Blog 10

Blog 10

Christy Borfitz

            Homework for students should involve practicing the skills that have already been taught in the classroom.  Students shouldn’t be learning a new skill at home but rather practicing one they have already learned and students should be doing the homework independently or with very little help from parents.  In our reading, we learned that students need to practice a skill or process at least 24 times to become 80% proficient and ELLs will need even more practice.  I have found that giving students practice on a skill over time makes them more likely to retain the information.

            Homework will be more meaningful to ELLs if it is adapted to meet their needs and language proficiency.  For example, if a student is at the preproduction stage of learning English, he or she might practice vocabulary words by drawing a picture of the item and labeling the parts using the new vocabulary.  A strategy to use with early production and speech emergence level students is to allow them to hear explanations of the homework by English-dominant students.  At the intermediate and advanced levels, students will benefit from sharing their ideas with English-dominant speakers and using academic English vocabulary. 

            My objective for my students regarding their homework is to allow them to practice the learning that has taken place in the classroom.  For ELL’s especially, I think that they will need to have vocabulary practice incorporated and adapted to meet their needs.  The skills or vocabulary they have learned should be practiced over time to get the best retention results.  Students will also need immediate feedback about their homework from me as the teacher or from other students.  I can use the homework to help further adapt it to meet the needs of the ELL students. 

            A great place to list homework assignments is on a website.  Our school has a link to our websites on the school’s home page.  As long as students have access to the internet they can view their assignments online.  They can send emails to the teachers from the website too.  It can be an effective communication tool for parents as well.  Also, a blog is another way for communication.  For example, if students have a blog they can comment about what they are reading and the teacher can provide immediate feedback online.  Other students can also comment on each other’s blogs providing additional feedback.  The challenge with using technology is that not all students have access to the internet so teachers will have to be aware of this when using technology.

Blog 9

Blog 9

Christy Borfitz

Compare and Contrast of Fiction and Non-Fiction Text

Differences	Similarities	Differences
Fiction Text		Non-Fiction Text
Characters Setting Problem Solution Plot Events Theme	Title Topic Main Idea Pictures New Vocabulary	Diagrams Graphs Maps Charts Tables Timelines Bold Print Bullets Headings Subheadings Labels Captions Table of Contents Index Glossary

            In a fiction text, I think the main supporting feature would be the pictures.  We have read in our texts that non-linguistic representations are valuable to ELLs because they help them understand the text without language barriers.  The other features in a fiction text might be challenging and would have to be supported in various ways depending on the ELL’s English proficiency.  We talked about several ways to scaffold Sinister Bar which is a narrative text.  We would begin by activating prior knowledge by using pictures, video, visuals and current events.  We also would need to find key vocabulary and have students do an activity with it, such as making a visual dictionary.  Using a graphic organizer would help also with sequencing the story to make the events clear.  Also, teacher questioning that is scaffolded depending on the English proficiency of the ELL throughout the reading would be helpful.

            Several features of non-fiction text could support ELLs depending on their English language proficiency.  Diagrams, graphs, maps, charts, tables, timelines and pictures are visuals that support students learning English because they do not always rely on a student’s English ability.  Because bold print, bullets, headings, subheadings, labels, captions, table of contents, index, glossary and new vocabulary are based on language that may be more challenging for ELLs.  Teachers would have to support ELLs by showing them how these features relate to the text and the pictures around them in the text.  Teachers would also have to select the key vocabulary and provide activities, pictures and videos to help ELLs understand them.