Exploring PACT Academic Language Instruction Across Disciplines

1
Exploring PACT Academic Language Instruction
Across Disciplines

• A Look at Two Cases Teaching English Math.
• P. Holmes, A. Mendle B. Merino University of
  California, Davis.

2
Research Questions

• How do exemplary beginning teachers (EBTs)
  identify the language demands of tasks in the
  PACT lesson cycle?
• How do EBTs scaffold the language demands they
  identify?
• How can these cases expand our understanding of
  teacher development Academic Language
  Instruction?

3
Description of the Problem

• Academic Language is a complex, dynamic and
  evolving construct that taps multiple traditions
  (Valdez, 2004).
• Increasingly linguistically diverse CA
  population of school children need teachers who
  can provide instruction of AL. (Rumberger,
  Gandara Merino, 2006)

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Theoretical Frameworks

• On teacher development
• An embodied understanding of practice rather
  than attributes, forms the basis for professional
  skill development. (DallAlba Sandberg,
  2006, p.30)

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AL Key sample definitions

• The language knowledge together with the
  associated knowledge of the world and
  metacognitive strategies necessary to function
  effectively in the discourse domain of the
  schools ( Cummins, 2000, p. 67)
• The dense and abstract language characteristic
  of the texts of advanced literacy construes the
  specialized and abstract knowledge that students
  are expected to develop as they move into
  secondary school and higher education?
  (Schleppegrell, 2004, p. 163).

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AL - A constructivist view.

• The body of knowledge, strategies and skills
  necessary to accomplish the academic tasks or
  genres of a specific discipline in a particular
  context? (Merino Scarcella, 2004)

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The Institutional Context

• A 15 month - Credential/MA Program
• An integrated model of delivery of AL
  Instruction.
• N 124 Elementary/Secondary
• Secondary - N 67 English N16.
• Elementary - N 57 Math N57.

8
UCD TE Program Teacher Roles

• Advocate for Equity in Learning
• Teacher Researcher
• Reflective Practitioner
• Collaborative Professional

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Criteria for Case Selection

• PACT Performance above median within the cohort.
• Pedagogically sound lesson cycle.
• Exemplary performance in AL within some element.

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Teaching Context- English Case

• 7th 8th Grade Intermediate English Language
  Development Class
• 15 students with 4 primary languages (Hmong,
  Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese)
• High Point C curriculum, CELDT levels 1 3, Far
  Below Basic to Basic CST levels, 7 students with
  IEPs,
• novel Number the Stars is focus of PACT lessons
  using two new reading strategies making
  connections and one question, one comment
• most students have solid oral English and use it
  regularly however, use in academic tasks (oral
  or written) is much weaker
• candidate was particularly interested in reading
  from the start of our program intended to
  pursue a reading specialist authorization.

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Candidates Understanding of Students Language
Levels

• Some specific skills my students are still
  learning include the following how to answer
  questions using complete sentences, how to write
  questions correctly, and how to find supporting
  evidence in a text. In addition, my students are
  learning how to write a coherent paragraph using
  a topic sentence, transitions and a concluding
  sentence. My students are also still learning how
  to locate the main idea in a text and then use
  that main idea to write a summary. (Task 1
  excerpt)

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Candidates Understanding of Students Language
Levels

• My students have difficulty implementing
  academic language. When I ask students a specific
  question during class discussions, about half of
  my students have a hard time answering the
  question appropriately. Most of my students have
  trouble phrasing what they would like to say,
  even when they have the correct answer. Often my
  students will stumble when they speak in class,
  and sometimes when this happens my students will
  become frustrated and stop trying to communicate
  their ideas One of the areas in which my
  students need constant development is vocabulary.
  I often have to define terms during class
  readings, when I introduce a new topic, or when I
  am giving instructions on the overhead. I
  constantly must think about words that will be
  most difficult for my students, and I try to have
  visuals for the words I know my students will
  have trouble understanding.(Task 1 excerpt)

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Identified Lesson Language Demands

