1. Working with English Language Learners: Chapters 5 & 6 By: Julianne DelliSanti, Gina D’Angeli, Danielle Kovach, Nicole Szczur

2. How do I make a difficult textbook more readable? Key Ideas:  Teach a variety of reading comprehension strategies using modeling and guided practice.  Use text tours, graphic organizers, and main idea signposts.  Do think-out-loud modeling.  Offer multiple paths into the text.  Make text meaningful with personal stories and to activate prior schemata.  Teach students skills such as questioning, hypothesizing, and digging into the text.  Create a comfortable atmosphere.

3. Strategies to use  Think-out-loud modeling  Highlighted Text  Context Clues  Objects, Pantomime, Movement  Tapping students’ prior knowledge  Encouraging spin-off stories  Personal teacher stories  Signposts to the main idea  Pair reading  L1 Summaries  Note taking via graphic organizers and drawings Each of these strategies allows the students to break down the text to obtain a better understanding.

4. Teacher Modeling  With a mix of modeling and guided practice students learn various skills for reading.  These skills help students to become better readers.  One danger is over modeling, it must be:  Clear  Carefully focused  Include out loud thinking  Reasonable length

5. Comfortable Atmosphere  Humor can help establish and maintain a low-anxiety environment.  It can serve as a counterbalance for the sometimes overwhelming challenge and stress ELL students feel.  Some tips on using humor:  Encouraging more student jokes and funny stories  Telling more jokes and funny stories yourself  Increasing the number of humorous read aloud books  Sharing a daily cartoon or comic strip  Sharing a daily humorous video clip

6. How do I help my students improve their English Writing? Key Ideas:  Have students write for real world purposes.  Base writing content on student interests.  Understand the terrors and intimidations of “compliance writing.”  Emphasis process over product, whole over pieces.  Use a variety of writing supports:  Group composing  Graphic organizers  Drawing-based texts

7. More Key Ideas  Explain that good writers run their work through several think, write, and revise cycles.  Do not only focus on the skills of writing.  When working with ELL students consider what they write, how they write and who they write for.  Utilize Critical Literacy Approach: emphasizes text analysis, personal reflection, and social action to address local issues and injustices.

8. Strategies to Use  Teacher-led group writing  Multiple think, write, and reverse cycles  Graphic organizers with drawings  Letter skeletons  Differentiated Writing (words or words and pictures)  Pantomime, movement  Prioritizing/sequencing student ideas  Rephrasing (recasting)  Key vocabulary  Ongoing reminders that writing mistakes are natural  Balanced focus on message and form  Focus/feedback on message first  Writing for multiple audiences  Computer-mediated writing (email)

9. Student Portfolios  They are important because they are integral part of student’s writing and they decrease the use of skill-based materials.  Strategy Suggestions:  Student must comprehend the “what, why and how” of assessment.  Students must submit work regularly into their portfolio  Must include wide variety of student work sample  Avoid “too skinny” syndrome (small portfolio with not enough work).  Be sure to view all work conducted in student portfolio, avoid “black whole” syndrome.  Use three-data-point review process (beginning, middle and end of year).  Conduct periodic reviews.  Engage students and have them be an active part of portfolio process.