CLAD GUIDE

For New Teachers

Jorge E. Bonilla
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING
• Writing Goals & Objectives ………..…………………………………………..…...4
• Unit Planning & Daily Lesson Planning…………………………………………….6
• Integrated (Thematic) Lessons/Units………………..……………………..……..….8
• Instructional Scaffolds………………………………………………….…..……..…9
• Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) Methodologies ….. 13
• English Language Development (ELD ) Techniques…………….………………….14
• Questioning and Bloom’s Taxonomy …………………………………………...….19
• Cooperative Learning & Subject-Specific Teaching Models/Activities ……..… . ..21
• Components of Effective Cooperative Learning ………………………………..….22
• Cooperative Learning Subject-Specific Models/Activities ……………… …...…...25

II. TEACHING SKILLS

• Various Programs/Techniques to Teach Reading Skills ….. .………………… … ..26
• Techniques To Provide Access To The Core Curriculum To All Students…..…... ..28
• Selection Curriculum and Materials…………………...………………………… …33
• Curriculum Implementation & Adaptation of Materials….……………………… ..34

III. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

• Organizing the Classroom Physical Environment….....……………………………..38
• Creating a Community of Learners…… …… ………………………………………38
• Managing Student Work & Maintaining Accountability……. .…………………….40
• Appropriate Discipline Models …… ……………………………………………… .41

IV. Student Diagnosis, Achievement, & Evaluation

• Formal I Informal Methods to Assess Students’ Language Proficiency …... ………44
• Use and Limitations of Evaluation Instruments & Alternative Methods of
Evaluation………………………………………………………….…………….…..46

V. Professional Responsibilities & Interpersonal Relationships

• Child Abuse Laws, Policies, & Procedures……..……………………………….…..51
• Parent /Teacher Communication & Working with Paraprofessionals…….…….…..52

VI. Language Structure & First & Second-Language Development

• Language Structure and Use………..………………………………………………..55
• Theories and Models of Language Development……..……………………..……....59
• Factors Affecting First & Second-Language Development……..…………..………62

VII. Methodology of Bilingual, English Language Development

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& Content Instruction

• Theory of Bilingual Education…….…………………………………………….…..68
• Models of Bilingual Education (Models for L2 Development)……..……………….71
• Foundations for Bilingual Education…….…………………………………………..75
• Organizational Models of Bilingual Education…….………………………………..76
• Major Second-Language Instructional Methods and Strategies……….…………….78
• Theory & Methods for Instruction In & Through English;
ELD Content Area Instruction…….…………………………………………………79

VIII. Culture & Cultural Diversity

• The Nature of Culture…...…………………………………………………….……..80
• Ways to Know Students’ Culture & Ways to use Cultural Knowledge…………..…81
• Issues and Concepts Related to Cultural Contact…...……………………………….84
• Cultural Diversity in California, the U.S., Including Demographics
& Immigrations……………………………………………………………….……...86

1. Cultural Diversity Curricula Objectives by James Banks……………………………88

2. Blooms Taxonomy: Six Classifications……..……………………………………….90
3. Language Identification & Language Assessment……..……………………………92
4. Idea Proficiency Test Summary…..………………………………………………….94
5. Notice of Duty to Report Child Abuse/Time Frames/Failure to Report…….………96

For Professional Clear Credential Candidates

A. Mainstreaming
Public Law 94-142 ……...……………………………………………………………….97
Teaching Techniques that facilitate Mainstreaming……….…………………………….99
B. Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, & Nutrition
Symptoms of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Drug Abuse & Actions to be Taken by Teachers ..104
Nutrition...………………………………………………………………………………107
C. Computer Technology in the Classroom
Criteria for Evaluating Educational Software….…………………………….…………109
Evaluation of Educational Software… ..……………………………….………………112
Computers in the Classroom……………………………………………………………114

I. Instructional Planning
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Writing Goals & Objectives

Curricular goals are broad statements of intent that help create a vision of what the
teacher is striving to accomplish, that is, they define what is going to be taught and
learned. In California the Content Standards provide clear-cut curricular goals, in other
words, goals are defined by standards. In order to understand how goals are derived from
the standards the instructor must be well familiarized with the structure of the Content
Standards. The standards are categorized by domain. For example, the language arts
domains are reading, writing, written and oral language conventions, and listening and
speaking. The standards in each domain are in turn categorized in strands and
subtstrands. Instructional goals can be extracted from the standards. In each standard,
under the heading of the strand, goals are clearly spelled out. For example, in language
arts within the domain of reading under the strand Literary Response and Analysis a
clear–cut goal is stated: “Students read and respond to a wide variety of significant works
of children literature.” The California State frameworks, which are based on the Content
Standards, explicitly recommend that goals be defined by the standards. Therefore, the
writing of instructional goals is highly simplified by following the recommendations
found in the Content Standards. The Frameworks insist that instructional goals must be
standard-aligned. Any deviation from that is not only out of compliance, but it will also
make writing goals very cumbersome for the teacher.

In broad terms it can be said that there are basically two types of instructional
objectives: behavioral objectives and non-behavioral objectives (Mager, Robert F.,
Preparing Instructional objectives. 2nd ed. Belmont, California: David S. Lake Publishers,
1984). Behavioral objectives are measurable, specific statements that lead toward
instructional goals. An objective must clearly specify the outcomes the teacher wants to
accomplish. An objective is a description of the performance or outcome learners must
exhibit. An objective describes the intended result of instruction rather than the process
of instruction itself, which is contained in the unit and lesson plans. Furthermore,
objectives must specify how to recognize when the intended outcome has been achieved,
in other words, the objective must state what the learners will be able to do. The most
important and indispensable characteristic of an effective objective is that it should
describe the kind of performance that students must demonstrate, that is, it should
describe what the students will be able to do as evidence of having mastered the
objective. Therefore, broad and abstract terms must be avoided (to know, to understand,
to appreciate, to internalize, etc.)

Outcomes may be directly observable, for example, to write, to recite, to draw, to

build, etc. (Robert Mager calls this type of outcomes, overt performance outcomes), or
outcomes may not be directly observable, for example, to solve, to identify, to compare,
to contrast, etc. (covert performance, according to R. Mager) In the former case, meeting
the demands of the objective is quite obvious and simple. In the later case, outcomes are
internal and cognitive, and can only be verified indirectly by asking the students to do
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something observable, that is, visible or audible. Therefore, if the stated instructional
intent cannot be directly observed or measured the instructor must add an indicator. For
example, lets say the instructor wants students to identify misspelled words on a given
page, he or she may then ask students to underline or circle the spelling mistakes in that
given page. Sometimes, in order to make clear the precise outcome behavior that is
expected of the students as evidence of mastering the content of the lesson, the objective
must state specific conditions under which the performance is expected to occur. For
example, given a list of twenty words, students will circle the ones that are misspelled.
Furthermore, the instructor might want to establish a condition or criterion that will
indicate when the students’ performance is good enough to meet the instructional
objective. For instance, in the above example, the instructor could add that students must
spell with phonetic accuracy the words next to encircled misspelled words; or that
students must be able to correct four out of the five mistakes found in the twenty-word
list.

Subsequently, behavioral objectives are further developed and categorized by the

domain in which the learning is going to take place: cognitive domain, affective domain,
or psychomotor domain. Cognitive objectives can be written in virtue of Bloom’s
taxonomy. Each one of the categories or levels of the cognitive domain can be used as
guidelines for writing objectives. The instructor does must not need to feel compelled to
utilize the six different levels (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation) in order, neither should he or she feel pressured to write
objectives according to each level. I believe the content standards to be taught will guide
the instructor in the correct choice. For instance, let’s say the instructor wants to teach
reading comprehension skills, the comprehension level could perfectly well be the first
choice. Furthermore, if the skill to be taught is the ability to summarize a plot of a story
the synthesis level could selected. It really depends on how far and deep the instructor
wants to teach the lesson or how much emphasis he or she is granting to a particular
standard or group of standards. Bloom’s categories are arranged from the simplest to the
more complex, knowledge being the simplest and evaluation the most complex.

Most educational specialists agree on classifying affective objectives as a specific kind of behavioral
objective. The affective domain is associated with emotions, attitudes, values, appreciation, etc., and
therefore, is difficult to observe and measure. The instructor must generalize from the learner’s behaviors
that indicate if the students are meeting the learning objective. Yet, certain curricular content falls within
the affective domain, most particularly the fine arts and for such, affective objectives seems to be ideal.
The psychomotor domain is associated with speech behavior and non-verbal behavior such as fine and
gross motor movements. A psychomotor objective is directly observable and therefore makes it easier for
the instructor to determine if the students have mastered the learning objective. The outcomes can range
from reading a poem with the correct intonation to doing pantomime or dancing to communicate the mood
of a musical piece.
Some critics of the behavioral objectives argue that they are far too rigid, and much that
is worth teaching may be left out, that is , not all instructional aims may be reduced to
measurable or observable performances. Problem-solving objectives are a plausible
alternative for behaviors that cannot be measured. These objectives must describe the
conditions and the problem to be solved but do not specify the actual behaviors that
students must demonstrate. The solutions to problem-solving objectives are varied and
unpredictable and may be a surprise to both teachers and students. These types of
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objectives are ideal for instances in which instructors want to encourage students to think,
make decisions and create solutions. Some lessons, due to their inherent nature, may
not need explicit objectives and therefore another type of non-behavioral objectives,
expressive objectives, might provide a better alternative. Expressive objectives are open-
ended in nature and highly artistic. To a great degree this learning type of objective is
student-centered and teachers must be prepared to seize teachable moments and be
flexible and adaptable to unforeseen teachable situations that might come up. The
instructor may just want to expose students to new ideas and experiences such as a field
trip to a place students never been before, or having them listen to music they may not
have ever heard before and based on the student’s response foster further discovery or
explorations.

Unit Planning & Lesson Planning

The instructor has to design or adopt unit plans before attempting daily individual
lesson plans. There is not one “correct” way to go about unit planning. It is of the
utmost importance that instructors develop a comprehensive yearly plan. Again, the state
frameworks describe explicitly the material to be covered in each core subject during the
year. A yearly plan of studies is composed of different core units for each subject, for
example, in social studies the state framework recommends for second grade the
following three units: “People who Supply our Needs,” “ Our Parents, Grandparents, and
Ancestors from Long Ago,” and “People from Many Cultures, Now and Long Ago.”
The instructor must choose the order in which he or she is going to present those units
(and, of course, the curriculum and curricular materials needed for the instructional
development of those units). The instructor should look for patterns of relationships
between the different core subject units and try to integrate them through thematic units.
On the other hand, the instructor may first start instead by designing or adopting
thematic units, sequencing the thematic units and then integrating the core units into the
thematic units. The state frameworks also offer ideas for thematic units. The science
framework suggests the following themes:
1.Energy
2.Evolution
3.Patterns of Change
4.Scale and Structure
5.Stability
6.Systems and Interactions

Once instructional units are chosen, integrated and sequenced, in other words, once the teacher has
drawn the big picture, then he or she can proceed to break the instructional units into sub-units. For
example, in the social studies unit for second grade, “People from Many Cultures, Now and Long Ago,” the
state framework suggests the study of scientists who have found a cure for childhood diseases, inventors,
authors, musicians, artists, athletes and leaders from all walks of life. For the teaching of this social studies
unit the teacher will have to select a few personalities to explore in depth. The study of each one of these
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personalities would comprise a sub-unit. For instance, the teacher may decide to present the study of
Thomas Edison. In this case, “Thomas Edison” would be a sub-unit of the unit, “People from Many
Cultures, Now and Long Ago.” In the case of the sub-unit “Thomas Edison” (which could very possibly
take a few weeks to present since it can be very well integrated into the science theme of “energy”), the
teacher must plan which of the many contributions of Thomas Edison will be presented to the students and
the order of presentation. Each of these instructional objectives will further be broken down into daily
lesson plans.

Lesson plans consist of three basic components: The instructional objective, the
procedure, and the evaluation. The first one is the instructional objective (which was
discussed above). The second consists of procedures with which the content is going to
be taught. The procedures include the materials the instructor is going to need to deliver
the lesson. When contemplating materials and procedures, the instructor must keep in
mind the three learning modalities, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic; the ethnic
composition of his class; and students with special needs. Students with special needs
include students with learning difficulties as well as the more talented and gifted.

Another very important factor to consider when planning lessons from the
framework of a unit lesson is sequencing. The order in which the material is going to be
presented is of the utmost importance. The English-language Arts Framework provides
the following organizational principles to be taken into account in lesson planning:
Arrangement of sequence of skills, clear communication by the teacher, assistance to
students during transitions, adequate practice and review, and the making of connections.
The sequence to be followed when introducing the content of instruction is: 1. Introduce
prerequisite skills before more advanced skills; 2. Introduce the easier content before
the more difficult content; 3. Separate the introduction of content and strategies likely to
be confused ; 4. Introduce information that has greater utility before information with
less utility; 5. Control the amount of new information so that it is comfortably and
reasonably challenging for the students.

The following recommendation (taken from the English-Language Arts

Framework) I find to be of monumental importance, this refers to the difficult transitions
between different activities in a lesson. Normally, a daily lesson begins with a whole-
class teacher directed lesson in which the teacher introduces new concepts, ideas, skills
and or strategies and then models the performance he or she wants the students to
accomplish. Merely demonstrating a new strategy or skill and then requiring the students
to apply the strategy or skill is often not realistic. A teacher’s demonstration is usually
followed by guided practice. The instructor must carefully monitor students for
understanding and mastery of new skills or strategies before assigning independent work.
Practice and review should be thoughtfully planned. Students should not practice what is
not challenging. The instructor also has to keep in mind that not all students need the
same amount and type of practice and review. The instructor must make provision for
students that have learning difficulties as well as those more advanced students. Enough
time must be devoted to practice and review for students to master new information and
master new skills. Review must be cumulative so that students do not misapply new
strategies. Making connections is also of great importance. Students must apply new
strategies for authentic purposes.
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The most classical of all lesson plans is the well-known Seven Steps Lesson Plan:
1. Writing the content objective. 2. Motivation/ Rationale: The instructor must explain
what steps he or she is going to take to get the students interested. Rationale refers to
why the lesson is important, making connections with prior knowledge and students
experiences. The lesson must be meaningful. 3. Directed lesson: Includes an explanation
of the steps and sequence the instructor is going to employ to present the content
objective. 4. Guided Group Practice: The instructor guides the students in the practice
of new skill or strategies after modeling it for the students in the directed lesson. 5.
Independent Practice: Once the instructor feels that most or all the students master the
guided practice, he or she then assigns independent practice. This could be collaborative
groups, in pairs or individually. 6. Alternate and Supplementary Activities: These are
enrichment activities for more advanced students and reteaching for students who need
additional help. Learning centers are widely used at this point. 7. Evaluation: Assessment
by the instructor of the students’ mastery of the lesson’s content.

The third component of a lesson plan is evaluation. At the end of the lesson the
instructor has to design a ways of evaluating how successful he or she was delivering the
lesson. The idea for the form of evaluation is generally contained in the objective.
Hence, writing daily lesson plans is quite simple. I find the most difficult thing lies in
always trying to incorporate the different learning modalities in the instructional
procedures. Therefore there should be audiovisual realia and manipulatives. Above all,
considering cultural diversity and students with special needs offers the greatest
challenge to the instructor.

Integrated (Thematic) Lessons/Units

An instructional goal will direct the instructor to design lessons around a theme.
The theme acts as a blueprint for developing unit plans. There are a few very
fundamental points to keep in mind when designing them. What needs to be taught is of
the utmost importance. Having this clearly established in the curricular goal the
instructor should search for themes that may integrate the different content units to be
taught. Although it is possible to design different units for each subject, it is advisable to
try to integrate as many different subjects under one theme unit. The instructor must also
keep in mind holidays, civil festivities and seasonal topics, since they offer an ideal
rationale for the students. I suggest keeping theme units aligned with the State
Frameworks.

Although all subject matters must be taught impartially, every teacher has an
inclination towards certain specific subjects. I am personally fond of history and social
studies; therefore, when searching for a them in the History-Social Studies Framework I
noticed that the unit, People from Many Cultures, Now and Long Ago could be integrated
with the Columbus Day celebration. Discovery became a theme that would be developed
around the study and celebration of the discovery of America. Several daily lessons
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would be geared towards the illustration of what the concept discovery means. In-depth
study of a topic is widely preferred than superficial study of many topics. To teach the
discovery of America, students have to be introduced to world geography, and that in
itself is a unit that requires careful planning. The Mathematics Framework recommends
several different units. I found that the Math Framework’s Locating and Mapping Unit
and the Measurement and Geometry Strand could easily be integrated in the Discovery
theme. I also integrated the Energy theme From the Science Framework, which for K-3
includes the capacity of waves to carry energy and how they set objects in motion, as
well at the various standards that that deal with the ocean and oceans. In language arts I
integrated the concept of biography, the book of rhymes In 1992, biographies of
Christopher Columbus, standards related to reading and writing biographies. For
performing arts, I wrote a play entitled, “The Columbus Story,” which was very
instrumental as a motivational rationale.

Instructional Scaffolds

Traditionally, education was viewed as simple transmission of knowledge. It was

believed that there existed a fixed knowledge base and the teachers’ role was to impart or
transmit such knowledge to students. The way the teaching profession views teaching
and learning has change quite dramatically. Presently, the social constructivist
framework depicts students actively constructing their own knowledge and
understanding. Students do this by building mental schemata, that is, by developing new
concepts and skills based on prior understanding and knowledge. New information and
skills are internalized through social interaction. A student’s optimum learning occurs in
what is called zone of proximal development, (ZPD). This cognitive zone is defined by
the distance there is between a student’s independent capacity in accomplishing learning
tasks and problem solving and what the student can accomplish with the aide and
guidance of an instructor. Scaffolding is defined as the assistance given by an instructor
to an individual’s ZPD. In more simple terms, scaffolding means helping students
accomplish tasks which they are not capable of accomplishing independently. Scaffolds
are intended to be temporary structures of support. The instructor should gradually
withdraw such support as the students have the opportunity to use new learned strategies
through guided activities. Once the students internalize these new learned strategies and
are able to apply them independently the scaffold may be removed.

Scaffolding can be exercised in a whole-class situation, in groups, and in a one to

one basis. Most specialists seem to agree that scaffolding is most ideally carried out on a
one to one basis. Yet, a classroom teacher’s primary role is not that of a tutor, but of a
facilitator of the students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills. It is argued that if a
teacher aims at the class’ general ZPD, some of the students’ ZPDs will lie behind while
others will lie beyond. Yet, that may be remedied later by small group and individual
scaffolding. Therefore, I will discuss whole-class scaffolding first.
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The first approach of the instructor in a whole-class scaffolding milieu should be

the development of a classroom culture that supports risk taking, community
involvement, thinking and sharing together. First of all, such an atmosphere would lower
the classroom’s affective filter. In second place, it will enable the instructor to probe into
the students’ mental processes and create real opportunities for authentic assessment,
which in turn is indispensable for determining the students’ ZPDs. The instructor must
know what the students already know and what they are capable of accomplishing by
themselves. The instructor also needs to know where the students might have stumbling
blocks, for this, the instructor must be well familiarized with the curriculum he or she is
teaching. The instructor must become very skillful at the art of questioning.
Traditionally, questioning in the classroom was aim at tapping students’ memory facts
and right answers. In the scaffolding teaching model questioning should be aimed at
generating questions and tapping understanding. Furthermore, the instructor’s response
should be dedicated not to the traditional evaluation of memory facts, but to fostering
students’ thinking. Finally, students should be treated by the instructor, as well as by
fellow students, as thinkers who have much to offer.

The instructor must be very explicit with the students as to aims of his teaching
objectives. The instructor must offer clear explanations as to what is being learned, why
it is being learned, and when it should be applied. That should be applied to specific
teaching of content knowledge and skills, and above all, to the development and students’
awareness of the processes of metacognition.

Generally, in a directed lesson, the instructor begins by modeling desired behaviors.

A key scaffolding strategy is think-aloud modeling. The instructor demonstrates the
mental processes underlying the accomplishment of leaning task, that is, the instructor
talks aloud the steps to be followed in order to accomplish a task or solve a problem. The
instructor should encourage students to think aloud through problem solving situations
and the accomplishment of tasks. Also, when dealing with the accomplishment of tasks,
not only should the teacher break down and segment tasks into manageable chunks, but
he must model and teach students how to do it through thinking-alouds.

Building background knowledge and tapping into what students already know are
very closely related since the background knowledge should be built upon the students’
preexisting schemata. If we say that thinking aloud renders the thought processes audible,
then we can say that graphic organizers make thinking visible. KWL charts are ideal for
this task. Besides helping students formulate what they know about a specific topic, it
also helps the students identify what they need or want to know. It is a very complete
organizer because it has at the end an evaluative aspect to it (What They Learned
column) by helping students build up new knowledge by connecting it to the past
knowledge or misconceptions they had about the subject.

Brainstorming is a formidable scaffolding strategy. It is a quick way for activating

prior knowledge and generating ideas. As all other strategies, the instructor must very
carefully model the desired behaviors. Using graphic organizers such as webs, clusters,
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semantic and concept maps is indispensable. Students can move from oral whole-class
brainstorming and in time graduate to individual brainstorming on paper.

Graphic organizers in general are wonderful aides that support scaffolding

strategies. The use of the Venn diagram is ideal to help the instructor model the
comparison/contrast thinking strategy. The instructor should start by thinking aloud and
eliciting the participation of the students in filling out a Venn Diagram. The instructor
should begin by first comparing and contrasting concrete known objects or animals
before attempting to use this strategy for comprehension, discovery or exploration
purposes. Flow charts are very helpful in modeling sequencing of events; fish bone
models may assist the instructor in modeling cause and effect relationships.

Debates are another not very widely used scaffolding aide. Debates are ideal for
helping students elicit what they already know about a topic, building background
knowledge, developing critical and creative thinking skills, and strengthening speaking
and listening skills. Initially the instructor will role play the part of a student in order to
model the desired behaviors. There are a few very important guidelines to observe:
Setting turns and time limits to speakers, setting the number of times one student may
speak, and debriefing the debate by evaluating the results. I had a wonderful experience
when in an ESL class I intended to teach English reading, speaking, and listening skills
through the study of the play City Mouse and Country Mouse. In order to build
background knowledge and elicit student’s enthusiasm I had the students develop a
debate in which, the pros and cons of country and city life was the issue to be debated.
This not only highly motivated the students, but it also facilitated their understanding of
the theme of the play.