• 1. Novel vocabulary both specific Holocaust
  terms and general words, requires constant
  awareness of challenging terms- restatements,
  synonyms, context all used to reinforce meaning
• 2. Anticipation Guide procedures anticipate,
  purpose, directions
• 3. Similes reinforcing literary term presented
  earlier in year
• 4. Connections, Comments Text (presented
  through cell phone text messaging!) key terms
  of new reading strategies
• 5. Writing complete sentences formal and
  informal opportunities in lessons
• 6. Use of quotation marks when making connections
  on worksheet
• 7. Using new reading and response strategies
  effectively multiple reinforcements and
  scaffolds, discussion protocol
• 8. ELD standards part of each days plans
• 9. Visuals for handouts and key concepts to
  support understanding

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Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language (evidence from both plans and video
clips)

• Day One
• 1. Holocaust background - PowerPoint notes and
  childrens book to discuss key vocabulary and
  historical period whiteboard responses to
• 2. Key vocabulary introduction in context
  (worksheet for future reference) definitions,
  pictures, and book sentences
• 3. Door pass with 3 facts students have learned
  about the Holocaust

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Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language (evidence from both plans and video
clips)

• Day Two
• 1. Review of key Holocaust elements with PPt.
  slides, identification cards about lives of young
  people lost in the Holocaust
• 2. Anticipation Guide about key issues
  individual responses and class discussion, then a
  written paragraph taking a position
• 3. Introduction of making connections strategy
  focus on text to self with sentence starters
  for those who need support
• 4. Begin oral reading of novel, teacher modeling
  text to self connections, students required to
  make one connection after chapter one

16
Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language (evidence from both plans and video
clips)

• Day Three
• 1. Reading of second childrens book as preview
  to new novel chapter introduces concept of
  text to text connections
• 2. Chapter Two reading with text to self
  connections guide on overhead
• 3. One question One comment activity
  overhead to guide students writing whole class
  participates in student-led discussion

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Scoring on the Academic Language Rubric

• 2007-2008 Academic Language Category Passed
• E10 How does the candidate describe student
  language development in relation to the language
  demands of the learning tasks and assessments? 3
• The candidate has a unique ability to assess the
  content she will teach, identify language
  challenges, and provide scaffolds to address
  these challenges. This may be seen at the
  word-level (text, personal experience,
  connection, etc.), the concept/schema level
  (need for pre-teaching Holocaust history), and
  practical level (multiple modalities for
  imparting instructions, etc.). She is familiar
  with her students various ability levels based
  on multiple measures (CELDT, STAR, IEPs, written
  work, observation, etc.) and both their
  independent and scaffolded levels of
  performance. (Candidate did not reach Score 4
  because of missing discussion of vision of how
  these lessons/skills fit into broader
  disciplinary content.)

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Scoring on the Academic Language Rubric

• E11 How do the candidates planning,
  instruction, and assessment support academic
  language development? 3
• The candidate uses multiple scaffolds. She
  models activities using visuals (Powerpoint,
  overhead transparencies, etc.), gives students
  opportunities for oral and written practice (One
  Question/One Comment discussion, Anticipation
  Guide paragraph), and gives students both oral
  and written feedback (discussion
  evaluation/clarifying questions, comments on
  Making Connections handout). She is
  intentional and articulate about why she selected
  these strategies and planned them in the order
  that she did. She has plans for more advanced
  students, but does not make clear how she will
  enhance/remove scaffolds for currently-
  struggling learners. (Prevents score of 4)

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Implications of The English Case

• 1. Academic language development understanding
  can be attained at a high level by new teachers,
  with support of resident teachers and methods
  presented in education courses
• 2. Working directly with English learners
  accelerates understanding of how to implement
  strategies to support Academic Language
  development
• 3. Use clips from this case to demonstrate strong
  Academic Language instruction
• 4. Introduce childrens books as preview of
  issues in grade level texts

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It is my job to make sure my students
continually have experiences where they practice
academic language that they have learned and
encounter new academic language. (Task 5
excerpt)
from the Candidate
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Teaching Context- Multiple Subject Case

• K-6 Elementary School
• Grade 2 class, 20 students
• Six students came from homes where English is not
  the primary language. All were classified as
  Initially Fluent English Proficient
• 12 of the school are English learners 40 in
  the district are English learners
• The community is a mix of newly developed houses
  and apartments, isolated from mainstream flow of
  the town

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Teaching Context- Multiple Subject Case
Task 1 excerpt
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Rationale for MS Case Selection

• PACT was centered on the meaning of
  equals,greater than and less than
• The definitions were discourse specific and very
  prone to student misunderstanding
• There is a research base about childrens
  understanding of these issues
• Academic language was embedded in the instruction
  and assessment of this event

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A Brief Look At the Mathematics and the Research

• What might children say about the following?
• 2 3 5
• 5 2 3
• 7 6 ? 5
• Are there grade level differences in the way
  students respond?

