Reading Artifact Reflection- Standard 7

Artifact Title: Instructional Planning

Date Experienced Completed: Spring 2014

Artifact Description

This artifact consists of four documents: 1) ELL Language Investigation

Lesson Plan, 2) Across-the-Curriculum Mini-Unit: SIOP Science, Reading and ELL

Lesson Plans, 3) a research paper and power point presentation entitled Final

Research Project: Best Practices and Models for ELL Instruction, and 4) Thematic

Unit: Literature and Science, a week long lesson plan completed for the Foundations

in Literacy PreK-12 course. The lesson plans demonstrate my ability to plan

systematic instruction for various developmental stages, based upon best-practices

and models, as well as knowledge of subject matter and students. The third

document especially demonstrates my knowledge of specific instructional practices

correlated with positive student outcomes.

Wisconsin Standard Alignment

These documents best align with Standard 7 that states:

“The teacher organizes and plans systematic instruction based upon knowledge

of subject matter, pupils, the community and curriculum goals.”

In the Final Research Project, I describe the components of research-based

best practices in ELL instruction, and recommend an instructional model for

inclusion of all of these best practices. The cognate lesson plan provides evidence of

my ability to organize and plan for systematic and explicit instruction that also

supports explorative learning through “word sort” activities. The unit lesson plans

clearly demonstrate my ability to select instructional goals and to incorporate a

variety of resources into coherent instruction. The unit lesson plans and reflections

demonstrate my genuine care and intent to engage families in the educational

process, as well as assuming a leadership role in school and district projects.

These documents align with UW-Platteville School of Education KSDs: 1c, 1d,

1e; 3b, 3d, 3e; and 4c, 4d.

What I learned about teaching and learning from this experience:

English language students are more likely to learn words when they are

explicitly and systematically taught, embedded in meaningful contexts, and when

students are provided with many and varied opportunities for their repetition and

use. Effective teachers provide ELLs many opportunities to practice the target skills

in a low-anxiety setting with assistance from the teacher, in small groups, such as

peer tutoring and cooperative learning groups, and independently. Explicit

instruction and building background knowledge are important best practices in

literacy instruction; however, students also need to be productively engaged in a

learning community of peers of varying English proficiency levels who can model

appropriate English structures and word use.

Explicit and systematic instruction is especially important for ELLs because

clear, specific and predictable instruction provides a “safe” (lower-risk) learning

environment. One of the most interesting research studies I reviewed (Hawkins,

2004) reported that ELLs use their knowledge of classroom procedures and

expectation to leverage social inclusion amongst their classmates. Social inclusion

lowers the affective filter and increases the students’ motivation to learn. “(ELLs)

learned strategies that make (them) look like (they) were participating in the same

ways as other students before actually having the English skills to fully do so. As a

result (ELLs) were included in social interactions, which provided (them) an

opportunity to negotiate new language and understanding” (Hawkins, 2004, p.16).

The students in Hawkins’s observations relied on clear, specific, and predictable

routines that enabled them to mimic, repeat and practice language in context.

What I learned about myself as a prospective Reading teacher as a result of

this experience/artifact:

I think that in an attempt to make classrooms student-centered and

exploratory, the best practice of explicit instruction has too often been neglected. I

am concerned that teachers assume that students know what to do, or students are

too often left to figure things out on their own. What students-- especially ELL

students-- need is explicit and systematic instruction. Explicit instruction is teacher-

led instruction that clearly models how to complete a task step-by-step. A teacher

begins explicit instruction by stating learning goals, demonstrating how to complete

a task, providing feedback during guided and independent practice, and assessing

student understanding and ability to complete the task.

One of the most promising models for ELL reading instruction that I have

encountered during my research is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol

(SIOP). Teachers use the SIOP Model as a lesson plan checklist to provide a

systematic approach for making content accessible to ELLs and for consistently

focusing on academic language. The three main sections of the SIOP are

preparation, instruction and assessment. Preparation involves identifying language

and content objectives, and planning for meaningful activities with the use of

supplementary materials. Instruction involves using comprehensible input to build

students’ background knowledge and to teach skills strategies. Review and

assessment includes providing feedback to the students on content and language

objective mastery. Since I learned about the SIOP model, I have used it for lesson

planning for all of my classes and subjects since it combines all of the common-sense

“good-teaching” practices and places a special emphasis on language development,

which is especially important for ELLs.