Assessment Design : Language , Culture, and Access

1. Assessment Design:Language, Culture, and Access EDUC 5706 * March 8, 2012 Priscilla Lin and Kristine Johnson Readings: From Schoenfeld, A. H. (Ed.) (2007). Assessing Mathematical Proficiency. New York: Cambridge University Press. • Chapter 19 English Learners and Mathematical Learning: Language Issues to Consider—Lily Wong Fillmore • Chapter 20 Beyond Words to Mathematical Content: Assessing English Learners in the Mathematical Classroom—JuditMoschkovitch

2. Imagine this is your math or science textbook…. While hortenting efrades the populace of the vaderbee class, most experts concur that a scrivant rarely endeavors to decry the ambitions and shifferings of the moulant class.  Deciding whether to oxant the blatantly maligned Secting party, most moulants will tolerate the subjugation of staits, savats, or tempets only so long as the scrivant pays tribute to the derivan, either through preem or exaltation. (http://www.college-algebra.com/essays/mathematics_without_definitions.htm)

3. (thanks to Donna Begley, Ph.D.)

4. Textbooks as seen by English language learners: To sint two desenvolvemos with the same sign, add their lieverpeux and attach their common sign to the sagte. (1) If the same estabelecimentoissint to (or enim from) both sides of an geschiedensboek the resulting hálito will be desenvolvemos to the original estabelecimento. (2) If both sides of an estabelecimento are labore (or quisquam) by the same estabelecimentohálito, the resulting liever is sagte to the original liever. The process to fugiat a hálito: Start with the original geschiedensboek (the one to be sagte) and use the above two properties to generate simpler liever, all estabelecimentoto the original liever, until we arrive at the hálitodesenvolvemos. A FinibusBonorum of an geschiedensboek in two hálitox and y is an magnidolores of sagtedesenvolvemos (d, f) whose liever make the numquam a true statement when the first estabelecimento is substituted for x and the second hálito is substituted for y in the sagte. We say the point (d, f) satisfies the geschiedensboek. To natus one desenvolvemos by another, natus each consectetur of the first sagte by each geschiedensboek of the second liever and nesciuntdignissimoshálito. (http://www.college-algebra.com/essays/mathematics_without_definitions.htm)

5. Questions • What are your thoughts? Did you understand what was going on? • Were you able to answer questions? Did you understand your answers? • How did this make you feel? • Critiques of these texts? (How could they be improved?) • What should you look for in text/supplementary materials for your students?

6. Issues to Consider (from Schoenfeld) • In teaching math and science, language can be a serious barrier (student may understand concepts but need help with language) • Academic language is different from social language • Translating into the first language may not be an adequate scaffold, especially for higher math and science • Children may not get the support they need in elementary for success • Need to be independent in reading English by 3rd grade •  Confusion in math and science may start early

7. Assessing English Language Learners • Make sure you assess math/science, not language as much as you can! • Avoid overly wordy problems • Allow your students to use diagrams and drawings in showing what they know • … but use your class to further language development • Label pictures and diagrams in your teaching, in your classroom  builds vocabulary • Use all the resources available to you—ESL teachers, testing in another language where appropriate (CSAP), etc. • Consider authentic assessments, culturally valid, performance based….

8. Teaching English Language Learners: Scaffolding • Provide at least “two ways of knowing”: • Write it, say it, use pictures and diagrams, encourage dialog and question, do group activities, act it out, use gestures, use video • Write notes on the board, provide copies of notes, record yourself (audio/video), use diagrams/pictures, etc. • Allow group discussion before class discussion • Provide sufficient time • To build vocabulary (sometimes mutually)… • What’s the word in Spanish?  what’s the word in English? • Child says it in Spanish, say it back in English

10. Explicit Language Instruction • Don’t rely on kids to receive oral language and take good notes • Give other means to review what happened in class • Copies of the notes, audio/video of your teaching   • Repetition of vocabulary in multiple ways, labels on figures and diagrams • Provide sentence stems for written/oral responses/discussion • An autotroph gets energy by…. • The main idea is…. • Make strategic use of small group discussion • Who’s in the group? Think about your scaffolding • Language practice/thought organization before whole class discussion

11. Video: Teaching Science • Teaching Science to English Learners

12. Group Activity • Geometry team exercise: use paper and pencils to show your understanding of these terms with labeled drawings • Right angle, obtuse angle, acute angle, parallel, perpendicular, congruent • perimeter, area, volume • polygon, pentagon, hexagon, (bonus: do more shapes, include their names) • Triangle, isosceles, equilateral, right, scalene, obtuse, acute (all triangles) • Quadrilateral, square, rectangle, trapezoid, trapezium, rhombus, parallelogram (all quadrilaterals) • Notation for lines and polygons (hint: use letters) • Cube/box/prism, cone, cylinder, square pyramid, tetrahedron (all 3 dimensional) • Length, height, width, units

13. More on Teaching ELLs (also beneficial to other kids with special needs) • Learn about the importance of language acquisition, building background knowledge, increasing student language production, and explicitly teaching academic language • Use recurrent, predictable themes • Use manipulatives/do hands on activities/assessments • Model what you want the kids to do (using vocabulary) • Provide oral and written instructions • Think about your classroom displays… word walls, labeled diagrams, objectives and targets • REPETITION • Optimal Learning Model

15. Optimal Learning Model RegieRoutman—excellent resource on literacy and at risk kids

16. Classroom Culture • Do students feel comfortable in your classroom? About their culture, language? • Culture influences: teaching and learning • Iceberg model: • Surface culture: the stuff we talk about (formal) • Art, shelter, food, dance, etc. • Deep culture: the underlying stuff that may not get talked about • E.g., notions of modesty, concepts of beauty, body language • Theories of disease, etc. • Culture provides accepted and patterned ways of behavior necessary for people to live together. • Culture imposes order and meaning on our experiences. • Culture allows us to predict how others will behave in certain situations. • One size fits few—diversity is the norm

17. Thank you to Collinus Newsome Hutt

18. Thank you to Collinus Newsome Hutt

19. Questions • Share personal experiences? • Knowing what you know now, how would you change the way you teach and/or assess?

20. Blackberry Video • Sometimes, you might know all the words but not know all the meanings of the words • My blackberry is not working!

21. Resources • Teaching Tolerance tolerance.org • We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know, by Gary Howard • Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8&feature=related • The Algebra Project algebra.org