Is there a missing piece to literacy instruction? First Word, Last Word: Number off 1  4 in your table groups. Person #1 shares ONE thought about this focusing question….Persons #2 and #3 make a comment about what #1 said OR share their own ideas. Person #4 then synthesizes the ideas for the entire group and reports out to the “class”.

To understand the importance of oral language development and begin to develop a framework for structured oral language activities to use in the everyday classroom. PURPOSE for today’s learning:

JIGSAW / GROUP SYNTHESIZATION: Each person (#1 - 4) reads the thought on your card to the others, explaining how it relates to oral language development. Then the whole group comes up with a synthesizing statement. Student Selector tool determines which person from each group will report out to the “class”.

In one investigation, a steady decline of the use of oral language in the classrooms was noted as a major reason for the inhibition of students’ abilities to reason and to forecast as they progressed from lower to higher grades. Ask me about what one principal said at my last ESL leadership meeting! NOTE: formulating a question for the teacher or a classmate is an excellent way to practice oral language structures.

TURN AND TALK Turn to your partner (#1-2) and (#3-4) and discuss what the effect of student passivity might mean for the future of education? I’ve done this with 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th, and 6 th graders so far this year.

Teachers often fail to see that literacy learning is a continuum -- an ongoing process of learning for children. Oral language, which is the major learning instrument for children before going to school, is no longer available with the onset of formal schooling. Confronted with new tasks of learning to read and write while being deprived of their major learning tool, some children can feel depressed and frustrated. QUIET REFLECTION: Ponder quietly what this statement means to you as an educator. Any volunteers wish to share?

JANET ACTUALLY WANTS TO SHARE SOME DATA!!!! What are the 4 domains of language learning? Which domains were weakest on last year’s CELA test (for returning students)?

Teachers often become so involved with establishing routine, finishing the textbook, covering curriculum, and preparing students for standardized tests that we have forgotten one of our original goals, that of stimulating thought. The development of language has a close relationship to the development of thinking abilities. TALKING STICK: In your table group, take a turn passing the talking stick from persons (you can choose the order). Focusing question: Using oral language development as the topic, how can classroom teachers give greater focus to higher level thinking activities vs. all the required activities listed above?

Before achieving proficiency in reading and writing -- and even after proficiency in reading and writing have been achieved -- oral language is one of the most important means of learning and of acquiring knowledge. productiveOne statistic shows that during the school day, students engage in productive class discussion only 4% of the time (another study showed only 2%). What does this say about WHO is doing most of the talking?

In emphasizing the role of oral language in the classroom, we are by no means implying that the teacher’s role is not important; on the contrary, we present a more demanding task for teachers. To facilitate a learning process in which children are given both opportunity and encouragement to speak and to explore their own thinking, the teacher has to do more than tell children what he or she means, or what the text means. Instead, the teacher has several different roles to play. THINK*PAIR*SHARE*TELL: Think about what this statement means for your pedagogy…Pair and share with your partner one idea you have for change in your practice. Be prepared to share your partner’s idea to the “class”. Ask me how this went in Kotarba’s 6th grade class.

ORAL LANGUAGE TIP FOR THE TEACHER THINK ITTHINK IT SAY ITSAY IT WRITE ITWRITE IT READ ITREAD IT

Fortune Cookie: In your groups, structure a sentence of only 8 to 12 words to define why oral language activities should be included as part of literacy development. (Use the white index cards to write your final sentence). Stand up and read!

A word about listening... Part of being a proficient speaker is listening to oral language and understanding what is said. Listening is not a passive or receptive skill, as is commonly assumed. Research suggests listening is an interactive, dynamic, interpretive process in which the listener is engaged in the active construction of meaning.

A word about NEP and LEP 1 students and scaffolding oral language activities... Whisper… Partners… Sentence Starters… Wait Time...

A word about structure and classroom management.

A word about flexible application of structured oral language activities. They can be used in any content area Some activities are better for review Some activities are better for synthesization Some activities are better to link to prior lessons / prior knowledge.

Let’s add to this tool ring as the year progresses. I volunteer!

Oral Language Article from ERIC Digest “Look For” rubric in ESL Schools Oral Language Assessment Activity Matrix Self Assessment for an Oral Report 5 Essential Practices for teaching EL students Peer Feedback Form Student self assessment can be very eye opening!

Information used in this power point was synthesized from the following sources: Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers, by J. Michael O’Malley and Lorraine Valdez Pierce, 1996, Addison Wesley Publishing. Systematic ELD: A Focused Approach, 2 nd ed., by Susana Dutro, 2008, distributed by ToucanEd., Santa Cruz, CA. Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, by Pauline Gibbons, 2002, Heineman, Portsmouth, NH. 50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners, 3 rd ed., 2008, by Adrienne L. Herrell and Michael Jordan, Pearson, Merrill, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

TICKET (s) OUT THE DOOR: 1. On your way out the door, orally share with the teacher one of the tool ring activities you will implement in your classroom this coming week! (actually, we will do a whip- around). 2. Line yourself up by birthday (standing) for the Elbow- to-Elbow Activity: What questions do you still have about structured oral language activities. 3. Gots and Wants Chart / Parking Lot Activity (what did you “get” from this workshop; what do you still “want” about ESL instructional strategies).