Addressing the Needs of Recently Re-designated

Learners of English, Grades 5-12

April Curry, Michael Holt, & Jenny Jacobs

Goals for Presentation

This presentation focuses on how secondary content area teachers can support students who have been recently re-designated, or “exited,” from a Sheltered Instruction environment and have been placed in the mainstream classroom. This population poses particular challenges for mainstream classroom teachers who may not have received special training to work with students from minority language backgrounds.

Workshop rationale

This program was selected for implementation in order to provide teachers with necessary knowledge and skills in order to support English Language Learners. These teachers need to be able to communicate effectively with students and their parents, incorporating students' heritage and background in literature and class practices, acquire confidence in their ability to teach ELL's effectively. Teachers should provide encouragement and motivation addressing the needs of individual students while engaging the group.

sheltered instruction: teaching approach promoting development of a second language while simultaneously facilitating mastery of academic content taught through that second language. Can be used with a first language if students lack proficiency in the language for academic purposes. -UC Berkeley, GSE

RFEPIn California, Redesignated Fluent English Proficient. A student who has been determined to be proficient in English after a period of study in an ESL or bilingual education program. The student is then placed in mainstream English classes -California Department of Education.

1) Write content objective clearly for the students. ______2) Write language objectives clearly for the students. ______

3) Choose age and educationally appropriate content concepts.______

4) Identify supplementary materials (graphs, models, and visuals. _____

5) Adapt content _____ Strategies ______________________________

6) Plan meaningful activities that integrate lesson concepts (e.g., surveys, letter writing, simulations, constructing models) with language practice opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking ________

7) Explicitly link concepts to students' back- grounds and experience ______

8) Explicitly link past learning and new concepts. ______

9) Emphasize key vocabulary _____________

10) Use speech approach appropriate to students’ level of proficiency. Speak slowly and clearly in simple sentences. __________

11) Explain academic tasks clearly. ________

12) Use a variety of techniques to make content concepts clear (e.g., modeling, visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, gestures, body language). ________

A Checklist Manifesto for Sheltered Instruction

REMEMBER THIS?

You are a ninth-grade World History teacher. You are planning your second unit, which will focus on Russia.

The overarching goal of the unit is for students to understand how similarities and differences between Russia and the US have an impact on world politics.

Students will write an essay on this topic for the final assessment.

You will have 26 students in your class. One student reads at the grade 3 level, four students read at the grade 4-5 level, and the rest

span grades 6-college level reading. Eight students are second-language learners who have been main-streamed; of these, four

have immigrated to the US within the last two years..

How do we make lessons more accessible to the students while helping the rest of the class as well?

Sheltered Instruction!Task 1: How could you use each of the following slides as an element of sheltered instruction to support pre-reading?

Size of the Economy, Gross Domestic Product, according to the IMF, 2008

1983 Cover of Time Magazine, whenthe Soviets (Russians) walked out of talks to reduce the number of nuclear weapons.

Above: A nuclear explosion

2009, A McDonalds in Russia

Clinton Emphasizes Cooperation In U.S.-Russia Relations October 14, 2009 (RFE/RL) -- Speaking in Moscow on the second and final day of her Russia tour, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that some officials in both the United States and Russia are stuck in the thinking of the Cold War era.

"I will be the first to tell you that we have people, and you have people in your government, who are still living in the past. They do not believe that the United States and Russia can cooperate to this extent," Clinton said.

"They do not trust each other, and we have to prove them wrong. That is our goal. Our goal is to be as cooperative as we can."

Clinton made the remarks during a town-hall-style meeting with students at Moscow State University -- part of a series of informal meetings she has been conducting in an attempt to help redefine relations between Russia and the United States.

The remarks came ahead of a scheduled trip to Kazan, the capital of Russia's Muslim-majority republic of Tatarstan.

Washington and Moscow are trying to "reset" relations that have been damaged in recent years by Russia's war with Georgia, NATO expansion, and stinging U.S. criticism of the Russian human rights record.

In her speech to some 2,000 students, Clinton repeated Washington's call for Russia to show greater respect for human rights. But the overall tone of the secretary of state's remarks was positive and accommodating -- far from the harsh rhetoric of some U.S. officials under the previous administration of George W. Bush.

Task 2: Going down your SIOP checklist, what strategies would you use to make this article accessible to your whole class and useful to your unit goals, including the essay at the end of the unit?

You have ten minutes.

Graphic Organizers

Russia United States

US and RussianRelations

Do you agree?

True, sheltered instruction shares many of the characteristics of effective instruction, but it is more than simply good teaching – much more.

Unique to Sheltered Instruction?

• Wait time• Key vocabulary• Adapted content• Language objectives• Clarification in L1• Appropriate speech for proficiency level• Supplementary materials• Student background experiences