WK5 | Reading Reflection Response

I have organized the information below into three tables, one with findings from the "50 strategies..." text, one with findings from "Reading, Writing....", and a third table with additional findings.

Quotations from “Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum

Finding	Summary/Context	Analysis/Application
“Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum” Page 185 "As you read this list, you probably noticed how abstract this all sounds. It is abstract! You could never teach children these things by trying to have them memorize these statements! It is through explicit instruction along with immersion in a literacy-rich environment with lots of stories read aloud and lots of opportunities for children to write their own that they begin to understand the marvelous truths about print, its relationship to spoken language, and its power to communicate across time and space."	This quote is in reference to this list from the text: Print conveys the message. Spoken words can be written down and preserved. Written words can be spoken -- that is, read aloud. In English words are read from left to right, top to bottom. In English and other languages that use an alphabet, the speech stream can be divided into sounds, and these sounds are represented by letters or groups of letters, called the alphabetic principle. This speech stream has a linear sequence in time that corresponds to the written languages linear sequence on the page Sound/symbol correspondences are consistent, but in English there are many exceptions This list explains the basic concepts that will develop during the emergent literacy phase for young children. This is a technical list of the basic awarenesses that occur for children when they are first discovering printed language. These awarenesses can be divided into 2 categories: basic functionality, and the alphabetic principle. The first 4 ideas deal with the most basic functions of how the English language can be understood. The alphabetic principle that is evidenced by the latter 3 have to do with the concept of phonics, or that phonological elements can have a written component.	This quotation is highlighting an interesting teaching strategy that is not often mentioned: immersion. The young children will not learn how to read because you tell them “In English and other languages that use an alphabet, the speech stream can be divided into sounds, and these sounds are represented by letters or groups of letters, called the alphabetic principle.”, but you can immerse them in reading environments, until they create this knowledge internally. The quote also mentions explicit instruction, which is also very important, obviously, but I think immersion is an interesting technique to think about. When I teach my college course on World Music, I use something along the lines of immersion to effectively teach the subject. The approach is to learn about as many disparate music cultures in as much detail as I can throughout the semester. We learn to critically analyze the music, we learn to perform the music on instruments, we learn about cultural and religious practices, elements of language, the societal functions associated with the music, and more. By the end of the class, the students have an intrinsic idea of what World Music is, but it is still difficult for them to put into language. There are things that must be taught in schools that are not skills, or may be difficult concepts to quantify or define, but they still need to be rigorously taught.

Finding

Summary/Context

Analysis/Application

“Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL” by Suzanne F. Peregoy, Owen Boyle, and Steven Amendum”

Page 185

"As you read this list, you probably noticed how abstract this all sounds. It is abstract! You could never teach children these things by trying to have them memorize these statements! It is through explicit instruction along with immersion in a literacy-rich environment with lots of stories read aloud and lots of opportunities for children to write their own that they begin to understand the marvelous truths about print, its relationship to spoken language, and its power to communicate across time and space."

This quote is in reference to this list from the text:

Print conveys the message.

Spoken words can be written down and preserved.

Written words can be spoken -- that is, read aloud.

In English words are read from left to right, top to bottom.

In English and other languages that use an alphabet, the speech stream can be divided into sounds, and these sounds are represented by letters or groups of letters, called the alphabetic principle.

This speech stream has a linear sequence in time that corresponds to the written languages linear sequence on the page

Sound/symbol correspondences are consistent, but in English there are many exceptions

This list explains the basic concepts that will develop during the emergent literacy phase for young children. This is a technical list of the basic awarenesses that occur for children when they are first discovering printed language.

These awarenesses can be divided into 2 categories: basic functionality, and the alphabetic principle. The first 4 ideas deal with the most basic functions of how the English language can be understood. The alphabetic principle that is evidenced by the latter 3 have to do with the concept of phonics, or that phonological elements can have a written component.

