Sketchnoting with ELLs

You may have noticed a recent trend in education toward visual notetaking, also called Sketchnoting. This practice has many benefits and applications in education, but I can see this tool as especially beneficial for our English language learners.

What are sketchnotes?

Sketchnotes are rich, visual notes created with a combination of drawings, handwritten notes, and other visual elements such as shapes and arrows. There is no set "format"- your imagination is the limit. Here's an example I created about the elements of fiction:

What are the benefits? 

The value of sketchnoting is supported by several theories, such as the dual coding theory. The dual coding theory (Paivio, 1971), states that both verbal and nonverbal processing are essential for learning. According to the theory, our minds have two separate stores of information (verbal representations and mental images) and learners require both to adequately retain and retrieve knowledge.

By drawing pictures of what they are hearing, students’ minds are engaging multiple modalities which leads to increased retention of information. According to author Wendy Pillars (Visual Notetaking for Educators), sketchnoting or ’edusketching’ can improve retention by up to 55%. This is especially important for students who are learning the content alongside the language. 

The visuals that they create during Sketchnoting can help them make important linguistic connections and support their language growth while helping them retain important content concepts. Since sketchnoting requires students to use both receptive and productive skills, along with higher-order thinking to synthesize information into a sketchnotes, students are being stretched linguistically and thinking critically. 

Sketchnotes also allow lower proficiency beginners to make notes they can understand, while connecting essential vocabulary to rich drawings and visuals, with the opportunity to incorporate their native language as needed for additional support. 

How do I get started?

This video reviews the basics of creating visual notes:

Which tools should I use? 

While there are many tools out there, I like the idea of sketchnoting by hand with paper and pens. According to Muller & Oppenheimer (2014), students who took notes by hand outperformed those who were using laptops for notetaking in conceptual understanding and long-term recall. If you must use technology for sketchnoting, I'd recommend using a tool like Adobe Draw- Sylvia Duckworth has a great presentation on using this tool for sketchnoting.

I prefer to use my RocketBook Wave for sketchnoting (mine was gifted to me at the Google Innovator Academy). I can easily digitize the notes as an image or pdf and send them off to any number of destinations (Drive, email, etc.). When my notebook is full, I can throw it in the microwave with a glass of water and erase it all so that I can reuse the notebook. Super cool!

Are you already using sketchnoting with your ELLs? Tell me how in the comments!

WIDA's 15 Essential Actions for Educators of ELLs

This year, one of the initiatives of our ESOL department is to help our teachers understand and implement the 15 Essential Actions identified by WIDA for educators of ELLs. These actions should be undertaken by all teachers working with ELLs- not just the ELL specialist!

Throughout this next school year, I'll probably make a few posts about the Essential Actions, so here's a quick video overview for you!

Summer PD Series: Academic Language Demands for ELLs

I hope all my US teachers had a fabulous Independence Day! Today continues our Summer PD series with the third installment- Academic Language Demands for ELLs. 

When working with ELLs, we not only need to consider the content that we want them to learn, but the language they need to acquire in order to access the content and be successful with the lesson. In order to be sure that we are providing appropriate scaffolds and meeting students’ language learning needs, it is essential that we take time to analyze the language demands involved in each lesson.

Since I work in a WIDA state, I use the academic language features that WIDA has laid out in order to help me break down the language demands in a lesson. Here are the components that WIDA considers, and the questions that I ask myself when planning a lesson:

• Vocabulary Usage (Word Level)- What sort of vocabulary must be learned in order for students to access the content and participate in the lesson? What vocabulary is essential for students at all levels of language proficiency? What vocabulary could be useful to teach students at each level to extend their vocabulary beyond the essential terms?
• Language Forms and Conventions (Sentence Level)- What parts of speech or grammatical structures are used when talking or writing about the topic? When listening to or reading information? Consider grammatical structures, punctuation/conventions, parts of speech, and verb tenses.
• Linguistic Complexity (Discourse Level)- What organizational patterns are used? How much language do you expect students to produce or process? What sorts of transitions are used?

