I was asking myself this after a class with my new ELL students. Now they are advanced level ELL students but not all are quite ready for prime time high school classes. We have only been together a week so maybe I was expecting too much. I thought the poster talk-gallery walk was the way to go to get them reading, writing and sharing as well as practice a paper model of a discussion board. My class last spring embraced the activity and really pushed each other to question their beliefs on the topic (slavery). The reading was challenging at the L+1 level but accessible.
Well today I was trying to get them thinking about the necessity of writing and technology for their futures. They really showed team work in the warm up. Two teams of three brainstormed 15 jobs for writers. They resourced with dictionaries, asked each other questions and went beyond saying, "an author". Two teams of three came up with 26 different jobs including: judge (verdict-many have been in court), police officer (tickets/reports), poet, senator (legislation), politician (speech), teacher (recommendations), counselor (letters), composer (music), weatherman, doctor, .... So that seemed to get them seeking vocabulary, spelling as well as polite feedback in groups. My list of jobs even had some of theirs. Okay, that felt rewarding.
Then to connect with the past I asked them to make a family tree of jobs going back to their great grandparents. I did it with them on large poster paper with markers to make it fun and get away from small, lined paper. This lost some. They had to think about the past and family they didn't know face to face. As I shared mine, they opened up. So now we had posters of family job trees and we highlighted jobs that required study beyond high school. They noticed most women 2 and 3 generations ago were homemakers. I told them of my grandparents who didn't go past the 8th grade but read thousands of books. (We can read without school!)
Okay my link goes weak with the next step. We needed more discussion on present to past jobs to then consider the future possibilities. My segway to the next activity was not strongly conveyed to young adults watching the clock after an hour of class with thirty minutes to go.
So the 7 poster quotes on technology were on the wall. I took them from Kelley Gallagher's book , Writing with Adolescents. I introduced the poster talk/gallery walk like I have in the past. Each person had their own color to write comments, opinions and responses. In looking back I see they missed the reading and interpreting part and got the walking part. They got silly and off topic. This was not productive for them but I learned the importance of full explanation and printing directions with new students.
I have done poster talk in the past as an interactive writing activity to prepare students for using the discussion board on Blackboard. It is a great bridge from sharing on paper to sharing electronically. I forgot that my students last year were immersed in reader response and it was second nature for them them to read and give an opinion and analysis. I jumped ahead too much and need to get to the reading part then the writing will really reflect their thinking. Maybe I will find the love tomorrow.
Well today I was trying to get them thinking about the necessity of writing and technology for their futures. They really showed team work in the warm up. Two teams of three brainstormed 15 jobs for writers. They resourced with dictionaries, asked each other questions and went beyond saying, "an author". Two teams of three came up with 26 different jobs including: judge (verdict-many have been in court), police officer (tickets/reports), poet, senator (legislation), politician (speech), teacher (recommendations), counselor (letters), composer (music), weatherman, doctor, .... So that seemed to get them seeking vocabulary, spelling as well as polite feedback in groups. My list of jobs even had some of theirs. Okay, that felt rewarding.
Then to connect with the past I asked them to make a family tree of jobs going back to their great grandparents. I did it with them on large poster paper with markers to make it fun and get away from small, lined paper. This lost some. They had to think about the past and family they didn't know face to face. As I shared mine, they opened up. So now we had posters of family job trees and we highlighted jobs that required study beyond high school. They noticed most women 2 and 3 generations ago were homemakers. I told them of my grandparents who didn't go past the 8th grade but read thousands of books. (We can read without school!)
Okay my link goes weak with the next step. We needed more discussion on present to past jobs to then consider the future possibilities. My segway to the next activity was not strongly conveyed to young adults watching the clock after an hour of class with thirty minutes to go.
So the 7 poster quotes on technology were on the wall. I took them from Kelley Gallagher's book , Writing with Adolescents. I introduced the poster talk/gallery walk like I have in the past. Each person had their own color to write comments, opinions and responses. In looking back I see they missed the reading and interpreting part and got the walking part. They got silly and off topic. This was not productive for them but I learned the importance of full explanation and printing directions with new students.
I have done poster talk in the past as an interactive writing activity to prepare students for using the discussion board on Blackboard. It is a great bridge from sharing on paper to sharing electronically. I forgot that my students last year were immersed in reader response and it was second nature for them them to read and give an opinion and analysis. I jumped ahead too much and need to get to the reading part then the writing will really reflect their thinking. Maybe I will find the love tomorrow.
