Sheltered Instruction: How Do I Teach This?
If you haven't seen it for yourself then you have probably heard about teachers giving up on their students due to a language barrier. For example, let's say there was a student name Claire. Claire just moved to the United States and was placed in Ms. Morgan's first grade class. Ms. Morgan was a great teacher and Claire was a great student but Ms. Morgan only spoke English and Claire only spoke Spanish. One day, Ms. Morgan was reading a picture book to the class about a little boy and his pet dog who loved to play outside together. Ms. Morgan pointed to the picture of the boy playing with his dog and asked Claire what was going on. Claire knew what a boy was, she knew what a dog was, and she knew they were outside but she didn't know the English words to tell the teacher this. Ms. Morgan waited on Claire to answer but after a minute of silence from Claire, Ms. Morgan got frustrated and gave up on Claire and asked another student. This resulted in Claire believing Ms. Morgan was a bad teacher and Ms. Morgan thinking Claire was a bad student.
What should Ms. Morgan have done when she saw that Claire was unable to answer?
There is this thing called sheltered instruction. What is it? Well, many different people and many different readings define it many different ways, but basically, it is when teachers use specific strategies to make grade-level content knowledge better obtainable while developing language skills. The goal for sheltered instruction, is for students to acquire the English proficiency and content area knowledge needed to transition successfully into mainstream instruction."
Who can teach sheltered instruction?
Before we focus on how we teach it lets focus on who can teach it. According to the article, Using Sheltered Instruction to Support English Learners, it says:
"Often, students at beginning levels of English proficiency participate in sheltered instruction for all content area learning and receive no native language instruction. When this is the case, schools should aim to provide them with teachers who are prepared to teach both content and language. Teachers who have a bilingual or ESL endorsement, teachers who have extensive training or education related to English learners, and even teachers who share students’ non-English language may be best suited to support all levels of learners through sheltered instruction."
Lets take a closer look at the second part of that quote, it says:
"Teachers who are prepared to teach both content and language. Teachers who have a bilingual or ESL endorsement, teachers who have extensive training or education related to English learners, and even teachers who share students’ non-English language may be best suited to support all levels of learners through sheltered instruction."
This is the ideal case for teaching sheltered instruction. These teachers may be best suited for the job but not every school has them available for their English leaning students.
How?
Just like Doctor Strange asking to be taught the ways of the Mystic Arts, you can be taught how to teach sheltered instruction.
Multiple efforts and approaches have been used over time to better provide English language learners with access to core content concepts. Early approaches to promote second language abilities included grammar translation and the audio-lingual method. However as more English learners entered into the United States, educators designed special English language development courses that embraced a communicative approach. The article states that:
"In the 1980s, researchers and educators began to see the benefit of developing language through the use of the grade-level content curricula, and content-based English classes became a popular approach to educating English learners. However, concerned that language development was taking a backseat to the teaching of content, ESL and content-area teachers began collaborating to strategically and systematically incorporate English language development into content-area instruction. This integration is now generally referred to as sheltered instruction."
Since sheltered instruction arose in the 1980s the most important models used in schools are:
1.) Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)
2.) Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)
3.) Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)
4.) Guided Language Acquisition and Design (GLAD)
These methods come together to make the following list
- A focus on content and language objectives
- Making content comprehensible by:
- Connecting students backgrounds and prior knowledge to content area concepts
- Explicitly teaching content vocabulary, academic language, and language instruction of content area
- Presenting cognitively demanding information and tasks in context embedded ways (e.g., graphic organizers, visual representations)
- Using cooperative learning to facilitate content understanding and promote language development through language use
- The use of alternate assessments to accurately determine what students know about a content area regardless of their English proficiency level
"Sheltered instruction teachers must be able to use their knowledge of approaches that promote both content and language learning along with their knowledge of second language acquisition and of their students’ culture, language, and community to address the unique needs of English learners in purposeful ways,"
Take a look at this video. The teacher here is giving a lesson the on five food groups. While watching try to imagine yourself as an English Learner.
