New York State Bilingual Common Core Initiative

Patricia Velasco, Ed.D.

Queens College, CUNY

November 25th and 26th,

Albany, New York

Race to the top…

Why do we have to race?

What Top…?

The top, the tippy-top?

How will we know that this is the right top?

And then… Once and if we reach the top, what are we going to do?

In spite of everything:

The BCCI is a unique opportunity to make a contribution the programmatic initiatives being put forth by NYSED.

The BCCI is one of many initiatives that aim to strengthen bilingual education at the state level.

We all have a part to play in this new environment and even though many of the elements that are part of the BCCI are crazy, we decided to move ahead and be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Understanding how the CCLS are organized

The English Language Arts (ELA) CCLS are divided into: Reading for Information Reading Literature Writing Speaking and Listening Foundations of Reading Language Standards All of these standards converge in one goal: developing oral and written academic language in all students. Academic language, characterized by complex syntax, academic vocabulary, and a sophisticated discourse style does not exist in isolation. It is the language of academic content, of subjects such as history, literature, and science. Academic language is not only the language of school, it is also the language of bureaucracy (Levine et al., 2013) Academic language is developed by, through and around books; by listening and participating in focused conversations that deepen understanding of a topic, centered around texts and books; by reading and writing. Its purpose is to describe with precision, to convince and to persuade

S E C T I O N 1

V O C A B U L A R Y

D E N S E A N D P A C K E D S E N T E N C E S T H A T A R E P R E C I S E

A U D I E N C E A N D S T A N C E

The Main Core of the CCLS: Academic Language and background to the creation

of the BCCI

Getting a firmer grasp on what is academic language

Let’s pretend that you are in a boat and it sinks.

You swim to a very small island… (your folder)

You are alone:

But then someone else arrives,

And then someone else, and then one more.

You all have to share the ‘island’

Remember: someone is taking notes

Finally, you are rescued:

You are home.

First, you will write an e mail about this experience to someone you know very well. It can be your husband, a friend, your sister or brother..

Then you will write about this experience pretending that you work for the New York Times. One thing: please integrate one word: fulcrum into the text

What is fulcrum?:

Let’s analyze the texts you have produced:

The notes from the note takers The emails The article for the New York Times

Analyze it in terms of vocabulary and sentence

length. Then, in terms of audience and authority. How do these aspects impact the text? How is authority reflected in the text? How does knowing or not knowing the audience affect the texts you have produced? And the context? Which version required more revisions?

Finally, exchange your NY Times text with the person sitting beside you. Analyze how does the writer present the information: How is it different from yours?

Your reflections on the complexity of academic language:

I will write them down:

Key points in the Common Core Learning Standards

(HANDOUT 1)

Academic language development is present throughout the CCLS Content area knowledge is acquired through reading and writing; speaking and

listening. Interpretation and evaluation of texts (Standards 6,7, 8, 9 in RI and 6,7,9 in RL). Specific knowledge about how to approach a content area (i.e. History/Social

Studies). Emphasis on the linguistic aspects of language (i.e. Standard 4 for RI and RL; and

the connections fostered by the Writing and Speaking and Listening Standards). AL or Language in Academic settings, is not only defined by vocabulary and

syntactic knowledge, but also by using language persuasively in conversations and by discovering and analyzing how an author succeeds (or doesn’t) in presenting an argument convincingly. This entails presenting an argument with authority.

Category and number of standards (CCLS)

Text How many questions can you answer?

The marlup was poving his kump. Parmily narg horped some whev in his kump. “Why did vump horp whev in mh frinkle kump?’ the marlup jufd the narg. “Er’m muvvily trungy,” the narg grupped.

“Er heshed vump norpled whev in your tranquil kump.” Do vump pove your kump frinkle?

(From White, Claire. Nov.

15th,2013)

1. Who was poving his kump?

2. Who juffed the narg?

3. How trungy was the narg?

4. What kind of kump does the marlup have?

5. How would you feel if a narg horped in your marlup’s kump? Why?

An important change: In Reading, standard 1 starts with inferencing. Why?

Inferencing

Standard 1 starts with inferencing as a way of making sure that students are understanding. This is specially important in light of the reading expectations that the CCLS hold. Students have to read grade appropriate texts with and without scaffolding.

The CCLS: What we currently find in most classrooms:

Emphasizes inferencing, word knowledge, text structure

Emphasizes writing

Emphasizes conversations and debates

Gamoran & Nystrand study (1991) then replicated by Applebee et al (2003) showed that the amount of time engaged in discussion was the strongest predictor of achievement scores in 16 middle and high schools

Fast-paced, low-level question answer routines are the norm in most classrooms serving ELLs (Zhang, Anderson, & Nguyen-Jahiel, 2009)

Little writing (an average of 1.5 pages per week in high schools in New Jersey; Applebee et al. 2012)

No debates found in classrooms with language learners

Good elements in the CCLS for language learners

The CCLS:

Is not a curriculum. It is a tool created to use and to set an index (or standard) for different skills and content areas.

