Scaffolding Language: Scaffolding Learning – Chapter 5
1.
Describe some challenges that ELs may encounter
when attempting to write in English.
2.
How are genres cultural and shared by members of
that culture?
3.
Please read genres of school writing (narrative
and argument) p. 102 -108. Is there
anything from this section that resonated with you so that you may further support
teachers working with ELs in writing?
4.
The Teaching and Learning Cycle has four
stages. These are: Stage 1-Building knowledge of the
field; Stage 2- Modeling and deconstructing the genre; Stage 3- Joint construction; Stage 4 –
Independent writing. How could this cycle provide an organizing framework for
an entire unit?
Michelle Kotwica
ReplyDelete1. ELLs can have difficulties with writing when they are expected to write at certain standards, levels, or expectations that may be on grade level but not necessarily at their language proficiency level. We write how we talk. Therefore, if a student's speaking LP level is closer to a 2 or 3, but they are expected to be writing like a 5 or a 6, there need to be many scaffolds and modeling in place to help the student go from their current writing level and gradually move over.
ELLs are less likely to be familiar with organizational structure of various types of writing as well as grammatical structure overall. It is crucial to incorporate oral language, graphic organizers, etc into writing time to allow students to first use and practice proper oral language to then be transferred into writing.
2. According to Gibbons, “Genres occurs within a culture, have a specific social purpose, have a particular organizational structure, and is characterized by specific linguistic features.” So all cultures have genres, but they may look different. Some cultures are more oral vs written, or formal vs informal, etc. So it is important to know there are differences in cultures and genres so you are aware of appropriate language and ways to get things done. Therefore, it is critical that we explicitly teach, model, and show examples of the genres we are expecting students to write because it could be very confusing or different from what they are accustomed to or just vary by culture in general and need some exposure and instruction first.
3. In general, we know writing is usually the last domain to develop. So with that being said and knowing students are expected to learn and write in various genres, it can be overwhelming and confusing to them. They need explicit organizational teaching, modeling, samples, time to understand and analyze materials..the list goes on. It is imperative that all ALL teachers are aware and can self reflect on their teaching skills to ensure they are scaffolding writing to ensure student success. Gibbons states that narrative is one of the most common genres yet ironically most complex to write successfully. An Argument is also difficult being an evaluative thinking skill not to mention putting it into writing. The structure is quite different from a narrative as well as come of the terminology and language features expected. Teaching students this academic language and orally using it first to embed it into their daily language will help transfer that genre/academic language into their writing and aide in more overall writing success.
4. This cycle helps provide time and organization for students while writing within units. It seems very similar to our writing workshop. Students are introduced to the genre overall (mentor texts..), reading and talking about it, gathering noticings, being exposed to it, etc. Then you can discuss and point out more of the structure, purpose, and features of the writing within mentor texts you have been working on. After that, there is joint construction of the writing genre where the teacher and students write a piece together following the structure and features while also modeling and focusing on the writing (and thinking) process. Lastly, the students have had time, exposure, practice, models, etc to be able to begin their own writing piece within that genre.
Something like this takes time and should be given that proper time for students to really be able to learn, engage, interact, and write with the genre at hand meaningfully. There were 3 quotes from page 125 that I think are important for all teachers:
“At each stage there is systematic guidance and support until learners are able to carry out the writing task for themselves.”
“The cycle includes plenty of opportunities for reading, listening, and speaking, and you may decide to integrate it with focused teaching of these skills.”
“At no stage are learners expected to carry out alonde a task which they are not familiar.”
Michelle, writing is the last domain to develop and you know the amount of scaffolding that needs to be developed for students in order to writing to flow. We are hoping Thinking Maps will help all our students.
DeleteThe quotes you shared are very powerful!
1. ELs may be more focused on the technicalities of getting their thoughts across. They may have less vocabulary and language devices at their disposal. They may struggle to understand the best organizational structure for their writing, as well as cultural norms and grammar structures. In some cases they may even have to learn (or eliminate) letters or punctuation that are present in one language but not the other.
