D4L Pablo Picasso "Head" Video-1st Grade

Video: D4L 1st Grade Box A theme 1 week 3 lesson 1
Time: 7 minutes

In OUSD, Discussions4Learning is most often used as a supplementary Designated ELD material in grades 2nd to 5th. However, some sites are trying the Box A, the first of the four, in 1st grade, and an introductory video provided on the D4L website from Worcester MA actually features a 1st grade class.

Time, Place and Group
In May of 2017, Ms. Blossom at New Highland Academy graciously allowed me into her classroom during her Designated ELD time to try the lesson. This group had a fairly high proficiency level, from high CELDT 2s to English-only students.

Things I Wanted to Try
1. Teach the students the Think-Pair-Share protocol. TPS encourages me to include Think or wait time, and allows all students oral practice during the Pair while I circulate to check for understanding. During the Share I can either just take some answers, or, if the prompt is open-ended and rich enough, have a full academic discussion.

2. A lesson prep procedure that included several planning moves which I think are applicable to many lessons, especially b, c and d.
a. Adding a very open introductory question: "Look at this image, what do you notice?" which I had seen other teachers use. It allows students to try out all kinds of language and make a personal connection to the details of the image. This comes in handy for developing language later in the lesson.
     
b. Reading through the whole script and deciding where I could put the Think-Pair-Share opportunities. I wanted to pick questions from the script that were fairly open ended and that kids might feel comfortable discussing independently.

c. Using a different "progressive repetition" procedure for repeating the black bold sentences. First, the teacher says the first logical chunk of the sentence and has students repeat it. Then s/he says that first chunk but adds on the next as well, and has students repeat that. The teacher keeps going until s/he gets to the last chunk, and then s/he has the students repeat the sentence to partners:
          T: He transformed
          SS: He transformed
          T: He transformed things we see and use
          SS: He transformed things we see and use
          T: He transformed things we see and use into art.
          SS: He transformed things we see and use into art.
          T: Great, now say, "He transformed things we see and 
          use into art" once to your partners.
          SS taking turns in Pairs: He transformed things we               see and use into art.

I like the way this technique provides a high level of scaffolding but keeps students at all levels engaged as they attend to how the sentence gradually unpacks, similar to the way students follow the gradual creation of a pictorial input chart. The procedure thus makes repetition of key vocabulary and sentence structure a bit interesting, helping students get "miles on the tongue" during Designated ELD time.
    
d. Making sure there was a bigger open ended question that I could use after the lesson to drive a more open academic discussion. I decided to add, "Do you think this sculpture is funny? Why or why not?" after the vocabulary review at the end of the lesson.

What Happened
When you watch the video, maybe you'll see that some things worked and some didn't.

What I see at times is that I have some very short wait times after I ask a question, and that I talk quickly. If I could have allowed more wait times and spoken at a fast walking speed, rather than a run, it probably would have been more comprehensible. That said, I think the gestures and repetition of key words allowed students to understand what was going on. That "message abundancy" is something that Gibbons talks about in her amazing book, Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, so I always try to include strategic repetition of important language when I teach.

I made the decision, after the lesson, to cut out the word "transport." This is not something I did lightly, partly because the 4 to 6 words taught in each lesson intentionally spiral over time, so leaving one out could cause difficulty later. 

I took the the word out because it breaks up the theme and meaning of the lesson. All the other words and conversation nicely center around the theme of Picasso transforming the everyday into art, while transport is completely disconnected from this theme. Notice how transform and transport are also very similar in sound, something which also confused many students.

Conclusions
Overall, I felt that it worked well for first grade. The students were interested in the image, and I could see them stretching to find language to talk about the image. That kind of supported language stretch is just what is called for in the CA ELA/ELD Framework. 

The technique of "progressive repetition" (let me know if you have a better name for this technique) also worked well. 

I only wish I could have had the academic discussion at the end because I wanted to see how students talked about the image, and whether any of the vocabulary learned would come up, or whether they could be nudged into using it. In the end, difficulties with the word "transport" with this group took up too much time.

Finally, I think a slower pace for me would be better, with a bit more listening and pausing to really see and hear what is going on.

Below I include the pages of the lesson, which I like to photocopy and mark up before I do a lesson. 

---Mike Ray, OUSD ELD Coordinator

Small Group Systematic ELD-- 1st Grade B/EI at Garfield Elementary with Merce Guixa

Video: Mercè Guixà-11-15-15-Art of Getting Along 1st-B-EI--Prepositions

00:00 Intro

00:30  Open the Lesson

2:34:   Model and Practice - I Do / We Do

16:47  Practice the Language - You Do

25:09  Close the Lesson

26:06  Comments from Mercè - Chunking the lesson on the fly

I taught systematic ELD at the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade levels when I was a classroom teacher. I am now a TSA at Garfield Elementary, where we use systematic ELD in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade during Designated ELD. We use ADEPT as an internal assessment to group students based on their proficiency level for ELD. For 1st and 2nd grade we teach ELD in small groups, as you can see in the video, which shows a group of 1st graders at a beginning/early intermediate level.

