To Homework or not to Homework that is the question?!

From the beginning of time teachers have assigned homework.  This is an age old tradition in schools.  The question is not whether we should assign homework it is what kind of homework should we assign and is the homework we are assigning effective?  I hope that the homework that I send home nurtures the entire child and doesn't cause discouragement.  Students are given homework based on the needs and strengths of each student.

The Educational Leadership Journal stated that best practices for homework need to include 5 components.  They are:

1.Clear academic purpose- This is to make sure that what the students are asked to do actually works on the skill that is trying to be accomplished.  The example of writing your spelling words three times each is good to practice writing but not understanding how to spell a word.  An alternative is to learn the spelling rule with each word or to create something with the word.

2.Effectively demonstrates student learning- This is the thought that although they regurgitate information that does not show learning.  Having a student show something in a diorama might show that they can build but not that they know anything about the subject.  Instead they need to create something that can show that they grasp the subject they are learning.

3.Promotes ownership- Whatever is assigned needs to show that the student can be in charge of their learning.  So they can say “I know” or “I did”.  This is where they students is allowed to show what they know in a way that they are proud to show. Not just read and learn but maybe create something to show knowledge.

4.Instills a sense of competence- This is where it is difficult for teachers to make each homework so that all students can feel accomplished.  If a student does not feel like they had to try to do their work of if it is too hard then there is not a sense of accomplishment.

5.Aesthetically pleasing-  This is to get the buy in from the students.  Papers with plenty of room to show work and answers, also less words on a page.  When homework looks like fun there will be a greater buy in.




I believe that if these 5 steps are followed then students full potential will be reached and utilized. 

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction

There are many differences between fiction and non-fiction text.  Both text can be useful in teaching ELLs.  There are some things that might make each type of text hard for students to understand.  Below is a description of each type of text and how each feature looks in the books.

Non Fiction Books:
Real photos
Text features such as: Captions, Glossary, Headings, Index
Intended to teach and inform
Research based


Fiction Books:
Illustrations and Drawings
Chapters
Characters
Beginning Middle and End
Intended for entertainment no research

Non-fiction text is very helpful for building schema with ELLs.  NF text is also helpful for students to build vocabulary of unfamiliar words.  In the back of NF text there is a glossary to provide a definition of an unfamiliar word.  The bright colors and pictures provide enrichment for students.  In my class we have Time for Kids and National Geographic Kids subscriptions.  Both of these provide non-fiction text at a 3rd grade reading level.

Fiction text is widely used in classrooms.  This is the most common form of literature found in classrooms.  This text is used because it has a beginning, middle and end.  It also provides predictable text and is accessible to students.  It is tough sometimes for ELLs because of the non realistic subjects that may be in stories.  If there is not background knowledge then comprehension will be lower. 

Both of these text are helpful when used with assistance and some pre-teaching. 

A Sheltered Lesson

Today I watched the video of Lida Miller.  She was teaching the concept of a grocery store and shopping.  You can tell that she spent lots of time planning this lesson.  Ms. Miller brought in many visual aids.  She scaffolded by relying on a past trip to the farm.  They saw many pictures of the farm  and discussed all that they saw on the trip.  Pictures included animals and food.   Then the teacher moved in to showing the real vegetables to the students.  She showed them how to touch and smell the vegetables.  The students were vary excited to actually interact with the vegetables.  Even the students whom couldn't move or talk got to interact with they help of pictures and the teacher.  Ms. Miller did not yell and anounciated all of the words so that to build new vocabulary.  The song that Ms. Miller sang about the food pyramid introduced a lot of new words also.  There wasn't a lot of background that was built so that the students were able to sing along.  Also the students stayed pretty sedentary throughout the Lesson. Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners (2006, p.24) Says that a good sheltered lesson has the following components:
Manipulatives, miniatures, objects, realia
Visuals (photos, pictures, drawings)
Body movement
Clear expression and articulation
Short, simple sentences
Eye contact with students
High-frequency vocabulary
Personalized language and nouns favored over pronouns
Prior content introduction

Overall Ms. Miller had a very well planned successful sheltered lesson.

Teaching Techniques

There are two different approaches and views of how to learn language.  There is Learning or Aquisition. 
Learning entails:
Teaching Skills
Explicit
Isolated (one skill)
Habits
Teacher directed
Concious
Reinforced
Objective
Errors Corrected.

Aquisition is a little different it is more exploratory and includes:
Whole Language
Sub Concious learning
Immersed
Model vs. Correction
Intigrated
Making Meaning
Exposure
Authentic
Imbedded

Below are some classroom activities that may be seen in a variety of subjects and are identified as either being Learning or Aquisition.


