Helping ELLs Meet the Common Core
State Standards in Language Arts
Diane August
American Institutes for Research
Not to be used without prior permission
© 2014 Center for English Language Learners – American Institutes for Research
• Creating Exemplary Lessons
• Alignment to the Depth of the Common Core
• Key Shifts in the CCSS
• Instructional Supports
• Assessment
Overview of Presentation
2
EQUIP RUBRIC
Evaluating Quality Instructional Products
EQuIP Rubric
See Page 3 of the Handout
The EQuIP rubric is derived from the Tri-State Rubric and the
collaborative development process led by MA, NY, and RI and facilitated
by Achieve. Educators may use or adapt.
4
EQuIP Response Form
The EQuIP rubric is derived from the Tri-State Rubric and the
collaborative development process led by MA, NY, and RI and facilitated
by Achieve. Educators may use or adapt.
5
The Voice that Challenged a Nation
by Russell Freedman (2004)
See Pages 4-5 of the Handout
Excerpt from The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the
Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman. Copyright © 2004 by Russell
Freedman. Reprinted by permission of Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
.
6
ALIGNMENT
Achieving the Depth of the Common Core
7
• Standards: Target a set of grade-level standards
• Objectives: Include clear and explicit purpose for instruction
• Text: Select texts that measure within the grade-level text
complexity band and are of sufficient quality and scope for
the stated purpose
• As we go through this section, think about any additional
supports for ELLs.
Overview of Alignment
8
• Standards: Target a set of grade-level standards
• Objectives: Include clear and explicit purpose for instruction
• Additional supports for ELLs
• Develop precursor ELA skills and knowledge
• Include English Language Proficiency Standards
• Text: Select texts that measure within the grade-level text
complexity band and are of sufficient quality and scope for
the stated purpose
Overview of Alignment
9
• It is not necessary to meet every aspect of a given standard
in a single lesson.
Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research. (W.8.9)
Lesson Objective: Students will draw evidence from the story to support a written
analysis of the text.
• Present both the standards and student objectives
•
I can find evidence from the story to support my written analysis.
• Present students with only a few standards/objectives per
class but include all standards/objectives in the lesson plan.
• Revisit the objectives: after the lesson, have students talk
with a partner about what they did to meet the objectives
• Address other content area standards/objectives to the extent
practicable
Standards and Objectives
10
Learning Progressions
• Use learning progressions to help ELLs acquire precursor
skills and knowledge.
• “Staircased” progressions show the development of the
knowledge and skills for each anchor standard from
Kindergarten through Grade 12.
• “Staircased” progressions enable educators to identify
precursor knowledge and skills associated with each gradelevel standard and provide targeted instruction on these
precursor skills with the goal of helping ELLs meet grade-level
standards
Standards: Additional Supports for ELLs
11
Learning Progressions
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development, summarize
the key supporting details and ideas
•
RI.1.2 — Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
•
RI.2.2 — Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific
paragraphs within the text.
•
RI.3.2 — Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support
the main idea.
•
RI.4.2 — Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details;
summarize the text.
•
RI.5.2 — Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key
details; summarize the text.
•
RI.6.2 — Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details;
provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
•
RI.7.2 — Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the
course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
•
RI.8.2 — Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary on the text.
Standards: Additional Supports for ELLs
Reading Standard for Informational Text, Grades 1-8
12
English Language Proficiency Standards
•English language development is an explicit goal of all lessons.
Home Language Standards
• Some organizations and states have released Spanish and
native language content standards (not translations).
• WIDA Spanish Language Arts Standards
(http://www.wida.us/standards/sla.aspx)
• New York State Learning Standards for Native Language Arts
(http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/resource/NLA.html)
• California has created Spanish translations of the CCSS
(http://commoncore-espanol.com/california-common-core-state-standardsen-espa%C3%B1ol)
Standards: Additional Supports for ELLs
13
• What is different about targeting standards and objectives for
ELLs?
• What are the implications for practice?
ELLs may need to master precursor content standards/objectives if
they’ve had interrupted education or not acquired earlier skills and
knowledge.
