ANA  SAINZ  DE  LA  PENA:  Good  afternoon.  My  name  is  Ana  Sainz  de  la  Pena,  and  I  would  like  to  welcome   you  to  our  webinar  number  three,  Effective  Elementary  Reading  Instruction  and  Assessment  Practices   for  English  Language  Learners  in  Response  to  Instruction  and  Intervention.  Today  with  me  will  be  Paula   Zucker  and  Connie  Cochrane,  both  of  them  ESL  RtII  technical  assistance  facilitators.  We  are  starting  our   webinar,  as  always,  with  the  mission  of  PaTTAN.  And  I  would  like  you  to  take  a  couple  minutes  to  read   the  PaTTAN  mission.     You  have  to  remember  that  we  support  the  efforts  and  initiatives  of  the  Bureau  of  Special   Education.  We  also  have  PDE’s  commitment  to  least  restrictive  environment.  And  while  you’re  reading   this  slide,  I  would  like  to  inform  you  about  some  events  that  are  coming.  Well,  first  of  all,  if  you  have  any   questions  regarding  the  topic  we’re  going  to  develop,  you  can  always  email  them  to  us  or  post  them  on   the  dialog  that  you  have  through  the  webinar.  We  will  answer  them  at  the  end  of  the  webinar,  and  also   post  them  in  a  Q&A  document  on  our  website.   The  number  one  piece  that  I  would  like  you  to  know  is  that  the  extended  activities  section  of  our   webinar  will  be  posted  in  two  weeks.  We  always  add  the  basic  extended  activities  for  our  trainers  that   would  like  to  use  our  webinar  with  a  live  audience.  So  that  we  will  have  in  two  weeks.  And  as  soon  as  it   is  posted,  you  will  be  getting  an  email  to  alert  you  about  that.   There’s  also  a  change  in  the  order  of  presentation  of  our  webinars.  Most  of  you  probably  have  a   list  of  our  ten  webinars  for  this  year.  But  due  to  many  questions  regarding  assessments  and  progress   monitoring  ELLs  in  RtII,  we  will  present  these  two  topics  on  February  9th  and  February  10th  instead  of  the   Culturally  Responsive  Secondary  and  Elementary  Instruction:  Working  with  ELL  Families  and  Multilingual   Communities.  So  we  are  switching  those  two  topics.  We  will  presenting  February  9th  and  10th  the  topic   on  formative  assessment  and  progress  monitoring.  So  please  take  a  note  of  that  if  you  are  interested  in   attending  these  webinars.  The  topic  of  Culturally  Responsive  Secondary  and  Elementary  Instruction:   Working  with  ELL  Families  and  Multicultural  Communities  will  be  presented  March  15th.  So  that  is  the   switch  that  we’re  going  to  have.   Another  news  is  that  we  will  be  presenting  a  workshop,  and  this  is  a  live,  face  to  face  workshop   on  the  topic  of  research-­‐based  literacy  instruction  and  assessment  practices  for  ELLs  in  RtII.  That  will  be   April  10th  in  Harrisburg,  April  11th  in  King  of  Prussia,  and  April  13th  in  Pittsburg.  With  links  I  use  [inaudible]   to  those  links.  So  please  take  a  note,  April  10th  in  Harrisburg,  April  11th  in  King  of  Prussia,  and  April  13th  in   Pittsburg.  You  will  be  finding  more  information  about  these  workshops  on  our  website.  This  is  in  

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response  to  many  of  the  questions  that  we  are  receiving  regarding  literacy  instruction  for  English   language  learners.     So  that  way  we  would  like  to  build  capacity  throughout  the  commonwealth  in  dealing  with   English  language  learners  in  literacy  instruction  as  well  as  ESL  instruction  that  encompasses  the  four   skills  necessary  for  literacy:  listening,  speaking,  reading,  and  writing.   So  with  all  of  our  housekeeping  first,  we  would  like  to  continue  with  our  webinar.  Our  outcomes   for  today  are:  identify  similarities  and  differences  in  the  development  of  literacy  in  native  language  and   in  second  language;  identify  the  role  of  foreign  language  in  the  development  of  English  literacy  for  ELLs.   We  will  be  really  looking  at  these  two  elements.   We  are  going  to  start  with  brain  theory.  We  know  that  our  brain  is  wired  or  hardwired  to  speak.   And  so  listening  and  speaking  skills  are  something  that  all  of  us  have,  you  know,  very  well  developed.   We  have  all  the  elements  necessary  in  our  brain  to  develop  those  skills  naturally.  What  we  do  not  have   really  in  our  brain  and  we  need  to  teach  is  reading  and  writing.  So  we  need  to  understand  that  reading   and  writing  in  first  language  and  in  second  language,  or  any  other  language  you  would  like  to  learn,  must   be  directly  and  systematically  taught.  So  those  are  really  very  important  studies  that  have  been  done  in   regards  to  the  brain  and  reading  and  writing.   We  also  need  to  take  a  look  at  alphabetic  writing  because,  again,  you  know,  that  skill  needs  to   be  taught.  And  the  alphabet  is  not  really  that,  that  old.  You  know,  human  beings  invented  that  in   3,500BC.  Only  10%  -­‐-­‐  now  this  is  what  we  are  going  to  read  a  little  bit  more  about,  because  we  found   information  that  10%  of  all  languages  in  the  world  have  reading  and  writing  systems.  According  to   UNESCO,  they  state  that  because  there  are  many  languages  that  are  still  in  the  process  of  developing   systems  of  writing,  there’s  not  a  percentage  per  se  that  really  is  attached  to,  you  know,  to  this   development.  So  there  are  many  languages  that  are  in  the  process  of  developing  their  alphabetic  writing   system  as  we  speak.   When  we  talk  about  English  and  we  talk  about  language  development  for  our  second  language   learners,  we  also  have  to  understand  that  many  native  speakers  of  English  who  are  teaching  now  do  not   understand  how  hard  it  could  be  to  acquire  a  second  language  and  to  become  literate  in  that  second   language,  specifically  in  English.     We  know  that  the  alphabetic  writing  system  of  English  is  comparatively  difficult  for  students,  for   many  students  who  are  acquiring  English  as  a  second  language.  This  is  because  English  is  a   2    

