Guest speaker Carol Tureski introduced us to a wealth of strategies and approaches in our work with SIFE's. She stressed that most importantly, we need to become advocates for the students in our care. Carol also wowed us with a wealth of teaching aids, resources and materials ~ content driven activities, assessments, recommended books, student/teacher mentors ~ and the contrasting models of the "Superwoman/man teacher" vs. "the community wheel." As we know, these techniques work not only for our most challenged students but for all!Please consider and respond to the following:
- As advocate for your students (SIFE, ELL and/or SPED ) and teacher leader, how do you plan to construct a wheel of support?
- What techniques would you incorporate from Carol's workshop?
- What would you use from Beers?
As advocate for your students and teacher leader i would like to construct a wheel of support by inviting other teachers on board to the work that needs to be done with the students. As Carol said this is not an one Person's job, it is a community of teachers helping each other make a difference. there is a saying: "It takes a village to raise a child" This is also true for our students being that it takes collaboration and dedication to help our students succeed in their academic journeys. I would like to try out typing the children's work in order for them to read what they have written. I think this is a good way to teach them sentence structure and to help them understand that they are authors. I have been using strategies form Beers as well. I tried the graphic organizer for elements of a story from chapter 8. This has helped my students during our current "Mystery Unit" to figure out the clues in the mysteries and with sequencing. I have also been doing Logographic cards for vocabulary. ALl these strategies have worked not only for my lower kids but it has also helped my higher level children with comprehension and inferencing.
ReplyDeleteSchool leaders and teachers need to know that it is everyone's job to teach all different types of students.As an ESL Teacher,I have specific training in working with teaching language but it does not mean I should be the only one responsible or knowledgeable in working with kids in this category.But I feel like that is the unintentional mentality in alot of cases.Teaching any of the children should be a collaborative effort that utilizes each others' strengths to create the most diverse,integrated,well-rounded curriculum for all students.Teachers who feel they need support in specific curriculum areas should be open to reaching out to colleagues who can help support and teacher leaders can emerge.Teaching is most effective when there is a constant exchange of ideas among colleagues.Otherwise it gets boring and it seems hard to keep current.The first step in getting the support is trying to create a common understanding among personnel in a school where everyone is on board with working together to teach everyone.If that is too large a goal to start with,teachers that are interested in exchanging information can do so in an informal way such as through emailing each other,setting up meetings during common preps or lunch periods,or through "informal" talk at other times throughout the day.From that,things can get set up on a more formal level.I run an ESL ELA inquiry team that is focusing on improving ELLs literacy skills.Teachers on the team have the willingness to exchange ideas and add to their repoirtoire of professional knowledge.The success that these participants feel on a small level will hopefully be shared with more staff or eventually the whole staff and it is our hope that some that hear information,will hear some ideas they would like to try to use in their own practices,thus arming more people with the idea that teaching all students is every teacher's responsibility and working collaboratively with all different staff will help to lead to effectively educating all students at all (language) levels.Those few that are intially on board will become the catalysts for a larger wheel of support.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was not present for the presentation, some of the ideas presented were listed in the blog question.It seems like resources for both students and teachers were discussed.When I need resources because I am unsure of something,I seek out information.The right resources for students is so essential also.I share resources with teachers that will help give the ELLs information on the unit they are studying,but on their language level.The teachers realize that enriches their teaching for that unit and forever because they gain the understanding that the way information is presented is half the battle,it is not reliant on the literacy or language level.It is how information is presented / types of resources.
The BEERS book has been most helpful because of how concrete she explains strategies instruction to be.I used to be opposed to strategies instruction alone for ELLs,just as the ELA curriculum.I feel ELLs need background knowledge and vocabulary development during literacy time.However the BEERS book has some great ideas for how to get ELLs to see the strategies,not just hear them. I especially love the way she talks about teaching inferencing and have passed that along to colleagues.Beers also has some beautifully said quotes that can be used to drive some work sessions with teachers.
The important mentality for all teachers to have is that we are all responsible for taeching the kids and all kids are capable. We just have to present information in different ways for different kinds of learners!
What I found most interesting about Carol’s presentation was the concept of the wheel that Carol used to represent her role; I have chaired the program of the NYCATA Conference for the last five years and the theme for 2009 was “Art Education: The Hub of the Curriculum”.
ReplyDeleteActually the logo was the wheel of a bicycle very much like Carol showed and the spokes represented the different disciplines that we as art teachers should connect to in order to create a collaborative, diverse and well-rounded curriculum. By being the link to all core areas, art can spark student motivation in the search for answers in the direction of other disciplines. In other words, allow students’ curiosity drive their path to discover their passion in life. I believe it is that journey of self-discovery that makes us true independent learners.
I liked a lot the typing of students writing, the feeling of accomplishment has to be one of the greatest motivators for a struggling learner. I practice something similar by taking pictures of students’ artwork in order to collectively analyze success in front of the whole group of peers but more importantly to acknowledge those with less self-esteem.
As an art teacher I would use the chapters of Beers on meaning construction and vocabulary to support instruction in content. In that sense my mission is to expand students’ interdisciplinary conceptual knowledge together with vocabulary to support mainly ESL teachers to develop writing skills.
