III. Unit and Lesson Plan Samples

Marlon Marmolejo
Course: 36576 TESOL 2
Professor: Judith Rance-Roney.

UNIT PLAN
NAME: Marlon Marmolejo
Class description:

Grade: 9
Proficiency level: Low-mid intermediate.
Setting: Junior high school class of 12 students from different cultural backgrounds (3 Hispanic students, 3 Koreans, 2 Indians, 2 Polish, 1 Persian and 1 Russian student). The school is located in Washington Heights in Manhattan, NY.

UNIT PLAN TITLE: Life skills learning through literature: Helping students connect real life
and different content areas knowledge to literature (novels) using The House on Mango
Street by Sandra Cisneros.

UNIT SUMMARY: In this unit students will be focusing not only on how to connect to what
they read and create a personal meaning for a novel, but also on how to build life skills
that would help them be more successful citizens later in life. I hope to do this by emphasizing how the knowledge acquired in different content areas can help us to
make better decisions. I would also like to make students aware of cultural differences
that make people unique, but not different from the rest of the human race because of universal themes like pain, suffering, happiness, goals, dreams and problems that we all share.

UNIT LEARNING GOALS:

By the end of the unit, students will learn to:
1) Relate to issues from the book that have a particular meaning for them.
2) Build some life skills that will enable them to make better decisions later in life.
3) Realize that reading literature is the fastest and the safest way to learn about many experiences in life.
4) Identify some universal themes or truths that make all human beings equal, even when they all belong to different ethnicities.
5) Respect and understand cultural differences.
6) Make connections between different content areas, therefore demonstrating that knowledge cannot be compartmentalized and that it comes in full circle.
7) Appreciate the richness of literacy since it embodies the values and characteristics of any particular culture at any given time; that is, we can learn about how other societies function, just by reading a good book.
8) Differentiate between functional literacy (learning to read –domesticating literacy) and empowering literacy (reading to learn). Reading beyond the words.


MAJOR ESL and ELA STANDARDS:

Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for information and understanding. L (listening), S (speaking), R (reading), W (writing).

Standard 1/13: Engage in collaborative activities through group work. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 1/14: Consult print and non-print resources (dictionaries). (L,S,R)
Standard 1/16: Apply learning strategies to acquire information and make texts
comprehensible and meaningful (graphic organizer, etc). (L,S,R,W)

Standard 2: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for literary response, enjoyment, and expression.

Standard 2/6: Read aloud with confidence, accuracy, fluency, and expression to
demonstrate understanding and to convey an interpretation of the meaning.
(S,R)
Standard 2/7: Compose and present personal and formal responses to and interpretations
of published literary work and the work of peers, referring to details and
features of the text. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 2/9: Engage in collaborative activities through a variety of student groupings to create and respond to literacy. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 2/10: Create, discuss, interpret, and respond to literary works, using appropriate
and effective vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation in writing,
and using appropriate vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation in
speaking. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 2/12: Apply learning strategies to comprehend, make inferences about, and
analyze literature, and to produce literary responses. (L,S,R,W)

Standard 3: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for critical analysis and evaluation.

Standard 3/3: Recognize and communicate personal and multiple points of view within
and among groups, in discussing, interpreting, and evaluating information;
make inferences about a writer’s or speaker’s point of view. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 3/5: Recognize, explain, evaluate, and analyze how structural features affect
readers’ and listeners’ understanding and appreciation of the text.
(L,S,R,W)
Standard 3/9: Apply learning strategies to examine, interpret, analyze, synthesize, and
evaluate a variety of materials. (L,S,R,W)

Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom and social interaction.


Standard 4/4: Listen attentively, take turns speaking, and build on others’ ideas when
engaged in pair, group, or full class discussions on personal, social,
community, and academic topics. (L,S)
Standard 4/7: Follow oral and written directions to participate in classroom activities,
and provide directions to peers in selected interactions. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 4/8: Negotiate and manage interactions to accomplish social and classroom
tasks. (L,S)
Standard 4/10: Demonstrate appropriate classroom behaviors (e.g., participating in a
small group and whole class discussions, being courteous, respecting the
person and property of others. (L,S,R,W)

Standard 5: Students will demonstrate cross-cultural knowledge and understanding.