As an English leaner, would you excel or fail in this class?
Now take a look at this video. The teacher is giving a lesson on the five food groups. Once again, while watching try and imagine yourself as an English Learner.
As an English learner, would you excel or fail in this class?
If you were an English learner what would be your reaction to each class?
So what about Math or Social Studies? How do you teach those subjects?
With math you cannot assume that it is just numbers. When it comes to your students' background knowledge in math, teachers need to understand that students may have learned to add, substract multiply, and divide using different methods than what is taught in the United States. It is also important to note that students may be more familiar with the metric system rather than the U.S. system of measurement. Word walls, sentence strips, and charts or dictionaries that include visuals specific to the lesson vocabulary can help make math lessons comprehensible for English learners.
Social Studies constantly has new vocabulary, complex sentences, passive voice, and pronouns which makes it a challenging subject to learn in a second language. So, because of this it is recommended that it be taught in the students' native language until they have an intermediate level of English proficiency. While teaching social studies it is important to keep in mind that students might not be aware of concepts or experiences in the United States therefore it is important to connect content to students background knowledge. Finding alternative ways to present information is a useful strategy in social studies because texts are typically very difficult for English learners to read by themselves. Reading texts to or with students is one alternative for this.
QUESTIONS:
As a sheltered instruction teacher, what would your classroom look like?
Do you feel there is more to being a sheltered instruction teacher and do you think anyone can teach sheltered instruction?
How would you teach math, science, social studies, or language arts while using sheltered instruction?
There are more question asked throughout the blog, feel free to answer those as well.
I can see a clear connection in the readings this week. Sheltered instruction is very multimodal in nature, the teacher using multiple visuals, facial expressions, body language and the different inflections in her voice. I can also see using technology would be a huge asset to a sheltered instruction teacher, giving them resources such as videos and games in the students home language or with subtitles for older students. I feel like it would take a very special person to be able to teach sheltered instruction and do it as well as the children deserve. Clearly you need to have a good understanding of both languages as well as the appropriate teaching materials. I can imagine these teachers spend a great deal of time after school and at home researching and finding innovative ways to make learning easier for their English learners.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I had the same thoughts as you. I think the first step to teaching sheltered English is what we are doing- learning what it is, how to do it, and examples of people who do it well. After that I think it would take a lot of practice.
DeleteTori, I loved your video examples of the food groups. For a student whose native language is English, the unsheltered instruction would probably suffice. However, I could see how an Emergent Bilingual could get lost in that lesson. The sheltered instruction broke everything down into smaller sections, used more visuals, and even used Spanish to teach the food groups. For emergent bilinguals, I can see how that would be helpful.
Amanda, I didn't think about how long teachers would stay after school or the amount of time they would spend lesson planning so I liked that you brought that up. With the amount of time that goes into the planning to be able to effectively teach sheltered instruction the way the students deserve, I would have to say that the teacher of sheltered instruction would have to be very passionate about it. I personally think that you can't go into with half-heartedly and except your students to learn. Referring back to the videos, the teacher in them provided many examples for just one thing. She had several didn't ways to get her point across and that's how students will learn.
DeleteMarybeth, I also think that with sheltered instruction teachers should keep in mind that all students learn differently. By this I am meaning that some are visual learners, some are verbal, some are physical, and so on. The teacher in the video did a great job of reaching out to her English learners but also what type of learner they might be.
DeleteI love that you used the videos to illustrate effective and ineffective teaching. I thought all 3 readings this week did a nice job of providing concrete examples of how to use sheltered instruction. Access to digital sources has completely changed instruction in most social studies classrooms. I use lots of pictures, videos (as both primary and secondary sources), and music in my classes to help students make connections with the content. One thing that the text suggested that I could improve on is to do more K-W-L activities at the beginning of the unit. I've typically done a simple K-W-L about a topic. I like the idea of using images and other sources to help them access their prior knowledge.
