EDTE+-+Agenda+-+6.1.17

** 9:00 - 9:10 - Welcome & Agenda **

 * Note taker: Kelsey Landreth

** 9:10 - 9:40 - Finish discussion on [|transfer] **

 * **Summaries:**
 * Linguistic Differences and Transfer Implications (language features; language proficiency issues)
 * Individual and Experiential Differences and Transfer Implications (L1 reading skill; reasons/motivations for L2 reading; prior schooling)
 * Sociocultural and Institutional Differences and Transfer Implications (sociocultural influences on texts and the role of texts within a culture and educational system)
 * L2 - learning to read - proficiency is low, reading process looks different because you are busy translating
 * **Processing costs of translation** - requires more cognitive resources to read in early stages of L2
 * **Implications**: L2 need extra time to absorb material, modeling and diagrams (additional supports) are imperative, recognize how challenging reading is for students - provide them with reasonable text
 * Can your student analyze text? Older students understand the point of texts
 * **Development and education differences** - academic experience with texts, reading ability, exposure to print, the purpose of reading (differ per culture - do you read for fun? Not if it's laborious as it is for L2 readers)
 * **Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis**
 * Is there something about reading that transcends language? Yes. A universal concept, but details and purpose can vary
 * L2 reader is transferring different words, but the process is similar
 * Reading skills play a bigger role (in some cases) than your L2 proficiency)
 * For L2 that speak fluently, but struggle in their literacy skills: they didn't quite develop their reading abilities and this hinders them
 * Teach them to read in their L1 first, if possible
 * Language isn't the issue, not strong readers so school continues to be a problem
 * L1 English students - we know it's a reading issue, but with L2 English students, we assume it's a language issue, but it could be a literacy issue
 * Certain reading skills do transfer, other skills don't, L2 proficiency matters quite a bit in reading
 * **Language Threshold Hypothesis**
 * Is second language reading a reading problem or a language problem?
 * There must be a certain level of L2 proficiency before L1 reading skills will transfer
 * Research seems supportive, but it's complicated by many factors
 * Focus is on oral language before teaching how to read
 * Implication: Do not expect newcomers to read before teaching them the language
 * **Task:** How would you respond to the scenario of a 10 year old girl who is proficient in L1, but speaks very little English, where do we start?
 * Use L1 as a resource
 * Using conversational language to build L2
 * Communicate with parents about home situation
 * Set of reading skills can transfer
 * Focus mostly on oral English at this stage
 * If she comes with strong content skills, she can be paired with a student who speaks English but struggles with content skills because she has a lot to contribute


 * Photos of posters identifying linguistic, individual, and sociocultural considerations: https://goo.gl/photos/5KZUwMtqSTJZdn5V8

9:40 - 10:30 - Finish text analysis activity

 * Given a particular focal student, what assets does he/she bring to the text that may be productively harnessed?
 * Background knowledge of the world, life experience
 * Academic knowledge and skills
 * Linguistic resources
 * Literacy resources
 * Cultural connections
 * Given a particular focal student, what aspects of this text could be challenging?
 * Content
 * Text features
 * Language
 * Culture
 * As the teacher, identify one specific way you could harness an asset and support a potential challenge.

__**Secondary Student Profiles: **__ **Roy** is a 9th grader (14 years old) from the Congo who has been in the U.S. for six months. He speaks Swahili and a little French. His father was a doctor, but fighting in his country forced the family to flee. They were in a refugee camp in Tanzania for 7 years before gaining permission to immigrate to the United States. Roy attended school in the camp whenever it was available and his parents tutored him the best they could. Roy’s mother and father have six other children, (two older and three younger). His mother stays home with the children and his father does custodial work at the mall. Roy is a level 2 ELP (high beginning). He enjoys soccer and dreams of becoming a doctor like his father.

*__Assets__: spending 7 years in a refugee camp so he has spent time with people of various languages, his father is educated, six siblings all trying to learn English, attended school when able - drive, resilience *Math __Text in Relationship to Roy__: Roy likes soccer, bring in soccer magazine and explain what it is to peak interest, notion of time and currency in all cultures - make relationships between ours and his, might not understand the concept of buying and saving and subscriptions, words are interchanged (copy, issue), chart matches 1 and 2 but other problems are not related to chart *__English Text in Relationship to Roy__: metaphorical pieces, geographic problems, context he can't connect to, the grammar isn't too complicated, vocabulary is confusing, how do we make the paragraph accessible?, use pictures to portray what the text means, some vocabulary isn't that important for L2 to understand, you can replace challenging vocabulary (plodded for walked), high challenge/high support text, chunk text, provide glossary on side of page, act out certain vocabulary words

**Tomee** is a 9th grader (14 years old) came to the US as a middle school student. Her upper-middle class life in Thailand provided her with excellent educational opportunities, even the opportunity to learn some English. Not only was Tomee very determined to earn good grades in school and go to college, she was also a very independent student, only wanting help when she asked for it. She was particularly adept in Math, and was in higher Math classes than most ELLs. She is a level 4 ELP (advanced).

*__Assets__: good education opportunities, determined student, parent with education, some English proficiency *Math __Text in Relationship to Tomee__: problems have multiple steps, figuring out different steps to word problems by using math, provide visuals for her, simplify math, she might not appear to need help because her English is good enough, she may fly under the radar, units are in miles and miles per hour rather than kilometers, etc. *__English Text in Relationship to Tomee__: see above - English Text in Relationship to Roy, also: focus on making this interesting for her because she is more math-geared academically

__**Elementary Student Profiles: **__ **Marisol** is a 4th grader (10 years old) born in Honduras. She has lived in the United States for two years. Her parents work at a bakery downtown which requires them to leave for work at 3 a.m. Marisol’s older brother, Pepe, is responsible for getting her to school. Marisol has been assessed as a level 3 ELP (intermediate). She speaks Spanish at home, but does not know how to read or write in Spanish. Marisol is learning to read in English, but tests at a first-grade reading level. She is very outgoing and loves to sing and dance.