ReplyDelete2. While there are common purposes for written communication across cultures, the way those communications are expressed will differ. There are unwritten rules to how one communicates for different purposes, not to mention to different audiences and by different means. For example, just within American English there are unspoken norms about the differences in how one speaks to their spouse, best friend, coworker, boss, a stranger, etc. These also vary depending on if you are speaking, writing a letter, emailing, texting, and so on. We have all seen the results of someone who is clearly new to online communications. The same implicit rules exist across cultures. Many of these rules that seem natural in our native culture would need to be adjusted or changed if we stepped into a different culture.
3. This statement on pg 108 resonated with me: “...if you are not already a participant in the dominant culture, being told the rules of that culture explicitly makes acquiring power easier.”
It is important for teachers and coaches to remember that context is everything. An EL may lack much of the context needed to learn and communicate effectively within the dominant culture to which he or she is a newcomer. To reduce anxiety and improve student learning, it is important for a teacher not to assume that ELs will automatically know what they know, or that they will naturally ‘pick it up.’ In this passage’s example, the structure of different forms of writing should be taught explicitly to ensure all students have the same understanding of what, for example, a narrative piece includes. I believe this can be provided in the either language to make understanding the concepts easier. The more clear and explicit the instructions and expectations, the better a student will be able to understand them.
4. This cycle resembles the “I Do / We Do / You Do” structure. I believe this format is applicable to any content area. Students start by learning the foundational knowledge, they see examples of finished products broken down into manageable chunks, they learn to build together step by step, then they are set loose to create their own interpretation of what they’ve learned. I recognize this basic structure from my experience with STEM classes. It represents a gradual release of responsibility and a scaffolding of knowledge and skills.
In your response to prompt #2 you are referring to register. We often assume that ELs understand the rules of speaking with different audiences but that is not the case. These social norms have to be taught to ELs in very specific ways.
DeleteCh. 5
ReplyDelete1. Gibbons contrasts effective and poor writers and explains how ELs have even more to tackle as they learn not only the language written but the flow, structure, and mechanics of that language in writing versus speaking. I noted her use of words like, "presumption," "view," and, "rarely acknowledge" which makes me feel the greatest challenge ELs face when attempting to write in English is the expectation, whether to high or too low, put upon them by the educational system trying to teach them. I love that she ended this section with another reminder that we must know our students and what they are bringing to the table with regards to language and literacy.
2. Genres are the forms of literacy and each cultures has certain purposes, structures and features for its genres. ELs must learn not only the types of writing but how each one is expressed within our North American culture. Again, written language is not just spoken language in writing. ELs will best learn these through actual experience with each genre where they can see, hear, and express the flow, structure, mechanics, and vocabulary of each.
3. What resonates with me is the Argument writing. I think we do tend to focus on narratives. Current standards stress the need for students to verbally express their ideas and support their thinking which is a difficult skill for monolingual speakers let alone ELs. Taking that skill into writing is a whole other piece that we need to address and not assume will automatically develop without direct modeling.
4. I think we all have our experience with this type of model. For Speech production it would be equivalent to exposure or auditory bombardment, modeling at different levels, guiding spontaneous use and self-correcting, and finally carryover to conversation. I can imagine this in the ELA and Writer's Workshop units which use mentor texts to provide the knowledge, modeling of the writing for a variety of ideas, meeting with students to review their writing and make suggestions or ask them to explain their processes, and then allowing them to do another all on their own where they can add their own personal style to the product. I see this working well in the 5th grade co-taught class where students are gradually given a higher level of expected written products within a given unit. In the beginning they may respond with one statement. Then they are shown how to expand using text references. Then they are asked to put multiple ideas together. Finally they are expected to create a new product using the format they have learned in that unit and previous units. Each student is also encouraged to build on their own level and reach a little more from there.
It bothers me that I wrote, "to" instead of, "too" in my response to #1, especially in this chapter's discussion!! No judgement please.