I have done extensive use of drama as building background scaffold. The use of
drama has very wide scope and it can progress from simple Reader’s theatre through role
playing to the more formal performance of a play. I have modeled writing scripts with
my students and through language experience dictation we have collectively written plays
out of stories, which later have been performed in and out of the school. Drama in
general provides opportunities for expressing feelings and emotions, develop vocabulary,
develop speaking and listening skills, develop creative and critical thought, and social
skills.

Visual aides are very effective scaffolds that foster building background knowledge.
They are also very effective SDAIE techniques (which I will discuss later).

These same scaffolding strategies can be applied in small group scenario. For
scaffolding purposes, students should be grouped by ability. If all the students in a small
group are approximately at the same developmental level of academic ability the
instructor will be then working at all of the student’s zones of proximal development.

One on one basis scaffolding can be done by the classroom teacher, by a teaching
assistant or by another more advanced fellow student. I have found that peer tutoring can
be a more fruitful and effective scaffolding intervention than tutoring done by a teaching
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assistant or the classroom teacher. Research shows that children learn more readily from
peers than from adults. In turn, the child that is tutoring greatly benefits in gaining
ownership of skills and concepts. We teachers are now encouraged to teach phonics in an
explicit an systematic manner. Every day I have a short session of instruction on
blending. I use the very specific procedures recommended by Open Court. In these
sessions I have been scaffolding the student’s approach for decoding non-high-frequency
words. During independent work time, as a remedial intervention to help the delayed
readers, I choose a list of words and an advanced reader (that I know has internalized the
decoding procedures), and request from him or her to guide the other student through the
decoding of words the same way I do it with the whole class. As I walk around checking
on students I have noticed not only how well the tutors are doing, but also how
comfortable and motivated the tutees are. One of the reasons for the great success I have
been able to gauge as resulting from these peer tutoring sessions on blending, could be
due to the fact that the affective filter of both tutors and tutees is very low. There is no
question that students have fun and enjoy peer tutoring as long as one keeps it within a
reasonable time frame. Tutors do not need special training, they only need to master the
learning objective.

I recently read an article entitled, An Anatomy of Naturalistic tutoring (Arthur C.

Graesser, Cheryl Bowers, Douglas J. Hacker, and Natalie Person “An Anatomy of
Naturalistic Tutoring” Scaffolding Student Learning. Ed. Kathleen Hogan and Michael
Pressley,Cambridge, Massachusetts: Brookline Books. 1997. 145-179). The authors of
this article came up with the most remarkable findings. In general they state that
effective tutors need not be highly skilled or accomplished. They narrowed the set of
pedagogical techniques for effective tutoring by identifying the pedagogical techniques
that are absent in samples of naturalistic tutoring. The first one of these techniques
(called components by them) is active student learning. Active student learning refers to
the students’ self-regulation of their learning (instead of acting as passive recipients of
information). The second one is convergence toward shared meaning. This refers to the
understanding of the tutee’s knowledge and limitations by the tutor, and the drifting of
the tutee’s knowledge base to the tutor’s knowledge base. During a tutoring session the
tutor and the tutee operate in different mental spaces. The third is error diagnosis, which
refers to analyzing and explaining the misconceptions that caused the tutee to err. Fourth,
Anchored Learning consists of working with real-life problem solving. Sixth,
Sophisticated Pedagogical Strategies like the Socratic and the cascade methods. The
following are the scaffolding components used naturally by unskilled tutors: First,
Extensive Use of Examples. The researchers conclude that it is far more effective to
present a large number of problems with worked out solutions than to have the tutees
solve fewer problems by themselves. Second, Curriculum Scripts. Third, explanatory
reasoning. These researchers point out that, explanations are particularly effective in
promoting learning when the students themselves – as opposed to the teacher,
experimenter , or text – generate the explanations; an explanation that is presented to a
student may have little or no impact on learning gains, but gains are realized when a
student uses it as an explanation to another student; the students’ self-explanations need
no be objectively accurate for them to improve comprehension and memory. Fourth,
collaborative question answering and problem solving. One of the most salient
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characteristics of a collaborative dialogue between tutor and tutee is splicing: “When a

tutor detects an error, he or she jumps in and splices in a correct answer.” (Graeeser,
Bowers, Hacker & Person 171). I believe peer tutoring should be extensively used as a
scaffold strategy. Teachers should take heed of these findings in order not to overreach
themselves when tutoring.

Finally, teachers should take advantage of new technology in intelligent tutoring

systems. Computers are an excellent tool for scaffolding students’ reading development.
(For information on computers in the classroom see section, Computer Technology in the
Classroom)

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)

Methodologies

SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) was initially

designed for students in the Bilingual Program who had reached the intermediate fluency
level of English language development. The intermediate fluency level student is
characterized by the student’s fair oral command of English, yet below grade level
achievement in reading and writing. At this level students were instructed in English in
the subject content areas. This allowed them to progress in subject content areas while
furthering their English language acquisition; in other words, the learning goal is for
students to gain English language proficiency while achieving in their academic areas.

Here in California the Bilingual Program is gone but SDAIE stayed. I believe
SDAIE works independently of the Bilingual Program and the theories and levels of
English language acquisition. Because, according to Stephen Krashen, one of the main
pioneers in the SDAIE methodology and philosophy, language is best taught when it is
being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning.

SDAIE (formerly known as “Sheltered English”) originated from the Contextual

Interaction Theory (Krashen & Cummins). At the core of this theory lie the two pillars of
the SDAIE methodology: Comprehensible second language input and a supportive
affective environment.

Comprehensible Second Language Input simply means making subject content

material comprehensible to English Language Learners, or in still simpler terms, making
the English messages in content areas understandable by students. The Comprehensible
Input Hypothesis states that learners can only acquire language they can understand by
connecting it to prior knowledge and known concepts. The procedure consists in using
special techniques and strategies to assist English language learners in both language-
acquisition and subject-matter content.
 14

In order to create a comprehensible input, strategies and teaching techniques from

other disciplines were borrowed (multiple intelligences, gifted and talented, and special
education). There are several major components in a SDAIE lesson design: Hands-on
activities, visual clues, cooperative learning, and guarded vocabulary. Hands-on
activities are a way of creating context for the language. Hands-on activities also address
the kinesthetic learning modality. Hands-on activities require bringing real objects and
materials (realia) to class and use of manipulatives by both the teacher and the students.
The concept of “manipulatives” is quite broad and may include the following: Drawings,
posters, brainstorming-clusters, graphs, tables, maps, props, multimedia presentations,
story boards, storymaps). Visual clues are used to scaffold the teaching of concepts and
vocabulary. The idea is to make abstract concepts as concrete as possible using pictures,
overhead-projected prints, reproductions of painting and documents, models,
manipulatives, body language, and realia. Guarded vocabulary implies the conscious
selection of the language used by the instructor in the classroom. Instructors are advised
to scan text materials for their content and support vocabulary. This vocabulary must be
taught before the reading of the text materials. It is recommended that the instructor
preteach the main vocabulary an concepts in the students’ native language. The
instructor must also be careful to monitor the rate of speech, syntax, and language
structure. Linguistic expressions should be carefully used and must be
taught…sometimes supplying the native language equivalent is very helpful. One aspect
of guarded vocabulary that I find quite interesting is the use of dramatization of words or
specific events in the read-alouds. Cooperative learning is recommended because it
lowers the affective filter. Cooperative learning also provides peer support, develops
social skills and offers an ideal vehicle for oral language development. The instructor
must be careful in the selection of cooperative groups. I believe that grouping must be
homogeneous in the level of English language development and ability so that students
can grow at an even pace, avoid frustration, falling behind and lack of challenge.

English Language Development (ELD) Techniques

Since the landslide passage of Prop.227 in 1998, we have seen radical changes in
the teaching of English to LEP students: From the former bilingual model, with the one-
hour block for teaching ESL and the low expectation that it would take up to seven years
to for a ELL to acquire near-native fluency, we have moved to the latter model of English
immersion resulting in improved performance and greater English learning With these
changes came also changes in the teaching jargon. Teachers are encouraged to refer to
LEP students as ELLs, the term ESL is slowly being supplanted by ELD. Although,
properly speaking, the ESL lesson in an integral part of the ELD initiative in our state.

A year after the passage of Proposition 227, the California State Board of
Education gave final approval to the ELD standards. The ELD standards were designed
to assist teachers in advancing ELLs towards English Language fluency and proficiency
of the ELA standards.
 15

The ELD standards are designed to supplement and serve as pathways to the
California ELA standards. The ELD standards, therefore, integrate the four modes,
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It also recommends not delaying the
introduction of English reading and writing, as it was customary in the Natural Approach
used in ESL lessons. Yet, the framework of the ELD standards is based on the Natural
Approach of language acquisition. The Natural Approach assumes that speech emerges
in four natural and distinct stages:

• Pre-production
• Early Production
• Speech Emergence
• Intermediate Fluency

The ELD standards designate five parallel proficiency levels:

• Beginning
• Early Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Early Advanced
• Advanced

Students are redesignate to mainstream English as soon as they reach the Advanced
level and demonstrate proficiency of the ELD standards and the ELA standards of their
respective grade level (and of course, all prior grade levels).

The ELD standards are further structured in a grade level range: Grades K-2,
Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 0-12. Furthermore, besides the integration of all
language skills or modes, it is recommended that the instruction of students include
challenging language activities that focus on subject area content.

Teachers must modify and adapt their teaching strategies to the English proficiency
level of the ELLs. The California ELD Standards – Attachment A, Literacy, supplies
teachers with a full range of instructional strategies and techniques arranged by
proficiency levels. Since the document is exhaustingly comprehensive I shall list the most
relevant activities:

ELD Activities for Level 1

• Language Play: Listening to rhymes, responding physically in games, and role

playing.
• Experiential Activities: Activities, in which students will observe, recognize, locate,
identify, classify, collect, match, show, contrast, and arrange.
• Patterns and Procedures: Teach classroom patterns and procedures in English.
 16

• Extend the Learning Environment: Walking trips calling attention to environmental

print.
• Music: Design music activities in which students participate in repeating and creating
patters, rhythms, and movement.
• Read Aloud: Share picture books or books appropriate to the interest level that
provides many visual clues through pictures and conduct picture walks with wordless
books
• Student Autonomy in Literacy: Encourage students to select their own picture books
for silent sustained reading in order to develop independent literacy. Encourage
students to write in journals using picture writing.
• Print Concepts: Teach the names of English letters.

ELD Activities for Level 2

• Oral Language Development: Present new vocabulary in context; provide

opportunities for students to repeat predictable language patterns from familiar
stories and use of oral substitution in oral cloze activities.
• The Writing Process: Guide and model for students the different stages of the
writing process. Emphasis made on pre-writing activities such as use of pictures
(story boards) and clusters related to students’ experiences for writing.
• Shared Reading: Read picture books with predictable text.
• Reading Process: Guide students to make meaningful connections to print, for
example, label objects, word labels to identify sound/symbol associations (now
provided by Open Court), and use of graphic organizers to record the beginning,
middle and end of a story.
• Print Concepts: Create word lists.

ELD Activities for Level 3

• Oral Language Development: Model questioning techniques to assist students to

expand discussions, reading, and writing skills.
• Experiential Activities: Plan and implement activities for students to describe,
imagine, compare/contrast, question, and map; activities for peer interaction that will
encourage students to generate language; activities for authentic cooperative tasks
using high level thinking.
• Writing Process: Use Language Experience strategies to model and assist students
with revision and editing.
• Word Study Skills: Use picture sorts to help develop the auditory awareness of
various phoneme sound patterns (beginning, middle, and ending sounds); manipulate
syllables; create word walls with lists of high-frequency and theme related words ( to
develop awareness of visual patterns); Banks of sight words.
 17

• Shared Reading: (Teach text structure) Read narrative and expository text with
predictable structure and draw attention to text structure.
• Reading Process: Guide students in reading group-generated text.

ELD Activities for Level 4

• Creative Oral Language: Provide opportunities for students to create multimedia

presentations, including drama, reports, interviews, debates; design opportunities to
explore and use idioms and figurative language in context.
• Content Based ESL (use of SDAIE)
• Cooperative Projects: Provide opportunities for students to review, interpret,
compose, report, plan, resolve and evaluate.
• Writing Process: Guide students in the use of grade-level rubrics for self assessment
and improvement.
• Word Study Skills: Teach morphemic analysis. Use word walls and individual word
banks to extend vocabulary.
•

ELD Activities for Level 5

• Cooperative Projects: Provide opportunities for students to hypothesize, outline,

summarize, revise, infer, and interpret.
• Students Autonomy in Literacy: Guide students in developing awareness of modes of
learning to support acquisition of knowledge.

In the ELD Standards – Attachment A, we also find plenty of general

recommendations regarding activities, strategies, and techniques that are meant to foster
the development of the English Language in ELLs. In addition to the use of SDAIE for
content based ESL lessons, it is recommended to teach English idioms, poetry, discipline
appropriate jargon. Teachers should provide a rich oral language context by reading to
students daily and by providing ample time for students to engage in focused
conversations. Teachers must provide a rich print environment that includes all the
different genres in literature and varied types of publications. Teachers must provide an
environment free of perfection anxiety that will encourage students to express their ideas
in writing.

I believe there are certain principles that should guide the teaching of ELD. First,
the ELD curriculum must be organized around a theme. The big picture students get
through the use of thematic units helps them make sense of the lessons; different content
areas are connected and the four basic language skills are integrated. The use of thematic
units in teaching ELD contributes meaning to the students’ learning experience.

This brings us to a second principle: students must have real reasons to use and
practice language through activities that students perceive as purposeful. This is what
specialists refer to as “authentic” language practice. A language activity is authentic
 18

insofar as it is perceived as being meaningful and having a purpose. Lately, after having
read and analyzed a story that takes place in a library and in which one of the main
characters is a librarian, my second grade students wrote letters expressing their feeling
about our very beautiful library to our librarian. This is a writing activity that is
completely authentic: the audience is real and the purpose meaningful.

Third, in order to give authenticity to the learning experience, teachers must

validate students culture and personal experiences. One of the most basic practices as a
prereading activity, that can be extended and generalized in ELD instruction, is drawing
on students background knowledge and interests. It becomes important for teachers to
develop child-generated texts that reflect the learners’ own cultural experiences. Reading
must include a multicultural perspective in which students’ self esteem is built by reading
texts related to their own culture, and tolerance of cultural diversity may be fostered by
reading about other cultures. In my personal case, that is facilitated by the fact that I am
a Latino immigrant teaching Latino immigrants and children of Latino immigrants. The
teacher must also establish a close connection with the students’ parents so that students
can feel that there is also a meaningful connection between home and school.

A fourth and very basic principle in ELD instruction is the very important fact that
language flourishes best in a language rich environment. The first step to create a
language rich environment is by creating a print rich environment in the classroom.
Literature of all different genres should be accessible to students, as well a variety of
publications. A rich language environment is also fostered by the stimulation of social
interactions among children. Students should be allowed to talk, so they experiment with
language and increase their competency by using it.

A fifth and very important principle and technique is the use of cooperative
learning. Cooperative learning fosters the production of language in a low anxiety
environment. Students generally feel more comfortable talking among themselves than
talking with the teacher. These groups, by their heterogeneous nature, serve as a scaffold
for the less proficient students.

Sixth, the classroom must also provide a comfortable and joyous environment in
which students feel free to take risks and experiment with language. It is very well
documented how, by lowering the affective filter, students’ language acquisition and
production is widely fostered. The teacher must be very sensitive and tolerant of
children’s mistakes. The teacher must understand that mistakes are part of normal
language development. Therefore, the teacher must never correct students directly. He or
she must do so in an indirect manner by rephrasing and expanding what the child says in
more correct speech. The teacher must paraphrase often, for example, if a child says, Not
understand?” the teacher might respond, “Oh, you don’t understand?” It is also ideal if
the teacher varies the vocabulary, for example, if a child says, “that’s a big tree,” the
teacher might say, "Yes,that is a huge tree.”

Seventh, for children with limited proficiency in English, the teacher must use
plenty of TPR while demonstrating and modeling the use of English in specific
 19

circumstances such as making a polite request, apologizing to another person, etc. The
use of role-playing is ideal at this stage. The teacher must also tailor questions in order to
address the different English proficiency levels. During the beginning level, teachers
should fashion questions that may be answered with a physical response or a simple
yes/no, and slowly increase the complexity as students advance in the proficiency scale.

Questioning Skills And Bloom’s Taxonomy

Questioning is generally not bestowed with the importance that it warrants by

curriculum developers and teachers. It is normally used by teachers to elicit recall of
facts provided in a lesson or in a text. Teachers also question in order to verify
comprehension during and after teacher or student reading of a particular selection.
Questioning is understood as an assessment tool to check on students comprehension and
in general that is as far as most teachers go or want to go. There are two big problems
with this. First, students are instructed to read a narrative or expository selection for the
purpose of answering factual questions, impeding them from developing a more profound
and meaningful connection with the text. Because of this students will fail to realize that
reading has a greater and more varied purpose than just the simple recalling of
information. Second, teachers fail to realize that questioning is much more than a simple
assessment tool; they fail to recognize that questioning is an extremely effective teaching
tool. It is the duty of the teacher to develop high-order thinking skills in students
beginning at kindergarten. Questioning is a tool, properly used, which will require
students to use high- order thinking skills. Furthermore, questioning if properly used, is a
teaching tool indispensable in the building and sustaining a community of inquiry with
active learners. I have mentioned above the importance of creating a warm , comfortable
learning environment in which students are free to take risks, yet that is not enough. The
classroom must become a community of inquiry. Children learn best in a supportive
environment where their contributions are valued. The kind of questions asked, the way
they are asked and the answers provided, enhance their self-esteem and their active
participation.

In the mid fifties, Benjamin Bloom and some of his associates devised a taxonomy,
that is, a hierarchical classification scheme of cognitive skills organized by levels of
complexity (Biehler, Robert F., and Jack Snowman,. Psychology Applied to Teaching. 8th
ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997) . This was done to address the preparation of
instructional objectives. Nevertheless, this taxonomy is an ideal springboard for the
planning of questions that would develop higher thinking skills in students. This
taxonomy consists of six levels of cognitive skills ranging from the most basic and least
complex (knowledge) to the most comprehensive and complex (evaluation) . It can be
more easily appreciated when arranged in the form or a pyramid:
 20

EVALUATION
SYNTHESIS
A N A L Y S I S
A P L I C A T I O N
C OM P R E H E N S I O N
K N O W L E D E G E

The first two, knowledge and comprehension are widely used. At the knowledge
level , students are asked to recall or remember previously learned facts, definition of
terms, and details. I will use very well-known second grade level fairy-tale, “Cinderella”
to illustrate questions at the different cognitive levels (Reading Services Center:
Teacher’s Corner, “Bloom’s Taxonomy,” www.ops.org/blooms_taxonomy.html.) For
example, some questions at the knowledge level would be: With whom did Cinderella
live? How did she get the beautiful gown to go to the ball? Why did she have to leave
the ball at midnight?, tc. At the comprehension level students are asked to give evidence
of literal understanding of a reading selection or a lesson imparted by the teacher.
Understanding the meaning of what is remembered is usually demonstrated by having the
children explain in their own words or citing examples. For example: What is the story
“Cinderella” about? Why does everything turn back at midnight?

When it comes to the application level, the third category in the rising scale of
Bloom’s taxonomy, there doesn’t seem to be, among “specialists,” much consensus.
Some believe it to be a low-level cognitive skill, others believe it is somewhat
intermediate, and others believe it is a high-level cognitive skill. For a student to apply
the knowledge and skills learned in a new or different context or situation is definitively a
high-level cognitive skill. This is called transfer of learning and it is the benchmark of
an active autonomous learner. Some examples of questions at the application level could
be, “If Cinderella arrived at the ball at 9:30 and had to leave at midnight, how long did
she stay at the ball? Cinderella’s stepsisters got to the ball 60 minutes before Cinderella.
Cinderella arrived at 9:30. At what time did the stepsisters arrive?

At the analysis level students must be able to break the text into its parts and
explain the relationship between them; describe patterns, cause and effect relationships,
compare and contrast. I suggest the following as examples of questions at the analysis
level: What important part of “Cinderella” is the same at both the beginning and at the
end of the story? If you were Cinderella, would you have forgiven the stepmother and
stepsisters? Why or why not? How many examples of cause-and-effect can we find on
page 266? What are they? Which is the cause and which is the effect?

At the synthesis level students must be able to put the parts together and form a new
whole, pattern or structure, and rearrange component ideas into a new whole. Here the
teacher could ask the students to write a sequel to the story. The teacher can also ask
 21

the students to write a “modern-day” story. What details could change. After the
discussion the teacher might ask the students to use some of the ideas the students came
up with, or guide them through further questioning: Where do you think Cinderella might
go instead of to the ball? What might she ride in instead of a coach? Who might she
meet instead of the prince? And so forth.

At the evaluation level students are asked to express their opinion or make
judgements about some aspects of the story; a set of criteria, established by the students
or the teacher (at the lower grade levels the criteria is usually specified by the teacher) is
used to arrive at a reasoned judgement. For example, What would you have done if you
were Cinderella and the fairy god-mother never showed up? Would you have given up
the hope of going to the ball? How about meeting the prince, what could you do to get
his attention? Discuss jealousy and ask students to provide examples. Ask students if
jealousy could have been the motive for the behavior of the stepsisters and stepmother?

Cooperative Learning & Subject-Specific Teaching Models/Activities

Elementary school children have a tremendous amount of energy and in the

traditional whole-class competitive and individualized teaching model students are
required to sit quietly and listen passively. This puts a great demand on the part of the
teacher with regard to energy and time required to keep the children quiet and on task, it
is also a total waste of the children’s energy resources. In the cooperative learning model
children’s energy is properly channeled and structured into face to face communication,
dialogue, discussions, exchange of ideas and experiences, English language production
and practice, collaborative hands-on activities, group projects, etc. Children also have an
innate social need for contact and communication with others. Cooperative learning
serves as an incentive for students to want to come to school.

