Powerful Partnerships

Happy Halloween!

Amidst the craziness that is a classroom of students dressed in costume and loaded up with sugar, something awesome happened in Davis land on October 31!  One of my student's parents and I co-taught today.  

Since the beginning of the school year, the parent, a bilingual immigrant from Mexico, and I have been building a relationship.  She visits my classroom every Friday to read to my students in Spanish and help with tasks like filing papers.  The kids love showing off their Spanish vocabulary words from morning meeting, and she enjoys spending time in her child's classroom and school.

Really, she's been amazing!  She even visits other classrooms in the building, and recently, she began working with a small group of younger ELLs along side our ESL teacher.  Up until today, however, she and I hadn't exactly collaborated during instruction.  Typically, when she arrives, I stop teaching, she shares a story and some conversation with the students, and then I resume teaching.  Today it was different; we taught alongside each other, feeding off one another's insights and strengths.  And IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE!

Co-teaching with a student's parent.  Please excuse my marshmallow costume! :)

While the details of the lesson itself are insignificant compared to its implications for culturally-responsive instruction in my classroom, here's a brief rundown:

She used two dolls--one dressed in a Halloween costume and one, a Mexican American with makeup done like La Calavera Catrina--to hook the students.  The dolls had a conversation about Halloween and how it's different from Dia de los Muertos.  Next, she put the dolls away and proceeded to share her funds of knowledge about Dia de los Muertos with the class.  She drew a diagram depicting the altar, foods, incense, sugar skulls, candles, flower petal paths, etc. associated with the holiday.  As she did so, she carefully described each item, discussing its symbolism and importance while sharing her personal stories and memories.  I modeled metacognitive strategies aloud, asking clarifying questions to increase student understanding as she explained the significance of the holiday.  She did a fantastic job playing along, providing more information and summarizing throughout the lesson.  While we taught, my ELLs from Mexico became increasingly engaged and excited to share their own knowledge and experiences about Dia de los Muertos.  At the end of the lesson, we created papel picado, a paper streamer craft commonly used to decorate during the holiday.



Overall, this lesson definitely stands out as a highlight from the school year thus far.  My students were able to draw connections between what they learned about Dia de los Muertos and their own lives.  They even related the holiday's symbolic elements with the symbolism found in text of our current novel study.  Watching my ELLs swell with pride and confidence as they served as class experts also made my heart happy!

Sheltered Instruction

Sheltered Instruction is “an approach used in multilinguistic content classrooms to provide language support to students while they are learning academic subjects, rather than being expected to ‘sink or swim’ in a content class designed for native English speakers” (Diaz-Rico & Weed, 2010, p. 109).  Sheltered English is often called Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE).




This clip presents a brief overview of the SIOP model of sheltered instruction.  It's a great starting point for teachers new to SDAIE.

Hello. Hello! Hello? "Pragmatics of 'Hello'"

Speakers constantly adapt their language according to the listener and/or situation.  Take, for example, the simple word hello.  While this video is a bit silly, it exemplifies the importance of pragmatics.  Helping students, especially ELLs, learn socially expected and accepted communication patterns is crucial! 

Immersion: My Wake-Up Call

Oftentimes, unfortunately, the pressures of teaching make me feel powerless, hopeless, and overwhelmed.  Typically, though God--through a friend, a workout, or...a grad school assignment--provides a much-needed wake-up call that reaffirms my efforts and helps me let go of the negativity.  Tonight, this video, gave me just the reassurance and renewal of spirit I needed.  In "Immersion" viewers see the mainstream American classroom through the eyes of a young English language learner named Moises. 

What's WIDA?!

     The WIDA Can Do Descriptors are a tool those working with English language learners can utilize to help determine an ELL’s current level of English language proficiency within each of the four domains—listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  With the WIDA Can Do Descriptors, teachers are able to gain a clear picture of a student’s current language skills and thus can begin mapping out an instructional plan within the child’s zone of proximal development.  Additionally, the WIDA Can Do Descriptors can be used to guide lesson planning and assessment.  By taking into consideration an ELL’s current language proficiency level (i.e. entering, beginning, developing, expanding, bridging, or reaching), teachers can make sure lessons and activities are designed in a way that supports the development of language skills. The WIDA Can Do Descriptors are useful not only for determining a student’s current stage of language acquisition but also as a tool for designing assessments that don’t prohibit a student from demonstrating his/her learning based on language barriers.  If teachers use information about students’ current level to guide the creation of assessments, ELLs—especially at the earlier stages—are put on a more level playing field with native speakers when testing.  The Can Do Descriptors are relevant in schools because oftentimes teachers lack the professional development needed to meet the unique needs of ELLs.  Because the matrix is easy to understand and utilize, teachers, even those with little ESL training, can help support ELLs. 

     Watch this video, produced by the Washoe County School District, to learn more about WIDA. 

Growing Grammar

Humans have an innate ability to acquire language and are born with internal grammar "rules" that are developed over time through listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  These grammar rules can be developed naturally through authentic reading, writing, speaking, and listening tasks rather than direct instruction.  Watch this video to learn more!