Take a look at the language analysis chart below for a 4th grade lesson on equivalent fractions.

	Levels 1-2	Levels 3-5	All levels
Vocabulary Usage	fraction names: one-fourth, one-half, three-eighths	greater than, less than, smaller than, bigger than, comparison	compare, denominator, equal, equivalent, fraction, numerator, part, whole
Language Forms and Conventions	- Short, simple sentences	-Compound sentences -Use of conjunctions, such as “because” or “since” to connect thoughts -use of comparatives, such as: greater than, bigger than, smaller than	-Present tense verbs -correct use of is, is not, are and are not
Linguistic Complexity	-no use of transitions to connect sentences and phrases	-paragraph format with cohesiveness and smooth transitions
Example	¼ is equivalent to 4/8. 1/3 is not equivalent to 4/6. ½, 2/4, 4/8 and 8/16 are all equivalent fractions.	When you compare ½ and 5/8 using fraction strips, you find that they are not equivalent because 5/8 is larger than ½.
Supports/ Instruction	-Sentence frames (simple sentences) -Explicit instruction in the correct use of “is” and “are”	-Sentence frames (compound sentences) -Explicit instruction in using conjunctions to create compound sentences	Word bank

As you can see, there’s actually quite a lot of language involved in a lesson about fractions, and students must be able to understand and use this language to be able to fully access the content of the lesson. The expectations for each level are shaped by the WIDA performance definitions for each level, and organizing my thoughts into a chart like this also allows me to determine the most appropriate supports or scaffolds to put in place for each level, as well as where brief but explicit instruction in the use of certain language structures might be needed.

I also advocate sharing this chart with mainstream teachers. Language growth and development is not solely the domain of the ESOL specialist- we all share this task. Providing a completed chart to teachers gives them concrete examples of the types of language they should expect students to process and produce during the lesson, as well as suggestions for supports they can provide. Teaching mainstream classroom teachers to use this chart to analyze the language demand of a lesson allows them a way to directly support the language growth of the ELLs in their own classrooms.

Once you’ve fully analyzed the language demands of a lesson and put appropriate supports in place, be ready to watch students soar!

Summer PD Series: Cooperative Learning for ELLs

I hope you're having a great summer! Unfortunately, my own summer isn't as relaxing as it could be because we are packing to move! But, I thought I'd take a few moments out to bring you the next installment in the summer PD series!

One of the most important ways ELLs acquire language- and content- is through using the language during interactions with peers. Cooperative learning gives students a chance to process thoughts and knowledge, gain insight into the thought processes of peers, and to learn from one another.

Most importantly, it gives them a chance to use and rehearse the language we want them to learn and remember. Using small group cooperative learning can also make our ELLs feel more comfortable- talking and working with a small group of people often feels safer than whole-group situations in the classroom.

While students do need to be able to work independently using the skills and knowledge they've learned, allowing them to explore that knowledge and practice those skills with their peers prior to independent practice is a valuable part of the learning experience.

With proper scaffolding, even students at the beginning levels of proficiency can participate. As an example, when my 4th graders were doing an activity using fraction strips to find equivalent fractions, we talked about, practiced and posted the names of each of the fractions, along with the sentence frames, The fractions _____ and ______ are equivalent and The fractions _____ and _____ are not equivalent. As I circulated and listened, even my level one student fresh from Ecuador was able to participate fully and communicate her understanding.

The slideshow below outlines several easy-to-implement cooperative learning strategies that can be used in any content area!

Summer PD Series: Questioning Techniques for ELLs

Well, today is my FIRST day of summer. WHOO! It started with some Battlestar Gallactica and kitty snuggles. Then I decided to start this summer blog series. I wanted to do a series of quick, short-and-sweet mini-PDs to help teachers as they plan for next year! I'll be covering a variety of topics, starting this week with questioning techniques!

