National Conference on Differentiated InstructionJuly 1b, 2013 - July 18, 2013

DD05 Getting to Know Your Students: An Essential Principle of DI (Gr. K–12)

Rick Wormeli

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1

Getting to Know Your

Students: An Essential

Principle of DI

SDE 2013

For further conversation about any of these topics:

Rick Wormeli rwormeli@cox.net

703-620-2447 Herndon, Virginia, USA (Eastern Standard Time Zone)

@RickWormeli (Twitter)

A. Steps to take before designing the learning experiences:

1. Identify your essential understandings, questions, benchmarks, objectives, skills, standards, and/or learner outcomes.

2. Identify your students with unique needs, and get an early look at what they will need in order to learn and achieve.

3. Design your formative and summative assessments.

4. Design and deliver your pre-assessments based on the summative assessments and identified objectives.

5. Adjust assessments or objectives based on your further thinking discovered while designing the assessments.

Quick Reference: Differentiated Lesson Planning Sequence

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Learner Profile: Any Factor that might Influence Learning

Family dynamics (if influential) Transiency rate

SES IEP

504 ELL

LD Gifted/Advanced

Physical health Emotional health

Speech and Language Issues Behavior/Discipline concerns

Nationality (if influential) Diet (if influential)

Religious affiliation (if influential) Technology access/comfort

Multiple Intelligences Arts – comfort/profiency

Personal background/experiences Leadership qualities

Ethics Collaboration

Personal interests: sports, music, Weekly schedule

television, movies, books, Politics (if influential)

hobbies, other Anthony Gregorc Scale

Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory Home responsibilities

Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT ADHD

Tourette’s Syndrome Asperger’s Syndrome

Down’s Syndrome Hearing Impaired

Visually Impaired Auditory Processing issues

B. Steps to take while designing the learning experiences:

1. Design the learning experiences for students based on pre-assessments, your knowledge of your students, and your expertise with the curriculum, cognitive theory, and students at this stage of human development.

2. Run a mental tape of each step in the lesson sequence to make sure things make sense for your diverse group of students and that the lesson will run smoothly.

3. Review your plans with a colleague.

4. Obtain/Create materials needed for the lesson.

5. Conduct the lesson.

6. Adjust formative and summative assessments and objectives as necessary based on observations and data collected while teaching.

Quick Reference: Differentiated Lesson Planning Sequence

When Designing your Actual Lessons….

1. Brainstorm multiple strategies

2. Cluster into introductory, advanced, and strategies that fit between these two

3. Sequence activities in plan book

4. Correlate Class Profile descriptors, expertise in

students at this age, Differentiation Strategies, and Cognitive Science Principles to lessons – What do you need to change in order to maximize instruction for all students?

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Tools

…for Getting to Know

your Students

Use Instruments for Learner Differences:

• Robert Sternberg’s Intelligences:

Practical, Analytical, Creative

• www.learningstyles.net (Dunn and Dunn LSI)

• www.myersbriggs.org (Personality inventory based on

theories of psychological types described by C. G. Jung)

• Howard Gardner’s Intelligences:

visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic,

naturalist, verbal-linguistic, musical-

rhythmic, logical-mathematical,

interpersonal, intrapersonal,

existentialist (Thomas Armstrong, Bruce Campbell

good sources of tools; also, “Poor man’s Multiple

Intelligences technique”

Use Instruments for Learner Differences:

• www.lexile.com

• Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT –

www.aboutlearning.com

• http://marciaconner.com/resources/learning-

styles-intro

• http://gregorc.com/ -- Anthony Gregorc

• Interest Surveys

• Leaning Tower of “Pisa” assessment

• Wipe boards

• Audience Response Systems, Promethean

boards

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These strategies still work:

• K-W-L: What I know, What I want to Know, What

I learned

• 5 3 1 Voting:

