The Paradox of 21st Century Education

The unfortunate predicament about implementing the best practices in 21st Century education theories is that they are theory. We are still too young within the 21st century to see the effects. Each generation, experts in pedagogy present new theories which improve upon or rework the education system in the United States. In the 1950's they called it the "Life Adjustment Movement" and in the 1980's it was coined "Outcome-Based Education" and today we call it "21st Century Education." Each movement after another "devalued academic subject matter while making schooling relevant, hands-on, and attuned to the real interests and needs of young people." (Ravitch, 2009) Today's progressive education movement focuses on instating critical thinking skills and media literacy from kindergarten through graduate school.

Our era is filled with paradoxes. 21st century learning demands critical thinking and proficiency on standardized assessments. Kids have to learn how to be independent. 21st Century teachers must teach content and skills. Unfortunately, 21st century skills and technology cause as many problems as they solve. 

 

One topic not addressed in 21st Century commentaries is the necessity of students to have knowledge of the past, but also knowledge of the present. In a not-so-recent study conducted by the National Geographic Society (1988), school-age students were asked to find their country on a map and students from the United States ranked in the bottom third. (Hunter, 2004.) How can we entertain the idea that we are preparing our students to compete academically on a global scale, when they can't even find their own country on a map?

The paradox of 21st century learning is that we cannot teach students to think critically without teaching them the content they need to think about. Diane Ravitch, in an editorial to the Boston Globe stated, "We have neglected to teach them that one cannot think critically without quite a lot of knowledge to think about. Thinking critically involves comparing and contrasting and synthesizing what one has learned. And a great deal of knowledge is necessary before one can begin to reflect on its meaning and look for alternative explanations." (Ravitch, 2009)

Innovations in education swing like a pendulum. Core knowledge is necessary for a good education, yet "our kids need world-class skills and world-class content." (Toppo, 2009) Successful 21st Century teachers must teach content and skills. In order for students to succeed in today's job market, they need to not only be able to problem solve, but also need to be knowledgeable of the past, present and future. "Kay notes that virtually all of the industrialized countries the USA is competing with "are pursuing both content and skills." (Toppo, 2009)

But how do we teach students to think critically? According to Toppo, “research shows that many teachers find it difficult to actually teach children to think creatively or collaborate. In the end, they rarely get better at the very skills that P21 advocates.” (Toppo, 2009)

The Longfield School in the UK, featured by the Learning Alliance is a success story where 21^st century skills have been incorporated and have thus enhanced the learning experience of students and positively affected their abilities. Once failing, the school morphed by fostering dialogue between students, teachers and administration about how to improve the school and student learning, which “led to a curriculum that meets the needs of more learners more of the time and with measurable consequences for improved behavior, increased engagement in lessons and a significant reduction in exclusion.” (Learning Alliance) The school has online learning spaces, a school year that begins in June and the school is open late, so students can be found staying to study or doing extra-curricular activities. There is a strong emphasis on managing time effectively and

“flexibility is inbuilt to enable any variety of teaching and learning opportunities whether it’s external visits, catch-up sessions, activities for gifted and talented students, extension work, enrichment activities, or teaching and learning for additional qualifications.” (Learning Alliance)

The question facing 21^st century educators is: "Do kids learn to think by reading great literature, doing difficult math and learning history, philosophy and science or can they tackle those subjects on their own if schools simply teach them to problem-solve, communicate, use technology and think creatively?" (Toppo, 2009) The goal of 21st century teaching is to prepare the students with skills that will help them compete in today's job market and world. The most important lesson to instill in students is to be lifelong learners. Students need skills and content. They need to be independent thinkers, yet work well with others. They must think critically while being assessed standardly. The role of a 21^st century students is not easy because they encounter many academic demands, but with a delicate balance of content from both the past and present, coupled with experiences which cultivate skills like problem solving and media literacy, they can be prepared for the 21^st century market.

