English Language Learners and the New Standards. Margaret Heritage
Are the notes you take from the highlighted sections of your reading passage?
Diego: You can highlight everywhere information so you know where it is from. This help you organize.
Notice in this feedback the precise language that students use. Ms. Cardenas is very deliberate in her language choices, and the students have been exposed to this language when Ms. Cardenas models reading and note taking. Now the students are incorporating the language they have heard into their own usage.
Once the students think they have sufficient information, they begin the process of synthesizing it. Individually, they sort through their notes, reviewing their information with the same questions that guided their note taking. Then, in pairs, they combine their information, and on large poster paper, they jot down their findings. As they do this, Ms. Cardenas circulates among the pairs to see how well they are synthesizing and combining their notes. Here is another opportunity for her to provide feedback to help the students improve their work.
Product and presentation
When the students have completed all their research, the final phase of the study begins. In small groups, the children make large cactus sculptures that represent what they have learned as a result of their research. Using an organizer Ms. Cardenas has provided, the students begin their work together by translating their notes into a blueprint for their sculpture, deciding what key features of the cactus they wish to represent. Developing the blueprint involves a great deal of discussion among the students. Next, from their blueprint and using a wide range of materials—found objects and recyclables that Ms. Cardenas has provided—they work together over the course of several days to create their sculpture.
It is noteworthy that Ms. Cardenas very carefully selects the composition of all the groups in the classroom, from partner work for peer assessment and feedback to the small groups creating their sculptures. She wants to make sure that there is a range of English language proficiency represented in the groups so that students whose English language is not as developed as others’ have a chance to hear more proficient models.
When creating their sculptures, the students use language for a variety of purposes: referring back to the information on their blueprint, justifying why they want the sculpture to develop in certain ways, negotiating the materials they use, and making suggestions about how to improve their sculpture. Ms. Cardenas uses these discussions as opportunities to listen in and scaffold students’ language use.25 For example, “I see you have labeled the spines on your sculpture. I wonder why this cactus has these spines—what is their function? Can you help me understand the function in your sculpture?” and “You have used very descriptive words to help me understand the texture of the cactus—thick and waxy—why would a cactus have a thick, waxy skin? Can you help me understand that better?” When the sculptures are developed to the students’ satisfaction, some of the groups decide to put explanatory written labels on certain features of their cactuses in response to Ms. Cardenas’s feedback and their peers’ assessment. Below are examples of two different groups’ labels:
Group 1: Areole
An important part of protecting the cactus.
Big leaves to absorb water would and lose to [sic] much water.
Areole
Are almost round but always hold the spines.
Group 2: Thick waxy coating
The thick waxy coating holds all the water.
Stem
The stem holds water for hot days ahead
Spine
The spines protect the Teddy Bear Cactus from other animals snacking on it and they also give it shade.
The culminating part of the research project is students’ oral presentations about the sculptures. To assist the students in structuring their oral presentations, Ms. Cardenas provides an outline and reviews what is expected of both the presenters and the audience. The students work in their small groups on their presentations. During this time, Ms. Cardenas moves from group to group, noting their sentence structures, vocabulary use, and the clarity of their explanations. She uses the information she gains from these observations to provide on-the-spot feedback to students. For example, she asked one group to think about the clarity of their explanations and to pay attention specifically to connecting their ideas. She also uses the information to decide on any subsequent minilessons she wants to conduct with the whole class to strengthen students’ language use; for instance, a follow-up on the use of causal connectors (e.g., because, consequently, for this reason) to strengthen the connectedness of their discourse.
The students spend three class periods on their presentations, and when the day of the presentations arrives, the groups take turns in showing their sculpture and talking about their findings. As each group finishes, the rest of the students have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions, which prompt the presenters to explain their ideas further, and to provide feedback about what the presenters did well and what they could do to improve. The students’ feedback is guided by the expectations they discussed at the outset of the presentation work. Similarly, because Ms. Cardenas also provided the students with clear expectations about the role of the audience, the presenters provide feedback to the audience as well. Some of the presenters’ feedback includes: “I liked how your clarifying question made me think more about the function; the audience respect our ideas; I noticed that Sophia was listening with her mind and her heart” (listening with both mind and heart is the term Ms. Cardenas uses to help the students understand the importance of listening to understand and listening with respect).
After all groups have presented their work, students reflect on and revise any of their prior work. One student heard the word foragers in one of the presentations and made a connection to a previous observation he had recorded in his sketchbook about the cactus. He found the relevant sticky note in his sketchbook, put a line through his original selection, animals, and replaced it with the more precise word foragers (see figure 1.4).
FIGURE 1.4 Student revision
FIGURE 1.5 Student invitation
The morning after the presentations, the students set up their classroom like a gallery and invite visitors from other classes to view their exhibition, learn about desert cactuses, and provide feedback. Some groups write invitations to give feedback and leave them next to the sculptures. One of the student invitations is pictured in figure 1.5. All the students in Ms. Cardenas’s class are very proud of their work.
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Supporting ELLs’ Development of Content, Analytical Practices, and Language
As we noted earlier, Ms. Cardenas’s classroom exemplifies effective pedagogy that supports language learning situated in content-area learning. Importantly, while there is variation in the levels of English proficiency in her class, no matter what level of English the students have attained, Ms. Cardenas does not prioritize low-level language skills over opportunities for the students to actively communicate about their ideas. Nor does Ms. Cardenas drill her students in structures and vocabulary in isolation, centered on ensuring correctness and fluency in their language use. Instead, her students are involved in language learning that is focused on comprehension and communication in the context of worthwhile activity designed to advance their learning toward meeting both ELA and science standards.
It is evident in the vignette that Ms. Cardenas has also created routines, norms, and structures in her classroom that permit students to be participants in a community