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The Challenges Facing English Language Learners and Their Teachers

Every student should have equitable and optimal opportunities to learn mathematics free from bias—intentional or unintentional—based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, or language. In order to close the achievement gap, all students need the opportunity to learn challenging mathematics from a well-qualified teacher who will make connections to the background, needs, and cultures of all learners.— National Council o f Teac her s o f Mat hematicsReflection 1.1Choose one or more of the following questions, and respond in the margin.Write from your heart, your beliefs, and your past experience. Compare your answers to those on page 145.• Why do some students transition to English very quickly while others attend English-speaking schools for many years without acquiring academic English?• How can we make grade-level mathematics accessible to all students regardless of language proficiency?• What are the best ways to help students who are not yet proficient in See All Chapters

Making Math Accessible to ELLs (3–5) © 2010 r4 Educated Solutions • solution-tree.com
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Evaluate Elaborate Explain
• What tools and materials will students need to complete the task?phase successfully?• What activity will I use to assess learning?• What concept(s) will I assess?• What additional skills must the students have to complete thisbe applied?• How (if at all) must the algorithms (computational procedures)successful with this phase of the lesson?• How will I encourage the use of vocabulary?• What concepts and processes must students understand to belesson?•• What activity will I use to expand or elaborate on the concept(s)?• What tools or materials are needed for this activity?• What new vocabulary will students need for this phase of the•••corrected?How will I develop conceptual vocabulary?What connections are essential for the student to understand?What algorithms (computational procedures) are connected to the concept? See All Chapters

6

Adapting a Traditional

Textbook Lesson

A small part of even the most reluctant student wants to learn.

— Anonymous

T

raditional textbook lessons present several concerns. The lesson format generally lends itself to teacher-centered instruction instead of student-centered instruction. The content of standard textbook lessons rarely includes examples and problems, with the exception of the enrichment or cognitive problems, with the cognitive rigor necessary to prepare students for success—whether success is measured by standardized tests or readiness for post–high school education. Such lessons seldom include strategies for building common background, developing vocabulary, providing comprehensibility, and solving authentic problems in an atmosphere ripe for interaction. Therefore, teachers are often faced with the challenge of adapting traditional lessons to meet the needs of English language learners.

Figure 6.1 (pages 120–124) represents what a teacher might see in a traditional geometry textbook lesson in which students explore slopes of lines before exploring properties of polygons.

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Chapter2: Creating a Supportive Classroom Environment
As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences.—Eugene McCarthy

Reflection 2.1 Please respond to the following questions. Write from your heart, your beliefs, and your past experience. Then compare your responses to those on page 138.1. How would you describe a supportive classroom environment?2. How important is a supportive environment for student success? Research supports the idea that the classroom environment influences students’ ideas about the causes of success in learning mathematics and consequently influences students’ levels of performance, effort, and persistence (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). Students achieve when they believe that their effort and persistence leads to mathematical understanding. Success begets success.Additional research indicates that parent and teacher attitudes and involvement affect student achievement in mathematics (Cotton & Wikelund) See All Chapters