ELLs need more time to meet grade-level standards/objectives.
ELLs need to meet English language proficiency standards as well
as content standards.
Instruction for ELLs learning in their first language should also be
aligned with appropriate standards.
Partner Talk
14
• Standards: Target a set of grade-level standards
• Objectives: Include clear and explicit purpose for instruction
• Text: Select texts that measure within the grade-level text
complexity band and are of sufficient quality and scope for
the stated purpose
• Additional supports for ELLs
• When using grade-level text, analyze books for additional
difficulties ELLs may encounter and provide appropriate support
• Provide ELLs with opportunities to read text closer to their zone
of proximal development
• Provide opportunities for ELLS to read grade appropriate text in
their home language
Overview of Alignment
15
The Voice that Challenged a Nation
Lexile
Level
“Stretch”
Grade
Band
1130
6-8
Despite cold and threatening weather, the crowd began to assemble long before the concert was to
begin. People arrived singly and in pairs and in large animated groups. Soon the streets leading to
the Mall in Washington, D.C., were jammed with thousands of people heading for the Lincoln
Memorial.
The earliest arrivals found places as close as possible to the steps of the great marble monument.
As the crowd grew, it spread back along the Mall, stretching around both sides of the long reflecting
pool and extending beyond to the base of the Washington Monument, three-quarters of a mile away.
Baby carriages were parked among the trees. Folks cradled sleeping infants in their arms and held
youngsters by the hand or propped up on their shoulders. Uniformed Boy Scouts moved through
the festive holiday throng handing out programs.
Anticipating a huge turnout, the National Park Service had enlisted the help of some five hundred
Washington police officers. By five o’clock that afternoon, when the concert was scheduled to start,
an estimated 75,000 people had gathered on the Mall. They waited patiently under overcast skies,
bundled up against the brisk wind that whipped in from the Potomac River. They had come on this
chilly Easter Sunday to hear one of the great voices of the time and to demonstrate their support for
racial justice in the nation’s capital.
Text: Quantitative Complexity
16
Attributes that Make Text Challenging for All Students
Lexical Level
• Words with multiple levels of meaning
• Nominalization (e.g., implementation, help)
• Unfamiliar vocabulary
• Use of language that is archaic
Sentence Level
• Figurative language
• Significant use of non-standard dialect
Discourse Level
• Text with multiple levels of meaning
• Distortions in organization of text (e.g., time sequences)
• Specialized content knowledge required
• Limited use of text features and graphics
Text: Qualitative Complexity
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lapp, D. (2012). Text complexity: Raising rigor in reading.
Newark, DE: International Reading Association
17
Anticipating a huge turnout, the National Park Service had enlisted the help of some five
hundred Washington police officers. By five o’clock that afternoon, when the concert was
scheduled to start, an estimated 75,000 people had gathered on the Mall. They waited
patiently under overcast skies, bundled up against the brisk wind that whipped in from the
Potomac River. They had come on this chilly Easter Sunday to hear one of the great voices of
the time and to demonstrate their support for racial justice in the nation’s capital.
Words with multiple levels of meaning
Nominalization
Unfamiliar vocabulary
Use of language that is archaic
Figurative language
Significant use of non-standard dialect
Text with multiple levels of meaning
Distortions in organization of text
Specialized content knowledge required
Limited use of text features and graphics
Attributes that Make Text Challenging for ELLs
Lexical Level
• Greater number of unfamiliar words and phrases
• Connectives
Sentence Level
• Complex syntax
Discourse Level
• Reference chains
– anaphora (e.g., he, she, they) [1]
– concepts connected with each other that are not named or are named
differently [2]
spreadback
backalong
alongthe
theMall,
Mall,stretching
stretching2
e.g. As the crowd12 grew, it1spread
around both sides of the long reflecting pool and extending2beyond
beyondtoto
the base of the Washington Monument, three-quarters of a mile away.
