Reaching and Teaching English Language · Reaching)andTeaching)EnglishLanguage)Learners)ThroughAcademic)Language) 3 Lesson Makeover To apply the information and concepts detailed

Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language ii

Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language

Prepared by Jobs for the Future

January 2014

Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language iii

This publication was produced by Jobs for the Future in collaboration with eLearning Innovation under the U.S. Department of Education Contract No. ED-CFO-10-A-0045. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. For more information on this publication, please contact [email protected].

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Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language iv

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Jobs for the Future (www.jff.org) works with its partners to design and drive the adoption of education and career pathways leading from college readiness to career advancement for those struggling to succeed in today’s economy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank our colleagues at the U.S. Department of Education, Sylvia Lyles, Beth Baggett, and Christopher Tate, for their invaluable guidance and feedback that helped shape this publication. In addition, we would like to thank Kristen Ando, Laurie Pulido and Kim Zartman for their substantial contributions to the tools, and the Jobs for the Future team, Elizabeth Santiago, Adelina Garcia, Sophie Besl and Jason Spector, for reviewing the guide as well as Rochelle Hickey for graphic design.

Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language v

Contents Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 1

What is Academic Language? ................................................................................................... 1

Why Teach Academic Language? ............................................................................................. 1

Levels of Academic Language ................................................................................................... 2

Lesson Makeover ............................................................................................................................ 3

Strategy 1: Build Background Knowledge ................................................................................... 4

Strategy 2: Analyze the Language in Your Lesson ..................................................................... 6

Functions of Academic Language ................................................................................................. 6

The Bricks and Mortar of Academic Language ............................................................................. 6

Strategy 3: Make Written Materials More Accessible .................................................................. 9

Ideas for your Classroom ............................................................................................................ 10

Strategy 4: Teach Content-Specific Language .......................................................................... 12

Ideas for Your Classroom ............................................................................................................ 13

Strategy 5: Model Academic Language ...................................................................................... 15

Strategy 6: Use Movements and Vocal Expressions ................................................................. 17

Strategy 7: Develop and Assess Language Objectives ............................................................ 19

Lesson Plan Sample ..................................................................................................................... 21

Content and Language Rubric for Sample Math Lesson ......................................................... 24

Lesson Plan Template .................................................................................................................. 26

Bibliography/Recommended Resources .................................................................................... 29

Reaching and Teaching English Language Learners Through Academic Language 1

Overview To effectively reach and teach English Language Learners (ELLs), we must help them become fluent in the language of school success—academic language. In this tool, we will define academic language and explore the key role it plays in helping students succeed both in high school and college.

As you move through this tool, you will learn to design and deliver lessons that help students gain confidence to easily and naturally use academic language while mastering subject content.

Through your modeling and teaching of academic language, your ELLs—and all your students—will develop the language skills needed for scholastic success.

What is Academic Language?

Academic language is the language spoken and written in schools; it is used in classrooms, studied in textbooks, and almost always embedded in quizzes, tests and exams.

The Performance Assessment of California Teachers (2007) describes academic language as “discipline-specific vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and applications of rhetorical conventions and devices that are typical for a content area,” such as essays, lab reports and discussions.

Academic language differs from the English spoken during social encounters outside of the classroom setting. When many students enter school, particularly ELLs, their language and communication patterns do not match the patterns used in school.

According to Heath (1983), mainstream students from middle class homes where English is the primary language are more familiar with the academic language patterns used in school. Such patterns include:

• Answering questions for which the teacher knows the answer

• Reciting facts not connected with immediate context

• Ritualizing the uses of language (Heath 1983 as quoted in Zwiers 2008)

Why Teach Academic Language?

Students who are proficient in academic language are more successful in the classroom, can transition more easily to college, and are more likely to have successful careers.

On the other hand, the consequences of not learning academic language may be far-reaching and harsh: general classroom confusion during almost any lesson; marginal or poor performances by potentially good students; and higher dropout rates.