Cooperative learning creates a authentic community of learners. The more

opportunities students have for social interaction with peers the more viewpoints they are
exposed to and more learning is achieved. The fact that students have the chance to
speak more often provides them the comfortable atmosphere where they will be more
willing to take risks at expressing their viewpoints. Also, the more opportunities children
have for social interaction with peers the more viewpoints they will be exposed to and
more learning will be achieved. Cooperative learning is ideal and a must for the
development of all modes of English language skills, speaking, listening, reading and
writing.

For authentic learning to occur students must be part of a dynamic process with
active engagement in the learning process. Through cooperative learning students
become active learners in problem solving, answering questions, formulating their own
questions, discussing, brainstorming and researching. One of the main strengths of
cooperative learning is that learning becomes student centered, students stop being
 22

passive recipients of the teachers knowledge. In cooperative learning the center of gravity
shifts or gravitates from the teacher to the students. Students learn to rely more on
themselves and each other, so they become more confident and independent learners.
This in turn fosters their self-esteem.

The delegation of authority by the teacher to the students produces a need among
the students for interdependence. Increase in interdependence fosters an increase in
student interaction, and increase in students’ interaction fosters an increase in learning.
Cooperative learning, besides incrementing student achievement by engaging them in
critical and creative thinking, develops students’ social skills, mutual respect and
tolerance for cultural diversity.

Components of Effective Cooperative Learning

Simply because students work in groups does not imply they are engaged in
cooperative learning. Cooperative learning must be composed of certain key elements to
be successful. To start from the beginning, the teacher must be lucky to have content
curricula designed for cooperative learning, if not, the teacher must adapt a particular
curriculum to accommodate cooperative learning. This means designing special lesson
plans and fetching the appropriate materials. The teacher must also start by writing
learning objectives and outcomes that contemplate cooperative earning activities. The
teacher then must supply the students with a set of clear learning outcomes. The teacher
must specify what the students ought to learn or know, and what they must do to
demonstrate mastery of the lesson’s objective. The method, by which the process and the
product will be evaluated, both individually and as a group, should be made clear to the
students.

The teacher must describe, demonstrate and teach the appropriate positive social
skills required for cooperative endeavors. This is a step that a lot of teachers would like
to skip, yet it is imperative to teach positive social skills to ensure success. The most
relevant social skills recommended by the Colorado Department of Education
(http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprevention/download/pdf/pi_social_skills.pdf ) for the
proper functioning of cooperative learning are ( Note: I have abridged the list and added
some of my own ideas):

• Awareness of self and others. Lessons in empathy that include detecting and
identifying the students’ own feelings and the feelings and emotions of their peers.
• Expectations in relationships. The most relevant would be helping students recognize
and identify the expectations they have of themselves and their peers; recognize
commonalties among themselves regardless of gender, ethnicity and English language
proficiency.
• Decision Making. Students must identify their need for decision-making skills and
address a problem or issue using decision-making skills.
 23

• Self control. Students must be able to identify personal boundaries and communicate
personal boundaries in a verbal and non-verbal way.
• Interpersonal relations. Students must learn to use the “I messages” (instead of the
“you messages”), use active listening and convey messages through body language;
apply conflict resolutions techniques to deescalate conflict.

I personally recommend the “Second Step” curriculum for teaching social skills.
This curriculum requires of a lot of role playing and group activities.

The teacher must teach positive interdependence. This can be accomplished by

engaging the students in teambuilding activities. The teacher must supply the students
with the emotional support that will enable students to link positively to members of their
team (frequent positive feedback and rewards). Students will learn that they find
themselves in “one for all and all for one” situation, and therefore, will learn to depend on
each other for the accomplishment of learning tasks.

It is advisable that the teacher follow certain guideline in the implementation of

groups for cooperative learning. First and foremost, groups must be heterogeneous;
therefore, it is not a good idea to let the students freely choose with regard to grouping.
Cooperative groups, depending on the size, must be composed by students of different
academic achievement levels, English language proficiency levels, ethnicity and gender.
This sometimes might be very taxing for the teacher. Another alternative is to create the
groups at random. Random grouping removes the responsibility of who works with
whom from the teacher and satisfies the students’ demands for fairness. With the help of
a deck of playing cards, assign students to groups of four. The different clusters of tables
are labeled ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and the corresponding cards are removed from the deck.
Groups are formed by shuffling the cards and having the students pick a card, then all
aces go to the aces’ group, and so forth (Burns, Marilyn. “The Math Solution: Using
Groups of Four.” Ed. Neil Davidson. College Park: Addison-Wesley, 1990. 21-46).

The teacher and other team members must hold each individual student responsible
and accountable for performing his or her share of the work in a group. There are three
basic ways of achieving this. First, each student is assigned a specific role in a group. If
the group is formed by two students, the relation tutor-tutee works wonders. For groups
of more than two (there are teachers who favor groups of three, I personally find it hard
to accommodate due to restrictions imposed by the size of the room and availability of
furniture). The most common practice besides grouping students in pairs is groups of
four students. The Foss Science curriculum, which is specifically designed for
cooperative learning, suggests the following (Britannica Science System. Foss:
integrated with Multimedia Materials. Berkeley: Lawrence Hall of Science, 1993.):

1. A reader/reporter, who is responsible for reading instructions and reviewing

students’ work sheets out loud to the group; summarizes finding and reports to the
class.
 24

2. A recorder, who is responsible for recording all important data and

observations; recording information on the chalkboard to share with the rest of the
entire class.

3. A getter, who is responsible of getting and returning materials.

4. A starter, who is responsible for initiating hands-on activities and ensuring that
all members of the group have an equal opportunity of involvement in the
activity.

Other possible typical roles are: facilitator, checker, safety officer, cleanup officer,
explainer, praiser, etc. The limit of roles is dictated by the teacher’s imagination. It is
advisable to rotate groups every two the three weeks to ensure the greatest exposure to
different personalities and viewpoints. Sometimes due to the nature of the activity longer
periods are required, for example, Open Court’s research cycle groups must function for
the entire duration of a unit, which is six weeks. Second, individual accountability is also
achieved by student and teacher assessment. Third, individual accountability is fostered
by developing a team spirit and teaching positive social skills.

A fundamental component for successful cooperative learning is assessment.

Assessment tools need to be generated for both individual and group performance.
Individual assessment ensures individual accountability, while group assessment helps to
solidify team spirit. Checklists, rubrics and report sheets can be created for peer and
teacher use. Students need feedback while engaged in cooperative work process and after
culminating the process. Rewards for culminating a task are highly recommended.

Group processing, another element for successful cooperative learning refers to

giving the students the time and the procedures to analyze how well their groups are
functioning and using the necessary social skills. This feedback must come from both
students and teacher. At the end of each lesson the teacher will evaluate students’
learning and give feedback to students based on a preset criterion of excellence or rubrics
based on the following criteria in criteria such as, work towards achievement of group
goals, demonstration of interpersonal skills, contribution to group maintenance, and
performance of group goals.

Cooperative Learning Subject–specificModels/Activities

“Reading Buddies” is the most elemental form of cooperative learning activity.

Students in groups of two read to each other. First, they start by reading a sentence to
each other and as they progress in proficiency and practice they move to each one,
alternating in the reading of paragraphs and then to pages. I supplement this activity by
 25

having each child write a question on the pages read. After the reading buddies activity
students share their questions and answers in a class discussion on the selection read.

In the writing process it is recommended that the editing face of the process be done
in groups of three called response groups. Students share their writing sitting tightly in a
circle, so they can use their quiet voices. Each student will read their writing to the other
two members of the group. The other members will listen and take notes if it helps them
remember. Listeners with “I” statements make positive comments about specifics, offer
suggestions or asks questions. The author writes down comments without ever arguing
with the responders, since the final decision rests on the author.

Cooperative groups are ideal for brainstorming in the writing process since it tends
to be somewhat overwhelming for some students. This can be done by using the
think/write, pair/share model: First, students attempt to jot down some ideas on a web
graphic organizer alone; then students are paired together to discuss and share their
thoughts; next, each pair joins with another pair to discuss and share thoughts forming a
foursome; finally each foursome shares thoughts and ideas with the rest of the class.

There are many cooperative learning models (Eby, Judy W., Reflective Planning,
Teaching, and Evaluation for the Elementary School. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1997.) . Three of the more widely used approaches are: Student
teams-Achievement Divisions (also known as STAD), the Jigsaw, and the Group
Investigation Model. In groups, usually of four, students study new material presented by
the teacher and make sure that all members of the group master the material. Students
then take individual quizzes. The students’ scores are compared to their own past
averages, and points are awarded based on the degree to which students meet or exceed
their prior performances. The points are then added to form team scores. Teams that
meet certain preset criteria win certificates or awards. A variation of this model is
Teams-Games-Tournament. Quizzes are replaced by weekly tournaments. Students
compete with members of other teams to win points for their team. This is done at three
student tournament tables in which students compete against other students of similar
past academic performance. The winner of each tournament wins points for his or her
team.

Another very common practiced cooperative model is the Jigsaw. This is ideal for
the study of expository text either in science or social studies. The basic idea is to break
the learning task into portions. Assign a specific portion to a group of students that will
become “experts” in that given portion. Once each group masters the material the teacher
reassigns students to groups consisting of one student from each previous group. In the
new group each student will be an expert in each of the areas or portions of the learning
task. Subsequently, the students in the new groups bring together the information a
complete a learning task. For example, let’s say the learning task is to make a poster with
the different classes of animals and their characteristics. One group will study fish,
another group will study amphibians, another reptiles, another birds, and another group
will study mammals. Then when the teacher reassigns the students the new groups, in
 26

each group one of its members will be a specialist in a specific class of animals, and
together putting their knowledge together they make the poster.

In the Group Investigation model students plan and carry research on a particular subject.
The groups make decisions about what to investigate, what each member will contribute,
an how to communicate the information learned. The structure is complex in that
students are asked to perform learning task that require greater student autonomy and
group self-determination. Some teachers may think that this model is not feasible with
elementary lower grades, but it is. Open Court second grade curriculum employs this
model in the “Research Cycle,” that is intended to provide a systematic scientific
framework for inquiry that is driven by the students. It consists of three phases: I.
Problem phase. Students identify a question or problem that they wonder about or with
to understand. Then research groups are made by students having similar interests. 2.
Conjecture Phase. Students discuss conjectures about the research problem or question.
3. Needs and Plans phase. Students identify research need, formulate research plans,
revise problems and conjectures, and finally present finding.

II. Teaching Skills

Various Programs/Techniques to Teach Reading Skills

The alphabetic-spelling method was used in this country from the Colonial Period
until the beginning of the last century. This is a step by step approach in which students
first learned the alphabet, then the spelling of syllables, and then whole word spelling and
reading. The texts used for reading were predominantly religious and patriotic in nature.
Learning was highly individualized and competitive. Students were made to memorize
long passages of those texts (Graves, Michael F., Connie Juel, and Bonnie B. Graves.
Teaching Reading in the 21 st Century. Needhan Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn and
Bacon, 1998.). It is amazing how easily children can memorize print. My favorite
children story is the “Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde. When I first started teaching
elementary school I read (I still do) this story to my second grade students with so
much passion that they were infected with my enthusiasm and began reading it again and
again. Soon, to my surprise, some of my students were able to read the story with
amazing fluency. For a moment, I thought I had taught these children to read…these
students had memorized the story.

Right after the turn of last century the use of basal readers appeared in the American
educational arena. The books for the lower elementary grades contained short narratives
of dubious quality from the literary viewpoint, which dealt exclusively with white
American middle class themes, characters, and settings. These books employed an
 27

extremely controlled vocabulary. With the controlled vocabulary approach students are
not introduced to many words at once and come across the introduced words many times
thus becoming familiarized with them and learning to read them within the context of a
story supported by vivid illustrations. The introduction of new vocabulary was
sequenced in complexity. Instruction also consisted of directed lessons on preparation for
reading, reading, silent reading, follow-up questions and discussions, filling up work-
sheets on decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. The basal readers’ method of
teaching had a teacher-centered instructional structure. Cooperative activities were
limited to the grouping students homogeneously into reading ability groups, which had a
negative impact on the less skilled readers.

Around 1970, as a reaction to the basal readers’ approach the whole language
philosophy of teaching reading appeared in the scene. The basal readers’ method came
into attack for artificially breaking up the English language and learning to read in an
artificial manner that made learning to read more difficult than is should be. This method
was also accused of using too much skill instruction out of context.

The whole language approach to reading began with the use of trade books written
by renowned authors. The strategy consisted of immersing the students in a rich-print top
literary quality environment and making cross-curricular connections through thematic
units. This was further supported by lots of pre-reading activities, teacher reading, shared
reading, post-reading activities, and silent reading many students quickly did catch on,
but many did not and remedial approaches remained very vague. As a reaction to the
charges brought against basal readers, whole language prescribed the teaching of skills
only in context and only when the need of teaching them presented itself, recognizing and
identifying those teachable moments was very challenging (specially for inexperienced
teachers). Hence, the teaching of skills and language mechanics diminished almost
completely. The writing process was extensively used but with great emphasis on
inventive spelling. The problem was that some academically low-achieving students had
a hard time going beyond inventive spelling…they just lacked the required phonetic
background. The pendulum that swung from the skills-oriented basal readers’ approach
to the other extreme of the holistic whole language approach was soon to rest in the
middle.

The State of California was one of the first pioneers in calling for increased
attention to the teaching of reading skills, particularly phonics and other word recognition
skills. This new approach is known as literature-based instruction. Trade books are still
used, but more commonly nowadays we find basal type anthologies with a fine selection
of multicultural literature and expository text for the lower elementary level. The literary
quality of the reading selections remains high quality. This new approach makes
emphasis on phonemic awareness, concepts about print, explicit and systematic phonics,
other word-identification strategies (including morphology, syntax and semantics),
spelling instructions, and language mechanics. Explicit and systematic phonics
instruction implies the teaching of skills out of context. Attention is paid to the proper
sequencing of the teaching of skills to ensure that the students have the necessary
prerequisite platform for the assimilation of new skills and concepts. The acquired
 28

reading skills are applied in the exercise of reading paying also close attention providing
students with the proper comprehension skills and strategies. The literature-based
approach is somewhere in between the student-centered extreme of whole language and
the teacher-centered extreme of basal-readers method.

Techniques To Provide Access To The Core Curriculum To All

Students

The students that require special provisions to gain access to the core curriculum are
students with special needs. The population of students with special needs is very
diverse: students with learning disabilities; students with behavioral disorders; students
with mental retardation; students with language and speech disorders; students with
physical, health, and sensory impairments; the gifted and talented; the culturally and
linguistically diverse population.

Learning disabilities among elementary students are a common-place. About half

of the students served by special education are learning disable children, yet about three
quarters of students identified as learning disabled receive academic instruction in regular
education classrooms. There are two basic characteristics that are indicative of learning
disabilities. First, students that appear to be perfectly normal children but experience
great difficulty with one or more specific academic skills. They most often experience
difficulty first and foremost with reading; they also may experience difficulty in other
areas such as, writing in general, that is expressing themselves through writing; spelling
and/or handwriting; and Math. Second, there appears to be a great discrepancy in the
academic progress and achievement. For example, a student that excels in language arts
but just can’t do Math, or vice a versa, a student that excels in Math but is a poor reader.
Learning disabilities typically affect four general areas: 1. Language arts: difficulties with
reading, writing, and/or spelling (I presently have a student that is an excellent and
prolific writer, yet he is below grade level in reading) 2. Math: difficulty in performing
arithmetic operations or in understanding basic concepts. 3. Reasoning: difficulty in
organizing and integrating thoughts. 4 Memory: difficulty in remembering information or
instructions. (Lewis, Rena B., and Donald H. Doorlag. Teaching Special Students in the
Mainstream. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 1995.)

The regular education teacher has to make instructional adaptations to provide

students with learning disabilities access to the core curriculum. There are two
fundamental approaches to ensure this: remediation and compensation. In the
remediation approach the teacher employs a series of instructional techniques to instruct
the student in the skills with which he or she is having difficulties. In compensation
assistance is given to the student to help him compensate for his difficulties. For example
if a student is having difficulty in reading the teacher might have student listen to
recorded stories in a tape recorder.
 29

In reading remediation phonics alone is ineffective. It is recommended that either

the meaning-based or the code–emphasis approaches be used. In meaning-based
programs comprehension is taught from the very start and students practice decoding in
context. The meaning-based approach is endorsed by whole language approach (which
might not be the best recommendation). Research shows that the code-emphasis method
is more effective at assisting children with learning disabilities. In code-emphasis
programs decoding is taught first, then comprehension. Code-emphasis provides students
with a systematic method of decoding unfamiliar words. Students first learn the sounds
of letters and letter combinations, then they learn decoding strategies and practice
decoding words in context.

Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. Some teachers believe that
reading instruction should precede writing instruction and that children should not
explicitly and systematically be taught to write before they can read at grade level. In
fact what precedes writing is talking. Children start scribbling at a very early age, and
they start reading (interpreting, rather) their own writing. Therefore the code-emphasis
approach should be applied also to spelling. While learning the sound/spelling symbols
and learning to decode words, students should be taught the reverse process of encoding,
that is, phonetic spelling. Students should be supplied with lists and word walls of high-
frequency words for and practice recognizing them in a written text. Students can also
listen to instructional tapes with high frequency words and phonetically irregular spelling,
practice writing them and then listening to check for the correct spelling. The frequent
and varied use of different graphic organizers in mapping is another recommended
strategy for teaching remedial writing. Story boards are ideal and very appealing to
children, since they get to draw first. Dictation is a great springboard to writing and it
should be utilized the same way it is done in ELD lessons. In Math it is recommended to
use visual prompts that gradually fade to guide the students through arithmetic
operations. Intensive use of manipulatives is also a must.

In content area instruction the following recommendations are designed to aide

learning disabled students: reducing the amount of assigned reading tasks, substitute
grade level reading material with lower level materials, shorten writing tasks,
accommodate different learning styles by the use of a tape recorder and illustrations.

ADD/ADDHD are not recognized as disabilities under the IDEA (The Individual
with Disabilities Education Act of 1990). Students with ADD/ADDHD fall more into the
category of students with behavioral disorders.

Three of the most general indicators of behavioral disorders are hyperactivity,

distractibility, and impulsiveness. A child who is hyperactive is most likely to be
distractible and impulsive. When a child exhibits this traits he or she is then labeled as
having ADDHD. When a child is distractible yet not impulsive and hyperactive, in
which case the child would be labeled ADD. The big difference here lies in the fact that
a child who suffers from ADD suffers the consequences of his behavior (he or she fall
behind academically), while everyone suffers when a child with ADDHD is in the
classroom. It is usually not taken into account that every single child has the right to an
 30

education and that children with severe behavioral problems interfere with this right.
Many students with ADHD benefit from psychotropic drugs such a Ritalin. Of course,
the parents are the ones that have the last word in such a decision.

The general recommendations for students with ADDHD are also applicable to
students with a wide range of learning disabilities (ADDH Task Force of the Anchorage
School District, “Attention Deficit Disorders: Suggested Classroom Accommodations for
Specific Behaviors.” CASP Today Ed. March/April Bulletin, 1991): The following are a
few of the main recommendations from the CASP (California Association of School
Psychologists) Bulletin:

• When a student exhibits difficulty sequencing and completing a learning task, it is

recommendable to break up the task into workable and obtainable steps.

• When a student is having difficulty sustaining effort over time, it is a

good idea to reduce the length of the task and increase the frequency of positive
reinforcements.

• In case of difficulty taking tests, the teacher should allow extra time for testing and
teach test taking skills and strategies.

• If the student is easily distracted and has difficulty staying on task, it is

recommendable to break up activity into small units, reward attention and timely
accomplishments.

• In case of frequent and excessive talking the teacher must teach the student hand
signals and their use to tell the student when and when not to talk.

• If a student is confused with nonverbal cues, the teacher must directly teach
(demonstrate and model) what non-verbal cues mean and have student practice in a
safe setting.

• If a student has difficulty remaining seated when required, the teacher should allow
the student frequent opportunities to get up and move around.

• With students that have difficulty participating in class without interrupting, the
teacher should seat the student in close proximity and reward appropriate behavior.

• For children having difficulty making transitions, it is recommendable to give

advance warning when a transition is going to take place and list steps needed for the
transition.

The CASP Today’s Bulletin is quite extensive and very comprehensive, I

summarized and pointed out just the most relevant tips that address ADD/ADHD. Other
behavior modifications than can be done to help the ADD/ ADHD student are: always
 31

provide immediate feedback, ignore minor disruptions, recognize their strengths in front
of other students, and establish a reward/consequence system. There also a few things
than can be done in the classroom for them: establish clear, concise classroom rules; seat
student at or near the front of the classroom; increase distance between desks; give
instructions one at a time; minimize visual and auditory distractions; give them a short
brake between assuagements. Another instructional modification is the use of multi-
sensory techniques (overhead projectors; color chalk/markers; video or audio tapes).

Other behavioral disorders range from the more moderate disobedient, defiant and
attention seeker, (and the opposite: timid, withdrawn, preoccupied and passive), to the
severe cases of deceitfulness or theft, destruction to property, and aggression to peers. In
most cases adaptations in academic instruction, teaching of social skills, and class
management are sufficient enough to curtail behavioral problems. In most severe cases,
especially in case of a student who engages in physical aggression, the teacher must use
outside resources such as support from the parents, the principal, the psychologist, and
the social worker.

When education specialists talk about providing universal access to the core
curriculum they are talking about mainstreaming students with special needs.
Mainstreaming is the inclusion of students with special needs in general education
classrooms. There are talks about the ideal environment is the least restrictive
environment, that would be general education classroom. Full inclusion of students with
mental retardation can be very over-taxing for the general education teacher. The
instructional adaptations to be made to serve this population of students are quite radical.
Here we are not talking of remediation or compensation but of habilitation. Habilitation
consists of instruction directed towards the development the most crucial and functional
skills to assist students for daily living, citizenship and adulthood. In these cases partial
inclusion is more reasonable; the Special Resource teacher will assist and guide the
general education teacher.