This quotation is highlighting an interesting teaching strategy that is not often mentioned: immersion. The young children will not learn how to read because you tell them “In English and other languages that use an alphabet, the speech stream can be divided into sounds, and these sounds are represented by letters or groups of letters, called the alphabetic principle.”, but you can immerse them in reading environments, until they create this knowledge internally.

The quote also mentions explicit instruction, which is also very important, obviously, but I think immersion is an interesting technique to think about.

When I teach my college course on World Music, I use something along the lines of immersion to effectively teach the subject. The approach is to learn about as many disparate music cultures in as much detail as I can throughout the semester. We learn to critically analyze the music, we learn to perform the music on instruments, we learn about cultural and religious practices, elements of language, the societal functions associated with the music, and more. By the end of the class, the students have an intrinsic idea of what World Music is, but it is still difficult for them to put into language.

There are things that must be taught in schools that are not skills, or may be difficult concepts to quantify or define, but they still need to be rigorously taught.

Quotations from “50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan

Finding	Summary/Context	Analysis/Application
“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan Chapter 11 - Page 83 “Most teachers know that teaching students to read closely is important. A series of gradual instructional approaches that helps students engage with complex text, close reading begins with teacher modeling and questioning, regardless of the content area. If students are not yet reading, teachers should read aloud, stopping to ask questions that demonstrate their thought processes.”	This quotation comes from the passage on Close reading. Close reading is essentially a method of critically analyzing text that is more complex or challenging. As this quotation implies, this process is essentially careful consideration and effortful thinking. This is often best demonstrated by teacher modeling.	This technique obviously helps students with discourse, but also with pragmatics. By considering text carefully, you must be able to apply the knowledge of pragmatics in order to determine the discursive realizations that are buried within. Students must dissect the meanings of words in context, but that implies that they have a basic understanding of how the language functions, pragmatically. Engaging students with texts that are beyond their level of comprehension pushes them towards higher levels of reading comprehension. This seems like a very critical technique to employ on a regular basis. Also, the types of texts that are useful for this can be very wide-ranging, so it can be easy to find something that is fun and unique to dissect.
“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan Chapter 35 - Page 227 “Free voluntary reading is an important strategy in helping both fluent English students and English language Learners develop a love of reading, and it provides a valuable shared literary experience.”	This quotation is from chapter 35 on free voluntary reading. This strategy is simple: allowing students to choose books to read. By allowing students to read books of their own choosing, this can spark an interest in reading, and therefore increase literacy. There is ample research to support this strategy. This quote from Chapter 35 - Page 224, adds further context to the kinds of criteria that will lead to success for this strategy: “In “The Read-Aloud Handbook”, Jim Trelise cites research that correlates the number of books to which students have access with their reading progress. He also points out the disparity between the numbers of books in classrooms and school libraries in poor neighborhoods versus more affluent ones. he knows some aspects of free reading that seem to make a difference in students interest in free reading, namely, access to books, personal ownership of the books, and self-selection of the books.”	I have a very distinct memory of not liking reading at all when I was younger. I was not interested in any of the books that I was recommended to read. I remember being introduced to the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and then I realized that there was an entire genre of books that I found extremely interesting. This was a very distinct and drastic shift for me. I had nothing but disdain for reading prior to this moment. Through reading these books on my own, I developed an interest in other sci-fi and fantasy books, and ultimately, as I got older, other fiction books. The long-term effect of this was a life-long interest in reading in general. It does take some time and exploration to figure out what kind of reading excites you, especially if you have been forced to read material you find dull in school. The worthiness of this strategy is obvious to me because of my personal experience, but it should be employed as often as it is possible in school.

Finding

Summary/Context

Analysis/Application

“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan

Chapter 11 - Page 83

“Most teachers know that teaching students to read closely is important. A series of gradual instructional approaches that helps students engage with complex text, close reading begins with teacher modeling and questioning, regardless of the content area. If students are not yet reading, teachers should read aloud, stopping to ask questions that demonstrate their thought processes.”