Standard 5/3: Recognize and share cross-cultural experiences and ideas, and connect with
those of others. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 5/5: Compare and contrast oral traditions, myths, folktales, and literature from
different and international regions and cultures, including the students’
own, identifying similarities and differences and universal themes, and
exploring how language and literature transmit culture. (L,S,R,W)
Standard 5/6: Recognize and demonstrate an appreciation of some commonalities and
distinctions across cultures and groups (differentiated by gender, ability,
generations, etc.), including the students’ own.

MAJOR CONTENT STANDARDS ADDRESSED:

Content area 1: Mathematics
Standard 3: There are seven learning standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology. Although mathematics, science and technology education are included in all of the standards, standard 3 is known as the "Mathematics Standard."Students will understand mathematics and become mathematically confident by communicating and reasoning mathematically, by applying mathematics in real-world settings, and by solving problems through the integrated study of number systems, geometry, algebra, data analysis, probability, and trigonometry (only those that apply).

Content area 2: Social studies (Geography).
Standard 3: Students will be able to use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate
understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live –local,
national, and global-- including the distribution of people, places, and environments over
the earth’s surface. This is explained in two key ideas.
Key Idea 1: Geography can be divided into six essential elements, which can be used to analyze important historic, geographic, economic, and environmental questions and issues. These six elements include: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical settings (including natural resources), human systems, environment and society, and the use of geography. And Key Idea 2: Geography requires the development and application of the skills of asking and answering geographic questions; analyzing theories of geography; and acquiring, organizing, and analyzing geographic information.

UNIT/LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

The book The House on Mango Street, consists of 44 short chapters (vignetttes) that will be read in a period of two and a half weeks (12 lessons of 4 chapters per class approximately). Students will read the chapters in class and will cover the entire book. There will be a total of 3 projects (1 per week). Students will be given choices for the first two projects that will be executed in group work, but the last one will be individual and the same for the entire class. Each lesson will be taught in a double period of 80 minutes.

DAY OF UNIT 1: Chapters 1-4 (Pages 3 to 11). The House on Mango Street; Hairs; Boys & girls; and My Name.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Who are the members of my family? Family matters (Personalities and physical traits). Where does my name come from? Does it mean anything?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Regular and irregular form of past tense verbs; use of adjectives to describe people; new words and related synonyms (word bank useful for the portfolio).
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and GEOGRAPHY): Description of the characters in the book and members of the students’ families; locations of countries of origin on a map (map terms and orientations) with discussion of the most common names in the region.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Physical and psychological profiles of characters; directions on how to read a map; web search on www.historyofnames.com

DAY OF UNIT 2: Chapters 5-8 (Pages 11 to 20). Cathy Queen of Cats; Our Good Day; Laughter; and Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What does it mean having a pet? What is the real value of money? What do houses look in your country of origin? Is it saving important?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Vocabulary about domestic animals (pets) and exotic ones; useful vocabulary when talking about mathematical concepts; talking about past and new habits using “USED TO”.
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and MATH): Discussion about favorite pets, responsibilities, advantages and disadvantages of having one; Discussion of currency from different countries and what you can buy with a certain amount; comparisons of old and new habits.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Differentiation of domestic animals and their care; management of personal and family budgets; discussion of good and bad habits and how to reinforce or eliminate them; financial responsibilities of parents.

DAY OF UNIT 3: Chapters 9-12 (Pages 21 to 28). Meme Ortiz; Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin; Marin; and Those Who Don’t.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Who is my friend and what are his/her best qualities? What is a good and bad choice of friends? Among my relatives, whom do I admire the most and why? What is a prejudice? How can I avoid one?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Use of simple subordinated sentence construction to express like and dislikes (e.g., I like people who…); review of adjectives to talk about people’s qualities; use of personal and object pronouns (e.g., I/me, he/him, etc.)
CONTENTLEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and MATH): Discussion about Marin’s character qualities and flaws as a role model; qualities that we would like to find in friends; money and stereotypes.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Creating characters psychological profiles based on reading; writing a paragraph identifying and describing personal role models; creating a savings plan to save money for college.

