Assessment Design: Language, Culture, and Access

EDUC 5706 * March 8, 2012

Priscilla Lin and Kristine Johnson

Readings:

From Schoenfeld, A. H. (Ed.) (2007). Assessing Mathematical Proficiency. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 19 English Learners and Mathematical Learning: Language Issues to Consider—Lily Wong Fillmore

Chapter 20 Beyond Words to Mathematical Content: Assessing English Learners in the Mathematical Classroom—Judit Moschkovitch

Imagine this is your math or science

textbook….While hortenting efrades the populace of the vaderbee class, most experts concur that a scrivant rarely endeavors to decry the ambitions and shifferings of the moulant class.  Deciding whether to oxant the blatantly maligned Secting party, most moulants will tolerate the subjugation of staits, savats, or tempets only so long as the scrivant pays tribute to the derivan, either through preem or exaltation.

(http://www.college-algebra.com/essays/mathematics_without_definitions.htm)

(thanks to Donna Begley, Ph.D.)

Textbooks as seen by English language learners:

To sint two desenvolvemos with the same sign, add their liever peux and attach their common sign to the sagte.

(1) If the same estabelecimentois sint to (or enim from) both sides of an geschiedensboek the resulting hálito will be desenvolvemos to the original estabelecimento.

(2) If both sides of an estabelecimento are labore (or quisquam) by the same estabelecimento hálito, the resulting liever is sagte to the original liever.

The process to fugiat a hálito: Start with the original geschiedensboek (the one to be sagte) and use the above two properties to generate simpler liever, all estabelecimentoto the original liever, until we arrive at the hálito desenvolvemos.

A Finibus Bonorum of an geschiedensboek in two hálito x and y is an magni dolores of sagte desenvolvemos (d, f) whose liever make the numquam a true statement when the first estabelecimento is substituted for x and the second hálito is substituted for y in the sagte. We say the point (d, f) satisfies the geschiedensboek.

To natus one desenvolvemos by another, natus each consectetur of the first sagte by each geschiedensboek of the second liever and nesciunt dignissimos hálito.

(http://www.college-algebra.com/essays/mathematics_without_definitions.htm)

Questions

What are your thoughts? Did you understand what was going on?

Were you able to answer questions? Did you understand your answers?

How did this make you feel?

Critiques of these texts? (How could they be improved?)

What should you look for in text/supplementary materials for your students?

Issues to Consider (from Schoenfeld)

In teaching math and science, language can be a serious barrier (student may understand concepts but need help with language)

Academic language is different from social language

Translating into the first language may not be an adequate scaffold, especially for higher math and science

Children may not get the support they need in elementary for success Need to be independent in reading English by 3rd grade Confusion in math and science may start early

Assessing English Language Learners

Make sure you assess math/science, not language as much as you can! Avoid overly wordy problems Allow your students to use diagrams and drawings in showing what they

know

… but use your class to further language development

Label pictures and diagrams in your teaching, in your classroom builds vocabulary

Use all the resources available to you—ESL teachers, testing in another language where appropriate (CSAP), etc.

Consider authentic assessments, culturally valid, performance based….

Teaching English Language Learners: Scaffolding

Provide at least “two ways of knowing”: Write it, say it, use pictures and diagrams, encourage dialog and

question, do group activities, act it out, use gestures, use video

Write notes on the board, provide copies of notes, record yourself (audio/video), use diagrams/pictures, etc.

Allow group discussion before class discussion

Provide sufficient time

To build vocabulary (sometimes mutually)… What’s the word in Spanish? what’s the word in English? Child says it in Spanish, say it back in English

Explicit Language Instruction

Don’t rely on kids to receive oral language and take good notes Give other means to review what happened in class Copies of the notes, audio/video of your teaching  

Repetition of vocabulary in multiple ways, labels on figures and diagrams

Provide sentence stems for written/oral responses/discussion An autotroph gets energy by…. The main idea is….

Make strategic use of small group discussion Who’s in the group? Think about your scaffolding Language practice/thought organization before whole class discussion

Video: Teaching Science

Teaching Science to English Learners

Group Activity Geometry team exercise: use paper and pencils to show your understanding

of these terms with labeled drawings

Right angle, obtuse angle, acute angle, parallel, perpendicular, congruent

perimeter, area, volume

polygon, pentagon, hexagon, (bonus: do more shapes, include their names)

Triangle, isosceles, equilateral, right, scalene, obtuse, acute (all triangles)

Quadrilateral, square, rectangle, trapezoid, trapezium, rhombus, parallelogram (all quadrilaterals)

Notation for lines and polygons (hint: use letters)

Cube/box/prism, cone, cylinder, square pyramid, tetrahedron (all 3 dimensional)

Length, height, width, units

More on Teaching ELLs (also beneficial to other kids with special needs)

Learn about the importance of language acquisition, building background knowledge, increasing student language production, and explicitly teaching academic language

Use recurrent, predictable themes

Use manipulatives/do hands on activities/assessments

Model what you want the kids to do (using vocabulary)

Provide oral and written instructions

Think about your classroom displays… word walls, labeled diagrams, objectives and targets

REPETITION

Optimal Learning Model

Optimal Learning Model

Regie Routman—excellent resource on literacy and at risk kids

Classroom Culture Do students feel comfortable in your classroom? About their culture, language?

Culture influences: teaching and learning Iceberg model:

Surface culture: the stuff we talk about (formal) Art, shelter, food, dance, etc.

Deep culture: the underlying stuff that may not get talked about E.g., notions of modesty, concepts of beauty, body language Theories of disease, etc.

Culture provides accepted and patterned ways of behavior necessary for people to live together.

Culture imposes order and meaning on our experiences.

Culture allows us to predict how others will behave in certain situations.

One size fits few—diversity is the norm

Thank you to Collinus Newsome Hutt

Thank you to Collinus Newsome Hutt

Questions

Share personal experiences?

Knowing what you know now, how would you change the way you teach and/or assess?

Blackberry Video

Sometimes, you might know all the words but not know all the meanings of the words

My blackberry is not working!

Resources

Teaching Tolerance tolerance.org

We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know, by Gary Howard

Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8&feature=related

The Algebra Project algebra.org