BIRE Pre-Meeting
May 16, 2012
ENSURING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER
ACCESS TO GRADE-LEVEL TEXT
PURPOSE
Develop shared understanding of Tier I
instruction for grade-level reading
 Work through one example of how to work with
general education to build grade-level lessons

WHAT IS YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN COMMON CORE
IMPLEMENTATION?

Access to academic language
LITERARY AND INFORMATIONAL TEXTS
Students have come to rely on teachers to
provide the meaning of the text rather than
demanding of themselves that they read—and
reread—until they make meaning out of the
words on the page.
 We are uncomfortable watching students
wrestling with material that initially appears
dense and difficult to understand.

OUR CURRENT SOLUTION IS NOT WORKING
Trying to help students feel successful in their
reading, educators have turned to materials
written with low-level vocabulary and simplified
sentence structures, without a clear plan of
how to move students into authentic text.
 How do we intentionally move to bring all
students to experience success with grade-level
text while still attending to their language
development needs?

WHAT ARE OUR EXPECTATIONS?

Can ELL students do grade-level work even
when it involves complex text?
LILY WONG-FILLMORE- BUTTERFLIES
SCENARIO
You know that students will be reading the
Gettysburg Address in three weeks. All students
will have to read and understand the text without
the teacher telling them what each phrase means
or translating it for them.
 Read the unit, and identify three areas that you
think teachers of ELLs should consider in addition
to the questions provided in the general education
unit developed by Student Achievement Partners.

SHARE THE UNIT
Think Aloud
 Add your expertise to our thinking

STEP ONE: EXAMINE THE READING AND THE
EXPECTATIONS FOR STUDENTS

SECTION 1 What’s at stake: a nation as a place and as an
idea

— Students silently read, then the teacher reads aloud the
text of the Gettysburg Address while students follow along

— Students translate into their own words the first and
second paragraphs

— Students answer guiding questions regarding the first two
paragraphs
PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S SPEECH THE
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, 1863

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.”
A NATION AS A PLACE AND AN IDEA* (1–2 DAYS)

Section 1 Activities

1. Students first read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
silently.

2. The teacher then reads the text out loud to the
class and students follow along in the text.

3. After listening, students re-read the first paragraph
of the Gettysburg Address and translate it into their
own words.

4. The teacher asks the class a small set of guiding
questions about the first paragraph of Lincoln’s
speech.

5. After the discussion, students rewrite their
translation of Lincoln’s paragraph. The teacher guides
discussion of first line of second paragraph.

6. Wrap up.
HERE IS HOW WE APPROACHED IT
LET’S TRY IT TOGETHER

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
NOW, YOUR TURN
“We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live.”
 Look at the unit as written. What would you add,
rearrange, or revise for ELL students?
 How would you build in instructional support (like
color-coding)?
 Is there academic vocabulary that you want
students to have used often prior to this unit? How
would that familiarity be ensured?
REPORT OUT
IMPLICATIONS FOR DISTRICT WORK
Did the work today provide you with any
insights into how to provide access to gradelevel reading for ELLs?
 How will this impact the work your district
needs to do to improve classroom instruction?


SECTION 2 From funeral to new birth

— Students are re-acquainted with the first two
paragraphs of the speech

— Students translate the third and final paragraph
into their own words

— Students answer guiding questions regarding
the third paragraph of the Gettysburg Address