morphophonemic  language,  and  that  means  that  this  has  to  do  with  sound  and  meaning.  That  English   spelling  system  represents  sounds,  syllables,  and  morphemes.  Thus  it  is  morphophonemic,  that  the   meaningful  parts  of  words  are  often  spelled  consistently  even  though  their  pronunciation  changes  from   one  word  to  the  other.     So  let’s  take  a  look  at  some  examples  to  illustrates  what  morphophonemic  really  means.  Let’s   look  at  these  examples  that  we  have  here.  For  example,  if  we  look  at  the  word  child  and  the  word   children,  sight,  situation,  healed,  health,  well,  think  about  as  a  second  language  learner  that  we  are   always  looking  for  patterns  not  only  in  spelling,  but  also  in  the  sound  system  when  the  language  is  new.   We  tend  to  generalize  very  much.  So  when  I  see  the  word  child  and  if  I  am  a  second  language  learner,   and  then  I  see  the  word  children,  I  sometimes  overgeneralize  the  pronunciation  even  though  the   spelling  is  the  same,  but  the  pronunciation  really  changes.  But  if  I  am  overgeneralizing,  I  will  tend  to  say   children,  right?  Because  that  is  carrying  on  the  sound  related  to  the  letters  or  the  symbols  that  that   sound  -­‐-­‐  those  sounds  are  representing.   So  how  do  you  teach  this  that  you  see  on  the  screen  to  English  language  learners?  How  do  you   present  that  area  of  looking  at  the  spelling,  thinking  that  it’s  going  to  sound  one  way,  but  it  sounds  in  a   different  manner?  Because  that  is  something  that  needs  to  be  taught.     Okay,  let’s  take  a  look  at  languages  that  are  probably  represented  among  many  of  your  ELLs.   Languages  such  as  Spanish,  Italian,  Portuguese,  French,  Serbo-­‐Croatian,  and  Finnish  have  a  transparent   alphabetic  orthography.  What  that  means  is  that  there’s  usually  a  sound-­‐symbol  correspondence.   There’s  one  letter  that  represents  one  sound,  and  that’s  mostly  what,  in  order  to  become  literate  in   these  languages,  you  need  to  internalize.     So  if  that  is  the  case,  as  ESL  teachers  and  literacy  teachers,  what  are  the  implications  when  ELLs   come  literate  in  these  languages?  What  do  you  think  they  will  do  when  they  come  to  your  classroom  in   third,  fourth,  fifth  grade  and  they  are  fully  literate  in  Spanish  or  Portuguese?  What  are  these   implications  in  overgeneralizing?  Who  needs  to  be  taught  these  skills?  Who  needs  to  be  looking  at  the   differences  and  what  are  they  bringing  to  the  table  to  teach  them  what  they  don’t  know?   Let’s  look  at  these  examples.  This  is  in  Spanish.  Casa,  causa,  baila,  ala,  pelea.  Letter  A  has  the   same  sound  in  all  of  these  words  regardless  of  its  position  in  the  word,  so  there’s  no  changes  in  relation   to  whether  the  vowel  is  next  to  another  vowel,  or  if  it’s  at  the  beginning  or  in  between  the  consonants,   or  at  the  end  of  a  word,  whether  it’s  accented  or  not  accented.  So  in  Spanish,  vowels  are  represented  by   3    

five  letters  and  vowel  sounds  are  represented  by  the  same  five  letters.  So  there  is  no  difference  in  the   position  of  where  the  vowel  is.     You  know,  if  we  compare  to  English,  in  English  there  are  14  different  vowel  sounds  represented   by  five  vowels  that  are  the  five  letters  that  we  know.  There’s  even  more,  you  know,  if  we  look  at  other   authors  that  have  -­‐-­‐  other  linguistic  authors  that  look  at  the  sounds  in  English.  So  if  we  take  a  look  at   Spanish  with  this  example,  what  are  the  implications  to  learn  decoding  skills  for  ELLs?  Who  is  looking  at,   okay,  so  these  sounds  do  not  exist  in  this  language.  How  am  I  going  to  teach  decoding  skills  when  the   student  cannot  even  identify  sounds,  you  know,  and  cannot  even  pair  them  with  the  letters  that  they   see?  Okay,  so  think  about  that  when  you  talk  about  literacy  development  with  English  language   learners.   The  chart  that  you  see  here  is  called  the  four-­‐part  processing  system,  and  it’s  very  much  studied   and  presented  during  letters  training.  For  many  of  the  literacy  teachers  in  many  school  districts   throughout  Pennsylvania,  letters  has  been  presented  in  different  modules.  It’s  a  whole  foundation.  It  is   not  a  system  to  teach  reading.  It  is  foundation,  skills,  and  knowledge  to  be  able  to  make  the  right   decisions  when  you  teach  reading  to  native  speakers  of  English.   So  if  we  are  going  to  look  at  how  does  the  brain  really  react  in  front  of  text,  okay?  So  in  brain   research  as  well  as  in,  you  know,  many  studies,  what  they  have  done  is  they  have  looked  at  the  brain   and  they  have  had  individuals  reading  and  take  scans  of  their  brains  as  they  are  reading.  And  they  have   noticed  that  there  are  certain  areas  that  light  up  as  the  reader  is  decoding  and  comprehending  what  is   text.  So  by  doing  that,  they  have  divided  up  and  created  these  kind  of  graphic  representations  of  what   happens  in  the  brain.   So  first  of  all  we  have  the  phonological  processor.  And  you  see  there  that  that  is  where  the   sound  system  is.  This  is  when  we  start  making  meaning  out  of  the  sounds  that  we  hear.  So  the   phonological  processor  is  very  important  when  you’re  teaching  ELLs  reading  because  there  will  be  some   sounds  that  do  not  exist  in  the  native  language  of  that  child.  So  who  is  supposed  to  be  working  with  that   area?  Who  is  going  to  be  looking  at  what  sounds  are  sounds  that  cannot  be  produced,  and  as  a   consequence  cannot  be  paired  to  a  letter  or  groups  of  letters  to  make  meaning  in  a  word  and  in  text?   If  we  look  at  this  phonemic  part  of  the  brain  and  we  also  have  other  components  that  we  will  be   looking  at  as  we  move  through  all  of  these  processors,  we’re  going  to  see  that,  as  you  see  all  of  these   arrows  coming  up,  that  all  of  these  systems  are  interdependent  of  one  another,  that  nothing  works  in   4    

