Shifting the Paradigm
Providing Academic Language through Complex
Texts to ELLs
October 17, 2012
Who are Boston’s English Language Learners?




46% of BPS students speak a language other than
English as their first language
BPS students’ families are from over 100 countries
BPS students speak over 80 different first
languages
40% of BPS students are either currently learning
English or mastered academic English while
attending BPS schools
Data as of April 17, 2012 from MyBPS > ELD Level tabs & May 24, 2012 “AllBPSwithTests.xls” file generated by BPS OIIT
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What is the distribution of ELLs - by language?
Language
#
%
Spanish*
9,777
57%
Haitian*
1,636
10%
Cape
Verdean*
Vietnamese*
1,259
965
7%
6%
2%
1%
1%
9%
2%
5%
Spanish
57%
Haitian
Cape Verdean
Chinese
Vietnamese
6%
Chinese*
948
5%
Somali
316
2%
Portuguese
305
2%
Arabic
187
1%
French
182
1%
Arabic
Other
1550
9%
Other
Total
17,125
100%
Data as of April 17, 2012 from MyBPS > ELD Level tabs
7%
10%
Portuguese
Somali
French
3
Commissioned research on BPS ELL's test results
yields similar findings
The Mauricio Gaston Institute
for Latino Community
Development and Public
Policy (2011) found that: “the
command of English
required to pass
standardized tests designed
for English proficient students,
such as the MCAS, far
exceeds the levels of English
proficiency represented by
MEPA Levels 1–3, and to
some extent 4.
BPS SY 2009 Elementary
School (grades 3-5) Findings
English
Proficiency
Level
MCAS ELA
Pass Rate
(NI+P+A)
MEPA Level 1
0.0%
MEPA Level 2
15.6%
MEPA Level 3
31.2%
MEPA Level 4
74.8%
MEPA Level 5
95.3%
English
Proficient
84.0%
4
Critical Changes Across the District:
Adapting to Common Core and WIDA
Shifting paradigms: where we were
Mostly
vocabulary
and
grammar
The Common Core for English
Language Learners: Challenges
and Opportunities
ell.stanford.edu
6
Shifting Paradigms: where we need to be
Discourse
Text (complex text)
Explanation
Argumentation
Purpose
Typical structure of text
Sentence structures
Vocabulary
practices
Adapted from: “The Common Core
for English Language Learners:
Challenges and Opportunities”
Webinar, presented by Kenji Hakuta,
Understanding Language, Stanford
University
Language
Arts
7
2012-13 Office of English Language Learners
Departmental Goal:
• Provide access to Common Core for all
students regardless of program
placement
• The Standards set requirements not
only for English language arts (ELA) but
also for literacy in history/social studies,
science, and technical subjects.
Common Core State Standards
…the Standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person
in the twenty-first century. Indeed, the skills and understandings students are
expected to demonstrate have wide applicability outside the classroom or
workplace. Students who meet the Standards:
•readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of
understanding and enjoying complex works of literature.
•habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through
the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally.
•actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality
literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience,
and broadens worldviews.
•reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence that is
essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a
democratic republic.
WIDA CAN-DO DESCRIPTORS
Grouping Flexibility in Boston
Elementary
Classrooms
ELD 1-3
Secondary
Classrooms
ELD 1-2
&3
ELD 4-5
ELD 4-5
Hybrid ELLs
1-3 and
non-ELLs
Hybrid ELLs
1-3 and
non-ELLs
Reconceptualizing the Role of Central Office
• Reconceptualize the role of OELL as a
key contributor to the discussion on
instruction with the capacity to
improve Language Proficiency
outcomes for ELLs in ELD 1-3 and
Language Proficiency and MCAS
outcomes for ELLs in ELD 4-5.
• Moving beyond Compliance to
Instruction (DOJ/OCR)
CURRICULUM MAPPING:
CONNECTING WIDA/CCSS
THROUGH COMPLEX TEXT
Unit 2: Staying Alive
Common Core Standards:
RL.2.1: Ask!and answer such questions as who, what, where, when,
why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details.
