Putting it all together

Trina Jackson

EDU 655

Post University

Professor Mills

Table of ContentIntroductionChapter 1 Needs AnalysisChapter 2 Situational AnalysisChapter 3 Goals and Learning OutcomesChapter 4 Thematic Curriculum Unit- 30min lesson plansReferencesAppendix

The case study that involves a student named, Luja who came to the United States when she was eight years old. When she arrived to the US Luja had been placed in the Third grade of a Suburban Elementary school. She entered the third grade speaking very little English. Upon entering the school, she had to take the LAS assessment, which is the Language Assessment Survey. This assessment is a pictorial assessment that assesses the ELL student in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The assessment is used for entry in and exit out of English as a second language services. The results of the assessment showed that she is indeed eligible and the following chapters of this paper will show how to best help this student achieved all the objectives, standards and criteria that has been set forth by the teachers, school district and the local and federal governments.

CHAPTER 1

NEEDS ANALYSIS

What are the needs of the student in the classroom

Helping Luja

The best way to figure out what needs should be met for an Ell student is to do a needs analysis. A needs analysis is a systematic approach to studying the state of knowledge, ability, interest, or attitude of a defined audience or group involving a subject (McCawley, 2009). The goal of the analysis is to figure out what the subject knows and what is still needed to make the subject more successful in school (McCawley, 2009).

Needs Analysis

Case Study- Luja

The needs analysis is conducted on a young girl named Luja, who has come to the United States from Egypt when she was eight years old. When Luja entered school, she did not speak any language and struggled learning new sounds and letters. Data from Lujas assessment on the LAS links, states that she is eligible to ESL services, so she is pulled out of her class for reading and writing instruction by an ESL teacher. The data shows that Luja has made significant gains in Listening and Speaking from grade three to her current grade 8, however, she has made a slower progress in Reading and writing since grade 3 to now her current grade 8. The purpose of this analysis is to figure out why Luja is making such slower gains in reading and writing, so that she can exit the program.

Participants

The person that is studied in the analysis is a student, Luja her ESL teacher and her regular education teachers. Within the case study there is also a mention of her classmates. The other participant will be the assessment that was used to identify the problems in Lujas academic career. Luja was assessed on the LAS links. The LAS links is an assessment used to place, evaluate and is also used as an exit criteria for the ELL student.lace, evaluate and is also used as an exit criteria for the ELL studentcessful in schoolfined

Problem

Luja is now in the eighth grade, and has been in the country for 5 years. She is proficient in speaking and listening, but is not doing so well in reading and writing. She is unable to write in her native Arabic, but can read a little. Her parents are not able to speak English and are unable to help her with her homework. There is after school tutoring, but she is not attending. Her grades in social studies and science are Cs and is able to get As and Bs in classwork but often fails tests. In the ESL reading and writing classes she has As and Bs. Most of her academic classes have 25-35 students and the ESL class has only 12. She loves Math and is good at it, her friends seek her out to help them with their work. She has trouble with long word problems and has a hard time explaining herself in words on paper. When writing she usually has the subject verb agreement off and misspells words at times. She needs to be reminded of the writing steps and is more successful that way. She does not have a large vocabulary. When Luja is reading, her fluency is slow and struggles to read out loud with inflection and the correct tone of voice. When she mispronounces a word, she will go back or ask for help. She is well liked by her peers and she can communicate with them. She works hard and students like to be in her learning group.

Analyzing the Data

Looking at the data, in grade three in Reading, she tested on level one. According to the LAS links proficiency level descriptors, (2009) level one is the beginning stage. It is described as the student beginning to develop receptive and productive uses of English. The SLA (second language acquisition) level one is called Pre-production where the child may not speak, but can understand enough to point. Upon entering Eight grade, Luja had reached a proficient score or level 5 in Speaking and listening. Level 5 is known as the advanced level where the student can communicate effectively in English with very few errors across grade level language demands in a school context (SERC, 2009). This level with the SLA is called advanced fluency. The student can fully participate in grade-level classrooms assignments and activities. According to the data, in eight grade Lujas reading and writing scores were at a level three. Looking at the descriptors, level three is the intermediate stage where the student is developing the ability to communicate effectively in English across a range of grade-level activities. The student makes a lot of errors which impede learning and comprehension (SERC, 2009).

