Chapter 3: Meeting the Literacy Needs Of Diverse Learners

Macy Bombard

ENGED 370

Translanguaging: View of English language learning characterized by speaking one language then switching to another language during communication. Can be referred to as LOTE

• In the classroom can provide safe environment for ELL students while also fostering academic achievement

Instructional Strategies for Students Speaking Diverse Languages: 

• Label the classroom with the ELL first language (light switch, white board, desks, etc. )
• Include books from multiple languages in the classroom and school libraries
• Allow and encourage students to bring in artifacts of their culture. Encourage students to participate in the selection
• Assist in the publishing and sharing of students’ writing in their first language
• Enlist the help of bilingual aides- other students, parents, teacher aides, community volunteers
• Incorporate students produced or commercial videos and computer software to support ELL and to improve students’ self esteem
• Assist ELLs in finding support on the internet (24 hour chat rooms)
• Connect and communicate with families
  • Sheltered english adaptations: Student is not proficient in teacher’s first language, and teacher is not proficient in student’s first language
    • Allow students the time to express their knowledge through drawings, pointing, and manipulating objects
    • Demonstrate concepts with body language. Use all senses
    • Give ample wait time
    • Keep language simple
    • Adapt classroom materials by adding pictures, charts, diagrams, and graphic organizers
  • Instructional Conversations: Teacher facilitates students’ prior knowledge and experience on a topic, builds on the students background, engages in extensive instruction, and guides understanding
    • Teacher scaffolds learning rather than expecting yes or no answers
  • Response Protocol: ELLs may only respond to questions with 1 word answers. With response protocol, teacher would then expand their response to encourage student learning. Student will then often times be entourage to repeat the expanded response
  • Wordless Books: Serves as an effective way to foster meaning-making and comprehension, as well as language development for ELLs. Vocabulary can be learned through these books as well

• Contributions Approach: Focuses on holidays and festivities that a particular culture celebrates
• Additive Approach: Focuses on thematic units about different cultures that are integrated into the curriculum
• Transformative Approach: More social; Students read and discuss various cultural perspectives
• Academic and Cognitive Diversity: High and low incidence; Low: Hearing and visual impairments, autism , developmental delay; High: Significant learning disabilities
  • Public Law 94-142: Education for All Handicapped Children Act; Passed in 1975, based on several principles for example all children are entitled to a free and appropriate education, and an IEP must be designed for all children with disabilities
  • IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, added many stipulations including, “Special education teachers must be highly qualified
  • Dyslexia: Specific reading disability in which individuals have difficulty processing phonological components of language
  • Exceptional Students: Those identified as gifted or talented. Giftedness can be described as abundant talent in any of the seven intelligences 
• Instructional Principles for Academic and Cognitive Diversity: 
  • Assess students regularly, focus instruction in critical strengths and weaknesses
  • Use authentic learning experiences
  • Use students’ interests as a focus during instruction
  • Give positive feedback no matter how small a step in the right direction may be
  • Engage parents in learning process
    • Inclusion: children with special needs are included in regular classroom and receive assistance from regular education teacher as well as SPED teacher. This allows the student to experience instruction that focuses on their strengths and gives the opportunity for them to set higher goals for themselves. Meetings will often be held to address appropriate accommodations and modifications for the student to be included in the class
    • Curriculum Compacting: Done to provide gifted students with more challenging in depth content. Curriculum is compressed
      • First, teachers look over curriculum to identify content, objectives, and outcomes
      • Next, student is assessed on their knowledge and skills based on the content of the teachers’ objectives for the lessin, theme, unit
      • When the student masters the content they collaborate with teacher on ways to enrich the students knowledge by deciding alternative accelerated venues of learning (project-oriented, Research-based, focused on students interests)
      • Differentiated Instruction: Based on assessing students’ needs on a regular basis while implementing multiple approaches to learning and blending whole class, small group, and individual instruction. Differentiation can be based on modality preferences, levels of readiness for a topic, abilities, and interests
      • Inquiry Learning: Approach for teaching math and science that can challenge gifted students in literacy learning along with those with special needs. Based on a constructivist approach. Focuses learning on the meaning-making process, children will experiment, solve problems, and discover how the world functions. For gifted and talented students, some inquiry learning will be on a computer using internet and other software
• Classroom Application: I really enjoyed reading through this chapter. Sometimes I feel that teachers are urged to make accommodations and to make learning personal to students, but little example of what this looks like is provided. This chapter provided a plethora of ideas of how to differentiate instruction as well as how to make accommodations and modifications!