Many times when I visit mainstream classrooms, I see a lack of questions directed to ELLs- even further, those that are directed towards ELLs are often not high-quality questions. There seems to be a pervading belief that ELLs are not capable of reasoning and responding to higher-order questions. As a result, the questions that are directed at ELLs are often lower on Bloom's Taxonomy.

Here's the big secret: ELLs are absolutely capable of higher-order thinking and responding to higher-order questions! We just need to scaffold the language for them so that they are able to demonstrate their understanding.

Here is an example: I visited a classroom a few weeks ago that had just gotten a brand-new student. I was observing a lesson on the American Revolution. The ESOL teacher posed a higher order question, and students wrote their responses. Sentence starters were provided for the intermediate students, and the new student was able to write in Spanish to answer the question. Her answer was absolutely correct, then the teacher and her native language buddy helped her write it in English.

This shows that even if our ELLs don't have the language to express their knowledge and understanding of what they're learning yet, they are absolutely capable of understanding and responding to higher order questions.  We need to scaffold the language to help them!

Questioning can be as simple as asking a question and having students respond thumbs up/thumbs down, or as elaborate as using a tool like Socrative, Plickers or Kahoot. It's a great strategy for helping students monitor comprehension during reading, too.

Questioning also involves having students construct their own questions! In the slideshow below is a little more information, along with a few low-tech options for teaching ELLs to formulate, differentiate, and respond to questions!

ELL Strategy: Admission Slips

Every teacher on the planet has heard about the exit slip now- they’re a great way to assess student understanding of a topic or what the students learned during a lesson, and can be useful for making instructional decisions.

But, have you ever considered the idea of using an admission slip? An admission slip is a short activity or task that students are asked to complete before a lesson. It can be assigned as homework, or done at the beginning of a lesson as a warm-up, and gives you a chance to assess prior knowledge and help students set a purpose for reading or learning. Additionally, it helps to focus students on the reading or topic of study for the day by preparing questions, responses, ideas or predictions that anticipate the content of the reading or the lesson topic for the day.

Here are some ideas for admission slips:

• Have students look at a series of pictures that are from the text or related to the topic of study and generate three questions they think the text or lesson will answer

• Have students skim an article, looking at the images, headlines and section headings, then make a prediction on what the text is about

• Have students create a KWL chart to determine what they know and what they’d like to know about the upcoming topic of study

• Have students make a few connections between the topic of the reading and their personal experience or existing background knowledge

I would love to hear more about how or if you are using this strategy in your classroom!

Strategy of the Week

STRATEGY-

Clock Buddies

This strategy is more of a grouping strategy to ensure that your students get lots of interaction with lots of different students in the class. We all know that students tend to group with the same partner during pair-share or pair-work time. When they interact with the same student all the time, their input opportunities are limited.

When we vary the partners that our students have, we vary their exposure to different backgrounds and points of view as well. Using the “clock buddies” strategy helps to mix up the partners that each student gets.

Here’s how it works:

1.     At the beginning of the day (or the week), give each student a “clock buddies” worksheet.

2.     Have the students mix and mingle to make “appointments” with one another. They can make appointments by writing a different classmate’s name on each of their clock slots. The student whose name they wrote at 9 am (for example) should have their name in the same time slot.

3.     When you need to pair students up, you can ask them to look at their clock worksheets and meet up with their “3 o’clock buddy” (for example). 

Click the picture below to download the Clock Buddies Appointment Sheet (free!)

 

Strategy of the Week (and a freebie!)

STRATEGY-

Zip Around

This activity provides students with a chance to apply content knowledge and practice content vocabulary while developing their listening and speaking skills.

Identify the important vocabulary and facts for practice or review. Create the pattern you will use on a piece of notebook paper to ensure that you will have answers for each question and that your cards will enable you to return to the starting question. Remember that the answer should not match the question on the same card, but rather will answer the question from the card preceding it. Make sure that there is only one answer for each question included. Write the questions into the template or onto index cards.