In the case of students with language and speech impairments, the speech-language
pathologist serves the students in need and makes the needed recommendations for
instructional adaptations to the regular education teacher. There are some simple and
sensible guidelines to follow with these students: peers must never be allowed to ridicule
or make fun of the student with speech disorders; the teacher should be mindful that he or
she serves as a role model and articulate as clearly as possible (similar precautions as
when using sheltered English); when these students speak the teacher must listen with
full attention and ensure the peers do likewise; speech errors should never be criticize nor
corrections made by the teacher or classmates (the teacher should paraphrase as if it were
an ELD technique);

Likewise, in the case of student with physical and health impairment the school
nurse usually recommends to the regular education teacher the necessary adaptations and
precautions to be taken. Only in severe cases do drastic adaptations have to be made.
One of the most important things a teacher must consider is ensuring the social
acceptance of the severe physical and health impaired student by rest of classmates.
 32

Gifted and talented students are a student population that deserves special
consideration. If instructional adaptations are not made these students will become bored
and unmotivated, and will usually start exhibiting behavior problems. The gifted student
is of above intellectual ability and creativity, and may or may not have superior academic
achievement. Talented students usually excel in one or more content areas. A student
may be either gifted or talented or both. Behavior checklists are very helpful at assisting
the teacher in the identification of the gifted and talented. The rule of thumb is that when
in doubt, the teacher should refer the student for testing; since it is ultimately the
psychologist, through a series of psychometric tests, who determines if a student qualifies
as gifted and talented. Enrichment and acceleration are two of the most common
practices that a general education teacher may apply to serve the gifted and talented.
Enrichment consists of additions to the general instructional program. This can be
accomplished by having the students study the same content as their peers but in more
depth. More common is to broaden the curriculum for these students. Since these
students usually finish up the assignments faster than their peers, they have extra time for
learning new and challenging tasks. One of the strategies I have used throughout the
years is the teaching of chess. Mastery of the game usually opens a whole new outlook
on life for these children.

The culturally and linguistically diverse student population must be addressed with
the same consideration as students with disabilities contemplated by the IDEA. These
students may be perceived by their peers as different and strange, and have problems
gaining social acceptance. As a matter of fact, the term LEP is often used pejoratively.

Traditionally, students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds were

expected to assimilate to mainstream America. The trend towards assimilation was
endorsed by the myth of the “melting pot.” Traditional mainstream America, the white,
Anglo-Saxon, protestant middle class, is slowly fading away. According to the latest
population census, there are approximately 36 million Hispanics and 35 million African-
Americans living presently in this country; that plus other minorities represent a huge
chunk of the total population of the U.S.

Multicultural education is the current approach to serving the culturally diverse student
populations of our schools. Multicultural education strives to help students in the
understanding and acceptance of differences and similarities by increasing the students’
understanding and appreciation of other cultures and their contribution to the American
society. Teachers must become cultural proficient and help students acquire cultural
proficiency. Basically this may be accomplished by learning and explicitly teaching
cultural knowledge; learning and teaching how one’s culture affects others; learning,
teaching and accepting that each culture finds some values more important than others;
learning and teaching the origins of stereotypes and prejudices; and learning and teaching
skills in identifying bias, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination.
 33

Selection of Curriculum & Instructional Materials

The selection of curricula and curricular materials is usually out of the hands of the
individual teacher. Instead, adoption of curricula and curricular materials which have
been approved by the California Department of Education, is the responsibility of
schools, and sometimes entire districts (as in the case of LAUSD adoption of Open
Court). A few years back, in the times of whole language, teachers in LAUSD were
more at liberty to select curricula. Sometimes it is hard to predict the flow of educational
trends (I never even imagined that California would do away with bilingual education);
therefore, teachers should be knowledgeable about curriculum selection criteria. Most
certainly, alignment with the State Content Standards is of paramount importance.
Universal access is also as important; the curriculum should be accessible to all students
including students with disabilities, special education, ELLs, and the gifted.

I highly recommend the use of a checklist supplied by the Teacher Ed. Program
from the University of California, San Diego for the evaluation of instructional materials
(University of California, San Diego, Teacher Education Program, “Instructional
Materials Selection Exercise Worksheet,”
http://tepadmin.ucsd.edu/courses/tep129/129C/final_checklist.pdf ). This guideline is
divided into five sections: the first deals with the content of the instructional materials
and their alignment with the State Content Standards; the second refers to the
organization of educational programs; the third deals with assessment; the fourth with the
universal accessibility of the instructional materials; and the fifth deals with instructional
planning and support. The following is an abridgement and paraphrase of the checklist:

• Is the content of the instructional materials aligned with the California Content
Standards?
• Are terms defined and used accurately and appropriately?
• Are procedures clearly explained and accompanied by examples to reinforce lessons?
• Are materials written for classroom instruction as well as for individual study and
practice at home.
• Do topics cover broad levels of difficulty? Do they address content from the
standards well beyond minimal level of competence?
• Does it supply enrichment activities and advanced problems?
• Is the instruction recommended reflective of current research?
• Are the concepts developed in logical order and increase in depth and complexity
during each school year and from grade to grade?
• Are skills and ideas presented before more complex topics?
• Are topics that students might confuse not introduced together?
• Are the materials parent and tutor friendly? Does it contain tables of contents,
indices, and glossaries?
• Do they include an overview of chapters?
• Are problems and exercises based on the students’ prior and current experience?
 34

• Does it guide the teacher in identifying possible students’ difficulties and remedial
strategies?
• Does it include varied support materials such as computer programs and
manipulatives?
• Do the assessments measure each student’s entry-level skills and knowledge and
monitor students’ progress toward meeting the standards?
• Is the assessment of appropriate duration (no more than six weeks)?
• Does it supply multiple methods of assessment?
• Does the information, ideas, and support materials address the needs of special
student population, including special Ed., gifted, ELLs, and students significantly
below grade level?
• Does it supply the teacher strategies to provide access to content to special student
population?
• Are suggestions made for compacting or expanding the curriculum and grouping
within or across grade levels?
• Does it provide ELD suggestions (preteaching, reinforcement and vocabulary
development)?
• Does it supply the teacher with suggestions on how and when to modify instructions
and assessment for special Ed. Students?
• Does it provide different kinds of lessons and alternative ways to explain concepts?
• Does it provide all required manipulatives and equipment or inexpensive alternatives
suggested?
• Do the teacher materials contain sample lesson plans?
• Does it provide a system by which the introduction of new material may be
accelerated or de-accelerated according to the students’ needs?

Curriculum Implementation & Adaptation of Curriculum Materials

In order to implement and make the appropriate adaptation of curriculum materials

the teacher must be familiarized with the different curriculum orientations. Any sensible
teacher will not adhere dogmatically to any specific orientation or theory, but should
learn about these theories and use them eclectically when applicable. They are all
different points of view on what a curriculum should be and how to accomplish learning
objectives (Kraus International Publications ed. English/Language Arts Curriculum
Resource Handbook: A Practical Guide for K-12 English/Language Arts Curriculum.
Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 1992.); (Edited excerpt by P. Bruce
Uhrmacher in Wilke, R.(ed.), Environmental Education: Teacher Resource Handbook.
Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc., 1997. Pp. 4-22). There are quite a few
different curriculum orientations or ideologies: rational humanism, developmentalism,
reconceptualism, critical theory, multiculturalism, and cognitive pluralism.
 35

The rationalist humanism has its roots in the 19th Century idea that as exercise
strengthens the body so does the study of certain subjects (such as Greek, Latin, and
mathematics) strengthen the mind. The study of the great classics of the world was to be
the source of learning since the classics represent the best the world has produced. It
endorses lecturing, coaching, and Socratic questioning (something similar to high-level
cognitive questioning in Bloom’s taxonomy), and active participation of the students.
Today there are very few remnants of this ideology in today’s schools. The study of the
classics as a tool for intellectual gymnastics has long gone out of fashion, yet questioning
has been highly refined.

Developmentalism came about as a response to the rational humanist stance of

fitting the students to the curriculum; the curriculum, they argued, the curriculum should
be fitted the students’ stage of cognitive development. A curriculum must be devised
based on the range of abilities students have at various developmental stages. This
orientation addresses the issue of readiness for learning. Some curriculum specialists
believe that encouraging learners to perform above their developmental level will foster
the acquisition of skills (which coincides with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development
and the utilization of scaffolding learning techniques). It is fundamental that teachers
understand students’ abilities because such knowledge ensures the choice of the
appropriate instruction and activities.

Reconceptualism based its premise on learning through experience. The basic

question made was (and still is a very valid question), How can teachers provide students
with the best possible learning experiences. The basic idea consists in placing the
students in problematic situations which will foster problem solving. By trying to find a
solution to a problematic situation, students will develop new skills and learn new
concepts. Reconceptualists resembled philosophers more than curricularists; they posed
some very valid questions, but failed to offer practical educational ideas that could be
implemented.

Critical Theory has its roots in Historical Dialectical Materialism (Marxism).

According to Critical Theorists schools reflect the general inequities of the larger society
and maintain the status quo through cultural reproduction. Critical theory became the
advocates of the underprivileged. With regard to practical ideas to be implemented in the
classroom, these theorists promoted the idea of the prereading activities in and through
which students would generate ideas about a books which would lead them to question
the social system. Just how generating ideas about books through prereading activities
would lead to questioning the status quo is unclear.

In contrast with the critical theory concern with social classes, multiculturalism’s
concern is with race and gender. This curriculum ideology is rooted in the ethnic revival
movements of the 1960s. Their purpose is to correct racism and the bigoted views of
mainstream America and raise children’s self-esteem. (for more information on
multiculturalism see section, Cultural Diversity Curricula Objectives by James Banks).
 36

Cognitive Pluralism is curriculum orientation that believes that people possess

different kinds of inteligences and students should be able to learn through a variety of
forms of representations (narratives, poetry, music, drama, films, pictures, etc.)and be
able to express themselves through a variety of forms as well. All teachers are well
familiarized with the work of H. Gardner and his Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind, brakes away from two basic traditional
views on intelligence: “That human cognition is unitary and that individuals can be
adequately describes a having a single, quantifiable intelligence.” (Campbell, Linda,
Bruce Campbell, and Dee Dickinson. Teaching & Learning Through Multiple
Intelligences, Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 1996, p.XV). Gardner
argues that there are at least seven distinct types of intelligences: linguistic, logical-
mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
intelligence. Traditionally curricula have focused on the development of linguistic and
logical-mathematical intelligences minimizing the relevance of other kinds of
intelligence. Curriculum should be oriented at developing all of the different
intelligences.

These curriculum orientations are a great resource for teachers. It is advisable to

adhere to no one orientation in particular, but to have an eclectic approach towards them;
they all offer valid contributions. Of course, due to personal idiosyncrasy some teachers
will favor some orientations over the others.

The historical figure with the most relevant impact on curriculum theorizing is
Ralph W. Tyler. His publication Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction is still
in vogue today. He called for four basic principles in the area of curriculum development
and implementation (Schugurensky, Daniel, Ed. “1949, Ralph W. Tyler Publishes Basic
Principles of Curriculum and Instruction.” The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
of the University of Toronto,
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1949tyler.html):

1. Defining appropriate learning objectives.

2. Establishing useful learning experiences.
3. Organizing learning experiences.
4. Evaluating the curriculum.

These four principles can serve as a guide for teachers in making curricular
adaptations. Based on the first principle, a teacher must decide what to teach. This first
of all requires in depth knowledge of his or her students needs. The first thing a teacher
must do is check on the cumulative records as a ways (often neglected by teachers) of
finding out students’ ELD levels, special needs, and behavioral problems. Another thing
the teacher must do at the beginning of the school year is meet with the parents to get a
feeling of “where the children are coming from.” The teacher must also test the students,
most curricula offer “pretests” that help the teacher determine the students needs. The
 37

teacher is also committed to the teaching of the California State standards. The State
Frameworks are easily obtainable.

Based on the second principle the teacher must decide how to teach. The teacher
must be up-to-date on the most current educational research and recommendations. The
behaviorist theory of B.F. Skinner is still driving the educational practice at the
elementary school level. This practice consists basically in the notion that the best ways
to learn is to master small bits of knowledge and then integrate them into major concepts.
The sole concept of integrated unit lesson planning seems to point in the opposite
direction.

Teachers should make adaptations to the curriculum organization (the curriculum

instructional sequence). New teachers tend to follow text books from page one on. Most
curricula have a spiral structure that consists of reteaching some of the content. Many
students might not need such reteaching and the teacher must be able to determine what
to skip based one the students’ needs. Some things are common sense, like for example,
beginning Math instruction in second grade with number sense.

Assessment practice tends to focus on measuring the knowledge and skills, with
little emphasis on performance and understanding. A recent alternative to behaviorist
model is the constructivist theory. The constructivist main notion is that students learn
best by actively constructing their own understanding. The teacher must build on the
students’ prior knowledge and understanding to construct new knowledge and
understanding from authentic experiences. Students should be engaged in meaningful
problem-solving, that is, real-life context problems. Students should be encouraged to
explore possibilities, propose their own solutions, make conjectures, and work in
cooperative groups, test hypotheses and present solutions through different media.
Teachers must also keep in mind Gardner’s multiple intelligences model.

On how to evaluate the students, the teacher will find there are lots of different
resources and options. The teacher should favor authentic, also known as performance-
based assessment, since traditional assessment is given to the students through the
Stanford Nine Test. Performance-based assessment focuses on the students’ production,
that is, on what the students can do rather than picking the correct answer. These include,
informal observation, keeping anecdotal records, portfolios, projects, and different media
presentations.

III. Classroom Management Skills

Organizing the Classroom Physical Environment

 38

A few years ago new teachers were advised to be careful not to clutter the
classroom with to many decorations since it was distracting. The trend changed and now
teachers are advice that undecorated spaces can lead to dullness and boredom. I believe
that students should be engaged and participate in decorating their classroom. The use of
commercial decorations should be reduced to a minimum, instead use the students own
work to build bulletin boards. Posters with classroom rules, behavioral consequences,
daily schedule, rubrics, standards being taught, and word walls with sight words and new
unit vocabulary are a must. It is also indispensable to post students’ work in bulletin
boards. Content-activity centers are in tune with new instructional practices. They are
used for independent work time and cooperative work. There must be a reading center
with a diverse library and rug space; a writing center with a cluster of desks and writing
and art materials and resources; a Math and science center with plenty of manipulatives
and work space. The Math and science center should be placed near the sink since water
is often used in science experiments. Traditionally desks were arranged in rows, but that
does not help in building a sense of community. Clusters of desks promote cooperative
work, communication, and a sense of community. Nowadays, with the adoption of Open
Court by our school district, desks are arranged in a U-form around the chalk board and
overhead projector screen. In lower elementary grades carpets are generally used. The
carpet space is set inside the desk U-formation. The use of a central carpet space is ideal
since it offers the students the opportunity to change seating positions (it can be
overtaxing for students to be seating down at their desks for a long period of time). The
students will sit in a circle on the carpet for instructional activities such as shared reading
and class discussions. Sitting on in the rug in rows also brings the students closer to the
teacher for whole class directed lessons.

Creating a Community of Learners

At the beginning of the school year students should be engaged in shaping the
classroom rules and regulations. This validates them as active participants of a
community and raises their sense of importance and self-esteem. Not only does the
teacher have to delegate decision power to the students, but also he or she must teach
democratic citizenship. I doubt students will sense themselves as members of a
community under an authoritarian teacher. There should be a balance between the
student-centered and the teacher-centered classroom models. Every student should have
an active duty in the classroom management. This is can be achieved by posting
classroom duties and having students volunteer for service as classroom helpers or
monitors. This contributes to the creation of a classroom community. Monitor positions
should be rotated every few weeks.

Classroom meetings are essential in building a sense of community. A sense of

community develops when students and the teacher sit together and share feelings,
 39

concerns, opinions, and solve problems. Classroom meetings should be held regularly to
address problems confronting the class. Classroom meetings can be scheduled or held
when required by circumstances. Meetings can be used for assessing students
performance as monitors, discussing homework issues, organizing projects, and solving
conflicts.

Conflict in human affairs is inevitable, students must be taught conflict resolution

skills. First, students must learn how to become aware of their own feelings and the
feelings of others. The teacher should provide the students with the conceptual
framework to understand feelings and emotions. This is done by presenting vocabulary
supported by audiovisual aides and role playing. A student requires new concepts in
order to discover and identify his or her feelings and the feelings of others. Through
dramatizations body language should be carefully taught to students. Students must also
be taught sharing feelings using the “I” messages to de-escalate personal emotions and
conflict (they work wonders). Above all, students must be taught to recognize when they
are wrong; when they have invaded somebody else’s personal boundaries and rights.
When wronged, a student must learn to communicate their feelings and ask for an
apology. Students must also learn how to politely apologize and ask for forgiveness.
Students who volunteer and meet certain preset requirements may act as conflict-
resolution monitors. The teacher will model the procedures and guidelines that conflict-
resolution monitors must follow. The students must present their grievances to the
conflict-resolution monitors before going to the teacher. Only when the monitors are not
able to solve the conflict do they communicate the case to the teacher. This saves the
teacher a lot of valuable time and permits him or her to listen to a calm emotionally-
filtered version of the account. I always schedule class meetings for after the lunch
recess when the students are less restless. Most of the class meeting usually addresses
conflict resolution issues. The conflict-resolution monitors (a boy and a girl) who
attended to the conflict will try to give an unbiased and objective account of the conflict
and trial will take place. All the class members that are not involved in the conflict serve
as jurors, the teacher assumes the role of the judge (except for the fact that sentencing
power lies with the juror). The jurors suggest upon the consequences based on the
guidelines established at the beginning of the school year. I use the “talking stick.” For
a student to be granted the right to talk he or she must be holding the “talking stick.”
This ensures that the trial will run smoothly and passions are held on check.

Managing Student Work and & Maintaining Accountability

The first step at establishing student accountability is to clearly communicate to the

students that they are going to be constantly evaluated, how they are going to be
 40

evaluated, and establishing the consequences for a poor evaluation. Therefore it is the
teacher’s responsibility to help the students assume accountability for class performance,
including whole-class participation and cooperative participation; completion of class and
homework; quality and neatness of their completed assignments, and results in formal
testing. The students must have a clear idea of what their assignments are and how they
have to look like. The teacher must present models in overhead projector together with
rubrics. For written assignments in my district we use rubrics taken from the
Performance Assignments Tests. The teacher must explain the rubrics for grading and
familiarize the students with different samples of written assignments. It is a good idea to
videotape oral reports, hands-off class discussions, and other media presentations such as
role plays and more formal dramatic representations. By showing these video tapes of
former groups, students get a clear picture of what is expected of them. The teacher also
has to explain to the students how is he or she going to monitor work in progress,
completed assignments and homework. Some teachers like to keep track of students’
progress and completion of assignments with bulletin boards or posters. Some teachers
argue that making that information public might affect the self-esteem of students who
normally fall behind. Those public records should also be aimed at the parents; the
parents too have to be made accountable. The teacher must also be careful to give
frequent and prompt feedback. The students must know how they are doing in order to
make the necessary adaptations, either by working harder, being more careful and being
more tidy. The teacher must establish consequences for incomplete or sloppy work and
rewards for quality and timely completion of assignments.

Rewards for completion of proper and timely completion of assignments, as well as

active participation in class may be similar to the ones given for proper behavior. I run a
token economy in my classroom because it is fun. I give students certain number to
tickets for their homework, being on task and progressing in their class work and for final
products. These tickets are then redeemed for prizes. Free time to engage in productive
activities is also a great incentive. Consequences are simple; students who do not
complete the homework or do not progress in class assignments according to their
potential will complete them during recess. When failing to do their homework more
than twice in a week I will contact their parents. I keep records of student work
completion in my grade book. I also keep posted records of the minutes they dedicate to
reading at home (reading logs have to be filled out and signed by parents). Every two
weeks I will give prizes to the three of the children who have read the most. Published
essays, narratives, stories, and letters are posted in a bulleting board under their name
tags. Students feel very proud of themselves when they see their work posted in a
bulletin board under their names. Every week I choose a “Student of the Week,” who
gets all kinds of privilege such as, getting to choose any monitor position they want, first
to drink water after recess, be the teacher’s personal secretary, and so forth. I take a
picture of them with my digital camera and blow up a 8 by 11 inches photograph which
gets posted in a special place in the front bulleting board. Students can apply in writing
for the student of the week position. They have to detail what they are doing to become
better students and better citizens in order to be selected.
 41

Students keep all their work in binders divided into sections according to the
subjects. Every two months they select their best written work and place it in a portfolio.
I regularly check their binders for neatness and organization, I also engage the parents in
helping their children keep a well organize binder. I have different baskets where
students put their completed class work and homework. Every morning students put their
journals in one basket, their reading logs in another basket, and their math homework in
another. I stamp their homework with a “Check and date” seal and write a short
comment. Because giving prompt feedback to the students is of such a great importance
and because it does take some time away from instruction, I find myself doing it after
school or at home. As recommended everywhere in educational literature, I constantly
monitor students’ progress in class assignments and cooperative work and projects. It is
a good idea to wear sneakers if you are going to be on your feet great part of the day.
Provisions have to be made for students that are absent. During independent work time
most advanced students serve as “make-up monitors” and explain and instruct students
that were absent. That is something that has to be monitored by the teacher to ensure the
monitor is doing a thorough job and that the child that was absent truly understands new
material covered, work accomplished in class and homework to be made up.

Appropriate Discipline Models

One of the most widely known and practiced discipline model is Lee Canter’s
Assertive Discipline (Canter, Lee, and Marlene Canter, Assertive Discipline: a take-
charge approach for today’s educator, Santa Monica, California: Lee Canter & Associate,
Inc., 1989). In his book Assertive Discipline, Canter explains how he perceives three
different response styles in managing discipline: First, nonassertive response: the teacher
does not clearly communicate the desired behavior to students; the teacher is not
consistent in responding to behavior problems. Second, hostile response: the teacher tries
to control students instead of teaching them positive behavior; the teacher gets all
emotional and responds in a hostile, authoritarian, iron-fisted manner. We don’t want
students to behave appropriately out of fear. Third, assertive response: the teacher clearly
communicates to the students the expected behavior in a calm and firm manner; the
teacher is always consistent. Sometimes teachers demand from students always to raise
their hands and obtain from the teacher permission to talk. When a student brakes the
rule yet comes up with a really creative answer the teacher will validate the student’s
behavior due to the nature of the answer. The teacher must be very careful to be
consistent if he or she wants a discipline plan to work.

