Content Based Instruction: Current Events and Reverse Chronological History Ibrahim and the Origins of this Idea Silent reading….not so silent…and not so much reading. Somalia, WHY the violence? Students of the world and the power of a globe. Bin Laden in the news and a difficult question to answer.

Putting this Mini Lesson into Context….(or who y’all are pretending to be) Approximately 15 students, made up of 10 th and 11th graders from Mexico, S. Korea, Somalia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Iraq, and Syria. Students are at the intermediate to high intermediate level. They take general education math, science, and electives. They are in my sheltered ELL classroom for the remainder of the day. This is likely the last year they will be in a sheltered ELL classroom. Next year, I expect all of them to be at a level where they can enter the GE population on a full time basis. The primary goal, (as cliché as it might sound) is to develop curious, engaged students who are committed to a lifetime of learning about themselves and their world. Additionally, this class seeks to provide a smooth transition between this year’s ELL classes and next year’s general education course load. To facilitate those ends, it seeks to promote the development of speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills within an academic setting. I see this class as a bridge between the sheltered classroom and a full load of general education classes.

I I September October/Nov/Dec January - June The focus of the first month is on getting to know one another, creating a supportive community-based learning environment, and allowing teachers to know students as individuals - casual conversations, games, social activities, reflective journaling, and a variety of techniques taken from the participatory approach are heavily emphasized. Time is also spent supporting ELL’s with academic work in their GE classes. Exploration of each culture represented in the classroom – children’s literature, myths, legends, and songs, are explored, discussed, and used to generate vocabulary lists. Study strategies are taught and practiced. Language level appropriate texts and videos are used to introduce each culture’s history, religion, language, customs, and traditions. Active reading strategies are taught and practiced. Graphic organizers are used to help students clarify, organize and compare information about each culture, and to facilitate related writing. Students from the culture studied act as expert resources, and representatives from the community visit the class. Daily, the class also focuses on exploring current events through Voice of America, newspapers, T.V. news, and internet news cites. Topics of interest are discussed and noted. Graphic organizers help students make connections between events. One or two areas of interest are singled out for in depth exploration and “Big Questions“ are generated. Reverse Chronological history is used to seek answers to students most pressing questions about the world. In ascending level of linguistic difficulty, narrative story telling, children’s literature, graphic novels, Voice of America, selected history websites, and age-level history texts are used to paint a picture of the relevant historical story. Vocabulary lists are derived from the content. Cognitive skills and grammar lessons are taught as needed. Group discussion is very common. Graphic organizers, particularly timelines and maps, are used to help clarify and support learning. Additional questions generated by students are either added to the “big question” wall or researched by students who report back to class. Students continue to use a portion of class time to follow contemporary events.

What students have already learned in this class (stuff you should pretend to know) This mini lesson would probably take place in late January or early February. In the fall, we already learned a great deal about each other’s cultures – religion, history, customs, etc. So everyone has a basic familiarity with a large portion of the world. After exploring and discussing current events in the fall, the class chose to seek out answers to the following question: Why did 9-11 happen? During the last several weeks, we have already used storytelling, children’s books, the Everything Guide to Religion, a Graphic novel (comic book) about world history, videos, discussions, etc. to gain an understanding of Islam and the early stages of the cold war. Vocabulary was pulled from each of these activities. Grammar mini lessons were offered as needed. And interviews were conducted with people outside the classroom. Over the last several weeks, while working with these materials, each of you created these graphic organizers to help you understand and organize your readings and our discussions. Most of your work on these was done in pairs. We’ll work on them a little bit more today in preparation for the next stage of the historical story most relevant to 9-11.

Finally…..What we have already done today… The lesson we are about to do takes place near the end of the day, so we’ve already spent about 2 hours together. During those two hours we spent time using the participatory approach to support students’ social and personal development. Reviewed vocabulary derived from previous units. Had a short grammar lesson based on a need I noticed during yesterday’s discussion. And, spent time exploring and discussing current events (newspapers, an article I brought to class, Voice of America ELL, etc.).

Ready to Pretend? I’ll try to pause throughout the lesson several times so you’ll have time to take notes.

Our Next Classes Students will report and discuss their interview findings. They’ll make predictions about which ones they think will best answer their question. We’ll list the answers and reflect on them over the next several weeks. I’ll tell the next section of our story (just the general idea) while students follow along on their maps and timelines. Brief video clips. Brief readings from graphic novel, reading strategies, vocab, and grammar lessons, more interviews. Short readings from a text more commonly found in GE classrooms. And of course, we’ll continue exploring, discussing, and debating current events.