Solutions

One of the problems that Luja faces is making to after school for tutoring. In the case study, it was stated that the school tries to get her to come, but it does not mention what they have done. A possible solution to this problem is to offer some mode of transportation for her. Possibly use a carpool, if there are not school bussing available. Maybe offer after school snack if she has to get home to eat. Luja is Muslim, it could be religious that she be home at a certain time, if that is the case, maybe have her come in early if a teacher is willing to work with her. The other problem is that there is no one who can help her with her homework, but if she were to use a homework app or call or text a friend that will not be an issue. The case study stated that Luja did use the computer and used texting. The teacher could get a student who does not live too far away from her to help her with homework questions or she could use homework help. To help Luja with reading and her use of higher vocabulary the teacher can teach more academic vocabulary that she will come across in the reading. Not only will this improve her vocabulary it will also help her in expand her in writing in writing and math problems. The more words they know the less problems they have. Use a monitoring system that will show the educator how many words that Luja knows. Make sure that students are getting grounding and that you are using (Cloud, n.d). The case study also states that Luja is failing tests, even though she has accommodations like extra time, word banks and fill-ins. The teacher should make sure that what Luja has learned is on the test. If she has all these accommodations, she should not be failing. Luja is well liked by peers, the teacher should use that have the peers do tests with each other and correct each others tests. To help with writing, the teacher could have Luja practice copying sentences and paragraphs to get the understanding of what is expected and not only use verbal prompts, but allow her to keep her graphic organizer to look back on. Just because Luja is in eighth grade, does not mean she would not benefit from acting out a sentence or paragraph of a story.

Conclusion

The case study states that the ESL teacher and the regular education teacher are working together to help Luja become more successful, she has a lot of students in her class and that may be too much. The ESL classes only have 12 students and Luja is passing with As and Bs and the other class has 20-30 students. With this number of students, it is hard for an educator to do a one on one and the ESL teacher should be aware of this problem and maybe help out a little more by providing the regular education teacher with strategies and ideas on how to best differentiate and help her understand Second language acquisition and then the teacher will know exactly what is needed and when. The fact is not only one strategy will work, and numerous strategies should be used to keep the ELL student thriving in the academic world.

CHAPTER 2

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

What is the environment like?

THE ENVIRONMENT

To adequately make sure that your program or curriculum is helping the ELL student be successful across academic demands is to do a Situational analysis. A situational analysis will focus on environmental needs that may affect the student. In this situational analysis, there will be a look at the environment on a student, whose name is Luja and the data is taken from informal observation from a case study. The situational analysis also looks at the language background, cultural background, interest, life and educational experiences, physical factors, motivation, home factors, and emotional state on the side of the student. On the program side, the situation analysis will look at number of staff and class size, qualification of teacher, does the teacher speak childs language, computer and technology, bias and preconceptions by staff and students, cultural issues, teaching facilities and time of day.

Background information

Luja is currently in eighth grade in a suburban school district. She came to the school when she was eight years old. She went to third grade with no English. Her native language is Arabic. Luja, upon being assessed with the LAS, was deemed eligible to receive ESL services through the school. She was pulled out of class for extra help. When she was tested in seventh grade her scores for reading and writing level is 3 and her scores for listening and speaking is at a five. The numbers mean that on a level 3 she can understand some English and still has many errors and a level five she has mastered the language and has some errors. When Luja once again was assessed in eighth grade, her listening and speaking scores were advanced and she no longer needed help with this skill. However, her scores for reading and writing, are still what is keeping her in ESL.

