Strategy Implementation Report
Name: Deborah LaPierre
Dates: Weeks of 03/3/2014 and 3/14/2014 Grade Level: 5th
How does this strategy connect my content and language objectives? How does this strategy facilitate my students’ ability to access the content?
How does this strategy facilitate my students’ ability to comprehend the mentor text, build essential knowledge, or produce oral or written
discourse connected to the content objective? How does this strategy provide comprehensible input for my students?
Lesson Sequence:
1. Students will read several
Tall Tale stories including
Anne Oakley, Pecos Bill
Rides a Tornado, and Paul
Bunyan.
2. Teacher will use the think
aloud strategy to model
identifying characteristics
of a Tall Tale story using a
read aloud text.
Sheltered Instruction Strategy:
1. Use 7 steps to pre-teach key vocabulary from mentor texts.
2. Use sentence frame strategy to express key vocabulary in the
related language function of identifying.
3. Use Think Aloud strategy to model the reading
comprehension language objective of identifying key
components of a Tall Tale story.
4. Use Close Reading of Text Dependent Questions strategy to
develop students’ comprehension of text using different
types of questions.
3. Group will build
background knowledge
about Tall Tale texts using
vocabulary and reading
strategies outlined.
5. Students will complete an Information Gap prewriting
activity to assist in identifying key components of a Tall
Tale.
4. Teacher will explain how
to complete the
Information Reading Gap
prewriting strategy.
For example the information gap for Pecos Bill will be this:
5. Teacher will show
students friendly letter
exemplars.
6. Each student will complete the activity for one of the three
Tall Tales and share information with the other two students.
Figurative
language used
Page number
simile
3
4
6. Teacher will model
writing a friendly letter.
7
simile
“He’s as strong as
three bulls!”
“A fish as big as
New England..”
simile
hyperbole
What is it?
“Bill grew up
faster than weeds
in cornfield”
11
“Lightening
flashed like
fireworks”
7. Students will use the RAFT drafting strategy to write a letter
to a third grade student as a fifth grade student to explain the
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Strategy Implementation Report
characteristics of a Tall Tale story.
Content Objective:
Role
Audience
Format/genre
Topic
fifth grade
student
Third grade
student
Letter/figurative Tall Tales
language
Language Objective: Language Objectives should be directly linked to the language
Students will identify and explain
the similar characteristics of
Tall Tale stories.
skills students will need to be successful in achieving the content objective.
Students will explain the importance of figurative language in Tall
Tale stories.
Language Objective Differentiation for Proficiency Levels:
There is one level 4 ELL student in this group. I will give all students
a visual poster in the class with the definition of the different
types of figurative language and an example of each. I will also
give the level 4 student a letter frame template with proper form
and spacing for a letter.
Content and Concept Language Integration:
How have I integrated all possible domains into my teaching and learning strategies and activities?
How did this strategy help to make the content comprehensible to ELLs in my classroom?
By first using the seven step strategy to pre teach the vocabulary in conjunction with the sentence frame
strategy I am setting the students up to better comprehend a Tall Tale text embedded with figurative
language. The close reading with text dependent questions gives both me and the students an
opportunity to monitor their comprehension skills at increasing levels of complexity. At this point the
students have the skills they need in order to begin the writing phase of the unit. By using the
Information Gap prewriting strategy the students are able to focus on the key concepts that they will
need in order to successfully draft their RAFT. By supporting level 4 ELLs and all students with
letter writing models and a letter frame template, prewriting and drafting stages are appropriately
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Strategy Implementation Report
scaffolded. By combining instructional strategies designed to support ELLs in content and concept
language integration, utilizing all four key domains of language: listening, reading, speaking, and
writing my students had the best possible chance for success in meeting the content objective.
How did this strategy help the ELLs in my classroom to produce academic language and discourse?
All of these strategies helped the ELL students in my group access the content vocabulary, better
comprehend the genre of Tall Tales, and demonstrate their understanding of figurative language on
their way to successfully meeting the content objective for the unit. As Gee, Halliday, and
Schleppegrell remind us, “the amount and quality of this…writing also needs to be matched to the
specific context for the students to be able to think and write as scientists, historians, or
mathematicians…” In order for ELL students and in fact all students to be able to better understand
figurative language it needs to be imbedded in high quality instruction using authentic and
linguistically demanding literature. By utilizing the strategies that I have learned to teach vocabulary,
reading comprehension, and prewriting strategies in these lessons, my students are developing
schema about figurative language and how it impacts writing across genres.
To increase my ELLs’ engagement and interaction, the next time I try this strategy, I would …
The next time I try this strategy, I would provide my students with sentence starters to complete different
points in their letters prior to their drafting instead of after. I believe this would allow us to focus on
other areas during the editing phase of the writing process, such as consistency of verb tense and
punctuation. Because they are not only ELL students but also special education students they often
need the important connecting words and phrases given to them. Many of them have disabilities in
communication, language, and writing that compound their difficulties with written language.
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