5 fingers -- Agree, I support the decision

3 fingers -- Disagree, but I’m willing to

tolerate the decision

1 finger -- Disagree, I will not accept the

decision

The Equalizer (Carol Ann Tomlinson)

Foundational ------------------ Transformational Concrete ------------------------ Abstract Simple --------------------------- Complex Single Facet/fact -------------- Multi-Faceted/facts Smaller Leap ------------------- Greater Leap More Structured --------------- More Open Clearly Defined ---------------- Fuzzy Problems Less Independence ----------- Greater Independence Slower --------------------------- Quicker

Particularly Helpful “Get-to-Know-You” Activities

• “Best Way for Me to Learn [subject]” cards

• Parent Assignment: “In a 1,000,000 words or less, tell me about your child”

• Students write a letter as if they were their parents writing a letter to the teacher about their child

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More “Get to Know You” Activities

With your students:

• Hike a mountain

• Do a service project (service learning)

• Do an academic project

• Co-author an article for a national magazine or Website

• Sponsor a club/sport/activity

• Participate in an outdoor education experience

Pre-Assessments: Three Purposes Teacher Focus

• To make informed decisions about the next steps in

students’ instruction

Student Focus

• To provide highly motivating Growth-Over-Time

perspective

• To prime the brain, ‘putting important content on

student’s “radar scope” for elevated attention during

learning

What is the Role of Each One?

• Pre-assessment

• Formative Assessment

• Summative Judgment

• Common Formative Assessment

• Tiered Assessments

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Accountable Talk (p.23, Checking for Understanding, ASCD, 2007)

• Press for clarification – “Could you describe what you mean?”

• Require justification – “Where did you find that information?”

• Recognize and challenge misconceptions – “I don’t agree because…”

• Demand evidence for claims – “Can you give me an example?”

• Interpret and use others’ statements – “David suggested that….”

Know the Unique Nature of the Students you Serve

Young Adolescents

crave:

• Physical activity

• Creative expression

• Positive social interactions

• Structure and clear limits

• Achievement and competence

• Opportunities to define who they are

• Connection to adults and community

Group

According to:

Readiness

Interest

Learning Profile

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This quarter, you’ve taught:

• 4-quadrant graphing

• Slope and Y-intercept

• Multiplying binomials

• Ratios/Proportions

• 3-dimensional solids

• Area and Circumference of a circle.

The student’s grade: B

What does this mark tell us about the student’s proficiency with each of the topics you’ve taught?

Unidimensionality – A single score on a test represents a single dimension or trait that has been assessed

Student

Dimension

A

Dimension

B

Total Score

1 2 10 12

2 10 2 12

3 6 6 12

Problem: Most tests use a single score to assess multiple

dimensions and traits. The resulting score is often invalid and

useless. -- Marzano, CAGTW, page 13

Item

Topic or

Proficiency

Right

Wrong

Simple Mistake?

Really Don’t Understand

1 Dividing

fractions

2 Dividing

Fractions

3 Multiplying

Fractions

4 Multiplying

fractions

5 Reducing to

Smplst trms

6 Reducing to

Smplst trms

7

Reciprocals

8

Reciprocals

9

Reciprocals

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Evaluating the Usefulness of Assessments

• What are your essential and enduring skills and content

you’re trying to assess? • How does this assessment allow students to demonstrate

their mastery? • Is every component of that objective accounted for in the

assessment? • Can students respond another way and still satisfy the

requirements of the assessment task? Would this alternative way reveal a student’s mastery more truthfully?

• Is this assessment more a test of process or content? Is that what you’re after?

Clear and Consistent Evidence

We want an accurate portrayal of a student’s mastery, not something clouded by a useless format or distorted by only one opportunity to reveal understanding.

Differentiating teachers require accurate assessments in order to differentiate successfully.

With Colleagues, Analyze Mastery

Example 1 - Multiply these two binomials:

(2x + 4)(x – 3)

Student’s Response:

2x2 + 4x – 6x – 12

2x2 – 2x – 12

Is the student’s response correct?

