V
FOUNDATIONS & METHODS
OF English LANGUAGE/
LITERACY DEVELOPMENT
& CONTENT INSTRUCTION
-
Introduction to Course
-
Intentional Learning Experiences
-
Reading Comprehension Lesson Design
-
Process Writing Lesson Design
-
Life Literacy Infographic
Introduction to Course
This course served as the cornerstone of the program and we invested the most time moving from the granular to the macro when considering methods of standards-based instruction for students learning the English language. We started by watching a film in a language we did not know without captions or subtitles. This exercise demonstrated the importance of a context rich presentation of information. The images and actions revealed much about the narrative even though specific details were inaccessible without the benefit of understanding the language of the film.
This parallels the student experience in our classes. A simple but pointed exercised helped me to conceptualize how I might do more to provide a content lush experience to my students. Given this premise as our missive, the course continued to reveal strategies for immersive, relevant instruction while creating an atmosphere of possibility, encouragement, and safety.
As an educator, this course supported my growth in terms of understanding how curriculum meets the needs of learners through the exploration of research-based methods of reading, process writing, and content instruction for students learning English language. The learning process promoted delivery of lessons that scaffold and differentiate instruction for meeting the students' language, literacy, and content area needs.
Intentional Learning Experiences
Literacy assessments are where your lesson planning begins because they can guide lesson content based on what your students already know and are able to do as well as provide feedback as you introduce new content through learning experiences. Formal assessments can be performance oriented where students can have agency in deciding how they might best demonstrate what they know and can do. Informal assessment can provide feedback to the teacher about how their instruction is being understood by the student or not and reveal gaps in students understanding which can be remedied by repetition and or revisiting in an alternate modality.
At the beginning of a lesson, the teacher can use a formative assessment to determine what the students already know, what the students might predict about the content, and also to increase anticipation, curiosity, and excitement about the new lesson topic. In the middle of a lesson, both formative and summative assessment can be beneficial to both the student and the teacher. For the student, a formative assessment can be encouraging by helping the student to take notice of what they may have already learned. For the teacher, the formative assessment in the middle of a lesson can guide ongoing instruction. Formative assessments can take many forms from the teacher walking around the room and looking over shoulders or overhearing student discussions.
Esteban E. Torres High School, Los Angeles CA
Teachers can keep records or charts to take notes of their observations in daily class during a range of activities from listening and speaking or kinesthetic and writing or reading. By consistent measuring the students against specific standards, the teacher can best know how the individual student is learning as well as how the class as a whole is responding to instructional strategies. This type of assessment is low stakes thus low risk and does not produce a grade. They students need opportunities to practice using knowledge and skills which they will be graded on later. If you think about it, the efficacy of grading work where the student is trying something for the first time, will not be very good. Where students can practice skills, such as annotating a document using Kami for example, before they have to annotate a document which will be graded, the measure of student performance is useful. Formative assessments can be useful to both student and teacher as the diagnostic and anecdotal information can bolster student’s confidence and teacher planning.
At the end of a lesson, a formative assessment in the form of a reflection on learning might prove beneficial. The student will have this opportunity to observe what they have learned and acknowledge their personal success in growth through learning. This can support students as they prepare for summative assessment where they receive a grade which is recorded and which has a material effect on them. A summative assessment in the form of a performance or project will provide students the greatest range of opportunities to demonstrate the mastery of the learning objectives. At the beginning of the school year students will require more constraints determined by the teacher but by the end of the school year students will be more capable of driving their own learning and designing their inquiry.
Although student choice is powerful, it can also be overwhelming if the student has too much responsibility before they have internalized the expectation of their performance. Student driven inquiry projects as a summative assessment can immerse and empower the student to activate their proficiency through a modality of expression where they are confident. This student driven inquiry can be useful to the teacher to determine the real potential and possibilities contained within the students they teach. Student choice can reveal where their students are in their individual journey from emerging, expanding, and bridging as they acquire English language literacy.
Reading Comprehension Lesson Design
Process Writing Lesson Design
Life Literacy Infographic
Given the challenge to design a program for students learning English language, I chose to develop a framework to support English language development and Spanish language curriculum where English language acquisition serves to extend literacy skills rather than replace student heritage language. Coursework is both literacy driven and research based for aligned instruction designed to build on the students’ life experience.
This Life literacy Framework is based on the premise that literacy is the combined ability to read the world and ability to express the experience of life. Instruction is linked to students’ lives, local histories, and community contexts where home is a source of strength for the student and a valued partner in education.
This infographic describes the most important elements required to optimize the student learning experience as they acquire English language while extending their heritage language ability to develop biliteracy.
.jpg)