The lesson in the video is from lesson 3, week 2 of the The Art of Getting Along. The objective of the lesson was for students to use I need with classroom vocabulary to make requests, pronouns it’s or they’re, and prepositions in, on, next to and under to tell where something is located. Previous to this lesson, students had already learned the prepositions in and on, and were asked for object locations using where is and are with associated classroom vocabulary.  

The systematic ELD lessons are designed for 40 minutes of instruction but our Designated ELD time in small groups is for a shorter amount of time. I planned the lesson to include and practice all the elements described in the learning objective and including all five parts of the lesson flow--the opening, the I do, the we do, the you do and the closing, but in this short amount of time.

However, while teaching the lesson, I realized that students were struggling using all the prepositions together so I made the decision to just practice sentences with the plural form of the verb and the pronoun they and leave the singular and the pronoun it for another day. This is an example of “chunking” the objective into smaller pieces and taking two days to do one lesson. It is often necessary with Systematic ELD lessons and it is also common for the chunking ideas to occur to me as I am teaching a lesson which is when  the needs of students become clearer. This is often true even when I have planned well.

Even though it might seem that this chunking is slowing down the pacing, I believe it is about the “quality” time to practice over the “quantity” of the lessons being taught. And again, providing students with multiple opportunities to practice the language will only help and reinforce their learning.

As I explained at the end of the video, the follow up for this lesson would be to review and practice the same language and with the added singular form of the verb to be with it. This would provide students with more opportunities to practice the language and grammar with a special emphasis on the prepositions.

D4L Giant Rock Lesson Video--Third Graders at TCN--Ryan Lyle

Click here for: D4L Video-3rd Grade, Level B, Theme 3, Week 15, Lesson 3

   
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Video Table of Contents:
00:00 to 00:17 Introductory Materials
00:18 to 03:10 Reviewing Previous Lesson
03:11 to 17:03 Teaching the Day's Lesson
17:04 to 17:26 Materials Review

While I've only been using Discussions4Learning for a month or so in my third-grade classroom, I've seen that my students love to talk about the interesting and unique artwork in this curriculum.  

They especially love the review time at the beginning when they can practice using the new vocabulary as they look back on older lessons.  Keeping a running list of "words we have learned" allows many students to remember and use words they might have forgotten otherwise.  

Since it is only my second year as a classroom teacher, classroom management can be a struggle throughout these lessons.  As my management skills grow, I hope to be able to use more of the curriculum that asks for students to describe and interpret.  Unfortunately, I often find I've taken up the 20 minutes on the rug in a more call-and-response type of lesson and have little time left to ask students to discuss.  

As I continue to work on these lessons, my goal is to save more time for the "Connecting to the Theme" section of the curriculum.  This might mean I will do less turn and talks. However, as you can see in the video, students are bursting at the seams to talk about what they see and share their ideas about the art.  I'm working to find this balance.

--Ryan Lyle, 3rd Grade, Think College Now, OUSD

Small Group Systematic ELD--1st Grade B/EI at Garfield Elementary with Roya Bazaei

VIDEO: SysELD Art of Getting Along: Edited 11-minute version in Roya Bazaei's class

VIDEO: SysELD Art of Getting Along: Full 21-minute version in Roya Bazaei's class

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I teach first grade at Garfield Elementary School in Oakland’s incredibly diverse San Antonio District. Well over half of our students are English Language Learners and we are welcoming a growing population of newcomers from all over the world. Over the past few years, teachers, coaches, and administration have put serious thought into how to structure our Designated ELD program most effectively. Here’s what we’ve come up with in first grade:

We start by administering an English proficiency exam (we use ADEPT) to all students (English Language Learners and native English speakers). In years past, students across all first grade classes were put into homogenous groups based on their levels of English proficiency, as determined by ADEPT results. Each first grade teacher was responsible for teaching a different proficiency level. For 30 minutes each day, all students would participate in a Designated ELD block, during which they may or may not have been with their homeroom teachers. We found that this was not the best model in first grade, as it presented challenges with transition time and classroom management, among others. In this year’s new system, each teacher creates homogenous small groups of his or her own homeroom students and teaches two, 20-minute small group Designated ELD lessons each day, while the rest of the class works independently.

Although this does mean fewer minutes per week of direct Designated ELD instruction for each student, it has allowed us to use our instructional minutes much more effectively (also, see "Integrate it" below for integrated ELD). We’ve cut down on transition time and time wasted because of behavior management challenges. It’s so much easier to manage your own students with whom you’ve built relationships and who have internalized your systems and expectations. Additionally, small group instruction allows teachers to gain a better understanding of each student’s mastery and to use the Systematic ELD curriculum to its fullest potential, adapting it to meet students’ unique strengths and needs. A few ways I’ve learned to do this are:

• Change the pace: Sometimes a lesson plan just has too much to cover in one session… so don’t! It’s ok to break up a lesson over two or three days, especially for newcomers.