What can we conclude about the student’s mastery of this topic?

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My Essay on Giant Squid:

I am going to tell you about giant squid, and I’m going to

tell you why they are so interesting to me.

Giant squid can grow to 50 or 60 feet long. They usually

have 8 arms and two long feeder tentacles that can grab food

from 33 feet away. They have the biggest eye in the animal

kingdom. It’s about the size of a human head or a hubcap.

The main body, the mantle, has all the major organs, but

underneath is the funnel, which exhales, expels waste, jets the

squid different directions, and squirts ink. The giant squid has

a large beak for breaking down food into small pieces because

it’s esophagus passes through the brain on the way to the

stomach and the food has to be small in order to fit through it.

I became interested in giant squid after interviewing Dr.

Clyde Roper at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

When I grow up, I want to be a marine zoologist. That’s my

essay on Giant Squid. [Info: ocean.si.edu/ocean-life-ecosystems/giant-squid]

Sample Formative Assessments

Topic: Verb Conjugation Sample Formative Assessments:

• Conjugate five regular verbs. • Conjugate five irregular verbs. • Conjugate a verb in Spanish, then do its parallel in English • Answer: Why do we conjugate verbs? • Answer: What advice would you give a student learning to

conjugate verbs? • Examine the following 10 verb conjugations and identify

which ones are done incorrectly.

Sample Formative Assessments

Topic: Balancing Chemical Equations

Formative Assessments: • Define reactants and products, and identify them in the

equations provided. • Critique how Jason calculated the number of moles of each

reactant. • Balance these sample, unbalanced equations. • Answer: What do we mean by balancing equations? • Explain to your lab partner how knowledge of stoichiometric

coefficients help us balance equations • Prepare a mini-poster that explains the differences among

combination, decomposition, and displacement reactions.

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Samples of Formative Assessment

• Solve these four math problems.

• What three factors led to the government’s decision to…

• Draw a symbol that best portrays this book’s character as you now understand him (her), and write a brief explanation as to why you chose the symbol you did.

• Record your answer to this question on your dry-erase board and hold it above your head for me to see.

• Prepare a rough draft of the letter you’re going to write.

• What is your definition of…?

• Who had a more pivotal role in this historical situation, ______________ or ________________, and why do you believe as you do?

Samples of Formative Assessment

• Identify at least five steps you need to take in order to solve math problems like these.

• How would you help a friend keep the differences between amphibians and reptiles clear in his mind?

• Write a paragraph of 3 to 5 lines that uses a demonstrative pronoun in each sentence and circle each example.

• Play the F sharp scale.

• In a quick paragraph, describe the impact of the Lusitania’s sinking

• Create a web or outline that captures what we’ve learned today about….

Additional Formative Assessment Ideas:

• “Reader’s Theater” -- Turn text, video, lecture, field trip, etc. into script and perform it

• Virtual Metaphors (Graphic Organizers)

• Projects, dioramas, non-linguistic represenations

• Multiple Choice questions followed by, “Why did you answer the way you did?”

• Correct false items on True-false tests.

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3-2-1

3 – Identify three characteristics of Renaissance art that differed from art of the Middle Ages 2 – List two important scientific debates that occurred during the Renaissance 1 – Provide one good reason why “rebirth” is an appropriate term to describe the Renaissance 3 – List three applications for slope, y-intercept knowledge in the professional world 2 – Identify two skills students must have in order to determine slope and y-intercept from a set of points on a plane 1 – If (x1, y1) are the coordinates of a point W in a plane, and (x2, y2) are the coordinates of a different point Y, then the slope of line WY is what?