isolation.  So  think  about  that  when  you’re  teaching  reading  to  all  students,  but  specifically  to  English   language  learners.     So  we  will  go  into  the  next  slide.  As  we  move  along,  more  content  in  each  of  these  parts  of  the   four-­‐part  processing  system  come  up.  So  vocabulary  fluency  just  came  up  and  also  concept  and   information,  sentence  context,  and  text  fracture.  So  what  happens  specifically  in  the  phonological   processor  when  we  talk  about  English  language  learners?  We  know  that  students  who  come  to   kindergarten  already  have  had  oral  English  language  experiences  since  birth.  So  they  have  been  listening   to  English,  understanding  the  language,  and  now  they  are  going  to  learn  how  to  pair  what  they  say  with   symbols  that  represent  those  sounds,  and  then  symbols  that  together  represent  words  that  have   meaning  in  context.   As  opposed  to  ELLs,  who  come  with  the  same  development,  but  in  a  different  language.  So  what   do  they  need  to  do?  They  need  to  have  this  oral  communication  of  core  ideas  because  we  also  need  to   start  developing,  comprehending  the  language.  Not  just  sounds  because  sounds  are  -­‐-­‐  if  they  are  taught   in  isolation,  they  will  never  be  really  paired  up  with  meaning.  And  sometimes  what  we  see  is  that  many   ELLs,  when  they  start  in  kindergarten,  they  start  getting  the  patterns  of  the  sound  system  and  the   phonics  and  they  can  decode,  but  then  as  they  reach  third  grade,  they  cannot  comprehend  because  they   don’t  have  that  vocabulary.  So  it  has  to  be  all,  you  know,  together,  taught  together.  We  have  to  pay   attention  to  intonation  patterns  also.  Not  just  the  sound  system,  but  how  do  we  form  orally  sentences,   and  how  do  we  talk  about  when  we  are  giving  statements?   The  other  parts  of  the  four-­‐part  processing  system  that  we  are  going  to  take  a  look  will  be,  okay,   we  know  that  we  have  the  orthographic  processor.  The  orthographic  processor  really  deals  with,  okay,   now  I  know  that  there  are  sounds  that  have  meaning,  and  now  how  do  I  pair  them  up  with  the  graphic   representation  of  the  sound?  And  that  is  important  why?  Because  that’s  when  we  teach  phonics.  In  the   early  years,  we  emphasize,  specifically  kindergarten,  first,  and  second  grade,  our  emphasis  is  teaching   the  connections  between  the  phonological  processor  and  the  orthographic  processor.   So  now  we  go  into,  so  what  do  we  do  when  we  have  English  language  learners?  How  is  that   phonics  lesson  going  to  be  enriching  for  English  language  learners?  And  who  is  teaching  at  this  point   that  relationship  between  sound  and  letters,  or  groups  of  letters?  How  one  sound  can  be  represented   by  one  letter  or  by  many  letters,  or  by  a  combination  of  letters.  So  think  about  who  is  teaching  that  skill   because,  again,  we  have  to  think  that  in  reading  instruction,  and  reading  also  happens  as  part  of  your   ESL  instruction.     5    

So  native  speakers  have  that  oral  language  to  match  the  letters,  have  more  opportunities  to   make  those  connections  because  they  already  have  that  oral  background.  They  are  familiar  with  the   letters  of  the  alphabet  because  they  see  them  constantly  in  signs,  you  know,  at  home,  through  books,   through  -­‐-­‐  you  know,  they  are  immersed  in  these  letters  that  are  representing  the  sounds  that  they  are   going  to  learn.     As  opposed  to  English  language  learners  that  are  acquiring  this  new  language,  they  are  trying  to   make,  you  know,  sense  of  the  words  or  the  context  of  the  language.  And  they  need  to  function  many   times  in  two  languages,  you  know,  because  even  when  they  start  school,  they  are  still  functioning  in  two   languages.  They  are  hearing  both  languages  at  the  same  time  in  the  classroom,  or  one  at  home  and  one   in  school.  They  have  to  make  connections  with  what  they  say  in  English  and  some  of  those  letters   representation.  And  sometimes  if  they  have  seen  written  language  in  their  language  languages,  it  might   be  very  confusing  and  different.  So  somebody  needs  to  be  making  those  distinctions  and  presenting   English  from  the  perspective  of  developing  some  skills  in  letter  representation  and  also  in  listening  to   the  language  and  pairing  up  with  that  orthographic  processor.   So  we  have  the  phonological  processor,  and  when  we  teach  phonics,  we  are  really  pairing  up  the   phonological  processor  and  the  orthographic  processor.  But  that  only  will  not  be  the  only  thing  that  you   need  to  think  about  when  we  talk  about  reading.  Reading  is  not  just  decoding.  Reading  is  making   meaning  and  context,  in  a  context.  You  know,  connecting  with  whatever  is  said.  So  that  meaning   processor  is  very  important  for  English  language  learners  because  that  deals  with  vocabulary.     And  you  always  have  to  present  whatever  you  are  going  to  talk  about,  whatever  topic  you’re   going  to  talk  about,  start  with  that  whole  picture,  start  with  the  words,  start  with  what  is  happening  in   the  picture,  what  is  happening  in  the  story.  Move  then  into  the  area  of  the  phonological  processor  and   the  orthographic  processor.  Because  those  are  the  areas  that  you  need  to  start  looking  at  in  order  to   develop  what  you  hear  a  lot  in  your  testing  in  literacy,  and  that  is  reading  fluency.  If  we  are  going  to   think  about  fluency,  we  have  to  think  about  all  of  these  different  processors,  not  just  being  able  to  orally   decode  words  and  then,  you  know,  do  it  at  a  faster  rate.  Because  then  when  you  ask  the  question  about   comprehension,  they  could  decode  well  many  times,  but  they  cannot  comprehend  because  there  is   where  the  vocabulary,  the  meaning  processor,  is  not  connecting  well.   So  how  do  we  do  that  with  ELLs?  Who  is  teaching  that  vocabulary?  Who  is  supposed  to  be   looking  at  and  measuring  as  they  go  how  these  skills  are  being  developed,  how  these  skills  are  really,   you  know,  harmoniously  developed  to  have  strong  readers?  And  again,  in  this  slide  we  compare  that.   6    