• Supplement it: Sometimes I like to supplement SysELD lessons with relevant read alouds, book talks, songs, games, or other activities to switch things up and keep students interested, or to give a bit more scaffolding or practice.

• Integrate it: In schools like mine with so many ELLs, Designated ELD instruction can’t be isolated in a 30-40 minute block each day, so we do lots of Integrated ELD. It has to be woven into everything we do. We can model academic language and ensure that it is being used throughout the day. We can incorporate songs, chants, and shared reading across content areas. We can use quick turn and talks to practice challenging language structures (e.g. “If you could be any animal, what would you be?”). We can also add more Designated ELD time whole class to focus on some deep language instruction from which ALL students will benefit.

This is my fourth year using the Systematic ELD curriculum, and I continue to learn more and more about how to ensure that my students are getting the most out of it!

---Roya Bazaei, Garfield Elementary

Lean and Useful D4L Intro with Video on Davis Website

The  Program and Action page of the Davis website has some excellent resources that give a lean and useful overview of how the Discussions4Learning program works. Even if you have been using Discussions4Learning for a while, you might want to have a look.

1. The 4-minute video which is on the page features some key points about the program, and it is nice to see kids from a 1st grade class in a low-income school engage with and enjoy D4L (though you should also definitely view our own Ryan Lyle and Jasmine Tow at work if you haven't yet).

2. The green Vocabulary button provides a strong overview of how vocabulary is developed in D4L. This is a powerful aspect of the program that we have covered here on this blog, but not in such a pithy and elegant way.


3. The Images button covers the rationale for using images to develop vocabulary and oral language.



4. The Instruction button allows you to peruse lesson layout and sequence.

D4L Videos Including "Focused Language Study" 10-minute Pre-teach

As we consider the usefulness of Discussions4Learning for Designated ELD, defined in the 2014 California ELA/ELD Framework, it is necessary to consider how the program can provide Focused Language Study, that is, a time to focus on developing standard academic language. These academic language forms are described in Part II of the 2012 CA ELD Standards, Learning about how English Works. 

The two videos show how Jasmin Tow, former 2nd grade teacher at Greenleaf, uses a schedule including:

1. 10 minutes of Focused Language Study in a small-group while higher proficiency students are engaged in Designated ELD Centers 
2. 20 to 25 minutes minutes of a more standard D4L lesson seems an efficient way to get the most out of the program

Note that this is a self-contained setting, with this model allowing for differentiation without shifting students between classrooms.

The first video, shows Jasmin Tow providing Focused Language Study to a small group of CELDT 1s and low 2s (what might be called the "pre-Emerging" level in the parlance of the 2012 CA ELD Standards). The small-group lesson develops vocabulary and language patterns that will support the students to participate more fully in the longer, 20-minute whole-group lesson. 

In the second video, Jasmin teaches the whole-group D4L lesson that follows the small-group pre-teach.


Thanks, Jasmin!

--Mike Ray, OUSD ELL Coordinator

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Core Practices: Discussions4Learning/Vocabularte

As OUSD teachers transition to the implementation and inquiry phase in their use of Discussions4Learning, some common best practices are surfacing. Implementing the program effectively is a combination of knowing what is essential to its design (and therefore probably should not be changed) and what are the practices that might enhance the  program as written. 

1. Go through the lessons in sequence and include all the bolded and yellow-highlighted words so that the core  vocabulary gets the careful spiraling that ensures students gradually enrich their definition of the words through repeated examples.

2. Use the black highlighted sentences as written, since they gradually increase in complexity over time. Give students one or two chances to repeat, but bear in mind that too much repetition can have a "drill and kill feel." Think of the sentences as exposure, context and light practice.

3. Do not pre-teach the core vocabulary: allow the flow of the lesson to unfold vocabulary meaning through discussion. This process by which students gradually construct understanding of a word--using it and refining their initial definition based on multiple experiences--is a research-based, core practice of the program. Pre-teaching definitions takes valuable time away from a stronger and more engaging process that is already written into the manuals. On the other hand, posting learned vocabulary on charts for reference and repeated exposure can be a helpful addition to the core routine.

4. Look for areas to insert Turn-and-talks and Think-pair-shares to increase opportunities to Fortify Complex Output as Jeff Zweirs might say. This will take more time, but it is time well spent!

5. Make sure to include the whole-class discussion as explained in the lesson scripts. This is where rich contexts and sophisticated elaboration of connected ideas occurs. Including Turn-and-talks (point 4 above) to Fortify Complex Output is very important, but students also need to participate in the co-construction of ideas through Fostering Interaction.

6. Always include a Discussion-Worthy Prompt. Sometimes a rich, open-ended prompt is included in the guide. At other times, such a prompt may not be included and in these cases you may consider adding one. The post Including a Discussion-Worthy Prompt in Every Lesson provides ideas.

7. Review the pages 22 to 29 in the Discussions4Learning Program Guide to understand the research base and the design of the program.  This will help you make instructional choices and and innovations that enhance the more powerful aspects of the program.

From Mike Ray, ELD Coordinator, OUSD ELLMA Office