Strengths of the CCLS in relation to bilingual students:

They don’t specify how to teach and what to teach when.

In turn, the creativity and decision making by the teacher becomes a key element in fostering best practices.

The standards do emphasize the connection across communicative skills.

Weaknesses of the CCLS:

The standards are created for a monolingual population.

They are based on outcomes and it appears that there is more clarity at the high school level. We have found inconsistencies in terms of expectations described for the lower grades (Pre K and K; 2nd grade reading, for example).

None of the descriptors targets students’ background knowledge.

The Differences between the CCSS and the CCLS

CCLS have Pre K standards

There is a standard 11 for Reading Literature that targets reading texts that reflect different cultures: Respond to literature by employing knowledge of literary language,

textual features, and forms to read and comprehend, reflect upon, and interpret literary texts from a variety of genres and a wide spectrum of American and world cultures.

There are slight changes in the categories: CCLS (Reading for Literature) instead of Reading Literature (CCSS)

Background to the BCCI: Performance of language learners in New York State (Slentz, 2011)

The performance of ELL students continues to lag behind their English proficient peers.

The gaps between ELLs and English Language Proficient students (ELPs) are greatest in ELA, although gaps also exist in math performance.

In both ELA and math the gap tends to grow between Grades 3 and 8.

In 2010, for example, where 58% of English Language Proficient Students (ELPs) scored at levels 3 or 4 on the 3rd Grade ELA exam, only 24% of ELLs scored levels 3 or 4. Similarly, where 54% of ELPs scored at levels 3 or 4 on the 8th Grade ELA exam, only 4% of ELLs scored at levels 3 or 4.

The context of the BCCI:

Public education in the United States has seen escalating emphasis on standardized assessments of learning, combined with adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which in New York State are known as the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS).

During this same period, the population of learners in US public schools has grown increasingly diverse in culture and language.

Many educators, policymakers, and families have raised concerns about how the shifts in instructional and assessment approaches will affect opportunities for students who are language learners to be successful in school.

Steering Committee Members

National Advisory Group

Robert Aloise, Education Coordinator, NYS PTA. Terri Brady-Mendez, Director, NYSED Long Island Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network; Gladys Cruz, Deputy Superintendent, Questar III BOCES; Cándido de Jesús, Professor, Bank Street School of Education; Ofelia García, Co-Principal Investigator, CUNY-NYSIEB;. Anaida Gonzalez-Fortiche, Director of Bilingual Education, Rochester City School District; Robin Finnan-Jones, NYS TESOL Curriculum and Standards Assistant Chair; Angélica Infante, Chief Executive Office, New York City Department of Education Office of ELLs; Tatyana Kleyn, Executive Board Member, New York State Association for Bilingual Education and Associate Investigator, CUNY-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals; Estee Lopez, Professor, College of New Rochelle. Nellie B. Mulkay, Director, NYSED Statewide Language Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network. Melanie Pores, New York State United Teachers. Stela Radovanovic, New York City Department of Education Office of ELLs; Luis O. Reyes, Research Associate, Center for Puerto Rican Studies/Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños; Nancy Villarreal de Adler, Executive Director, NYSABE

Dianne August (American Institute of Research) Sharen Bertrando, (WestEd's Center for Prevention and Early Intervention); H. Gary Cook (WIDA Consortium); Jim Cummins (University of Toronto); Robert Davis (Chinese Language & Culture Initiatives at the College Board); Yvonne Freeman (Professor Emerita, The University of Texas at Brownsville); Rebecca Field (Director of the Language Education Division of Caslon Publishing and Consulting); Lily Wong Fillmore (Professor Emerita, University of California, Berkeley); Danling Fu (University of Florida); Eugene García, (Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University and the University of California, Berkeley) Kenji Hakuta (Stanford University); Angelica Infante (Office of English Language Learners in the Division of Students with Disabilities and ELLs), Sue Pimentel (Common Core Standards writer with David Coleman and Jason Zimba) , Catherine Snow (Harvard Graduate School of Education) Guadalupe Valdés (Stanford University)

The creation of the BCCI

The purpose of the BCCI is to help us do our best work as bilingual teachers

The aims of this workshop in relation to the BCCI:

To understand how the CCLS are organized

To understand the BCCI templates, their organization and the four premises that are embedded into them The five language levels

Translanguaging in the BCCI

The four communicative skills

Integrating content and language (linguistic demand section)

To present how the BCCI compensates some elements that the CCLS do not address

To provide classroom strategies (for teachers and professional development) that can help in the implementation of the BCCI

The BCCI needs to be implemented and researched.

S E C T I O N 2

Introducing the BCCI Templates

The BCCI is based on templates:

The templates embed the beliefs that permeate the BCCI and that describe the language and content scaffolds for students.