Sources:

Hunter, William D. “Got Global Competency?” International Educator Spring 2004 p.6-12

“Learning Journey: Longfield School” The 21st Century Learning Alliance

Ravitch, Diane. “Critical thinking? You need knowledge” Boston Globe September 15, 2009. A. 15

Toppo, Greg. “What to learn: 'core knowledge' or '21st-century skills'?” USA Today Updated 3/5/2009 12:06 PM

Internationalization Strategies Translated to the Elementary Arena

Internationalization at home is a buzzword in higher-education publications and studies. It is a push to develop globalized citizens among our college graduates. It is true that college campuses service a significant amount of international students, but I counter, the necessity to service international students does not just lie at the university level. In fact, there should be internationalization of education beginning at the primary levels, especially in metropolitan areas such as Boston. In Boston Public Schools, as of January 2011, 28% of students were English language learners. (ELL Changes, p.1) This means more than one-quarter of students in Boston are immigrants or children of immigrants to the United States. This in itself is internationalization at home. Often referred to as the melting pot, the United States continues to be a homeland inundated with differing cultures.

The studies cited in this analysis are all based from university-level studies, however their findings can be incorporated across educational grade levels. What these authors propose are ways to integrate international students with national students, methods of develop curriculum that is more culturally responsive and globally minded and ways to assist teachers into becoming internationalized, so that their classrooms can become a microcosm of international education. 

 

According to Betty Leask, author of “Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions Between Home and International Students,” Internationalization of the curriculum is the “incorporation of an international and intercultural dimension into the content of the curriculum as well as the teaching and learning processes and support services of a program of study. An internationalized curriculum will engage students with internationally informed research and cultural and linguistic diversity. It will purposefully develop their international and intercultural perspectives as global professionals and citizens.” (Leask, p.209)

Though many college students participate in study abroad, they are not necessarily receiving an internationalized education. “Building Bridges” by Josef A. Mestenhauser proposes the idea of learning in context, the concept that experiences like study abroad may be considered international education, but the lessons are not integrating existing knowledge and processing of the dissimilar. “While we are 'doing' international education, we may not know why, when the learning is completed, and what we do with it in the end,” he wrote. (Mestenhauser, p. 10.) He believed a disconnect between the cognitive categories was not allowing the transfer to occur “often because it was assumed to develop by osmosis and was not intended or planned—or learning and knowledge was not part of the objectives of the programs.” (Mestenhauser, p. 10.)

This article elicits the need to set some frameworks about internationalization at home standards. What would that look like in an elementary school? The United States now has “Common Core Standards” for English Language Arts and Mathematics, but what about the incorporation of national standards for Internationalization at Home? Internationalization is not procedural knowledge, but it is conceptual knowledge that is imperative for all students of the 21^st century with which to be familiar.

In setting standards for learning, we set a purpose for learning. Mestenhauser proposes etic v. emic learning, with the etic perspective meaning that we see other cultures through the lens of our own knowledge and experience. (Mestenhauser, p.10.) Emic thinking allows the observer of another culture to see it through its own internal logic. Ultimately, Mestenhauser calls upon the students to be metacognitive and not engage in international experiences just for the experience, but through reflection after and during the experience to actually gain an awareness of global citizenship and his own global citizenry. 

 

While at the elementary level we cannot easily enter our students into study abroad programs, we can create ways in which our students can partake in scenarios which have real-world applications. Mestenhauser suggests “real world laboratories” in which students “would actually work on projects that resemble the real work culture outside of the universities.” (Mestenhauser, p.11.) This is a concept we could instate at the pre-collegiate level, such as developing project-based learning in which the essential questions explore other cultures, or by developing a Model UN unit in which the students could take part. 

 

Leask's article also presents strategies to build relationships among students and introduces mentors as a key component of building an internationalized student body. According to Leask,“development of intercultural competencies... requires a campus environment and culture that obviously motivates and rewards interaction between international and home students in and out of the classroom.”(Leask, p.205) Her use of the word “campus” could easily be replaced with “district” or “school,” as her idea is transferable to primary education. 

 

In designing a curriculum that is internationalized, instructors must “explicitly include relevant intercultural learning objectives” and “structure assessment activities so that it is clear what intercultural competencies are being measured.”(Leask, p. 210.) It is also important to ensure both international and home students understand the purpose of the interaction, are assisted to develop the skills needed to engage and are provided with the environment in which to be able to engage effectively. (Leask, p.210.) According to Leask, instructors can facilitate interaction by requiring students to work on tasks throughout their study that are structured so that the students cannot complete the activities without a meaningful cultural exchange. 