For example one card might say: “I have soil. Who has what plants need to make their own food?” The card that follows that would read “I have sunlight. Who has the part that plants use to take water from the soil?” The third card would then read,  "I have roots. Who has the part of the plant containing the reproductive organs?"   Clearly, this strategy can be adapted for many different content areas and topics.

Print these cards out on cardstock and laminate before playing to make them last longer.

1. Mix up the cards, and then pass one out to each student.
2. The first student to go should not read his or her “I have”, but instead begin with “Who has….?”
3. The student who has the answer responds with “I have….”. “Who has…?”
4. This pattern continues until each student has read his/her answer and question and you end with the student who began.

For the FREE TEMPLATE I created, click the picture below. You can also find a ready-to-go Solar System Zip-Around in my TpT store. 

 

ENJOY!!!

In a nutshell....

A freebie!

This year I am working with fourth graders at my school, and one homeroom class has several newcomer students who don't know their numbers in English yet. To help them as they're learning, I created these Spanish-English number charts. I plan to print them back-to-back, laminate them, and then punch them with a three-hole punch so that the students can put them in their notebooks and always have them to refer back to. So, I'm offering this as a freebie for you too! It can also be useful to Spanish teachers who are teaching the numbers.

CLICK THE PICTURE TO DOWNLOAD THIS FREEBIE!!

What should I know about my ESOL students?

As we return to school each year, we face the daunting task of getting to know our students. Teachers can have anywhere from 20 to 120 students to get to know each year- the task can be fun, but that's a lot of kids to learn about!

Knowing specific information about your ESL students in particular can help you to better serve them. Here are some things that you might want to find out about your ESL students:

• Home language- Knowing a student's home language can help you when communicating with family, but it can also help you instructionally, especially when the student is literate in his or her native language. For example, Spanish speaking students can benefit from knowledge of cognates. Knowing a student's home language can also better help you understand some of the student's language difficulties as well. For example, many Asian languages do not use articles, so many Asian ELLs have difficulty using articles in English. 
• English speakers in the home- Knowing whether or not a parent or someone else at home speaks English not only facilitates communication with parents and guardians, but it also can give you an insight into how much academic help is available to the student at home.
• Student's country of birth and family country of origin- Did you know that many students who receive ESL services and who speak another language in the home are born in the United States? That is not to say there are plenty born in other countries, but a good portion of the ESL population is American-born. However, their parents usually came here from another country and it is important to know which country, so that you can better understand the family culture. For students who did come here from another country, understanding the student's culture can help you to build a stronger relationship with the student.
• Student's entry date into US Schools- In most cases, this is a good indicator of how long the student has been in US schools. The rare exception is the student who was in US schools for a year and then perhaps returned to the home country for another year or more. Knowing how much schooling a student has had in the US can be a good indicator of whether or not the student is progressing steadily in his or her English language development.
• Who the student lives with- Understanding the family dynamics can better help you to understand any problems the student may have and can better help you understand whether the student is struggling because of language, or because maybe something else is going on in the home. Many ESL students may have left parents or siblings behind in another country, and may be living with aunts or uncles. Some students may live with extended family. Some students may have many younger siblings and be expected to help with their care. Knowing these things about your student may help you to understand why homework is not completed or why a child falls asleep in class.

The more we know about our students, the better we can understand them. When we understand where our students are coming from, we can provide the best instruction and support possible.

ESOL Mythbusters

It is time to go back to school, and that means that many teachers are meeting their students for the first time. Some teachers may be surprised to learn that they have more students in their class who speak a second language in the home than they expected.

According to the National Council for Teachers of English, English Language Learners (ELLs) now comprise 10.5% of the K-12 student population. Furthermore, in grades 7-12, the number of ELLs increased 70% between 1992 and 2002. So, it makes sense to take a closer look at some of those myths about ELLs and BUST them!