We will be analyzing one in particular (in your package) and examples from other standards.

The best way to understand the BCCI:

Is to examine the templates that describe the content and language scaffolds. In the handout, you have two sets of templates addressing the same standard

RI 1.3 in New and Home Language. In the slides:

The blue one is for New Language and The orange one is for Home Language The presentation will focus on the premises that are embedded in

the BCCI: Premise 1: Five stages to develop academic language Premise 2: Translanguaging as a key element in accessing the

standards Premise 3: The four communicative skills as points of entry Premise 4: Scaffolding for language and content within the

standards

New and Home Language Arts Progressions

The New Language Arts Progressions are (essentially) targeting students who are learning English.

The Home Language Arts Progressions target students whose oral language is ahead of their reading and writing skills. SIFE and heritage language students would fall under this category.

The term New Language replaces second language; the term home language replaces

native language or first language.

The BBCI:

What the project offers educators:

The BCCI begins with the Common Core Anchor Standard

For each standard, BCCI specifies a Main Academic Demand (MAD) and Grade Level Academic Demand (GLAD)

Each standard is addressed twice: once in the home language, and once in the new language.

Within each grade level or grade band, the BCCI describes the progression of learning performance from Entering to Emerging to Transitioning to Expanding to Commanding.

For each CCLS, the BCCI guides teachers in the creation of scaffolds for Receptive Skills – Listening and Reading, and Productive Skills - Speaking and Writing.

Each standard explains the Linguistic Demands that the standard entails.

For each section of the CCLS, the BCCI provides introductory documents that give educators background knowledge about the Standards.

Understanding the overall structure of the templates from 1st grade to 12 grade:

Overall structure: Linguistic demand section in New Language

Linguistic demand section: Home Language

In PreK and K the layout is different

Linguistic Demand Section of PreK and K is the same as for all others New Language

Home language PreK

Linguistic demand section: Home language

Theoretical Foundations of the BCCI: flexibility and variability

The theoretical foundations of the BCCI are embodied in the New and Home Language Arts Progressions. Underlying the progressions are a model of academic language development that addresses the inherent variability in the process for language learners, a recognition of the complex relationship between proficiency in new and home languages, and an overarching construct of the dynamic nature of bilingualism. An essential theme threaded throughout the work is the importance of providing effective scaffolding for language learners across different ages and proficiency levels.

Premise 1: Targeting academic language proficiency in language learners

With the creation of the BCCI, New York State decided to move from four levels of language proficiency (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Proficient) to five (Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding and Commanding). The decision stems from research describing the time and care that developing academic language requires.

Development of academic language in language learners

Research by Saunders, Goldenberg and Marceletti (2013) based on the five levels of language proficiency that California previously employed: Beginner, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Early Advanced and Advanced, found that language learners typically require four to six years to achieve what would be early advanced. This also corresponds to Cummins (1979; 2013) expectations for learning academic language. The new element that Saunders et al. found was that progress from beginning to middle levels of proficiency is fairly rapid (from level 1 to 2 but progress from middle to upper levels of proficiency (level 3 to 5) slows considerably. In other words, there is evidence of a plateau effect where many language learners reach a middle level of English proficiency and make little progress thereafter.

In New York State we find the same pattern: K to 6th grade:

For 7th to 12th grade:

The dynamic nature of language development

These five levels shouldn’t be construed as fixed levels, though. In fact, the five levels of language proficiency within the BCCI context, are referred to as ‘the progressions’ in order to convey the dynamic nature of language development. A student might be considered Transitioning in certain tasks and areas in the new language but can be performing at the Expanding or even Commanding stage in the home language. The progressions address language growth, and they are meant to target academic language development.

An example: The case of Lucia

I met Lucia in 2011. She was a newcomer from the Dominican Republic. She was 9 years old and was placed in third grade (transitional program)

What happened?

During a shared reading Lucia asked what ‘grandfather’s shoes’ meant. The teacher translated and after that she started using this structure.

In reading English she also followed an interesting trajectory.

Practical aspects of moving from four to five levels

The decision to expand from four to five levels is based on the latest work in language development being done both nationally and internationally where progressions have been divided into five (WIDA, 2012) or six levels (Council of Europe, 2001; Interagency Language Roundtable, 2011). Those that include six levels, however, have a “level zero” for a student with absolutely no proficiency in a new language, which research indicates is a very short period of time when students are interacting with others in the new language (Calderon, 2009).

Premise 2: Translanguaging in the New Language

One of the first elements that you will notice in the New Language templates is that students in the first three stages of language proficiency can use their home language in order to access the standard’s demand.

Translanguaging is different from code switching. In code switching the two (or more) languages are seen as separate constructs whereas in TL languages are seen as being part of the same semiotic (or meaning) construct that any bilingual has.