 

Even after recommendations on how to get students interacting within the classroom, the study found that it was not transcending the classroom door. International students felt their domestic counterparts avoided them and domestic students reported language and cultural differences made it hard to interact. “Both home and international students clearly recognized the value of interacting with each other, but for entirely different reasons both were clearly dissatisfied with the levels and types of interaction they had with each other.” (Leask, p.215)

This is where integration at the elementary level can impact future internationalism within students. If students are taught to integrate as children, they will not face the same problems faced above at the university level. Introducing students to other cultures and people as children can lead the way to a much more culturally-sensitive and responsive collegiate body.

Leak presents the great idea of a mentoring program called Business Mates that gets second year or higher students building relationships with new students. We use this strategy at the elementary level often with arrival of new students when we provide them with a classroom buddy (if possible one who is fluent in English and the new student's native language.) Leask found positive results indicating, “culturally diverse paired mentors and their mentees were more likely than the general student population to feel part of the university community and to be happy with the levels of interaction they had with other students.” (Leask, p.217.)

Both Mestenhauser and Leask present strategies to incorporate internationalization into the classroom, but how can teachers teach internationalism if they are not internationalized themselves? Irma Olmedo and Lesley Harbonb in “Broadening our sights: internationalizing teacher education for a global arena” discuss the necessity of globalized teachers. While this article addresses higher education, it's message can transcend into the elementary arena. This article talks about teachers studying abroad and learning cultures, but also learning from other teachers. An experience like this could have an impact not only on the teachers’ cultural sensitivities and internationalism, but also their ability to instruct. The authors suggests study abroad for student teachers, especially for language teachers. “If we aim to produce educators with a global perspective, we ourselves as teacher educators have to explore that global arena to see what we can learn and what we can share,” the article states. (Olmedo, p. 77.)

The challenge is to get teachers to “think globally” and then to “work locally.” (Olmedo, p.81.) International education means broadening the knowledge base of teachers and sensitizing them to different perspectives on issues that can affect children from all over the world, particularly when these teachers will be teaching students from all over the world. 

 

These authors propose placing teacher candidates in study abroad contexts, particularly ones that bring the future teachers into context their future students may experience. “Not only can those experiences help improve foreign language proficiency but they can also sensitize teachers to the frustrations that their own students face when in classrooms taught in a national language that they do not understand.” (Olmedo, p.87.) It is important for teachers to have the opportunity to travel and be immerse in other cultures, to know what students are experiencing. 

 

Similarity, Sabine Schuerholz-Lehr in “Higher Education: How Prepared Are the Educators?” looks as studies which linked educator's backgrounds and life experiences to their pedagogical approaches and examining their mind-sets and classroom pratices as they related to global awareness. She hypothesized “that the ability of higher education instructors to teach for intercultural competence and world-mindedness within their professional knowledge landscape is positively related with the extent to which they have acquired a world-minded identity both on and off the professional landscape.” (Schuerholz-Lehr, p.188). Schuerholz-Lehr investigated the relationship between faculty member's personal/professional background and life experiences and their pedagogies related to global awareness and world-mindedness. The data suggest a willingness among many faculties to diversity and multiculturalism, but many faculties struggle with strategies to incorporate those attitudes into their teaching. (Schuerholz-Lehr, p.188).

Her research indicated coursework and immersion in other cultures by living in another country had the greatest impact on the development of intercultural competence during graduate professional preparation. Additionally, she found advanced proficiency in a language other than English and substantive experience abroad were positively correlated with global competence and intercultural sensitivity indices. (Schuerholz-Lehr, p.195) However, one study by Halse (1999) she sited, found intercultural encounters do not automatically lead to an increase in intercultural understanding. (Schuerholz-Lehr, p.196) Overall, the information she collected suggests just traveling to another country did not translate automatically into more globally-aware teaching practices. Instead, the depth of the experience had the greatest impact on the strengthening of intercultural and cross-cultural competencies. 

 

What these studies demonstrate is teaching internationalization is like teaching any other concept or construct—it must be meaningful. Teachers can talk to students, create lesson plans, develop activities or send students abroad and yet these activities have no meaning for the student, they will not have lasting affects upon their education, if the learning does not have a purpose. There needs to be standards and objectives, both clearly communicated to the students and student motivation. With those three components, internationalization in education can be achieved at the university and elementary level. 