Simply put, too many students struggle at school and end up not graduating because they have not effectively been taught academic language. Jeff Zwiers drives home the point: “Millions of bright


and capable students around the world struggle…and even give up because they lack the abilities to use language in ways that are expected in academic settings” (Zwiers 2008, p. 1).

As an educator, you need to be aware of what (and how) academic language is used in the classroom. By intentionally modeling and teaching academic language, you can help students develop the confidence and fluency in academic language that will help them succeed in almost any scholastic setting.

Levels of Academic Language

World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA 2012) defines the features of academic language as occurring at three levels—word, sentence, and discourse.

The discourse level deals with the linguistic complexity of oral or written material. Discourse includes the amount, structure, density, and sentence variety in the text or conversation, as well as the organization and cohesion of ideas.

The sentence level pertains to the match of language forms to purpose and perspective. Instruction at the sentence level includes conventions, mechanics, fluency, and grammar.

The word level focuses on the general, specific, and technical language that pertains to the subject area. At the word level, we consider multiple meanings of words, idiomatic expressions, nuances and shades of meaning.

To learn more about the levels of academic language, take a look at the following resources:

1. View “The Features of Academic Language” in WIDA’s Standards here.

2. View the website, especially the embedded video about WIDA and academic language. It offers many classroom examples pertaining to academic language at the word, sentence, and discourse levels.

3. To learn more about WIDA, you can view the WIDA English Language Development Power Point, including “The Features of Academic Language.”

Think about the academic language you use in your classes at the discourse, sentence, and word levels. What level of academic language do you want and expect of students? What skills would an exemplary response require at these levels? How will you teach these skills? What direct, explicit instruction will you provide?


Lesson Makeover To apply the information and concepts detailed in this tool, you will systematically re-make a lesson you have taught before and would like to improve. Steps in the makeover of your lesson include:

Strategy 1: Build Background Knowledge

Strategy 2: Analyze the Language in Your Lesson

Strategy 3: Make Written Materials More Accessible

Strategy 4: Teach Content-Specific Language

Strategy 5: Model Academic Language

Strategy 6: Use Movements and Vocal Expressions

Strategy 7: Develop and Assess Language Objectives

Choosing a Lesson

Choose an important, meaningful lesson your students have struggled with in the past that you plan to teach again. The lesson should have:

• Content objectives

• Print materials, such as a textbook or article (Make sure these resources are readily available.)

• Opportunities for student output, interaction, and discussion

The purpose of this exercise is to engage in a well-rounded assessment and re-creation of a particular lesson in order to make it more accessible for ELLs. This exercise is not typical of the usual lesson-planning experience; rather, it provides an opportunity to reflect deeply about one lesson so you can apply these concepts to other lessons.


Strategy 1: Build Background Knowledge Students walk into our classrooms with widely different backgrounds and experiences. As teachers, we must be aware of the background knowledge required in our lessons and realize that not all of our students will have this foundational knowledge to build upon.

“A reader’s schema, or knowledge of the world, provides a basis for understanding, learning, and remembering facts and ideas found in texts. Students from culturally diverse backgrounds may struggle to comprehend texts and concepts due to a mismatch in schemata” (Echevarria & Vogt 2006, p.81).

Think of background knowledge as any moment of out-of-class learning—familial, cultural, pop cultural, religious, or experiential (travel/reading/media exposure)—that informs students or provides context about a subject before they come across similar information in the classroom.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) stresses that “what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content” (Marzano 2004).

Example: In the sample math lesson, the problem speaks of a monument shaped like a pyramid in the park. If the student was not familiar with the concept of a monument or a pyramid, the problem may be difficult to understand. “Park” also has multiple meanings, so the teacher would have to clarify which park was being discussed in the problem. The teacher could do this by showing or projecting images of monuments, pyramids, and parks in the correct context.

There are many ways the teacher can build background knowledge:

• Connections: Teachers can actively link concepts to student’s background knowledge. When possible, teachers can choose materials based on connections to student’s schema—his/her knowledge of the world.

