SIOP Component #2: Building Background Key Elementary School October 16, 2008 Robin Liten-Tejada

Sheltered Instruction The SIOP Model Lesson Preparation Building Background Comprehensible Input Strategies Interaction Practice & Application Lesson Delivery Review & Assessment The SIOP Model of Sheltered Instruction ©2006 Pearson Achievement Solutions, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Enduring Understandings Building background and activating prior knowledge form the hook upon which new learning hangs. The most effective teaching and learning begin with a meaningful concrete experience. Emphasizing key vocabulary strengthens students’ ability to understand academic concepts.

Content Objectives: Participants will be able to Experience and identify strategies to build background, and make links between past learning and new concepts Identify three types of academic language Plan effective background building activities

Language Objectives Participants will be able to Oral - Share thoughts with a partner; listen for information Reading – Make predictions, make inferences Writing – Write a reflection; jot ideas in note form; write a lesson plan

What background knowledge is necessary to understand this cartoon? Think & Share: Think about the meaning of this cartoon. Share your ideas with your partner. Have you had an experience with a lack of background knowledge in your class?

Connect to your life Think about your own situation. Spend a few minutes writing or drawing a picture about how the financial crisis has impacted you.

Bridge to the new learning…. We keep hearing about economy and the “Wall Street meltdown”, so we’re going to study this very important topic. What facts do you KNOW about the financial crisis? What QUESTIONS do you have about the financial crisis?

Vocabulary Preview Wall Street Stock market Standard & Poor Dow Jones Do you know these words? Do a self-assessment: Never seen it before I’ve seen it, but don’t know what it means I know what the word refers to, but don’t know the exact meaning I know the word well! Wall Street Stock market Standard & Poor Dow Jones Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Mortgage Debt

Predict the definitions! a) provides information on the strength of 30 high quality businesses b) loan to purchase real estate c) organized buying and selling of ownership units in corporations d) Federal National Mortgage Association – provides support for home ownership among low to middle income Americans e) something owed, usually money f) financial district in New York City g) Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation - provides money support home ownership and rental housing h) provides information on the strength of 500 representative businesses

Were your predictions correct? Wall Street Stock market Standard & Poor Dow Jones Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Mortgage Debt f) financial district in New York City c) organized buying and selling of ownership units in corporations h) provides information on the strength of 500 representative businesses a) provides information on the strength of 30 high quality businesses d) Federal National Mortgage Association – provides support for home ownership among low to middle income Americans g) Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation - provides money support home ownership and rental housing b) loan to purchase real estate e) something owed, usually money

Start with the SELF - Create a personal hook to hang future learning What did you just experience? - started with a visual - started with your personal experience - did KW after creating the experience - introduced key vocabulary but didn’t just tell you the definitions Starting with a personal experience creates hooks to hang future learning!

Building Background Concepts explicitly linked to students’ background experiences Links explicitly made between past learning and new concepts Key vocabulary emphasized (e.g. introduced, written, repeated, and highlighted for students to see

Ways to Link New Concepts to Prior Experience and Build Background Start with a personal hook to hang future knowledge! How many of these strategies are already part of your repertoire? What other strategies do you use?

Effective Strategies to Build Background Read a Story Simulation Realia Write/tell about an experience Visuals Anything else? Pose a Question

Process/Function Words Structure Words and Word Parts Language for processes, tasks, transitions, sequence Content Words Key terms associated with the topic Academic Language Structure Words and Word Parts Words that enable students to learn new vocabulary based on word formation

list graph classify summarize first then Content Words Process/Function Words photosynthesis photograph photocopy return review recycle Structure Words and Word Parts community living non-living George Washington multiply triangle

Now for some practice….

Think of a topic you teach Think of a topic you teach. Answer the following three key questions to plan effective background activities for your lessons

Start with a personal experience to connect to students’ own lives What concrete experience will introduce the topic, activate background knowledge and help make a meaningful connection to students’ lives and prior learning? Example Topic: The financial crisis View political cartoon. Students tell their interpretations to a partner. Students write or draw how the financial crisis has impacted their lives. How will students analyze and reflect on this concrete experience? Students will share their experience with a partner.

Bridge to the new learning How will you make the connection between the concrete experience and the new concept, while previewing the topic and emphasizing the key vocabulary? Example: Students will complete a K-W chart listing what they already know about the financial crisis, and what they would like to know or what questions they have. Students will preview key vocabulary by completing a self-assessment and predicting definitions.