Canter develops a threefold discipline plan that consists of, rules, positive
recognition, and consequences. Through the classroom rules the teacher communicates
to the students the behavior he or she expects of them. Canter believes that the teacher
should set up the rules; I disagree to a certain degree. I believe the teacher through
classroom meeting engage the students in choosing and wording out the class rules. The
teacher can easily guide the students through proper questioning. For example, the
 42

teacher can say: “we need a rule to make sure kids don’t hit, kick, prick or through things
to each other.” By second grade, some kid will always come up with, “keep your hands
and feet to yourself.” Some experts insist that all rules be phrased in a positive manner,
not Canter. Phrasing all rules positively sets unrealistic limitations on classroom rules. I
don’t see anything wrong with a rule such as, “no eating.” Positive phrasing of rules will
force the teacher to come up with something like, “always come to class with a full
stomach.” Whenever possible yes, the teacher must guide the students in phrasing the
rules positively. The important thing that Canter emphasizes is that rules have to be
enforceable thought the whole day. Therefore, rules such as, “raise your hand and wait to
be call upon before speaking,” is unrealistic because there will be many occasions during
the day in which students will be required to work together and share, plan, discuss, etc.
Another important point that Canter makes in this respect is that classroom rules should
only address behavior and not academics.

Canter makes an excellent point when he suggests that teachers should be

constantly in the look-out for good behavior. The teacher must be consistent in giving
recognition and positive reinforcement to students that follow the classroom rules.
Canter suggests the following positive reinforcements: praises, notes or phone calls to
parents, special privileges, and tangible rewards. Furthermore, Canter recommends
keeping track of students’ good behavior either by points in a board, marbles in a jar, and
good behavior bulletin boards.

Regarding consequences, Canter points out that the most important thing is for the
teacher to be consistent in enforcing them. He also states that consequences have to
consist of things students do not like, making sure they are not psychological or
physically harmful to the students. The teacher has to present the set of behavioral
consequences as a choice and not a punishment. One way of reinforcing this is by never
getting upset (or at least hide your emotions) when enforcing a consequence. Simply, the
kid broke a rule and that choice brings a consequence like many other things in life.
Canter also insists that consequences do not need to be severe in order to be effective,
consistency is what matters. Canter recommends that the first time a student breaks one
of the classroom rules the first consequence should consist of a simple warning; the
students is thus alerted to the fact that the next time he or she breaks a rule the
consequence will be a real one. For grades K-3, Canter recommends time-out for five
minutes as a second consequence; ten minutes time-out for the third; note or phone call to
the parents as the fourth; and a trip to the principal’s office as the fifth consequence.
Teachers do not need to rigidly adhere to those exact consequences. Some experts
believe that time-out is not a proper consequence. We have to take into account that the
fundamental idea is not punishing the student but maximizing instructional time. Canter
also advises to have a severe clause in case of severe misbehavior, in which case the fifth
consequence would be automatically applied. Keeping tabs of consequences is also
necessary. Originally Canter recommended a system using color cards. There would be
a poster with library pockets with color cards and the students’ names. Everyday
students would start the day with a color that symbolized zero infractions to the
classroom rules. For the first infraction the teacher or a class monitor would change the
student’s card to a color card that would represent first infraction, and so forth. Lately
 43

Canter argues that his original idea has the flaw that it serves the purposes of attention
seekers and that it is better to use a log to keep track of students’ infractions.. At my
school we have always used Canter’s system and it works fine.

Another very renown expert in the subject is Thomas Gordon, creator of Teacher
Effectiveness Training. One of his major contributions is the concept of the no-lose
method. He argues that in a conflictive situation between a misbehaved student and the
teacher either one is bound to lose. This produces resentment on the part of the party that
loses. Gordon recommends a procedure by which the teacher dialogues with the student
and tries to find a mutually agreeable compromise solution (this just may be too time
consuming).

The Honor Level System designed by Budd Churchward is quite revolutionary in

that it uses special software to keep track of students’ infractions at a school wide
scope(The Honor Level System www.thomasgordon.com). Churchward argues that just
as students function at different levels in reading and math, they also function at different
levels of behavior. He identifies four different stages of behavior:

• Stage 1: Recalcitrant, behavior in which students are defiant an require tremendous

amount of attention.
• Stage 2 : Self-serving, at this level students behave either because they will receive
some sort of reward or because they dislike the consequences of bad behavior.
• Stage 3: Interpersonal discipline, at this stage students behave well because the
teacher asks them to, they care what other think of them and want the teacher to like
them.
• Stage 4: Self-discipline, this category consists of those students that have a sense of
right and wrong and do not require exterior motivators for proper behavior.

The teacher has to be able to identify the stage at which a student is functioning. If
the student is functioning at a low level stage the teacher must help the student work to
the next stage of the ladder. Stage 3 is the ideal, since very few students normally
function at stage 4.

The classroom discipline plan consists of four steps:

• Step One: Reminder, not at warning like Canter recommends

• Step two: Warning, either verbal or written.

• Step three: Infraction slip, which is turned in to the office to be entered into a
computer that manages the data for the system. Consequences will vary according to
the number of infractions in a 14 days period.

• Step Four: Student is sent to the principal’s office.

 44

I truly do not understand why all these experts on the matter always select sending
students to the principal’s office as the ultimate negative consequence. I think making
the parents come to a conference with the teacher is more serious consequence than a trip
to the principal’s office.

IV. Student Diagnosis, Achievement, and Evaluation

Formal & Informal Methods to Assess Students’ Language Proficiency

The California State Board of Education adopted the English Language

Development standards in 1999, with the purpose of providing guidelines for the
instruction and monitoring the progress of ELLs. CTB/McGraw-Hill Company
developed for the State of California the California English Language Development Test
(CELDT). The purpose of the CELDT is to serve as a program for initial identification
placement, assess annually ELLs’ progress, and serve as a criterion for reassigning ELD
levels.

The CELDT is very comprehensive in its scope since it measures students’ English
proficiency in all four modes of the language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It
covers both students’ basic interpersonal communicative skills, as well as the
cognitive/academic language proficiency. The listening/speaking section of the test
covers: following directions, phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, phonemic control,
and story retelling. The reading section of the test covers: word analysis, reading
vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, fluency, reading comprehension, and literary analysis.
The writing section of the test covers: grammar, language mechanics, writing sentences,
and writing a story. The CELDT is scored to classify students into five different
proficiency levels (beginning, early intermediate, intermediate, advanced intermediate,
and advanced). As I mentioned before, the CELDT is also utilized as a tool for the initial
identification of students. The CELDT is also scored to classify students in three
categories of English fluency for initial identification: Probable Fluent English Proficient,
Possible Fluent English Proficient, and Probable English Learner.

Another formal ELD assessment is the use of ELD Assessment Portfolios. An ELD
Portfolio is an organized approach to monitoring and documenting students’ progress. It
uses a scoring guide to determine the student’s progress toward mastery of each ELD
standards. The scoring guide consists of a rubric of four levels of progress: 4 records
advanced progress; 3, average progress; 2, partial progress; 1, limited progress. Once a
student scores 3 or 4 in each ELD domain the student is re-designated to the next level
and a new portfolio is opened. The scoring of the different domains (listening and
 45

speaking, reading, and writing) must match the grades given by the teacher in the report
cards, in other words, the ELD Portfolios are a guide for grading ELLs in language arts.

The English Language Arts Performance Assignment Test is another formal

assessment tool in the LAUSD. This test is designed for students to demonstrate
knowledge and skills identified in the ELA Standards. The standards addressed by this
test are: 2.0 Reading Comprehension (Students read and understand grade-level
appropriate material.); Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-level-Appropriate Text 2.5
(Restate facts and details in the text to clarify and organize ideas.); 3.0 Literary Response
and Analysis (Students read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of
children’s literature). A different writing prompt is given appropriate to grade level.
Students are expected to respond and analyze in writing a literary text. The test is scored
using a rubric consisting of four categories: Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient,
and Not Proficient. Although this test is designed to assess reading comprehension, I
believe it is a test that above all measures students’ writing skills (Writing Standard 1.0
and Writing Applications 2.0). Even though, students may be capable of responding
and analyzing a literary text if their writing skills are not well developed they would not
be able to demonstrate their reading comprehension and skills.

Open Court unit assessments criterion-referenced assessments are formal

assessments that measure students progress in language arts. Every six weeks, at the end
of each curricular unit, students are tested in reading fluency, reading comprehension,
grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and writing. The assessment results are used to modify
instruction in the next unit.

The assessments recommended by the by LAUSD to provide evidence of students’

progress in the ELD Portfolios are examples of ELD informal assessments. Such model
assessments may be found in the culminating assignments for the thematic units
recommended by the Structure English Inversion (SEI) Handbook. Such assessments are
grouped by the standard they address. Following are a few examples of these
assessments: 1. For the ELD Listening and Speaking Standard, students in Level I are
asked to respond verbally or non-verbally to a series of 15 pictures in school
environment. 2. Students in Level II are asked to create a diorama and label objects
from a home environment; respond with one to two word responses to a series of 15
questions related to the diorama. 3. For ELD Comprehension Standard Level I, students
are asked to create a book by drawing pictures of at least four family members and using
the patterned sentences: This is my_____under their pictures. 4. For ELD Reading
Standard Level 2, students are asked to create a minibook with the names of the
characters in The Little Red Hen by completing the onset or rime.

ESL Series Assessments are more informal in nature. In ELD instruction schools
generally recommend a commercial ESL curriculum. At my school we use Into English
(ESL/ELD from Hampton-Brown). Authentic assessment, assessment in which the
process and the product of the students serves as basis for evaluation, . Portfolios are
used to collect students’ work, records of teacher observations, student self-assessment
and observations of family members. The ESL series provides “Family Interview
 46

Forms” to be used regularly during scheduled conferences with students’ families to help
forge a picture of the students’ language use outside the classroom, “Student Self-
Assessment Forms,” although term self-assessment is used, these forms are to be filled
up during evaluation conferences with the students. The teacher helps the student fill in
the form by guiding him or her through a series preset questions. Book log forms are
used for students to record the books they read for research and recreation. Student
progress forms are used to assess fluency of language production during group
recitations; language functions, critical thinking and writing.

Use and Limitations of Evaluation Instruments & Alternative Methods

of Evaluation

Standardized tests are very well known evaluation instruments. These tests fall into
two categories, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. The norm-referenced
tests are multiple choice tests such as the Stanford Nine, which we administer at our
district. These tests measure the students’ standing relative to other students. The results
are expressed in percentile scores. For example, a student who scores at an 80th percentile
demonstrates a higher performance than 80% than everyone else in the test pool. The
grade-level equivalent (GLE) is another variation of norm referenced tests. A specific
score is identified with students’ expected performance for grade level knowledge and
skills. The grade equivalent score will identify the student’s level performance in
different core areas. For example, a second grader who scores a GE 2, is performing at
grade level, higher score will identify the student as being above grade level and a lower
score with below grade level expectancy. (Graves, Michael, Connie Juel, and Bonnie B.
Graves, Teaching Reading in the 21 st Century. Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn
and Bacon, 1998).

Norm-referenced tests have certain advantages as well as disadvantages. Grade

levels indexes can offer a clue to the teacher on whether a student can handle grade level
reading material. Yet these scores can be subject to error of measurement. For instance,
it is possible for a student to score 25% correct answers by simply choosing at random in
a test that offers four multiple choice options. A student can perfectly well fall pray of
nervousness and not finish on time, this student will score below his or her ability. In
general, interpreting tests reports can be overwhelming and it is hard for a teacher to draw
a whole picture of sometimes contradictory scores.

Criterion-referenced tests resemble standardized test in format. While norm-

referenced tests compare a student’s performance with other students’ performance,
criterion-referenced tests compare performance with an absolute standard; for example,
80% of the answers must be correct. Basal reader tests provided with end of unit tests are
classical example of criterion-referenced tests. These tests also offer reading fluency
assessments. They are generally very practical in helping the teacher make decisions on
students’ placement and progress, but by themselves they have questionable validity.
 47

Simply, some students can have difficulty with test taking. I have observed students that
perform very well when reading in a low anxiety ambience, while scoring under grade-
level in fluency tests.

LAUSD Performance-Based Assignments are rubric-based tests used to assess

reading skills. A rubric is a scoring guide, something similar to the traditional letter grade
but with numbers that describe different levels of performance competency. Students are
given a writing prompt and limited time to write a literary analysis of a text. One of the
biggest drawbacks is that students’ reading ability is measured by his or her ability in
written expression. It is not uncommon to find students that are at grade-level in their
reading skills but are unable to express themselves in writing. Class discussions on
literary issues may be a more precise form of judging students’ reading comprehension
skills, yet keeping track of students’ progress is cumbersome with large groups of
students. In this sense, rubric-based tests are helpful due to their practicality in dealing
with large numbers of students. I strongly feel that writing rubric tests measure above all
students’ writing skills.

LAUSD Performance-Based Assignments tend to fall more into the category of

formal assessment. Performance based assessments in theory are supposed to be
authentic assessments. Authentic assessments are supposed to be a method of testing in
which through a short or long period of time, students engage in a meaningful projects of
their interest. According to the Pearson Education Development group, “Authentic
assessment aims to evaluate students’ abilities in real-world contexts. In other words,
students learn how to apply skills to authentic tasks and projects…[sic]…Instead, it
focuses one students’ analytical skills; ability to integrate what they learn; creativity;
ability to work collaboratively; and written and oral expression skills. It values the
learning process as much as the finished product.” (Authentic Assessment Overview:
http://www.teachervision.com/lessson-plans/lesson-4911.html). Unfortunately, LAUSD
Performance Tests pay attention only to the final product, imposes the topic on the
students, and set a myriad of other restrictions as for instance, not consulting thesaurus,
dictionaries, word walls, sound/spelling cards, cooperative brainstorming, etc. Students
perceive they are under a testing environment in which they cannot joyfully engage the
full of their creative potential.

Performance-based assessments, must be teacher-based (not district-based) in order

to be authentic assessments. In this kind of assessments students’ production is given
more importance than picking right answers. Students must show that they can actually
do something. Great importance is given to projects, as well as preference of depth over
breadth. I feel that authentic assessment is the more precise term to identify this form of
evaluation since it is based on students’ real production. These are the most indicative
when determining students’ progress and placements. These assessments tend to be
integrative and are an expression of the students understanding and mastering of thematic
units. They are integrative in the sense that they usually consist of crosscurricular
activities that integrate different core knowledge and skills. They are meant to be
meaningful tasks. Students usually work on projects, solve problems on issues and topics
that truly matter to them; normally, students have the privilege of choosing the topics
 48

they most work on. Emphasis is laid on students’ capacity of explaining what they are
doing, why, and how they are doing a project or solving a problem. Open Court Research
Cycle projects are good examples of this type of evaluation. Students develop questions
on a specific topic related to the instructional unit. Afterwards students form conjectures
about the research question, research the question, present findings and make revisions to
their problems and conjectures the basis of these findings. Finally, students prepare a
formal research project and make presentations through diverse media.

Another assessment device is the pretest, which is designed to provide the teacher
with helpful information in determining what students need to learn and what must be
taught. Tests are especially useful at the beginning of the year, but are also very useful at
the beginning of every instructional unit. They help to determine whether the students
are proficient enough in skills and knowledge to succeed in the unit of studies. Most
basal style curricula provide pretests. They are especially useful in the lower elementary
grade as a reading readiness assessment tool.

In general, informal devices and techniques reflect more authentically the material
that is being is being taught in the classroom and the accomplishment, attitudes and
learning styles of the students’ when compared with formal assessments. They also have
the advantage of not having the time limits and stressful conditions of formal
assessments. Students’ performance in formal assessments is affected by the students’
state of health on the day of the examination. Informal assessments measure students’
ongoing performance and are therefore more authentic. Besides, students can randomly
guess at answers in standardized tests reflecting a score that does not match the students’
ability. The major shortcomings of informal assessments are their lack of statistical
validity and the time consumption they demand.

Informal assessments can take the form of observation checklists, anecdotal notes,
miscue analysis, reading inventories, running records, teacher-pupil conferences or
interviews, learning logs, writing samples, homework, journals, games, debates, research,
experiments, brainstorming, story retelling, student portfolios.

Wilma H. Miller in her book entitled, Alternative Assessment Techniques for

Reading & Writing (Miller, Wilma H., Alternative Assessment Techniques for Reading
& Writing. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.) gives very valuable advice on the
subject. She starts by describing “kid watching,” which consists of careful observation of
a student or group of students by the teacher. Attention should be paid to academic
performance and social behaviors. Furthermore, the observation is enhanced by the
teacher interaction with students through questioning, dialogue journals, and teacher-
student conferences. The teacher must keep detailed records of students’ competencies,
weaknesses, and progress. This is done through anecdotal records. The teacher should
keep handy a clipboard with the class list and spaces for comments, which at the end of
each day she must transcribe onto the student’s record sheet.

Students’ records can also be kept by using specific teacher check lists. In her
book, Wilma Miller supplies checklists for evaluating language development, alphabet
 49

knowledge, concepts about books, concepts about print, word identification techniques
and oral reading, self-monitoring while using the word identification techniques,
vocabulary and comprehension, study skills and silent reading, story and book retelling
ability, self-monitoring of reading comprehension and reading for pleasure. Miller
supplies samples of most of the above categories for all different grade levels (emergent,
primary, upper primary, intermediate, middle and upper grades). I have found these
checklists to be of great value and help at keeping records of students’ strengths,
weaknesses and progress.

Another important informal assessment device is the miscue analysis, in itself, and
as part of individual reading inventories (IRIs). The miscue analysis offers the advantage
of reflecting what kind of miscues (graphophonic, semantic or syntactic) the student is
incurring in and whether or not they are interfering with the reading comprehension.

Miller suggests that in order to determine the grade level of the reading selection for
the miscue analysis an assessment of sight words recognition be administered to the
students first. The author provides in her book the Fry’s Instant Words Assessment List,
the Dolch Sight Words Assessment List, and the San Diego Quick Assessment List. With
the Dolch Sight Words List, the book provides evaluations for sight words in isolation
and sight words in context for first, second and third grade levels. The San Diego Quick
Assessment List has traditionally been used by teachers at my school, yet I believe the
Dolch Sight Words List does the job better.

Once the student’s reading level is determined he or she is given a passage to read.
The number of miscues (errors in omission of words, addition of words not in the text,
substitutions and mispronunciations, reversal, repetitions, and cases in which the teacher
has to supply the word to the student) is subtracted from the total number of words, the
difference being the total of words read correctly. Then by dividing the total of words
correctly by the total of words in the passage a percentage is obtained, which in turn
represents the reading accuracy. 90 percent accuracy represents the student’s
instructional reading level. An individual reading inventory is a refinement of the miscue
analysis assessment. There are many IRIs commercially available, which furnish
evaluation forms that supply the questions for reading comprehension (running records
are just a name for a specific IRI). Commercial IRIs are usually designed by reading
specialists and therefore they have been classroom tested saving the teacher the job of
having to reinvent the wheel. Wilma Miller provides and IRI in her book, which I think
is very well thought. It contemplates a before reading activity to access prior knowledge
and interest; an after reading section for word identification miscues and levels of reading
proficiency (independent, low independent, high instructional, instructional, low
instructional, and frustration levels);a comprehension assessment section with questions
that accompany the reading selection; comprehension score, and self-monitoring of
comprehension.

Another very important form of informal assessments are the teacher-student

reading conferences. It is advisable to schedule students for regular reading conferences.
 50

This is especially ideal to monitor students’ home and independent reading. The teacher
must keep records of competencies and weaknesses. Teacher-student interviews are
more structured than student conferences, in which the teacher should try to get the
student talking on their readings. Wilma Miller provides a sample of a teacher-student
reading interview, which is a excellent model. Students should also keep reading logs, in
which they keep track of their readings and their reactions to their readings. These
should be very simple in order not to discourage students. For upper elementary grades
reading logs can be replaced or supplemented with reading response journals. These are
more structured than reading logs and teacher must supply a format for students to
follow. Both, the reading logs and the reading response journals (as well as the dialogue
journals) should be integrated into the students’ portfolios.

Besides the ELD Portfolios teachers are encouraged to use general literacy portfolio
assessments. Before attempting to have students assemble their portfolios they should
begin by keeping a work folder. Work folders are also magnificent assessment devices.
Work folders should contain work-in-progress, finished work and students’ journals.
Students’ work folders ought to be sorted regularly and from them the teacher should
guide students to choose samples that show growth, progress, and achievement. These
samples in turn are collected in a portfolio. The main purpose of students’ portfolios is
the opportunity for students to self-assess their work. The chosen samples should reflect
process and final productions. Each chosen sample should be accompanied by
annotations with students' reflections of why they chose the sample. Portfolios should
also include a table of contents. Portfolios are an ideal example of authentic assessment
since they show students’ reading and writing progress throughout an extended period of
time in a concrete way. Since now we ought to encourage writing across the curriculum
samples of math and science journals should be included. Perhaps one of the main
drawbacks of portfolio assessment is the great deal of time and effort they demand on
both teacher and students, on the other hand they are also, besides an assessment device,
a highly effective instructional tool.

V. Professional Responsibilities & Interpersonal

Relationships
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Child Abuse Laws, policies, & Procedures

Section 11166 of the California Penal Code (Summary of: “Child Abuse-
Reporting,“ LAUD Office of the Superintendent, Bulletin No. 10, August 1, 1996)
mandates the reporting to designated authorities of cases of suspected child abuse. This
obligation applies to certified employees, health practitioners, school police, and
employees of child care centers. The term, “mandates” implies that failure to comply
with the reporting policy may subject an employee to professional and personal liability.
By “Child Abuse,” it is understood: 1. Physical abuse: physical injury such as a bruise,
welt, burn, cut inflicted by other than accidental means; 2. Sexual abuse: sexual assault,
sexual exploitation, annoyance or molestation of a child, sexual activities between and
adult and a child, and sexual acts between children when there is a decided difference in
age (a least two years or more) between the victim and the offender; the offender is
substantially stronger and/ or larger in physical stature; the victim is outnumbered; the
victim is overpowered by use of threats, intimidation, bribery and/or fear. 3. Neglect:
failure to protect the child and/or to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or
supervision where no physical injury has occurred. 4. Life endangerment, willful cruelty,
emotional abuse: any act by a person who willfully causes, inflicts or permits any child to
endure cruel or inhuman corporal punishment, mental suffering, or cause or permits the
child to be placed in a situation in which his person or health is endangered. The
designated authorities for reporting moderate to severe physical abuse, sexual abuse, life
threatening situations (including endangerment from domestic violence), and inadequate
supervision (immediate risk) is the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the
alleged abuse has taken place. Mild physical abuse, general and medical neglect,
emotional abuse, and inadequate supervision (when risk is anticipated) are to be reported
to the Department of Children and Family Services.