 

Bibliography

Boston Public Schools, “ELL Changes” Implementing the Acceleration Agenda: Helping English Language Learners acquire language mastery and fluency Produced by the Boston Public Schools Communications Office 6/11/11 http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/files/bps/ELL%20changes.pdf

Leask, Betty. “Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions Between Home and International Students”Journal of Studies in International Education Volume 13 Number 2 Summer 2009 205-221

Mestenhauser, Josef A. “Building Bridges”International Educator Summer 2003 p.6-11

Olmedo, Irma; Harbonb, Lesley. “Broadening our sights: internationalizing teacher education for a global arena”Teaching Education Vol. 21, No. 1, March 2010, 75–88

Schuerholz-Lehr, Sabine “Teaching for Global Literacy in Higher Education: How Prepared

Are the Educators?”Journal of Studies in International Education, Vol. 11 No. 2, Summer 2007 180-204

Spring

SIOP Lesson Plans Spring Unit

Unit Topic: Spring Lesson Title: Blue Jays	Class: Second Grade Small Group Sarah Greenwood K-8, Dorchester Two students ELD Level 1 Two students ELD level 2			Date: May 2011
Unit Theme: Students will become familiar with language about spring including nature and animals. They will be able to identify the characteristics of spring and identify key vocabulary in texts and the real world.
Standards: (MA Curriculum Frameworks) GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development 4.3 Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things). GENERAL STANDARD 7: Beginning Reading 7.7 Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English GENERAL STANDARD 8: Understanding a Text 8.6 Make predictions about what will happen next in a story, and explain whether they were confirmed or disconfirmed and why. 8.7 Retell a story’s beginning, middle, and end. 8.8 Distinguish cause from effect. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BENCHMARKS AND OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: •  Understand selected essential grade level content vocabulary using pictures, actions and/or objects (S.1.3) •  Understand simple story or poem by using prior knowledge and/or visual cues (S.3.4) •  Retells events is a simple story using basic and complex sentences (S.3.16) •  Participate in rhyming games and activities (R.2.4e) •  List new words and phrases related to the topic of a writing task. (W.1.2b) •  Draws or sequences pictures to tell or retell a story. (W.2.4a)
Content Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Read/listen to Blue Jays book level G ·      Identify animals and nature in the book ·      Identify characteristics of spring			Language Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Summarize the plot of the book ·      Describe orally life in springtime, using animal and nature vocabulary ·      Find rhymes in the text and read them aloud
Key Vocabulary: ·      Blue jay ·      tree ·      leaves ·      sprout ·      nest ·      baby birds ·      worm			Key Grammatical Structures/ Uses of Language: ·       rhymes
Higher Order Question: What is spring and how is it different in the United States than the student’s home country?		Materials: ·       Blue Jays, level G ·       Graphic Organizer for activating background knowledge about spring ·       Post-its for vocabulary ·       Outdoor classroom
Learning Strategies: ·       Activate background knowledge ·       Summarize ·        Imagine with keywords ·       Group/classify ·       Use imagery		Lesson Overview: Spring is a season of new life and growth. It is a very vocabulary-driven unit, which can be beneficial for ELLs because the vocabulary is concrete and reinforced through pictures and text. In this lesson, students will share what they know about spring and be introduced to the season in a guided reading activity. Students will also explore rhyming with the lyrical prose of the story.
Motivation: (Building Background) Learning Strategies: Activate background knowledge, group/classify, use imagery		·      Show a picture/poster scene of spring. Ask students to identify the season and point out what they see (ie. birds, trees.) in English. ·      Label with the vocabulary with post-its. ·      The lesson vocabulary they cannot name in English, provide for them, making a post-it and having students repeat the word with you. ·      Ask students to share what spring is like in their home country.
Presentation: (Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback) Learning strategies: Activate background knowledge, imagine with keywords		·      Tell students that today they will be reading a book about Blue Jays, which are a kind of bird. ·      Introduce guided reading book Blue Jays level G ·      Do a picture walk with the students, previewing nature vocabulary in the pictures ·      Point out rhyming words
Practice and Application: (Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback)		·      Read the book in guided reading. Students who are able to read the text read it alone and aloud. Students who are unable to read text read aloud with teacher. ·      Following reading the text, make a graphic organizer of aspects of spring the students found in the text. ·      As a group, have students look for rhyming words and make a list of all rhyming words. ·      Have students share a summary of the story in partners. Students who are unable to articulate a summary will be asked to identify vocabulary in the pictures of the story. ·      In partners, give students post-its and using the graphic organizer for support, ask students to label vocabulary in the pictures in the book
Review and Assessment: (Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning) ·      Formal assessment: checking the individual work ·      Informal assessment: verbal responses and participation		·      Students will create a poster to summarize the book, using vocabulary and imagery of spring from Blue Jays. Students will label the vocabulary they drew. ·      Students who are able will write a sentence or two in summary to accompany the poster. ·      Students will share their posters with the rest of the class and present them orally, pointing out what is happening in their spring scene and what vocabulary they used.
Extension: ·  Students will add the book Blue Jays to their independent reading bag for future review and re-reading.