DAY OF UNIT 4: Chapters 13-16 (Pages 29 to 38). There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn’t Know What to Do; Alicia Who Sees Mice; Darius and the Clouds; and And Some More.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What is family planning? What sacrifices are we willing to do for succeeding? Do you have any personal beliefs? Can we assign a specific number to things in English?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Hypothetical or simple conditional sentences to talk about plan for the future (I would like to…); countable and non-countable nouns (some, any, a few, a little, not many, etc.)
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and Social Studies): Discussion of plans for the future and how to prepare for them; board game called “Life.”; differentiation between mass and count nouns.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Making associations between decisions and quality of life; game playing “Life” to develop life skills, especially those related to financial literacy; using expressions of quantity appropriately.

DAY OF UNIT 5: Chapters 17-20 (Pages 39 to 52). The Family of Little Feet; A Rice Sandwich; Chanclas; and Hips.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Should I talk to strangers? Can writing be more powerful than words? Does the habit make the monk? What is puberty?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Asking for and giving advice; writing short meaningful notes; talking about clothes and patterns; Talking about old and new habits (review).
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA, GEOGRAPHY and MATH): asking and giving advice to friends when dealing with strangers and in other situation; writing pieces of advice for hypothetical situations; describing clothes and dressing habits over time and in other places around the world.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Discussing and sharing information to provide more effective pieces of advice; describing dressing habits in other countries; costs of clothing for families (budget plan).

ASSESSMENT: PROJECT 1 IS DUE


DAY OF UNIT 6: Chapters 21-24 (Pages 53 to 64).The First Job; Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark; Born Bad; and Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What do I want to be when I grow up? What is my sense of immortality? Does my attitude really show who I am? Am I superstitious?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Making plans for the future; expressing obligation for the future using “WILL HAVE TO”; conditional sentences with present and future clauses (e.g., If you kill a cat, you will…)
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and SOCIAL STUDIES): Talking about occupations and the importance of choosing a career, obligations of a homeowner; discussion of superstitions from all over the world.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Discussions about advantages and disadvantages of different careers; becoming aware of the responsibilities of parents as homeowners; introduction of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minute showing) to contrast the values of other cultures with ours.

DAY OF UNIT 7: Chapters 25–28 (Pages 65 to 73). Geraldo No Last Name; Edna’s Ruthie; The Earl of Tennessee; and Sire.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What does it mean being an immigrant? Is it independence necessary to become an adult? Are you a public or a private person? How do we know we love somebody (e.g., parents);
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Talking about past events (irregular verb form review); verb agreement in present tense (review); expressing frequency using adverbs.
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and Math): Appropriate use of both oral and written form of verb agreement in present tense; appropriate use of adverbs of frequency in present and past tense; reinforcement of useful vocabulary for mathematical operations (e.g., per- cent, divided by, etc.)
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Description of daily routines emphasizing their frequencies; sketching an outline of the knowledge necessary to take into account when planning to buy a house; showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minutes)

DAY OF UNIT 8: Chapters 29-32 (Pages 74 to 83). Four Skinny Trees; No Speak English; Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays; and Sally.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Do we really appreciate nature? Do we lose something when we learn English? Does knowledge buy freedom for women and men? Are we all the same inside?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: How to describe or talk about plants and nature; use of Spanglish and other borrow words in literature; how to express recommendations and suggestions using “SHOULD”; Making wishes and expressing desires.
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and SOCIAL STUDIES): Appropriate use of adjectives to describe and make analogies between nature and human like forms; using borrowed words from other languages to give more strength to the meaning (e.g., mamacita, touché, presto, etc.); showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minutes).
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Writing to describe nature elements with human-like characteristics; identifying non-English terms in the chapters; showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minutes).