Myth: A student has acquired a second language once he or she can speak it.
As I discussed in this article, there are two types of language that we acquire when learning a second language. The first is Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), which allow us to complete everyday tasks like following directions, making small talk, and asking and answering questions. The other type of language we acquire is called Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALPs). This is the type of language that allows us to be successful in a school environment- academic vocabulary and structure. Research shows that it takes approximately 1-2 years to master BICS, and 5-7 years (or more) to master CALPs. Educators must be aware of and make the distinction between the two types of language in order to properly assess their student's level of language proficiency. A good example for most teachers is to think back to your own foreign-language learning in high school or college. Unless you majored in foreign language, you likely acquired only enough of that language to be a successful tourist or at most, a conversationalist. If you were placed in an academic environment with that level of language, you would have a very difficult time, despite the fact that you "speak" the language!

Myth: Second language learning processes are the same for all students.
As teachers, we know that no two students are the same, and this goes for ELLs as well. Just because they have a common problem (a lack of English proficiency) does not mean that they all need the same materials and methods. Just as we are expected to differentiate for other students at different levels, we must also differentiate among our ELLs. Many teachers make the mistake of giving the same modified work to all ELLs in the class, regardless of their level of proficiency. This means that all of the ELLs are not having their needs met. A classroom teacher should consult with the ESOL teacher at his or her school to get copies of the results of the yearly English Language Proficiency test for each ELL in their class. If necessary, the teacher should ask the ESOL teacher to explain what the different levels of proficiency mean. Once the classroom teacher better understands the different levels of proficiency represented by the ELLs in his or her class, then he or she is better able to make appropriate differentiations to meet the needs of all ELLs in the class.

Myth: Teaching English Language Learners means focusing primarily on vocabulary.
While explicit vocabulary instruction is important and vital for English language learners, the teacher must remember that the vocabulary means nothing if the students are not able to understand it and use it in context. This means that they must also acquire the content of the subject area, and not just the vocabulary. Word walls are a great tool for newcomer ELLs, but I like to recommend sentence walls for older ELLs, especially in content area classes. Sentence walls can help ELLs put the vocabulary that they've used into the correct context and sentence structure for the content area.
  
Myth: Using strategies to help ELLs in my class will only benefit the ELLs.
The truth is that English language learners aren't the only ones struggling with reading, writing and understanding academic language- many of the native English speaking students in our schools are deficient in academic language. Using strategies and activities that help to teach and reinforce academic vocabulary and language structures will help ALL students who are behind in understanding and using academic language. 

Myth: Making modifications to lessons and classwork takes too much time.
I won't tell you that making modifications doesn't take time, because it does. However, many teachers often teach the same grades and/or classes for years at a time, and once you've modified some material- you have that modified material to make use of year after year. Some teachers become frustrated when talking about modifications because they picture themselves spending hours and hours creating special assignments for their ELL students and falling behind in creating assignments for other students. As with most things, there is a learning curve. I will say that the more you modify assignments and the better you know your students' abilities, the easier it will become to make appropriate modifications. I've written several articles about how to make simple modifications that you can read back on, but I'll quickly remind you that there are three specific ways you can modify an assignment:

• Change the language process needed to complete the task- for example, instead of having students write a sentence to go with a picture, you might have an ELL match a picture to an already written sentence
• Change the grouping strategy- for example, instead of having a student work independently, have ELLs work in pairs or triads, either with one another or with a native language buddy
• Change the content delivery- for example, instead of the grade level text the rest of the class is using, ELLs might benefit from a lower-level text covering the same material, or you can change the text by simplifying or expounding the text

As always, I hope that this article helps you to better understand and serve your ELLs. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Dynamic Priming through the Senses

      One of the most important things you can do for your ELLs before reading is to provide plenty of dynamic priming. Priming combines the steps I've written about previously: activating background knowledge and building background knowledge. According to Brown (2010), priming not only helps students make connections to previously acquired background knowledge, but also assists students in closing the gaps that do exist in that knowledge by building new background.   Brown (2010) also asserts that priming requires that teachers come up with creative ideas to facilitate students in the building of background knowledge. Priming can be applied not only to content learning, but also to pre-reading preparation.