Spring Poem

Out of cave! Out of hole!
Bear, rabbit, little mole,
Hatch from egg in nest in trees!
The birds are back and so are bees.
The flowers bloom. The leaves are green.
How do they know when it's spring?

Build your web! The bugs are back!
Little spider dressed in black.
Bears, rabbits, birds and bees,
Flowers, grass and trees,
Just like me their face is warm,
That's how they know spring has come.

Unit Topic: Spring Lesson Title: Spring Poetry	Class: Second Grade Small Group Sarah Greenwood K-8, Dorchester Two students ELD Level 1 Two students ELD level 2				Date: May 2011
Unit Theme: Students will become familiar with language about spring including nature and animals. They will be able to identify the characteristics of spring and identify key vocabulary in texts and the real world.
Standards: (MA Curriculum Frameworks) GENERAL STANDARD 14: Poetry 14.1 Identify a regular beat and similarities of sounds in words in responding to rhythm and rhyme in poetry. GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development 4.3 Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things). GENERAL STANDARD 7: Beginning Reading 7.7 Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English GENERAL STANDARD 8: Understanding a Text 8.7 Retell a story’s beginning, middle, and end. 8.8 Distinguish cause from effect. Strand: Life Science (Biology) 7. Recognize changes in appearance that animals and plants go through as the seasons change. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BENCHMARKS AND OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: •       Understands selected essential grade level content vocabulary using pictures, actions and/or objects (S.1.3) •       Understands simple story or poem by using prior knowledge and/or visual cues (S.3.4) •       Retells events is a simple story using basic and complex sentences (S.3.16) •       Participates in rhyming games and activities (R.2.4e) •       Lists new words and phrases related to the topic of a writing task. (W.1.2b)
Content Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Read/listen to a poem titled “Spring” ·      Identify animals and nature in the poem ·      Identify characteristics of spring			Language Objectives: Students will be able to… ·       Summarize the poem ·       Describe orally life in springtime, using animal and nature vocabulary ·      Find rhymes in the text and read them aloud
Key Vocabulary: ·      hibernation ·      cave ·      bear ·      rabbit ·      mole ·      hatch ·      bloom ·      web ·      spider				Key Grammatical Structures/ Uses of Language: ·      rhymes
Higher Order Question: Why is spring important in the life cycle of animals?		Materials: ·       “Spring” poem ·       Prepared flash-card photos of a bear, rabbit, mole and spider ·       Paper for poster ·       Highlighters
Learning Strategies: ·       Activate background knowledge ·       Summarize ·        Imagine with keywords ·       Group/classify ·       Use imagery		Lesson Overview: Students will explore a spring poem in this lesson. They will learn and discuss the term hibernation and what it means. Students will read the poem and learn the spring vocabulary within the poem. Students will practice reading with fluency and identifying rhyming words.
Motivation: (Building Background) Learning Strategies: Activate background knowledge, group/classify		·      Ask students “what is a poem?” If no student volunteers the information, make sure they know a poem is a musical story that often rhymes. Pass out copies of the poem and have students work in partners to highlight the words that rhyme. Go over the rhyming words. ·      Show the students the flashcards with the animal names on them. Have each student practice saying the name of the animal in English.
Presentation: (Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback) Learning strategies: Use imagery		·      Read the poem to the students. ·      For the students who are able to read, have them take turns re-reading it aloud, alternating lines. ·      As you read the poem, show the flashcards with the pictures of the animals. ·      Have the students who are unable to read hold up the animal flashcards when they hear the animals named in the poem.
Practice and Application: (Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback) Learning strategies: Summarize		·      Discussion: what is the poem about? Have each student re-tell the poem and/or re-read the poem in partners. o   The students should be able to discern it is about animals being born or coming out of hibernation in spring. ·      Discuss the term “hibernation” and what it means. Make a graphic organizer of animals that hibernate and then wake up in spring.
Review and Assessment: (Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning) ·      Formal assessment: checking the individual work ·      Informal assessment: verbal responses and participation		·      Students will complete a worksheet in which they must label the vocabulary in the poem. ·      Students who are able to will be expected to give an oral summary or a written summary of the poem.
Extension: ·  Students will illustrate the poem.