Remember  that  your  native  speakers  have  a  lot  of  that  familiar,  you  know,  sound  system,  are  familiar   with  nursery  rhymes,  stories.  A  lot  of  things  that  help  them  develop  that  vocabulary,  you  know,  in  a  very   systematic  way.     Now  what  do  you  need  to  do  with  ELLs?  What  do  you  need  to  do  to  develop  that  vocabulary,  to   close  those  gaps?  Don’t  forget  that  we  have  to  consider  the  fact  of  oral  language  development,  oral   listening  and  speaking  tasks  to  look  at  vocabulary.  And  we  will  continue  with  that  topic  about  vocabulary   because  I  think  that  we  cannot  say  more  about  the  development  of  [inaudible]  strong  readers.  Because   many  of  our  readers,  ELLs  who  are  in  third  grade  and  higher,  if  you  look  at  their  scores  in  PSSA  or  scores   in  any  other  assessment  that  looks  at  reading  skills,  it’s  in  the  comprehension  area  that  many  times  you   see  that  there  are  tremendous  gaps  in  understanding  what  they  are  reading.  That’s  important  to  think   about  that  when  we  look  at  their  four-­‐part  processing  system  and  we  take  a  look  at  the  meaning   processor.   So  from  the  meaning  processor,  we  need  to  move  into  the  area  of  the  context  processor.  That’s   where  we  put  it  all  together  and  start  looking  at,  so  what  is  this  text  trying  to  tell  me?  Where  am  I  really   -­‐-­‐  or  how  am  I  putting  these  words  together  to  make  sense  about  a  story  or  tell  me  a  fact  or  a  concept?   So  that  is  understanding  the  concepts  and  the  information.  Okay,  so  who  is  looking  at  that  context   processor  and  the  meaning  processor  to  really  develop  strong  reading  skills  with  English  language   learners?  How  are  we  looking  at  the  assessments  that  give  us  information  so  we  can  take  a  look  at  what   am  I  doing  in  my  ESL  instruction  to  develop  that?  And  what  is  the  reading  teacher  doing  to  look  at  the   gaps  that  there  are  so  they’re  both  closing  those  gaps?  And  explicitly  teaching  reading  from  the  concept   of  the  four  processors,  not  just  decoding  skills  in  isolation.  Because  that  is  what  happens  many  times.   We  need  explicit  teaching  of  sentence  and  text  structure.  That  is  very  necessary  for  ELLs.     So  in  summary,  what  we  have  here  is  the  four-­‐part  processing  system  that  needs  to  be   addressed  in  all  instruction  for  English  language  learners  at  the  elementary  school  level.  This  is  not   something  that  just  the  reading  teacher  is  going  to  address  or  the  ESL  teacher  needs  to  know,  but  it’s   also  -­‐-­‐  you  know,  when  I  am  teaching  other  content  areas,  where  is  that  vocabulary?  Who’s  teaching   that  vocabulary  necessary  to  understand  those  concepts?  And  how  that  vocabulary  is  going  to  be,  you   know,  part  of,  okay,  can  they  read  that  word?  Can  they  match  it  with  the  sound  and  the  letters  that   represent  that  sound?  Can  they  have  meaning  or  make  meaning  out  of  that?   And  that,  I  think  it  is,  you  know,  crucial  for  us  teachers  to  understand  that  reading  skills  are  not  -­‐ -­‐  you  know,  cannot  be  taught  in  isolation.  I  cannot  just  do  all  day  phonological  processor,  orthographic   7    

processor  together,  phonics,  and  expect  students  to,  just  because  there  are  books  around  or  because   we  talk  about  them,  they  will  come  up  with  all  of  the  other  skills,  the  meaning,  developing  strong   vocabulary,  and  in  the  concept  formation  and  sentence  structure.  We  need  to  teach  that.  We  need  to   have  collaboration  between  the  ESL  teacher  and  the  literacy  teacher  to  be  able  to  achieve  what  we  want   to  achieve,  which  is  the  development  of  strong  reading  skills.  With  that  said,  I  am  going  to  have  Paula   Zucker  now  coming  and  explaining  to  you  the  rest  of  the  webinar.   PAULA  ZUCKER:  Looking  at  the  slide,  we  can  see  that  listening  is  a  compound  concept  in  the  Chinese   language.  We  can  see  by  looking  here  that  this  Chinese  character  combines  characters  for  the  ear,  the   eyes,  the  character  for  you,  and  undivided  attention  as  well  as  heart.  We  have  to  understand  that  we’re   teaching  the  whole  child.  We  must  understand  the  complexity  involved  within  the  concept  of  literacy,   combining  the  four  concepts:  listening,  speaking,  reading,  and  writing.    

Oral  language  is  the  heart  of  literacy  instruction.  We  must  understand  the  who:  who  is  the  

classroom  and  ESL  teachers.  All  are  involved  here,  not  just  the  ESL  teachers,  but  the  classroom  teachers   as  well,  in  collaboration.  When  does  this  instruction  occur?  It  occurs  all  day,  every  day.  How  does  this   occur?  We  must  focus  on  activities  that  develops  listening  and  conversational  skills  not  in  isolation,  but   in  concert.  We  must  be  careful  to  create  opportunities  for  purposeful  talk.  We  must,  as  teachers,  model   the  use  of  rich  and  interesting  language,  language  that  is  important  to  our  students.    