Premise 2: Translanguaging as comprehension (Baker, 2000)

It may promote a deeper and fuller understanding of

the subject matter. It is possible in a monolingual context, for students to answer questions or write an essay without fully understanding the subject. Whole sentences or paragraphs can be copied or adapted from a textbook without rarely understanding them. This is less easy in a bilingual situation. To read and discuss a topic in one language, and then to write about it in another, means that the subject matter has to be properly ‘digested’ and reconstructed. Translanguaging may also help students develop skills in the weaker language (p. 104-105)

Translanguaging as self regulation (knowing what you have to do to get to your goal)

[...] I have written several papers in English, some of which have been published in professional journals [....] [A]lthough in the end those papers are written in English, all the other matters related to the writing process are conducted in my first language [...], Japanese [...]. Through the entire research process I think in Japanese, take notes in Japanese, and write the first rough drafts in Japanese because I can’t think thoroughly about any complicated matters in English. It is not until the last stage of the research process, when I put everything together into the form of a paper, that I start to use English. This may not be the most efficient way of writing an English paper [...], but this is the only way I can write in English. (Sasaki, 2001, p. 111)

Pedagogical Considerations in Translanguaging in Writing

Examples of translanguaging in writing

Writing is by nature a recursive process in which there are stages (planning, drafting, finalizing sections; then re-planning sections; re-writing, finalizing)

Using TL in the planning process

Sample 1

Sample 2a: Learning new words

Transcription: Tube un pero nombre blackie. La ultima ves que yo tube un pero era cuando yo tenia 6 ano pero haora nolotengo porque un caro loaplasto y podia verle las tripas.

guts

[I had a dog named Blackie. The last time I had a dog was when I was 6, but now I don’t have him because a car squashed him and I could see his guts.]

Sample 2b: Integrating the new word

Transcription: The last time I had a dog was when a car scuech him and I could see the guts coming out of is and blood aso. Coming out of is bare intrackshr.

Associating different features (description and internal/social dialogue) with different languages

Sample 3 Los otros dias yo vi a tres niño y a 3 niñas juando en la nieve y los tres niños empujaron a tres niña en la nieve y las tres niñas se calleron en la nieve donde havia poca caca mucho susio.

I said to my self is she going to yell then I said it out loud to my friend.

[The other days I saw three boys and 3 girls playing in the snow and the three boys pushed three girls in the snow and the three girls fell on the snow where there was poo very dirty. ]

Sample 4: Using rhetorical devices for engaging the reader

Transcription: There are 4 butterflies in our class. How? Why butterflies? Let me tell you how. Let me speak in English for a second. First, it is an egg. Then larva. Then a caterpillar. Next it is a pupa. Then a butterfly.

What happens when we don’t allow it?

Alexandra is an English dominant 8 year old in a dual language class. I am not sure when she joined the program, but her peers considered her as someone who couldn’t speak Spanish (‘ella no sabe’).

The teacher believed in the strict separation of languages and had provided a dictionary with basic words: the colors in Spanish, common nouns (nuclear vocabulary in Spanish). On the day that I observed her, she was only able to write: Las flores son amarillas, verdes, rojas, azules. These were the words that appeared in her disctionary.

Alexandra: clearly bored

I asked my student teacher to please ask Alexandra, what she wanted to say (in English). The student teacher translated, not word by word, but the whole idea that Alexandra expressed.

The ideas that Alexandra was able to express became more elaborate and rich.

Sample 5

Post It on the right hand side: flowers need to have watre and if you don’t give them water then they will die.

Post It on the left hand side: Bees suck the nucheins out the floure (Bees suck the nutrients out the flowers)

What we noticed in Alexandra

She became instantly ‘famous’. All the children around her wanted to be her teacher. She went from being the student ‘who couldn’t do anything’ / the one who ‘didn’t speak Spanish’, to become a celebrity.

The other students wanted to show off that they could help Alexandra.

Alexandra became a celebrity!

Translanguaging will not confuse children

It allows them to use all of their meaning making resources to communicate what they want. In this way, it is also a self regulatory mechanism.

Perhaps we haven’t thought about it, but we already use a lot of TL and translation in the classroom

Preview (Home Language), View (New Language) and Review (Home Language). This is translanguaging in action!

Use of cognates (isn’t this a translation process?)

I.S.P. Nation’s work What he says:

How to use TL when the teacher doesn’t speak the same language that the student speaks?

The teacher can provide a short and friendly definition of the word (IN CONTEXT), and then ask the student to translate the word in her/his own language.

I.S.P. Nation also says that translation is the fastest way to understand a word.

Cognates and the Tiers

Isabel Beck’s work and Averyl Coxhead’s work have many points in common

Look at the Academic Word List, what do you notice?

Are these Tier 1,2 or 3 words? Are there cognates?

We have to understand Tier 1, 2 and 3 words because that is exactly what the CCSS talks about. How do we can use them in bilingual classrooms? Tier 1 and 2 are multiple meaning

words.

