First of all, this topic applies to my subject a lot! This article makes me instantly think of things we are doing in the classroom with texts in the target language. All of my students are like the ELLs in a regular classroom, because I'm stretching them out of their comfort zone and asking them to read and inspect a text that will initially intimidate them. They are always using skills that, as the authors put it, "have not fully matured but that are in the process of maturing". That is just how learning a language works, perhaps in a more explicit way than applies to learning in other subjects.
I'd never heard that metaphor that describes scaffolding as training wheels on a bike. Very helpful!
When the article mentioned preteaching difficult vocabulary I was reminded that I learned a lot from implementing this strategy this very week! My Spanish II class is reading a simple novel written completely in the present tense. We started the 5th (out of 8) chapters this past week. In the past, I have had students work with critical and new vocabulary AFTER listening to the chapter while reading silently, and translating it orally in groups. However, this time I decided to introduce them to the vocabulary list (through a fun game, por supuesto) to familiarize them with some of the words I knew they would encounter in the chapter and would not know. I think this really served their learning and helped to even give a hint of curiosity in anticipating what would happen in the chapter and how that vocabulary would appear.
It's encouraging for me to read about these strategies of scaffolding using prereading, during reading, and postreading activities, because that is exactly what I've been doing lately in my class.
As the article discussed using SREs to slice lessons for ELLs, the one countering question in my mind was that of "how do you differentiate skillfully like that and also keep your students up with the pacing guide that you know you have to follow?" I think I am learning that while pacing is important and it is OH SO EASY to get off-track and spend FAR too much time on a concept that you thought would take only a measly week (and therefore pacing is necessary and helpful), understanding is the most important goal. I would rather spend more time on concepts and make some compromises on the pacing guide than speed along without my students understanding the concepts. The tricky part is to differentiate and still make sure you all teaching lower-acheiving students (the ELLs in the article scenario) the same content. But... maybe that's not important??? I need to process this more.
The main struggle in applying these very helpful concepts is how to differentiate in a way that keeps students accountable to all their learning and that is realistic for a hard-working teacher. Still working on this one... :)
I'd never heard that metaphor that describes scaffolding as training wheels on a bike. Very helpful!
When the article mentioned preteaching difficult vocabulary I was reminded that I learned a lot from implementing this strategy this very week! My Spanish II class is reading a simple novel written completely in the present tense. We started the 5th (out of 8) chapters this past week. In the past, I have had students work with critical and new vocabulary AFTER listening to the chapter while reading silently, and translating it orally in groups. However, this time I decided to introduce them to the vocabulary list (through a fun game, por supuesto) to familiarize them with some of the words I knew they would encounter in the chapter and would not know. I think this really served their learning and helped to even give a hint of curiosity in anticipating what would happen in the chapter and how that vocabulary would appear.
It's encouraging for me to read about these strategies of scaffolding using prereading, during reading, and postreading activities, because that is exactly what I've been doing lately in my class.
As the article discussed using SREs to slice lessons for ELLs, the one countering question in my mind was that of "how do you differentiate skillfully like that and also keep your students up with the pacing guide that you know you have to follow?" I think I am learning that while pacing is important and it is OH SO EASY to get off-track and spend FAR too much time on a concept that you thought would take only a measly week (and therefore pacing is necessary and helpful), understanding is the most important goal. I would rather spend more time on concepts and make some compromises on the pacing guide than speed along without my students understanding the concepts. The tricky part is to differentiate and still make sure you all teaching lower-acheiving students (the ELLs in the article scenario) the same content. But... maybe that's not important??? I need to process this more.
The main struggle in applying these very helpful concepts is how to differentiate in a way that keeps students accountable to all their learning and that is realistic for a hard-working teacher. Still working on this one... :)
It's amazing how so much of this article fits so perfectly with our subject areas! ...Especially with the novel your class is doing! You're right... every single student in a foreign language classroom is like an ELL. I'm struggling with the whole differentiation thing as well... It's especially tricky in foreign language because they really need to master each level before moving on to the next. Otherwise, they'll be left in the dust. I'm having this problem right now with some of the kids in my French II class. They didn't have a great grasp on French I, so they're having to relearn everything, which is frustrating to the students who are ready to move on. Anyway, I'm glad this article was so relatable to what we're doing right now!
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