Student DirectedPage 48, Activity from Essential Linguistics, Freeman & Freeman

The student:
(L) Learned/Word Recognition
(A) Aquisition / sociopsycholinguisitc view

look up words in the dictionary to write definition (L)
make a Venn diagram to compare two stories (L)
practice sounding out words (L)
read in round-robin fashion (L)
correct peers when they make a mistake during reading (A)
identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound (L)
group cards with classmates’ names by a criterion on such as first     and last letter (L)
write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same  sound (A), (L) Ryming
ask the teacher how to spell any word they don’t know(L)
read a language experience story they have created with the teacher (A)
work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences (L), (A)
divide words into syllables(L)
on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound (A)
make alphabet books different topics(L)

The teacher:

preteaches vocabulary (L)
does a shared reading with a big book (L)
makes sure that students read only books that fir their level(L)
has students segment words into phonemes (L) (A)
writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words (A)
asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter (A)
uses decodable books(A)
sets aside time for SSR each day (L)
teaches Latin and Greek roots (L)
has students meet in literature circles (L)
conducts phonics drills (A)
chooses predictable texts (L)
teaches students different comprehension strategies (L)
does a picture walk of a new book (L)
uses a variety of worksheet to teach different skills (L)

Children's book Review.

The books that I am reviewing really help with sequencing.  They are Inside a House That is Haunted There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.  Both books are about Halloween and start off with just one thing and add on as the story continues.   Sequencing is a skill that as a reader can be very difficult if you lack the comprehension.

For Inside a House That is Haunted The main concern is the expressions that each character has might scew understanding.  Words like swooped, jolted and startled.  Another aspect that might cause confusion with comprehension is that on one page the story from the past pages are written without periods and are a long sentence.  This is because the story is a Rebus Read-Along which is continuous building story.  Also the unreal nature of the characters in the book might cause confusion.  It is helpful that these characters are all Halloween characters it might help with the understanding that these characters are not real and that spiders and cats cannot talk.  It is also helpful that this book  has pictures representing the objects that are in the sentence so the hand in the sentence "here is the hand that knocked on the door outside the house that is haunted"  the Hand is an actual monster hand not the word.  This really helps for comprehension and for learners that might not be strong readers.  The circle asspect of the story is also great for comprehension because it provides a chance for the student to become more familiar with words through repetition.

The second book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a book that also works on sequencing.   This old lady swallows a bat and then swallows all kinds of objects to get rid of the bat.  This book may be hard for ELLs and comprehension for a variety of reasons.  The idea of a person swallowing any object is very abstract.  Students might question why a woman would swallow anything other than food might hurt comprehension.  The students might be so stuck on the lady swallowing anything that they might not be able to move on.  There are also a variety of words that are a challenge for ELLs.  The words “shush”, “groan”, “rattle” are all very hard to relate to and to explain.  The word “shush” is used as a owl “shushing” a bat inside the lady’s stomach.  The story rhymes which is very helpful for ELLs, this makes the story flow and the higher the fluency the higher comprehension. 



References
Capucilli, A. S. (1998). Inside a House That Is Haunted: A Rebus Read-Along Story (Rebus Read-Along Stories). New York: Cartwheel Books.
Colandro, L. (2002). There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Bat. New York: Scholasti

Language!

So I have decided to conquer a language that I'm extremely unfamiliar with.  I chose Chinese.  This is  a language that at one time my sister could speak and read but a Chinese language learner will never have the correct dialect.  I have borrowed some of her books that were in Chinese.  I tried to learn some characters so that I would become more familiar with the shapes and what they meant.  This did not help at all.  The smallest addition or change from the initial shape was a whole different word or meaning.  It was difficult to remember which way to turn the pages and to red up and down verses left to right.  This is probably one of the hardest languages I could have chosen due to its complete difference from my native language.  There is not any hope for me to train myself to read Mandarin. 

If there was a key or something that I could look at to know what each character meant that would help.  But each shape is a phrase and means something different depending on the words around it.  I also feel that if there were some pictures that went along with what I was reading it might help me to use clues to solve my reading.  This activity really helped me to realize that patience is necessary for all learners  of any language.  Also it is  important to provide many opportunities to use the native language while learning the new one.  I found myself trying to relate to the context of the story and comprehension really got messed up when I couldn't relate to the topic. 

What a lovely realtionship!

We all know that Oral language and the reading process are are intertwined.  When a child is first learning they learn from their surroundings and the language that is used in their households.  When a child is taught in a certain dialect or language then they will uphold what they have been taught.  Oral language develops before written language is even possible.  Children coo then mimic then transition into words then short sentences and last is full sentences and conversation.   Once a child is ready they will take time to scribble, draw mimic word structures and finally write words.  At about the same time they are writing words they are realizing that written words are a way to communicate.  Children will take time to sound words out using written lettters they know and turn them into sounds they know.  This is the root of reading.  If a child can not think and hear the sound that the letters make it is a lot more difficult to read.  Association beteween oral language and sounds and the written words it what makes a students successful.  If there is a delay between hearing words and making the sound then there will be a sure delay in reading.