Expanding Horizons Implementing a Summer Enrichment Program to
Promote Academic Oral Discourse for ELL and other
Challenged Students
Presented by Tiffany Rose & Cheryl Harrel
WABE - April 11, 2014
Intro –
• Tiffany Rose
• Cheryl Harrel
School Demographics…
• Largest elementary school in Mukilteo
• 800 students, K-5
• 86 % poverty
• 49 % qualified transitional bilingual students – although 65%
Hispanic and 10% other ethnicities where English is not the first
language of the home
• 12% qualified special education students
(source – OSPI Washington State Report Card)
• Moved from “emerging school” designation to “focus school” in
the fall of 2012
The germination of an idea…
• What enrichment services could be provided to this
school to help students bridge the gap?
• What would be the focus?
• Who would be the targeted population?
• Who would teach?
• Who would design, implement, and monitor the program
results?
• How would this be significantly different from other
summer programs funded through Title?
Expanding Horizons
Summer Program was Born!
• Oral language development/discourse, through the content of
science, was set as the enduring understanding of the program…
“Students will enhance language through reading,
writing, listening and speaking to convey ideas
precisely through general academic and
domain specific sentences”.
• Why this focus on oral language development?
Common Core
State Standards
The New Standards…
• raise the bar for learning;
• raise the demand for language;
• call for a high level of classroom discourse
across all subject areas.
Considerations
• Students should not be removed from the challenges set out in
the standards, but rather supported in meeting them.
• ELL students can meaningfully participate in instruction through
imperfect language.
• Instruction must immerse students in meaning making language
and literacy activities with appropriate scaffolding.
(Schleppegrell, M. J., 2011. Academic language
in teaching and learning, The Elementary School Journal,
112 (3), 409-4118. doi: 10.1086/663297)
“Language is pretty invisible if you know it well.
It is NOT invisible if you don’t know it well…”
Dr. Lily Wong Fillmore
(http://blogs.egusd.net/win/2013/01/15/language-is-prettyinvisible-if-you-know-it-well/)
Overview of Curricular Choices and
Professional Development Plan
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Science curriculum – Delta Science
Life science focus
Ecosystems in particular
2 teachers per grade level (1-5)
1 para per classroom
Oral language development curriculum (used by
para-educators) – “Let’s Talk About It”
(Mondo Publishing http://www.mondopub.com/c/@7mzHBE1szxoaM/Pages/product.html?nocache@1+rec
ord@S5044)
Strategy set used to make content accessible and
provide multiple opportunities for discourse –
Project GLAD
Professional Development for Teachers
Before, During, and After Program…
• 3 days of release time to train with instructional
facilitators (May/June)
• On site meetings as needed with lead facilitator and
principal during the 5 week program (July)
• Follow up survey and debrief at program’s end
(August)
When training the teachers who were going to
teach in the program, we used a “business”
metaphor…
• Chief Executive Officer: District Superintendent
• Chief Operations Officer: Exec Director of Teaching and
Learning
• Chief Financial Officer: Director of Categorical Programs
• Chief Compliance Officer: Retired principal
• Head Biologist: Science TOSA
• Crew: Instructional Facilitators
• Consultants: Literacy TOSA and Title Instructional Facilitator
Structure of 3 Release Training Days
Teacher Training Day 1
• Individual grade level GLAD unit overview
• GLAD strategy review
• Daily GLAD strategy implementation
schedule
• Nuts and bolts and logistics of program
• Afternoon prep materials time
Teacher Training Day 2
• Intro to Delta science manuals & curriculum
• GLAD strategy infusion
• Assessment
Teachers working through how they would incorporate GLAD
strategies into their teaching of the science kit
On Training Day 2, para-educators had their own
training, and then joined the teachers for joint
planning and materials creation
Para-educator Training
• Pre and Post Assessment
• Let’s Talk About It Curriculum
• ELD Group Frame
Teacher Training Day 3
• “Deep Dive” into Delta science curriculum/kits
• Critter care
• Science safety
3 hours for Oral Language
Development
1. GLAD Unit: Overarching GLAD unit to
support the life science theme
2. Delta Science: Interactive life science
curriculum with live organisms to keep
students motivated and engaged
3. Let’s Talk About It: Oral language
curriculum to expand student oral
language production using the appropriate
forms and functions of language taught by
para-educators
Intentionally taught “Tier 2” vocabulary
along with science content academic
(“Tier 3”) vocabulary
Enduring Understanding: Students will enhance language through
reading, writing, listening and speaking to convey ideas precisely through
general academic and domain specific sentences.
Essential Question:
How do organisms interact
differently between other organisms
and their environments?
3rd Grade
Language CCSS
Oral Language
Sentence
Frames
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
L3: Apply Knowledge
of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
L6: Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing,
speaking and listening.