DAY OF UNIT 9: Chapters 33-36 (Pages 84 to 91). Minerva Writes Poems; Bums in the Attic; Beautiful and Cruel; and A Smart Cookie.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Can literacy be a way out? What is socioeconomic status? How do we define beauty? Why is dropping out school not the answer?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Comparative form structure of adjectives; information questions in future tense using “WILL”; taking about regrets with conditional sentences using “COULD’VE, SHOULD’VE, WOULD’VE, MUST HAVE”
CONTENT/ELA LEARNING SUMMARY: Comparison of characters from the book; contrasting literacy with illiteracy; appropriate use of conditional sentences to express regrets and to elaborate better excuses (e.g., I know I should have …, but…)
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Comparing advantages and disadvantages of being illiterate as an adult; discussing the possibilities that the main character from “The House of Sand and Fog” had not to lose her house; showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minutes).

DAY OF UNIT 10: Chapters 37-40 (Pages 92 to 102). What Sally Said; The Monkey Garden; Red Clowns; and Linoleum Roses.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What is physical abuse? Making right decisions as self-defense; what is the meaning of being married?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Due to the delicate and serious nature of these issues from the chapter, we will focus on literary terms (narrator, voice, point of view, etc.) to discuss them. This, I hope, will place these issues in context in a softer way by focusing on the characters.
CONTENT LEARNING SUMMARY (ELA and SOCIAL STUDIES): Web search to identify the sings of physical abuse and how to prevent it; elaboration of a word bank about literary terms; brainstorming about learning to read and write in preparation to the final essay.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Elaboration of a chart on child abuse prevention; discussion of most important points when writing an essay; showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” (15-20 minutes).

ASSESSMENT: PROJECT 2 IS DUE

DAY OF UNIT 11: Chapters 41-44 (Pages 103 to 110). The Three Sisters; Alicia & I Talking on Edna’s Steps; A house of My Own; and Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes).
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: What is an urban legend? Do they also have them in other cultures? What does it mean owning a house? Will being literate help me make better decisions and ensure happiness to a certain degree?
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Rules about negative clauses (avoiding double negation); direct and indirect reported speech (he/she says/said that…)
CONTENT/ELA LEARNING SUMMARY: Analysis of character dialogue on the texts; appropriate use of formal and informal speech; practice of speech report.
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Final showing of the movie “The House of Sand and Fog” to discuss the characters speech characteristics (formal, informal); discussing different movie genres and what they provide to enrich our lives.

DAY OF UNIT 12: Sharing and discussion of the literacy autobiography (two-page Essay). Students will also try to “tie loose ends” by critiquing their own essays and by comparing the movie The House of Sand and Fog with Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street.
GENERAL CONCEPT/TOPIC: Books versus movies. Can I experience the world through literature? Why is an essay so powerful? Critiquing versus criticizing.
LANGUAGE LEARNING SUMMARY: Reading strategies; punctuation and grammar for effective communication; presenting and defending one’s points of view.
CONTENT/ELA LEARNING SUMMARY: Listening and writing for critiquing; public speaking (reading of the essays).
DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGIES: Instructions on public speaking and how to read an essay; learning to critique and accept suggestions.

ASSESSMENT: PROJECT 3 IS DUE the last day of the unit plan since it will be used as class material.

Options for the first and second projects:
Add a chapter to the book.
Design and elaborate a monopoly game based on the book.
Keep a personal journal to make daily entries about the book. (double-entry Journal)
Create and present a portfolio at the end of chapters 1-20 (first week) or chapters 21-40 (second week). You can be as creative as you want by adding newspaper articles about real estate, old houses pictures, short story about your own house, drawings based on the chapters, a biography of author, Sandra Cisneros, etc.
Design and elaborate your own version of a “Life Game” based on the book.
“You have to go where life leads you-and this life leads to lots of laughs! Spin the wheel of fate, then drive your car token along the hilarious game path of fortune. Your goal is to dodge bad luck and make a buck! Retire with the biggest fortune, and you'll win! On the way, pick up valuable Life Tiles for good deeds. Find out if you'll go to college... have children, or go on a tropical vacation! You never know what Life has in store for you- it's different every time you play! For 2 to 6 players. A 2002 Parents' Choice Classic Award Winner.” www.thegameoflife.com
Make a scale model of the house that you would like to live in as an adult. The scale model has to be accompanied by an essay explaining your options.
Do web searches, create a portfolio with information about houses from other countries (real estate), and present it to the class. You must include information like location, price, and description and any other information you consider relevant prior to buying a house.

