6. Language and Literacy - C. Create Materials

Action Steps:

Step 1: Option A

Select a second language to study

Select a language to compare to English. Is there a language that most of your students speak? Is there a language that only one student speaks (i.e., they don’t have anyone else who speaks their language)? Is there a language you’ve always wanted to learn more about to connect with your students?

Create a teacher resource

  • Develop a resource that highlights 4-6 key or important similarities or differences between English and the second language of your choice that can help teachers better understand their students. What is important for teachers to know about the language? For example, is word order different? Is the language gendered? Does the language have more or less tenses? How are tenses different? In what directions is the language read/written?

  • For each linguistic element that you highlight, briefly explain why it’s important for teachers to know this difference/similarity and/or how teachers can utilize that knowledge to support students’ reading or writing.

  • Your final product can take several forms to allow for creativity. Consider slides or a slidedeck, an infographic, a visual, a video, a handout -- be creative!

For an example of what to compare, you can skim the article Learning from Abdallah: A case study of an Arabic-speaking child in a U.S. school [available through Library Reserves]

Step 1: Option B

Build your own background knowledge:

Consider reading chapter 3 from Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners, which focuses on the importance of building background knowledge and strategies for doing so. This chapter is also on building background in the context of SIOP, but specifically with young learners.

 

Explore Newsela:

If you are not already familiar with the Newsela resource/tool, check out some of these resources:

Choose a topic that you’d like to teach your students:

Select a topic for which students will need background knowledge. For example, do students need to understand a certain concept to truly grasp a text? Before diving into a new topic, is there information that students already need to have?

 

Develop a collection for building background knowledge on the topic:

Once you decide on a topic that you would like to prepare, curate a collection of 6-8 items that you can utilize to build students’ background knowledge using the resources in Newsela. (You can add other resources, e.g., YouTube videos to your collection, but at least 6 items must be texts.) Be strategic and intentional about how your curate your collection. For instance:

  • You can have two texts that introduce the fundamentals of the concept, two texts that assume some background knowledge, and two texts for students with a high level of familiarity with the topic.

  • If your concept has two key components students need to understand before diving into the learning, three texts can be on one component and three other texts can be on the second component.

  • Note: Having the same text but at different reading levels will not count as different texts for this personalized task.

 

Step 2

Be sure to link your work and documents in the capstone project:

Capstone table example

 

Step 3

Reflection: Answer the following questions on a Capstone slide

  1. Option A ONLY:

  2. Option B ONLY: Thinking about the collection. Write a brief reflection on the task using the following questions as guidelines. You can choose one or all questions, or parts from each question. (150-250 words total)

    1. How could students use the resources in your collection to make progress or demonstrate growth toward mastery of a specific WIDA standard?

    2. What considerations did you have to keep in mind as you curated a collection of articles for your context? E.g., are there specific linguistic or cultural considerations that you needed to remember?

    3. Were you intentional about what articles/resources you gathered for your collection? How did you choose what to include or exclude?

  3. Takeaways: You can choose one or all questions, or parts from each question. (200-250 words)

    1. What was your most significant take away from the assignment? What did you find interesting and useful?

    2. What was most challenging in the task? How did you overcome that challenge?

    3. How will you apply your learning to practice?

    4. To learn more, what might your next steps be?

    5. How would you improve on your current product in the future?

Option A: Create Materials for a Second Language

Option B: Collect Materials to Build Background Knowledge

Why this task? Language and literacy skills are highly predictive of academic and social outcomes. It is important we understand what factors into these skills and how we can support our students in these areas.

Points: 10

Must Haves
1. Response completes the task.
2. Accurately reflects WIDA Standards and the principles of SIOP.
3. Demonstrates precision and accuracy appropriate to the demands of a graduate course (including correct citations, grammar, and mechanics).
4. Demonstrates thoughtfulness and insights appropriate to the demands of a graduate course.
5. Responds specifically and explicitly to an identified language demand taught in an inclusive setting.
Amazing
* Explain how learning from completing the task can be useful to you.
* Promotes self and cultural awareness.
* Describes possible next steps.
* Relates to developing language skills in specific ways.
* Share materials or examples that may be useful to others.