The programStrengthsWeaknesses

ESL ClassesLarge class sizes for core classes

25-35 students

ESL qualified teacherThey only have one ESL qualified teacher

Collaborations between teachers

Small class size for ESL classes

12 students

Testing accommodations

After school programStudents do not attend

No adult speaks the native language

Students love her and respect her culture

Breakdown of chart

The strengths of the suburban school district, is that it has ESL services available for Luja. The ESL classes are small so it enables the ESL teacher to do quality 1:1 teacher. The classes have 12 students, and Luja has language arts and reading. Her ESL classes are taught by a trained ESL teacher. The difficulty for Luja is that there is no one in the school who speaks her native tongue of Arabic and for that she has very little academic skills in her native language. Her parents do not speak English, so they are not able to help her with homework, which she fails. She also has been eligible to receive testing accommodations of time and a half and word banks for the fill in the blank questions. With all the accommodations, Luja still fails tests. The school offers an after-school program, but the students do not attend. Luja is Muslim and often wears the hijab in school, but is proud and other students are accepting of her and like her and want her help with math, which she loves. Luja has not failed any classes, since the teachers go out of their way to have her do an extra study session in the morning to make up for bad grades on the test. Luja uses a word processor to write papers and it helps her with misspelled words. She also uses the cell phone to text and snapchat.

Solutions.

Even though the school offers ESL classes, there is only one ESL qualified teacher in the school. One solution could be to offer some seminars on ESL so that the other teachers have a little background knowledge on language acquisition and what it takes to have a ELL student be successful in all aspects of academic life. The positive is that the regular education teachers were able and willing to collaborate with the ESL teacher to make sure Luja was successful in the classroom. According to the data Luja had very little academic knowledge in her native language. According to Lightbown and Spada, (2006), it is important that students have some sort of skill in their L1 so that they can transfer the skills to their L2. Luja not having L1 skills in writing or reading makes sense why she is struggling with reading and writing in her L2. One solution would be to find a program or have her parents work with her more in her native language. The school also suffers from high numbers in regular education classes. The school should look into smaller class sizes if possible, if not then they should look into placing another teacher in the classroom where there is a lot of ELL students. The fact that Luja still fails test with the accommodations, needs to be looked at, are the teachers giving her enough content that is relevant to the tests? A teacher must make sure that what she is teaching is relevant and the ELL student needs to learn academic language to make sense of the information received. Learning academic language will help the student in reading and writing.

Conclusion

The program needs to fix some areas that are lacking to make sure that the ELL population in the school is successful. The goal for Luja is to have her exit out of the ESL program before she enters high school. If the school changes the ratio in the classrooms, they may be able to achieve better scores for their ELL population. If the school is unable to lower the number of students in the general education classes, they should at least have an ESL teacher collaborate with the general education teachers more and let them understand the process of second language acquisition.

CHAPTER 3

GOALS AND LEARNING

OUTCOMES

In this paper, there will be a closer look at what we want and expect for Luja to reach the objective of exiting out of ESL. Luja is currently in Eight grade and has had ESL services since third grade when she came to the country speaking and understanding very little English. The scores in speaking and listening have increased a level each year and her scores for reading and writing have increased, however at a much lower rate and that is what is keeping her in the ESL program. Looking at the Situational and Needs analysis, it is evident that the Luja will need work to help her be more successful in school. Within this paper, there will be outcomes and objectives that will help Luja maintain her goal.

Objective:

To be able to exit ESL services before entering High School.

Goals:

Reading

1. Luja will compose a list of differences between two major points of view during an academic exercise by the end of the year using a group of learning peers.

2. Luja will use definitions from the dictionary to define academic vocabulary to increase fluency in reading by the end of the year.

Learning outcomes:

1. When reading a short essay, she will identify the theme of the story, and find the proof within the story.

Assessment criteria- written collection of works

2. When Luja is finished with her work, she will work on finding themes of other stories that she has read.

Writing

Objectives:

1. Luja will break down a sentence and find the subject/ verb agreement and create a sentence of her own with a subject/verb agreement by the end of the second marking period.

2. Using other writings from students in the class, Luja will locate the subject/verb agreements at least during three class trials.