Mandated reporting is to be done when the district employee has, according to his
or her professional capacity, knowledge or reasonable suspicion that a child has been
victim of abuse. “Reasonable suspicion” means that it is objectively plausible for a
person to entertain such a belief if it is based upon a person’s training an experience and
upon facts or allegations that would cause a person of sound judgment in a like position
to suspect child abuse.

District employees should not wait until the end of the school day to report cases of
suspected child abuse. The report of the known or suspected instance should be done
immediately or as it is practically possible by telephone and should be followed by a
written report within 36 hours of receiving information concerning the incident. The
school must provide class coverage, when needed, so that the report can be made as soon
as possible.

The reporting person shall give his or her own name (legally mandated reporters
may not report anonymously); the child’s name, home address, telephone number and
 52

date of birth, mother’s name; names of siblings; prior reports; special needs of the child;
home language; description of injury; statement about what led the reporter to suspect
child abuse; present location of the child. During the telephone report, the reporting
person shall: 1. Document the date and time the call is made. 2. Record contact person’s
name, title, position, I.D./badge number. 3. Apprise the contact person of the time school
is dismissed and how the child goes home. 4. Inquire and record the agency’s plan
regarding what action will be taken and when. 5. Clarify and report the agency’s
directive as to what the school should/should not do regarding the reported
incident/victim/perpetrator. 6. Have the contact person read back the report information
verbatim.

The reporting person should keep in mind never to contact the child’s home or
alleged perpetrator if indicators point to possible abuse or is abuse is suspected prior to
making a report; not to contact the child’s home or the alleged perpetrator once the report
is made unless approval is obtained from the investigating agency or until the agency
investigation has been completed; never to conduct an investigation of any kind once
abuse is alleged and prior to making a report; not to conduct an investigation of any kind
once the report is made unless approval is obtained from the investigating agency or until
the investigation has been completed. The written report must be done in forms specially
designed for mandatory reporting of known or alleged child abuse.

Parent/Teacher Communication & Working with Paraprofessionals

Teachers should not underestimate the advantages derived from close

communication with parents. For a teacher, establishing a relationship with his or her
students’ parents is not only a very profitable strategy at supporting the achievement of
instructional goals, but an unavoidable aspect of teaching in K-12 schools. About a
month after the beginning of the school year schools invite parents to meet with their
children’s parents. This structured meeting, called Back to School Night, is usually the
first chance the teacher gets to meet with his or her students’ parents. The purpose of this
meeting is to provide the teacher with the opportunity to communicate to the parents his
or her philosophy on teaching; the instructional goals he or she wants to achieve during
the year; explain the curriculum, and the discipline and homework policies. The teacher
must limit himself or herself to answering general questions that refer to the curriculum,
instructional goals, his or her discipline plan, and homework and avoid discussing issues
that refer to a particular child’s academic standing or behavior. The teacher should take
advantage of parent’s particular inquiries to commit them to schedule an individual
teacher-parent conference.

Conferences designed for reporting on students’ academic achievement are

scheduled at the end of marking periods. In some districts parents are required to come
to school to pick up the students’ report cards and conference with the teachers. Teachers
are required to explain to the parents the grading and commentaries in the report cards.
 53

Teachers must be careful to present the student’s strengths before focusing on the
weaknesses, but, above all, the teacher must be truthful. Some teachers just say
marvelous things about their students in order to avoid conflict. When a student’s
academic standing is satisfactory all goes fine, and dandy, but if a student’s academic
progress is not satisfactory the teacher must point out the student’s specific weaknesses
and the type of interventions he or she has done to remedy the problem and how the
parents might help. Sometimes the problem is behavioral and in other instances the child
might have some learning disability. If the teacher suspects a students might have some
learning disability, this is a good opportunity to have the parents sign consent forms for
psychological testing. Most teachers dread teacher-conference days since they are much
more taxing than regular teaching days. Each conference should last between 20 or 30
minutes, for a teacher with 20 students this represents some 10 hours of exhausting work.

The teacher must not just limit parent conferences to the scheduled instances, but
must call home immediately and set up a conference as soon as a student displays any
serious behavioral problem or learning difficulty. Such conferences aid the teacher in
diagnosing the problem at hand. The teacher can gain significant insight by learning
about the student’s home environment.

Somewhere around the middle of the school year parents are again invited to the
classrooms to visit their children’s teachers. At this meeting, called Open House, the
teacher must demonstrate to the parents how the curriculum goals are being met. At this
meeting the teacher must be careful to include samples of all the students’ work. It could
be severely disappointing for parents not to find their own child’s work displayed. This
is an instance in which student portfolios come in very handy since they offer concrete
evidence of accomplished work by all of the students.

It is advisable to for the teacher to establish a sound rapport with the parents since
they can be of an invaluable assistance, especially when it comes to helpings students
with homework assignments. Written communication through notes sent home is the
most usual communication between teachers and parents. Teachers mostly send home
notes when students have some kind of problem, that is perfectly alright and a must, but
teachers should also send home notes commending students’ progress and
accomplishments. In some schools all written communication sent home to parents must
first be approved by the principal. The principal’s censorship may act as a deterrent to
written communication from the teacher to parents. In such a case the use of the
telephone offers the solution. Telephone calls to parents can be done from the teacher’s
home and would be exempt from any kind of censorship. Communication between the
teacher and the parents of his or her pupils must have a minimum degree of privacy. The
use of the telephone has the disadvantage of being too time consuming. I recommend
calling home anytime there is any kind of special event going on in the classroom as for
instance, special homework assignments, publication and display of students’ work, a
classroom play, or upcoming testing. This gives the teacher the good excuse to call
home and provides parents the opportunity to inquire about their child’s progress or
behavior.
 54

Parents can also serve as classroom aides. Teachers should encourage parent to
volunteer as classroom helpers. Parents, by providing an audience to students’ readings
can be a highly motivating factor. Parents as helpers are ideal when it comes to
correcting tests and papers.

It is ideal when the language and the culture of the parents matches that of the
teacher. In many instances, especially in LAUSD, teachers are confronted with a
linguistic and cultural barrier due to the cultural and linguistic diversity of the student
population. In most cases paraprofessionals that have a command of a second language
are assigned to these teachers. When the teacher depends on a paraprofessional for
communication with parents, the teacher must ensure that the paraprofessional does in
fact have an appropriate command over the language.

Paraprofessionals are instructional assistants whose main responsibility is the

support of instructional programs under a certificated teacher. Paraprofessionals help
individual students or groups of students during teacher led lessons, conduct tutorials and
reinforcement and enrichment activities, gather and prepare lesson materials, and help
with testing. Paraprofessionals are often neighbors familiar with the local culture and for
that reason they are ideal facilitators in the communication between teacher and parents.
They translate for parent and students with limited English proficiency. Many contribute
to the safety of the school climate by supervising students in the lunchrooms and
playgrounds. For all the above reasons paraprofessionals have a unique and important
role which teacher must appreciate and validate. Paraprofessionals are usually formally
evaluated by the teachers they assist. Teacher evaluation of paraprofessionals should aim
at enabling them to become aware of the important role they play as part of an
instructional team.

VI. Language Structure & First & Second-Language

Development
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Language Structure & Use

Language structure is the pattern of organization of the elements and levels of a

language. The different elements and levels of language are categorized into sub-patterns
or structures: the phonological structure, the syntactic structure, and the semantic
structure. These sub-structures of language are associated to the three classical
subdivisions of linguistics: phonology, the study of sound patterns; morphology and
syntax, the study of the composition of words and sentences; semantics, the study of
meaning (Moor, Andrew, “Structure of English.” Andrew Moore’s Teaching Resource
Site, www.gxnu.edu.cn/Personal/szliu/definition.html); (McArthur, Tom, ed. The Oxford
Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Phonology studies the sounds of language and the mental representations of such
sounds. Speech is , from the physical and acoustic point of view, a continuos chain of
sounds. Yet, the listener has, due to the nature human mind, the ability to subdivide the
continuous chain of sounds into segments of discrete units. This is possible because the
listener has a mental representation of such discrete units. The listener can brake the
chain of sounds into segments which are associated with meaning. In linguistics such
discrete units are called phonemes. The phoneme is the mental representation of sound,
while the corresponding spoken sound is called a phone. The study of phonemes pertains
to phonology while the study of phones pertains to phonetics, a branch of phonology.
Phonics, in the other hand, is the term used in the teaching profession for the study of
letters and the sounds it represents and a method for teaching reading based on the
phonetic representation of spelling.

The number of phonemes varies from language to language. The English language
has a high average compared to other languages. There is no exact number of phonemes
allocated to the English language since there are variations corresponding to different
dialects of the language. SRA Open Court reading program recognizes 46 different
phonemes. A phoneme is represented by a letter of the alphabet enclosed by forward
slashes; for example, the sound represented by the letter b is written as the phoneme /b/.
Many phonemes have more than one spelling; for example, the phoneme /f/ can be
spelled [f] or [ph]. The letters or letter combinations corresponding to the phonemes are
called graphemes. Therefore, we can identify [f] and [ph] as two different graphemes of
the phoneme /f/. Phonemes can be identified by contrasting minimal pairs. Minimal
pairs are two words that are differentiated only in a pair of phonemes; for example pan
and fan differ only in the phoneme pair /b/ and /f/. The English language has a highly
complex phonetic system when compared to other languages, as for example Spanish.
ELLs from a Spanish speaking background find the English language extremely
challenging to learn. The teacher must be familiarized with phonology in general in order
to teach reading through phonics system.
 56

Morphology studies the most basic elements which are used in language. These
most basic elements are called morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest units of
meaning. There are two kinds of morphemes: free morphemes and bound morphemes.
Free morphemes are simple words such as cat, nap, or big, which can stand alone as units
of meaning and can be combined with other free morphemes to make new words. Two
free morphemes can be combined to form a compound word such as catnap. Bound
morphemes, on the other hand, cannot stand alone as units of meaning but may be
combined with other free or bound morphemes to build complex words. For example,
the prefix un (which means “not”) can be combined with a free morpheme such as faith,
with the suffix ful (which means full), and with the suffix ness (which means condition or
quality) to create the complex word unfaithfulness.

Bound morphemes are divided into two classes: inflectional and derivational. The
inflectional case happens when a bound morpheme is inflected, that is altered, by adding
suffix. For example, the plural formation of nouns as in cats (cat + s) or past tense of
regular verbs (walk + ed = walked). These changes are done to show internal
grammatical agreement in a sentence (for example, the cat walk does not show
grammatical number agreement, but inflectional form does, the cat walks). The
derivational case happens where compound words are made without reference to the
internal grammatical agreement of a sentence. For example, adding the prefix dis (to
undo) the verb infect creates the new verb disinfect (to undo the action of infecting).

Basic knowledge of morphology is fundamental for elementary school teachers. It

is specially useful when teaching students the formation of plurals, the prediction of
meaning in unknown compound words and the meaning created by the addition of
affixes, use of word families, etc.

Syntax is the study of the ordering or arrangement of the different parts of speech
within a sentence. Syntax is the study of the ways in which words combine into such
units of phrases, clauses, and sentences. A phrase is the name given to any short
sequence of words which could be replaced by a single word. A phrase which can be
replaced by a noun is a noun phrase; a phrase that can be replaced by an adjective is an
adjective is an adjective phrase, and so on. Noun phrases are constructed by adding
modifiers to a noun. For example, by adding modifiers like the big bad and that lives in
the forest to the noun bear a noun phrase like the big bad bear that lives in the forest is
created. Pronoun phrases, like noun phrases, are constructed by adding modifiers to a
pronoun. Adjective phrases are constructed by adding intensifiers to the adjective. For
example, adding the intensifier very to adjective happy creates the adjective phrase very
happy. By the same token, adverb phrases are constructed by adding intensifiers to an
adverb. Prepositional phrases are formed by a preposition followed by a noun phrase.
Verb phrases are constructed by adding auxiliary verbs to the main verb in a sentence.
For example, adding the auxiliary verbs may have to the verb walked creates the verb
phrase may have walked.
In modern European languages clauses and sentences are the most important
syntactical structures. A sentence may consist of a single clause, in which case the clause
and the sentence are one and the same. In general terms it can be said that clauses are
 57

constituted by the combination of subject, verb, object or objects, and complements. Not
necessarily in that order nor containing all above elements. A subject and a verb can
form a clause as well as a sentence; for example, Peter ran. This construction is possible
because the verb to run is an intransitive verb (a verb that can stand alone and make sense
without a direct object). The verb to buy is a transitive verb since it requires a direct
object for it to make sense. In Peter bought a direct object is required to complete the
sense of the verb; for example, Peter bought flowers. Objects can be direct, indirect, or
circumstantial. Direct objects tell what the subject through the verb does. For example,
by asking “what did Peter buy?” (Flowers) we may determine which element in the
sentence or clause functions as a direct object. By the same token, by asking “for/to
whom?” we can identify the element that serves as an indirect object (for example, for his
mother in the sentence Peter bought flowers for his mother). Likewise, the circumstantial
object answers to the question “when/where?” For example, in the flower shop in the
sentence Peter bought flowers for his mother in the flower shop. A Complement is
anything that adds meaning to the subject or to one of the objects.

A sentence containing a single clause is said to be a simple sentence. When a

sentence contains more than one clause and these are of equal grammatical importance
they are called coordinate clauses. These are joined by a coordinating conjunction, such
as and or but. Usually when there are two coordinate clauses in a sentence, the first one
is identified as the main clause and the second one as the coordinate clause. When a
coordinate clause cannot stand alone and make sense as a sentence then it is classified as
subordinate clauses. Subordinate clauses can function as subject, object, complement or
adverbial phrase within a sentence. Clauses that function as subject, object, or
complement replace noun phrases and therefore are called nominal clauses. For example,
in the sentence I know what you did last summer, the clause what you did last summer is
the object of the verb to know and therefore it is considered to be a nominal clause.
Clauses that function as adverbs are called adverbial clauses. These are introduced by
subordinate conjunctions such as when, before, after, while, because, since, if, etc. An
example would be, when the bell rings in the sentence, You may leave the classroom
when the bell rings. Adjectival clauses are also known as relative clauses because they
are introduced by relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, that, which).

The most recent syntax by linguistics has taken a different approach in contrast to
the descriptive syntax I have explained above (Dulay, Heidi, Marina Burt, and Stephen
Krashen, Language Two. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982). This new trend in
linguistics was started by Noam Chomsky. He was concerned with the linguistic
structures and processes at work in the human mind. He sees such structures as universal
and arising from a genetic predisposition to language. He is widely known for theory of
the transformational-generative grammar TG). The basic idea in this theory is that some
syntactic rules are transformational; that is , they change from one structure to another by
conventions such as moving, inserting, deleting a, and replacing elements in a sentence.
A typical transformational rule is the rule for the formation of questions, where the
normal order of subject-verb is inverted to the verb-subject order. TG contemplates two
levels of syntactic structure: of deep and surface structures. Every sentence has two
levels of structure, the obvious structure that we can perceive and an abstract structure
 58

from which the surface structure is generated. Therefore for example, the question Can
you read this paper? is a surface structure transformed from the deep structure You can
read this paper.

Semantics is the study of meaning of words in sentences and phrases and the study
of the meaning of sentences and phrases. The meaning of words can be analyzed with
reference to their denotation and their connotation. Denotation is the cognitive meaning
of a word and refers to the direct relationship between a word and an object or idea. A
word may have different denotations depending on the context it is used. For example,
the word chair by virtue of the context in which it is used can reveal the meaning of an
object used for sitting down, while when used in a different context can mean the director
of a board or department. Connotation is the affective meaning of a word and may have
many different nuances depending on context used, culture, and individual subjective
experiences. For example the word mother may have different meanings depending on
personal experience. For one person it can be associated with love while for another it
can mean associated with abandonment. The same word in Spanish (madre) is used by
Mexicans to mean anything of an negative nature. Of course, this type of information
can be very useful for teachers specially when dealing with culturally and linguistically
diverse students.

The use of language in a social context is the subject of study of a pragmatics, a

subfield of linguistics. It studies how people comprehend and produce language in a
concrete social situation. The ability to comprehend and produce language is referred to
as pragmatic or communicative competence which includes knowledge such as about
social distance, social status between speakers, cultural knowledge such as politeness,
and linguistic knowledge. The pragmatic principles observed by people differ from
language to language. (Liu, Shaozhong, “What is Pragmatics?”
www.gxnu.edu.cn/Personal/szliu/definition.html)

Social distance refers to what is called proxemics, which is the study of spatial
arrangements people need in their social activities and particularly for communication in
different cultures. American people feel that their personal space has been violated when
if strangers come closer than two feet. Latin Americans feel the same but at
approximately one foot distance. In the case of a Latin American approaching an
American, this last one would normally feel very uncomfortable, find it offensive and
would pull back. The pulling back by the American would be in turn offensive for the
Latin American. This type of knowledge is indispensable for teachers teaching culturally
diverse students.

Kinesics is the study of body movements, gestures, and facial expression as forms
of communication. Every culture uses kinesic communication in a unique way.
Sometimes the gesture that is appropriate in one culture may even be offensive in
another. When an adult talks to a child in Latin America, the child shows respect towards
the adult by avoiding eye contact and bending the head downwards. An American
teacher who is not sensitive to this fact might think the child lacks proper manners.
 59

Cultures greatly differ in the visual modality of non-verbal communication. In the

American culture eye contact is always permissible and expected in a conversation and
the lack of it is seen a discourteous lack of attention.

Language use is also studied by modern linguistics in what is called discourse

analysis. Discourse analysis is the study of connected speech (that is, the way sentences
work in sequence to produce extended stretches of language) and writing, and their
relationship to the context in which they are used. Research in discourse analysis
includes the examination of forms of talk such as storytelling, greeting, and dialogues in
different cultural and social settings. Conversation analysis, which is also included under
the heading of discourse analysis, is concerned with the behavior of participants in talk
such as conversational rules, turn-taking, and other features of spoken interaction. The
study of turn-taking is an interesting example of this approach. Participants follow a set
of rules and procedures to manage their turns at speaking. Speakers know when they
may, without seeming to interrupt, take a turn at talk and who should speak next. Since
this has a cultural determinant, teachers of linguistically and culturally diverse students
must take care to properly introduce the conversational unwritten rules and procedures
pertaining to the target language culture.

Theories & Models of Language Development

There are three general theoretical approaches to language acquisition and

development: the behavioral model, the linguistic model, and the interactionist model.

Behavioral Model

Traditionally people held the notion that children developed their first language
simply through the imitation of adults. Such a notion was supported by behavioral
psychology which simply added to the popular notion that positive reinforcement was the
motivational factor responsible for children’s reproduction of language. Behaviorists
theories on language acquisition and development focus on the observable and
measurable aspects of language behavior. They avoid dealing with language behavior
that focuses in implicit knowledge of language since these mental processes are difficult
to observe. Attention is placed on performance; language is regarded as a skill not
essentially different from any other learned skill or behavior. Therefore, according to
these theories language is learned according to the same laws as all other types of
behaviors. Language is comprehension is learned through classical conditioning. For
example, a mother when presenting milk to a child says the word, “milk,” the child will
repeat the word and associate it with the concept. The child learns by associating labels
with objects and actions. However, this seems to be insufficient explanation for the
verbalization of abstract concepts and emotions. Language production is learned through
operant conditioning and imitation. Operant conditioning has its origin in the theories of
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B.F. Skinner. The basic idea is that learning is a function of change in overt behavior.
Changes in the behavior are a result of an individual’s response to stimuli coming from
the environment. Responses produce consequences such as a response to a command or
an answer to a question. When particular stimulus-response patterns are reinforced a
child is conditioned to respond in a particular way. A reinforcer is anything that
strengthens a desired response such as special attention, verbal praise, or a concrete
reward like more dessert, etc. Language acquisition and development occur when parents
reward children for the production of sounds that approximate their language. Through
reinforcement, sounds are gradually shaped into recognizable words. Further language
development follows the same pattern: teachers reward students with acceptance, praise,
and good grades for desired responses.

Linguistic Model

The linguistic theoretical approach originated with Noam Chomsky. According to

Chomsky, languages are not learned by imitation, memorization, and positive
reinforcements, but through the discovery of the rules that govern the structure of
language and then trying them out. Noam Chomsky advanced the language development
theory by proposing the innate capacity of children to learn languages due to a genetic
mechanism he called LAD (Language Acquisition Devise). This mechanism makes it
possible for children to acquire the vastly complex system of human language in a
relatively short period of time. Exposure to the language triggers the LAD and provides
it with the details of the language to be acquired. The amazing thing is that the research
in the area of psycholinguistics has provided evidence that some learning behaviors are
common to all children no matter what language they are learning. The generalization of
errors in their language production at different stages of development seems testify to this
fact. For example, children discover the rule for the pluralization of nouns, generalize the
rule of adding s to a noun to make the plural and make classical mistakes such as saying
foots for feet. Linguists do not see this as an error or mistake, but as children’s testing of
their grammatical hypothesis.