A  language-­‐centered  classroom.  Within  this  classroom,  the  teachers  must  use  new  and  unusual  

words.  They  must  be  sure  to  restate  for  clarity.  They  must  invite  students  to  say  things  again  to  clarify   what  they  are  trying  to  express.  When  we  listen  to  our  students  restate  and  clarify,  we  can  understand   what  their  understandings  are.  We  can  ask  open-­‐ended  questions.  We  must  encourage  language  play   and  we  must  understand  the  importance  of  staying  silent  at  times  to  allow  for  processing  and   responding.    

Also,  in  a  language-­‐centered  classroom,  the  teachers  must  create  a  climate  that  encourages  and  

supports  oral  language  in  the  classroom.  We  mustn’t  forget  the  importance  of  oral  language  in  every   classroom.  Listen  actively  to  what  your  students  are  saying.  Give  students  ample  opportunities  to  listen   attentively.  Encourage  our  children  in  extended  conversations.  Encourage  them  to  tell  and  retell  stories   and  events.  Discuss  a  huge,  broad  range  of  topics  and  word  meanings.     Children  who  are  constantly  exposed  to  a  lively  oral  language  environment  in  which  they   interact  frequently  with  adults  develop  more  capacity  and  confidence  with  oral  language  than  children   8    

who  lack  these  opportunities  when  you  use  new  and  unusual  words,  discuss  their  meanings,  and   encourage  children  to  use  and  remember  these  words.  Encourage  language  play  in  a  variety  of  settings,   including  transition  times.  Ensure  that  small  group  instruction  occurs  in  order  to  give  to  your  children   the  opportunity  to  practice  newly  acquired  language  skills  with  your  guidance.  You  can  check   understanding  by  listening  in  on  cooperative  group  conversations.  You  can  structure  their  discussions  as   well.  Effective  whole  group  instruction  needs  to  include  focused  and  purposeful  conversations  that  hold   the  attention  of  your  students.     In  a  language-­‐centered  classroom,  the  children  themselves  can  listen  and  attend  to  models  of   language;  explore  and  experiment  with  language;  name,  classify,  describe  objects  in  the  classroom;  ask   and  answer  who,  what,  where,  when,  why,  and  how  questions;  hear  good  models  of  language  used  and   respond  to  it  appropriately;  and  to  also  discuss  topics  of  interest  to  them.   These  are  resources  that  can  be  used  to  develop  these  concepts.  You  can  find  the  model   performance  indicators,  MPIs,  in  the  listening  and  speaking  domains  at  the  PDE  SAS  site.  You  can  use  -­‐-­‐   you  can  find  [inaudible]  descriptors  at  the  WETA  website  and  access  for  ELLs  to  these  items  on  the   WETA  webpage.  So  these  are  resources  for  English  language  proficiency  standards.   It  is  important  and  imperative  that  we  value  the  contributions  of  all  children.  Feelings  of  worth   can  flourish  only  in  an  atmosphere  where  individual  differences  are  appreciated,  where  mistakes  are   tolerated,  where  communication  is  open  and  rules  are  flexible,  the  kind  of  atmosphere  that  is  found  in  a   nurturing  family.  The  Hart  and  Risley  study  also  showed  that  -­‐-­‐  excuse  me.  Make  sure  that   differentiation  is  made  between  a  classroom  disruption  and  meaningful,  collaborative  conversation   between  students.  And  now  Connie  Cochrane   CONNIE  COCHRANE:  Thank  you,  Paula.  We’ve  already  said  that  reading  is  a  complex  skill  that  involves  at   least  four  processors  in  the  brain  that  regulate  meaning.  We’ve  also  said  that  the  heart  of  literacy  is  oral   [inaudible]  and  that  all  students  need  to  be  valued  for  their  contributions.    

An  ESL  program  is  part  of  a  total  school  day.  And  in  the  environment  and  context  in  which  an  

ESL  program  exists,  we  are  aware  that  reading  programs  are  being  taught  to  native  speakers  of  English.   The  five  components  of  reading  in  the  first  language,  as  listed  here,  are  included  in  tier  one  instruction   at  least  from  kindergarten  to  grade  three.  How  are  these  five  components  of  reading  instruction   impacting  for  English  language  learners?  

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Let’s  begin  with  phonological  awareness,  or  PA.  PA  is  the  understanding  that  language  can  be  

divided  into  smaller  pieces,  and  includes  practice  with  oral  manipulation  of  sounds  and  word  parts.   Because  it’s  not  tied  to  phonological  awareness  instruction,  this  can  be  done,  as  we  say,  with  the  lights   off.  But  English  language  learners  need  visual  objects,  regalia.  They  need  a  way  to  connect  meaning  to   sound.  They  use  rhymes;  they  use  chants;  they  use  tones.  All  of  these  are  ways  to  develop  phonological   awareness  for  second  language  learners.    

Again,  with  phonics  decoding  and  word  study,  ELLs  need  to  use  words  that  are  familiar  and  they  

need  to  use  them  in  a  meaningful  context.  So  choral  repetitions,  paying  attention  to  pronunciation,   providing  multiple  opportunities  to  practice  orally  are,  in  fact,  what  ELLs  will  need.  In  a  fluency  program,   multiple  opportunities  are  needed  to  practice  oral  reading.  Teachers  model,  model,  and  model.  Students   model,  model,  and  model  for  each  other.  And  readers  practice,  practice,  and  practice.    