• Visuals: As discussed above, the teacher can use visuals to help students build understanding of concepts. These could be photographs in books, images found online or collages created in class.

• Realia: The teacher could introduce “realia” or “making things real.” For the sample lesson, the teacher could bring in a three dimensional model of a pyramid to help students with the concept. The class could take a walk to a nearby park that would possibly have a monument to understand the related concepts.

• Vocabulary: Key vocabulary should be emphasized, written (both by the teacher and the students), repeated, and highlighted to deepen student understanding.


Lesson Makeover: Building Background Knowledge

What background knowledge do your students need to develop to successfully complete the lesson?

How do you plan to build this knowledge? Which of the following techniques will you use?

¨ Connections

¨ Visuals

¨ Realia

¨ Vocabulary

¨ Other: ____________________________


Strategy 2: Analyze the Language in Your Lesson To help students understand and use academic language, study your texts and tasks for academic language. Make this language clear and make it stick in students’ minds by highlighting and repeating key terms and phrases. No matter how many times such terms or phrases are presented, students are more likely to use and remember them if they sound like they are being said for the first time.

Functions of Academic Language

As you analyze the language in your lessons, consider the three broad, related functions of academic language. It is used to:

• Describe complex concepts: We use academic language to describe complex concepts as clearly as possible. For example, in a high school science classroom, there are complex calculations involved in chemical equations. Academic language is used to describe, manipulate, and work through these equations.

• Describe higher order thinking: Academic language is used in schools to describe complex thinking processes. For example, in mathematics, we use academic language to describe how we would go about solving a multi-step problem.

• Describe abstraction: Academic language is used to describe abstract concepts. These concepts cannot easily be acted out, pointed to or illustrated with images. For example, in English Language Arts, students are interpreting theme, figurative language or the author’s message. (Zwiers 2008, p.23).

These overlapping purposes take different forms in each content area and at each grade level. As you review your lesson, consider the functions of academic language in your lesson. As you re-create your lesson, your task is to make complex concepts more accessible (without weakening the concepts), to make real the higher-ordered thinking (without stripping the thoughts of their importance), and to clarify abstract ideas (without muddying the student’s understanding of the idea).

The Bricks and Mortar of Academic Language

Another way to think about academic language is through the concepts of “bricks” and “mortar.” Bricks are the content-specific vocabulary, while mortar represents the general academic terms that hold the bricks together (Dutro and Moran 2003 as quoted by Zwiers 2008).

Do not dilute meaning, dumb down key phrases, or buy into the idea that slang, street talk, or kids’ speak is a sufficient substitute for academic language.


What are the bricks and mortar of your classroom?

Subject Bricks Mortar

Language Arts • Imagery

• Symbolism

• Theme

• Metaphor

“What is implied is…”

“…leads us to believe…”

“…could be compared to…”

“…teaches a message.”

History • Revolution

• Emancipation

• Right

• Oligarchy

“Therefore…”

“As a result…

“It stands to follow that…”

“Consequently…”

Math • Reciprocal

• Proof

• Hypotenuse

• Obtuse

“If…then…”

“We derive…”

“We arrive at…”

“This gets us to…”

Science • Mitosis

• Gravity

• Force

• Sublimation

“My hypothesis…”

“One of the variables…”

“We can infer…”

“This results in…”

(Zwiers 2008, p. 23)


Lesson Makeover: Analyzing the Language in Your Lesson

Examine the language used in your lesson. What concepts need to be explicitly taught?

What are the “bricks” and “mortar” of your lesson?


Strategy 3: Make Written Materials More Accessible As teachers, we need to make our texts more accessible to all students but especially to our ELLs. As Ivey and Broaddus discovered in their 2007 study, “the best way to get kids (especially ELLs) engaged in a subject is to reach into the required content, pull out whatever is most fascinating, puzzling, or provocative to students, and begin with that” (Daniels & Steineke 2011, p. 2).