Individual project due at the end of chapter 44

Write your literacy autobiography (Two-page essay) in which you will talk about your own process of learning to read and write your native language. The essay, of course, has to be written in English.


SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Many other resources like graphic organizers, handouts, short articles, book and movie reviews, rubrics, building materials (scissors, glue, paper, colors, etc.), a video movie, an atlas, a world globe and an agenda with a schedule of the activities and expectations for every single day, will accompany each lesson plan of this unit.
Students will be allowed to work on their projects during a period assigned at the end of each class. Students will not only work in groups to foster cooperative learning, but will also be working individually to foster independent learning. Students will receive a group work rubric to ensure cooperation and group work learning.

RATIONALE

By elaborating and teaching this unit based on Sandra Cisnero’s book, The House on Mango Street, I hope to illustrate and make students aware of the interconnection of knowledge and other different content areas. Students must learn to make these connections to avoid compartmentalizing what they learn at school. I also hope to show how, through school education, we learn life skills that will be necessary to succeed and be better equipped to make decisions later in life. In addition, I want to present literacy not only as functional, but also as empowering to achieve goals and expand horizons by the power of print.

M&M.


__________________________________________________________________

Marlon Marmolejo
336575 Teaching reading and writing in ESL
Professor: Vern Todd
Observation reports

OBSERVATION REPORT 1

Name: Marlon Marmolejo Course: (ELA) English mainstream
School visited: Newburg Free Academy District: Newburgh
Teacher visited: Ryan N. Date: 02/27/06
Subject/grade: English 12th grade Hours: 1st period (7:55-8:39)
Class size: 26 students ELLs: 12 students
I. Instructional objectives and learning standards addressed:
The objectives were nor explicitly addressed by the teacher at the beginning of the lesson nor later on. However, based on the instruction and the activities that took place during the class, the teacher was targeting Standard 2. According to the New York State Board of Education, “Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for literary response, enjoyment, and expression.” In terms of instructional objectives, I think he was working on the elements of good academic writing according to the MLA and the APA styles.
II. Synopsis of Lesson:
The first thing that I observed was the great rapport between teacher and students. He talked to the students in a very academic, but friendly way. However, he did not use the “teacher talk” when addressing the ELLs. I got the impression he was taking for granted the CALP (content academic language proficiency) based on BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills).
The class started with announcement about scholarships and the application process. The teacher took a few minutes to repeat the information since it was not clear enough when transmitted over the sound system.
This was the second week of an ongoing research paper project in which the students were supposed to incorporate the MLA (modern language association) principles and guidelines of research paper writing.
The teacher encouraged the class to ask about any particular difficulties that they were encountering as they worked on the first draft. No concerns were mentioned. Consequently, he decided to work on the right way of quoting an author from different sources because he had noticed that was the main problem he had previously identified. He distributed a handout with highlighted quotes and went over the different examples with the students. Finally, he assigned the rest of the class to work on the final version of the paper. The teacher continued walking around the classroom to provide assistance to those who needed it.
The class was cut short by the bell. There was no class closure for the day, nor emphasis on the main objectives of the class.
III. Successful Instructional Strategies:
Providing multiple sources for the research paper by bringing a rolling library cart with plenty of books, magazines, articles and dictionaries for the students to use.
Use of the handout with the highlighted quotes to illustrate how they are implemented.
Repetition of important facts throughout the class like, “do not forget that the thesis statement should be stated in the first paragraph of the essay.” In addition, “if you see a word or a phrase in brackets, it means that the writer is summarizing or interpreting the author’s quote.”
Providing individual assistance at the end by walking to the students’ desks to inquire about their progress, even though the instruction was in a lecturing style.
IV. Modifications that you would make to the lesson to make it more accessible to English language learners:
Write the objectives on the chalkboard in term of content and language goals. Alternatively, provide a weekly agenda with the objectives and assign a different student every week to read them at the beginning and at the end of the class.
Use a Jump-start at least once to be able to compare the performance of the ELLs with the days the instruction does not include one. For example, a handout with the most relevant terms prior to the day of instruction.
Make students highlight the text to find the quotes, instead of doing it myself.
Repeat not only key phrases, but also key words and terms constantly.
Scaffold the writing of the essay by writing one as a whole class activity where their contributions become the final essay. For example, writing an essay on how to write an essay. This would provide a great way to work and reinforce metacognition.
V. Comments:
I was apprehensive when I went to the school because of the negative comments about unruliness and violence in the school that I had heard before. However, it was quite an opposite experience. I was impressed by the classroom management skills of the teacher and the interest shown by the students. Academically, I feel that many teachers are still unaware of the concepts as important as CALP and BICS in terms of instruction. I do feel that this is enormously affecting the ELLs, because their needs are not being addressed. I keep thinking about my favorite quote of the semester, which is “equality does not necessarily mean being fair.”