In  terms  of  vocabulary  development,  which  Ana  has  already  addressed,  the  words  that  are  to  be  

read  should  be  developed  orally  first.  And  words  should  be  amplified,  not  simplified.  Use  repetition  and   connections.  Use  regalia  and  pictures  to  make  meaning.  But  teach  words  in  context  and  in  multiple   contexts,  not  in  isolation.  Provide  experiences  to  appropriate  new  vocabulary.     And  finally,  with  the  comprehension  piece  of  a  reading  instruction  program,  ELLs  need  to  build   background  knowledge.  They  need  the  opportunity  for  chunking  and  mapping  information.  And   culturally  relevant  texts.  They  make  connections,  they  check  frequently  for  understanding.  Students   paraphrase  and  summarize.  Teachers  use  rapid  organizers.     So  we’ve  looked  at  the  involvement  of  the  five  components  of  reading  instruction.  But  in  fact,   what  we  know  is  reading  is  a  social  activity.  Robust,  evidence-­‐based  instruction  that  is  culturally   responsive  considers  reading  as  not  only  a  skills-­‐based  approach,  but  also  a  social  activity.  If  social   participation  structure  is  familiar  to  students,  then  performing  any  new  academic  content  task  is  less   alienating  to  them.   So,  evidence-­‐based  literacy  curriculum  and  instruction  with  tier  one  says  that  reading  is  not  only   a  skills-­‐based,  but  a  social  activity.  What  do  we  mean  by  a  social  activity?  Small  group  instruction,   application  of  phonics  within  authentic  literacy  activities,  questioning  and  participation  promoting   higher  level  thinking,  and  promoting  home  involvement.  When  the  academic  content  is  familiar,   students  will  be  willing  to  try  out  new  ways  of  interacting  using  language.  So  think  about  how  literacy  as  

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a  social  activity  has  the  potential  to  foster  positive  social  interactions  among  students,  and  between   students  and  teachers.   Taylor,  Pilsen,  Clark,  and  Walpole  in  2000  studied  schools  across  the  United  States  when  many   students  were  considered  from  low-­‐income  households.  They  noted  several  characteristics  of  schools   where  students  from  culturally  and  linguistically  diverse  backgrounds  showed  excellent  reading   outcomes  because  of  small  group  instruction,  phonetics  and  authentic  literacy  activities,  and   participation  structures  that  promoted  higher  order  thinking.  This  study  showed  the  effectiveness  of   systematic  approaches  that  incorporate  both  skills-­‐based  and  social  inquiry-­‐based,  authentic  approaches   for  thinking  about  and  engaging  in  literacy.   Culturally  responsive  literacy.  What  do  we  mean  by  culturally  responsive  as  a  part  of  tier  one   instruction?  Students’  prior  knowledge  is  activated.  There  is  explicit  instruction  in  background   information,  a  supportive  environment,  structured  practice.  Students  build  content  understanding  over   time.  They  strengthen  vocabulary  with  many  oral  practices  and  opportunities  around  the  same  theme.   Teachers  allow  for  strong  connections  to  be  made  across  the  curriculum.     So  what  would  be  the  norms  for  verbal  communication  and  a  noise  level  in  the  classroom  where   this  emphasis  exists?  There’s  lots  of  chatter,  lots  of  movement,  various  ways  of  grouping  students  in   order  to  contribute  to  participation.  How  might  the  behavior  expectations  of  this  type  of  classroom,   instead  of  classrooms  where  independent  quiet  work  happens,  what  would  be  the  interpretation  of   student  behavior  in  this  type  of  class?  Can  you  think  of  a  situation  in  which  a  specific  -­‐-­‐  can  you  think  of   a  situation  that  you  are  familiar  with  in  which  students  produce  a  response  that  is  not  quite  what  the   teacher  was  looking  for,  but  the  teacher  responds  positively  anyway?  These  are  the  situations  that   create  culturally  responsive  classrooms.   Results-­‐producing  teachers  in  tier  use  progress  monitoring  tools  that  are  also  culturally   responsive.  There  are  many  decisions  that  educators  must  make  in  tier  one  based  on  the  information   that  they  have  or  that  they’re  able  to  gather  that  have  potential  to  really  improve  learning  for  all   students.  These  decisions  are  about  learning  that  is  supported  in  the  classroom.     For  example,  when  a  teacher  uses  assessment  data  to  determine  that  a  student  or  students   appear  to  be  struggling  in  literacy-­‐related  activities,  the  teacher  should  ask,  how  is  literacy  presented  in   ways  that  resonate  with  this  child’s  previous  and  home  experiences?  In  what  ways  have  I  listened  to  the   student  tell  me  about  their  learning?  And  to  what  extent  have  I  provided  that  student  with   11    

opportunities  for  practice  and  for  feedback?  And  if  this  is  what  the  student  needs,  what  does  it  mean   about  how  I  should  have  to  organize  reading?  Do  I  need  to  change  the  organizational  structure  of  my   classroom?  Do  I  need  to  add  more  verbal  sound  in  general  or  other  kinds  of  experiences  throughout  the   day  to  build  sound-­‐symbol  relationships?  Do  I  need  to  change  the  materials  that  students  read  to  make   them  more  meaningful?     Are  the  standards  for  reading  fluency  the  same  for  ELLs  as  they  are  for  non-­‐ELLs  at  this  grade   level?  Related  to  that  last  decision,  language  learners  in  many  schools  have  the  same  benchmarks  set  for   ELLs  and  non-­‐ELLs  on  assessments  such  as  DIBELS  oral  reading  fluency.  This  is  commonly  -­‐-­‐  a  commonly   used  progress  monitoring  tool.  Scores  below  a  benchmark  are  often  the  sole  criteria  for  moving  students   to  a  move  intensive  tier  within  the  RtII  model.  Based  on  what  you  know  now  and  what  you  have   learned,  consider  whether  or  not  you  think  this  is  appropriate.  Now  Ana  will  address  effective   instruction.   ANA  SAINZ  DE  LA  PENA:  Thank  you,  Connie.  Yes,  as  we  move  along,  we  have  taken  you  from  looking  at   what  are  the  challenges  as  well  as  the  opportunities  that  we  have  to  help  our  students  achieve  the  goals   and  the  standards  that  we  have  in  reading.  What  we’re  going  to  do  now  is  almost  bring  you  to  what  are   [inaudible]  teachers  of  effective  instruction.     We  know  in  research  that  definitely  having  clear  instructional  objectives  is  the  very  first  step.   But  even  before  formulating  those  objectives,  I  have  to  know  who  are  my  students.  And  we  have  been   working  with  that  concept  before  from  our  first  webinar,  when  we  talk  about  the  ecologies  of  English   language  learners.  It  is  very  important  to  know  the  levels  of  English  language  proficiency  as  well  as  what   are  some  of  the  features  that  they  bring  to  school,  what  are  some  of  the  background  knowledges  that  I   can  use  to  design  objectives  in  my  classroom  that  are  going  to  be  a  reflection  of  where  I  am  taking  all  of   my  students,  including  my  English  language  learners.    