This quotation comes from the passage on Close reading. Close reading is essentially a method of critically analyzing text that is more complex or challenging.

As this quotation implies, this process is essentially careful consideration and effortful thinking. This is often best demonstrated by teacher modeling.

This technique obviously helps students with discourse, but also with pragmatics. By considering text carefully, you must be able to apply the knowledge of pragmatics in order to determine the discursive realizations that are buried within. Students must dissect the meanings of words in context, but that implies that they have a basic understanding of how the language functions, pragmatically.

Engaging students with texts that are beyond their level of comprehension pushes them towards higher levels of reading comprehension. This seems like a very critical technique to employ on a regular basis. Also, the types of texts that are useful for this can be very wide-ranging, so it can be easy to find something that is fun and unique to dissect.

“50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners” by Adrienne Herrell and Michael Jordan

Chapter 35 - Page 227

“Free voluntary reading is an important strategy in helping both fluent English students and English language Learners develop a love of reading, and it provides a valuable shared literary experience.”

This quotation is from chapter 35 on free voluntary reading. This strategy is simple: allowing students to choose books to read. By allowing students to read books of their own choosing, this can spark an interest in reading, and therefore increase literacy.

There is ample research to support this strategy.

This quote from Chapter 35 - Page 224, adds further context to the kinds of criteria that will lead to success for this strategy:

“In “The Read-Aloud Handbook”, Jim Trelise cites research that correlates the number of books to which students have access with their reading progress. He also points out the disparity between the numbers of books in classrooms and school libraries in poor neighborhoods versus more affluent ones. he knows some aspects of free reading that seem to make a difference in students interest in free reading, namely, access to books, personal ownership of the books, and self-selection of the books.”

I have a very distinct memory of not liking reading at all when I was younger. I was not interested in any of the books that I was recommended to read. I remember being introduced to the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and then I realized that there was an entire genre of books that I found extremely interesting. This was a very distinct and drastic shift for me. I had nothing but disdain for reading prior to this moment.

Through reading these books on my own, I developed an interest in other sci-fi and fantasy books, and ultimately, as I got older, other fiction books. The long-term effect of this was a life-long interest in reading in general.

It does take some time and exploration to figure out what kind of reading excites you, especially if you have been forced to read material you find dull in school.

The worthiness of this strategy is obvious to me because of my personal experience, but it should be employed as often as it is possible in school.

