The ABCs of ELLs

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The ABCs of ELLs

• School District of Janesville
• March 12, 2007
• Professional Development Session

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Presented by

• Julie DeCook, ELL Program Support Teacher, SDJ
• Linda Cottier, ELL Teacher, Craig HS
• Matt Wolf, ELL Teacher, Marshall MS

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Introductions

• Name
• School
• Grade or Subject /Area or Specialty
• Other?

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Overview

• Affective Filter
• Brain Compatible Practices
• Comprehensible Input

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Activity

• Who did you bring with you today?
• Who inspired you to come today?

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Drilons Story
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Simulations(Alternate Activity)

• A new student arrives at your classroom door who
  doesnt speak any English. What is your gut
  reaction?

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Simulations(Alternate Activity)

• Think of the most challenging course you took in
  school. What was challenging about it? What
  emotions did you experience? (Jo Gusman, 2005)

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Simulations(Alternate Activity)

• You are a 16 year old immigrant to Germany. You
  are enrolled in school. You have taken German
  since 7th grade, but now all of your math,
  science, language arts, and German history
  instruction is in German. How do you feel? What
  do you think? What do you do?

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Affective Filter

• What does perceived threat do to us?
• What is the impact of fear and anxiety on the
  brain?
• What is the impact on learning when the
  environment and/or community doesnt feel safe?

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Affective Filter

• Psychological Filter
• Defensive Shield
• Emotional Gatekeeper
• (Candice Pert, Molecules of Emotion)
• Garage Door

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Affective Filter

• What do we do
• to avoid things
• that threaten us???

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• Frequent trips to
• The restroom
• The drinking fountain
• The nurses office
• Sleeping in class
• Absenteeism/truancy/tardiness
• Refusal to work
• Clowning
• Distracting

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The TRUE Brick Wall

• When the affective filter is up, its as though
  you never taught the lesson!

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Process Activity

• Turn to a partner and share a time your affective
  filter was up.
• Quickly sketch a graphic representing affective
  filter to you.
• Share with your partner.

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The Bridgefrom Affective Filter to
Comprehensible Input
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Charlie Browns Teacher

• Any speech that has been slurred from
  drunkenness, distorted by lousy loudspeakers, or
  just rendered incomprehensible by other means.
  Refers to the "whaa-whaa-whaa" trombone effect
  from old Peanuts TV specials, indicating when an
  adult was speaking.
• Ed Sounds like they hired a Charlie Brown
  Teacher to do the announcements.
• (urbandictionary.com)

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Brain research tells us . . .

• Every thought we have creates a physiological
  responsein the case of not understandingstress.
• All learning involves our body, our emotions,
  our attitudes . . . brain-based approaches
  address those variables more comprehensively
  (Completing the Puzzle A Brain-based Approach to
  Learning, Eric Jensen)

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Brain research tells us . . .

• The mid-brain regulates attention, emotions,
  sleep, appetite, etc. and long-term memory.
• The neocortex regulates sensory perception, motor
  commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought,
  and language.
• There are more neural fibers going from the
  mid-brain to the neocortex than the other way
  around.

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Brain research tells us . . .

• This is important evidence that emotions are
  more important and powerful to the brain than
  higher-order thinking skills. (Completing the
  Puzzle A Brain-based Approach to Learning, Eric
  Jensen)

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Brain research tells us . . .

• Attention to external events (instruction) and
  attention to internal processes (thought which
  internalizes learning) do not happen at the same
  time.
• Attending and learning are not the same thing.
• Learners need time for acquisition, practice,
  reflection, making meaning, and building recall.
  (Completing the Puzzle A Brain-based Approach to
  Learning, Eric Jensen)

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Brain research tells us . . .

• Leaners construct meaning by
• Making connections
• Attaching emotion
• Finding patterns

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Brain research tells us . . .

• The brain is so motivated to find meaning that it
  constructs ways to put pieces of information
  together in a way that makes sense
• Teacher, America eggs no chicken.

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To guide the formation of accurate patterns,
connections, and meaning, ELLs need . . .

• Comprehensible Input!

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Framework of Language DemandJim Cummins, Anna
Chamot and Michael OMalley
Cognitively Undemanding
Context-Reduced
Context-Embedded
Cognitively Demanding
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What is Comprehensible Input?

• Students should be able to understand the essence
  of what is being said or presented to them
• Should we only use words the students understand?
• Comprehensible input 1

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Comprehensible Input

• Goes beyond the choice of vocabulary
• Provide background knowledge and content
• Context or visual clues
• Asking for clarification
• Graphic organizers

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Comprehensible Input

• Provide instruction that draws upon the
  experiences of your students
• No need to be an expert of the culture
• Listen carefully to your students
• Connect learning to their past experiences

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Comprehensible Output

• Learners need opportunities to practice language
• Cooperative learning groups
• Students or teacher can adapt message to
  listeners needs
• Easy to check understanding of the listener
• Opportunity for oral practice and repetition of
  content understanding as peers help negotiate
  meaning
• Feedback is non-judgmental and immediate

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Recipe for Input

• Behavior Checklist for Teachers
• Language Signal
• Chunk n Chew

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Recap

• Affective Filtereffective of negative emotion on
  learning
• Brain Compatible Practicesholistic approach
  accounting for cognitive, emotional, and
  physiological aspects of learning all together
• Comprehensible Inputinstruction that
  demonstrates meaning

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Recap Continued

• Differentiate
• Content
• Products
• Process
• AND
• Affect
• Learning Environment

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Closing Launch

• Please complete the last column of the Who Did
  You Bring With You Today? activity.
• Share 1 or 2 answers you discovered today with a
  partner.
• Thank you for choosing to spend your time
  learning about ELLs!!!