Scaffolding for Academic Language Use by Students Colleen Moore Senior Field Trainer University of Texas at Austin

Planning for Academic Language Use by Students 1.Identify meaningful opportunities for students to speak/write about content. 2.Design meaningful speaking/writing task or question(s). 3.Write out sample student responses. 4.Create a checklist or rubric for grading. 5.Create supports for students who need them.

Speaking & writing Different language skills support and reinforce one another Speaking can help prepare for writing Writing can help prepare for speaking

Sample classroom scenario Students are learning about the organelles of plant and animal cells Content Objective: Compare plant and animal cells, including the structure and function of the organelles.

Everyday language vs. Academic language Everyday The plant and animal have mostly the same stuff. Animal cells don’t have the green ones. That cell has the wall thing around it. Academic language Both the plant and animal cell have a nucleus, mitochondrion, cell membranes, and cytoplasm. Plant cells have chloroplasts to make sugar from sunlight, but animal cells do not have these organelles. Because the plant cell has a cell wall to give it support, it is squared.

Analyze the desired response Both the plant and animal cell have a nucleus, mitochondrion, cell membranes, and cytoplasm. Plant cells have chloroplasts to make sugar from sunlight, but animal cells do not have these organelles.

Using the sample response for scaffolding Desired response: Both the plant and animal cell have a nucleus, mitochondrion, cell membranes, and cytoplasm. Scaffold for students: Both the plant and animal cell have (a) ______________________________. organelles Plant and animal cells both have ________. organelles

Using the sample response for scaffolding Desired response: Plant cells have chloroplasts to make sugar from sunlight, but animal cells do not have these organelles. Scaffold for students: _____ cells have ________ to _________ Plant/animal organelles verb + phrase to tell the function but ________ cells do not have these organelles. plant/animal

Longer writing tasks Provide scaffolding according to proficiency levels – More/less detail – Response banks Practice: Read the sample paragraphs and analyze the language to identify possible sentence frames. Select 2-3 sentence frames that would empower your ELLs to express their knowledge about cell organelles. © 2010 The University of Texas at Austin and Texas Education Agency9

Planning steps for integrating writing 1.Identify meaningful opportunities for students to speak/write about content. 2.Design meaningful speaking/writing task or question(s). 3.Write out sample student responses. 4.Create a checklist or rubric for grading. 5.Create supports for students who need them.

Contact information: Colleen Moore Senior Field Trainer Texas Institute for the Acquisition of Language for Learning, The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk University of Texas at Austin

Resources & Acknowledgements Five-step planning process adapted from Dr. Kate Kinsella’s work in Taking Center Stage – ACT II, accessed at on June 1, Inside a Cell activities accessed at © 2010 The University of Texas at Austin and Texas Education Agency12