Tier 1 words can have a nuclear meaning (everyday meaning) but can have multiple meanings as well (analyze face in everyday language and in Math; solution and the meaning it acquires in everyday language, in Math and in Science)

Tier 3 words are not multiple meaning words (e.g. delta, pharaoh)

Extending the work of cognates in the classroom:

Some things we have to keep in mind when we work with cognates:

• Not because it is a cognate a child will know the meaning in the Home Language.

• The cognates do not work the same in both languages. In Spanish the word pálido (pale) or triunfar (triumph) are integrated into everyday language a lot more than in English, in which they acquire a more sophisticated meaning.

• False cognates can be wonderful to analyze with students (e.g. embarassed/embarazado)

• Morphology in the New Language is best learned when we use cognates (e.g. lentamente/slowly will not be as effective as when we teach the mente/ly adverb ending using cognates: rápidamente/rapidly

• We seldom teach lexical homographs (once/once; pie/pie)

SOME FUN WORK WITH WORDS

LEXICAL HOMOGRAPHS

Once there was a dog that belonged to Ms. Morales. His name was Sputnik. One day Sputnik was looking downcast, sad and had no energy. Ms. Morales took him to the vet. The vet recommended some pills to give Sputnik energy. When Ms. Morales got the pills, the recommendation for the dosage said: take once a day. So, she gave him once pills in a day. How do you think Sputnik felt?

Task 1: What are your thoughts on this?

What professional development is needed to prepare teachers to support academic language development in all students, and especially language learners?

How do you convince them, and most importantly, site administrators that TL and the five levels of language proficiency will make a difference in how language learners fare academically? Why do administrators need to be convinced?

What do teachers need to know about translanguaging about its use in academic settings? How ready are they to do so?

Sputnik

Another lexical homograph

In my neighborhood, there is bakery that sells pies. The sign says: Pays CORONADO Pies.

I wonder how a pie made of pies taste?

False cognates and discussions

Can you rest when you are doing a resta?

Can you think of any circumstance in which a woman might feel embarrassed because she is embarazada?

I was desperate when he decided to despertarme at 4 o’clock in the morning? Can you understand why?

And Then……

When cognates are used in English they gather a more sophisticated connotation:

Ms. Gómez is always busy answering e mails.

Ms. Gómez siempre está ocupada contestando correos electrónicos.

Ms. Gómez is always occupied answering e mails.

This procedure ensures a fast recovery.

Este procedimiento asegura una recuperación rápida.

This procedure ensures a rapid recovery

Morphology and cognates

If you were to teach mente/ly (adverb formation), what do you think works better:

Quickly/quickly; rapid/rapidly

The cognate works better when teaching word endings.

Premise 3: Background to the four communicative skills

The four communicative skills in the BCCI are not just communication channels. They also constitute ways of scaffolding the standards’ demands.

HOWEVER:

The first step is to understand some of the misconceptions around scaffolding

We also need to come to terms that curriculum is watered down. When we start simplifying the curriculum it is difficult (if not impossible) to know when to stop.

Perhaps the misconception arises from how to scaffold: Bloom’s old (1956) and new (2001) taxonomy (a theory of scaffolding or understanding thinking?)

Let’s analyze some of the traditional scaffolds that we have provided

(http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/26751/)

Early Production Points to pictures and acts out vocabulary. Can answer yes and no questions

Speech Emergent

Ask questions that require a short answer and that are fairly literal. Introduce easily introduced information (i.e. class surveys and food preferences)

Beginning Fluency Make short presentations. Introduce nuances of language such as when to use more formal English

Intermediate Fluency

Ask students to identify vocabulary by symbols that show whether the student ‘knows it really well, kind of knows it, or doesn’t know it at all.” Help students focus on strategies to get the meaning of words.

Advanced Fluency Students at this stage are native like. Offer students challenging activities that expand word knowledge (antonyms, synonyms) using a dictionary.

Jerome Bruner (1915)

A student can learn anything as long as we provide the right entry point.

If you work with the BCCI, we have to be Brunerians!

There are four entry points in the BCCI:

Listening is (usually) the first entry point. Listening is part of Read Aloud and conversations. In the BCCI it is the first stepping stone to introduce information. It can also be used to increase background knowledge.

Reading allows for a deeper analysis and refining of information.

Speaking allows to brainstorm and clarify ideas. This skill also entails how to present (stand alone) information.

Writing can be incorporated while listening, reading and speaking but the creation of a text can be done at the end of this cycle.

Look at the standards in your package.