Marlon Marmolejo
336575 Teaching reading and writing in ESL
Professor: Vern Todd
Observation reports

OBSERVATION REPORT 2

Name: Marlon Marmolejo Course: ESL (Pull-Outs)
School visited: South Avenue Elementary School District: Beacon
Teacher visited: Fabiola Lieberstein Date: 05/05/06
Subject/grade: English 2nd and 4th grades Hours: 2nd period (8:50-9:40)
Class size: 4 students ELLs: 4 students
I. Instructional objectives and learning standards addressed:
The objectives were not explicitly addressed to the students. I think the objectives should always be mentioned to the students regardless of their age. This is an important factor that could affect positively the way students perceive instruction in more advanced grades. Students need to be accustomed to demanding more from their instructors. However, based on the NYSD standards, the instruction followed standard 1: “Students will listen, speak, read and write in English for information and understanding.”
In terms of instructional goals, Mrs. Lieberstein was working on the basic elements of good writing like, sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Her content goals referred to science since all the students were writing their own book based on the life cycle of reptiles.
II. Synopsis of Lesson:
Before the bell rang, Mrs. Liebersteing had to go to three different classrooms to gather the students she would be teaching that period. The four students from this section had been writing their own version of the books they had been reading on the life cycle of reptiles.
The students pulled their own personal folder that they keep in the classroom with their current projects. I was told they are allowed to take the folder home when they fall behind in their projects. Mrs. Lieberstein seated the students at one big circular table and rotated around it at least three times to assist the students in their different projects.
Mrs. Lieberstein started the class by asking a few general questions related to the topic of reptiles that she knew any of her students could answer. This was a way to unify the class around a central topic. The questions were as simple as asking what color could a snake be or how reptiles begin their life cycle. These were great examples of scaffolding and the zone of proximal development.
Ryan, a second grader, was trying to write an alphabet book about snakes. Mrs. Lieberstein did not provide the answers directly when she was asked by Ryan. Instead she provided prompts (scaffolding the answer) until he could came up with the answer himself. For example, when he said he needed a word that started with a “P”, Mrs. Lieberstein said, “Let’s look at the book. Can you show me a “P” in the text? Which words do you see start with a “P?” After two attempts, Ryan pointed out at the word “poisonous”, to which Mrs. Lieberstein replied, “Excellent job!”
When Ryan was sure of what to do, Mrs. Lieberstein moved over Pablo, a third grader, who was working on a narrative story of frogs. Pablo seemed to be a very independent learner who needed just a little assistance with capitalization.
Jennifer, a fourth grader and the most advanced, was writing a book on dragonflies. Mrs. Lieberstein was teaching her distinguish between element of non-fiction in writing and the first person narrative. When Jennifer asked if a certain word needed to be capitalized, Mrs. Lieberstein prompted Jennifer to remember the rules before making a decision.
Isaac, a third grader, was also writing a book about reptiles, but unlike Ryan who was writing an alphabet book, Isaac was trying to write three or four sentences per page and illustrate them. Isaac was more oriented toward sentence structure. By the end of the class, Mrs. Lieberstein got the whole class’ attention by asking them again more general questions. Nevertheless, this time they were content language questions like, “what can we use to show sequence in a story? How do we spell reptile? What is the life cycle of snakes?”
Finally, Mrs. Lieberstein told the class that because of the NYCESLAT, they would probably miss a week of instruction with her. She told them that were allowed to take the folder homes to continue working on the assignment.
III. Successful Instructional Strategies:
Great use of scaffolding devices and zone of proximal development principle. For example, most of the books had “post-it’s” with handwritten information and explanations.
Excellent use of “teacher talk” to emphasize key words, expressions and concepts.
Visual reinforcement of information with the magic board, books, pictures, realia and word walls.
Appropriate use of time. Mrs. Lieberstein has great skills for time management even though she was dealing with three different levels of students and proficiency.
IV. Modifications that you would make to the lesson to make it more accessible to English language learners:
Practically, none. Maybe, I would have addressed the objectives of the lesson more explicitly.


