Teaching Main Ideas & Details

This week, I've been working hard with my ESOL students (both 2nd and 4th grades) on Main Ideas & Supporting Details. This can be an extremely hard concept for many students to grasp, but it can be especially difficult for English language learners.

I've never enjoyed teaching main idea and details because of how frustrating it is for students- I get frustrated watching them. Plus, I've always had a really hard time finding a creative way to teach it. Not that there's anything wrong with the old "read a passage fill in a graphic organizer", but My students need something more creative and memorable to make it really stick. So, I needed to really search deep within the bowels of my brain. I came up with something that I liked, but you never really know how it will go until you give it a try, right?

Since my students often shut down when they see a block of text, I decided to (re)introduce main idea using pictures. I created a little worksheet with some pictures. The first picture was of a ship sinking. I asked students about what was happening in the picture. Of course, they all answered "The ship is sinking in the ocean". Then I asked them what else they saw in the picture. We talked about the water filling up the ship, that we could see that the ship was broken in half, and that we could see there were no other people around to help.

Together, we determined that the main idea, or most important idea in the picture, was that the ship was sinking. All the other things we could see were supporting details details. When asked them why they didn't say anything about the few clouds in the sky or the nice weather. "Because, Mrs. J, that doesn't have anything to do with the ship sinking!" one little firecracker responded. Exactly! This was the perfect opportunity to remind them that supporting details always tell us more about our main idea. If they don't, then they aren't really supporting details. I then had the students look at three more pictures and write a main idea for each one. We discussed as a class, then talked about the supporting details in each picture that helped us figure out the main ideas.

Then, I had created a "main idea match" by writing three different paragraphs, all about the same subject (in this case it was cats). I cut the paragraphs into strips with a sentence on each strip. My fourth graders had to identify the main ideas and then match the supporting details. For my 2nd graders, I had the main ideas identified, and they simply had to match the appropriate supporting details to the main ideas.

I will follow up with some "main idea bags". These bags will be full of pictures cut out of magazines. Each of the bags will have a common theme, I have a cute little worksheet where students will list the items in their bag, figure out what they have in common and how they can be used, and then determine the "main idea" of each bag. They will use their main ideas to create their own "main idea" paragraph.

I'm so excited, and the students really seemed to understand main idea for the first time all year! If you're struggling to make main idea understandable for your students, I've put these activities plus several more all together in my Main Idea Activities and Printables pack at TpT. It's only $5.00. Just click the picture below!

Testing Freebies Linky Party

In my state, we just finished administering the state standardized math and reading tests required by NCLB. However, I know that many of you will be tackling the required standardized testing in the coming weeks. With that in mind, I've decided to host a linky party! If you are a TpT teacher-author and have a great testing-related freebie or a blog post about a testing-related idea, please sign up to share!

To Link Up Your Product:

• Choose a free Testing-Related TpT product (math, reading, or general testing) OR blog post
• Link up the product page OR specific blog post here
• One submission per seller please!
• Please promote this link up on your blog, Facebook, twitter etc and provide a link back to this post!

Buyers: Here is a great place to find some terrific testing-related resources and ideas!

Upper Elementary Linky Party

Hey y'all! I just wanted to take a moment to let you know about the linky party that is going on over at Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies. It's all 3rd-6th grade teacher blogs where you can find a wealth of great ideas, freebies, and best practices! Drop by to find over 100 participating upper elementary blogs!

 

I also wanted to let you know about another new blog, The Tower of Babel! This new collaborative blog is aimed at ESL/EFL, world language, and international teachers. They will be bringing you stories from their classrooms around the world, great ideas, tips for language learning, freebies, great products for your classroom, and articles about current research and best practices.Stop by and check it out!

  

 

Reaching out to the families of your English Language Learners

So, you have my deepest apologies that I have been MIA. I came down with the FLU! The last time I had the flu was when I was in college 10 years ago and got it as a result of the flu shot. Therefore, I don't get the shot, and I also don't usually get the flu.....until this year! Wowie......does it really take it out of you!

On the upside though, I'm feeling better and starting to get back in action. I don't have a great, new or exciting product to share with you right now. I can tell you about my Elementary Geometry Vocabulary Matching Cards, or you can head over to The Lesson Cloud and read all about them!

Today, I really wanted to discuss with you some ways that you can connect to the families of your English language learners. Every school that I have worked at has struggled with bringing in families to school events and PTA meetings, other than events where students were performing. At many of the schools I have worked at, this has been due to the fact that 2/3 or more of the school's population was LEP (Limited English Proficient). Often, due to cultural reasons, work reasons, and a myriad of other reasons, LEP parents are less likely to attend school functions and be actively involved in their student's education if they don't speak English.


I believe that parent involvement, whether in the home or at school, in English or the native language, is an important part of the school and learning experience, and this is especially true for LEP students. So, how can you help your LEP parents, especially those who don't speak English, to become more involved in their child's school experience?

