2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

Day Five Agenda 1.Scribe Report 2.Perspective Writing 3.Teaching Demonstrations:  What constitutes good PD? What makes a good packet?  What makes sense for assessing /debriefing? 4.Work / Conference Time 5.LUNCH – Response Groups 6.Working with English Language Learners – Myths & Realities 7.Ticket out the Door

2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

The Seven Deadly Sins of PowerPoint Presentations Adapted from About.com Dr. Joseph Sommerville

“The key to success is to make certain your slide show is a visual aid and not a visual distraction.”

Deadly Sin #1 Poor use of transitions and sound effects Can be a distraction to your audience Takes focus away from the message Leave the fade-ins, fade-outs, wipes, blinds, dissolves, checkerboards, cuts, covers and splits to Hollywood filmmakers.

Deadly Sin #2 Standard Clipart The widely used clipart included with the Powerpoint program has become a “visual cliché.” Make certain that you need your graphics to enhance your message.

Deadly Sin #4 Text-Heavy Slides Projected slides are a good medium for depicting an idea graphically or providing an overview. They are a poor medium for detail and reading. Avoid paragraphs, quotations and even complete sentences. Limit your slides to five lines of text and use words and phrases to make your points. The audience will be able to digest and retain key points more easily. Don’t use your slides as speaker’s notes or to simply project an outline of your presentation.

Deadly Sin #5 The “Me” Paradigm Remember the audience and move the circle from “me” to “we.” 12 point font is adequate when the text is in front of you. In a slideshow, aim for a minimum of 32 point font. Take care not to distort your graphics.

Deadly Sin #6 Reading. An oral presentation should focus on interactive speaking and listening, not reading by the speaker or the audience. The demands of spoken and written language differ significantly. Spoken language is shorter, less formal and more direct. Reading text ruins a presentation. A related point has to do with handouts for the audience. One of your goals as a presenter is to capture and hold the audience’s attention. If you distribute materials before your presentation, your audience will be reading the handouts rather than listening to you. Often, parts of an effective presentation depend on creating suspense to engage the audience. If the audience can read everything you’re going to say, that element is lost.

Deadly Sin #7 Faith in Technology Be prepared by having a back-up of your presentation on a CD-ROM. Better yet is a compact-flash memory card with an adapter for the PCMCIA slot in your notebook. With it, you can still make last- minute changes. Use generic fonts so they don’t change on a different system. Be cautious incorporating music or video.

2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

Myths and Realities ELL Instruction

Myth: Teachers in English medium classrooms should not allow students to use their native language, as this will retard their English language development. Reality: Allowing students to use their native language facilitates cognitive and academic growth. Cognitive and academic skills transfer from one language to another. –Imagine learning about photosynthesis in a new language, and being able to draw upon your prior knowledge in your primary language to build new vocabulary and concepts.

Myth: Learning a second language is an entirely different proposition from learning one’s own native language Reality: There are many parallels between learning a first language and learning a second language. People learn language because they are in real situations communicating about important and interesting events. Learning the linguistic structures & rules of a second language occurs much in the same way as it does for a first. Understanding language usually precedes language production.

Myth: Once second language learners are able to speak reasonably fluently, their problems are likely to be over in school. Reality: The ability to speak a second language (especially in conversational settings) does not guarantee that a student will be able to use the language effectively in academic settings. Remember learning a foreign language? …pronunciation, vocabulary, conjugation of verbs, nouns and verbs must agree, translating word by word… –Add to that the burden of learning content in a subject like geometry or earth science

Myth: Learning academic English is equally challenging for all second language learners. Reality: The challenge of learning English for school varies tremendously from learner to learner and depends on many factors. Take into account: –Previous exposure to content in the 1 st language; Many come from countries with civil unrest or torn by war & may have limited exposure to, or no experience with school –Is the child literate in their 1 st language? Does the child’s language have a written form?

Myth: L2 students just need to be placed in an English- speaking environment and they’ll learn the language. That’s how my grandparents learned English. Reality: Nonnative English- speaking students must be offered an appropriate education that takes into consideration their developing language. Just being immersed in English in school will not guarantee academic and linguistic success. This is particularly true for older learners, for whom control over complex language is a prerequisite for successful academic learning. While previously, immigrants encountered economic success without the benefits of a specialized school program, their success was not dependent on having high levels of proficiency in both written and spoken English. Simply placing newcomers in an English speaking environment will not adequately prepare them to participate fully beyond the poverty level.

Myth: Until students learn English there’s no point in trying to teach them content-area subjects. Reality: It is not necessary (or desirable) to wait until students are fluent in English before teaching them subject matter content. In fact, one effective way of learning a nonnative language is to study content area subject matter through the medium of the nonnative language. School districts have begun placing newcomers to English in specially designed content- area classes for L2 learners – Sheltered English or Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE). Linguistic input must be tailored so as to be comprehensible to L2 learners. Neither desirable nor necessary to decontextualize English language instruction from content instruction.

Myth: When teaching newcomers, it is best to hold off on reading and writing instruction until they have a pretty good grasp of oral English. Reality: L2 learners should be exposed to meaningful experiences with print in English from early on in their English learning. Oral fluency in interpersonal situations (ie, playground, lunchroom) may not reflect oral fluency in other, perhaps more challenging situations. Examp: defending one’s position in an academic debate. Oral fluency is not sufficient for school success – students must be proficient readers & writers.

Reading and Writing Instruction cont. Simply exposing L2 students to meaningful print experiences is not enough –ELLs need to be taught learning strategies that can enhance their learning of both content and language L2 students who have already been schooled in native language can draw upon prior knowledge. ELLs must be provided with opportunities to become increasingly aware & critical of their own learning & thinking processes.

Myth: L2 students can’t be expected to achieve at the same level as fluent English speaking students, and teachers need to lower their expectations. Reality: Although L2 learners may not be able to produce native-like English, teachers must guard against lowering expectations. Teacher expectations have a profound impact on student achievement.

Low expectations are reflected… …in the kinds of learning events that students of all ages are asked to engage in, i.e. simple recall of information vs. higher order thinking …in how well faculty and staff know and understand the communities from which the students come (“Those parents don’t care if their children get an education. If they did they’d come to open house and conferences.”

Low expectations cont. Teachers’ perceptions of students’ linguistic abilities may affect the quantity and quality of cognitively challenging language a teacher provides. –Interactions can be more managerial in nature –Interactions are often briefer with L2 students than with English speaking students –Teachers may avoid interacting with the students for fear of embarrassing them If teachers’ perceptions are inaccurate, what are the possible consequences for the students?

Ticket out the Door: 1.What breakthroughs, epiphanies or discoveries did you have today? 2.What concerns do you have?