In short, start a lesson with a “bang.” Catch and hold the students’ attention. Consider the launch of every lesson as a chance to hook the students with something fascinating, puzzling, or provocative. As you continue your lesson, occasionally refer back to the original hook. Conclude the lesson by recapping the more interesting content and reviewing how it relates to the core lesson.

Daniels and Steineke (2011) outline other ideas for making the text more accessible to students.

What Makes Reading Easier?

The reader…

• Has a personal interest in the topic.

• Can mark, write, or draw on the text while reading.

• Can talk about the text during and after reading.

• Can hear text read aloud by you, by a classmate, or in a small group.

• Has chosen the text, versus it being assigned.

• Has relevant background knowledge.

The text…

• Embodies familiar settings and cultural values.

• Is shorter rather than longer.

• Evokes curiosity, surprise, or puzzlement.

• Has high coherence, meaning that it explains itself (e.g., the plesiosaur, a Mesozoic period dinosaur…).

• Makes ample use of pictures, charts, and other visual and text features that support and add meaning.


The teacher…

• Builds on the reader’s background knowledge.

• Provides explicit instruction in specific strategies for visualizing, inferring, questioning, rereading, and other techniques.

Ideas for your Classroom

As you think about your lesson, try implementing the following strategies in an attempt to make your texts more accessible:

• Enable students to mark up the text: Copy the text pages so students can “mark up the text” as they read and study it. This is a simple strategy but it helps students better understand the text as well as the concept of active reading. Marking up the text can significantly improve comprehension.

• Strategically select an alternative text: Many shorter texts that include visuals are available. For example, in a history lesson on immigration, the teacher could offer alternatives to the textbook such as the Scholastic article The Great Immigration Debate. A biology teacher might use the article Dance Doctor to build interest during a lesson about the muscular/skeletal system. A math teacher may use Rollerman to build excitement about ratio or slope. This short text is not a substitute for the traditional textbook, but rather a way to help students initially access the material.

• Grouping: Students are given the opportunity to read and talk about text individually, in partners, in small groups and in a whole class discussion. Working with partners or smaller groups before participating in a whole group discussion helps students gain confidence and practice academic language skills in a “safe” context.

• Choice: Students may work better if given a choice of what to read and study. For a particular topic, a teacher could find three or four relevant alternative high interest texts, and the students could choose which to study based on interest. Students may gravitate to a text that taps into larger amounts of their background knowledge, making the reading and lesson more interesting and relatable.


Lesson Makeover: Making Written Materials More Accessible

Here are some ways to make your text and materials more accessible to students.

Identify the strategies that work best for the text/material you will use in your lesson.

¨ Marking up the text: Reproduce the text so students can record their thinking as they read.

¨ Alternative text: Provide text that addresses the content in a way that is engaging.

¨ Partners/small groups: Group your students so they can build capacity before having to report out to the whole class.

¨ Choice: Allow students to choose among several texts or topics.


Strategy 4: Teach Content-Specific Language Each subject area uses its own academic language to communicate ideas unique to that content. The challenge for students is that they must switch between multiple subjects each day.

As Zwiers explains it, “different disciplines have different ways of viewing the world, gathering information, interpreting data, and organizing knowledge” (p. 69). As an expert in your subject, you use content-specific language easily and naturally. By becoming more aware of this language, you can directly teach these terms and phrases to your students, helping them understand and employ content-specific language.