The wheel of support is already in motion. As part of my final project, I am working with my Assistant Principal to construct and coordinate an afternoon program for SIFE and Long-Term ELLs. The idea is for a group of teachers to begin working with these twenty students, four days a week. On Monday, the English/Drama teacher will work with them on speaking and writing skills. On Tuesday, I will work with the Graphic Arts teacher to teach them how to use the laptops and other technology. On Wednesday, the Science teachers will speak about the environment. Finally the other ESL teacher will take them out into the field on Thursdays to collect soil and water samples. Working as a team, we will help these students to create a news program and magazine about our school and the local environment. I will be at the center of this wheel organizing the teachers and students. I will be helping the content area teachers learn how to use Beers’ strategies for struggling readers. The knowledge these teachers gain will be incorporated into their classroom strategies. The students who graduate from the program will be used as mentors with next year’s SIFE/Long Term ELL population.
ReplyDeleteAs for techniques that I would incorporate in my own teaching, I would also use Carol’s method of typing out students’ work. I think it is important that they see that their own writing has value. I feel confidence is very important to a struggling reader/writer. I believe that slightly altering their writing at the bottom of the page will be an excellent model for them. Far from being seen as a correction, it will take the main elements of their writing and give it a more polished glow.
Finally, I have been using Beers on a daily basis. In all my classes, I am having the students learn how to make questions, predictions, and connections when reading a text. I am also modeling good reading so my students begin to understand the importance of fluency. I feel that they read in such a stilted manner and they do not understand how to put emotional weight behind their words.
I am quite proud to say that my school administration recognized the importance of unity between the regular education and ESL teachers. For three years now, we have a weekly ESL meeting that I facilitate for our regular education teachers that have emergent bilinguals in their classrooms. In the meeting, we discuss our successes, challenges, strategies that work in reading, writing, mathematics and content areas and collaborate with new ideas and research about teaching the ELLs.
ReplyDeleteOne of the strategies that Carol discussed last Monday that made an impact on my teaching was the typing of her students' work and things that they discussed in class. I could not wait to do it right away because one of the challenges that we have with my beginners right now is that they could not participate during independent reading due to their lack of vocabulary. Plus, teachers are having a hard time finding books for them. With this new knowledge, I typed up some of the books and songs that we did together. I am excited to show them this coming Monday.
Retelling Bookmark from Beers was a success! I tried it first with my child study then last Friday I tried it with my guided reading group. They were so excited in using the bookmark. I really loved the way they applied the transitional words while retelling. I felt so accomplished because for a long time we could not figure out how to improve our students' retelling skills. Now we have something to try. My next step is to make a retelling rubric with my students. I can't wait.
I spent two hours writing the same thing twice and both time I lost what I wrote. Here I go again! The third time around my writing will not be as detailed or as good as before because I’m frustrated. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteI’ll start with Beers’. I find myself using the KWL chart and referring to it more frequently because I realized more than ever that my students understand what they read better if they access and share what they already know and ask themselves questions about what they want to know. Then by reflecting about what they have learned helps them make connection and helps them acquire a deeper understanding of a topic or issue.
As for Carol’s talk about the community wheel, the school I am currently working in already has it in place. In the mornings I have two out of classroom teachers who work with small ELA groups. In the afternoon two other teachers alternate and work with small math groups. This works well because the students are grouped according to their levels. I get along well with the teachers assign to my class because we all care and have a genuine interest in the educational success of our students.
The teachers and I communicate well. I provide them with the work based on the unit of study or skill of the month. The work is also based on students’ instructional level because I want my students to acquire the same skills and strategies but feel successful and not frustrated when doing so.
I just hope that this collaboration can continue next year. My fear is that with new budget cuts and the mayor’s lay off threats that our students are going to be the ones to pay and not feel the success they are feeling this year.
The wheel of support has been in motion for a while. I have been working with other teachers (Science and English) discussing strategies for ELLs, and my final project involves sharing strategies as well. I thought Carol's suggestion regarding the student/teacher sounds interesting. What was really interesting for me was the "new" expanded definition of SIFE. If that's the case, I have more SIFE students than I thought.
ReplyDeleteI try to incorporate many strategies from Beers, particularly Say Something, Somebody Wanted But So, Anticipation Guides, and everything from Chapter 10. I have started using Sight Words to help me assess students. I find I have to go back to more basics in order to move ahead. I am having tremendous success with teaching roots. I happen to have one small class that looks forward to learning quite a few roots a week. They find the etymology interesting and there have been quite a few 'Aha!' moments when they learn where a word comes from (especially my Spanish speaking students). This is actually one of my favorite things to teach, so I'm glad they like it and are learning from it. I would like to make more time for Sustained Silent Reading in my classes.
I Majored in ESL for grad school so as part of their curriculum or course of study, we were exposed to SIFE speakers and technics and approaches to teaching. I was very interested in the resources she had to offer, I felt they were usefully and were well recommended, I wished we had more time to view these.the one thing that replayed well after class was that she truly cared about the students and new what was best for them. you could feel that from her in the room. I thought it was very motivating and effective to let the students know their progress and see their growth as apposed to being compared with the overall standards.
ReplyDeletein relation to Beers chapter 9 in making vocabulary knowledge meaningful,I felt her approach was similar.She was giving them words and content that they needed, she gave them the opportunity to use it and learn it in relevant meaningful ways.