Outcomes:

1. Recognize what a subject is and a verb and use them correctly in a sentence.

2. With new vocabulary writing a paragraph without mistakes.

The assessment for this will be ongoing look at essays and in class assignments

Conclusion:

Without knowing all the information about the school, it was not easy to come up with goals and outcomes for the school. The information given in the case study, Was out of teacher control and more of a district and law maker responsibility. The school needed to find a way for Luja to stay after and receive help and they also were limited in qualified ESL staff and the class size was too large for a student who is struggling in another language

REFERENCES

References

Cloud, Nancy. (n.d.). Benchmarks for Native Speakers. Colorin Colorado as derived from:

www.colorincolorado.org/literacy-istruction-ells

EDU 655 ESL Curriculum and Assessment. Situational Analysis and State Standards. Retrieved from https://post.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-3848744-dt-content-rid-29439065_1/courses/EDU655.901025090631/Documents/EDU655%20-%20Unit%203%20Lecture%20Notes.pdf

Hanson, Deb. (2014). Crafting connections. Retrieved from

http://crafting-connections.blogspot.com/2014/09/anchors-away-monday-9222014-main-idea.html

Lightbown, Patsy M., and Spada, Nancy. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford handbooks

For language teachers

Robertson, Kristina. (n.d). Improving writing skills: Ells and the joy of writing. Colorin

Colorado. Retrieved from www.colorincolorado.org/article/improving-writng-skills-ells-and-joy-wrting

Robertson, Kristina. (n.d.). Five things teachers can do to improve learning for ELLs in the new

year. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/five-things-teachers-can-do-improve-learning-ells-new-year

[PDF] State Education Resource center. (2009). LAS links Proficiency level descriptors and stages of SLA descriptors

Teachers Notebook. (n.d). Science notebook/journal rubric. Retrieved from

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/frogsandcupcakes/science-notebook-journal-rubric

Teachers pay teachers retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Notebook-Templates-FREE-Sampler-Pack-9-Templates-1236067 .

Teachers pay teachers. (n.d.). Notebook check rubric. Retrieved from

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Notebook-Check-1401651

Thorsen, Elly. (2015). How to set up and interactive notebook in any class. Teaching with Elly

Thorsen. Retrieved from http://ellythorsenteaching.blogspot.kr/2015/05/how-to-set-up-interactive-notebook-in.html

Lesson plan 1- references

Resources:

(n.d). Dual Language Development framework: Learning progressions for second language acquisitions. Retrieved from http://www.ct.gov/oec/lib/oec/earlycare/elds/sections/duallanguage.pdf

NGA Center and CCSO. (n.d). Common Core State Standards initiative. Retrieved from

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/8/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/8/#CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1

(n,d) The State of Connecticut English Language Proficiency Standards (CELP). Retrieved from

http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/bilingual/celp_standards.pdf pg. 187-190

Chapter 4

Lesson Plans

Together

25

Dates: 10/14/2017 SIOP Weekly Lesson Plan Class: reading and writing

SIOP Format

M

T

W

TH

F

Standard:

Standard 1 (w/ELA Correspondences) CELP.6-8.1. An EL can construct meaning from oral presentations and literary and informational text through grade-appropriate listening, reading, and viewing

Standard 2 (w/ELA Correspondences) CELP.6-8.2. An EL can participate in grade-appropriate oral and written exchanges of information, ideas, and analyses, responding to peer, audience, or reader comments and questions

Standard 5 (w/ELA Correspondences) CELP.6-8.5. An EL can conduct research and evaluate and communicate findings to answer questions or solve problems

Standard 3 (w/ELA Correspondences) CELP.6-8.3. An EL can speak and write about grade-appropriate complex literary and informational texts and topics.

Standard 6 (w/ELA Correspondences) CELP.6-8.6. An EL can analyze and critique the arguments of others orally and in writing

Content Objective (EQ):

To Achieve academic language to improve on reading and writing skills.

To Achieve academic language to improve on reading and writing skills.

To Achieve academic language to improve on reading and writing skills.

To Achieve academic language to improve on reading and writing skills.

To Achieve academic language to improve on reading and writing skills.

Language Objectives

.

