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 Department
of Language EducationPracticum in Language X425/L525 Dr. Hope Elkins, Ph.D. |
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1.In this module we will learn about: *Inquiry projects. *Theme units. *Five strategies to support learning. __________________________________________________________ 2.We will: *Learn how to actively engage learners. *Plan a theme unit with the learner. *Talk about creating caring environments. __________________________________________________________ 3. Discussion Topic: As discussed earlier, Vygotsky was a proponent of providing experiences easing the transition between what students can do on their own to what they can do with support, moving gradually to total independence. This move to autonomy is part of becoming a lifelong learner. Most often when we think of scaffolding, we mean specific instructional strategies. For example, the word identification strategies often scaffold students as they increase vocabulary and deal with unknown words in text. Let's look at scaffolding another way and talk about affective scaffolding. How can the teacher provide an environment where learners feel accepted, respected, and comfortable taking language risks? In failing to see students in a sociocultural light, we can unwittingly limit their capacity to broaden educational experiences. I believe we are much more apt to embrace learning when feeling good about ourselves and where we come from. Take a close look at your learner, and share with the class how you can create an accepting environment in your tutoring sessions. Explain ways you can use the learner's culture as a steppingstone to learning. Be as creative as you like with suggestions. __________________________________________________________ 4.Comments: There is certainly a place in the balanced curriculum for structured practice; however, in my experience it seems that struggling readers and ESL students get more than their fair share of skill and drill. I made a wonderful discovery while working with at-risk students in a prison setting. Before turning to crime, many of these young men were the dropouts and outcasts in their schools. One student told about being allowed to roam the hallways in lieu of attending classes. Most of the students could not remember a pleasant school experience beyond the early elementary years. They looked at themselves as failures and loners with little or no chance of becoming part of mainstream society. Because the students were also failing in the structured curriculum at the facility, we decided to try something radically different. We allowed them to choose topics of study, develop research questions, plan how to find information, and finally present their findings. Because every person in our group had a reading or emotional disability or both, I had serious misgivings about the success of our experiment. To my amazement, the students became so involved in their work, they begged me to extend class time. I believe the students not only learned more and made greater language arts gains than with structured practice, but they came away with a sense of accomplishment in carrying out authentic research. We learn by making connections from what is known (our personal experiences) to what we want to know. Students must feel comfortable exploring their personal experiences and taking risks in asking questions about the unknown. This is especially true with struggling readers and ESL learners, groups who tend feel insecure at best and marginalized and alienated at worst. If we are to set up a learning environment to build on connections, our first responsibility is creating a caring/sharing atmosphere where students can receive mutual support. This kind of learning community comes about only when the teacher takes the lead in valuing each student as a human being and contributor to the class. Inquiry projects are a way to help students explore their world, appreciate differences, and become independent learners. Inquiry projects are best carried out in a classroom setting, but if you are creative, they can done as part of tutoring. You might wish to bring in other appropriate people for the inquiry project, and of course you, the tutor, should be an inquiry partner. Short, et.al. (1) used Harste's Authoring Cycle (2) as a framework for inquiry projects:
1.Building from the Known: We know from experience. Some students have had richer experiences than others. If we want to create interest in certain topics, it is sometimes necessary to build experiences first. Maybe you are working with a textbook and want to creatively expand on the material with an inquiry project. You can build experience by displaying artifacts, bringing in booksets (collections of books related to topics or themes), showing videos, taking fieldtrips, bringing in speakers, showing models, displaying pictures and artifacts. Another way to build interest is using the student's culture as a base for instruction. The popular Foxfire series was based on this kind of experience. Appalachian students went into their neighborhoods interviewing relatives and neighbors about mountain crafts, occupations, and art and music. The books coming out of this high school English project eventually became textbooks on mountain culture. 2.Take Time to Find Questions for Inquiry: We must remember that though most people are curious by nature, they are not born researchers. The inquiry question can spell failure or success for the project. An unfocussed question will lead to nebulous research. Students need scaffolding and time to learn the research process and especially how to formulate a question. When choosing a research question, give students time to brainstorm, look through a variety of possible topics, maybe make a chart or idea map of possible topics and questions. Allow students to experiment with what kinds of research would come out of different questions. The question should be narrow enough to elicit useful information, and it should be of interest to the students. Kathy Short and her colleagues favored using broad concepts as the base of their inquiries with students developing focussed questions within those concepts. 