Find out what times work best for your LEP parents and be flexible.
At many of the schools that I worked at, our LEP parents did not attend after-school events because they were working. In my experience, LEP parents often depend on older children to watch younger children in the evenings so they can work. Therefore, their days were free. We got huge response from our LEP parents by holding informational breakfasts. We would also set aside an area with activities and snacks for non-school age children with a staff assistant to monitor them so that parents could focus on the information they were receiving. Work with the ESOL Specialist at your school to make an event happen for your LEP parents.

Provide translators for informational sessions and school events.
Many LEP parents don't speak English themselves. The ones who do may still struggle to keep up with the pace of discussion at meetings or events. Most school districts with large numbers of LEP students receive Title III funds which can be used to purchase translators for events and document translation services. If parents know that they will be able to understand what is going on, ask questions, and participate, they will be more likely to show up. Would you go to a meeting that was held in Russian if you didn't speak Russian?

Show parents how much you appreciate their culture and diversity.
Hold schoolwide celebrations of cultural events like Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Heritage Month, Cinco de Mayo, Lunar New Year, and other relevant cultural holidays to provide students the opportunity to learn about lots of different cultures. Invite students and their families to share cultural artifacts, recipes, experiences, music, and more.
Furthermore, encourage parents who don't speak English to practice math, reading and writing skills in the native language with their students. Students who have a strong foundation in their native language are usually more successful in acquiring a second language. This shows parents that you value their knowledge, language, culture, and contribution to their child's education.

Make use of community resources.
If your school has a large population of Peruvian immigrants, for example, then there are likely to be more than one Peruvian owned restaurant or business nearby. Visit those business and see if they would be willing to donate items for your parent meeting- food, door prizes, etc. Learn about other community organizations that speak the native languages of your LEP families and that can provide support and other services for them so that you can make this information available to families.

Provide volunteer opportunities for your LEP parents.
Find some tasks in your school that require little or no English proficiency, such as making copies, stuffing envelopes, or assembling bulletin boards. Make these available as volunteer opportunities for your LEP parents. If you have parents who are bilingual, ask them to volunteer to translate for school events or as a parent liaison.  

I hope these tips will help you to reach out to the families of your LEP students and help them become involved in their child's education. If you'd like more tips on the subject, check out this website.

Teacher Feature

Welcome to The ESOL Odyssey's Teacher Feature! Once a month, I will be featuring one amazing teacher who works with English Language Learners in the classroom. If you are interested in becoming a featured teacher, please fill in this form!

Meet Michele Luck!

Location: Kentucky

Tell us a little about your teaching career: I have taught grades 6-12 in Social Studies and Language Arts for 13 years. I am currently teaching 10th grade World History and an elective Mock Trial class.

What's your favorite thing about being a teacher? I love it when I can get my students interested in the topics I enjoy. It is much more fun to teach when everyone is wanting to know more!

What is your experience teaching English Language Learners? I have taught students from around the world, but we currently have a large population of Burmese refugees in my school. This has been my greatest ESL challenge since there are few resources available to me to help these students understand and learn.

Tell us about the English language learners you teach.   I have 2-3 ESL/ELL students in each of my 6 classes. They range in proficiency from very little English language usage to some who are almost fluent. The most significant influence is the time the students have been in the U.S. and have had access to the U.S. classroom.

How do you differentiate learning in your classroom to meet the needs of your English language learners? To help reach all of my students (ESL, Spec. Ed. and all of those with different learning styles and needs), I am very visual and interactive in my classroom. Many of the activities and lessons I create involve student interaction, visual analysis, and cooperative opportunities. My students are often learning through images, videos, music, and more.

In the classroom I....I love to dance. With that love, I have taught my students different dances appropriate for the classes I am teaching. My favorite has to be teaching the Charleston in my U.S. History classes. There is nothing more fun than watching 17 year old boys attempt the kicks!

Outside the classroom I....When I am not in my classroom, I am traveling. My husband and I love to camp, making our way across the United States and visiting the many state and national parks. We are also great fans of Disney World!

I bet you didn't know that....Outside of my classroom, I appear as extremely professional and calm. Inside my classroom, I dance and sing, and take on a variety of personae in my daily teaching. My students don't know what to expect, and my colleagues would never believe the students if they went out and told them!

Share your links with us: 
My TpT Store
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Thanks, Michele, for being part of the Teacher Feature! I hope to hear from and about many more of you!

Music and English Language Learners

Did you know that March is Music In Our Schools Month? I think that music is an important part of education, and should be included in all programs of study K-12. I started band in 6th grade, and continued all through high school, and even into my sophomore year of college. I played (and still occasionally play) piano, clarinet, bass clarinet and tuba. I participated in concert band and marching band each year, and believe it made a huge difference in my education.

According to Nature Neuroscience (2007), Students in schools with strong music education programs perform higher on standardized tests than students in schools with deficient music education programs. Other research shows that playing a musical instrument increases the brain's sensitivity to speech and language sounds, as well as long term memory. VH1's Save the Music Website has an excellent collection of research statistics and information on the benefits of music education.

So how can teachers of English language learners use these benefits to help our students? The first is to figure out how you can incorporate music into your own classroom. Beyond that, how can you help to improve the quality of the music education program in your school?

