Reaching and Teaching ELLS in Every Classroom: Transforming Teaching and
Learning with the Energizers, Debbie Arechiga, Tools for Literacy, inc.
Tools4literacy@comcast.net
For additional reading: See November 2013 Ed Leadership Magazine on Informational
Text, title: “Tackling Complex Text with Language Learners, Arechiga 2013,
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov13/vol71/num03/TacklingComplex-Texts-with-Language-Learners.aspx
Schools at the Epicenter of Change: Challenge or Opportunity (Chapter 1)
“The millions of EL children and youth represent a vast and largely untapped
source of social, economic, cultural, and linguistic vitality. Our job is to make
sure this vitality is not squandered.” “Unlocking the Research on English Learners: What
We Know – and Don’t Know – About Effective Instruction” by Claude Goldenberg, 2013
Energy for Teaching: Putting our powerful conceptions to work (Chap. 2: 19-23)
Energy for Teaching: Mental Energizers
 Energy enlivens, stimulates and empowers us with the capacity to perform our
work.
 Designed to reinvent and invigorate our thinking, purpose and vision.
Cultivate Connections
 Connect to Kids ( Chapter 2: 24-33)
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Connect to colleagues (Chapter 2:33-39)
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Connect to Cultures (Chapter 2: 33-56)
Elevate your Expectations (Chapter 2: 56-62)
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High expectations lead to stronger academic demands and boost student
confidence.
Be a “warm demander”
o genuine caring with a deep certainty that all students can succeed.
o Provide appropriate learning supports.
o Academic demands coupled with emotional support and facilitative
instruction.
The Common Core for English Learners: Challenges and Opportunities
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engage with complex texts;
use evidence in reading, writing and research;
speak and listen in order to work collaboratively and present ideas;
develop the language to do all the above effectively.
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The new standards afford us a fresh opportunity to reinforce the key findings of our
knowledge and experience as the ELL field:
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with support, ELLs can participate in classroom discourse focused on rich and
exciting academic content.
ESL is necessary but not sufficient; ELLs learn language best when they engage
with content.
focusing on both text and discourse gives ELLs opportunities for extended
engagement with complex ideas.
DVD Shared Reading Lesson
 What type of support strategies are evident so that ELLs can participate in
classroom discourse focused on rich and exciting academic content?
 What opportunities does this lesson provide to learn about our language and
develop vocabulary for speaking, listening, reading and writing?
 How does the teacher control for risk and frustration so that all students achieve
success in this lesson?
The CCSS and the Diverse Learner
 The CCSS require equal outcomes for all students, but they do not require equal
inputs.
 Vary the amounts and types of instruction provided to students to ensure high
rates of success.
 Monitor student learning and provide adjustments and supplements based on that
information.
Let’s get the snowball rolling… (Chapter 4:96-99)
Language – meaning – Learning cycle
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Language leads to meaning; meaning leads to learning; learning leads to
language. Did you catch that? We started with language, and we ended up with
language. But we don’t end up with the same level of language. Every time
language leads to meaning and meaning leads to learning, learning cycles right
back to language with increased capacity.
Our job is to get the language snowball rolling, to set the cycle in motion.
Accelerated Language (Chapter 4: 98-99)
“I use the term accelerated language to describe instruction that is fast paced,
integrated, engaging, and enriching, rather than remedial, linear, passive, or
inordinately patient. …unless we transform instruction of ELLs with a more
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accelerated approach, we may not be able to meet the challenge of educating these
students in a timely fashion.” (Mohr, 2004, p. 19).
Strategic Energizers (chapter 4: 101)
What are they?
 a vigorous injection of vocabulary and strategic comprehension techniques that
can boost understanding and its essential byproduct, learning.
 The intent of the « ENERGIZERS» is to help us recharge in the face of new
teaching demands that are likely to stretch our capacities and courage.
Why the Energizers?
 Language, ideas and academic content are useful to students only in proportion as
students grasp their meaning.
 The strategic <<Energizers>> explore ways to initiate, promote and extend
students’ understanding.
 Tools to enhance, clarify and enrich the instruction.
Let’s meet the Energizers!
1.Keep instruction comprehensible.
2.Build bridges (scaffolding and/or mediating the instruction).
3.Get students talking.
4.Flood instruction with vocabulary.
Putting the strategic energizers to work 79-91
 Scenarios throughout the book comparing Teacher (X) to Teacher (E= Energized
teacher). This first scenario (Reading lesson using informational text) is very in
depth.
Pg 101 Reference Guide to the Energizers
Keep the learning comprehensible (Chap 5: 103)
 If we want to be sure we’re presenting a comprehensible message, we have to
think not only of the message but of how we deliver it.
How can we make our verbal messages more comprehensible? (Chap. 5: 107-108)
Four Types of Nonverbal Communication: (Chap: 5 106-107)
Facial Expression
 Are you changing your facial expressions in ways that evoke emotion and
connections with your students?