Having  high  expectations  is  not  only  thinking  that  they  can  do  this,  but  it’s  also  providing  the  

supports  that  they  need  to  reach  those  objectives.  So  high  expectations,  but  high  supports.  That’s  what   we  are  promoting  through  these  webinars.  Plan  explicit  instruction  with  modeling  included  in  that   instruction.  Many  times  we  rely  so  much  on  verbal  directions  without  any  kind  of  pictorial  or  even   written  words  so  ELLs  that  didn’t  hear  or  didn’t  understand  your  directions  can  actually  refer  to  that   chart,  refer  to  that  picture  in  order  to  be  able  to  comply.  

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Create  systematic  lessons  with  scaffolding.  Scaffolding  is  not  only  necessary  for  all  students  who  

are  in  your  classroom  because  they  all  need,  at  some  point,  scaffolding  to  understand  what  you’re   teaching.  But  it  is  crucial  for  ELLs  to  be  given  the  necessary  supports  so  they  will  be  able  to  access  what,   you  know,  concept  that  you  are  teaching.  If  you  are  the  ESL  teacher,  you  have  multiple  levels  in  your   classroom,  you  need  to  be  thinking  and  planning  about  what  kinds  of  scaffolding  are  necessary  for   somebody  that  is  in  level  three  as  opposed  to  a  level  one.    

Provide  multiple  opportunities  to  practice.  We  know  that  practice  is  part  of  what  we  teach,  but  

sometimes  we  do  not  provide  that  practice  in  all-­‐around  language  development  that  is  necessary  for   strong  literacy  skills.  Feedback  is  very  important.  We  read  about  it  in  Marzano.  We  have  other   researchers  and  practitioners  that  tell  us  how  important  it  is  that  we  know  as  teachers  how  to  provide   feedback  to  our  students.  So  what  do  we  want  them  to  do?  We  have  to  be  very  explicit  and  provide  it  in   a  timely  manner,  not  wait  until  the  end  of  the  week  to  let  them  know  what  they  couldn’t  do  on  Tuesday.   We  have  to  be  able  to  plan  for  immediate  feedback  so  we  can  correct  or  we  can  actually  get  them  to  do   what  they  are  supposed  to  be  doing.    

Pacing  of  our  lessons,  that’s  also  a  very  important  feature  of  effective  instruction.  We  hear  a  lot  

about  what  is  differentiated  instruction,  how  do  we  do  it?  But  one  piece  of  differentiated  instruction   that  we  have  to  remember  is  that  you  have  to  think  about  it  as  a  planning  process.  You  have  to  plan  to   differentiate  instruction.  You  have  to  plan  based  on  the  students  that  are  sitting  in  your  classroom.     There’s  not  such  a  thing  as  a  packaged  or  pre-­‐packaged  program  that  is  going  to  differentiate   instruction  for  all  the  students  that  they  have  never  seen  before.  Those  are  the  students  that  are  in  your   classroom.  So  trying  to  buy  or  look  for  that  magic  program  that  is  going  to  differentiate  for  all  the   children  that  we  have  does  not  exist.  Okay,  maybe  we  all  can  try  to  find  one  and  we  will  become  really   rich  if  we  find  the  way  to  do  it.  But  actually,  planning  for  differentiating  is  crucial  for  you  to  look  at  who   you  have  in  your  classroom,  find  out  where  they  are,  look  at  what  you  can  do  with  the  materials  that   you  have,  and  try  to  plan  for  those  interventions  that  have  to  be  embedded  in  your  instruction.    

Planning  is  important.  Being  prepared  is  important.  And  it  is  also  very  important  to  be  able  to  

reflect,  as  Connie  explained  before,  to  reflect  on  what  is  going  on  in  our  classroom  during  instruction   that  is  not  effective  with  our  children.  That  needs  to  be  the  conversation  that  we  need  to  have  when  we   talk  about  our  craft,  our  teaching,  our  instruction.  

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We  have  had  several  questions  regarding  progress  monitoring  for  English  language  learners.  And  

I  know  that  sometimes  the  question  is,  where  can  I  find,  you  know,  a  way  to  do  it?  Or  where  can  I  find   that  intervention  for  ELLs?  There’s  not  a  single  company  or  a  publisher  that  is  creating  that  specific   intervention  that  is  going  to  work  with  ELLs.  Actually,  it  is  part  of  instruction  and  it’s  part  of  our  planning   and  differentiated  instruction,  and  planning  with  all  of  our  colleagues  that  work  with  English  language   learners  in  their  content  classrooms.     That  is  part  of  progress  monitoring.  Progress  monitoring  does  not  happen  in  isolation,  and  it   doesn’t  happen  when  you  find  out  that  the  students  cannot  do  something.  That  needs  to  be  ahead  of   time.  Progress  monitoring  is  having  a  system  in  place  to  know  how  your  students  are  moving  along,  that   continue  with  acquiring  a  skill.  And  if  they  are  not,  that  you  already  have  how  you’re  going  to  close  that   particular  gap.  So  it  is  planning  for  not  only  the  kinds  of  assessment  that  you’re  going  to  -­‐-­‐  or  the  data  or   the  evidence  that  you’re  going  to  collect.  So  progress  monitoring  is  not  just  that  one  test  that  you’re   going  to  look  at.  Progress  monitoring  needs  to  be  the  formative  assessment  that  you  have  to  inform   your  instruction  or  inform  how  your  students  are  moving  along  so  you  can  create  those  interventions  in   tier  one  before  you  need  to  really  look  at,  you  know,  tier  two.     So  progress  monitoring  is  a  very  important  topic  for  all  of  us.  In  one  hour,  we  know  we  couldn’t   address  all  of  it,  so  that  is  why  in  February  we  are  going  to  be  targeting  progress  monitoring  for  English   language  learners,  as  well  as  formative  assessment  and  how  to  make  it  part  of  your  plan.  So  we  are  just   giving  you  this  information  ahead  of  time  because  we  are  going  to  be  looking  at  progress  monitoring   from  these  perspectives.     Okay,  and  we  also  are  going  to  look  at  it  from  the  perspective  of  the  benefit  that  it  brings  to  be   systematic  about  charting  the  progress  of  our  students  and  looking  at  their  similarities  and  differences   and  their  gaps  to  be  able  to  close  them.  And  also  at  their  success  stories  because  we  also  need  to  know   that  students,  give  the  right  -­‐-­‐  or  given  targeted  instruction,  will  experience  success.  So  that  is  also  part   of  progress  monitoring,  is  not  to  know  only  how  they  are  not  learning,  but  also  how  they  are  learning   effectively  so  we  can  replicate  that  instruction.  So  this  is  the  information  that  we’re  going  to  use  to   develop  in-­‐depth  progress  monitoring  [inaudible]  as  well  as  interventions  using  also  the  different  tools   that  we  have  to  do  formative  assessment.   In  closing  for  our  webinar,  we  are  aligning  our  language  throughout  all  of  our  webinars  with  the   Danielson  model  of  looking  at  improving  student  achievement.  We  are  -­‐-­‐  as  we  said  before,  planning   and  preparation  is  very  important  for  effective  instruction.  We  need  to  be  able  to  not  only  select  the   14    

