Chapter 8
Teaching Strategy...Academic Language Scaffolding: Supportint Student Use of Language in Academic Settings. "Academic language scaffolding supports students' successful participation in content-are instcution." (Harrell 50) Academic language scaffolding supports students in Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). Cognitive Academic Language is the language that is necessary for the student to actively particpate in classroom learning experiences.
Teachers use a serious of scaffolding stratedgies in the classroom, which accomodate to students to be successful in academic lessons. These strategies include, modeling academic language; contextualizing academic language using visuals, gestures, and desmonstration/ and supporting students in the use of academic language through active learning activities.
Academic Language scaffolding lesson consist of the following steps: Identify academic vocabulary and language structures, design and teach an introductory activity, practice in pairs or small groups, guide and monitor the practice, review the vocabulary and language structures, and add technology.
Identifying academic vocabulary and language structures in the lesson being taught is a necessary function for students to successfully participate in the lesson. Theachers select vocabulary from the reading assignment and give explanations as a part of the lesson. The language function is how the student will participate verbally.
It is essential to design and teach an introductory activity that allows the scaffolding of both the academic vocabulary and language functions in a way that keeps the students from becoming stressed. Use things such as visuals to accompany the teacher explanation and model the use of language in ways tht the students will be expected to participate. If the academic language in the lesson is complex and the teacher is focusing on spelling, the teacher may want to leave the words posted the room for the students to use.
Pairs or small groups provide a great opportunity for students to interact verbally and practice their academic language in an authentic way.
Guide and monitor the students' practice by actively moving around the room and encouraging the student's use of academic language. Scaffolding techniques such as commenting on student's work, modeling the use of academic vocabulary, and describing ways that students are solving problems or working with the materials. Asking questions enables students to demonstrate their knowledge either physically or linguistically. Modeling academic language while students demonstrate is a great way to emphasize academic language.
Review the vocabulary and language structures used at the conclusion of the lesson. Provide an opportunity for the small groups to share their newly acquired academic language with the whole group.
Technology is a great way to enhance students' comprehension of materials.
For example, implementing academic language scaffolding into a lesson being taught on things that are hot and cold might look something like this: Introduce the lesson by reading the book, Hot and Cold. After reading the book make a T-chart on the board and organize the items in the book into "Things that are hot" or "Things that are cold".
Next, introduce the question, "Is it hot or cold?" As you hold up different pictures of items, have the students answer, "hot" or "cold". Model the academic language by confirming the students answer with a sentence. Write the sentence on the board, "The snow is cold." Continue doing this until the students seem to be catching on to the vocabulary.
For practice on the newly learned academic language, break the students into groups and give each group a felt board with cut outs of different items and have them arrange the items into the alotted columns labeled hot or cold and rows labed food, weather, etc... When the groups finished bring them all back together and discuss where they put the items and why.
Conclude by reviewing the newly learned academic language.
This strategy would be especially good for English Language Learners because of the repitition of language and the support provided through visual aid and scaffolding. I think that this is a great strategy to use at all age groups. As the academic content continues to broaden and become more complex academic language scaffolding is going to continue to be important to reinforce academic language in learning.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Harrell Section II-Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Teaching Strategy...Predictable Routines and Signals: Reducing Anxiety. Predictable routines and strategies are crucial in the classroom to help reduce the anxiety of English language learners. These strategies are among the easiest and most important to implement into the classroom.
Set patterns, routines, and signals assist English Language learners in the classroom by allowing them to relax and not worry as much about the sequence of events and activities during the school day. This allows them to focus more of their energy on instruction and not as much on what they are expected to do next.
There are four basic steps to follow when implementing predictable routines and signals in the classroom: set up your room, establish routines, model routines, and contextualize directions.
Set up your room where areas are designated for certain activities, such as group activities, free reading, and partner work. Label the areas with sign and graphics to help the students remember.
Establish routines by setting up specific place for students to turn in assignments; pick up needed materials and keep the personal belongings.
Model each new routine as it is established in the classroom. Making sure to maintain the routines once they have been established is very important! Actively monitor students to make sure that the students are not confused about a classroom routine or expectation. If a student shows confusion, decide wether a set routine would reduce the student's confusion. Be sure to be explicit when modeling routines and make sure that each student understand the procedure.
Contextualize directions by being consistent when modeling as you give directions to the students. Modeling, gestures, and demonstrations are various ways to contextualize instructions. The most important part of contextualizing directions is to be consistent!
Predictable routines and signals can be applied in all classroom settings. These strategies can be used with all age groups. While elementary, middle school and high school students would all benefit in the classroom from the use of predictable routines and signals, it will be especially beneficial for the younger children in the early elementary grades. Incorporating predictable routines and signals in the classroom should not present any obstacles or time restraints for the teacher. These strategies should be a part of the daily routine and will not have to be modeled on a daily basis. Once these predictable routines and signals are established, the classroom should run smoothly and allocate more time to be spent on academic instruction.
I think that the implementation of predictable routines and signals is the most effective approach for classroom management. If your classroom is organized and managed well, the students feel less stress and are able to fully participate in the classroom community.
Teaching Strategy...Predictable Routines and Signals: Reducing Anxiety. Predictable routines and strategies are crucial in the classroom to help reduce the anxiety of English language learners. These strategies are among the easiest and most important to implement into the classroom.
Set patterns, routines, and signals assist English Language learners in the classroom by allowing them to relax and not worry as much about the sequence of events and activities during the school day. This allows them to focus more of their energy on instruction and not as much on what they are expected to do next.
There are four basic steps to follow when implementing predictable routines and signals in the classroom: set up your room, establish routines, model routines, and contextualize directions.
Set up your room where areas are designated for certain activities, such as group activities, free reading, and partner work. Label the areas with sign and graphics to help the students remember.
Establish routines by setting up specific place for students to turn in assignments; pick up needed materials and keep the personal belongings.
Model each new routine as it is established in the classroom. Making sure to maintain the routines once they have been established is very important! Actively monitor students to make sure that the students are not confused about a classroom routine or expectation. If a student shows confusion, decide wether a set routine would reduce the student's confusion. Be sure to be explicit when modeling routines and make sure that each student understand the procedure.
Contextualize directions by being consistent when modeling as you give directions to the students. Modeling, gestures, and demonstrations are various ways to contextualize instructions. The most important part of contextualizing directions is to be consistent!
Predictable routines and signals can be applied in all classroom settings. These strategies can be used with all age groups. While elementary, middle school and high school students would all benefit in the classroom from the use of predictable routines and signals, it will be especially beneficial for the younger children in the early elementary grades. Incorporating predictable routines and signals in the classroom should not present any obstacles or time restraints for the teacher. These strategies should be a part of the daily routine and will not have to be modeled on a daily basis. Once these predictable routines and signals are established, the classroom should run smoothly and allocate more time to be spent on academic instruction.
I think that the implementation of predictable routines and signals is the most effective approach for classroom management. If your classroom is organized and managed well, the students feel less stress and are able to fully participate in the classroom community.
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