SL1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaboration with diverse partners, building on others’
ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
*Explain or Describe
*Sequence
*Compare/Contrast
*Cause and Effect
*Proposition and
Support
Problem/Solution
Class Norms & Set-up
Science Content
Lessons #s
Activities 1-3 (Note #3 is
a 2-day Activity.
Act#1: Identify
Tier 2
Vocabulary
Tier 3
Vocabulary
Activities 3-6
Act#4: Contrast,
Simulate
Activities 7-9 (Note:
Includes an Activity 6
revisit)
Activities 7 & 10-12
(Note: Includes an
Activity 7 revisit)
Act#7: NA
Act#10: Investigate
Act#2: Observe,
Compare, Differences
Act#5: NA
Act#8: Describe,
Measure, Discuss
Act#11: Distinguish,
Determine
Act#3: Record, Classify
Act#6: Characteristics
Act#9: Test
Act#12: Formulate,
Design, Carry Out
Act#1: Ecosystem,
Habitat
Act#4: Aquarium,
Community, Population
Act#7: Hay Infusion,
Populations
Act#10: Budding, Frond,
Reproduce
Act#8: Foot, Head, Shell,
Tentacle, Stimuli
Act#11: Consumer, Food
Chain, Producer
Act#9: Fins, Gills, Scales
Act#12: Control,
Variable, Hypothesis
Act#2: Field, Focus, Lens, Act#5: Adapt,
Magnification, Power,
Adaptation,
Specimen
Macroscopic
Act#3: NA
Act#6: Microscope
Activity 12 (Day 2) &
Activity 10 (Day
?Assessment?
GLAD Unit Daily Schedule
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
WEEK 1
July 8 -12
3 personal standard –
“Show respect, make
good decisions, solve
problems”
CCD – “explain/describe”
Observation charts
Inquiry Chart
3 personal standards
Final definition CCD
Big Book
Literacy awards
Chant
T-graph for social skills
Picture File Card Sort
3 personal standards
CCD – word study
Input - Graphic
Organizer – “6
Kingdoms of Living
Things”
Literacy awards
Add to T-graph
3 personal standards
Review 6 Kingdoms
with word cards
Literacy awards
Learning logs and
ELD review
Add to T-graph
WEEK 2
July 15 - 19
3 personal standards
CCD – “Sequence”
Learning logs
Chant – new and process
from last week
Add to T-graph
Process inquiry chart
3 personal standards
CCD – word study
Revisit T-graph
Exploration report
Mind Map for pictorial
Chant
3 personal standards
Learning logs
Process chant
Interactive journals
Found Poetry
Field trips or
assembly
(beach or lake)
WEEK 3
July 22 - 26
3 personal standards
CCD – “compare &
contrast”
Sentence Patterning
Chart (SPC)
Literacy awards
Read the walls – team
tasks
3 personal standards
CCD – “Cause & Effect”
Process grid day 1
3 personal standards
CCD – final definition
Review pictorial with word
cards
Literacy awards
Learning logs and ELD
review
Process chants
Add to T-graph as needed
3 personal standards
CCD – final definition
PFC closed sort
Chant and/or process chant
Reading/Trading game (from
SPC)
3 personal standards
CCD – word study
Revisit T-graph
Team Tasks
Expert Groups 1 & 2
3 personal standards
Revisit T-graph
Team Tasks
Expert Groups 3 & 4
“Reptile Man”
assembly
3 personal standards
CCD – final definition
Revisit T-graph (team
evaluations)
Process grid day 2
3 personal standards
CCD – word study
Co-op strip paragraph
day 1
Literacy awards
Field trips or
assembly
(beach or lake)
3 personal standards
CCD – final definition
Work on personal
explorations/ closure & eval
pieces
3 personal standards
Read the wall with
personal CCD
Process Inquiry chart
Continue work on
personal explorations
presentations
3 personal standards
Chant
Add to T-graph
Co-op strip paragraph
day 2
Literacy awards
3 personal standards
Listen & Sketch
Personal exploration
presentations
WEEK 4
July 29 – Aug 2
WEEK 5
Aug 5 - 9
3 personal standards
CCD – “Proposition &
Support”
(problem/solution)
Ear to ear reading
Individual “Co-op Strip”
“walk the walls” with
partner about all
Writing assessment – collect
any completed by students
learned – oral
processing as precursor
to writing assessment
Intro the “must do” of
individual tasks
Students finish up
writing assessment,
then choose a “may
do” individual piece
Field trips or
assembly
Boeing: History of
Flight presentation
(bio fuels
connection)
Final field trip:
Everett Children’s
Museum
GLAD Units
(supporting the science curriculum)
GLAD Units
1st – Organisms
2nd – Life Cycle of
Butterfly
3rd – Plant & Animal
Adaptions
4th – Energy Flows
through Ecosystems
5th – Freshwater
Ecosystems
Science Kits
Salt water aquarium
Butterfly habitat
How variables impact
organism populations
Food Chains & Webs
Fresh water aquarium
Para-educators used this curriculum in the third hour for 15 – 20
minutes, rotating small groups through, while the teacher rotated
small reading groups, and students not in a group worked
independently
Para-educators also administered the pre/post
oral assessments (teacher administered the
writing assessment)
Pre-Assessment: Administered Week 1
Post-Assessment: Administered Week 5
Components:
• 10 pictures (5 related to GLAD unit, 5 related to science kit)
• 4 points total possible for each picture
ubric
pt for identification but only using single word
pts – used phrase
pts - sentence with errors
pts – sentence with little to no errors
Results
Pre-assessment