ReplyDeleteProject based learning is something that I've always been interested in exploring more. I do a lot of projects and offer my students choice but I love that the final product of authentic PBL contributes to the community as a whole. This year I'm planning on having my students conduct an oral history project. I think I'd like to explore how this could be turned in to PBL. I think this would help all of my students, but especially my ELL, with meaning-making.
As I was reading I was thinking about the K-W-L charts and how they would be useful in subjects like social studies and I thought about how they would be beneficial for everyone whether you are an English learner or not. I struggled greatly when it came to subjects like history and I only spoke English so I can't begin to imagine how much English language learners struggle with it. English Language learners do not speak the language in the text books and they might not be aware of the events in the United States. If my teacher introduced a K-W-L chart to me when I was in history I believe I would have done better in the class because I could write out what I didn't know and better understand where to put my focus. K-W-L charts would be great for English learners because they could write out what they don't know then be able to know where they need to put their focus.
DeleteRebeccah,
DeleteI have just recently been introduced to KWL charts and I believe that they are amazing for any kind of learner. What I really like about them is that they don't have to use writing to portray what they already know and what they would like to know. Students can use pictures, drawings, music, etc. to tell the teacher and even their classmates what they already know about the subject at hand. This type of instruction is awesome for both the student and the teacher. The student will be able to think back and remember what knowledge they already have about the subject, and the teacher will be aware of what to help the student hone in on for their optimal learning. I absolutely will be using KWL charts in my future classroom.
I was especially intrigued with developing projects into community-based projects that involve parents. On page 131 of Garcia and Kleifgen, the authors write that "parents who possess certain kinds of social and cultural capital...are successful in helping their children do well academically" and understand the function of the school system and the choices students have to succeed academically. The authors point out the inequities that exist, as the parents of NNES, do not possess the same resources or knowledge. Perhaps designing lessons that contribute to the community could help students and parents collaborate and connect with each other, with the students, and with the school while they make learning meaningful.
ReplyDeleteI am interested to know how you would make learning meaningful in your own classroom. How would you design a lesson that would contribute to the community? Do you have any ideas off the top of your head?
DeleteTorri - there are several different ways that lessons can contribute to the community. Here is one example: In 7th grade my niece did a science project where she researched the effect of single use plastics on the environment, did surveys with restaurants in the community about the amount of straws they go through in a given period of time, and created a petition to ban single use plastics. She invited the owners of the restaurants who participated to the school's annual showcase where she presented her findings and a couple of the restaurants promised to stop using plastic straws.
DeleteI am all for utilizing parents and community partners who possess these cultural capitals and funds of knowledge! Imagine if there were systems of supports from parents who were bilingual and were able to help out in the classroom or in the school itself? I could see this as general classroom help or designed as an afterschool program, focusing on subject-specific content where the parents/guardians were helping the students, in their native language, to ensure they were retaining and comprehending the materials. Tapping into the skillsets of parents/guardians and community partners could be a major way to bridge these gaps that currently exist.
DeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the example videos you have provided for this topic. It really shows me how to incorporate sheltered instruction into a classroom with an ELL student. The way the teacher had each food group portrayed with only the my plate poster, with posters of each category of foods including pictures, and then she even had foods that were real and 3D in her classroom. This was important so that all students are able to understand what is being taught and what is being spoken from the teacher. Labeling different categories with the English and the Spanish word is very important for the ELL learners as well because they can simply see what the teacher is pointing at when she is giving the instruction.
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DeleteCasey, thinking back on the video of teaching sheltered instruction with the my plate poster, do you think that labeling could get confusing if you had ELLs in your class who all had different native languages? If so, what could you do to have a smooth running lesson?
DeleteI loved the videos that you provided! This really put into perspective what English Learners might be feeling in different situations. The first video was a great example of what should be done in the classroom. During the lesson, there were lots of pictures provided of each food group. Plus, the teacher spoke in both Spanish and English, when describing the different food groups. This lesson took about twice as much time as the lesson without Spanish. So, it is important to factor in the amount of time and planning that will go into creating lesson plans that will benefit English Learners. However, I think it is definitely worth it because every student deserves to learn and be included in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe sheltered instruction lesson did take up more time. I want to bring back up the point Amanda made when she talked on the amount of time teachers must spend lesson planning and staying after school in order to do this type of teaching. The article did say that "teachers who are prepared to teach both content and language. Teachers who have a bilingual or ESL endorsement, teachers who have extensive training or education related to English learners, and even teachers who share students’ non-English language may be best suited to support all levels of learners through sheltered instruction." When you look at how much time is put into sheltered instruction this quote proves true.