The LAD is a mental structure composed of three parts: the filter, the organizer, and
the monitor. The language input reaches the “filter,” which is the part of the internal
processing system that subconsciously screens incoming language. The learner’s
motives, needs, interests, attitudes and emotional states filter what they hear. This filter is
also known as the affective filter since affective elements are what filters the language
input. The “organizer” is the part of the internal processing system that is responsible for
the learner’s gradual organization of a new language system. This mental mechanism
takes in a second language input and organizes it in a way which results in the common
order in which grammatical structures are learned. The “monitor” is the third part of the
language processing device. It is the part responsible for conscious linguistic processing.
When a person tries to learn a grammatical rule by reading about it or attending a lecture
on grammar, it is said that the person is using the monitor. The linguistic knowledge that
a person gains through the use of the monitor can be used to consciously formulate
sentences and to correct mistakes. The editing function of the monitor is demonstrated
 61

when a student spontaneously self-corrects errors made while speaking. The degree to
which the monitor is used depends on the learner’s age, amount of academic instruction
the learner has, the verbal task being performed, and the learner’s personality.
Researchers believe that children that are old enough to have attained the Piaget’s
concrete operational stage (seven to eleven years old) may have access to the use of the
monitor. The more formal instruction the learner has, the more he or she is going to rely
on the use of the monitor. Language tasks which require conscious linguistic analysis
require monitoring. The effect of the learner’s personality depends on whether the
learner has an introverted or extroverted personality. A learner with an introverted
personality would make more use of the monitor than a learner with an extroverted
personality.

Chomsky also suggested that the human brain is somehow equipped at birth with a
universal grammar out of which all human languages later develop. That is, we are pre-
wired to acquire language. We are born with a set of universal rules about language built
into use that allow us the ability to learn any language. We find strong evidence for
Chomsky’s contention that linguistic knowledge is innate (over the theory of humans
acquiring linguistic knowledge through social interaction) in the fact that children in an
extremely short period of time develop the ability to comprehend and produce an almost
infinite number of sentences.

Interactionist Model

The interactionist approach to language development recognizes both the position

of the behaviorists and linguistic models. The interactionist model supports the belief
that many factors including social, linguistic, biological, and cognitive skills are
responsible for language development. It is also believed that early language skills may
be taught by parents to their children through child-directed speech. Recent research in
child-directed speech shows that the modeling done by mothers or other adults is a
determining element in language acquisition. Adults, generally mothers, modify speech
when talking to children. They do this by slowing the pace of speech, repetition, using
simple vocabulary and sentence constructions, and by avoiding pauses before the end of
sentences.

Interactionism is a very broad concept and within the interactionist approach

constructivism is included. J. Piaget is among the most the most renown constructivists.
Constructivism according to Piagetian psychology is the process of creating or
constructing knowledge to solve problems. Piaget did not see language development as
unique. For Piaget, language is just another symbolic system for the representation of
children’s experiences through interaction with the environment and just one more
cognitive process among many. In Piaget’s view, language development is interrelated
with the development of other process and that it is very much environmentally driven
and not substantially dependent on innate human capacities.
 62

We find another brand of constructivism originated by L.S. Vygotsky known as

social constructivism. According to Vygotsky, cognitive skills and processes are not
primarily determined by innate factors, but by social and cultural factors For Vygotsky
language is not merely an expression of knowledge a child has acquired. He argues that
there is a mutual correspondence between thought and language, both mutually provide
resources to each other. Cognitive development is essential for the development of
language, but so is language essential for cognitive development. Language is a crucial
element in cognitive development because modes of thought are transmitted to a child
through language.

The different stages children undergo when acquiring language are universal. The
process of first language acquisition depends on the chronological development of the
child, that is, certain structures are acquired at a specific development stage. These stages
have a progression from the simple to the complex. First, children start by crying to
show dissatisfaction; then cooing to express satisfaction; then babbling, which is the
first experimentation with speech production; followed by one word utterances about the
age of one year; two word utterances around the age of two; from about two to four years
of age children expand syntax and vocabulary; by the time children start kindergarten
children have a firm grasp of the language.

Factors Affecting First & Second-language Development

There are many factors that affect both first and second language development.
These factors are grouped in four broad categories according to the skill areas assessed on
Test 1 of the CLAD/BCLAD Examinations: 1. Pedagogical factors. 2. Affective factors.
3. Cognitive factors. 4. Sociocultural and political factors.

Pedagogical Factors

The implication of the learning-acquisition hypothesis is one of the most

pedagogical relevant factors affecting L1 and L2 language development. This hypothesis
was originated by Stephen Krashen and its basic contention is that there is a marked
difference between learning and acquisition. Learning is a conscious process that
requires effort, while acquisition is unconscious and relatively effortless. Children
acquire their first language unconsciously and without having to exert any conscious
effort. By the age of four they have acquired a functional command of the basic
grammatical features of their language without ever being aware of the process.
According to Krashen, acquisition gives us the language that we spontaneously use in
real life situations. On the other hand, language learning requires the use of a conscious
processor called the ‘monitor.’ Learners use the monitor when they try to learn a rule by
reading about it in a grammar book or by attending a grammar lecture. The monitor also
functions as editor for the production of language. The monitor may assist the learner
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when editing an essay or choosing the correct grammatical sentence in a language test,
but in real-life situations it will slow the talker down and interfere with communication.
Furthermore, Krashen believes that there is no interface between acquisition and learning.
That is, knowledge that is learned cannot be transferred into the acquired system.
Therefore, learning is of much less importance in the classroom than acquisition.
Learners acquire or pick up a second language in much the same way as they acquire
their native language, by using it for authentic communicative purposes.

Krashen is also known for his Natural Order hypothesis, which he bases on the
research of other specialists. Research findings suggest that the acquisition of
grammatical structures follows a natural order which is predictable. This order applies to
both first and second language acquisition. There are five natural stages of language
development: 1. Pre-production, which implies non-verbal productions such as listening,
pointing, matching, drawing, and selecting. 2. Early Production, which is characterized
by one or two-word responses. 3. Speech Emergence, in which the learner produces
simple sentence with some basic errors. 4. Intermediate fluency, level in which the
learner is capable of producing complex sentences with minor errors. 5. Fluency, level in
which the learner demonstrates a near-native command of the language.

Communicative competence is considered to be an important factor affecting L1

and L2 language development. Communicative competence is a language development
model introduced by Dell Hymes (“Aspects of communicative competence,” extract from
the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International,
1999). The basic concept is that speakers of a language have to have much more than
grammatical competence in order to communicate effectively in real-life situations.
There are both linguistic and pragmatic aspects to communicative competence. The
linguistics aspects are: 1. Phonological and orthographic competence. Phonological
competence is the ability to recognize and produce phonemes of a given language.
Orthographic competence is the ability to read and write the writing system of a
language. 2. Grammatical competence, which is the ability to recognize and produce the
different grammatical structures of a language and use them effectively in
communication. 3. Lexical competence, which is the ability to recognize and use words
in a language in the way native speakers use them. 4. Discourse competence. Discourse
competence is the ability to understand and construct in a coherent manner written texts
of different genres. The pragmatic aspects of communicative competence are: 1.
Sociolinguistic competence, which implies the ability to interpret the social meaning of
language and to use language appropriately in different social situations. 2. Interactional
competence. Interactional competence involves knowing and using the un-written rules
of a speech community or culture. It includes knowing how to initiate and manage
conversations such as turn taking; use of body language, eye contact, and proximity to
members of a given speech community or culture. 3. Cultural competence. Cultural
competence involves understanding all aspects of a given culture, as for instance, values,
believes, customs, mores, rituals, etc.

Traditional approaches at promoting L2 acquisition encourage grammatical

development through output-oriented activities, such as ‘speaking tasks’. However,
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during production students allocate their limited resources to monitoring and

management of memory which interferes with the ultimate goal of instruction, which is to
provide intake for developing language competence. Dr. Bill Van Patten has developed
a model for second language acquisition which has had a major impact on recent
pedagogical practices second-language acquisition (Gabrielatos, Costa, “Minding Our Ps:
A framework for grammar teaching,” www.gabrielatos.com/index.htm; Colletine,
Joseph,G., 1998. “Processing Instruction and the Subjunctive,” Hispania, 81,576-587.).
Van Patten makes a distinction between the ‘input,’ the potentially processible language
data which is made available to the language learner and ‘intake,’ that is, the input that is
actually processed and turned into knowledge. According to Van Patten, only a very
small fraction of the input ever becomes intake with permanent effect one the learner’s
acquisition of L2. When input becomes intake the learner restructures the knowledge of
the language producing permanent development in language growth. In order for input in
the L2 to become intake, the learner’s cognitive capacity must be increased. In order to
increase the cognitive capacity for processing language data, the learner must detect a
new form in the input. Detection, here means the student finding out without being told
by the teacher. A key problem in L2 acquisition is that the student is normally unable to
attend to both content and form at the same time. When learners attend to form, the
attention to form competes with their capacity to attend to content. Since learners can
only attend to so much linguistic information, detecting new linguistic information is
constrained. In order to increase the learner’s cognitive capacity for detecting new
linguistic data, the learner needs motivation and exposure to meaningful, interesting, and
largely comprehensible input. Intake develops language competence which in turn
enables more advanced language production. A simplified model of Van Patten’s
language acquisition is shown below.

Input--------→ Intake--------→Developing Language Competence--------→Output

(Auburn University, PCTL Models, “ Foreign Languages Introduction,”

www.auburn.edu//pctl/)

Affective Factors

One of the central factors in the acquisition of a second language is the motivation
and the interest the student has to learn a new language. In the case of adults, students
may have preset goals: travel to countries where the language is spoken, for work
promotion reasons the person may be about to be transferred to a country where the
language is spoken, and so on. Sometimes the teacher is able to motivate and inspire
students to learn not only a new language but also about the culture and its people.
Children have an authentic motivation to learn a new language: the need to communicate
with peers. This is now more so after the passage of Prop. 227, since in a bilingual model
newcomers could communicate with their peers in their native language. With the
structured immersion we now have in our schools, children feel the need to learn the
target language in order to communicate with peers and be socially accepted.
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The effect of age seems to be crucial in the acquisition of a new language.

Research shows that children learn second languages better than adults. There is the
“critical period,” from the age of two to the onset of puberty, which is the period in which
a second language is best learned. There is no doubt that children who learn a second
language before puberty do in fact acquire a native-like pronunciation. This falls into the
category of basic interpersonal communicative skills. The question that concerns us as
educators is whether children at an early age can so easily learn the type of language
proficiency required to properly function in a classroom environment. There is no clear
or decisive answer since it depends on a variety of factors such as socioeconomic
background, the child’s cognitive ability, his learning style and predominant intelligence,
and formal schooling in the first language.

The learner’s personality has great bearing on second language learning. Be it a

child or adult, learning a second language requires experimentation with the new
language, which in turn requires from the learner the disposition towards taking risks.
Some people are by nature introverted and have more difficulty shedding inhibitions.
This type of individual would advance at a lower rate since they may not be so willing to
take risks in trying out the new language. On the other hand, extroverted individuals
would have the advantage, due to natural disposition of their character, to take risks and
advance at a faster rate in the acquisition of a new language. Also psychological issues
of self-esteem also may affect language learning. A child with a poor self-image is not
well equipped to withstand the embarrassments that naturally occur when making
language errors. By the same token, individuals with strong self-esteem are better
equipped to withstand embarrassment and get involved in social situations needed for the
production, experimentation and practice of a new language.

Cognitive Factors

“Only a small percentage of unsuccessful new language learners are so because

they are intrinsically limited in general cognitive ability.” (NESB online, Teachers link ,
“Factors Affecting Acquisition of a New Target Language.”
(www.tki.org.nz./r/nesb_online/teachers/prof_read/factors_affect_e.php). Yet, if we
consider Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple intelligences we realize that individuals
do not have a single intelligence; but multiple intelligences (linguistic, logical-
mathematical, spatial, bodily-Kinesthetic, musical intelligence, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal intelligence). Normally everybody partakes of all the intelligences but
excel in one or two. Gifts in linguistic intelligence will most certainly have a positive
effect on first and second-language development. By the same token, limitations in
linguistic intelligence would have a negative effect on first and second-language
development.

Language development can be advanced by formal instruction. J. Cummins’ has

pointed out how cognitive academic proficiency can be developed. Although Cummins
deals mostly with second-language development, his two levels of language competence
(BICS and CALP) model can also be applied to first-language development. Most
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certainly a child’s language-cognitive abilities may be developed through language arts

instruction.

English language development teachers must be understanding of students’ errors

and not perceive them as such, but as products of language transfer. Respecting errors
does not mean ignoring them. The teacher must model the correct use of language, not
directly correct a student’s errors. Use of the first language as a resource by learners is a
necessary stage in the process of second language acquisition. Language transfer is a
coping strategy used by learners in the early stages of second language acquisition in
which learners use their native language resources. There are basically two types of
language transfer: 1. Negative transfer, which includes syntactic and morphological
rules, and letters whose sounds are radically different from one language to another. 2.
Positive transfer which includes syntactic and morphological rules, and sounds/symbols
which are similar in both languages. 2. Positive transfer which includes syntactic and
morphological rules, and sounds/symbols which are similar in both languages. The
‘errors’ produced by learners during the process of second language acquisition are
product theof negative transfer from the native language to the target language.
Language transfer facilitates the acquisition of a second language since different
languages (in varying degrees) have common underlying grammatical, phonetic, and
lexical structures (I wonder if it would be possible to learn a second language without
language transfer).

Teachers must understand that in the process of second language development

learners use a language system that is neither the native or the target language. This is a
third language system, called interlanguage, with its own grammar, its own lexicon, etc.
(For more information on cognitive factors affecting language development see sections,
Theory of Bilingual Education and Theory and Models of Language Development)

Sociocultural and Political Factors

There are various socio-cultural and political factors that affect language
development (especially second-language development). It is obvious to all how children
from low socioeconomic status (SES) are at a disadvantage. The choice of schools and
the best schools are reserved for affluent members of society. The underprivileged in this
country are mostly members of ethnic and racial minorities. In this country schools are
staffed mostly by teachers that share the American mainstream values (there’s nothing
wrong with that), yet they are perceived as “the other” my poor members of minorities
and especially by immigrants. To low SES immigrants the school may be perceived as a
power structure that may be a threat to their cultural integrity. Mainstream America
keeps holding on to the idea of “the melting pot.” The cultural mismatch theory,
believing that children of minority groups fail because their culture is incongruent with
their own, and therefore cultural assimilation is necessary. The English Only Movement,
which has been legitimized in California with Prop. 227, is living proof of the status
quo’s stance against language minorities. One of the most basic principles of
multicultural education is that the language and culture of language minority students
must be respected, validated, and celebrated.
 67

Also, parents of children from low SES do not place the same value on education as
the privileged classes do. There is such a thing as the culture of poverty. Members of
low SES do not have access an advanced education, which in turn lowers the
expectations they have for their own children. The home environment of people in
financial need is one in which little value is placed on literacy. In these homes parents
generally do not teach their children the basics before they enter school, nor do they read
to their children. Due to financial restraints these parents cannot provide their children
with enough books, encyclopedias, computers or access to the Internet.

Teachers must respect the different accents and dialects their students may have.
Unlike grammatical, syntactic, morphological, or phonetic errors (which the teacher must
indirectly correct by modeling and demonstrating the correct use of language) accents
and dialects have to be respected in the strictest sense of the word. Accents are an
integral element of language dialects and certain accents are considered to belong to
certain dialects. Accents are not a corruption of a ‘pure’ pronunciation. The teacher
must understand that dialects, with their respective accents, do not indicate a stage in an
individual’s language development, nor do they hinder language development. Many
American teachers believe they do not have an accent (I guess they never had to study for
the CLAD/BCLAD Examinations). Accents from individuals from a foreign language
background are sometimes more obvious than accents from various indigenous American
English dialects, these too need to be respected. A teacher must never try to change a
child’s accent, since it would be disrespecting his social identity. The problem lies in the
fact that low SES children in great part belong to minority groups. These minority
groups have their own dialects. For example, African-American people in this country
speak a specific African-American dialect (of course, there are variations depending on
the geographical region). White teachers have to be careful to respect their accent since it
is a valid medium for communication. The CLAD/BCLAD Examinations Study Guide
teaches that the use of dialects does not indicate a disadvantaged student. “A linguistics
professor at Stanford, John Baugh, has conducted some very interesting research on
speech dialects and discrimination and found that people’s accents influence their ability
to find housing when making inquiries over the phone.”(“ Race Relations Project Data
Sheet” (www.psu.edu/dept/racerelationsproject/datasheet_sources_white.htm). If we
define ‘disadvantaged students’ as being members of a minority (in general, members of
minority groups are in a disadvantage when contrasted to white Americans), then the
CLAD/BCLAD Study Guide is wrong and professor Baugh is right. On the other hand,
if we define ‘disadvantaged student’ as being as a student with a cognitive disadvantage,
then the opposite is true. The question is: Are some teachers biased against minority
students? Another important question is: Do white teachers have lower expectations for
minority students? Teachers must respect and hold high expectations for all students.

VII. Methodology of Bilingual, English Language

Development & Content Instruction
 68

Theory of Bilingual Education

Traditionally the human linguistic ability was perceived as a balloon into which
only a predetermined amount of input could be placed (Educational Ideas and Solutions,
“Cognitive Theories of Bilingual Education.” www.iteachilearn.com). What naturally
follows from this view is the idea that growth in one language will diminish the
knowledge of another language. Of course, there is no empirical evidence that supports
this view. Closely associated to this view is the Balance theory, a theoretical perspective
on social interaction that suggests that people organize their perceptions of people and
objects into units. This implies a concrete division between the knowledge of two
languages. This was coined by Jim Cummins as the Separate Underlying Principle (SUP)
. This principle implies that each linguistic section of the brain is built separately without
the ability of this two sections to interface together, that is, without the possibility of
transference of skills, concepts and knowledge from one language to another. There is no
empirical evidence to support this view either.

The development of the Contextual Interaction theory by renowned researchers

such as J. Cummins and S. Krashen has laid the foundations for today’s bilingual, ELD
and SDAIE methodologies. This theory is composed of several principles that guide
instruction of ELL students. One of these principles is called Common Underlying
Proficiency (CUP), which expresses the complete opposite view of SUP To explain this
principle Cummins uses the iceberg analogy. On the tip of the iceberg lie the surface
feature of first and second languages (third or fourth languages, if that were the case) and
deep down the base of the iceberg lies an underlying linguistic structure common to all of
them. This principle is also known as the Interdependence Theory which assumes a
connection between the two (or more) languages of a bilingual/multilingual person. CUP
supports the idea that skills and concepts learned in one language transfer to another.
Many reading skills are not language bound, that is, they are common to all languages.
The transfer of literacy skills from one language to another is made possible by the
universal nature of literacy skills. For example, reading requires the understanding that
print carries meaning, basic knowledge of text structure, left to right directionality in
European languages, ability to distinguish shapes and sounds and their relationship, etc.
Besides basic reading skills, students can also transfer attitudes and habits which, when
well developed, will foster a second language acquisition. Content area knowledge can
also be transferred. Hence, time spent in content area acquisition of skills and knowledge
in the primary language is not wasted time. Students with a strong CALP in their
primary language will transition faster and with ease to a second language. Therefore,
primary language instruction is a tool for conceptual development that will facilitate the
ability to function successfully in both the native and the second language.

The ability to use language for both academic and basic social purposes is another
principle of the Contextual Interaction Theory. This principle is intimately associated
with Cummins’ BICS and CALP concepts. He proposes a model of two different
 69

modalities for second language proficiency. These two different modalities are, “basic
interpersonal communicative skills” (BICS) and “cognitive academic language
proficiency” (CALP). BICS is the language needed for everyday social interaction.
CALP is the kind of language needed to learn new information, think in more abstract
ways, and carry out more cognitively demanding tasks. Cummins made this distinction
to draw attention to the different time periods required by immigrant children to develop
conversational fluency in the target language as compared to appropriate grade-level
proficiency in that language. BICS is normally acquired to a functional level in about
two years, while it takes up to five for an immigrant student to acquire CALP. Failure to
take into account the BICS/CALP difference has been detrimental for immigrant
students. First, teachers may judge a student due to his or her fluency in BICS to have
reached the FEP (Fluent English Proficiency) level and redesignate the student into EO
(English Only) classes. Although the student may be very fluent in playground English
he or she is not yet prepared to compete with native speakers in cognitively demanding
academic tasks. Second, lack of the proper development of CALP may result in
discriminatory psychological assessment.

Cummins’ Model Quadrant Theory on Cognitive and Contextual Demands (Lessow –

Hurley, Judith, The Foundations of Dual Language Instruction. White Plains, New York:
Longman, 1990: 50):
Cognitively
Undemanding

A C

Context-____________________________________________ Context-
embedded reduced

B D

Cognitively
Demanding

The above diagram illustrates the cognitive and linguistic demands imposed on
students by social and educational environment. These demands are conceptualized by
framework model of two intersecting continua: the context-embedded/context-reduced
continuum (horizontal) and cognitively undemanding/cognitively demanding continuum
(vertical). The intersection of the two continua forms four quadrants (A,B,C, and D).
Each quadrant represents combination of different linguistic and cognitive demands.
 70

Context-embedded language is the language supported by contextual clues such as the

everyday social interaction among students, in a classroom situation the language
supported by props manipulatives, pictures, charts, etc. Context-reduced language is the
language with few clues to support the spoken or written words, such as textbooks or a
lecture. Cognitively undemanding tasks are those tasks which require little active
cognitive effort for appropriate performance. Cognitively demanding tasks are those
tasks that required full effort and involvement for appropriate performance. Quadrant A
represents an environment which is a combination of context-embedded language and
cognitively undemanding communicative tasks such as everyday playground interaction
among students, beginning level of ESL such as total physical response (TPR) and
expressing comprehension through drawings and illustrations. Quadrant B represents an
environment which is a combination of context-embedded language and cognitively
demanding tasks such as teaching of grade-level subject matter content in English to
English language learners (SDAIE). Quadrant C represents an environment which is at
the same time context-reduced and cognitively undemanding. For ELL students to
properly perform at this quadrant they must be quite advanced in their command of BICS
since they cannot rely on contextual clues to communicate properly, a telephone
conversation would be a good example of the language task typical of this quadrant.
Quadrant D is a combination of both context-reduced and cognitive demanding tasks.
Reading a short story or novel, doing research for a science project without the support of
SDAIE scaffolds are examples of what students are expected to do at this quadrant. Both
quadrants environments A and C require the students BICS for proper performance,
while quadrant environments B and D require CALP from the students.