      One strategy for dynamic priming involves actively engaging the students in the topic of a reading by creatively allowing the student to experience some aspect of the idea or topic through sensory perception: sight, smell, touch, taste, sound, or even emotion. This type of dynamic priming should also appeal to a variety of multiple intelligences, and I have found that the sensory nature of such activities  will further aid in motivating students.

1.      Visualization. Guided visualization can be used in one of two ways. The first, guided visualization, involves giving students specific details about a place, idea, or concept to visualize. The second is to give students a vague prompt, and have them create their own visualization based on their background and experiences (schemata). For example, if you will be reading about different bodies of water, you might give students the following prompt: “You are standing next to the water’s edge and….”. Give students a moment to visualize a body of water that they have been near (it may be a water, creek, stream, ocean, even a fountain!). Encourage them to think of sensory details in this place. After the visualization, give students a chance to share what they saw with classmates. Students will describe a variety of bodies of water, sights, sounds and smells. If however, you are planning to teach about the water cycle, you might guide students through a visualization with the story of a water drop travelling through each stage of the water cycle, having students close their eyes and imagine each event as you describe it.

2.      Personal and tactile experiences. If at all possible, try to create opportunities for personal and tactile experiences that will help students make connections and build background knowledge. If you will be reading a story about flying a kite, take the students outside with kites on a windy day. If you are learning about soil and plants, bring seeds, soil and plant parts for students to touch and smell. If you’re doing a non-fiction reading about apples, bring different varieties of apples for students to sample. These types of hands-on experiences help to add information to a student’s schema of a topic or concept, and will aid in reading comprehension.

3.      What do you hear? This activity guides students in imagining and hearing the types of sounds that may be associated with a particular word, idea, or topic. For example, if you are reading a story about a little girl’s day at the beach, it would be a valuable experience to imagine and even make the sounds that students might hear at the beach. Students who have been to the beach can share their ideas, thus activating their prior knowledge and aiding the students who have not been to the beach in building new background before the story.  Together as a class, you would first brainstorm the different sounds you might hear at the beach (children laughing, the crash of waves, seagulls, the hum of boat engines, vendors selling sodas, etc). When you have a list, ask for volunteers and assign each volunteer a sound to make. Have students close their eyes and visualize a beach (or display a picture of a beach) while the volunteers make their sounds. Alternatively, the teacher could locate a CD, tape, or mp3 of related sounds and play them for students, then asking students to share the images that came to their mind when hearing the different sounds.

4.      My five senses. Introduce students to an idea or a topic related to the reading. Show a picture to provide a visual to go along with the idea. Have students complete the “my five senses” statements:

                                                                          i.      I see…

                                                                        ii.      I smell…

                                                                      iii.      I touch… (or I feel…)

                                                                      iv.      I taste…

                                                                        v.      I hear…

Continuing with the example of the beach, for a story about a little girl’s day at the beach, a student’s responses may look something like this: I see sand, water, children playing, and people in bathing suits. I smell the salty smell of the water, burgers cooking on a grill and fishy seaweed. I feel the roughness of the sand, the cool wetness of the water and the warmth of the sun. I taste cold drinks and salty ocean water. I hear children laughing and mothers yelling.

5.      Acting it out. When introducing a new concept, it can be useful to have students act out the concept using key vocabulary. For example, if you are about to read a story about a rainforest, and you have introduced the key vocabulary, choose students to act out the different parts of a rainforest (trees, sun, rain, animals, ground, canopy), and ask the other students to identify the different parts. Returning to the story of the little girl at the beach, ask a group of volunteers to act out the roles of a family at the beach and things they might do. If you are reading about a restaurant, have students divide into small groups and spend a few minutes pretending to be customers and workers at a restaurant.