WEEK 1. Anchor Selection: Twilight Hunt, Reach SE pp. 74–89
W.2.3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event
or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions,
thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and
provide a sense of closure.
WEEK 3. Alternate Selection: National Geographic Leveled Readers:
Flash, Firefly, Flash!; Sea Horses; Puffer Fish;
Mud, Mud, Mud; A Hole Is a Great Home
SL.2.4: Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and
relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
L.2.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content,
choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
WEEK 2. Alternate Selection: Living Lights, Reach SE pp. 106–119
WEEK 4. Alternate Selection: National Geographic Education Online
Video: Meerkat Survival Tactics
Throughout this unit:
Reading Foundations: Blends with s;
Final Consonant Blends; Multisyllabic Words;
Digraphs ch, tch; Plural Endings –s, -es
What does it
take to survive?
!
WEEK 1: Twilight Hunt
Accessing the Anchor Selection
Correlating Standards:
Common Core Standard RL.2.10: By the end of the year, read and
comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades
2-3 complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at
the high end of the range.
Level 1: Entering
Introduce the Big Question.
Read Anchor Selection aloud
and point to its illustrations.
Have students track the story
and follow along as it is being
read aloud.
See: R T76–77
See: RfR T74
Level 3: Developing
Level 2: Emerging
Level 4: Expanding
Level 5: Bridging
Introduce the Big Question.
Read Anchor Selection aloud
via choral reading.
Introduce the Big Question.
Have students read Anchor
Selection aloud in groups.
Introduce the Big Question.
Have students read Anchor
Selection aloud in pairs.
Ask students inferential
questions about the Anchor
Selection.
Ask students to make
predictions after paging
through the Anchor Selection
illustrations.
Display and invite students to
sing along with “Where Can My
Butterfly Be?” song. Discuss
Science Vocabulary.
Display “Where Can My Butterfly
Be?” song. Ask students to
connect song back to Anchor
Selection.
See: R T78–79, T80–81
See: RfR T74, T76–77
See: R T78–79, T82–83
See: RfR T78-79
See: R T68, T69
See: RfR T68, T69
See: R T68, T69, T75
See: RfR T68, T69
Introduce the Big Question.
Read Anchor Selection aloud
and have students whisperread.
Reading
Correlating Standards:
Common Core Standard RL.2.1: Ask and answer such questions
as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details.
WIDA Standard 4: English language learners communicate
information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success
in the content area of Science.
Level 1: Entering
Have students identify the
Anchor Selection creatures.
Have students repeat each
creature name and point to it.
Ask how the illustrations
connect to the Big Question.
See: R T74, T78–79
See: RfR T74
Level 3: Developing
Level 2: Emerging
Review the Big Question with
vocabulary choral response
“Yes or No” Game.
Ask students to search and
point to an illustration that
represents a Key Word.
See: R T74, T74b, T91b
See: RfR T74, T88e
Have student pairs ask and
answer questions using Key
Words. Ask students to make
connections between the Big
Question and Key Words.
Encourage multisyllabic word
usage in students’ connections.
See: R T74b
See: RfR T74
!
Level 4: Expanding
Level 5: Bridging
Have student pairs review Key
Words. Ask pairs to express
ideas about the Big Question
using multisyllabic words.
Review the Big Question. Have
students identify the context
clues for the Key Word
adaptation and use as review.
Have pairs identify a Key Word
and make a 4-Corner Poster.
Have students do Power
Writing for Key Word
adaptation. Discuss as a class.
See: R T74b
See: RfR T74
See: R T74b
See: RfR T74
WHY COMPLEX TEXT?