3.Gaining New Perspectives: In the inquiry group, look at the question from a variety of perspectives. Look at a selection of reading materials, talk to people with different ideas, translate the topic into music and art, use timelines. Organizers such as webbing and creating charts and matrices are good ways to pull together various perspectives. Display these in a prominent place where students can reflect on them. Provide time for intense discussion in the inquiry group. Give students the chance to challenge and share. Provide scaffolding in the form of mini-lessons on interviewing, using timelines, writing letters, notetaking, creating surveys, and other research skills. Think how the tutee can see the topic in a number of interesting ways. Along with helping find useful materials for the research, the teacher can also find materials to read aloud and discuss with the inquiry group. I found that along with using picture books, easy-to-read books, and material at the instructional level, my students benefited from my reading aloud highly informative, descriptive, and interesting materials that were too difficult for independent reading. A number of hands-on projects based on information books also proved effective. 4.Connecting Curriculum Through a Broad Concept: Kathy Short found that exploring narrow topics such as community helpers seemed trite and forced. It was instead decided to look at broad concepts such as cycles, change, systems, discovery, and interdependence. Inquiry groups then studied questions within these topics. By using broad concepts, teachers were better equipped to plan the year and incorporate mandated curriculum by connecting textbook topics with the broad concepts. 5.Attending to Difference: Starting with broad concepts and allowing students to move in a variety of directions resulted in a wide range of research questions and outcomes. By looking at these differences, the class gained a rich, deep appreciation of the concepts studied and often students' preconceived ideas were challenged. It was felt that students needed time for reflection as they looked at differences generated in the inquiry. Inquiry journals, reflection and learning logs were examples of ways for students to react to the inquiry as individuals. 6.Sharing What Was Learned: There are a number of ways to share research findings. An informal inquiry group discussion is one way. Students might wish to give a formal presentation or present a report, a drama, portfolio, or display. The important thing to remember is allow students to help plan their presentations and give them scaffolding in how to put together a good product. For example, if the inquiry group chooses to write a report, the teacher's responsibility is to provide instruction in how to write a research report. Presenting findings in no way means the research is finished, but it is a way to update inquiry progress and help students pull together and organize what is being learned. 7.Planning New Inquiries: This stage of the inquiry allows students to reflect on the inquiry process and their roles as learners. The students can go back to their original plans and goals, talk about new understandings and how they relate to their lives, the community, and the world. Reflection can also be encouraged through free writes, learning logs, journals, and portfolios. It is important that students look back at the inquiry process in a meaningful, personally relevant way. At this point students might wish to pursue the inquiry further or in a new direction, or they might prefer to move on. Whatever the decision, it is hoped that the inquiry will lead to some thoughtful action. 8. Taking New Thoughtful Action: Learning should lead to a better life. When learning is approached as nothing more than memorizing and regurgitating facts, students become experts at memorizing, but does the learning have relevant consequences to students' lives? As students reflect on the inquiry project, talk about how findings can be translated into positive action. For example, if the inquiry looks at the broad concept of interdependence, and the research question has to do with interdependence of birds and plants in the wild, a natural extension would be to make a bird-friendly garden. Short quotes Barnes (1976) (3), "Action projects provide a point of connection so that students' school knowledge becomes part of the action knowledge that they use for living." Inquiry projects provide a creative, student-centered approach to instruction. Even students who are learning English and those who struggle with reading can benefit from inquiry projects if the teacher provides the right kind of environment and the support students need. The inquiry project also connects the four major language systems (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) in a meaningful way, giving students an abundance of practice while at the same time tying learning to real purposes directly connected to students' lives.
For the purposes of this class (basically to teach you how to support ESL learners and struggling readers), I have included a detailed outline of how your theme assignment should be organized. I want to motivate you to think in a logical way about supporting your learner within a theme study. Therefore, there is much attention given to setting and assessing language goals that are appropriate for your learner, planning detailed lessons that provide mini-lessons where needed, and to evaluating and revising your teaching. The unit for this class will not be as seamless as those described in textbooks, but it is hoped that by the time the unit project is complete, you will have a better understanding of how your learner can be scaffolded in language within a broad area of study. Click to view the theme unit outline.
High interest-low vocabulary books are a good way to support students. Here are some places to look for them:
*In the local bookstore, look in the children's department. Many interesting picture books are appropriate for use with children and adults. Some are wordless and are especially useful as the learner can supply text. Increasingly bookstores have picture books with both Spanish and English texts.
*Many public libraries have adult literacy programs with collections including taped books and hi-interest, low-vocabulary materials. These materials can be checked out.
*The following companies have hi-interest, low-vocabulary books, and you can call the local library for their current addresses and phone numbers: -Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
*Readability formulas help determine reading levels of materials. Click to see the Fry Readability Formula and a Spanish readability formula
Footnotes: (1)Short, K., Schroeder, J., Laird, J., Kauffman, G., Ferguson, M., and Crawford, K. (1996). Learning Together Through Inquiry. York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. (2)Harste, J. (1992). Inquiry-Based Instruction. Primary Voices K-6, 1: 2-5. (3)Barnes, D. (1976). From Communication to Curriculum. London: Penguin. (4) Strategies taken from: Newman, A. (1986). L525/X425 Practicum in Language Manual. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.
Comments: disted@indiana.edu Copyright 2004, The Trustees of Indiana University
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