School Wide, 1st -5th
Post-assessment
School Wide, 1st – 5th
% Meeting
Standard
Initial
% Meeting
Standard
Final
12%
57%
Results per individual grade level
1st Initial – 0%
2nd Initial – 14%
3rd Initial – 30%
4th Initial – 0%
5th Initial – 17%
1st Final – 62%
2nd Final – 55%
3rd Final – 85%
4th Final – 9%
5th Final – 79%
Results in one individual class
Initial
***
***
***
20
28
4
10
3
6
18
8
5
18
Final
31
29
23
26
28
16
33
19
15
35
11
1
19
16
25
10
15
11
10
17
Self-assessment conversations with focus students
Student A (level 2+ ELL) –
Your target was to participate in class and team discussions, and to
share out answers with the class when your number was called. What
helped you meet this goal? I love reptiles, have bearded dragon and
salamander at home, love to share with the class my good pets.
So did having some idea about reptiles already help you understand
about the anoles in our science kit? Yes, they are reptile lizards and are
cold blooded like my bearded dragon.
Did you like to tell the class about your pets? Yes, and now I know how
better to say in English. I also love we learn about the Six Kingdoms of
Living Things, and reptiles in Kingdom Animalia, phylum spinal chord,
class reptile.
Student B (on IEP for communication “disorder”) –
Your target was to participate in class and team discussions, and to share out
answers with the class when your number was called. What helped you
meet this goal? I don’t like to talk in front of a lot of people.
I know that, but you did it! And you took care of the anoles for me. What
helped you be able to answer when I called your number? You let me sit in my
chair and let me think for a minute before I had to say something to you. Plus
when I was standing with everybody else by the poems nobody could hear just
me – I don’t like my voice.
So reading along with everyone else reading makes it easier for you? Yes – and
I liked writing about the worms and the crickets and the anoles when we
observed them.
“Observed” was one of our CCD words – what does it mean?
When you look at something closely and notice what it is doing.
Student C (on IEP for social skills and communication “disordered”) –
Your target was to participate in class and team discussions, and to share out
answers with the class when your number was called. What helped you
meet this goal? I liked when you pulled the spoon with my number on it –
some teachers never called on me before but I watch Animal Planet so I know
a lot about animals…
Right now we are talking about sharing in class discussions. What helped you
the most when you helped your team write that sentence for the cooperative
strip paragraph? How were you able to tell your friend what to write about
producers and energy? I learned from the Tundra picture that in every biome
there are producers, consumers, and decomposers, and that they are all
interdependent on each other.
What does interdependent mean?
It means everything relies on everything else. The grass needs the sun to grow,
the crickets need the grass to eat, the anoles need the crickets to eat, and the
worms break everything – decompose everything. That was in that chant you
made us say a lot of times.
Using some Marzano Strategies, we played
many word games…
Teachers’ & Paras’ Reflections…
100% of respondents said that training received
for the program was right amount
Extra comments –
• It was great!
• The training was awesome - extremely helpful,
informative and practical without being overkill.
• It was also amazing to have the 50 hours of prep
time
63.6% of respondents said that the duration of the
program (5weeks/5 days a week) was too long; 36.4% it
was right amount of time
Extra comments –
• probably would have still been fine with only four
weeks
• 4 weeks would be the preference and matches other
programs
• 4 weeks would have been perfect.
• either a four week program only or 5 weeks/4 days a
week
90.9% of respondents said that GLAD strategy usage
expectation was about right; 9.1% said it was too much.
Extra comments –
• Totally do-able. It's great practice for the rest of the
year.
• I LOVED that everyone in the building was doing
something similar each week and day. It made
collaboration so much easier. It was also the impetus
that I think some of us really needed in order to
implement the strategies with fidelity.
Some additional comments –
• It was great to have field trips each Friday.
• An extremely motivating and exceptional program for low
language learners (in addition to on grade level learners). I hope
to see the program continue next summer.
• This program was amazing for teachers and students!
• The program was amazing and well put together. I am really
proud to have been a part of this program, and am so thankful
to those who put their blood, sweat and tears into making this
happen. The quality curriculum, the small class sizes, having full
time para support, and the professional development hours
that preceded the program were not for nothing. Many of my
students are telling me that they don't want summer school to
end - love it!