Working with English Language Learners

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Working with English Language Learners

• Professional Development for Paraprofessionals

Presented by Amy Suzanne King ELL Instructional
Specialist Kansas City Regional Professional
Development Center
Adapted from The Aspire Curriculum Professional
Development for Bilingual and ESL
Paraprofessionals Center for Applied Linguistics
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Agenda

• Review
• Webbing Assignment Review
• Analysis of Assignment
• Five Steps to Reading Comprehension
• Practice in Groups
• Choosing a Graphic Organizer
• Using a Graphic Organizer

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Overall Objectives

• Support Content Instruction for ELLs
• Facilitate Academic Language Learning for ELLs
• Work Collaboratively with Teachers and Others in
  an Instructional Role

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Workshop Objectives

• Analyze Examples of Webbing
• Learn and Practice Five Steps to Reading
  Comprehension
• Learn and Practice Using a Graphic Organizer
  Before and After a Lesson

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• Webbing

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Numbered Heads Together

• Count Off
• Find your Group
• Describe your Webs
• Ask Questions
• Select One Web to Share

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Review Four Principles

• Increase Comprehensibility
• Increase Interaction
• Increase Thinking Study Skills
• Increase Connections to Background

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Think-Pair-Share

• Listen as each Web is Described
• Think about How it Accomplishes each of the Four
  Principles
• Share your Thoughts with a Partner
• Share with the Group

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Think-Pair-Share Questions

• Why use Webbing?
• How does Webbing Help ELLs?
• How does this Web
• Increase Comprehensibility?
• Increase Interaction?
• Increase Thinking Study Skills?
• Increase Connections?

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Role Play

• Scenario 1 Teacher does not understand the value
  of having paraprofessionals work with ELLs using
  the webbing strategy
• Scenario 2 Paraprofessional suggesting to
  teacher to include the webbing strategy as a
  routine part of her lessons

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• Five Steps to Reading Comprehension

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Reading Comprehension

• What is reading comprehension?
• Understanding what is being read
• How do you know if a student is comprehending
  what is being read?
• Student can answer questions
• Student can re-tell the story
• How can you help students understand what they
  are reading?

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Five Steps

• Preview the reading
• Predict the content
• Read in sections
• Check the predictions
• Summarize the main points

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Preview the Reading

• Why?
• Creates the Big Picture
• Allows ELLs to fit information into it
• How?
• Look at pictures and graphics
• Read titles and headings
• Preview study questions

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Predict the Content

• Why?
• Creates interest
• Sets a purpose for reading
• Activates background knowledge

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Predict the Content

• How?
• For Stories, have students guess what might
  happen next based on pictures or illustrations
• For Textbooks, ask
• What seems most important in this chapter?
• What looks interesting?
• What would you like to know?
• What do you need to know to answer the study
  questions at the end of the chapter?

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Read in Sections

• Why?
• Good readers check for understanding while
  reading
• How?
• Ask students to read a section and think about
  what they have read
• Have student jigsaw read then have each explain
  their section to others

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Check the Predictions

• Why?
• Good readers check for understanding while
  reading
• Good readers re-read if they do not understand
  what they have read
• How?
• Ask students to check their predictions out loud
  as they read
• Have students show where they learned something

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Summarize the Main Points

• Why?
• Allows students to process their learning
• Helps students remember what they read
• How?
• Have student summarize reading in their own
  words, orally or in writing
• Ask student to act out main events
• Tell students to create a web of main ideas

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Categorize Activities

• Preview the reading
• Predict the content
• Read in sections
• Check the predictions
• Summarize the main points

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Modeling Use of the Five Steps

• Story Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi A
  Math Adventure
• Textbook World Geography and Cultures

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The Five Steps

• Preview the reading
• Predict the content
• Read in sections
• Check the predictions
• Summarize the main points

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Using the Five Steps

• Remember It is important to teach students to
  use the Five Steps on their own when reading
• Question How can you teach students to use the
  Five Steps independently?
• Answers
• Wall chart?
• Blank worksheets with the Five Steps?
• Write predictions down and use to check?

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Your Turn

• Choose one STORY or CHAPTER for your group to use
  to practice
• Discuss HOW you would do each of the Five Steps
• Decide on one or two QUESTIONS your group would
  like to ask about using the Five Steps
• Prepare to SHARE one idea from your group about
  using the Five Steps

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Your Assignment

• Look at your next assignment
• Read it out loud
• Ask any questions you have

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• Choosing a Graphic Organizer

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Graphic Organizers

• What are graphic organizers?
• Visual ways to organize information
• Can you name some graphic organizers?
• Sunshine Outline
• Timeline
• Story Maps
• Venn Diagrams
• K-W-L Charts
• Reading Logs

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Sunshine Outline
Generally used after reading to summarize
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Timeline
Used after reading a story or information in
which the sequence of events is important
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Story Map
Used after reading a story
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Venn Diagram
Different
Different
Same
Used before or after reading to compare and
contrast
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K-W-L Chart
Used before and after reading about a new topic
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Reading Log
Used during reading to teach students to check
their comprehension while reading
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Venn Diagram Example
Fresh Water
Salt Water
salt oceans sharks whales
no salt lakes can dry up
fish plants
Different
Different
Same
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Compare Contrast Language
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Using Graphic Organizers

• Use the same story or chapter you used in the
  Five Steps practice
• Choose a graphic organizer that shows an
  important idea from the reading
• Fill in a few of the items on the graphic
  organizer
• Develop a student writing task that uses the
  ideas and vocabulary from the graphic organizer
• Determine what language students will need and
  whether to provide sentence frames
• Choose someone from your group to present

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Requirements

• Assignments
• Portfolios
• Small Group Meetings

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Next Time

• Classroom Text
• Story book
• Textbook
• Novel
• Short Story
• Portfolio
• Assignments 3 and 4 with student work
• Small group meeting summary 2