Gestures
 A toolbox of gestures used in strategic ways will, in effect, sustain and create a
language-rich environment for ELLs.
Eye Contact -
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Eye contact will help you engage your learners and maintain momentum
throughout your teaching.
Movement
 Does your classroom environment promote the ability to move and remain fluid
during instruction, or do you feel limited or constrained?
Supplementary materials support our messages (pg. 110)
Step inside an intermediate classroom
 How does the teacher keep the learning comprehensible through the use of
verbal and non-verbal techniques?
Classroom Environment
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A well-organized, visually stimulating environment will enhance students’
understanding of a academic content.
A cluttered, disorganized visual environment can detract or confuse student
understanding.
Build bridges for language and learning (Chapter 6:119)
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Bridging is “a process of ‘setting up’ the situation to make the child’s entry easy
and successful and then gradually pulling back and handing the role to the child as
he becomes skilled enough to manage it.” (Bruner, 1983, p. 60)
Bridging is “providing very explicit and active assistance in handing over expert
knowledge that helps students to master new strategies.” (Wilhelm, 2004, p. 37)
Bridging for Learning (Chapter 6: 124-129)
Teacher behaviors associated with bridging for learning (Fisher and Frey)
 Questioning to check for understanding
 Prompting to facilitate students’ cognitive processing.
 Cueing to shift students’ attention to focus on specific information, errors or
partial understandings.
 Explaining and modeling when students do not have sufficient knowledge to
complete tasks.
Emergent Guided reading lesson
 Notice the teacher behaviors (prompting and cueing) that help’s Carlos integrate
his cueing systems during reading.
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Purpose = Expectations
Establishing a clear purpose for learning content serves as a priming mechanism for new
learning and results in increased student understanding of the content.
(Gagne & Briggs, 1974; Hunter, 1976; Mager, 1962)
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Setting Purpose in a primary classroom (Look for both the clarity and context of setting
purpose)
 Clarity: What am I asking students to do?
 Provide clear goals and structures for each task.
 Explain the key steps and give examples.
 Show students what success will look like.
 Context: Why is this important?
 Determine the “why” of your lesson.
 Help students connect what they’re learning to their own lives.
 RELEVANCE
Bridging for Language (Chapter 6: 134-140)
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Bridging for language can be thought of as a linguistic scaffold to bolster
linguistic output.
Examples: Paraphrasing, clarifying, recasting, providing language support
structures, etc.
Facilitation is key in bridging for language. The teacher provides a supportive
context so that students can attain higher levels of cognitive and language
proficiency.
Determine Linguistic support (Vocabulary, Structure, Function)
Language Ladders
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Purpose: Provide language learners with the tools needed to express different
functions.
Website:
http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/Best%20of%20Bilash/LanguageL
adders.html
Step inside an intermediate classroom
 Where is the teacher bridging for the students’ language? Does the support
help the student with a language function, language structure or vocabulary?
Get students talking (Chapter 7:141-162)
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“The interactions that take place between students and teachers and among
students are more central to student success than any method for teaching literacy,
or science or math.” (Cummins, 1996. p. 1)
Classroom talk needs to be less concerned with a surface knowledge of facts and
more focused on creating an understanding of ideas.
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Flood instruction with vocabulary (Chapter 8: 163-179)
“Learning, as a language-based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly
dependent on vocabulary knowledge” (emphasis supplied) (Baker, Simmons, &
Kame'enui, 1998, p.183)
Vocabulary has to underlie and infuse every sphere of learning, including every element
of literacy (reading, listening, discussing and writing) and every content domain.
Types of Vocabulary
•Listening (Receptive) Vocabulary – the words we need to know to understand what we
hear.
•Speaking (Expressive) Vocabulary – the words we use when we speak.
•Reading Vocabulary – the words we need to know to understand what we read.
•Writing Vocabulary – the words we use in writing.
Ways of contributing to vocabulary growth
During reading experiences consider the ways you support vocabulary growth:
1.Repeating words in varied contexts.
2.Describing words.
3.Supporting words with visuals.
4.Connecting words to students’ lives.
5.Making associations.
6.Giving definitions.
7.Comparing and contrasting.
8.Rephrasing sentences.
9.Providing tactile examples.
10.Giving examples of correct and incorrect usage.
Meaningful and Motivating Instruction
Every teacher is a teacher of language. Teaching that language – that vocabulary – “is
more than teaching words, it is teaching words: how they are put together, how they are
learned, and how they are used”
(Nagy, 2007,p.71).
Energizers at Work: Transforming Teaching and Learning (Chap. 9 181-185)
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Do you believe that you have the tools, both from a mental and strategic
perspective, to reach and teach all of your students?
Strategic Energizers work together, not in isolation
Energized Instruction = Differentiation
Taking Action pg. 186-187
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