Subject Area

Typical Tasks Commonly Used Academic Phrases

Language Arts

• Make connections between events, characters, and students’ lives

• Uncover author’s messages

• Recognize literary devices

• Analyze author’s craft

• Build arguments and support them with textual evidence

• Identify cause and effect

“The…is a metaphor for…”

“The author was trying to say…”

“When…it shows that…”

“The author used that analogy because…”

“That is similar to my life in that…”

“Based on the evidence, we believe…”

“These facts strongly suggest…”

History • Identify key details and facts

• Make connections between events

• Identify cause and effect

• Interpret historic events and people

• Identify perspectives of historical figures

“I believe one reason for their…was…”

“That was a result of…”

“The…led to…which led to…”

“That had a significant influence on…”

“If I had been…I would have…because…”


Science • Describe relationships of taxonomy, comparison, cause and effect, hypothesis, interpretation

• Describe procedures

• Connect abstract ideas

• Describe phenomena

“I observed that…”

“I hypothesized that…because…”

“We need to change the…to see how …”

“As the…increases the...decreases.”

“What are the effects of…?”

“The data shows…”

“We found a correlation between…”

“The change resulted from…”

Math • Interpret dual-meaning expressions

• Analyze parts of a problem, hypothesize, summarize

• Interpret and create graphs, tables, diagrams

• Decode dense abstract mathematical text

“Which equation represents this situation?”

“What is the measure of…?”

“If x equals…then what is…?”

“Break the problem down into…”

“The best solution is…because…”

“We need to identify the…”

(Adapted from Zwiers 2008)

Ideas for Your Classroom

What “typical tasks” do you assign students? What academic expressions are necessary? What words and phrases do students struggle to remember and understand? Practice these academic expressions frequently with your students.

To help your students become comfortable with academic expressions, expose students to the expressions throughout your classroom environment. You could create anchor charts, word walls, or personal journals to help students recognize and use these terms with visual supports.

You also need to provide numerous opportunities for students to practice academic expressions. Explicitly teach students the language expressions specific to your subject. Have students regularly—habitually—practice the expressions with content they are already familiar with.


Lesson Makeover: Teaching Content-specific Language/Academic Expressions

Does your lesson include any of the following academic expressions?

“The…is a metaphor for…” “The author was trying to say…” “The author used that analogy because…” “That is similar to my life in that…” “Based on the evidence, we believe…”

“I believe one reason for their…was…” “That was a result of…” “The…led to…which led to…” “That had a significant influence on…” “We need to change the…to see how…” “What are the effects of…?” “The data shows…” “We found a correlation between…” “The change resulted from…”

“Which equation represents this situation?” “What is the measure of…?” “If x equals…then what is…?” “Break the problem down into…” “The best solution is…because…” “We need to identify the…”

How will you teach them explicitly?

¨ Modeling accurate use of expressions

¨ Using the expressions in more familiar contexts

¨ Examining the expressions prior to teaching content

¨ Creating a word wall or personal dictionary


Strategy 5: Model Academic Language Essentially, modeling academic language is to speak, write, and convey the language with enthusiasm and persistency. By doing so, key phrases become part of the working vocabulary students use during lessons, quizzes, papers, exercises, and conversations.

Zwiers (2008) recommends that teachers model and emphasize academic language in their classrooms: “Just using academic language, which we teachers tend to do automatically in class, can be a form of modeling. But it is not enough. We need to do extra things to highlight and build extra important language” (p. 44).

To model academic language in your classroom, try these techniques:

Sentence starters: Often used for writing assignments, sentence starters can also be used to guide what students are going to say. For example: “The third prong of the electric plug conducts electric current from…”

Pace and emphasis: Emphasize key words, slowing the pace for particularly important concepts. For example: “Yes, we might say a person creates a short circuit through which the electric current flows.”

Repetition: Repeat key sentences or phrases, or ask students to repeat information.

Modeling thinking/think-alouds: Verbalize your mental processes so students can “see” and “hear” what you are thinking when performing an academic process. With a think-aloud, you make the implicit thinking about your topic explicit. You let your students observe your thinking process about a topic by speaking your process out loud. “Think aloud” when using a reading strategy, solving a problem, writing an essay, or drafting a lab.

