acquisition teachers focus on meaning and help students understand and express ideas through a variety of modes (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33).
L/A	Students work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences: Teachers with a learning view teach parts to whole (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 29). This means that the teacher directs instruction so that smaller tasks build upon themselves, such as arranging sentences, until the student can independently accomplish the whole task. This activity can also be found in an acquisition classroom. Working with familiar chants for the purpose of building skills, students learn to take meaning from an authentic piece of literature (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 41).
L	Students divide words into syllables: Traditional learning view breaks language into component parts and then teaches each part (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 33.). The same holds true for those who believe in word recognition. Students learn to sound out letters. They then blend these sounds into groups of phonemes they can pronounce and identify as a word (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 24).
L	Students on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound Word recognitionists believe that worksheets, drills and exercises are ways to practice the language and teach different skills (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33).
A	Students make alphabet books on different topics: “Students who listen and read and build up a storage of language can then later use the language to accomplish different things” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.34). This is true for making an alphabet book on different topics. Students must have already had learned the language to be able to use it in their alphabet book. This also is an authentic task of writing instruction (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.29)
The teacher:
L	The teacher pre-teaches vocabulary: Teachers, who believe in word recognition, pre-teach vocabulary words they feel the student will not be able to figure out on their own. Also, they pre-teach words that are not currently in the student’s vocabulary (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 28).
A	The teacher does a shared reading with a big book: Sociopsycholinguistic teachers who read from big books make written language comprehensible for students who are following along. The student begins to connect written language with oral language for later use during independent reading (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.25).
L	The teacher makes sure that students read only books that fit their level: Word recognitionists believe that students should read books at their current level. This is because the object of reading is to find meaning from the text. The more words a student knows, the more likely they will be able to comprehend the meaning in a text (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 25).
L	The teacher has the students segment words into phonemes: Traditional learning view breaks language into component parts and then teaches each part (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 33.). The same holds true for those who believe in word recognition. Students learn to sound out letters. They then blend these sounds into groups of phonemes they can pronounce and identify as a word (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 24).
A	The teacher writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words: “Teachers help students say what students want to say and also give them strategies to communicate (in a variety of modes) when they do not have the linguistic resource” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.34). Acquisition teachers focus on meaning and help students understand and express ideas through a variety of modes (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33).
A/L	The teacher asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter: “Acquisition occurs as the student uses language for a variety of purposes” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.35). Students who are discovering commonalities in words, such as first letters, are learning about the language. They are learning parts to whole. Teachers with a learning view teach parts to whole (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 29). This means that the teacher directs instruction so that smaller tasks build upon themselves, such as arranging sentences, until the student can independently accomplish the whole task.
L	The teacher uses decodable texts: Decodable books are phonics based and are easily comprehended by the reader. Word recognitionists believe that the job of a reader is to indentify words and apply them to oral language to find meaning (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 26).
A	The teacher sets aside time for SSR (sustained silent reading) each day: Sociopsycholinguistic’s view of reading is that it should be done silently. When students become stuck, they are to apply the scaffolding strategies the teacher provided (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.28).
L	The teacher teaches Latin and Greek roots: One aspect of word recognition is teaching root words and word parts (Freeman & Freeman, 2004 p. 25).
A	The teacher has students meet in literature circles: Sociopsycholinguistics view of learning promotes students to participate in literature circles. This allows “students to listen and read to build up storage of a language (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 34). “Students should be able to understand, speak, read and write the language in different settings” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 33). Literature circles also help students understand others when they are speaking, reading and writing.
L	The teacher conducts phonics drills: Word recognition believers think that for optimal learning, students need to accomplish “drills and exercises to practice language (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33)”. Also, word recognition believers think that “By applying phonics rules, readers can determine the pronunciation of a string of letters and change the written marks to words in their oral vocabulary” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 27).
A	The teacher chooses predictable texts: Predictable books are necessary for teachers with a sociopsycholinguistic view. They believe that students “go through a process of sampling a text, predicting what will come next, filling in the unstated information by inferring, confirming or disconfirming their predictions and integrating the new information with what they already know” (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 26). Students need predictable books so that they can use background information to confirm or disconfirm their predictions of the book.
A	The teacher teaches students different comprehension strategies and does a picture walk of a new book: Teachers from a sociopsycholinguistic view teach students a variety of strategies that they can use to construct meaning and develop higher levels of reading proficiency ( Freeman &Freeman, 2004, p. 28).
L	The teacher uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills: Worksheets are dominating activities given by teachers who believe in word recognition. Worksheets, drills and exercises are seen as ways to practice the language and teach different skills (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33).

