SIOP for Math InstructionMaking academic content accessible for

all students

Caroline Anderson

Warm Up!3 minutes

• Place two plus signs and two minus signs between the digits 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 so that the result is 100.

• You must keep the digits in that order, but you may place the plus and minus signs in any order.

Rotating Cooperative Roles

• Using the note cards on your table, please label one card Time Keeper, one card Recorder/Scribe, and one card Speaker.

• The youngest person will take the Time Keeper card. The person to the right of the time keeper will take the Recorder/Scribe card. The person to the left of the time keeper will take the Speaker card.

Rotating Cooperative Roles, cont.

• 1 minute for the Speaker to share– Time keeper watches the clock– Scribe records notes from the speaker– Speaker shares his/her work for the entire minute

• I solved this problem by…• First I tried…• I got stuck when I…• I was successful when I…• It was helpful for me to…

Rotate the roles clockwise… repeat! 1 minute…

Think… How could you incorporate rotating cooperative roles into your math instruction?

• Turn and talk…

Point to ponder…

How are you intentionally helping students advance their language in meaningful

ways during math instruction?

or…

How could you more intentionally help students advance their language in

meaningful ways during math instruction?

Planning with a “Language Lens”

• The embedded language/embedded meanings of words in math problems are often more difficult for language learners than some of the content words.

• In order for students to access the math content, we must also build meaning of and provide support for this embedded language.

Planning with a “Language Lens”

• When planning a lesson, it is important to anticipate the language students will need in order to achieve the content objective.

• The language that students will need is not necessarily just vocabulary words.

• Don’t forget about the embedded language that often proves even more difficult for language learners to understand!

Can you identify the embedded language in our warm up problem?• Place two plus signs and two minus signs

between the digits 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 so that the result is 100.

• You must keep the digits in that order, but you may place the plus and minus signs in any order.

• Place two plus signs and two minus signs between the digits 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 so that the result is 100.

• You must keep the digits in that order, but you may place the plus and minus signs in any order.

Yowza! That’s a lot of language that a student would need to

understand in order to even begin accessing the content of the

problem!

A New Approach to Writing Language Objectives (10 minutes)

• Using the upcoming math lesson that you brought…1. Identify the content objective that you want

students to achieve.2. Think through the entirety of your lesson. Make

a list of “anticipated language,” which is all language that students will need in order to achieve the content objective. Think past just vocabulary words!

3. Now, write verbatim what you would want students to say they learned after the lesson to show that they mastered the objective.

“Today I learned…”• Go back and add words to your anticipated

language list, if necessary!

Example of a lesson planned with a “language lens”…

1. Content Objective: 1.M.1 I will estimate and measure the length of objects.

2. Anticipated language:

record length measure unit accurate

beginning middle end a little more than long

a little less than exactly almost in between bigger

smaller object estimate

3. Today I estimated how long I thought objects were. Then, I measured (found) the length (how long) of objects. Some of the objects were a little more, or a little bigger than, 6 cubes. Some of the objects were a little less than, or a little smaller than, 6 cubes. Some of the objects were in between 5 and 6 cubes. Some of the objects were exactly 6 cubes long. The unit that I used to measure the objects was cubes.

Scaffolding your Language Objective

• Using your “anticipated language list,” now write your language objective (remember to include listening, speaking, reading, and/or writing).

• Write key words or sentence frames below your language objective so all language is fully accessible to language learners.

**Some students may need this language scaffold in order to fully achieve the content objective!

Example of a scaffolded language objective…

Language Objective: Today I will say the words a little more than, a little less than, between, and exactly to estimate orally and record the lengths of objects.

This object is ___________ (6) cubes long.

a little more than

a little less than

between

exactly

How did writing a list of anticipated language help you write a more accessible language

objective?

Do you think this approach to writing language objectives will help you ensure that all of your students achieve the content objectives? Why

or why not?

L is for Language!