Text: Additional Supports for ELLs
19
Anticipating a huge turnout, the National Park Service had enlisted the help of some five
hundred Washington police officers. By five o’clock that afternoon, when the concert was
scheduled to start, an estimated 75,000 people had gathered on the Mall. They waited
patiently under overcast skies, bundled up against the brisk wind that whipped in from the
Potomac River. They had come on this chilly Easter Sunday to hear one of the great voices of
the time and to demonstrate their support for racial justice in the nation’s capital.
Greater number of unfamiliar words and phrases
Connectives
Complex syntax
Reference chains
English Reading Opportunities
• Use the Lexile Reader Measure or a district assessment to
determine students’ reading levels.
• Give ELLs access to texts that are closer to their zone of proximal
development (i.e., comprehensible but challenging)
Home Language Reading Opportunities
• Make home language literature available to ELLs literate in their
home language
• Make home language audio tapes available to all ELLs to the extent
practicable
Text: Additional Supports for ELLs
21
• What is different about text selection for ELLs?
• What are the implications for practice?
There are additional factors to consider for ELLs when assessing
text complexity.
While ELLs need to read and analyze grade-level text, they should
also encounter text at levels that enable more independent reading.
If ELLs are provided with texts that are lexiled at lower levels,
the texts might feature grade-level content and should be age
appropriate.
ELLs with home language literacy should also be given the
opportunity to read texts in their home language to enable
independent reading at their grade level.
Partner Talk
22
KEY SHIFTS IN THE CCSS
Changing the Focus
23
• Reading Text Closely/Text-Based Evidence: Read closely and
answer a sequence of text-dependent questions
• Academic Vocabulary: Build academic vocabulary throughout
instruction
• Writing from Sources: Draw evidence from text to produce
clear and coherent writing that informs, explains, or makes an
argument in various written forms (e.g., notes, short
responses, summaries, or formal essays)
As we go through this section think about additional
supports for ELLs.
Overview of Key Shifts
24
• Reading Text Closely/Text-Based Evidence: Read closely and
answer a sequence of text-dependent questions
• Additional supports for ELLs
– Present text in smaller chunks
– Engage students in multiple readings
– Provide supplementary questions, sentence starters, sentence frames
and word banks ensure ELLs understand task demands
• Academic Vocabulary: Build academic vocabulary throughout
instruction
• Writing from Sources: Draw evidence from text to produce
clear and coherent writing that informs, explains, or makes an
argument in various written forms (e.g., notes, short
responses, summaries, or formal essays)
Overview of Key Shifts
25
Text-dependent questions should:
Be standards aligned
• be aligned with a reading standard
Have a text-based focus:
• require the reader to go back to the text to find out what it says
• have concrete and explicit answers rooted in the text
• not be able to be answered solely on personal opinion,
background information, and/or imaginative speculation
Text Dependent Question Checklist:
1. Is the question aligned to a reading standard?
2. Does the question have a text-based focus?
Reading Text Closely
Source: Pook, D. (2012). Implementing the CCSS: What teachers need to know and do.
26
Is the question aligned to a reading standard?
Cluster
Standard
Generic Stem
The Voice
Key Ideas
and Details
Determine a central idea of
a text and analyze its
development over the
course of the text,
including its relationship to
supporting ideas; provide
an objective summary of
the text. (RI.8.2)
• What is the central idea
of the text?
• What details illustrate
this?
• Summarize the text
without including any
personal opinions or
judgments.
How was the crowd
portrayed in the first three
paragraphs? What details
illustrate this?
Key Ideas
and Details
Analyze how a text makes
connections among and
distinctions between
individuals, ideas, or
events (e.g., through
comparisons, analogies, or
categories). (RI.8.3)
• How was
[individual/event/idea]
introduced and portrayed
in the text?
• How did the [individual
/event/idea] relate to
[individual/idea/event]?
Why had so many people
come to the concert?
See handout, pp. 29-43 for Standards-aligned generic stems.
Reading Text Closely
27
Is the question aligned to a reading standard?
Cluster
Standard
Generic Stem
The Voice
Craft and
Structure
Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in
a text, including figurative,
connotative, and technical
meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including
analogies or allusions to other
texts. (RI.8.4)
What does the
word/phrase _______
mean in this text?
