A L B A N Y H I G H S C H O O L

D A W N M C K I N N E Y – E N L

A L E X L A C O S S - M A T H

Topics in Algebra - ENL

Dawn - ENL Alex - Math

Moved from Middle to Elementary to High school the day before school began

2nd year in the district

First time at the high school level

Nervous to teach math at the high school level

Has taught only at the high school level

On track to be the Math coach at AHS

Never taught ELL population

Nervous to teach ELLs

Our Story

Our Students

97% were Entering/Emerging

Approximately 50 SIFE students on roster

Many had been through war, refugee camps and are supported through USCRI

Over 15 languages

Most were happy to be here, in school, in America

Most were worried about discrimination and Trump’s agenda

Our Plan

We knew students would have varied background/foundation in Math

We wanted to begin an interactive notebook for students to use as a resource

Build Vocabulary

Establish routines and class procedures

What worked right away?

Alex and I began a wonderful co-teaching relationship

We respected each others’ area of expertise

I needed her Math knowledge or I would have been sunk

She needed my support to work effectively with the ELLs

We learned from each other and the students learned from us

Interactive Notebook

Easy to access information for students

Pictures, step by step processes, diagrams

Vocabulary words

Colorful, fun, and lots of tape!

Alex got a lot of ideas from Pinterest!

Students used this resource all year!

Student Notebooks

Student Notebooks

Student Notebooks

Student Notebooks

Our Early Challenges

All but 2 of our students were entering and emerging – low language proficiency

Many SIFE – low math skills

Students were quiet, shy, timid

Our Early goals

Color coded notebooks, folders and crates - Students knew where to get their materials

Create classroom routines – Began each day with a “Do Now”

Practiced basic greetings, classroom vocabulary, even numbers and operations

Teach use of calculator (didn’t need math facts for success)

The Study Began

We were both committed to the study.

Interviewing our students gave us insight into their view of the world and was quite powerful.

Creating a goal or focus for our first lesson was easy – the students needed to build their math vocabulary.

Our first lesson

Unit: Translating expressions

Content Objective: Students will be able to identify key math action words. Students will be able to translate written sentence to a mathematical expression.

Language Objective: Students will identify words and construct meaning. Students will read and correctly pronounce mathematical expressions.

Lesson Sequence

DO NOW: Students will complete review from previous lesson

In interactive notebooks, students will tape notes for this lesson

1. Teacher will introduce key term: "translating"

2. Teacher will give students an example of a written expression and translate it into a mathematical expression

3. As a whole group, class will read key words that relate to each operation

4. Students will practice in partners matching key words to operations using worksheet and interactive notebook. Review as a whole class

6. Teacher will demonstrate how to find the key words in a written expression, and translating them to the mathematical expression

6. Students will practice finding the key words in sample written expressions and identifying the numbers, operations, or variables so they can translate the written expression to a mathematical expression

7. Students will solve the mathematical expressions.

In student notebooks

We created a multi lingual chart for us teachers!

Outcome and Reflection

We thought we were rocking this lesson.

Students read and pronounced words

Engaging

Most useful resource in their notebooks

Students added to the Organizer all year

Observing our co-teach relationship was positive

Next Action Plan

Increase student discourse

Increase math practice

Plan “Meaning Making” activity following our first invited Speakers’ Day

Our Second Lesson

Unit: Solving Equations

Content Objective:

Students will discover how to solve 2 step equations

Language Objective: Students will collaborate in a small group to interpret, discuss and analyze the process of solving 2-step equations

Lesson Sequence

Warm Up: Do Now - review of one step equations1. Teacher models the activity on Smart Board2. Teacher introduces activity and task: solving 2 step equations3. Teacher places students in groups and assigns an equation4. Teacher reviews student tool box and group expectation 5. Students work collaboratively to discover the process of solving two step equations by placing the index cards in the correct order. 6. Students will solve their equation and check their answer before taping their cards on a poster.7. Each group will explain their steps for solving a 2 step equation to the class

In the Tool Kit

Completed Posters

Outcome and Reflection

Took a lot of time to get started

Disappointed in level of discourse and flow of lesson in Videoed class – ready to give up activity

Next two classes proved the activity was a good one –students engaged and were able to explain their process to the class

All students presented and supported each other

Next Action Plan

Stick to start time

Continue to build discourse around math

Increase student explanation/description of processes

Engage student in reflection of learning

Create a project based on 2nd Invited Speakers’ Day

Our Third Lesson

Unit: Translating and Solving Inequalities

Content Objective: Students will work as a group to identify real life application sentences to inequality signs

Language Objective: Students will collaborate in a small group to categorize real life application sentences and then match them to the inequality symbol

Lesson Sequence

1. Do Now: Students group pictures based on similarities.

2. Students placed in groups and asked to categorize math stories based on similarities

3. Students defend their choices

4. Teacher introduces inequality symbols and students regroup their stories.

5. Students identify key math action words.

The Do Now

Your Challenge

With your partner or group,

categorize your story cards.

HOWEVER, do not group them according to the “math action words” (or inequality)

Use your blank cards

to name your categories.

Discuss and Reflect

• How would our ELLs tackle this challenge?

• What would be difficult or easy for ELLs while engaging in this activity?

• What scaffolds might be needed?

• Would this type of activity encourage discourse? Why or why not?

Outcome and Reflection

Students were very engaged

Do Now inspired lots of discourse and explanation from generally quiet students

All students were able to explain groupings in English

We learned A LOT from our students based on their explanations

Less of a math related activity

Beginning of the Year End of the Year

Very quiet

Low Math skills

Low English proficiency

No discourse

No partner work

Teacher centered classroom

Daily discourse More comfort in talking

and working in collaborative groups

Strong Math vocabulary Students built their

reasoning skills Students were able to argue

and state a claim Student centered

classroom

Our Growth

Dawn - ENL Alex - Math

I think, in the end, it was really helpful to have another teacher to work with and bounce ideas off of. This made both of us stronger and more willing to try things to engage and challenge our students.

. It is a great experience to be able to explore new ideas and techniques with one another and be able to watch them unfold.

In Summary