CourseworkITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyLiteracy EducationNational UniversitySpecialized Instructional StrategiesStudent-Centered Learning
Individualizing the Learning Experience
One of the skillsets that content area literacy teachers can cultivate is the ability to differentiate and individualize a learning experience for a specific student. Teachers carry out this process when a student does not grasp a concept when first introduced to it. Maybe the concept was too abstract for the student to understand the first time, maybe they were absent for a part of the class period, maybe they did not understand the vocabulary terms being applied, maybe the pace of the learning experience was too fast, or maybe – something else. Knowing why a student had a tough...
CourseworkEducational AssessmentInstructional StrategiesITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyNational UniversityTeacher Development
Learning Map Stage 4: Apply
This week we are reflecting! By now, we have carried out our lesson to a group of students and have some time to reflect on how it went and the data we were able to collect. We are thinking about the evidence we collected from the learning experiences we designed. Were there students who grasped the concepts and applied their knowledge successfully? Were there students who grasped the concepts but did not apply their knowledge successfully? Were there students who had trouble grasping the initial content and literacy concepts? The essential question to focus on in Stage 4 is “How...
CourseworkEducational PsychologyITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyLiteracy and Reading StrategiesNational UniversityTeaching Mathematics
Metacognition
Metacognition is an engaging way to support student thinking. When students can think about the way that they think, they will be equipped with skills that allow them to monitor their own comprehension. Read Watch For this week’s discussion, we were to view and read the resources above and respond to the following prompts: Metacognition What does metacognition look like as it relates to literacy in a secondary classroom? Metacognition can be practiced in the classroom in various ways. For instance, during reading, students can make notes, write down their questions and reactions, or use graphic organizers to keep track...
CourseworkEducational MethodsITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyLiteracy in Content AreasMathematics EducationNational UniversityPassionate Teaching Journey Blog
Formative Assessment and Content Literacy in Mathematics: Engaging with Multi-Step Equations
Formative assessments are a great way to check in with students to see how they are doing with new content they are learning. Formative assessments can be informal too! You can have a quick discussion with the class, you can listen to a group talking about a piece of text, you can give out a 3 question exit ticket, and much more! Formative assessments informs our teaching and lets us know if we need to re-teach, try something different, give a break, move onto the next piece of content, or something else! We can give formative assessments throughout a class...
CourseworkEducational StrategiesITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyNational UniversityStudent-Centered LearningTeaching Reflections
Learning Map Stage 3: Analyzing Student Work ~ Reflection on Instruction and Learning
This week we are teaching! We were first to spend time analyzing prior knowledge on the part of our students – especially keeping in mind our three focus students before, during, and after the lesson. We were to develop our instructional strategies to carry out our lesson and would have an opportunity after teaching to think critically about how the students did in relation to the learning outcomes that we planned. Some of the questions to help guide our critical thinking were: How did learning about your students’ assets and learning needs help to shape your lesson for the class?...
Classroom StrategiesCourseworkEducational MethodsInclusive EducationITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyNational University
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework in Practice
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that supports each student in the classroom. It supports each student in the classroom by acknowledging that each student has different needs, comes from different educational backgrounds, has different interests, has different language talents, and has different cultures and identities that represent them. Given the unique makeup of each classroom, UDL offers teachers a way to support each student. In a content-literacy classroom, UDL is incredibly important. UDL, in practice, can look like drawing vocabulary words with math symbols to support comprehension, showing students how to decode a difficult piece of science...
Diverse Educational ResourcesInclusive Algebra StrategiesITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyNational UniversityText-Based Teaching Methods
Enhancing Algebra Learning through Inclusive and Diverse Text-Based Strategies
New vocabulary terms in a content area can be intimidating! How can we, as teachers, ensure that students feel supported when learning the definitions and applications of new vocabulary terms in our classes? One way is to offer vocabulary support with different forms of literature. If a student sees a word utilized in a poem, a video, and an essay, they will have a better chance of making meaning of that word. Some teachers take this a step further by having students come up with their own definitions of new terms – that is innovative. As content area teachers, we want to...
Differentiated InstructionITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyNational UniversitySpecial Education and InclusivityStudent-Centered Learning
Learning Map Stage 2: Multi-Step Inequalities
This week we thought about the funds of knowledge our students bring into the classroom based on their experiences. What do we mean by funds of knowledge? All of the knowledge and experiences that they have before they enter our classroom! As teachers, we utilize cultural identities, language/linguistic assets, interests, and experiences when planning literacy activities for our students. When we learn and embed our students’ funds of knowledge into our learning activities, we understand more about how they learn, how they implement ideas, how they share their comprehension, and how to support them best. Dr. Yosso’s Cultural Wealth Model...
Equity and Inclusivity in EducationIntegrating Literacy in MathITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyMath Education InnovationsNational University
Equity Literacy
“Equity is not merely about giving every student what they need to succeed in an individual sense… instead, equity is a process through which we ensure that policies, practices, institutional cultures, and ideologies are actively equitable, purposefully attending to the interests of the students and families to whose interests we have attended inequitably.” shares the Equity Literacy Institute. So, how do we achieve equity when it comes to research-based literacy strategies? We can: create multiple options for literacy acquisition, provide differentiated articles based on lexile level, develop project rubrics that are driven by choice and modality, include student cultures and...
Assessment StrategiesCourseworkInclusive Teaching PracticesITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyMathematics EducationNational University
Innovative Assessment Practices in High School Algebra
“If an assessment asks students to evaluate and create but our instruction asks only that they remember and comprehend, then we’ve taken a wrong direction” states Mike Fisher. Assessments should be frequent, varied and build upon the concepts (content) and skills (literacy) taught in the class. Some say, each assessment holds a privilege. Meaning, a multiple-choice assessments privileges one group of students in the class, while a video project privileges another group of students in the class. How can you assess your students equitably? How can you ensure no student or student groups have an “assessment privilege” over the others?...
CourseworkEducational StrategiesITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyMathematics EducationNational UniversityStudent Challenges
Learning Map Stage 1: Multi-Step Inequalities
Designing instructional experiences for students that are inclusive, engaging and effective take thoughtful planning, adjusting and reflecting on the part of the teacher. Over the course of your educational career, you will see different types of lesson design processes, templates and formats that have many types of criteria. Some of the criteria included on these templates might be: reading strategies, assessments, warm-ups, discussion prompts, differentiated writing tasks, language supports, real life connections, and the list goes on and on. What will remain true throughout, is the focus you will place on differentiating, empowering and setting each student up for content...
CourseworkEducational StrategiesInclusive TeachingITL520 Academic Language & LiteracyLiteracy IntegrationNational University
Content Literacy
For our Week 1 DIscussion, we were to watch 3 videos from the resources linked below, the “Teaching Content through Literacy,” “High School Reading Strategies,” and one from the Massachusetts Department of Education (our choice). We were to collect and share at least three examples of when we saw the educator in the video teaching their content through one of the four areas of focus of literacy skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Our task was to share what we observed the teacher and the students doing and how we knew if the differentiated literacy activity was effective. Where needed,...