Use the context of the
second paragraph to
explain what the word
“extending” means.
Craft and
Structure
Analyze in detail the structure of
a specific paragraph in a text,
including the role of particular
sentences in developing and
refining a key concept. (RI.8.5)
How does the
sentence/
paragraph/chapter/
section connect to the
overall structure of the
text?
Explain how the words
Freedman uses in the first
two paragraphs set the
scene
Reading Text Closely
*Thayer, E. L. (1888). “Casey at the Bat.” In H. Ferris (Ed.), Favorite poems old
and new. Doubleday (1957).
28
Does the question have a text-based focus?
Non-Text Dependent Questions
Text Dependent Questions
What is it like to go to an open-air
concert?
Why had so many people come to the
concert?
Who is Russell Freedman? Why did
he write this book?
Explain how the words Freedman
uses in the first two paragraphs set
the scene
Describe different types of concerts
people go to.
Use the context of the second
paragraph to explain what the word
“extending” means.
Reading Text Closely
Source: Pook, D. (2012). Implementing the CCSS: What teachers need to know and do.
29
Present Text in Smaller Sections
• Identify two or more main occurrences within the text excerpt
• Divide text into sections such that each contains one occurrence
Occurrence 1
We learn about the concert
Occurrence 2
We learn about Marian Anderson
Despite cold and threatening weather,
the crowd began to assemble long
before the concert was to begin. People
arrived singly and in pairs and in large
animated groups. Soon the streets
leading to the Mall in Washington, D.C.,
were jammed with thousands of people
heading for the Lincoln Memorial…
Marian Anderson had been applauded
by many of the crowned heads of
Europe. She had been welcomed at the
White House, where she sang for the
president and first lady, Franklin and
Eleanor Roosevelt. She had performed
before appreciative audiences in concert
halls across the United States…
Reading: Additional Supports for ELLs
30
Engage Students in Multiple Readings
• Give students multiple opportunities to interact with the text
• Have students work in pairs or groups for most readings
1. Preview
2. Reading for Key Ideas
and Details
3. Reading for Craft and
Structure
• Pre-assessment: Students
read the text independently
and answer questions to
evaluate their level of
comprehension.
• Read Aloud: The teacher
reads the text aloud to
demonstrate native speaker
fluency and teach
vocabulary.
• First Close Read: Students
read the text in pairs or
groups and answer
questions focused on key
ideas and details.
• Annotation: Students reread the text and note
vocabulary and details that
they do not yet understand.
• Second Close Read:
Students read the text in
pairs or groups and answer
questions focused on craft
and structure.
Reading: Additional Supports for ELLs
31
Supplementary Questions
• ELLs may need additional, supplementary questions to help
them answer guiding questions. (Note that both types of
questions are text-dependent.)
• ELLs may need instruction that helps them understand the
task demands of certain question types.
• ELLs with lower levels of proficiency may also need sentence
starters, sentence frames, and/or word banks to help them
answer all questions.
• The level of scaffolding can and should be adjusted depending on
ELL’s level of English proficiency
Reading: Additional Supports for ELLs
32
Supplementary Questions
Despite cold and threatening weather, the crowd began to assemble long before the
concert was to begin. People arrived singly and in pairs and in large animated groups.
Soon the streets leading to the Mall in Washington, D.C., were jammed with thousands of
people heading for the Lincoln Memorial.
Guiding Question: Describe the scene as people began to arrive.
1. Which words describe the weather?
cold and ____________
threatening describe the weather.
The words _______
2. Did the weather prevent people from assembling? How do you know?
did not prevent people from assembling. I know this because the author
The weather ________
despite
uses the word __________.
3. Which words describe the streets leading to the Mall?
jammed with thousands
The words ________
__________ of people describe the streets leading to the Mall.
Reading: Additional Supports for ELLs
33
Guiding Question
Despite cold and threatening weather, the crowd began to assemble long before the
concert was to begin. People arrived singly and in pairs and in large animated groups.