While thinking aloud may seem awkward at first, it provides students “a window into expert thinking (more expert than theirs) and the language to describe it. We model what it means to be, think like, talk like, read like, write like, and act like a content expert” (Zwiers 2008, p. 47). Here is an example of a think-aloud to accompany the sample lesson:

Part A says: What is the area, in square meters, at the base of the monument? Ok, I need to find the area in square meters. Area is the number of squares you can fit inside a figure. I remember the formula for area is side x side or side squared. So, I look at the diagram and see that the length of the base is equal to 20 meters, so the area of the base must be 20 x 20, which is 400 square meters. Even though we are all talking about the same problem, I need to restate the question in my answer: “The base of the monument is 400 square meters.”

When you think aloud, reinforce your “brick” terms—what you use at the word level, e.g. imagery, right, proof—and your “mortar” terms—what you use at the sentence level: “What is implied is…”; “It stands to follow...”; and “We derive…”.


Lesson Makeover: Modeling Academic Language

What specific strategies will you use to model academic language?

¨ Sentence starters

¨ Pace and emphasis

¨ Repetition

¨ Think-alouds

What concept will you “think-aloud” with students? What is the main thought process that will be used to accomplish the task?

Select one concept and jot down the “think-aloud” conversation you will model to your students.


Strategy 6: Use Movements and Vocal Expressions Scaffolding is the process of driving home academic language in a number of inventive and impactful ways so students engage and employ such language on their own. One way to help scaffold academic language is to use your body to illustrate an idea: gestures, facial expressions, and other non-verbal movements. These communication strategies help demonstrate and emphasize difficult or important language.

These movements make academic interactions similar to social exchanges in that they are more animated. They also help students create mental images of the concepts. Students should learn to use these movements, gestures, and facial expressions. Anchor charts can also be posted to help reinforce these actions (Zwiers 2008).

Academic Phrase Action

“For this reason, because of this, thus, hence, therefore…”

Both hands palm down, then roll hands toward the body, ending with palms up

“And, furthermore, moreover, in addition…” Hands make forward pushing motion

“In conclusion, in essence…” Both hands start with fingers spread, then close to make a ball

“For example, for instance, to illustrate, let’s say…”

Put index finger at the tip of the little finger on the other hand

(Zwiers 2008, p. 50)


Lesson Makeover: Using Actions to Support Academic Language

What actions will you use to indicate a new topic? ____________________________________

A key point? __________________________________________________________________

A conclusion? ________________________________________________________________

What are the main academic phrases you will use in the lesson?

What actions can you use to reinforce these phrases?


Strategy 7: Develop and Assess Language Objectives Just as educators need to identify the content objectives for a lesson, they also need to map out and share objectives for tasks related to reading, writing, listening, and speaking within the context of the subject.

Sample language objectives include:

• Students will orally explain procedures pertaining to the science experiment.

• Students will compare the personality traits and archetypes of characters in a novel.

• Students will use precise vocabulary to describe a mathematical process.

Zwiers stresses that “weaving language and thinking objectives into schools’ tasks, products, and performances fortifies the learning of content and builds enduring communication skills” (2008, p. 226).

Write out language objectives for your particular lesson with the following guidelines in mind:

• Decide what key vocabulary, concept words, and other academic words students will need to talk, read, and write about the topic of the lesson.

• Consider the language functions related to the topic of the lesson. Examples:

• Describe

• Explain

• Compare

• Visualize (i.e., chart information)

See the WIDA (ELP) Standards for examples.

• Determine the language skills necessary for students to accomplish the lesson’s activities. Examples: Read a textbook passage to identify the stages of mitosis; report observations of a science demonstration to a peer.

• Identify grammar or language structures common to the content area. Examples: Using passive voice; writing in comparative language.

• Differentiate the tasks that students will complete and the language that is embedded in those assignments. Example: In a scientific investigation, students will explain the steps of the procedure to one another.

• Touch upon language learning strategies that lend themselves to the introduction of a new topic. Example: If students are starting a new chapter in the textbook, the strategy of previewing (i.e., looking at chapter headings or scanning guiding questions) the text is a useful exercise.