 * __Assets__: speaks Spanish at home, similar to English, outgoing - beneficial because you talk often with teachers and classmates, older sibling works hard
 * __Relation to book__: unfamiliar names and places and things, low reading ability in Spanish, book is about a little boy whose brother goes off to war, brings up concepts of patriotism and family, conducive to L2 because of personal family ties, visuals, large themes to connect to, vocabulary can be challenging (muddy trench), geography, have students write a letter (fun post-reading activity), not an easy text but you can support it in a way that help ELLs connect

**Pavel** is a 4th grader (10 years old) who came to the U.S. with his family when his father was hired as a visiting Physics professor at a local university. In Russia, Pavel attended a prestigious private school and was a voracious reader in Russian. He studied English at school, but doesn't feel comfortable speaking in English. He loves video games, but his parents try to keep him busy doing other things -- i.e. soccer, working with a tutor on his homework, and taking piano lessons. When he's at school, he rarely interacts with the other children but frequently chats with his teacher. He is a level 2 ELP (high beginning).


 * __Assets__: highly educated parents, many hobbies, excellent reader in Russian
 * Challenges in relation to book: see above - Relation to book (Marisol)

__**Young Elementary Student Profiles: **__ **Sol-Yi** is in kindergarten (5 years old). She and her sister joined her parents who have been in the United States for 18 months. While they were getting settled, Sol-Yi lived with her grandparents, whom she dearly loves, in Korea. Sol-Yi's parents are both working professionals in the tech industry. She attended pre-school and was just starting to learn to read in Korean. She is a level 1 ELP (beginning) and rarely says anything when she's at school. The move seems to have been difficult for her and she acts out more than usual at home. She seems happiest when she is playing with legos.

**Aaden** is 6 years old, but was placed in kindergarten because he hasn't had any prior schooling. He and his families are refugees from Somalia and he was born in a refugee camp. He has six older siblings. Aaden has a hard time sitting still in school and doesn't know how to hold a pencil. He is very friendly with the other children and has become quite popular. He has relatives who have been in the United States for several years and his parents have Aaden spend a lot of time with his cousins who speak English. He is picking up oral English very quickly and is already at an ELP level 2 (high beginning).

1. Max, Richard, Joanna, Madison - [|math text](page 1) 2. Robert, Carolina, Mackenzie - [|social studies/Spanish text] 3. Britta, Rachel, Emily S. - [|ela text] 4. Tracey, Kelsey, Susan, Emily M. 5. Bethany, Megan, Chase, Tarrah

Essential Question: How do we best support ELLs while doing academic readings?
1. What is the "best" way to teach reading? -**Bottom-up Approach**: focus on vocabulary, letters, syntax first. Repetition, site-words. More traditional approach and has a history in our school system. Looking at small things and going up from there. Related text: Hooked on Phonics (repetitive, not interesting) -**Top-down Approach**: reading for meaning, reading for the whole thing not just pieces, concepts, utilizing students' skills CLASS POLL: BOTH ARE BEST!

2. How do we assemble the jigsaw puzzle that reading really is? -Be most mindful about finding relatable texts for your student -Text Analysis: both top-down and bottom-up, highest-level thinking - social and cognitive skills

3. What are examples of pre, during, and post activities that support academic reading for ELLs? -P.91-100 - activities listed -Before reading: scan/preview the text, semantic web, skeleton text -During reading: pause and predict, scaffolding a detailed reading, identifying paragraph parts, and language analysis -Post reading: graphic organizers, cause and effect, create a timeline, compare/contrast Each group gave examples of lessons that had a before, during, and post reading activity related to the text analysis activity.

**Wilhelm Article, Tarrah**
Main points: -vocab knowledge = reading comprehension -need to know the meaning of words, content relevant -**Activity**: handed out words, look up definitions, compare and contrast definitions, discuss and share with whole group, each group has a different category of words to share with class, relate vocabulary and make sure it is useful so students can understand the content of the text -words are learned when they are dealt with in relationship, based on context and specific vocabulary used in text -conceptual understanding, context, meaningful selection and grouping of vocab, processing words, allowing this to be interactive -vocab = Velcro, must be connected to something meaningful or you won't remember

11:20 - 11:50 - [|Crash Course in ELP Standards]

 * ELP Standards Walk Through


 * Housekeeping:**
 * (6/2 - 6/5) - Parent and Family Engagement articles; 3 Videos - Reading; Reading Group
 * Meet on campus at 8:30. Watch for email about school visits on Tuesday. We will be meeting off campus!
 * For Thursday:
 * ELP Standards Walk Through (bring hard copy to Shaw)
 * Purpose: To compile a collection of strategies that you can use to support ELLs in your future work.
 * Requirements:
 * 20 concrete ideas gathered from the various readings, videos, discussions, or elsewhere (5 items per week, weeks 2-5)
 * For each item, you should include the following:
 * Title/name of the strategy
 * Source (where you found the idea)
 * Brief description of how it works
 * Likely contexts for using it (i.e. to introduce a new story; to build academic vocabulary, etc.)
 * Why it has the potential to promote learning (1-2 sentences)
 * Any needed materials (i.e. templates, links, etc.)\
 * You may create a hard copy or digital version of the template organized in a way that is useful for you.
 * Start thinking about your professional toolbox -