DeleteThe writing experience for ELs can be overwhelming at times. In looking at the different genres, ELs have to understand the structures and specifics.
DeleteThe term you shared "auditory bombardment" is equivalent to what ELs feel when at lower proficiency levels of language or unfamiliarity with the content.
1. Describe some challenges that ELs may encounter when attempting to write in English.
ReplyDeleteSome challenges that ELs may encounter when attempting to write in English are:
Students may write like they speak.
Focus on the mechanics of writing
Grasp concepts of print
Directionality
The notion that written symbols are not arbitrary but fixed
Organizational structure of different kinds of writing
The cultural norms and grammatical structures of English.
Teachers assuming that EL learners have already developed strong spoken-language skills in English and internalized the same kinds of understandings about how we use it as fluent English speakers of the same age
A problem I see as a teacher and that was mentioned in the text is that EL learners who are new to the English classroom or in the bilingual classroom are tested by nationally normed tests as though these students have identical language resources to English mother tongue speakers. Often times, the data from MAP can be less meaningful to those students and not as helpful in planning instruction, especially in classrooms where the language of instruction is Spanish. Luckily, in 83 there are resources that help create or support a foundation of language resources, but many districts that serve ELs do not and the system is broken. The full extent of EL learners language resources are not acknowledged.
2. How are genres cultural and shared by members of that culture?
Genres are cultural and shared by members of that culture because genres occurs within a culture, has a specific social purpose, has a particular overall organizational structure and is characterized by specific linguistic features. Genres also have a specific purpose, that is either social or a goal that is specific to the members of the cultural subgroup. Genre can also give information about the current climate, cultural traditions, provide amusement or to persuade someone to think a certain way. The social purpose of genre is usually reflected in the way that the genre is structured. Every genre has a particular structure. The example the book gives is that news programs have different structure depending on the culture they are a part of. The Australian news has a different sequence and structure than American news, and the structure makes sense and meets the cultural needs of its audience. Genres also have specific language features and ways of linking key ideas. For example, a persuasive or opinion text is likely to incorporate conjunctions and connectives that organize and introduce the writer’s argument: transition words. The two most common genres of school are argument and narrative - both of which have a particular organizational structure.
3. Please read genres of school writing (narrative and argument) p. 102 -108. Is there anything from this section that resonated with you so that you may further support teachers working with ELs in writing?
ReplyDeleteThe major points that resonated with me in terms of narrative are that the usually use the past tense - which I realized but did not actively think about as I plan my lesson for my EL learners. The past tense is often difficult for students to use in both speech and writing, especially Spanish-speaking students, where the “ed” sound is very different in Spanish than English. The past tense has always been difficult for me even though I have taken numerous classes and exams that require the use of the past tense. The narrative, which is relatively familiar and one of the easier genres for young elementary students to construct is a significantly more difficult task when having to express it in your second language. Later in the chapter Gibbons mentions, “Literacy in the mother tongue is a major resource for becoming literate in English, and ideally the aim of full bilingualism will continue to be supported by the school even after the child is able to function in English (p. 122).” Using texts that students are able to first construct in their mother tongue, with help from their parents or a teacher, because then students can not only display their literacy skills and help understand the English version.
4. The Teaching and Learning Cycle has four stages. These are: Stage 1-Building knowledge of the field; Stage 2- Modeling and deconstructing the genre; Stage 3- Joint construction; Stage 4 – Independent writing. How could this cycle provide an organizing framework for an entire unit?