Standard 7.2 reading for Information says:

How would you target this standard using the four communicative skills:

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

In Listening:

In Reading:

In Speaking:

In Writing:

Some practice in using the 4 communicative skills in addressing the standards:

Cycle presented in the BCCI

Listening (entry point)

Reading (analyze details and

integrate details)

Speaking (refine and clarify ideas

through conversations and

presentations)

Writing (present an argument,

create an informational or

narrative)

The BCCI is not the only one that uses Listening as the starting point:

Word Generation does it too in the form of a news cast:

http://wg.serpmedia.org/grade4/unit1/index.html

Scaffolding Language in the New Language (Handout 2: Reading for Information scaffolds)

The scaffolds that are presented range from: Entering: Pre-taught words and phrases (frontloading)

Emerging: Pre-identified words and phrases (students recognize the words that have been previously introduced)

Transitioning: Using word banks (choices are among what they will use)

Expanding: Using glossaries (multiple words, phrases, definitions and examples) are incorporated into one source that the student uses strategically

Commanding: Independent performance

These language scaffolds are used strategically in conjunction with graphic organizers.

The graphic organizers are the same for all students, but..

They are used differently, depending on the language stage for New and Home Language students. For New Language students:

Entering: Pre-taught words and phrases are to be organized in the graphic organizer/sentence starter or cloze paragraph

Emerging: Pre-identified words have to be organized in the graphic organizer/sentence starter or cloze paragraph

Transitioning: Word banks are used to complete graphic organizers, and short essays

Expanding: Glossaries and previously created graphic organizers are used to speak and write after teacher modeling

Commanding: Information is used and organized independently

Conversations and interactions are also scaffolded

In your templates, find what students at the Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding and Commanding can do in both the Home and New Language in terms of the conversations.

For Home Language Students

The Home Language students’ oral language is ahead of their literacy skills. They don’t start with pre-taught words, but instead:

Entering: Use pre-identified words and sentences

Emerging: Use Word Banks and teacher

Transitioning: Use glossaries and previously created graphic organizers with teacher modeling

Expanding: Information is used and organized independently but with teacher prompting

Commanding: Organizes information independently

Entering Recognize pre-taught words and phrases found in the text/context Associate and organize words and phrases in a graphic organizer and in sentence starters Understand in partnership and or small group Use cloze sentences for writing in new and/or home language

Recognize pre-identified words and phrases found in the text/context Associate and organize phrases and sentences in a graphic organizer and in sentence starters Understand in partnership and or small group Use cloze sentences/paragraphs for writing

Emerging Recognize pre-identified words and phrases found in the text/context Associate and organize pre-identified phrases and sentences in graphic organizers Understand in partnership and or small group Use cloze paragraphs for writing in new and/or home language

Recognize phrases and sentences using word banks of phrases and sentences Associate and organize phrases and sentences in graphic organizers Understand and participate in partnership, small group or whole class setting Use cloze paragraphs for writing

Transitioning Recognize information using word banks of phrases and sentences Associate and organize information with teacher support using partially completed graphic organizers Understand and participate in partnership, small group or whole class Create a short essay using cloze paragraphs and word banks in new and occasionally in home language

Recognize information with the support of glossaries of word definitions and explanations Associate and organize information after teacher modeling Understand in partnership, small group and whole class settings Create a short essay following the teacher’s model

Expanding Recognize information using glossaries of word definitions and explanations Associate and organize information after teacher modeling Understand in partnership, small group and whole class settings Create an essay after teacher modeling in new language

Recognize information with the support of glossaries and previously created graphic organizers Associate information with teacher prompting Understand in partnership, small group and whole class settings Create an essay with teacher prompting

Commanding Recognize information independently Associate and organize information independently Understand in partnership, small group and whole class setting in new language

Recognize information independently Associate and organize information independently Understand in partnership, small group and whole class setting

One very important element to keep in mind for the Home Language Learners

Language is never right nor wrong.

Language is not to be evaluated.

Commanding students

Commanding students do not need language nor content scaffolds.

Commanding means that both areas come together. Commanding students in New and Home Language are working independently.

Task 2: Working with an empty template

In your packages, you have an empty template with the CCLS, the MAD, the GLAD and the grade standard. Try to fill it out with the scaffolds that we have discussed.

Premise 4: Integrating content and language: Linguistic demands section

Over the years, teachers and researchers agree that language learners need to integrate content and language.

The Linguistic Demand section of the progressions aims at providing an example of such integration.

The Linguistic Demand concentrates on linguistic markers that reflect what the standard demands.

Examples of linguistic markers: language and genre

Yopp and Yopp (2000) have described some elements that are commonly found in non-fiction texts: timeless verbs (i.e. there are eighteen species of penguins); generic nouns (i.e. penguins are birds that don’t fly) and technical vocabulary (i.e. penguins are aquatic birds). By contrast, narratives are usually written in the past tense and often offer dialogues presented in the present tense form. They follow a specific structure (Van Dijk and Kintsch, 1983), where a description of a setting and the characters is followed by a conflict and a subsequent resolution.

Further considerations for integrating content and language in the linguistic demand section

We have to consider written language as a cohesive network (Halliday and Hasan, 1976).