 

Unit Topic: Spring Lesson Title: Spring Weather	Class: Second Grade Small Group Sarah Greenwood K-8, Dorchester Two students ELD Level 1 Two students ELD level 2								Date: May 2011
Unit Theme: Students will become familiar with language about spring including nature and animals. They will be able to identify the characteristics of spring and identify key vocabulary in texts and the real world.
Standards: (MA Curriculum Frameworks) Strand: Life Science (Biology) 7. Recognize changes in appearance that animals and plants go through as the seasons change. S T R A N D: E A R T H A N D S P A C E S C I E N C E 3. Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons. GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development 4.3 Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things). 4.4 Identify base words (look) and their inflectional forms (looks, looked, looking). ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BENCHMARKS AND OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: •  Understand selected essential grade level content vocabulary using pictures, actions and/or objects (S.1.3) •  Understands oral questions that are based on academic content. (S.3.30) •  Asks and/or answers concrete questions about familiar topics (S.2.5)
Content Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Describe how weather changes from day to day ·      Identify different weather scenarios ·      Describe the weather in springtime in Boston ·      Add suffixes to nouns to describe the weather						Language Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Pronounce weather vocabulary and use appropriately ·      Participate in asking and responding to orally questions about the weather ·      Label weather vocabulary both written and orally ·      Sing a song about the weather
Key Vocabulary: ·      sunny/sun ·      rainy/rain ·      windy/win ·      storm ·      hot/cold/warm/cool ·      cloudy/cloud ·      summer/winter/spring/autumn ·      frosty/frost ·      foggy/fog ·      snowing/snow ·      blowing/blow							Key Grammatical Structures/Uses of Language: ·       suffixes ·       “What’s the weather like today?”
Higher Order Question:  What weather do we experience during springtime in Boston?		Materials: ·       Weather Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ja4j4ltnRw&feature=related ·       Rain, Rain, Go Away Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3v0rJqyCTM&feature=related ·       Weather flashcards ·       Weather worksheet ·       Blank bingo boards ·       Suffixes worksheet
Learning Strategies: ·       Activate background knowledge ·       Summarize ·        Imagine with keywords ·       Group/classify ·       Use imagery				Lesson Overview:  In this lesson, students will review weather and discuss the weather that takes place in springtime. In Boston, students can experience every kind of weather during spring and students will practice asking each other and identifying the weather.
Motivation: (Building Background) Learning Strategies: Activate background knowledge, imagine with keywords					·       Students will watch the video “What’s the Weather?” and repeat the vocabulary as they are introduced in the song. ·      Students will listen to the song a few times and then be expected to join along. ·      Students will then look out the window and answer the question, “What is the weather like today?” ·      In pairs, students will use weather flashcards to practice asking, “What is the Weather Like?” and responding using appropriate vocabulary answering, “What’s the weather?”
Presentation: (Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback) Learning strategies: Group/classify Use imagery			·      Today students will reinforce the weather vocabulary by playing a bingo game that gets them interacting with the different aspects of weather. ·      Students will draw different weather scenarios into a blank bingo board. ·      Then they will take turns asking the teacher, “What’s the weather?” and the teacher will draw random weather cards and say the various weather possibilities. ·      Students will mark the bingo boards and play until someone gets five in a row.
Practice and Application: (Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback)		·       After one teacher-led round, students who are low-English producers will continue to play the game in pairs. ·      Higher performing students will engage in a mini-lesson with the teacher about weather suffixes. The teacher will introduce the different forms of the word “rain:” including “rainy” and “raining” and conduct a discussion about the differences between these words. The students will then complete a table, adding the correct suffix to each weather vocabulary word.
Review and Assessment: (Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning) ·      Formal assessment: checking the individual work ·      Informal assessment: verbal responses and participation								·       As an assessment, students will label blank flashcards for themselves. ·      If necessary, the students can listen to the song again for reinforcement
Extension: ·  Ask students what type of weather we have been having in Boston for the past month? Rain! Show them the song, “Rain, Rain, go away” and invite students to sing along.