As I read through the four stages of the teaching and learning cycle, what resonated with me the most for cycle one is teaching students not to write down everything they know, but what is the most important information to know. Good writers need a stock of information to select from and a strong understanding of the topic. Typically, in early elementary, students are very interested in sharing all they know, and while I thought that was a good thing, especially if fostering oral language, I see how it creates bad writing skills. Using thinking maps to organize the information and classify what is the most important is pivotal to creating a solid early writing foundation. Gibbons also offers a great variety of activities like jigsawing, wallpaper activity and having the students interview an expert in the field. Stage two modeling and deconstructing is to build understanding of the purpose, overall structure and language features of a particular text. What is interesting is this week in our PLC we discussed the importance of having our students have an understanding of why they are reading the text and why they are writing - which is exactly what Gibbons suggests in stage 2. In stage 2, the teacher should also introduce metalanguage and model to students to draw attention to the structures. Stage 3, joint construction is very similar to “share the pen” where the teacher and student construct a text together. Meaning is created by the students but the teachers or parents help with wording. Stage 4, Independent writing should be based on the genres and structures studied in that unit. Student writing should be based on a topic that is similar to what was worked on with the teacher and have considerable background knowledge and aware of the linguistic characters of that genre. The cycle should provide a framework for an entire unit because it provides scaffolding of the specific linguistic features of the genre. I have no taught writer’s workshop in over four years, and did not have a set curriculum when I did teach it, but in many of the classrooms I support, the writing curriculum does offer the support of the four stages mentioned here.
The list of challenges ELs face in writing is indicative of the many areas in which we should be providing scaffolds.
DeleteHaving students write down what is most important to know instead of everything they know, is a great skill to learn when writing effectively.
1. The first thing that comes to mind is a lack of oral language in English (and sometimes even in the native language) that really inhibits an EL from having the words to express what they would like to express orally, let alone when they have to worry about the spelling and conventions of writing it.
ReplyDeleteI also think interest and motivation have a lot to do with students’ ability to write in any language. I think about our recent writing assignment from our time with David Nieto. I really struggled with the task - not because I didn’t have the foundational skills to complete it, but more because reading and analyzing literature (even in English) is not an area of interest. Give me a dozen math word problems to analyze and solve and I’m all over it, but literature and writing are not generally as interesting to me. Add the extra layer of completing the task in my second language and it becomes increasingly challenging. I think the same is true for our students. Writing is challenging and not always a favorite subject, even in a native language, so we are asking them to complete a task that may be undesirable and to do it in a language in which they are less comfortable.
2. When I read this, I was thinking about a conversation Jorge and I had about the news in the US. He commented that in the US, he feels like the news has primarily local stories and more “fluff” than in Colombia, where the news is mostly national, serious stories. In those two cultures, the “news” genre is different. When working with ELs, especially those who are literate in their first language, we need to take into account that their interpretation of a particular genre may look different than what we typically expect from our native English speakers.
3. The idea that resonated with me is that each genre generally follows a predictable structure and how our use of Thinking Maps can support that. The Flow Map can assist students in writing genres like narrative, recount and procedure and the Tree Map can support students in argument writing to show the author’s position and arguments to support that position as well as an information report. Using the frame of reference can help students with their introduction and conclusion sentences as well.
4. I feel like this Teaching and Learning Cycle fits in well with our Writers’ Workshop model, though Stage 1 is slightly different. Because students have a choice about the topic about which they are writing, I feel like we do not focus much attention on this stage, at least not at the beginning of the unit. When research is required, that often happens before Stage 4, when students understand the genre they will be using and have selected a topic.
Stage 2 is the immersion and close study phases, when we read, analyze and chart noticings about the varied mentor texts. During Stage 3, there is often a lot of modeling of how to write various parts of the particular genre and Stage 4 is when students write and confer with the teacher and peers.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience about writing in Spanish. We often forget what our students feel like at times :) If a topic is not of great interest, one doesn't feel like writing about it.
DeleteThe use of Thinking Maps will certainly support the structure of each specific genre.
1.Since writing is such an important part of any school’s curriculum, it can create many challenges, especially to EL students. They often find it difficult to organize their writing and get caught up in the mechanics of spelling and punctuation. They also often lack the background knowledge and the ability to express themselves, or to “find the right words”. This sometimes create a lack of confidence, which make them afraid to try new things or to go back to revise and edit their own writing.