goals  and  the  objectives  that  are  going  to  be  a  reflection  of  how  our  instruction  will  be  conducted,  but   also  looking  at  what  is  necessary  to  teach  so  we  can  evaluate  what  we  are  teaching.     Then  classroom  environment,  so  important  because  that  is  where  the  culturally  responsive  part   comes.  That  is  knowing  your  student  and  connecting  with  your  student  so  your  management  of  your   classroom  environment  is  a  reflection  of  respect,  of  inclusion,  and  also  of  equity  for  our  students  and   equal  access  to  that  education  that  they  are  entitled  to  have.  Your  instruction  needs  to  include  research-­‐ based  strategies,  but  also  needs  to  be  looking  at  student  engagement.  How  many  activities  do  you  have   and  how  are  you  promoting  that  engagement  through  listening,  speaking,  reading,  and  writing   throughout  content  areas?   And  lastly,  but  not  less  important,  your  professional  responsibilities.  And  that  is  -­‐-­‐  that  includes   how  you’re  managing  your  student  data.  How  are  you  using  really  all  of  that  information  that  we  have   through  assessments  and  through  evidence  that  we  collect  in  order  to  not  only  inform  your  instruction,   but  communicating  with  families,  with  parents  so  they  are  our  real  partners  in  this  process  of  teaching   and  learning.  So  keep  in  mind  these  features  of  what  it  is  that  we  need  to  do  to  improve  student   achievement.   We  also  have  a  page  for  resources.  I  would  invite  you  to  really  go  through  these  webpages,  look   at  these  books  that  we  have  used  to  come  up  with  the  information  that  you  have  received.  It  is   important  that  we  as  practitioners  also  research  here  and  look  at  the  research-­‐based  strategies,   instruction,  and  assessment.  So  we  need  to  really  become  researchers.  And  in  the  area  of  ELLs  and  RtII   models,  there  is  a  lot  of  new  research  that  is  coming  our  way,  which  is  going  to  be  very  helpful  for  all  of   us  in  this  process  of  supporting  our  English  language  learners.     With  that  said,  I  would  like  you  also  to  visit  and  copy  our  handout,  and  that  is  our   implementation  checklist.  The  idea  of  having  a  checklist  for  you  to  have,  like  a  visual  representation  of   all  the  information  that  we  have  provided,  is  really  to  take  you  from,  you  know,  being  the  student  or  the   listener  or  the  person  listening  to  good  information  into  the  practitioner.  So  that  means  that  you  go   back  to  your  classroom  and  take  a  look  at  that  implementation  checklist  and  start  implementing  the   information  and  the  strategies  and  the  elements  that  are  necessary  to  really  look  at  what  is  best  for  our   students,  in  this  case  for  English  language  learners.  This  is  also  a  strategy  that  can  be  replicated  for  your   students.  You  know,  it  is  important  that  after  you  teach,  you  provide  with  an  instrument  in  which  they   are  going  to  either  reflect  or  being  able  to,  you  know,  practice  or  acquire  -­‐-­‐  you  know,  somehow  that   knowledge  goes  into  a  higher  level  of  thinking  skills.   15    

With  that  said,  I  hope  that  you  are  using  all  of  our  checklists.  And  we  also  want  to,  on  behalf  of   Connie,  Paula,  and  myself,  we  want  to  wish  you  happy  holidays  to  all  of  us  -­‐-­‐  I  mean  to  all  of  you,  excuse   me,  and  to  invite  you  to  participate  in  our  next  webinar.  We  will  be  talking  about  vocabulary   development,  and  that  is  going  to  be  in  January  of  next  year.  I  think  it  is  January  9th.  No,  Connie  tells  me   it’s  January  12th.  Our  next  webinar  is  January  12th  and  it’s  Quality  Vocabulary  Instruction  for  ELLs  within   tiers  one,  two,  and  three.  So  we  hope  that  you  also  participate  in  that  webinar.   If  you  have  questions,  please  send  them  to  us.  The  last  time,  there  was  only  one  question  that   was  sent  by  one  of  our  participants  and  that  was  about  progress  monitoring.  And  that  also,  you  know,   will  be  answered  together  with  all  of  these  questions  that  we  are  going  to  receive.  I  know  that  there  are   many  questions  in  relation  to  teaching  reading  to  second  language  learners.  Please  send  us  your   questions.  We  will  post  a  Q&A  that  will  be  on  our  website.  With  that  said,  thank  you  again.  And  I  think   that  we  are  going  to  close  our  webinar  now.  

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