Building Background for English Learners Through Sheltered Instruction

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Building Background for English LearnersThrough
Sheltered Instruction
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Session Objectives
Read and Tell your neighbor what we will do today

• Content Objectives
• Recognize the importance of building background
  knowledge to lesson concepts.
• Identify strategies for linking past learning
  with new information.
• Language Objectives
• Discuss how to teach key vocabulary and
  incorporate vocabulary development activities
  into lessons.

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What is Sheltered Instruction?

• Sheltered Instruction is an approach to teaching
  content to English language learners in strategic
  ways that make the subject matter concepts
  comprehensible while promoting the students
  English language development.
• 
  --Echevarria, Vogt, and Short

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8 Components of Sheltered Instruction

• Lesson Preparation
• Building Background
• Comprehensible Input
• Strategies
• Interaction
• Practice/Application
• Lesson Delivery
• Review/Assessment

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Features for Building Background

• Concepts explicitly linked to students
  background experiences
• Links explicitly made between past learning and
  new concepts
• Key vocabulary emphasized (e.g., introduced,
  written, repeated, and highlighted for students
  to see)

Vogt, M., Echevarria, J. (2006). Teaching Ideas
for Implementing the SIOP Model
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Schema Activity

• Complete the cloze activity on the next slide by
  yourself

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Complete the Scaffolded Cloze

• On a w_____ evening, the s_____ is home to what
  most a________ agree is the grandest of
  all c___________. A rectangle of br___
  s______ which includes, at o ______ corners,
  1st-magnitude B_______and R______, bisected by
  a diagonal row of three br______ s_____(the
  "____"). Beneath the b_____ hangs a row of three
  s_____ O_____ "sword." Don't be fooled by their
  uninspiring n_______-eye appearance the middle
  s_____ in the s_______ isn't a s______ at all.
  It's the O____N_____, one of the grandest
  t________ showpieces the night s_______ has to
  offer. In b_______, it appears as a f_____ patch
  of li_____. When you gaze at this wondrous
  glowing c______, you view c_______ itself, for
  within this luminous g_____, s_____ are being
  born.

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Suggested Proficiency Levels 4 5 On a w_____
evening, the s_____ is home to what most
a________ agree is the grandest of all
c___________. A rectangle of br___
s______ which includes, at o ______ corners,
1st-magnitude B_______and R______, bisected by
a diagonal row of three br______ s_____(the
"____"). Beneath the b_____ hangs a row of three
s_____ O_____ "sword." Don't be fooled by their
uninspiring n_______-eye appearance the middle
s_____ in the s_______ isn't a s______ at all.
It's the O____N_____, one of the grandest
t________ showpieces the night s_______ has to
offer. In b_______, it appears as a f_____ patch
of li_____. When you gaze at this wondrous
glowing c______, you view c_______ itself, for
within this luminous g_____, s_____ are being
born.
Word Bank
Glow creation sky telescopic astronomers belt Star/s fuzzy Orion binoculars opposite naked Constellation/s light Nebula winter bright sword Betelgeuse Rigel
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Building Background with Visuals
Stars Constellation Orion Nebula

Stars Constellation
Orion Nebula
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Check Your Answers

• On a winter evening, the sky is home to what most
  astronomers agree is the grandest of all
  constellations Orion the Hunter. A rectangle of
  bright stars, which includes, at opposite
  corners, 1st-magnitude Betelgeuse and Rigel, is
  bisected by a diagonal row of three bright stars
  (the "belt"). Beneath the belt hangs a row of
  three stars Orion's "sword." Don't be fooled by
  their uninspiring naked-eye appearance the
  middle star in the sword isn't a star at all.
  It's the Orion Nebula one of the grandest
  telescopic showpieces the night sky has to offer.
  In binoculars, it appears as a fuzzy patch of
  light. When you gaze at this wondrous glowing
  cloud, you view creation itself, for within this
  luminous glow, stars are being born

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YOUR TURN

• Assign partners an EL Proficiency Level 1 -2 or
  3-4
• Using the previous astronomy lesson, design a
  lesson to build background at the assigned EL
  Proficiency Level
• Use laptops and internet to explore options
• Present to whole group

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Schema,Knowledge of the World

• provides a basis for understanding, learning,
  and remembering facts and ideas found in stories
  and texts. Individuals with knowledge of a topic
  have better recall and are better able to
  elaborate on aspects of the topic than those who
  have limited knowledge of the topic.
• Echevarria, Vogt and Short,
• Making Content Comprehensible for English
  Language Learners, 2004

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Schema is like

• Velcro
• in the brain

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Reflection

• Think-Pair-Share
• To what extent is there discrepancy between
  students experiences and what you believe they
  have experienced?

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Links to Background Knowledge

• Remember
• Students from different cultural/socio-economic
  environments will not have had the same prior
  personal experiences.

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Building Background

• Link new concepts to previous knowledge

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How is Background Knowledge Initiated?
Background Knowledge
Taken from Robert Marzano, Building Background
for Academic Achievement
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Building BackgroundImportance of the Language
Base

• Identify key vocabulary essential to
  understanding the content.
• Pre-teach these essential words.
• Provide experiences.
• Introduce framework.

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Process for Teaching New Terms

• Step 1 Provide a description, explanation, or
  example
• of the term as well as a non-linguistic
  representation
• for EL.
• Step 2 Ask students to restate the
  description, explanation, or example in their own
  words.
• Step 3 Ask students to construct a picture,
  symbol, or graphic representing the term.

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Process for Teaching New Terms Continued

• Step 4 Engage students in activities that help
  them add to their knowledge of the terms in their
  notebooks.
• Step 5 Periodically ask students to discuss
  their terms with each
• other.
• Step 6 Involve students in games that allow them
  to play with terms.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D. (2005) Building
Academic Vocabulary.
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• All EL students have background knowledge
• BUT
• Not all EL students have academic background
  knowledge

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We Will

• Turn and Discuss
• What are some reasons why EL students do not
  have academic vocabulary knowledge?
• Share

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Review Session Objectives

• Content Objectives
• Recognize the importance of building background
  knowledge to lesson concepts.
• Identify strategies for linking past learning
  with new information.
• Language Objectives
• Read and discuss how to teach key vocabulary and
  incorporate vocabulary development activities
  into lessons.

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References

• Echevarria, J., Short, D., Vogt, M. E. (2004).
  Making Content Comprehensible The SIOP Model.
  2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson
  Education, Inc.
• Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building Background
  Knowledge for Academic Achievement Research on
  What Works in Schools. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.

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Thank you for Coming!

• Questions?
• Comments