V. Comments:
I always had in mind that working with students from different ages and levels of proficiency was extremely difficult, not to say impossible. However, after observing Mrs. Lieberstein, I think it is feasible to carry out different tasks based on the students’ needs and levels of proficiency.

_________________________________________________________________

Marlon Marmolejo
336575 Teaching reading and writing in ESL
Professor: Vern Todd
Observation reports

OBSERVATION REPORT 3

Name: Marlon Marmolejo Course: English mainstream (ELA)
School visited: Rombout Middle School District: Beacon
Teacher visited: Kathy Lyon Date: 04/21/06
Subject/grade: English 8th grade Hours: 1st period (8:21-9:06)
Class size: 15 students ELLs: None
I. Instructional objectives and learning standards addressed:
The class objectives were stated orally. These were:
We will re-enact the book with a mock trial.
We will learn how a trial is conducted.
We will learn the difference between critique and criticize through a discussion at the end of the trial re-enactment
We will work on a journal entry
I think that the learning standards were implicit and referred to the civil rights of the individual within society and the justice system in the United States. Mrs. Lyon is aware of the non-existence of ELLs in her class, therefore the NYSD standards for ELLs are not a priority in her class. I consider this a mistake, because her “weak students”, although native speakers, could benefit from the instruction that the standards want to target.
II. Synopsis of Lesson:
Mrs. Lyon, the teacher, started by introducing the class with the instructional objectives of the day. Then she drew a diagram on the board describing the organization of the classroom for the trial. This trial was based on the book The Pigman by Paul Zindel. The different characters and roles were previously assigned so that the students could be prepared for the re-enactment.
Mrs. Lyon provided information about how to proceed when the students seemed confused or did not know how to connect the book information to the trial. At the beginning, the students playing the defendant and the prosecutor really demonstrated their ability to relate the plot of the book to the trial. The witnesses did not hesitate to answer the lawyers’ questions either.
Mrs. Lyon continued providing input to keep the pace of the class. She also reminded the students that they were being evaluated on their performance during the trial. This was to make sure everybody read the book and worked on the activities she had assigned.
Mrs. Lyon asked the students to define words and terms that came along during the trial. For example, when the jury was asked to reach a verdict, the word “unanimous” was mentioned by the teacher and defined by the students.
After this, the whole class carried on a discussion to find out what went wrong or was neglected during the trial. The students were told about the process of critiquing with the aim of improving. The teacher kept prompting the class by saying, “tell me more about the things you didn’t like. They would help me plan better for next classes.” She finished the discussion by asking the students to talk about the things they liked the most.
Finally, while the classroom was rearranged, the students were reminded of the test for the end of the unit. Students were given a word search worksheet that would help them prepare for it. This was the end of the unit, which took two weeks. The next unit will be on Shakespeare.
III. Successful Instructional Strategies:
The idea of recreating the trial to decide if two of the main characters, Lorraine and John, killed and took advantage of Mr. Pignati is a great way to bring the story to life.
The students were able to use elaborated vocabulary meaningfully and in context.
The idea of discussing their performance created a real self-awareness of their work, strengths and weaknesses and a meaningful way to talk about critiques.
Stating the objectives and reinforcing them at the end of the class provided a great introduction and closure to the class.
IV. Modifications that you would make to the lesson to make it more accessible to English language learners:
I would pre-teach the key word vocabulary of each chapter and show a video of a trial procedure before the re-enactment.
I would also encourage the students to gather as much information as possible about the book from websites to solidify their knowledge.
Another great strategy would to contrast the book with the movie version of the story.
In a larger class, I would have done the trial re-enactment twice to ensure the whole class participation, especially from my ELLs.
V. Comments:
I thought the trial was a clever idea to illustrate the book and activate the students’ higher order thinking skills. However, due to the distribution of the characters and the classroom setting, the rest of the students were a little too passive as the audience. There were supposed to be called on by the lawyers, as the witnesses, but it never happened. I would say 40% of the class was not invested in the learning process.