• To improve how students pick up on and make use of academic language, monitor how content is being received. If students are confused or struggling with a concept, you can make adjustments and provide feedback throughout the lesson.

While informal check-ins should take place throughout the lesson, you may want to use rubrics to more formally assess specific language tasks. When the rubric is used to guide feedback for students, students will understand how to improve both their content knowledge and language skills.

The sample lesson at the end of this tool includes a rubric for measuring language objectives. For more information about assessing language objectives developed for ELLs, watch this video featuring Margo Gottlieb.

Also view the WIDA Can Do Descriptors to help develop rubrics for students that include criteria for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Lesson Makeover: Developing Language Objectives

Think about the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills necessary in your lesson. Write specific, measurable objectives for these skills.

How will you assess these objectives? If you would like, use this online rubric builder to develop a rubric for your lesson.


Lesson Plan Sample The following is a sample lesson plan that incorporates many of the academic language strategies discussed in the tool.

Tenth Grade Math Lesson: Finding the Area of a Pyramid

Related Strategy: Develop and Assess Language Objectives

Content Objectives

• Solve for the surface area and volume of a pyramid

• Identify the base, slant height, and height of a right square pyramid

• Differentiate between the area, lateral surface area, total surface area, and volume of a pyramid

Language Objectives

• Use precise vocabulary to define parts of a pyramid

• Explain orally and in writing the process for calculating lateral surface area and volume

Related Strategy: Build Background Knowledge

Background Knowledge Gaps

• Share an image of a pyramid monument with students

• Review prerequisite vocabulary and formulas

Related Strategy: Analyze the Language in Your Lesson

Language Analysis

Students will be expected to understand the following concepts in this lesson:

Discourse Level Sentence Level “Mortar”

Word Level “Bricks”

Students will explain the process using a mix of sentences, formulas, calculations, and diagrams

The formula is…

I solved the problem by…

First I…then…finally…

Surface area

Lateral surface area

Pyramid


Related Strategy: Make Written Materials More Accessible

Materials: Pyramid Worksheet

Text Analysis/Modification

• Provide a worksheet so students can “mark up” the text

• Have students color code the different characteristics with highlighters (base, height, pyramid)

Related Strategy: Teach Content-specific Language

Content-specific Language

An anchor chart will be used to help students explain their thinking process using mathematical terminology and phrases in their response.

Phrases in the anchor chart include:

The formula is… The values are…

We calculate this by… The solution is…because…

The area in square meters is… The volume in cubic meters is…

Related Strategy: Model Academic Language

Modeling

Use “think-aloud” techniques for part A of the problem, calculating the base of the pyramid.

To reinforce the thinking process, use the Formula, Insert, Calculate, Answer graphic organizer to provide structure to the explanation. (The chart mirrors the quadrants in a Cartesian coordinate plane.)

II. Insert I. Formula

III. Calculate IV. Answer

Guided Practice

Students discuss Part B with a partner in a Think-Pair-Share-Square. They can also draw diagrams or do calculations on small whiteboards to illustrate what they are sharing. They could use the anchor chart or graphic organizer. There is an additional step in this Part B, which is prompted by the word, “not.”

Independent Practice

Students will complete Parts C and D alone, with support from peers and the teacher as necessary.


Related Strategy: Use Movement, Gestures, and Vocal Expressions

Scaffolding/Other Academic Language Strategies to Incorporate

Use movement and gestures to help students remember the placement of Formula, Insert, Calculate, and Answer in the graphic organizer:

“Write the formula” One index finger to the temple (to illustrate that the formula is abstract)

“Insert values” Place one fist inside the other palm and wrap fingers around fist

“Calculate” Tap index finger on opposite hand (as if punching the keys on a calculator)

“Answer” Touch index finger to middle of open palm (to illustrate writing the answer)


Assessment

In addition to informal classroom assessment, content objectives will be evaluated using the answer key for Parts B and C.

Language objectives will be assessed using the rubric below.


