Module+10

Anticipated Time: 45 minutes
 * //Holler If You Hear Me// **
 * **Before you read:** "With justice for all" - do you believe this phrase is an accurate description of life in the United States? Why or why not?
 * **Reading assignment** - Read pp. 155-172 in //Holler//
 * **After reading:** On the discussion board, respond to this question: //In what ways did the intervention of caring adults influence Reggie's school experience? How do you think things could have been different had these adults not intervened? What lesson do you draw from this example?//

Foundational Principles for Working with ELLs
Anticipated Time: 30 minutes
 * Review the foundational principles Complete the review task here.

**Supporting ELLs' Writing**
Anticipated Time: 2 hours

For many English learners, becoming proficient with academic writing is one of the most difficult challenges. Academic writing is a complex project that requires a) content knowledge, b) English proficiency (including academic language), c) knowledge of genres and conventions particular to writing tasks in various disciplines, and d) cultural aspects of the discipline and task. As a teacher looking at ELL's writing, it can be difficult to untangle where the students' strengths and weaknesses lie since the four areas overlap and the language of the text itself tends to stand out the most. It isn't easy to know where to focus feedback and instructional intervention. The following three principles could help guide your decision making in this regard:


 * 1. Writers must have something to say** - ELLs (and all students) need to have something to communicate. In academic contexts, this often means having enough exposure and instruction around a particular topic so that the student has both the words and the conceptual understanding to say something.


 * 2. Substantial pre-writing** - ELLs (and all students) need time and help to prepare a writing task. Graphic organizers, prompts, sentence frames, drafting, resource ideas, etc. are all useful tools.


 * 3. Honoring their words -** ELLs (and all students) need to feel that their words have value, that the reader really listened. As teachers, we need to see beyond linguistic errors or awkwardness to the message and respond to that first.


 * 4. Selective Feedback -** For most ELLs (and most students) there are many more things to attend to in a writing product than is realistic. Focus on a few, most important areas to give feedback.

To gain further understanding of these principles, read the following articles:

1. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2333 - "Love Ties My Shoes" OR http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/10918/clynnjacobs_long-term.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d - "Long term English Learners Writing their Stories" 2. http://www.hum.utah.edu/uwp/ESL/responding.html - Responding to ESL Writing 3. http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/19237/ - "Academic Language: Everyone's Second Language" 4. http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/24916/ - Writing Ideas from Classrooms 5. http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/22364/ - Writing a Winning Essay

As you are reading these articles, think about your particular content area. How could you apply these concepts? From each article, choose two key concepts that stand out to you as applicable in your context. On a document, identify each concept, explain what it is, and how you could imagine applying it. (Write a paragraph for each article -- I expect this document will be about two pages.) Upload your concept document to Blackboard.