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Candidates Understanding of Students Language
Levels

• In mathematics, students have become accustomed
  to using mathematical vocabulary such as,
  addition in place of 'plussing,' and subtraction
  in place of minusing,and the frequent use of
  value, rectangular prism, sum, difference etc.
  While the focus is always to master the concept,
  the use of academic language is encouraged and
  promoted. (Task 1 excerpt)
• elementary school students harbor serious
  misconceptions about the meaning of the equal
  sign and their confusion does not dissolve with
  time. (Task 2 excerpt)
• as a student progresses through the grades, one
  often struggles with algebraic functions due to
  their confusion of the equal sign. (Task 2
  excerpt)

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Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language

• engaging them in discussions in which different
  conceptions of the equal sign emerge and must be
  resolved. (Task 2 excerpt)
• Students will also visually represent equivalent
  number sentences on a balance to help them
  conceptualize how these expressions could be
  represented in another (visual) manner. (Task 2
  excerpt)
• I specifically incorporated kinesthetic
  approaches because there are numerous students in
  this particular classroom who benefit from this
  type of instruction. There are a number of
  students which fall in the below proficient
  category for math and from previous experiences
  with these students I have learned that these
  students have an easier time grasping a concept
  which they can refer back to via hands-on
  experience (Task 2 excerpt)

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Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language

• I posed multiple number sentences and students
  were asked to respond with true or false. (Task
  5 excerpt)
• It seemed once they were introduced to their
  misconceptions they quickly moved past them in
  pursuit of developing a deep understanding of the
  concept. (Task 5 excerpt)

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Strategies Planned and Used to Develop Academic
Language

• Throughout these class discussions and
  activities instructor will help students define
  and fine tune mathematical vocabulary that may be
  unclear (Task 2 excerpt)
• Instructor will help students better communicate
  themselves by modeling the use of academic
  language (Task 2 excerpt)
• The planning started with less complex concepts
  such as, 3 _ 9. This was done in order to
  build a firm foundation of the function of the
  equal sign, so as not to divert attention to
  complex expressions with multiple symbols. (Task
  2 excerpt)
• Give (ELLs in particular) the opportunity
  for the content, term or language to be heard
  within the context numerous time. Students can
  effectively learn mathematics in heterogeneous
  groups if structures are developed to provide
  appropriate, differentiated support for a range
  of students. (Task 2 excerpt)

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Scoring on the Academic Language Rubric

• EM 10 - Candidate identifies a wide range of
  language demands associated with learning the
  instructional content, this includes (equal,
  greater than, less than, true/false, balances.
  Candidate noted some inconsistincies in her own
  presentation of academic language and outlined in
  her next steps how she would address this.
  (Score report)
• Score 2

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Scoring on the Academic Language Rubric

• EM 11 - Candidate appeared to have thoughtfully
  considered practices and examples that would
  actively engage students and support language
  demands. These include students holding number
  cards and demonstrating different formats (945
  or 459) community solving of problems and
  articulating reasoning strategies. Candidate does
  articulate why strategies would benefit students,
  and supports her reasoning with research
  (Carpenter, Franke Levi), stating that students
  need to be in positions that offer them
  opportunity to articulate and perhaps challenge
  existing conceptions or misconceptions. The video
  segment presented examples of the candidate
  presenting explicit models, opportunities for
  practice and feedback/questions that nudge
  students to articulate their problem solving
  strategies and/or justify a response. These
  strategies supported students language
  development.
• Score 3

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Implications of The Multiple Subject Case

• Academic language can be a part of the central
  focus of a mathematics lesson
• Complex mathematical thinking can be facilitated
  by focusing on the language demands of the
  discipline
• There is value in discussing and extolling
  misconceptions