Exclusion Brainstorming

The student identifies the word/concept that does not belong with the others, then either orally or in writing explains his reasoning:

• Mixtures – plural, separable, dissolves, no formula

• Compounds – chemically combined, new properties, has formula, no composition

• Solutions – heterogeneous mixture, dissolved particles, saturated and unsaturated, heat increases

• Suspensions – clear, no dissolving, settles upon standing, larger than molecules

The Frayer Model [Frayer, Frederick, Klausmeier, 1969]

Essential

Characteristics

Non- Essential

Characteristics

Examples Non-

examples

< Topic >

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Sorting Cards

Teach something that has multiple categories, like types of government, multiple ideologies, cycles in science, systems of the body, taxonomic nomenclature, or multiple theorems in geometry. Then display the categories.

Provide students with index cards or Post-it notes with individual facts, concepts, and attributes of the categories recorded on them. Ask students to work in groups to place each fact, concept, or attribute in its correct category. The conversation among group members is just as important to the learning experience as the placement of the cards, so let students defend their reasoning orally and often.

Change the Verb Analyze… Explain… Construct… Revise… Decide between… Argue against… Why did… Argue for… Defend… Examine… Contrast… Devise… Identify… Plan… Classify… Critique… Define… Rank… Compose… Organize… Interpret… Interview… Expand… Find support for… Predict… Develop… Categorize… Suppose… Invent… Imagine… Recommend…

Synectics (William J. Gordon)

“The joining together of different and apparently irrelevant elements,” or put more simply, “Making

the familiar strange.”

1. Teach a topic to students. 2. Ask students to describe the topic, focusing on descriptive

words and critical attributes. 3. Teacher identifies an unrelated category to compare to the

descriptions in #2. (Think of a sport that reminds you of these words. Explain why you chose that sport.) Students can choose the category, too.

4. Students write or express the analogy between the two: The endocrine system is like playing zones in basketball. Each player or gland is responsible for his area of the game.

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4-Square Synectics 1. Brainstorm four objects from a particular category

(examples: kitchen appliances, household items, the circus, forests, shopping malls).

2. In small groups, brainstorm what part of today’s learning is similar in some way to the objects listed.

3. Create four analogies, one for each object.

Example: How is the human digestive system like each household item: sink, old carpet, microwave, broom

Example: How is the Pythagorean Theorem like each musical instrument: piano, drum set, electric guitar, trumpet?

Summarization Pyramid

__________

______________

____________________

_________________________

______________________________

___________________________________

Great prompts for each line: Synonym, analogy, question, three attributes, alternative title, causes, effects, reasons, arguments, ingredients, opinion, larger category, formula/sequence, insight, tools, misinterpretation, sample, people, future of the topic

One-Word Summaries

“The new government regulations for the meat-packing industry in the 1920’s could be seen as an opportunity…,”

“Picasso’s work is actually an argument for….,” “NASA’s battle with Rockwell industries over the

warnings about frozen temperatures and the O-rings on the space shuttle were trench warfare….”

Basic Idea: Argue for or against the word as a good

description for the topic.

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Line-up

• Groups of students line up according to criteria. Each student holds an index card identifying what he or she is portraying.

• Students discuss everyone’s position with one another -- posing questions, disagreeing, and explaining rationales.

Line-up

Students can line-up according to:

chronology, sequences in math problems, components of an essay, equations, sentences, verb tense, scientific process/cycle, patterns: alternating,

category/example, increasing/decreasing degree, chromatic scale, sequence of events, cause/effect,

components of a larger topic, opposites, synonyms

Statues (Body Sculpture)

Students work in small groups

using every groupmember’s body

to symbolically portray concepts

in frozen tableau.

Where does the learning occur?

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“Awards” (p. 68, Checking for Understanding, ASCD, 2007)

• Students recommend someone or something for an award that they or the teacher have created based on their understanding of the topic:

“Busiest Part of Speech” Award

“Most Likely Mistake We Make while Graphing Data” Award

“Most Important Literary Device in this Novel” Award

Guiding Questions for Rubric Design:

• Does the rubric account for everything we want to assess?