Additional Quotations

Finding	Summary/Context	Analysis/Application
Assessment & Reflection With ELLs—And All Students https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-assessment-reflection-with-ells-and-all-students/2012/05 By Larry Ferlazzo & Katie Hull Sypnieski Demonstrate higher-order thinking. A Taxonomy of Student Reflection was developed by educator Peter Pappas. In it, he applies the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to critical reflection. He recommends looking at student self-reflection through this lens, with higher-order questions appearing at the top: Creating: What should I do next? Evaluating: How well did I do? Analyzing: Do I see any patterns in what I did? Understanding: What was important about it? Remembering: What did I do?	This list of questions for students is a version of Bloom’s Taxonomy that is designed to help aid with student self-assessment. This helps students think critically about their own successes and failures with the material, and what they can do moving forward. When students are more involved with the formative assessment process, they can be more engaged. This may also drive students to be motivated to manage their own learning.	I find this list very useful to modify for specific lessons. At the very beginning of the article, they say the following: This excerpt from our upcoming book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, highlights student reflection as a tool for assessing the learning of English-language learners. However, we’ve found these principles and practical strategies to be effective with ALL our students. They are making it clear that this concept can be extrapolated for any subject, not just ELL. If a model can be re-used in alternate contexts with success, that is probably the mark of a useful model. The one bullet point that is the most confusing is the “creating” question. Perhaps it could be modified to something along the lines of “What can be done now that I have accomplished ____?” thereby asking students to think about what they can do now that they have achieved something. The Evaluation and Remembering questions are very straightforward, and do not require too much analysis. Perhaps it is useful to make sure students know what things are useful to think about in remembering what was done and evaluating how well it was done. They may not know how to effectively evaluate themselves unless they are instructed on how to do it. The Analyzing question could be tricky depending on the material. Not every lesson may contain analyzable patterns. Perhaps asking students questions that ask them to break a concept into its component parts would be a good alternative here. The Understanding question could also be tricky, but not if you make it clear. This is a good reminder to teachers to include in the lesson “Why are we doing this?”. It is always helpful for students to understand the goal as well as the roadmap. If you make this clear for students, they should not have any trouble answering this question.
“Teaching English Language Learners” By Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski Researchers have identified four elements that nurture the development of students’ intrinsic motivation: (1) autonomy: students have a degree of control over what needs to happen and how it can be done; (2) competence: students feel they can be successful in doing it; (3) relatedness: the activity helps students feel more connected to others and cared about by people they respect; and (4) relevance: students find the work interesting and valuable to them, and useful for their present lives and/or hopes and dreams for the future.	This quotation is from the section entitled “Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation for Academic Achievement”. The problem statement identifies various scenarios in which students may appear to be unmotivated to engage with schoolwork. This problem may be particularly intractable for ELL students, as many of these students may have a difficult home life or do not feel committed for some reason. As the quotation states, the authors propose a 4 pronged approach to motivating students; Autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. To give students autonomy with ELL, the article suggests using apps such as Duolingo on their own. This gives students the choice of how they are able to progress with the process of a language learning. The way that Duolingo “game-ifys” the language learning process is particularly useful for individuals who thrive on games. Additionally, using an app like this will increase the students’ level of competence, which may result in increased engagement in the classroom. In order to achieve relatedness, the article recommends that teachers employ cooperative learning strategies in their classrooms. Cooperative learning is essentially pairing a student with another so that they may effectively teach a concept to one another. This is not only beneficial for a student learning from another student, a student that teaches another student is also reinforcing the material in important ways. To achieve relevance for students, you have to advocate for the benefits of learning the subject material. This may be very difficult for certain subjects such as math or science, but for ELL it is very straightforward. An individual's ability to navigate the world and have power over the outcome of their lives is drastically increased by learning English.	Analysis My ears perked up when I started reading this section of the article. Keeping students engaged is the greatest struggle I have in my own classroom. I’m not sure how to translate some of these concepts directly into my own specific situation. For example, in my school, there are not even enough instruments to let the students take the instruments home to practice with. This is not ideal, and it prevents students from having autonomy and achieving competence. Unfortunately there is not an app that can help you play an instrument if you don’t even have the instrument, so I’m not sure what to do in this particular situation. Relatedness can be tricky, but ideally you want students to feel comfortable playing music together on their own. This is actually my own personal metric of success for my class, because when students are interested in playing music with their peers, that indicates that they are excited about playing music, period. This factor of achieving interest can set a student up for a lifetime of success in music. Relevance in the realm of music could be showing the students how they are able to learn and perform music that they find appealing and have interest in. When they understand that it is possible to play the music of their heroes, the hours of practice and drudgery of learning an instrument can be justified.

Finding

Summary/Context

Analysis/Application

Assessment & Reflection With ELLs—And All Students
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-assessment-reflection-with-ells-and-all-students/2012/05
By Larry Ferlazzo & Katie Hull Sypnieski

Demonstrate higher-order thinking. A Taxonomy of Student Reflection was developed by educator Peter Pappas. In it, he applies the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to critical reflection. He recommends looking at student self-reflection through this lens, with higher-order questions appearing at the top:

Creating: What should I do next?

Evaluating: How well did I do?

Analyzing: Do I see any patterns in what I did?

Understanding: What was important about it?

Remembering: What did I do?

This list of questions for students is a version of Bloom’s Taxonomy that is designed to help aid with student self-assessment. This helps students think critically about their own successes and failures with the material, and what they can do moving forward.