Unit Topic: Spring Lesson Title: Baby Animals	Class: Second Grade Small Group Sarah Greenwood K-8, Dorchester Two students ELD Level 1 Two students ELD level 2			Date: May 2011
Unit Theme: Students will become familiar with language about spring including nature and animals. They will be able to identify the characteristics of spring and identify key vocabulary in texts and the real world.
Standards: (MA Curriculum Frameworks) Strand: Life Science (Biology) 7. Recognize changes in appearance that animals and plants go through as the seasons change. GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development 4.3 Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things). ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BENCHMARKS AND OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: •  Understand selected essential grade level content vocabulary using pictures, actions and/or objects (S.1.3) •  List new words and phrases related to the topic of a writing task. (W.1.2b) •  Describes how two things within academic content are alike or different (S.3.40)
Content Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Identify animals and their corresponding babies ·      Classify animals according to their offspring			Language Objectives: Students will be able to… ·       Pronounce and say animal names and baby names orally
Key Vocabulary: ·       kitten/cat ·      puppy/dog ·      chick/chicken ·      cub/lion ·      calf/cow ·      kid/goat ·      lamb/sheep ·      foal/horse ·      duckling/duck ·      piglet/pig
Higher Order Question: Why is springtime important in the life cycle of animals?		Materials: ·       animal and baby flashcards ·       animal and baby matching worksheets
Learning Strategies: ·       Activate background knowledge ·        Imagine with keywords ·       Group/classify ·       Use imagery		Lesson Overview: An important part of spring is the birth of baby animals. Knowing animal names and their baby names is important and in this lesson, students will do activities in which they match animals to their babies.
Motivation: (Building Background) Learning Strategies: Building background knowledge Brainstorming Discussion		·       Make a T-chart of all the animals the students can list and their baby’s names ·      If students cannot name an animal and its baby, either or is fine ·      Tell students many baby animals are not named the same as their parents, just like “adult” is what we call grown-ups and we call baby people “children” or “kids.” ·      Ask students why we might be talking about baby animals during springtime? If no student can answer the question, tell the students that springtime is when baby animals are born.
Presentation: (Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback) Learning strategies: Imagine with keywords Group/classify Use imagery		·      Introduce the flashcards for animals and their babies. Introduce the animal flashcards first and ask students if they know the names of the baby. ·      Lay the baby cards out on the table and have the students locate the baby card when you hold up the corresponding adult animal card. Have the students practice saying both animal names. ·      Once the students identify the baby animal and its parent, set the cards aside, next to each other until all sets have been identified. ·      Once all of the sets have been identified, repeat the animal and baby names, asking individual students to volunteer to read the cards.
Practice and Application: (Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback)		·      Divide the class into pairs. Distribute the cards evenly so each pair gets a few sets of animal and baby cards. Have the pairs play a modified version of “memory” in which they lay all the cards face down and have to find the parent animal and baby animal sets. Encourage students to say the name of the animals each time they turn over a card. ·      Students who finish the game early can play a modified version of “go-fish” using the same cards.
Review and Assessment: (Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning) ·      Formal assessment: checking the individual work ·      Informal assessment: verbal responses and participation		·      Students will complete a matching worksheet in which they match the adult animals to the baby animals. ·      The students will complete different worksheets depending on their English levels. The first worksheet will need students to first label the animal and baby names and then match the pictures to the words. ·      The lower-level variation will already have the pictures labeled; these students will just need to match the parent animal to the baby animal. ·      Each student will be assessed individually to say the animal name orally.
Extension: ·  Return to the T-chart you made at the beginning of class. Ask students to add or revise the animal and baby entries they made earlier. ·  If time remains, students will swap flashcards with another group and play another round of go-fish or memory