DLL.L.7 Demonstrate ability to engage in age-appropriate conversations in L2 on a variety of topics

DLL.L.3 Comprehend and respond to increasingly complex and varied L2 vocabulary with continued and appropriate support (including the use of contextual clues, real experiences, concrete objects, visual/films, etc.

Vocabulary words:

Leaves, Harvest,

Scorching, humid

Blistery, tinge

Cause, effect, affect

Compare, contrast

Lesson:

Motivation(M) Building Background,

Presentation (P)(Language and content objectives,

Listening (L): Speaking (S): Reading (R) :writing (W)

Differentiation methods will be in bold, bottom shows tests/assessments referenced to differentiate. Assessments are in tab in binder per class.

Autumn

What do we know about Autumn? (s)

Is there Autumn in your native land? If not, what seasons are there if any?

Autumn

What types of activities are done in the Autumn?

What is the weather like where you are? And what types of activities do you do? (s ,L, w)

Autumn

How can we create the colors of Autumn?

Autumn

What are the causes and the effects of Autumn?

What happens when the weather changes?

Autumn

How is the weather the same or different in the various towns/ states/countries

Student Partner/

group work: (Practice and Application)

Using the computer or books, the students will look up information about autumn and write down information.

Students will write down what the other students say about the activities they do in fall.

Children will discuss how to mix colors to create the colors of fall

Using a Map, the students will color code which areas have weather changes using different colors for the different weather

As a group the students will pick which one they will look up Either the state, city or country and using a list to compare and contrast the different weather

Independent work (Extension):

The student will use the information learned to create a poem or paragraph.

Find photos or poems about the activities in Autumn. Using books or the computer

Write down the process by steps on what you did to mix colors.

Using the words from the map the students will use the words in a complete sentence

Write down what makes the weather different or similar.

Informal/formal

Assessment of objectives:

(for the week, there will be use of the performance based assessments using rubrics, storytelling, brainstorming, and completing stories).

Informal- How is the student writing, are ideas complete and usage of new vocabulary

Informal- students will switch papers with a different group and add to the list

Informal- collect papers and see if the students are listing and putting the steps in order.

The attached paper will be used for today and tomorrow to assess whether the students are attaining the information learned.

The attached paper will be used for today and tomorrow to assess whether the students are attaining the information learned.

Differentiation Assessment: use informal assessment and Access scores to begin to form groups based on classroom performance and informal data taken this week.

Materials:

Library, Pencils

Computers, Chart paper

Paint

Procedures:

The students will use the computer to find the information needed about the weather and use the chart paper to write down the answers they find as a group. The students will use the paint to mix the colors that they need to create the desired Autumn color of the area they chose. The students will use the library to find the book they need on the area they chose. At the end of the unit, the student will take a spelling test to see if they remember the words and for the ELL student there is a word and definition match.

Differentiation

Using the assessments, when the children are not reaching the goals, the lessons can be extended to the next day.

Use the following video for some more vocabulary to use in this unit

https://youtu.be/zFyYv9gOmx8

The above material will help the student Luja achieve:

level 3 and 4 indicator from the LAS Links assessment-The student will be able to generate complex, statements state opinions, and ask for clarification and share her thoughts.

Level 4 and 5 of the LAS links the student can fully participate in grade-level classrooms assignments and activities if given extra support by using small groups.

Achieving these goals, will ultimately help Luja exit ESL services.

APPENDIX

The red ink in the paper signifies the items that were fixed from the original sources. Within this content there will be examples of how to check if the Luja is fulfilling her objectives and understanding content. Even though it is not written, Luja has a hard time finishing homework. Using a rubric, it would be beneficial to have a checkpoint for her so that she knows when she has completed an assignment and what needs to be completed. The following is an example of a rubric. The rubric was taken from a paid website, that has been referenced in the reference section of this paper. The Ice cream cone is perfect way to explain deeper how to find the main idea in a story passage. The other activity that could help Luja would be for her to have interactive notebooks. The notebooks are a way to have information at your hands that you created so that it has meaning to the person created.