Blog 5

I choose the children’s book I Went Walking, Sali de paseo by Sue Williams. This book is great for Preproduction and Early Production staged learners. The rhythm of the book is slow and easy. It has a similar pattern to Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle. The book I Went Walking, Sali de paseo relies heavily on pictures and sight words while implementing new vocabulary words about farm life. I like to read this book to Kindergartners and younger children prior to our “Living on a Farm” unit. On each page, I would read the English and then the Spanish texts. This makes it so that all my students are at the same point of the book at the same time. For the activity, I would pair the students a more fluent reader with a ELL learner or lower leveled reader. Their task would be to draw and label an event that happened in the book. For extra credit, students could write Spanish text along with the English text.

The next book I choose was On the Banks of the Amazon, En las orillas del Amazonas by Nancy Kelly Allen. This is a great book for English and Spanish speakers who want to learn about the various animals that live in the Amazon. The beginning of each paragraph is repeated throughout the book. When I listen to students read this book, I noticed that both English and ELL students read both the English and Spanish text. I found this interesting that given the opportunity, most of the students attempted to read the unknown language.

Blog 4

The introduction to Jane D. Hill’s book Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners is fantastic!

Language is the air that we breathe and the water in which we swim. It comes as naturally to us as seeing the sky or digesting our food. It is as vital part of us as our name and personality. But what if we suddenly had to breathe different air or swim in different waters? What if we consciously had to think about selecting the words we were going to say, getting them in the right words, applying the correct grammatical rules and using the correct pronunciation? If we had to think about not only what we say but also how to say it, the language overload would be exhausting. (1)

This paragraph clearly explains what language is. It is the necessary and surrounding phenomenon that humans need to communicate to one another. Hill’s paragraph was a great introduction to the experience I would have this week. My task for blog 4 was to choose a text in a language unfamiliar at a level that I should be proficient at considering my age. I began this task by scanning for a book in Spanish that I thought I would like (ok, I was basing my likely hood of reading a book on the cover). I found a book that I thought to be interesting. I flipped through pages trying to make meaning out of the words. I soon realized that I only recognized three words on the entire page. I am obviously not advanced or even intermediate reader in Spanish (I figured this much).

I moved to the young adult books in Spanish. These were a bit easier for me to understand but not by much. These books had two or three undetailed pictures throughout the book. I looked for words that were similar to English words and the sight words I learned 15 years ago. I scanned the pages for numbers, dates and locations. I could read small phrases but could not understand the content I was reading. I already felt tired of reading as my brain struggled to remember sentence structure, accents and vocabulary words. I am not in the speech emergence stage of Spanish.

I then found my section of books! The children’s Spanish book case at Barnes and Noble. I flipped, happily, through different Spanish children’s books. These books had fantastic and detailed illustrations, many had easy dialogue. A few of the books I found had the Spanish at the top of the page and English on the bottom.

Here are the ways I tried to make meaning out of Spanish text.

- Looked for words similar to English words: territory= territorio

- Looked for sight words such as: con, un, de a, y, los, en, muy, no, si, entre, gracias, el, la

- Numbers such as: una, dos, tres,..ect

- Looked for specific locations such as: Estados Unidos, Texas, Colorado,

- Specific Dates

- I tried to remember verb tenses of words (with minimal luck)

- Looked for pictures

- Looked for slow dialogue

I am at the end of the preproduction stage and the early production stage. I have limited reading comprehension. I can produce one or two word responses and am able to participate in conversations using key words and familiar phrases. I need a lot of pictures, details, many sight words, slow dialogue, English text near, clear genders and easy verb tense.

This activity was an eye opening experience. I never experienced how difficult it was to learn another language without support from fluent speakers. I took for granted the art of reading and comprehension and realized I need to support my ELL students as much as possible. Just because you hand a child a book, does not mean that they are going to be able to read it and understand it. Hill was correct; trying to find meaning out of a text is exhausting! I will remember this task and blog when I am helping my students in the classroom. I will provide my students scaffolding instruction and support so that they will learn content within the language.