• Is a rubric the best way to assess this product? • Is the rubric tiered for this student group’s readiness

level? • Is the rubric clearly written so anyone doing a “cold”

reading of it will understand what is expected of the student?

• Can a student understand the content yet score poorly on the rubric? If so, why, and how can we change the rubric to make sure it doesn’t happen?

“Metarubric Summary”

To determine the quality of a rubric, examine the:

• Content -- Does it assess the important material and leave out the unimportant material?

• Clarity -- Can the student understand what’s being asked of him, Is everything clearly defined, including examples and non-examples?

• Practicality -- Is it easy to use by both teachers and students? • Technical quality/fairness -- Is it reliable and valid? • Sampling -- How well does the task represent the breadth

and depth of the target being assessed?

(p. 220). Rick Stiggins and his co-authors of Classroom Assessment for Student Learning (2005)

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Holistic or Analytic?

Task: Write an expository paragraph.

• Holistic: One descriptor for the highest score lists all the elements and attributes that are required.

• Analytic: Create separate rubrics (levels of

accomplishment with descriptors) within the larger one for each subset of skills, all outlined in one chart. Examples for the paragraph prompt: Content, Punctuation and Usage, Supportive Details, Organization, Accuracy, and Use of Relevant Information.

Holistic or Analytic?

Task: Create a drawing and explanation of atoms.

• Holistic: One descriptor for the highest score lists all the features we want them to identify accurately.

• Analytic: Create separate rubrics for each subset of features –

– Anatomical Features: protons, neutrons, electrons and their ceaseless motion, ions, valence

– Periodic Chart Identifiers: atomic number, mass number, period

– Relationships and Bonds with other Atoms: isotopes, molecules, shielding, metal/non-metal/metalloid families, bonds – covalent, ionic, and metallic.

Scale:

Criteria: Crftsmnshp

Accuracy

Reasoning

Preparation

Presentation

Scale refers to the numerical or one-word rating such as 4,3,2,1

or “Proficient, adequate, limited, poor.” Criteria refers to the areas

of assessment, such as craftsmanship, accuracy of information,

reasoning skills, preparation, and presentation.

4 3 2 1

♫

♫

♫ ♫

♫

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As you cooraptoriliate these words, make

sure you flimp the scoglottora in proper

schimliturn. You will only understand this

presentation if hickitow glisps in baggaduanation.

Use your joomering and begin.

Huh?

Look, everyone else reading these words

on this slide has begun his or her work, why

haven’t you? Seriously, use your joomering and

get started.

What exactly do you want me to do?

Hmm. Maybe you’re not ready for the level

of comprehension this presentation requires of

participants.

No, I really want to know. I can do

whatever you ask, but I don’t know what it is.

I’m actually a good participant and thinker, but

I don’t use your words or have experience

with your culture. Do not think of me as

unintelligent!

Maybe I could find something from basic

teacher texts for you if I only had the time. Just

sit here a moment, while I explain this information

to the other participants in the room and let them

move ahead. I know this means you’ll be further

behind than you already are, but it’s all I can offer

right now.

Reality Check

• We can offend ELL students. • Some ELL students don’t receive appropriate instruction for their intellectual level. • There’s a lot of anxiety when we don’t know the language or culture of the country in which we are living, so much so that many of us would find it hopeless to keep trying. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and patience every day to remain attentive and engaged when you’re first learning a language.

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Remember:

Unfortunately, we tend to equate low language

proficiency with low mental function as well. As a result,

we don’t ask ELL students to make comparisons, analyze

data, connect ideas, synthesize concepts, or evaluate

performances. By not pushing ELL students this way,

these students get further behind. What can we do to

move our mindset past this conventional way of thinking?

Language Thinking

Proficiency Proficiency

Students in some cultural groups are reluctant to

publicly ask questions, particularly of adults, and also may

be hesitant to make conjectures. For students from cultures

in which students are expected to wait to be asked before

speaking, and where students are not expected to ask

questions of elders, it is very important for the teacher to

explicitly set the expectation for students to ask questions

and express their opinions in the…classroom. Otherwise,

classroom discourse becomes an exercise in trying to

participate in a game where only others know the unwritten

rules.