ReplyDelete2. Genres in this text are described as a range of ways things get done through language in a particular society or culture. Since cultures are different, it only follows that genres are different. An example is the difference one can find in wedding and funeral customs. As students learn a new language and culture, they must also learn the genres that are part of that society. Therefore, it is important that we teach, model, and provide examples of the genres to students. Only then can their ability to think and reason in their writing become clearer.
3. I think it is important for students to know that writing has a purpose and that different kinds of writing can be used, depending on that purpose. All students need to be taught the structure of different kinds of writing, whether it is narrative writing, argument (or persuasive) writing, or even like poetry or recipes. In the classroom, working with students one-on-one in Writer’s Workshop and /or on ELA assignments would give both the students and teachers support in the writing process.
4.The Teaching and Learning Cycle (building knowledge, modeling, teacher-student collaboration, and independent writing) is similar to our writing workshop and ELA units. The cycle provides time for building background knowledge and vocabulary, discussing grammar and genres, purpose, looking at literature features, and finally, writing together and writing independently. All of these parts provide students with a varied and thorough study of just about any topic.
I think that Thinking Maps will really help our ELs organize their thoughts and ideas to better plan out their writing. Since finding the right words is often challenging, some of the maps will help build vocabulary and language as well.
Delete1. Writing is referred to as the hardest skill for students to learn because of the high language demands. EL students might struggle with writing in English because they have not yet developed strong enough oral language skills to be fluent writers. Not only do they struggle with accessing the correct language to express themselves, EL students are also trying to figure out mechanics, spelling, and using appropriate grammar. Some people might view these students as giving little effort or having low ability but that is not the case. Even the assessments given to ELs do not show the language resources they possess in other languages. It also does not show their progress and achievements as a biliterate learner.
ReplyDelete2. All cultures share some similarities and some differences. The specifics on how things look or are performed varied from one culture or another. When you see/hear literature from your own culture you are able to recognize its genre and characteristics because you are familiar with it. Knowing the cultural context is a large part of being able to understand and use language appropriately. “Learning a second language thus means learning the different kinds of spoken and written genres needed to participate in the second language culture.” Learning communities also have their own culture and thus have a different way of using language in writing. Every genre has a specific structure: its own set of rules and social purpose. These structures are also composed of different distinct language features and different ways of linking key ideas.
3. One thing that resonated with me was the idea that narrative writing is the hardest type of writing for our ELs to do successfully. I think that many teachers expect narrative to be the easiest, especially when they ask the students to write about their own lives. Sometimes teachers might even skip the prewriting steps assuming the students will not need it. When looking at Figure 5.2, the first box shows many things that students need to understand how to do to be successful in recounting an event from their life. Teachers need to focus explicitly on those aspects of language as relate it to real-life use.
4. The Teaching and Learning Cycle stages are very similar to how we teaching through Writer’s Workshop. Our focus is also about the “process” of writing and its importance. We also begin by building background knowledge for the students and use mentor texts to provide rich examples of a genre. We too model writing in each genre to show its features and structure. The class usually continues by writing a piece together and going through the writing process as a class. The unit also concludes with the students independently creating their own piece of writing in the specific genre. One big difference I notice is that is our Writer’s Workshop, the lessons are brief while the students take most of the time to write independently. During this independent time, the students do not have to practice the skills that were taught that day or even write in the current genre they are learning about. They are free to write about anything. Only when the unit gets to “Stage 4”, the students are directed to write about the specific genre. It seems like the Teaching and Learning Cycle is more structured towards one specific goal at time.
The point you make about literature being cultural is so important. If the reading/writing deals with a concept/idea that is not relevant to our background, it is difficult to build a connection.
DeleteWhen I read this chapter, the idea of narrative writing being the hardest for ELs to master resonated with me as well.
Based on what I am reading in this blog, each of you would LOVE the new WIDA "Scaffolding Learning through Language" workshop. Pauline Gibbons' work served a basis for the development of this workshop and academy. If you are a WIDA state, your SEA can use PLU's to bring the workshop to your state or you can attend the upcoming Scaffolding academy this summer:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wida.us/ProfessionalDev/academies/ScaffoldingAcademy_UT.aspx