Cohesive devices in a text make it a ‘whole’. There are consistent elements that make it so and that are an intrinsic part of academic language: Referencing (or using articles):pronouns

Ellipsis: (or leaving information out): Do you like swimming? Yes, I do (not present in the sample)

Substitution: Mary and Maggie swim everyday. Those two sisters are always together (not present in the sample)

Conjunctions: words that signal relationships in sentences (i.e. but, because, so, if)

The linguistic demands are examples of how to analyze the content and language of a text

For Wong Fillmore and Fillmore (2013) this analysis is the key to understanding the academic language presented in books. It creates dispositions or habits of mind that entail making students aware of how the content and the language work together.

Developing your linguistic radar:

At one time the Fox and the Stork were on visiting terms and seemed very good friends. So the Fox invited the Stork to dinner, and for a joke put nothing before her but some soup in a very shallow dish. This the Fox could easily lap up, but the Stork could only wet the end of her long bill in it, and left the meal hungry as when she began. "I am sorry," said the Fox, "the soup is not to your liking.”

Daily, Don. (2003) The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables. , p.34

Who are the subjects in this paragraph:

Find the nouns and the pronouns to understand who are the subjects

What details in the text can you find?

Focus on the adjectives

How does the author connect the ideas in the text?

Focus on the conjunctions

Can you find a substitution?

What words would you teach?

Some more practice:

Common Core Grade 2 Standard (RI.2.3): Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

Common Core Grade 3 Standard 4 (RI 3.4) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text distinguishing literal from non literal meaning

Find words or phrases that signal temporal sequence

Find who are the subjects

Long, long ago, before people knew anything about dinosaurs, giant bones were found in China. So, wise men who saw the bones tried to guess what sort of enormous animal they could have come from. After they studied the fossil bones, the ancient Chinese decided that they came from dragons. They thought these dragons must have been magic dragons to be so large. And they believed that dragons could still be alive.

Boy, were they wrong!

Video showing work with complex texts:

http://vimeo.com/47315992

Kindergarten class, working with complex texts by Lily Wong Filmore

Any thoughts?

B A C K G R O U N D K N O W L E D G E I N A C C E S S I N G G R A D E A P P R O P R I A T E T E X T S

Section 3: The role of background knowledge in accessing the

standards

Complementing the CCLS: The role of background knowledge in accessing the standards

For Coleman and and Pimentel, creators of the CCSS, students need to use their analytical skills in order to understand a text (Yatvin, 2012). For children who are not language learners this is still a challenge, but for emergent bilinguals this might be even more so because they may lack cultural and historical referents. Furthermore, it is very difficult (if not impossible) for a student to differentiate if s/he is not understanding a text because of lack of background knowledge or because of the language of the text. In such cases, their linguistic and content base knowledge needs to be enriched.

This is specially important in light of the demands of reading grade appropriate texts.

Background knowledge and reading grade appropriate texts

Rea

din

g in

the C

CS

Standard 10 for Reading for Information and Literature

Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently (it changes, with or without scaffolding, according to the grade level)

Comprehension of texts will vary depending on the background knowledge and motivation that a student brings to the task. Reading comprehension can be built up in order to access grade appropriate books.

Lexiles and Text Complexity

In the CCS, text complexity is measured in lexiles.

Lexiles take into consideration vocabulary and sentence structures.

The Old Man and the Sea receives two significantly different classifications. One is 1370L and the other one is 940L. The first level is associated with 12th grade and beyond, whereas the second level corresponds to a sixth grade reading level. Surprisingly, both levels are right but they take different factors into consideration. The result for text complexity (940L), reflects the short and simple sentences employed throughout the book. The words are everyday words. The 1370L classification takes into consideration more than just text complexity. It takes into account the maturity and judgment needed to understand the book.

Background knowledge and instructional conversations

How does background knowledge work? We can add information to what we already know We can discard the information We can modify what we know

Conversations are about brainstorming, clarifying,

persuading and convincing.

Simon Critchley, Prof. of Philosophy at the New School said in writing about persuasion and Socrates (New York Times on Nov. 18th): Socrates would have to say the right thing, in the right way at the right time to the person right in front of him.

Instructional Conversations with language learners (Goldenberg, 1988; 2013)

Go beyond the turn and talk

Ideas are explored. These have relevance and meaning to the students. The focus might shift but the idea is traceable.

Deal with misconceptions.

These kind of conversations are important for all children and are absent in most classrooms. They are particularly important for language learners because they allow them to play with language and to develop conceptual and linguistic development.

Look at Handout 1 again

The Speaking and Listening standards require to have focused, EXTENDED conversations

The standards require that the students present (stand alone episode of language organization)

The students are also asked to find evidence and present according to task, purpose and audience

The conversations are also a way of bridging background knowledge: from what we know to what we are trying to understand better

Questions to promote conversations

Open ended, YES, but also precise:

What is the difference between: What did you today?