Content and Language Rubric for Sample Math Lesson

This rubric assesses the content and language objectives for the sample math lesson on finding the area of a pyramid.

Criteria 4 3 2 1

Accuracy Solves all parts of the problem accurately: Student displays an exemplary understanding of the concepts involved in finding the volume, lateral and surface area of pyramids

Solves some parts of the problem accurately: Student displays a moderate understanding of the concepts involved in finding the volume, lateral and surface area of pyramids

Solves few parts of the problem accurately: Student displays a limited understanding of the concepts involved in finding the volume, lateral and surface area of pyramids

Does not solve any parts of the problem accurately

Labeling Includes all appropriate labels in solution (e.g., square meters, cubic meters)

Includes some appropriate labels in solution (e.g., square meters, cubic meters)

Includes few appropriate labels in solution (e.g., square meters, cubic meters)

Includes no appropriate labels in solution (e.g., square meters, cubic meters)

Communication: Listening

Draws conclusions and implements new strategies based on class and partner discussion

Follows multi-step oral directions and applies them to solve the problem

Follows oral directions but cannot apply them to solve the problem

Does not follow oral directions or prompts

Communication: Speaking

Engages in a mathematical debate about strategies

Describes multi-step process orally

Restates steps to solve problem

Does not name objects, steps, or parts of diagrams


Communication: Reading

Draws conclusions about problems from prompt and diagrams independently

Interprets data accurately from problem and diagrams

Locates information needed to solve problems

Does not locate necessary information

Communication: Writing

Clearly states the proper formula, describes calculation, and synthesizes solution in writing

Records steps to solve the problem accurately

Makes a list or diagram for most steps of solving the problem

Does not communicate in writing about the problem


Lesson Plan Template

TITLE OF LESSON


Content Objective:

Language Objectives:

Related Strategy: Build Background Knowledge

Background Knowledge Gaps:

Building Background Knowledge:

Connections Visuals Realia Vocabulary


Related Strategy: Analyze the Language in Your Lesson

Language Analysis:

Students will be expected to understand the following concepts in this lesson:

Discourse Level Sentence Level “Mortar”

Word Level “Bricks”

Related Strategy: Make Written Materials More Accessible

Materials:

Text Analysis/Modification:

¨ Marking up the text

¨ Alternative text

¨ Grouping

¨ Choice

Related Strategy: Teach Content-specific Language

Content-specific Language:

Frequently Used Phrases

Strategy for Teaching

¨ Modeling accurate use of expressions

¨ Using the expressions in more familiar contexts

¨ Examining the expressions prior to teaching content

¨ Creating a word wall or personal dictionary of common classroom expressions to support students as they are working


Related Strategy: Model Academic Language

Modeling:

¨ Sentence starters

¨ Pace and emphasis

¨ Repetition

¨ Think-alouds

Guided Practice:

Independent Practice:

Scaffolding/Other Academic Language Strategies to Incorporate:


Bibliography/Recommended Resources Daniels, H., & Steineke, N. 2011. Texts and Lessons for Content-area Reading. Portsmouth, N.H: Heinemann.

Echevarria, J & Vogt, M. 2006. Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners Training Manual. Glenview, IL: Pearson.

Gottlieb, M. 2006. Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges from Language Proficiency to Academic Achievement. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Marzano, R. 2004. Building Background Knowledge for Aacademic Achievement. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104017/chapters/The-Importance-of-Background- Knowledge.aspx

Performance Assessment of California Teachers. 2007. Academic Language-defined by PACT. Retrieved from http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/language/pact-academic-language.html

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA). http://www.wida.us/

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA). English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards. Retrieved from http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.aspx

Zwiers, J. 2008. Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms, Grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Publications.

Zwiers, J., & Crawford, M. (2011). Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk That Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.


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Reaching and Teaching English Language · Reaching)andTeaching)EnglishLanguage)Learners)ThroughAcademic)Language) 3 Lesson Makeover To apply the information and concepts detailed