Debra Coggins, Drew,Kravin, Grace Coates, Carroll Davila, Maria Dreux, English

Language Learners in the Mathematics Classroom, Corwin Press, 2007, p. 82

1.Speak slowly and clearly.

2.Repeat important words/information several

times.

3.Extend time periods for responding to prompts.

4.Avoid using idioms and colloquialisms until

students are more advanced with our culture,

or if we use them, take the time to explain

them to ELL students.

5.Gesture and point to what we are referring.

25 Practical Tips for Assisting ELL Students in the Regular Classroom

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6. Ask students to read text more than once.

7. Label objects and concepts in the classroom frequently.

8. Provide a lot of specific models, including a lot of hands-

on experiences.

9. Use a lot of visuals: pictures, illustrations, graphs,

pictographs as well as real objects during instruction.

10. Frequently demonstrate what we mean, not just

describe it. From Classroom Instruction that Works

with English Language Learners (ASCD, 2006, p. 41),

Hill and Flynn offer, “ELLs will have a greater chance

of learning and recalling terms if they use their arms to

represent the radius, diameter, and circumference of

circles or the right, acute, and obtuse angles of

polygons.”

11. Make ELL students feel like they belong and have a role

to play in classroom learning.

12. Use a lot of thinking aloud or self-talk to model the

sequence of doing the task or the language to use

when thinking about the concept.

13. Use cooperative learning groups; let ELL students work

with English proficient partners.

14. Sometimes let students draw responses instead of

writing them; use more than one format for assessing

students if the general approach won’t allow ELL

students to accurately portray what they know.

15. Find ways to enable ELL students to demonstrate their

intellectual skills and maintain dignity.

16. Give students very quick feedback on their word use.

17. Spend time before lessons building personal background in English

language learners so they have an equal chance to attach

new learning to what’s already in their minds.

18. Stay focused on how ELL students are doing toward their learning

goals, not how they’re doing in relation to other students. We

remove ll hope when we ceaselessly cajole ELL students into

proficiency by comparing them to language proficient students. It’s

a mistake to think they need more motivation or that parading

others’ success in front of them motivates them; they desperately

want to be proficient.

19. Recognize the difference between conversational language and

academic language and that students need help with both;

learning one does not mean you’ve learned the other. This means

we go out of our way to explain terms like, “similar,” “math

exercise,” “vocabulary,” “compare,” “supporting detail,” “analyze,”

“instead of,” “not only,” “while,” “unlike,” “common,” “distinct,”

“feature,” “trait,” “characteristic,” and, “equal.”

20. Take the time to learn about English language learners home

countries.

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21. Invite ELL students to learn and explore ideas in

their own languages first, then translate them to

English

22. Provide ELL students with response stems,

such as, “One thing that I learned was….”

23. Ask students to re-state classmates’ comments

as they begin their own comments

24. Relate concepts in story format before specific

instruction

Additional Ideas from, English Language Learners in

the Mathematics Classroom (2007)

25. Incorporate all those vocabulary

acquisition strategies you learned years ago as well as the ones that see today. You can’t have too many vocabulary building ideas! Seriously, we all should be vocabulary guru’s no matter what subject we teach.

ELL’s need Authentic Talk -- Is this authentic?

• What is Ben doing?

• Ben is holding a picture of a whale in the ocean.

• Why is Ben holding a picture of a whale in the ocean?

• Ben is holding a picture of a whale in the ocean because

he is interested in protecting whales in the ocean.

• Why is Ben interested in protecting whales in the ocean?

• Ben is interested in protecting whales in the ocean

because he is afraid they will become extinct.

• What does the word, “extinct” mean?

• “Extinct” means there are no more animals of that kind

on our planet.