 

Unit Topic: Spring Lesson Title: Haiku	Class: Second Grade Small Group Sarah Greenwood K-8, Dorchester Two students ELD Level 1 Two students ELD level 2				Date: May 2011
Unit Theme: Students will become familiar with language about spring including nature and animals. They will be able to identify the characteristics of spring and identify key vocabulary in texts and the real world.
Standards: (MA Curriculum Frameworks) GENERAL STANDARD 14: Poetry 14.1 Identify a regular beat and similarities of sounds in words in responding to rhythm and rhyme in poetry. GENERAL STANDARD 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development 4.3 Identify and sort common words into conceptual categories (opposites, living things). GENERAL STANDARD 7: Beginning Reading 7.7 Use letter-sound knowledge to decode written English GENERAL STANDARD 8: Understanding a Text 8.7 Retell a story’s beginning, middle, and end. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BENCHMARKS AND OUTCOMES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: •  Understand selected essential grade level content vocabulary using pictures, actions and/or objects (S.1.3) •  Understand simple story or poem by using prior knowledge and/or visual cues (S.3.4) •  Retells events is a simple story using basic and complex sentences (S.3.16) •  Participate in rhyming games and activities (R.2.4e) •  List new words and phrases related to the topic of a writing task. (W.1.2b) •  Selects words for writing that add detail. (W.3.3)
Content Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Read/listen to a spring Haiku ·      Identify animals and nature in the Haiku ·      Identify characteristics of spring ·      Write a Haiku with spring vocabulary			Language Objectives: Students will be able to… ·      Describe orally and in writing life in springtime, using animal and nature vocabulary ·      Read fluently a Haiku ·      Identify syllables in words in English and use this understanding to write a Haiku
Key Vocabulary: ·       Haiku ·      Previously taught spring vocabulary ·      “I spy with my little eye…”				Key Grammatical Structures/Uses of Language: ·       Syllables ·       Haiku poem
Higher Order Question: What is a Haiku poem and how can we use it to describe spring?		Materials: ·       Outdoor classroom ·       Spring Haiku ·       Spring Haiku skeletons
Learning Strategies: ·       Activate background knowledge ·       Summarize ·        Imagine with keywords ·       Group/classify ·       Use imagery		Lesson Overview: This lesson will take place near the end of the unit, after all unit vocabulary has been practiced and mastered. Students will explore the Haiku style of poetry, reading a Haiku I wrote and then writing their own. Students will use the outdoor classroom as inspiration.
Motivation: (Building Background) Learning Strategies: Building background knowledge, use imagery		·      Students will go outside to the outdoor classroom and play “I spy with my little eye…” This game will be a review of spring vocabulary and a chance for them to interact with the vocabulary in context: trees, flowers, birds, sun, clouds, sky ·      After the warm-up game, introduce the spring Haiku and read it aloud to the students. Explain Haiku is a type of Japanese poem with a specific number of words/syllables in each line. Haikus are often about spring, which is why the students today will be writing spring Haikus of their own.
Presentation: (Language and content objectives, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, feedback) Learning strategies: Summarizing		·      Distribute copies of the poem and have students work in pairs to determine the number of syllables in each line. (They should find the first line has five, the middle line has seven and the last line has five.) ·      Students who are unable to read will be paired with students who can read, so that all students will be involved and able to participate.  ·      Have each student practice reading the poem aloud to his or her partner. ·      Ask the students to summarize the poem to their partners and have the partners identify spring vocabulary.
Practice and Application: (Meaningful activities, interaction, strategies, practice and application, feedback)		·      At this time students will begin writing poems of their own. ·      Higher-level students will write the poems on their own on lined paper ·      Lower-level students will have a Haiku skeleton paper so they write the poem in the specific format ·      Students who produce no English will be given the Haiku poem skeleton and the words from the poem out of order and will be expected to order the words correctly to reform the poem.
Review and Assessment: (Review objectives and vocabulary, assess learning) ·      Formal assessment: checking the individual work ·      Informal assessment: verbal responses and participation		·      If time, students will illustrate their poems. ·      The teacher will edit each poem for grammar and spelling and then the students will share their poems aloud with the class.
Extension: ·  Students will write a second Haiku poem incorporated other spring vocabulary