question for the CCSS is whether they will deliver on their promise to cede to teachers the authority (or at least some of the authority) to determine how they will help their students meet the CCSS within their school settings. The standards say “yes, they will.” But a recent document coming out of the CCSS movement says, “maybe not.”
The publication of a recent document on the CCSS website, Revised Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy, Grades 3–12 (Coleman & Pimentel, 2012) leads me to wonder whether the letter and spirit of the Standards document has been sacrificed in the service of influencing published programs and materials.
… If publishers are persuaded to follow these criteria, they will turn out scripts, not broad options. Unless teachers reject materials from the marketplace, teacher and school choice about how to ‘deliver the curriculum’ will be markedly reduced, perhaps to the point that there is no real choice among the commercial alternatives. (pp. 247–248)
I think of Pearson’s warning, and I’m struck by what Jim Burke started. These books — and the one you hold in your hand — make the standards understandable and accessible, but also stay true to the original promise of the standards — that you determine how they are taught to your students. We know where we have to go, but we have ownership and choice of how we get there. I hope this book provides you with that power. Remember, it’s a silhouette — you fill it in. And use those hands to raise questions and push back if you need to.
References
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.
Palacio, R. J. (2012). Wonder. New York, NY: Random House.
Pearson, P. D. (2013). Research foundations of the Common Core State Standards in English language arts. In S. Neuman & L. Gambrell (Eds.), Quality reading instruction in the age of Common Core Standards (pp. 237–262). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
| Key Principles and Additional Teaching Strategies for English Language Learners 3—5 |
You may have students who are English language learners in your classroom. Some of these students may be new to English, having just emigrated from another country where English is not the primary language, and others may have started learning English in kindergarten and first grade. Whether the English language learners have just started learning English or have developed some proficiency in English, they have unique needs from native English speakers.
To help you meet their needs, you’ll find suggestions for each standard at the end of the “What the Teacher Does” pages. Here, I supplement these instructional ideas with additional background, the stages of language acquisition, and the implications for differentiated scaffolding that will be most effective.
Focus on Acquisition
The students in our grades 3–5 classrooms, both native-English-speaking students and English language learners (ELLs), are learning language. In many respects they are remarkably the same in their quest and language acquisition. Both groups of children are rapidly developing their vocabularies, using language to communicate, and learning about academic language and formal English.
However, there is a difference between native-English-speaking students and ELLs. ELLs are acquiring a second language when they learn English at school; they already have their primary language, with which they communicate at home and in the community. Thus, many of these children are fluent in their first language, an important point to remember so that our mindset as teachers isn’t that all these kids are struggling learners overall.
We learn language through two processes. One process is called acquisition and the other process is called language learning. Language acquisition is “picking up” a language. Language learning is what we experience when we take a class in a foreign language.
In our classrooms, we want to focus on the natural process of “picking up” a language. Thus, for both native-English-speaking students and ELL students, this book is filled with strategies and lessons to teach the standards through natural, motivating, and supportive teaching.
Consider the Five Stages
To understand the best ways to help your ELLs and to differentiate instruction based on their language acquisition needs, it is important to understand that not all children learning English need the same scaffolds, the same types of instruction, or the same performance tasks. What they need depends on which stage of language acquisition they are in. While people don’t fit into boxes and language learning is a fluid process, it truly helps to understand the five stages of language acquisition and assess where your students are so you can tailor instruction based on their language needs. These five stages, as described in the following chart, are preproduction, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency (Haynes & Zacarian, 2010; Krashen, 1982/2009, 2003; Krashen & Terrell, 1983).
It is also important to note that students acquire language in a natural order (Krashen, 1982/2009, 2003; Peregoy & Boyle, 1997). The key idea behind this natural order idea is that students won’t learn English in the order that you teach it, but rather in the natural way that the brain learns language. In other words, you can’t force students to learn a grammar rule by teaching it explicitly, but you can ensure students acquire English rapidly by providing engaging, language-rich, supportive, culturally respectful, and meaningful classroom experiences in English (Akhavan, 2006; Hoover & Patton, 2005).
Understand the Needs of Long-Term ELLs
The general amount of time it takes to become proficient in a second language is about four to seven years; for some students it takes longer (up to 10 years) and for others, they never reach proficiency (Hakuta, 2000). Students who enter upper grades, middle school, and high school having started learning English in kindergarten or first grade—but not reaching proficiency—are considered long-term English learners. Long-term English learners comprise those students who are designated as still learning English after five or more years of enrollment in U.S. schools (Callahan, 2005). It is important to understand the different needs of the students in your classroom learning English. If a student has been learning English for more than five years and is not making progress in English proficiency, he needs continued support and scaffolded language and content lessons. Often, it is hard to discern that these students are not making progress in language acquisition because they may speak English well. Speaking English well, and having good interpersonal communication skills, doesn’t mean that the student has academic language skills.
Offer Collaborative Activities
To support language acquisition, it is important to provide learning activities that encourage ELLs to work together with native English speakers to give them opportunities to talk, think, read, and write in English. It is also important to take into consideration the prior knowledge of the ELLs and preview, or frontload, information, ideas, and activities with them in small groups before they join the whole group for a lesson in English. This frontloading in small-group discussion gives ELLs the opportunity to develop knowledge about a subject, discuss the topic in a “safe” setting where they can question, and even use their primary language to discuss the lesson so that they have a foundation before receiving the main lesson in English.
Check the Clarity of Your Lessons
Making