Marlon Marmolejo
336575 Teaching reading and writing in ESL
Professor: Vern Todd
Observation reports

OBSERVATION REPORT 4

Name: Marlon Marmolejo Course: ESL
School visited: Newburg Free Academy District: Newburgh
Teacher visited: Mrs.Tengstrom Date: 02/27/06
Subject/grade: English 10th, 11th and 12th grades Hours: 5th period (10:45-11:20)
Class size: 10 students ELLs: 10 students
I. Instructional objectives and learning standards addressed:
I was expecting to hear the objectives both in terms of content and language since this was an ESL class, but they were not stated. Based on the topic of the lesson, I think the lesson focused on Standard 2. According to the New York State of Education, “Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for literary response, enjoyment, and expression.” The instructional objectives were not clear. I think Mrs. Tengstrom was working on reading strategies for comprehension.
II. Synopsis of Lesson:
On that day the class was working on lessons 13 and 14 from the book Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. The class started with a handout , which consisted of a few questions about the units to be read. There was also a pre-reading activity that presented some biographical information about he author. After this, the teacher modeled the reading and then the students took turns reading. Pronunciation mistakes were addressed immediately. The whole class was asked to repeat the other students’ words that were mispronounced. At the end of each paragraph, questions were asked to ensure comprehension of each passage.
There was some incidental vocabulary teaching. This was put in context by the use of various examples. Later, the class was divided into triads to finish working on the worksheet provided at the beginning of the class.
Finally, the class was cut short by the bell. There was no closure or reminder of the objectives of the day.
III. Successful Instructional Strategies:
Use of handouts to reinforce the knowledge presented in class.
Good teacher’s examples and illustrations to explain new vocabulary.
Great use of group work to scaffold the information. This also provided a chance for the teacher to walk from group to group for a more individualized instruction.
IV. Modifications that you would make to the lesson to make it more accessible to English language learners:
I would implement a lesson around a central theme, which focuses on the hardship faced by the dispossessed and those of the outside of polite society in the many different cultures. I would like to see the students relate on a deeper level with the book. I think it is important that the students relate to their reading on a personal level to encourage and foster reading interest. I would assign different groups to research and elaborate topics like customs, social classes, economy and eating habits of the time the story takes place.
V. Comments:
Some of the students made comments among themselves in Spanish saying that they did not understand some of the instructions given by the teacher. It seemed that again the teacher was overestimating the students’ CALP based on the students’ BICS. They were very fluent when socially interacting, but fell short when they were trying to explain things that require a more elaborate and sophisticated language. I was told that the assessments were based on themes and literacy terms, however, there was no evidence that this was being done in class. On the other hand, this was a one-day observation of a class that probably did not target those.