Soon the streets leading to the Mall in Washington, D.C., were jammed with thousands of
people heading for the Lincoln Memorial.
Guiding Question: Describe the scene as people began to arrive.
despite to indicate, or show that even though the
Freedman uses the word ________
cold and ____________,
threatening the streets were __________
jammed with
weather was ______
thousands of people.
___________
Reading: Additional Supports for ELLs
34
• What is different for ELLs with regard to close reading?
• What are the implications for practice?
Text may be presented in smaller chunks
ELLs engage in multiple readings of the text.
ELLs benefit from supplementary questions to help them
comprehend the text.
ELLs with lower levels of proficiency may benefit from sentence
starters, sentence frames, and word banks to help them answer all
types of questions (adjusted by level of proficiency).
Partner Talk
35
• Reading Text Closely/Text-Based Evidence: Read closely and
answer a sequence of text-dependent questions
• Academic Vocabulary: Build academic vocabulary throughout
instruction
• Additional supports for ELLs:
• ELLs need support for acquiring vocabulary that many Englishproficient students have already acquired.
• Teach ELLs to bootstrap on home language knowledge
• Writing from Sources: Draw evidence from text to produce
clear and coherent writing that informs, explains, or makes an
argument in various written forms (e.g., notes, short
responses, summaries, or formal essays)
Overview of Key Shifts
36
• ELLs typically exhibit vocabulary growth rates that are similar
to or surpass those of native English speakers.
• However, ELLs are often 2-3 years behind their Englishspeaking peers, so a large vocabulary gap remains.
• ELLs reading comprehension is impaired because they don’t
know highly frequent English words that English proficient
students are likely to have acquired.
• The 100 most frequent English words account for about 50% of words
that readers encounter in text.
• The 1,000 most frequent English words account for about 70% of words
that readers encounter in text.
• The 4,000 most frequent English words account for about 80% of words
that readers encounter in text.
Vocabulary: Frequency
37
First 4000 Words List
1st Quartile
2nd Quartile 3rd Quartile
4th Quartile
Anticipating a huge turnout, the National Park
Service had enlisted the help of some five hundred
Washington police officers. By five o’clock that
afternoon, when the concert was scheduled to start,
an estimated 75,000 people had gathered on the
Mall. They waited patiently under overcast skies,
bundled up against the brisk wind that whipped in
from the Potomac River. They had come on this
chilly Easter Sunday to hear one of the great voices
of the time and to demonstrate their support for
racial justice in the nation’s capital.
Vocabulary: Frequency
Seward Reading Resources:
http://www.sewardreadingresources.com/img/fourkw/4KW_Teaching_List.pdf
38
First 4000 Words List: Analyzer
http://vocabularytool.airprojects.org/
39
First 4000 Words List: Analyzer
http://vocabularytool.airprojects.org/
40
First 4000 Words List: Analyzer Results
http://vocabularytool.airprojects.org/
41
Academic Word List Highlighter
Vocabulary: Frequency
Accessible at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/awlhighlighter.htm
42
Academic Word List Highlighter: Highlighted Results
Acquiring Vocabulary
43
• To be successful readers, ELLs need to know words that are
frequent across multiple texts (see previous slides).
• ELLs also need to know the meanings of words and phrases that
are crucial to understanding the text at hand (as indexed by the
text dependent questions).
Text
Text-dependent
Questions
Key Vocabulary
Despite cold and threatening weather,
the crowd began to assemble long
before the concert was to begin.
People arrived singly and in pairs and
in large animated groups. Soon the
streets leading to the Mall in
Washington, D.C., were jammed with
thousands of people heading for the
Lincoln Memorial.
Which words describe the
weather?
cold, threatening
Did the weather prevent
people from assembling?
despite, assemble
Which word describes the
streets near the concert?
jammed
Vocabulary Selection: Importance to Text
44
• Teacher directed instruction
• More intensive instruction for abstract words
–
–
–
–
Provide the definition in context
Provide the home language definition and cognate status
Illustrate the word
Invite students to talk about the word
• Less intensive instruction (i.e., ESOL techniques) for concrete words
– Define the word in situ
– Use gestures to demonstrate the word
– Show the word in illustrations from the text
• Student directed learning
• Glossaries
• Word learning strategies
Vocabulary Instruction: Overview
45
Teacher-Directed: More Complex Vocabulary
Students see:
The teacher says:
Let’s talk about the word anticipate. Anticipate
means to expect and prepare for something.