• Project Name: Re-visioning Instruction for ELLs : The
“Ls” ELLs Need: Language, Literacy and Learning
• Project Purpose: The purpose of this project is to
provide professional development for teachers,
administrators, coaches and district leaders on how to
re-vision ESL curriculum by building academic
language through complex texts and tasks, which is
one of the major shifts in instruction due to the changes
in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
(Common Core State Standards).
Project Overview
The use of this integrated approach using
complex texts and tasks will be piloted at the
Hennigan and McKay Schools in 3rd grade and in
SIFE classes and at a secondary level site later
this fall. In addition, support staff called capacity
builders will also learn this approach to 1) support
teachers at the Hennigan and other sites while
implementing this approach; and 2) be able to
teach and support other teachers as this pilot
expands.
Complex Text Implementation
Role of Teachers: Teachers will learn about how to work with
complex text- from choosing text to deconstructing text and
incorporating academic language to curriculum mapping. Focus will
be placed on thematic units aligned to the CCSS and scaffolds to
support the teaching of the complex texts and tasks embedded in
ever challenging units of study.
Capacity Builders: (Content Directors and Coaches) Support staff
will learn about how to work with complex text AND how to work with
teachers who are learning how to use this approach. Understanding of the
major shifts needed to align ESL curriculum to the CCSS and to increase the
rigor so that ELLs can achieve and meet the high stakes assessments. Focus
will be on the infrastructural, instructional and professional learning moves
needed to support this approach/shift.
Boston’s Summer ESL Institute
• ESL Institute- Teacher/Principals: (With Lily
Wong Fillmore*)
• First session where capacity builders explored how
thinking differently about curriculum for ELLs and
instruction create newer ways of working with ELLs
in terms of instruction, infrastructure and
professional learning. (August 2012)
Training for Central Office Staff
• Understanding of why and how complex text
is important especially in light of the new
demands of the Common Core State
Standards
• Participants also were presented with an
overview of how complex text can be used in
the classroom. (April 11, 2012)
Teachers and Capacity Builders
•
•
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

Hennigan 3rd Grade Teachers
First session where teachers were introduced to complex text:
What is it?
Why is it important?
How can it be incorporated into lesson (May 2012)
• Capacity Builders and Central Office Staff (Content Directors and
Coaches) These participants must commit to being trained for all
modules.
• Modules 1-3: First session where capacity builders explored how
thinking differently about curriculum for ELLs and instruction to create
newer ways of working with ELLs in terms of instruction, infrastructure
and professional learning. (May 2012)
•
Boston Complex Text Sequence
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Module 5: Scaffolding Complex Texts:
Deconstructing/Reconstructing/Mapping Meaning of complex sentences
Module 6: Scaffolding Complex Texts: Demystifying Figurative Language
and Understanding Language Functions across Content Areas
Module 7: Developing Text Dependent Questions: Scaffolds for a Robust
and Academic Talk around Texts
Module 8: Developing an Integrated Lesson with a Focus on Learning,
Language and Literacy
Class walk-through and “correction”: Capacity Builders: See how
implementation is going and observe how Maryann “corrects” and supports
teachers during the implementation process.
Module 9: Explicit Moves that Matter in Academic Writing: Writing to
Convey Information and Convince
Module 10: The Reading and Writing Connection: Developing Rigorous
Tasks in Writing/ Performance Tasks as Assessment of Learning
Module 11: Curriculum Mapping: Nesting Academic Language inside
Compelling and Complex Units of Study
Internal Capacity Builders
• Elementary Site(Hennigan)
• Secondary site to be chosen
• Staff from other schools trained at
these satellite sites
• Principal/teacher teams trained by
Boston OELL to sustain and practice
key concepts
• Teams represent Gen. Ed./SPED as
well
Shifting Paradigms
Today, in higher education generally, you can
choose to view this era as one of threatening change
and unsettling volatility, or you can see it as a
moment charged with the most exciting possibilities
presented to educators in our lifetimes, with the
possibility of better understanding how we learn, and
of sharing the transformative power of education far
beyond the bounds of any campus.
Susan Hockfield MIT President, May 2, 2012
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