When I taught middle school, and we received a newcomer, the counselor and I would discuss what classes would be appropriate for the student. I always recommended a chorus class. The research shows that music is connected to the brain's speech and language center, which is exactly what a newcomer ELL needs to stimulate. Students get practice making the sounds and shapes of the language, without having to deal with the stress of understanding it. Even better, they are surrounded by others and don't have to feel ostracized for accents or mistakes.

Beyond academics, participation in a music program, whether choral or instrumental, can help to raise a student's level of self-confidence, which can translate in to an improvement in academics as well. It can give students the opportunity to find or develop a talent that can eventually help them win money for college.

Music can also make the environment more comfortable. Krashen's affective filter hypothesis states the theory that if a student is uncomfortable, for any reason, he or she will be unable to learn language effectively. This seems to make sense for any student in any subject area. Playing music at specific times to establish procedures or routines, or while students are working independently, can help to make your classroom a more comfortable environment and open your ELLs up to learning.

Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences tells us that some students have a specific intelligence for music, and learn best when music is incorporated. Other research tells us that music helps to develop long term memory. With these two pieces of information in mind, I have used simple songs written to familiar tunes to help my students develop, practice and remember important content vocabulary and academic language. Some of the strongest memories I have from elementary school are songs that my teachers used to help us learn concepts, like multiplication. Even better- have students write their own song, poem, or rap about a topic you've been studying.

Incorporate music as part of your rewards program. While I realize that most schools have bans on devices like iPods or cell phones that play music, I have had success with using these devices as part of my rewards and incentives program in my classroom. When I was teaching middle school, my students loved to listen to music. Provided that their behavior and work habits were on target, they were allowed to bring their listening devices, with headphones, to listen to on Fridays. Students had the understanding that if they brought these devices out in other classes, they would be confiscated and I would not help them. I would also occasionally allow students the privilege of playing "dj" and hooking up their device to my computer's speakers. The students who got to play "dj" enjoyed the privilege and did not push the boundaries by playing inappropriate music- in fact, they were very vigilant to make sure the music was "school safe".

Regardless of how you choose to do it, I urge you to incorporate music into your classroom learning experience. It can help improve vital brain functions related to speech and language processing, improve memory and help to make your students more comfortable and open to learning. These things will certainly help your ELLs, but I can see how they could help all the students in your class as well!

Teacher Feature

Since I started this blog, it seems that I have been doing all the talking! I love to talk, don't get me wrong, but I'd also like to know more about my readers! Therefore, I'm going to be starting a new "teacher feature". I know we have tons of fabulous teachers out there, and I want to hear from you!

Once a month, I will feature a teacher who works with ESOL students every day in the classroom. If you are currently a teacher, who works with ESOL students, I'd love to hear from you! You can be an ESOL teacher, or a mainstream teacher with a high percentage of ELLs. I want to know about you and how you work to serve your ELLs. If you're interested.....just click "Teacher Feature" below and fill in the form! You can also access the form by clicking the "Teacher Feature Signup" tab at the top of the page.

TEACHER FEATURE SIGNUP

I can't wait to hear from you!

Sign up for the monthly newsletter!

I have been putting it off, but I finally decided it was time. And voila! the monthly newsletter is born!

 If you sign up (right over there, on the right side of the screen), you'll get a monthly newsletter full of thoughts, tips, tricks and anecdotes for teaching your English Language Learners. You'll also get one exclusive monthly freebie that only newsletter subscribers will receive! In addition, you'll be the first to know about sales, freebies, and contests going on at The ESOL Odyssey or in my store, Tools for Teachers by Laurah Jurca.

I hope you'll sign up!

Oh, and HAPPY FRIDAY!!
 

Leap into TpT with a Leap Day Sale!

You don't need to get (or give) an unorthodox marriage proposal to make your leap day exciting! TpT is holding a Leap Into Leap Year Sale! With code LP29Y, you can receive 10% off at checkout. In addition, I'm offering 20% off all items $3.00 and higher in my store. That's a total savings of up to 28%!

I hope that you will join me and leap into leap year with a great sale!!

Celebrating Black History Month

I always try to include lots of cross-cultural projects into my classroom to help my students learn more about other races and cultures. So, Black History month is no different. I didn't want to go with a boring report, but I did want to do something with my ELL 2nd graders that incorporated reading and writing, while still giving the kids a chance to be creative. While I did this with 2nd grade, it can easily be adapted to work with grades 2-6 (or even higher) by raising the level of the text students use for research. For middle school, you could add a report to the project and have them make this the visual aid.

First, each student got an easy book about a famous African American to read, and a graphic organizer to fill out. The graphic organizer asked them for information about the person's birth and death, family, accomplishments, and interesting facts.

After finding all the required information, students then wrote a paragraph about their person. I provided a paragraph frame for those who struggle with writing. Then, they made and decorated a paper person, and wrote their paragraph inside the paper person's shirt.

The kids really had a blast with this, and the other teachers have not stopped complimenting! Here's what they look like:

 

Here's a video that tells you how to create your own paper people!