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Is this Conversation Authentic?

• Where can I buy soccer cleats? Mine are too old. I can’t

turn fast in them. I’m the “sweep” this weekend.

• Wow, I hate playing sweep. I’m a mid-fielder.

• I can’t play mid-field very well. It’s too tiring. You have to

be everywhere.

• Yeah, but you can get the other team off sides.

• Sometimes, but I don’t think about that a lot. So, ‘the

cleats?

• Oh yeah. Over at Fair Oaks Mall, there’s a sports store

near the soft pretzel shop. Who are you playing?

My twin sister plays goalie for a team. They might

be playing you.

Avoid Painting All ELL Students with Same, Broad Brush Stroke!

Just like regular education students, all ELL students are not at the

same point of development in language.

Some ELL students can respond to*:

“Show me…,” “Label the….,” “Circle the…,” “Where is…,” “Who

has….,” and yes-no questions.

After a year or three, most ELL students can respond to:

“Why…,” “How…,” “Explain…,” “What would happen if…,” “Why do

you think…” and “Decide if….”

Successful teachers respond strategically to this variance in ELL

students, including those ELL students whose performance is

outside these ranges.

*Hill and Flynn citing a

Krashen and Terrell study

Metaphorical and Critical Thinking is Universal!

At every stage of language acquisition, all of

humanity thinks metaphorically. Hispanic, Greek, French,

Phillippino, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, American,

Egyptian, Iraqi, Italian, and Norwegian people think

metaphorically. To not include metaphors, analogies,

pattern recognition, and critical thinking in ELL students’

learning experiences due to language struggles is like

assuming they don’t know how to feed themselves

because they don’t eat the same food as we do. It’s

pompous, and it denies ELL students their basic

instruction. We can’t save advanced thinking only for

advance language proficiency students.

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Bilinguals tend to outperform monolinguals on

some tests of language and nonverbal intelligence,

including the ability to think abstractly about language, or

meta-linguistic awareness, and one kind of creativity

known as divergent thinking. Other studies have shown

that bilinguals are better at executive control, or the

ability to solve problems that require us to ignore

irrelevant information and to focus on what is important.

They also have superior working memories, that is, a

better ability to keep information in mind while solving a

problem. -- James Crawford and Stephen Krashen, English Learners in

American Classrooms: 101 Questions, 101 Answers (Scholastic,

2007, p. 31)

We only remember concepts that we can understand. So, teach subject content to ELL students in their native language whenever possible (Crawford and Krashen, 2007). As students become proficient in the specific content, place them in “sheltered instruction” experiences in which we focus predominantly on that content, but we weave in English as much as possible without diluting full content mastery.

Sheltered Instruction

“The goal in the minds of both students and the teacher is mastering the subject matter, not particular rules of grammar or vocabulary. In this way, students absorb academic English naturally and incidentally, while they are learning useful knowledge. If students are tested, they are tested on subject matter, not language.” (p. 24)

Sheltered Instruction

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For Translations if your District Doesn’t have Translation Staff:

Translation Web sites. Look also for associations of language translators. Use the student’s family members. Contact the Embassy or Consulate in Washington, D.C. or local to you Contact a bank or investment firm in your area that does a lot of international financing.

Use local associations of individuals from the specific culture in question. They often have liaisons with the larger community and can contact their membership to find someone who can help with translations. Use translation scanners -- often pocket-sized, that can translate almost any language into English and back again.

References, Research, and More Ideas

1.Cary, Stephen. Working with English Language Learners:

Answers to Teachers’ Top Ten Questions, 2nd edition,

Heinemann, 2007

2.Coggins, Debra; Kravin, Drew; Coates, Grace Davila;

Carroll, Maria Dreux. English Language Learners in

the Mathematics Classroom, Corwin Press, 2007

3.Crawford, James; Krashen, Stephen. English Learners in

American Classrooms: 101 Questions, 101 Answers,

Scholastic, 2007

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