Anticipate in Spanish is anticipar. Anticipar and
anticipate are cognates. They sound alike and are
almost spelled the same.
In the story, the people who work for the National
Park Service anticipate or expect that many
people will come to the concert.
Look at the picture of the boy. The boy looks out
the window and sees rain clouds. He brings an
umbrella outside because he anticipates or
expects that it will rain.
Context: Anticipating a huge turnout, the National
Park Service had enlisted the help of some five
hundred Washington police officers.
Partner talk. Tell your partner about a time when
you anticipated you would have a good time and
you did.
Vocabulary: Additional Support for ELLs
46
Teacher-Directed: Less Complex Vocabulary
Word
(paragraph 1) ESOL Technique
threatening
define in situ
“Threatening weather means it looks like it’s going to be bad
weather.”
assemble
define in situ
“Assemble means to gather or come together.”
jammed
show the picture in the book of the crowd
Vocabulary: Additional Support for ELLs
*Governess picture not in this version of the text; shown as an example.
47
Student Directed Learning
• Glossary use
• Application of word learning strategies
•
•
Cognates, context clues, morphology, etc.
Dictionaries and digital resources
− Online:
− English: wordsmyth.net
− spanish.dictionary.com
− Smartphone apps:
−
−
−
−
English: SnaPanda (Android)
English: Dictionary! (Android & iPhone)
Free Spanish English Dictionary + (iPhone)
English Spanish dict. (Android)
• Revisit vocabulary related to author’s craft
Vocabulary: Additional Support for ELLs
48
Student Directed Learning: Glossaries
Vocabulary: Additional Support for ELLs
49
Word Learning Strategies
Word
(paragraph 1) Word Learning Strategy
threatening
context clues
cold, weather
crowd
context clues
large groups, thousands of people
concert
cognate
concierto
groups
cognate
grupos
Vocabulary Instruction: Student Directed
50
• What is different about developing vocabulary in ELLs?
• What are the implications for practice?
ELLs may not know the most frequently used English words,
impeding their ability to understand text.
Thus, ELLs may need additional vocabulary support for words as
well as phrases that their English-proficient peers already know.
Some ELLs may be able to draw on first language cognate
knowledge. Teaching students to draw on this knowledge is
important in helping them acquire new words.
Partner Talk
51
• Reading Text Closely/Text-Based Evidence: Read closely and
answer a sequence of text-dependent questions
• Academic Vocabulary: Build academic vocabulary throughout
instruction
• Writing from Sources: Draw evidence from text to produce
clear and coherent writing that informs, explains, or makes an
argument in various written forms (e.g., notes, short
responses, summaries, or formal essays)
• Additional supports for ELLs
• Restatement of the prompt, graphic organizers, word banks, and
paragraph frames
Overview of Key Shifts
52
Type
Example
Argument
• Make a claim about the worth or meaning of a text
• Analyze evidence from multiple sources to support a claim
Informational/
Explanatory
• Describe how a scientific process works
• Describe an historical event
Narrative
• Write a fairytale
• Write an autobiography
• Elementary: 30% argument, 35% informative/explanatory, 35%
narrative
• Middle School: 35% argument, 35% informative/explanatory,
30% narrative
• High School: 40% argument, 40% informative/explanatory, 20%
narrative
Writing: Text Types in the CCSS
Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Appendix A
53
• Students respond to the mainstream lesson essay prompt but
with additional scaffolding.
• Teacher-developed scaffolds can include restatement of the
prompt, graphic organizers, word banks, and paragraph
frames.
• Paragraph frames should align with the text type requirement
of the essay prompt.