Where were you sitting when your teacher did the read aloud?

By the same toke, debates allow students to engage and explore a topic more deeply. Talking and engaging in these conversations has a positive impact on reading comprehension (Snow, 2012).

The reason is that it engages children in analyzing new ideas, modifying their existing ones and discarding information they don’t consider important.

http://wg.serpmedia.org/video_debate.html

Background knowledge and reading (Escamilla, 2013)

TEXT BASED AND LANGUAGE BASED not just oral based and content based. It has to be grounded in the language that is used in writing.

For Escamilla, independent reading should be less emphasized (from modeled, to shared, to collaborative to independent)

“The use of direct instruction in language learners is warranted” (Escamilla, 2013; p.41)

This is similar to what Lily Wong Filmore does with her juicy sentences.

Watch the following video.

Background knowledge and writing

Background knowledge does not refer exclusively to the concepts that we learned long ago. Concepts and ideas are always being reshaped in our minds.

BK and oral language in the Home Language will affect writing in the New Language, and vice versa.

For Escamilla (2013), reading and writing in language learners should progress from modeled, to shared, to collaborative to independent. Escamilla only recommends small group work when the students need additional support to meet an objective (e.g. guided reading)

W O R K I N G W I T H M I S C O N C E P T I O N S I N H I S T O R Y / S O C I A L S T U D I E S

A N A L Y Z I N G T H E L A N G U A G E O F S C I E N C E

Section 4: Some considerations about teaching writing in

History/Social Studies and Science

The Language of History and Social Studies (Wineburg, 2012)

Linguistic markers associated with cause and effect: because, therefore, so, etc.

Based heavily on problem and solutions

Evidence based ( Teaching with Primary Sources)

What do you know about Pocahontas?

For most sixth graders, the image they had of Pocahontas was the one portrayed by Disney. Is it yours?

Reading like a historian

Entails looking at the sources and determine:

Who wrote it?

How close was that person to the events when they happened?

The date when the text was written?

A historian does not start by reading the whole text from beginning to end. First, a historian asks those questions, decides if the sources are reliable or not and then proceeds.

Misconceptions in History

Pocahontas was born in 1595

The English arrived in the coasts of Virginia in April, 1607.

How old was Pocahontas when the English arrived?

The reality is that Pocahontas was captured by the English during Anglo-Indian hostilities in 1613. During her captivity, she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. When the opportunity arose for her to be released, she chose to remain with the English. In April 1614, she married tobacco planter John Rolfe, and in January 1615, bore him a son, Thomas Rolfe. Pocahontas’ marriage to Rolfe was the first recorded interracial marriage in American history. She then went to England, where she became a celebrity.

One more fact:

In his 1608 account, Smith described a large feast followed by a long talk with Powhatan. He does not mention Pocahontas in relation to his capture; in fact, in this account, he does not meet Pocahontas for the first time until a few months later. In 1616, however, Smith wrote a letter to the Queen of England, Anne. The letter described how he (John Smith) was captured and threatened. He also says that Pocahontas saved his life. This is the first account we have of this event.

If you are reading like a historian, what would you do?

Disney’s Pocahontas The real Pocahontas

Pocahontas

Pocahontas’ lesson

Wineburg explains the ‘indignation’ that a group of sixth graders felt when they found out that the version portrayed by Disney and the one found in primary sources did not correspond.

Wineburg continues by describing how he asked the students to simply ‘rewrite history’.

A wonderful exercise that entailed listening, reading, speaking, and writing. However, focus on the writing standards and see what did Wineburg cover?

In science:

The language of science is similar to History and Social studies in that it focuses on cause and effect and problem and solution concepts and language. However:

Remember that in science vocabulary can have multiple meanings

There is the language of establishing hypothesis (which is a conditional sentence):

If middle school students study for Math quizzes, then scores will rise If a sunflower plant is fertilized weekly, then seed production will increase

To summarize:

The BCCI presents five levels of language development in the new and home language

Bilingualism is seen as a continuum, and translanguaging is the action that characterizes it and supports growth in both languages

The supports for language and content are clearly defined throughout the five stages

The four communicative skills are used strategically to provide multiple points of entry and scaffold complex standards

The linguistic demands exemplify language markers that integrate content and language within a standard

Background knowledge is considered a key element in developing content and language

The purpose of the BCCI

Is not perfect

Its implementation will require a lot of work

So far, many teachers have expressed that the BCCI is making a difference in their practice. The teachers who worked in this project expressed that scaffolding was the area where they learned the most

Good results can only be accomplished if we work together, as partners.

Why are the RBERNs important?

You have access to teachers who trust you

You know the schools, the children, the ADMINISTRATORS

You want to do this: we all want to do it

We want to see good results for language learners

We want to create a more equitable society

The purpose of the BCCI is to help us do our best work as bilingual teachers: TOGETHER

My best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving