"Scholars"

Johanna is helping with her building's morning school program, Spartan Scholars. She addresses her students as "scholars."

"It sounds like you just answered my question with a single word," she'll say to a student. "Scholars speak in complete sentences...and you are a scholar!"

ELs don't need to be reminded that they are behind; they need to be pushed to get ahead! And Johanna uses oral language practice as a perfect tool for pushing.

Frustration

"Go ahead and start on your math sheet," EL teacher Amber directed. "I'll be with you in a moment." She scooted over to the other table with the other students' needs. 

Multiple students, multiple levels, multiple needs. Such is the life of a teacher.

Pound, pound, pound. Amber was interrupted by the harsh sound of pencil meeting textbook. Little eyes glanced back and forth between distressed student and concerned teacher.

Teaching reaches far beyond pure academics.

Eduardo had zoned from the classroom. "Eduardo," Amber began. No response. "Eduardo!" Still the pound, pound, pound of hopelessness. "Students, you may go back to class," Amber directed, sending the three scurrying from the room. She crouched down on all fours next to his spot on the carpet. "Eduardo!" she called. Fingers snapped, zone broken.

"I just don't understand, Mrs. Cotherman." And difficult it was. Multiple step problems with a new skill set.

New language, new content. Big words, big risk of failure. 

"Don't worry, Eduardo, we can do it together."
"But it's due today!"

Amber was able to pour confidence into the frustrated sixth grader by reminding him of what he did know, what he was capable of. And by reading the questions to him, helping him dissect the many words that he did know but that had jumbled themselves all together, and looking for those key words (in this case, "percentage" and "total"), he was able to complete his assignment. Even on time.

There are lots of modifications for ELs in mainstream classrooms. One of them is extra time (time-and-a-half). Another is being read the material. But it is never dumbing down the content. Make content accessible. Amber did.

L4

In the world of ESL, we talk about L1 and L2, first language and second language, but for our newest Husky, we're using the term L4. (Preface: His dad is a consultant for the orthopedic industry; very smart guy!) Born in India, he learned to speak Hindi, but because he left during first grade, he can't read much in that language. Next came Switzerland, where (if I'm understanding correctly) he learned to speak/read German in school and Swiss-German on the streets. Now he's here as a third grader in the USA catching up on his English (although he's studied it in every country he's lived in). L4, my friends, will soon become L5 for him as their next planned move is this summer for Brazil.

My New Favorite Zero

Top left: He drew (and yes, I do mean drew--beautifully!) his Chinese name. Note to self: Asking if that spells "Levi" in Chinese is a dumb question; the name "Levi" doesn't exist in Chinese! I practiced saying his former name, but...don't ask me to say it now w/o his help!

Middle: We practiced saying and writing his letters.

Top right: His face after he heard himself saying "My name is Levi" on the digital audio recorder. It wasn't perfect like he heard me saying it. I crossed off that face and drew the silly big smiley face.

Bottom left: He felt better by the end and drew his own face. I pointed to his face, said "This is Levi," and pushed his little lips into a smile. Then I pointed to my face, said "This is Mrs. Steele," and gave myself a big grin. He then decided to add the nose and proudly declared "nose!"

Can't wait to work with this motivated little kindergartner again! :)

"But, Mrs. Steele, it's not on ISTEP!"

Melissa was particularly concerned that we were spending our time "drawing pictures" instead of doing "real work." She complained to me, "Mrs. Steele, why are we doing this? We have to pass ISTEP. They won't make us draw tattoos on ISTEP!" Little did she know that what we were doing was so much more than just "drawing pictures."

1. We had to listen intensely to understand the most important things another person values. 

2. We had to think critically about how to represent those ideas with pictures (and no, a boy playing baseball does not represent a boy playing baseball--it is a boy playing baseball; we had to go deeper!). 

3. We had to write a paragraph justifying why we put each individual item in the tattoo, colors and all.

4. We had to present the tattoo and our justification in front of an entire class of our peers!

No, Melissa, neither ISTEP nor LAS Links will ask you to design a tattoo. But they will ask you to listen to directions and/or oral stories, think critically about a problem, and write intelligently on a topic. Tattoos were just a tool to practice.

Hank's Tattoos

Welcome to Hank's Tattoo Shop!

I'm Miss Star, one of the artists here.

And this is Senorita Estrella, our other artist.

Here's our design process:

Step 1: Take notes on another person's values.

Step 2: Design a tattoo uniquely for that person.

Step 3: Write a paragraph describing how this tattoo "represents" (key word!)
your partner and present it to them in front of the class.

Practice in Creativity

I wanted to do something crafty for my summer school students. A friend (thanks, Jess Manduka!) gave me a repurposing book, and I found my project--bookmarks made from place mats, napkins, and other fabrics.

cutting the place mats

and napkins

James' photographic perspective ;)

after the kids designed them (drew on their pieces with pencil), 

I began the embroidery process.

it took...

...a while

sewed 'em up. did it with an unfinished edge instead of 

placing them inside out--thinner that way

applying fray guard

THE FINISHED PRODUCTS

(notice the difference between the boys' and girls' ones!)

So much fun! Couldn't do this for ALL my ELLs (160+ kids!), but summer school numbers are much more doable. Great creative outlet, and the kids were shocked at how cool a bookmark (something to do with reading??) could be! :)

Using Data to Inform Instruction

Blah, blah, blah. Boring title. I'm sorry. Except that. I'm not. Not at all! Because we actually are in the process of using data to really, truly help a student. I can't wait to share how:

We have a 3rd grade boy going through the RtI process right now. (The photo is of all our 3rd grade ELLs.) As a non-reader moving into 4th grade, naturally, we're very concerned! We adminstered the Woodcock-Munoz test (Spanish AND English) to determine if a disability was present in both languages or just English. If it was both, we could say an official "yes" and start getting him the help he needs. If it was just English, we would know that that was due simply to the second language acquisition process.

The Woodcock-Munoz showed us that in reading and writing, his CALP level is a 1 in both languages but that his oral expression and oral comprehension are both 3.5 (again, both languages!). That's a huge contrast. I decided to ask Millie to go through a long test he had recently taken, noting the number correct from the ones I had read to him and the number correct from the ones he had read to himself. You'll never believe this:

Ones I read # correct: 10/13
Ones he read # correct: 4/32

Wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! We're going to administer one more set of tests for reading comprehension with us reading it and not. We're also going to give him a writing prompt where we scribe for him and not. (That's a theory that the SpEd teacher has.) I'm so excited that we may actually be able to help this poor kid in a way that he can receive the help! Will keep you posted on how those tests go...

P.S. If this is truly a visual disability (as opposed to an auditory one), he's at a real advantage. Most activities in classrooms are auditory, so at least he's able to pick up on what's been talked about!

Pick me! Pick me!!

One thing we try to notice with our ELLs is their level of participation in their classrooms. We try to stay rather connected to the mainstream classroom to make our time as meaningful to them as possible. For instance, one time, we pre-taught the concept of similies during ESL. The very next day, one of our teachers (Imelda) was helping in their classroom, where they just happened to be learning about similies. Sweet! Imelda was so excited to see which kid would pick it up first that they already knew the concept. Guess how many did. None. That's right. None. Zero. Not a one. Zippo. (You get the picture.) You can imagine the talking to we had with our students the next day. It went something like this:

Me: So I hear you talked about something in writing yesterday.
Kids: We did?
Me: Yeah, something that you already knew about. Something that starts with an "s."
Kids: blank stares
Me: Similies!
Kids: incredulously We did?!

You see, within the stream of consciousness that comes out of our (teachers') mouths, ELLs have a difficult time picking the most important words to catch along the way.

Back to the main point. Our kids are extremely quiet in their classrooms. It's as though they wish to remain invisible. After all, it's easier that way; you can't be wrong.

But this mind set is not one that we tolerate in our classroom. And because of this and because of giving students comprehensible input, this is what we get:

I promise these photos were not staged (Karyn and Imelda can vouch for me!). This is how they are every day! They want to answer, because they know the answer, because we give them input they can understand.

*Sigh* My heart gets so overwhelmed with happiness that I absolutely must capture these moments on camera. I love them!

My Students are Fighting to Read

At an ESL Workshop this summer, Susan Adams mentioned how she was reading while the students were reading and somebody asked her about her book. Susan's response was something to the effect of "You wouldn't want to read this book," or "It's just a regular book," or something. And it made the students crazy about that book!

As I hear this I'm thinking, "That'll never happen to me. I don't know how to lure kids like that." And I really don't think I do it well. I think I make it too obvious that I'm trying to entice them.

So. My students are reading about Mary McLeod Bethune, 1st generation free black woman. Our book referenced Uncle Tom's Cabin, so I borrowed the book from the library so they could see that, in fact, it is a real book. They then asked if I'd read it to which I responded, "No." Long story shorter, I'm reading it now, persuaded by my students. As I read it while they're reading, I gasp every now and then. Or tear up. Or laugh. It's a deeply enthralling and moving and enraging book.

Well, that has them entirely curious. I keep telling them (in all honesty and sincerity) that they should not read this book until they're at least in high school. Which only makes them more curious! I had a sub the other day. I came back the next day and all the students are giggling. "We got the sub to read us a page and a half!!" (I won't read it to them. 1-It's crazy hard to understand. 2-It's got really mature content!) I've found my book missing, my notes/quotes that I'm writing down in someone else's book, students actually reading my book. I finally asked them, "Why do you want to read this so badly??" "Mrs. Steele," they cried, "you just make it sound so good. So mysterious. I mean, you cry sometimes! It's just GOT TO be a good book!"

WOW and LOL!! Anyways, what I thought would never happen to me did! I didn't even try to trick them into it. I was just being honest, and it caught them. I. Love. Teaching. Students.

A bracelet for me

One of my 5th graders made this bracelet for me out of her birthday beads. Aww... :)