• Argument
• Informative/Explanatory
• Narration
Writing: Additional Supports for ELLs
54
Mainstream essay prompt:
Why was Marian Anderson’s concert on the Mall in Washington an
important event in the struggle for civil rights?
Restated essay prompt:
The author says that Marian Anderson’s concert was “a historic
event in the struggle for civil rights.” This means that it was an
important event in the fight for equal rights for African Americans.
Why was the concert an important event in the struggle for civil
rights?
Writing: Additional Supports for ELLs
55
Graphic Organizer
Why was Marian Anderson’s concert on the Mall in Washington an important event in the struggle for civil
rights?
Claim
Marian Anderson’s concern on the Mall in Washington, DC was an
Write what you are going to argue for
______________ event in the struggle for _______ __________.
Support 1
One reason it was important was __________________________________________
Write one thing that shows how the concert was
an important event for civil rights.
_____________________________________________________________________.
Evidence 1
We can tell this from the text because ______________________________________
Write how you know this from the text.
_____________________________________________________________________.
Support 2
Another reason it was important was _______________________________________
Write another thing that shows how the concert
was an important event for civil rights.
_____________________________________________________________________.
Evidence 2
We know this because ___________________________________________________
Write how you know this from the text.
_____________________________________________________________________.
Conclusion
The evidence shows that _________________________________________________
What do you think this evidence shows about the
struggle for civil rights?
_____________________________________________________________________.
Writing: Additional Supports for ELLs
56
Paragraph Frame
Why was Marian Anderson’s concert on the Mall in Washington an important event in the struggle for civil
rights?
[Claim –Write what you will argue for] Marian Anderson’s concern on the Mall in Washington DC was an
_________________ in the struggle for ___________________.
[Support 1] One reason it was import was _____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
[Evidence –Provide evidence from the text] We can tell this from the text because _____________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
[Support 2] Another reason it was important was ________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
[Evidence –Provide evidence from the text] We know this because ___________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
Writing: Frame
[Concluding Statement] The evidence shows that ________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
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• What is different about writing for ELLs?
• What are the implications for practice?
ELLs may need support in understanding the essay prompt (e.g., by
restating it).
ELLs may additional scaffolding, such as graphic organizers,
paragraph frames, and word banks to help them respond to
mainstream essay prompts.
Partner Talk
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INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORTS
Integrate Additional Instructional Supports
• Background knowledge: Develop background knowledge
• Focus on Language: Dedicated time to develop English
conventions, knowledge of language, and vocabulary
acquisition and use (e.g., through functional analysis)
• Focus on Listening and Speaking: Dedicated time to promote
comprehension and collaboration and presentation of
knowledge and ideas (e.g., through guided peer
conversations)
Overview of Instructional Supports
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ASSESSMENT
Regularly Assess Student Progress
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• It is important to obtain evidence of the degree to which a student
can independently demonstrate grade-level standards and skills.
• Rubrics and assessment guidelines should be used that provide
sufficient guidance for interpreting student performance.
• For any unit, we recommend a short pre-test to determine how well
students can grapple independently with the text.
• Define challenging words that are key to understanding the text.
• Answer questions related to key ideas and details.
• Summarize a short portion of the text.
• Also conduct a post-test with questions from the pre-test and
additional questions that cover the excerpt of text under study.
Assessment
Adapted from Tri-State Collaborative. (2012). Tri-State quality review rubric for lessons and units:
ELA/Literacy (Grades 3-5) and ELA (Grades 6-12), Version 4.1.
Retrieved from
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http://www.achieve.org/files/TriStateELA_LiteracyRubric1pageoverviewv4.1%20071712CC%20BY.pdf
• Provide instruction about what is expected in response to
various question types
• Provide instruction related to common assessment question
words (e.g., select, describe, compare)
• Provide sentence starters, sentence frames, and word banks
if needed
• Gradually reduce the support for students as their skills increase
(keeping in mind that standardized assessments will not include
these supports)
Assessment: Additional Supports for ELLs
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Questions and Discussion
Diane August
[email protected]
1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, DC 20007-3835
202-403-5000
TTY: 877-334-3499
[email protected]
www.air.org