When students are more involved with the formative assessment process, they can be more engaged. This may also drive students to be motivated to manage their own learning.

I find this list very useful to modify for specific lessons.

At the very beginning of the article, they say the following:

This excerpt from our upcoming book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, highlights student reflection as a tool for assessing the learning of English-language learners. However, we’ve found these principles and practical strategies to be effective with ALL our students.

They are making it clear that this concept can be extrapolated for any subject, not just ELL. If a model can be re-used in alternate contexts with success, that is probably the mark of a useful model.

The one bullet point that is the most confusing is the “creating” question. Perhaps it could be modified to something along the lines of “What can be done now that I have accomplished ____?” thereby asking students to think about what they can do now that they have achieved something.

The Evaluation and Remembering questions are very straightforward, and do not require too much analysis. Perhaps it is useful to make sure students know what things are useful to think about in remembering what was done and evaluating how well it was done. They may not know how to effectively evaluate themselves unless they are instructed on how to do it.

The Analyzing question could be tricky depending on the material. Not every lesson may contain analyzable patterns. Perhaps asking students questions that ask them to break a concept into its component parts would be a good alternative here.

The Understanding question could also be tricky, but not if you make it clear. This is a good reminder to teachers to include in the lesson “Why are we doing this?”. It is always helpful for students to understand the goal as well as the roadmap. If you make this clear for students, they should not have any trouble answering this question.

“Teaching English Language Learners” By Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski

Researchers have identified four elements that nurture the development of students’ intrinsic motivation: (1) autonomy: students have a degree of control over what needs to happen and how it can be done; (2) competence: students feel they can be successful in doing it; (3) relatedness: the activity helps students feel more connected to others and cared about by people they respect; and (4) relevance: students find the work interesting and valuable to them, and useful for their present lives and/or hopes and dreams for the future.

This quotation is from the section entitled “Encouraging Intrinsic Motivation for Academic Achievement”. The problem statement identifies various scenarios in which students may appear to be unmotivated to engage with schoolwork. This problem may be particularly intractable for ELL students, as many of these students may have a difficult home life or do not feel committed for some reason.

As the quotation states, the authors propose a 4 pronged approach to motivating students; Autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance.

To give students autonomy with ELL, the article suggests using apps such as Duolingo on their own. This gives students the choice of how they are able to progress with the process of a language learning. The way that Duolingo “game-ifys” the language learning process is particularly useful for individuals who thrive on games. Additionally, using an app like this will increase the students’ level of competence, which may result in increased engagement in the classroom.

In order to achieve relatedness, the article recommends that teachers employ cooperative learning strategies in their classrooms. Cooperative learning is essentially pairing a student with another so that they may effectively teach a concept to one another. This is not only beneficial for a student learning from another student, a student that teaches another student is also reinforcing the material in important ways.

To achieve relevance for students, you have to advocate for the benefits of learning the subject material. This may be very difficult for certain subjects such as math or science, but for ELL it is very straightforward. An individual's ability to navigate the world and have power over the outcome of their lives is drastically increased by learning English.

Analysis
My ears perked up when I started reading this section of the article. Keeping students engaged is the greatest struggle I have in my own classroom. I’m not sure how to translate some of these concepts directly into my own specific situation. For example, in my school, there are not even enough instruments to let the students take the instruments home to practice with. This is not ideal, and it prevents students from having autonomy and achieving competence.

Unfortunately there is not an app that can help you play an instrument if you don’t even have the instrument, so I’m not sure what to do in this particular situation.

Relatedness can be tricky, but ideally you want students to feel comfortable playing music together on their own. This is actually my own personal metric of success for my class, because when students are interested in playing music with their peers, that indicates that they are excited about playing music, period. This factor of achieving interest can set a student up for a lifetime of success in music.

Relevance in the realm of music could be showing the students how they are able to learn and perform music that they find appealing and have interest in. When they understand that it is possible to play the music of their heroes, the hours of practice and drudgery of learning an instrument can be justified.