DeleteSo, I was frustrated with both videos. While the first one was an improvement and there was some inclusion of the labels in Spanish, there lacked context of what she was talking about. If the only thing she translated was the categories, I feel that ELL students would still be confused. I think it points out that while we can think we are making modifications to help, we may still be missing the mark. One suggestion could be allowing a student who is bilingual to assist in making lesson plans that would be inclusive to all students.
DeleteBrandon, this is a good point and I am glad you brought it up. The teacher did only translate the categories and for the rest continued to speak in English and I can see where ELL students may still get lost. I think your suggestion of allowing the bilingual students to help make the lesson plans is a really good idea. This way you can get the students to teach you how to teach them. I think even having the bilingual students lead the class themselves would be beneficial because the ELL students would be learning from someone who is like them and may feel more comfortable asking them questions instead of the teacher.
DeleteAfter our conversation last week in class about context and definitions that allow students to truly understand, and even our conversation about standardized tests for emergent bilinguals and the lack of clarity in the prompts, I felt the same way. That is a really good point Brandon. I think taking some of the approaches from chapter 4 of the Emergent Bilinguals could help with this. Like you said, getting students involved in ways that allows them to connect with the material in different phases could make a big difference.
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ReplyDeleteGreat blog. I do believe that anyone can teach using sheltered instruction techniques. In my opinion, I think sheltered instruction requires more planning and constant tweaking to continually ensure that the lessons are effective. Most good teachers do this anyway, however, some teachers simply reuse the same lesson plans without modifications.
ReplyDeleteAs a social studies teacher, I agree with your assessment that reading texts out loud can help students with understanding. I think hands-on activities can benefit as well. For example, for a lesson on the Great Depression students can attempt to balance a budget for a fictional family during that time period. I think that can provide an authentic activity to reach all learners. Also, visual organizers can help as well. A graphic organizer can help students organize thoughts during a mini-lecture as opposed to them "taking notes" on their own.
In the readings it talked about doing activities together as a class or in pairs to help ELL students have a better understanding. With the balancing a budget during the Great Depression activity, as a social studies teacher, if a few students were struggling in the class would you pair them up or do this activity as a class?
DeleteThis was a really good read! Very informative and visual! To answer your question, "how would you teach math, science, social studies, or language arts while using sheltered instruction?," I think I would use a lot of visuals and anchor charts. Personally, I thought the teacher in the video did a good job at explaining the food groups and using visual aids to supplement her teaching. She also used the language native to the students that may have been present in the class. She asked questions to the class to understand their background such as "who had vegetables with their dinner last night?"
ReplyDeleteI think those are good examples of what teachers should be doing with students who speak another language. Are there any methods that you use or would use in your future classroom?
In my future classroom I would like to have things for the types of learners my students are. Visuals for visual learners, hands on things for my physical learners. I would like to have the native language of my English learns somewhere in the class. I would like to have something so that every student can learn.
ReplyDeleteTorri, great blog!! I really enjoyed the questions throughout the blog. Ms. Morton should have encouraged Claire to answer even if her answer would have been in another language besides English. Also, Ms. Morgan should have pointed to pictures and allowed Claire to answer to what she saw in the pictures in her home language. Once Claire answered in her home language, Ms. Morgan should have then responded by translating Claire's answer into English. This way would have allowed Claire to learn words that she knew in Spanish and be able to learn them in English.
ReplyDeleteBased on the two videos, I feel that an English learner would benefit from learning best from the first video because the teacher taught the lesson in both English and Spanish. This allows the student to correlate the food groups from English to Spanish.