Week 5 (Mar 28 – Apr 03)

Overview

For help with the Course Calendar, review the overview video in 

Learning Outcomes

This week students will:

1.    Analyze six factors in cross-cultural communication and how they affect teaching English.

2.    Evaluate the challenges of identifying ELLs with special needs.

3.    Analyze a classroom scenario for high impact strategies to instruct ELLs and provide suggestions for next steps.

Introduction

During Week Five, you will research several research-based strategies that can be used in various content areas. For your culminating project, you will analyze a classroom scenario for high impact strategies to instruct English language learners (ELLs), and provide suggestions for next steps for reaching beginning-level ELLs.

Required Resources

Text

·        Read from your text, Language, learning, and culture: English language learning in today’s schools:

·         Chapter 9: Learners with Special Needs

§  This chapter addresses the issue of accurately assessing ELLs with special needs and creating an appropriate plan for their education.

·         Chapter 10: Putting it All Together

§  This chapter reviews and synthesizes twelve major themes that have been discussed in the other nine chapters of the text.

Articles

·        Curtin, E. M. (2009). Classroom scenario. In Pathways to teaching series: Practical strategies for teaching English language learners (pp. 27). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

·         This article can be accessed through the Course Materials section of your online course. You will use the classroom scenario described in this document as the basis for your Final Paper, in which you analyze what the teacher is currently doing for two ELLs, and provide a plan for him with additional strategies that he could use to promote their English language development.

·        Miskito Missions Network (2007). Cross-cultural communications challenges. Retrieved on fromhttp://miskitomissions.com/PartnershipResources/CrossCultureCommunication/tabid/121/Default.aspx

·         This web page highlights six fundamental patterns of cultural differences and how multicultural collaboration can overcome barriers to effective communication. You will choose three of these six patterns to reflect on in the Discussion, “Cross-Cultural Communication.”

Recommended Resource

Multimedia

·        Chulhane, T. H. (2007, July 9). The insight zone, part II. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z0MLGFd3IQ

·         This is an inspirational video (connecting back to the recommended Part I video in Week One) wherein high school students comment on the difficulties presented when information is not comprehensible. You may want to refer to this video when you write your analysis of the classroom scenario in your Final Paper, especially in terms of providing comprehensible input for the two ELLs.

Discussions

(1) Identifying ELLs with Special Needs

Chapter 9 provides a discussion of the challenges of identifying ELLs’ as having a learning disability or being gifted with their lower than grade-level proficiency in English. After reading Chapter 9, write a post that addresses the following questions:

• What kinds of disabilities might an ELL have?
• What are the challenges of determining whether an ELL has a learning ability or is gifted?
• What kinds of interventions are used once an ELL has been identified as having a learning disability?
• What kinds of interventions are used once an ELL is determined to be gifted?
• If you were teaching a class with some ELLs in it, what signals would you look for in the behavior or they ELLs to determine whether they might need to be tested for learning disabilities or being gifted?
• How might you adapt your curriculum for an ELL student with a learning disability or who is gifted?

Guided Response: Review several of your classmates’ posts and respond to at least two of them. Comment on their discussion of the challenges of determining whether an ELL has a learning disability and what they would do if they suspected that one of their students might have a learning disability or was gifted. Make suggestions for other ways that the curriculum could be adapted to serve Ells with learning disabilities and gifted ELLs.

(2) Cross-Cultural Communication

In any social setting, people of different cultures need to communicate respectfully. For teachers, this challenge may be even greater as we confront our own biases and prejudices while helping students understand and manage their own. After reading the Miskito Mission Network article, “Cross Cultural Communications Challenges,” discuss three of the six points that you think would help teachers communicate effectively with English language learners. Give examples of how you would implement them in a social setting. Reflect on areas you may need to challenge yourself or expand your thinking.

Guided Response: Review several of your classmates’ posts. Respond to two of your classmates, one who chose to pick three points that were different than the ones you chose and another classmate who shares similarities (one or more) in selection of the three ideas. Compare and contrast your thoughts behind you responses to those of your classmates. For instance if you had similarities but for different reason, talk about that. If you had differences because you didn’t even consider what your classmate considered, challenge your thinking by finding out the premise behind their reasoning. Finally, offer suggestions for improving cross-cultural communication skills.

Journal

Learning Reflection Four

Reflect on the course description for this course:

This course explores strategies and techniques to support the success of language and culturally diverse students. The values, customs, and communication styles of cultural groups and their implication for teaching are considered. Research-based instructional approaches to developing English learner literacy will be examined.

Do you think you have successfully met the goals of this course? What areas do you feel are your strengths? Which areas will present the most challenge for you? What can you do to overcome those challenges or improve on those areas?

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

FINAL PAPER

Classroom Scenario Analysis

To make curriculum accessible to English language learners (ELLs), teachers must be able to integrate strategies to help them develop social and academic language skills in English, and provide support by using comprehensible input and scaffolding. Accommodations should be based on current theories and research in language and literacy development, and they should address the interrelationship between culture and language.

For this assignment, you will read the “Classroom Scenario” from Pathways to teaching series: Practical strategies for teaching English language learner, in which Mr. O’Malley is a teacher of a mainstream 6th grade classroom with two ELLs in it, Maria and Mikhail. In a five- to eight-page paper, complete the following:

PART 1: Analysis

Analyze the scenario by addressing the following:

• Conduct a needs analysis of the two ELLs, Maria and Mikhail. What do you know about their backgrounds? What are their current levels of English language development (i.e., Which of the five stages of language development is each one at?)? What evidence do you have for assigning them to these levels?
• Identify the strategies the Mr. O’Malley is currently using in the scenario to help Maria and Mikhail to develop their social and academic language skills in English. Do you think that these strategies are effective? Why or why not?
• Discuss any current theories and research in ELL development that relate to the strategies that Mr. O’Malley is currently using with Maria and Mikhail.

Provide specific examples to support your points. Make sure to discuss the teacher’s or students’ actions in the scenario, and align them to specific concepts learned during the course. Whenever appropriate, use course vocabulary to demonstrate your knowledge of how it is applied and activated in the field.

PART 2: Action Plan

Discuss the next steps the teacher should take to best facilitate effective language development for Maria and Mikhail in his classroom. Be sure to properly cite sources of information that support your suggestions. Your action plan must include the following components:

• Identify and describe at least one, but no more than two, standards that address 6th grade English language development or content. You may use either Common Core Standards or state ELD standards.
• Describe two standards-based interventions/activities for each of the two ELL students based on the needs analysis that you completed in Part 1.  (You may use the same standards for both students, but the interventions/activities that you describe should be different for each student since they are not at the same level of English development.)  Explain why you are suggesting each of the interventions/activities (i.e., Why you  think they will be effective to help Maria and Mikhail move to the next level of language development?)
• For each of the four interventions/activities, explain how you applied fundamental theories of ELL English language development and instruction to inform your thinking.
• Finally, what advice would you give Mr. O’Malley about working with ELLs? What are his current strengths as a teacher? What kinds of skills and knowledge could he still learn about so he understands better how to teach ELLs? What kinds of professional development might he benefit from to become more effective as a teacher of ELLs?

Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:

• Must be five to eight double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
• Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
• Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
• Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the text and required Curtin article.
• Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.