Another very interesting principle of the Contextual Interaction Theory is

Cummins’ hypothesis of the Linguistic Threshold (Willey, Terrence G. Rev. of A
minimalist Approach to Intrasentential Code Switching , by Jeff MacSwan.
http://brj.asu.edu/v221/articles/wiley.html ). According to this hypothesis native
language literacy skills can only transfer to a second language when students have
reached a critical threshold. Cummins describes three different thresholds, which in turn
define three different levels of bilingualism: Limited Bilingualism, determined by
Threshold # 1 in which students exhibit low levels of competence in both languages. This
threshold level has negative cognitive effects on both languages; Less Balance
Bilingualism, determined by Threshold # 2 in which students exhibit age-appropriate
competence in only one of the two languages. At this level there are no negative or
positive consequences on learning; Balanced Bilingualism, determined by Threshold #3
in which students exhibit age-appropriate competence in both languages with positive
cognitive effects on learning. Research findings have confirmed Cummins’ threshold
hypothesis and concluded that the first and foremost predictor of second language
proficiency for ELL students is first language academic competency and literacy.

A fourth principle in the Contextual Interaction Theory states that, “Acquisition of

basic communicative competency in a second language is a function of comprehensible
second language input and a supportive affective environment.” (Steve Concidine's
CLAD Study Guide, www.azusausd.k12.ca.us/bilingual/CLAD1Concepts.html. Principle
 71

four - Second Language Acquisition). This principle makes direct reference to S.

Krashen’s Input hypothesis and Affective Filter hypothesis. Krashen proposes that the
comprehensible input must contain structures that are just one step beyond what is
already known to the learner. The language input must be achieved in a low-anxiety
context since individuals with a low affective filter receive more input. Low self esteem
and low self confidence can impede students learning. That is why psychosocial
adjustment of ELL students is one of the major goals of the Contextual Interaction
Theory.

The Contextual Interaction Theory rests on a fifth principle that refers to how the
perceived status of the learner affects his or her interaction with teachers and other
students. The students’ perceived status has a direct bearing on his learning ability.
Students’ expectations of themselves and others are determined by such characteristics as
race, ethnicity, native language and how well they speak English. Instruction must be
specifically designed to promote positive interaction between minority and majority
students and teachers.

Models of Bilingual Education (Models for L2 Development)

The most relevant theoretical models for L2 development are (in alphabetical
order), the Accommodation Theory, the Acculturation Theory, the Cognitive Theory, the
Discourse Theory, the Monitor Theory (five hypotheses), the Universal Grammar
Theory, and the Variable Competence Model.

The Accommodation model tries to explain second language acquisition in terms of

the relationship between the ingroup (ethnic majority group) and the outgroup (minority
ethnic group) (Baker, Colin, Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Clevedon, England: Miltilingual Matters Ltd., 1994). The important factor for second
language acquisition is the learner’s perceived social differences between the culture of
his outgroup and the culture of the ingroup. The following factors are determinants as to
the ease with which a learner will acquire the language of the new culture. How strongly
is the learner identified with his or her own ethnic group and native language; the degree
to which the learner perceives his or her own ethnic group as inferior to the dominant
group; the degree to which the learner perceives his or her own ethnic group as having a
low vitality compared with the dominant group (e.g. institutional support for the ethnic
group such as mass media, education, services, government representation, etc.); the
degree to which the learner perceives the boundaries between the two groups as open or
closed; the learner’s perception as to the status his outgroup holds in comparison to the
ingroup in terms of employment, power, religion, gender, etc. Ethnic identity is an
important factor in second language acquisition, but this model does not explain the
internal mechanisms of how a second language is acquired.
 72

The basic premise of the Acculturation model is that the degree to which a learner
acculturates to the new culture determines the degree to which he or she will acquire the
second language. The factors that facilitate second language acquisition are: the degree
of congruency between the two ethnic groups (learner’s group and target language
group); the learner’s group is small and not very cohesive and can be easily assimilated;
the degree of equality distance between both groups, the greater the distance the more
difficulty it will be encountered in acquiring a new language; the degree to which both
groups desire assimilation and the degree of positive attitudes and expectations of each
other; the time period the learner expects to stay in the new culture. Just as the
Accommodation model (with which it has great resemblance) the focus is on group and
not individual terms, nor on the internal factors that determine second language
acquisition.

The starting point for the Cognitive model (based on the work J. Piaget) is the idea
that learning follows development, that students learn new things when they are
developmentally ready. Learning is seen as a meaningful process of relating new items
to existing schemata and this involves internal representations based on the system of
language. Cognitive psychologists see second language acquisition as the building up of
knowledge systems that eventually are automatized, that is, that language acquisition can
be automatically attained. This process, however, is not clear (at least to me).

The Discourse theory model is similar to the behaviorist view in that the emphasis
is put on environmental factors as determining factors in language acquisition, yet in a
more sophisticated way. Language development is viewed within the framework of how
the learner discovers the meaning capacity of language by taking part in communication.
Students are expected to learn by doing (discovery learning) and acquire a language
through the presentation, practice, and production principle. Language acquisition will
successfully take place when students know how and when to use the language in various
settings, that is, they need to know conversational strategies to acquire a language. This
model falls short of taking into account universal principles that guide language
acquisition.

Stephen Krashen is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of

language acquisition and development. Stephen Krashen has had a major impact on
second language research and teaching. His contribution is summed up in five main
hypotheses on second language acquisition: the Acquisition-learning hypothesis, the
Monitor hypothesis, the Natural Order hypothesis, the Input hypothesis, and the Affective
Filter hypothesis.

According to Krashen’s Acquisition–Learning hypothesis there are two independent

systems of second language performance: language acquisition and language learning.
Acquisition is the product of a subconscious process similar to the process children
undergo when they acquire their first language. Learning is the product of formal
instruction and depends on the intellectual effort to acquire conscious knowledge of the
structure of language. Krashen seems to give less importance to learning than to
acquisition.
 73

The Monitor hypothesis defines the relationship between acquisition and learning.
Language output is initiated by the acquisition system and the learning system performs
the role of monitor to edit the language produced. The use of the monitor requires that a
person focuses his or her attention on the form of the language rather than on the
message. In turn this requires time, that is, it requires the slowing down of the natural
speed of speech production to think. Obviously, individuals learning a second language
should be granted that sufficient time for the production of language by the teacher or the
polite listener. Some cultures are inherently more patient than others. I’ve noticed while
living in a French-speaking culture the general lack of courtesy towards language learners
while I also notice the extreme politeness and patience of Spanish speakers with people
who are trying to learn Spanish. According to Krashen the role of the monitor ought be
minor and should be used only to correct minor deviations from normal speech.

The Natural Order hypothesis is based on research which suggests that the
acquisition of grammatical structures tend to follow a natural order which is predictable.
For a given language, some grammatical structures seem to be acquired earlier than
others. Although, Krashen points out that language acquisition should not follow this
natural order, that is, language teaching should not follow the grammatical sequencing of
the natural order.

The input hypothesis is an attempt to explain how learners acquire a second

language. According to this hypothesis the learner progresses in the acquisition of a
second language when he or she receives second language input that is one step beyond
his or her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a specific
stage symbolized by the “I,” then acquisition takes place when the learner is exposed to a
language input which is “I + 1.”

According to Affective Filter hypothesis the affective filter may be raised or

lowered by affective variables. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and a high degree of
anxiety can raise the affective filter forming a mental block the prevents the
comprehensible input from being properly used for language acquisition. On the other
hand, high motivation, high self-esteem, and a low level of anxiety fosters language
acquisition.

The Universal Grammar theory (UG) is more of a first language acquisition theory
than a theory for second language acquisition. The UG concept was developed by
Chomsky and is a refinement of his Language Acquisition Device (LAD) theory.
Chomsky suggested that all languages share a deep structure and that individual
languages only vary in their vocabularies and surface rules. This UG enables children to
develop the grammar of any language. The astonishing speed and ease with which
children learn the rules of language has been taken as evidence for the validity of the UG
theory. The UG theory when applied to second language learning leaves many
unanswered questions.
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The Variable Competence model was developed by Rod Ellis (1985). Ellis
proposes a theory of second language acquisition that focuses on the development of
proficiency and the role of form oriented instruction. A distinction is made between
implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Implicit knowledge is a subconscious,
automatic linguistic process in which automatic rules are used in unplanned discourse, as
for example, speaking with a friend, talking in the phone, and rapid automatic speaking
as in the case of arguing. Explicit knowledge is a conscious analytic linguistic process in
which non-automatic rules are used in planned discourse, such as writing a term paper,
planning and delivering a speech, and conducting an interview. Knowledge can be
processed in an automatic manner or in a controlled manner. Knowledge is processed in
a controlled manner when a learner learns new rules which he or she applies carefully,
slowly and methodically. Knowledge can be process automatically as in the case of a
fully learned implicit rule which is used without awareness and without effort. Explicit
knowledge can be converted into implicit knowledge if the learner has reached the proper
stage in their interlanguage development. Learning can take place on either the implicit or
explicit level. Implicit learning is incidental, as for instance language learning that takes
place attending to non-language learning tasks such as a conversation with a friend.
Explicit learning is the conscious attention to new forms and their meaning. This type of
knowledge can be gained through traditional grammar practice activities.

Ellis believes that learners have their own built-in syllabus which governs both
when and how they learn new grammatical features. He further believes that students do
not learn the grammar they are taught, they internalize only those features that they are
developmentally ready to learn. Therefore, a teacher can approach this situation in two
ways. One would be to match the teaching syllabus with the learner’s own syllabus. This
is not a practical approach since it is extremely difficult to determine if a learner is at the
developmental stage that will favor the learning of particular structures of the teaching
syllabus. The second and best approach is by the direct teaching of grammar at an
explicit knowledge level. Explicit knowledge of grammar should be taught not by the
traditional direct instruction, but by the discovery method. This method involves
providing learners with textual input that illustrates particular grammatical features and
getting the students to analyze the texts in order to discover for themselves the
grammatical rules of the second language.

The Variable Competence model also attempts to explain why students may seem
to master a specific linguistic form in one context, yet experience difficulty with the
same form under different circumstances. A number of factors contribute to this
variability: contextual variations include changes in the situational context ( language
production varies according to the situational context); and linguistic context (learners
produce errors in one type of sentence but not in another); Individual differences, such
the learner’s emotional state, age, aptitude, the learner’s motivation, personality and
cognitive style, and learner’s native language. It is not uncommon for learners to slip
back to a former developmental stage and follow a U-shape course of development by
moving though the stage of acquisition reorganizing their existing knowledge and making
accommodations for new knowledge.
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There are general stages through which the learners move in the acquisition of a
second language. These developmental stages are not like closed rooms. L2 learners do
not leave one room behind when they enter another. Nor should one expect to find
examples of behaviors belonging to one stage. A stage is characterized by the emergence
and increasing frequency of a particular behavior rather than by the disappearance of an
earlier one. Many of the sequences of development of first and second language learners
are very similar

Ellis distinguishes three stages in early second language development. The silent or
nonverbal stage is the stage when individuals learning a second language are faced with
the situation in which their native language is not useful for communication and stop
attempting to communicate verbally. At a second stage, when children go public with the
new language they do so by use of telegraphic and formulaic speech. Telegraphic speech
refers to a few content words without function words or morphological markers.
Formulaic speech consist of unanalyzed chunks or formulaic phrases in situations in
which children have observed other children used them, for example, “I’m next, it’s my
turn, I want to play,” etc. A third stage is productive language use. By combining
formulaic chunks of language children begin to construct novel utterances and begin to
use the language productively, that is, they gain control of the production of the second
language.

Foundations of Bilingual Education, Organizational Models, &

Instruction Strategies

Foundations of Bilingual Education

The term, “foundations” has a extremely comprehensive and broad meaning. The
phrase, “foundations of bilingual education” covers diverse areas bilingual education
such as its history, philosophy, political and legal aspects; the major theories of second
language acquisition; different approaches and models for second language acquisition
and bilingual education; assessment processes and research, etc. This phrase is normally
used as a title for either university courses or books. Most university courses that carry
such a title fail to properly cover all the different areas encompassed by such a phrase.
Books, on the other hand, can deliver the promise through a massive number of pages.
For example, one of the most popular books on the market today that deals with the
subject of bilingualism carries the title Foundations of Bilingual Education, written by
Colin Baker (Baker, Colin, Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
Clevedon, England: Miltilingual Matters Ltd., 1994). It takes Dr. Baker, an
internationally recognized authority in the area of bilingualism, xii+318 pages to deal
with the foundations of bilingual education. I do not have the expertise of Dr. Baker,
who is Professor of Education and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society,
therefore I do not deem myself capable of attempting such a feat.
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Organizational Models of Bilingual Education

Transitional bilingual education (TBE) model is based on the theory that a solid
foundation in the students’ first language is the best way to prepare them to learn English.
This theory is based on the contributions of J. Cummins and S. Krashen. TBE provides
content area instruction in the native language while students learn English. Initially,
students are taught content area subjects in the first language and are taught English in
ESL class periods or in ESL pull-out. In our district (LAUSD) the most common
practice has been teaching English in ESL class periods. English instruction is also
initially introduced in content areas that are less cognitively demanding such as physical
education, art, and music. A period of mixing with mainstream students is required. This
is normally done during the less cognitively demanding content areas.

There are two different models of TBE: transitional early exit and transitional late
exit models. Early exit programs are designed to transition students into the mainstream
in two to three years. The problem with this model is that students while developing
BICS have still not developed enough CALP to properly function in mainstream classes.
Furthermore, not enough time has been devoted to the proper development of CALP in
the native language resulting in what is called subtractive bilingualism. Subtractive
bilingualism occurs because not enough time is given to the proper validation of the
students native language and culture.

Late exit TBE is designed to transition students from the first language to English in
four to five years. This model is more in consonance with bilingual education theory. It
assures the proper development of CALP for positive language transfer into English. It
also provides the students with the conceptual development needed to compete with
mainstream students. Emphasis is also placed on valuing and developing the native
language and cultures resulting (theoretically) in full bilingualism. In spite of the support
TBE has gotten from linguistic research, there has been strong discontent with the
practical results of this program. I believe the answer is provided by Cummins’ threshold
hypothesis: native language literacy skills can only transfer to a second language when
students have reached a critical threshold. Before the passage of Proposition 227, ELL
students were not mastering Spanish due to a series of variables not intrinsic to the TBE
late exit model, such as a lack of proper command of the Spanish language by many
bilingual teachers, lack of parental support due to the low socioeconomic status,
unbalanced literacy programs, etc.

Two-way bilingual programs, also known as developmental bilingual programs,

integrate language minority and language majority students and provide content area
instruction and language development in both languages. This program works best when
there is a balance between the number of language minority students and language
majority students. The languages of instruction are alternated and vary from program to
program. In some programs languages are alternated on a daily basis; other programs
alternate morning and afternoon; others alternate the use of language instruction by
content area subjects. The rationale of these programs lies in the fact that according to
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many researchers language is best developed within content-based instruction. As a child

I attended a school with a bilingual program and I remember that I was having trouble
picking up the English language through language development classes and it was not
until the upper elementary level when, fascinated by history and geography, I finally
began to make progress in English. The goal of these programs is to develop high level of
proficiency in both languages, have students perform at or above grade level in academic
areas in both languages and promote positive cross-cultural attitudes.

In immersion programs all content subject areas are taught in English with native
language support. Minority students are grouped together and are not expected to
compete with majority students. In these programs the teacher must speak the native
language of the minority students and offer support through ESL lessons and content area
instruction where students can express themselves in the native language until they reach
enough proficiency in English. Second language instruction is delivered through
specially designed academic instruction in English (SDAIE).

An immersion program called Structured English Immersion is now being

implemented in LAUSD. This model begins by identifying ELLs though a proficiency
assessment test. Students that score below the standard are identified as ELLs. Students
are then placed in the program. The goals of the program are to develop English
language proficiency and to provide access to the core curriculum in English. All
classroom instruction, books and instructional materials are in English but with the
adaptations in the curriculum designed for students who are learning English. Teachers
may use a minimal amount of the students’ first language for support. Core area subjects
are taught in English through SDAIE and an ESL class period is added to the language
arts curriculum.

Submersion is popularly known as “sink-or-swim” instruction since ELLs are

mainstreamed without any assistance and are expected to compete with English speaking
students. The goal is to have non-English speakers learn English and assimilate to
mainstream American society. The first language is not supported resulting in
subtractive bilingualism. Submersion is not a legal option for schools with linguistically
diverse students.

The goal of maintenance dual model programs is to promote bilingualism and

biliteracy. In this model students are partially transitioned into English content classes
since they continue to receive content area classes in their first language as well. While
in English content classes, students continue receiving support in their native language.
They also receive a language arts class period in their native language.

ESL is an integral component of all bilingual models, that is, all schools with
bilingual programs must provide ELL students with ESL classes. An alternative to ESL
class period is the ESL pull-out model. ELL students spent most of the day in
mainstream classrooms and get pulled out for ESL instruction. (For more information on
ELD instructional strategies see section, English Language Development (ELD)
Techniques)
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Major Second Language Instructional Methods & Strategies

The Grammar Translation method for teaching second languages developed over
the centuries without the foundations provided by theory and research. This method is
the remnant of the study of Latin by medieval scholars and focuses on learning
grammatical rules and working with written texts. The emphasis is on achieving
correctness in grammar with little regard to the production of speech. The practical
application is the learning of grammatical rules for the translation of passages from one
language to another. Very little teaching is done in the target language; instead, readings
in the target language are translated and then discussed in the native language. This
method has great drawbacks in the teaching and learning of a second language since very
little time is spent in oral practice and the time spent does now allow for students to
produce their own sentences.

The Direct Method for teaching second languages was developed in reaction to the
Grammar-Translation Model. This model is based on first language acquisition theory.
The direct method was developed by the renowned language instructor Maximilian
Berlitz in the nineteenth century. Testimony of the success of this method is numerous
Berlitz Language Schools around the world today. This obviously is a reaction to
grammar-translation method: Grammar rules were taught inductively, that is, students
through language production and practice are meant to discover and generalize
grammatical rules; the students’ first language usage was avoided and translation reduced
to a minimum. For the rest, this method sought as close an approximation as possible to
the way a child learns its first language.

The Audio-Lingual method was developed by the U.S. Army as a response to the
need of foreign language training for military personnel. This method emphasizes the
teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing. It uses the memorization of
dialogues and drills to reinforce language patterns in the dialogues. Use of the students’
first language was discouraged yet not as restricted as in the direct method. Grammar
was also taught inductively. I have used modified version of this method for teaching
Spanish at a college level and found it quite useful. The dialogues lend themselves for
creative role playing which is very effective.

The Total Physical Response (TPR) method states that a second language should be
learned the same way a first language is learned. James J. Asher researched first
language acquisition and noticed that children learn to listen and confirm their
understanding through actions before they actually begin to speak. (TPR) method
requires understanding the spoken language before developing the skills of speaking.
Imperatives are the main structures to transfer or communicate information. The teacher
begins by modeling commands and actions in the imperative mood. After modeling the
commands the teacher asks the students to physically respond to his or her commands.
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Commands gradually grow in complexity. Then interrogatives are added and after
modeling, they respond physically to interrogatives (nodding, signaling, pointing, etc.)
Afterwards, conditionals are also added, modeled and students give a physical response.
Students are not forced to speak, but are allowed a readiness period and allowed to
spontaneously begin to speak when they feel comfortable.

The Natural Approach is one of the most recent and most promising approaches to
language teaching. The Natural Approach (NA) was introduced by Stephen Krashen, a
linguist at the University of Southern California and Tracey Terrel, a Spanish language
teacher in California. Krashen regards communication as the main function of language.
The focus of the NA is on teaching communicative abilities. Language acquisition can
take place only if the learner understands the messages in the target language. Krashen
coined the term comprehensible input to designate any message a learner can understand
in the target language. For a learner to advance in the acquisition of a second language
the input must be comprehensible but concurrently the language input must contain forms
one level of linguistic complexity beyond the learner’s level, this in known as the “I+1
Formula.”

VIII. Culture & Cultural Diversity

The Nature of Culture

There are more definitions of culture than there are school days in a year. In
modern cultural anthropology there is a general consensus on the nature of culture. There
is no genetic predisposition for the acquisition of culture as there is for language; yet
language, as a system of meanings, is one of the most fundamental components of culture
and, as proposed by Chomsky, it is genetically predetermined. What is genetically
predetermined is the natural capacity for the acquisition of languages, but not that of
acquiring any language in specific. Each culture has a specific system of meanings of
which language is the most sophisticated. We use languages to identify cultures. For
example, we can speak of the “Spanish language culture,” to denominate the customs,
mores, tastes, temperament, attitudes, and so forth, shared by all peoples that speak the
Spanish language. A culture can also be identified by the national referent, as for
instance, when we speak of the American (U.S.) culture. Within a general cultural or
macroculture there are many possible subcultures or microcultures as for instance, the
Appalachian people’s culture, the Afro-American culture, or the Mexican-American
culture, etc.

Perhaps the most salient characteristic of culture, according to modern cultural

anthropology, is that culture is learned. If it is learned, then it is taught and that is one of
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the reasons it has such a transcendental bearing on the educational process. A specific
language is embedded in a specific culture; hence second language instruction must be
accompanied by the process of enculturation. Enculturation is the process by which a
culture is transmitted from older generations of the newer generations. This process is
partially conscious and partially unconscious. To further the discussion on the
reproduction of culture a closer examination of culture must be made.

There are three basic components to culture: 1. the material products people
produce. 2. What people do. 3. What people think. The material products people
produce can be tangible or intangible. Perhaps the most representative products of a
culture are the artistic products. Let’s take for example music. Music is an intangible
material product by which a culture can be identified. When we hear merengues,
cumbias, or salsa we automatically associate this type of music with the Spanish speaking
culture. The same goes for other artistic products, some tangible like paintings,
sculpture, arquitecture, and others in between like poetry and drama. The more intangible
aspects of culture have to do with what people do (the way people behave in society) and
what people think. Culture is historical, it is the social heritage or tradition passed on to
newer generations; culture is shared, learned behavior, a way of life; culture is ideals,
values, or rules for living; culture is a system of ideas, interpretations, perspectives, and
symbols (Miraglia, Eric, Richard Law, and Peg Collins, “What is Culture?” Washington
State University Virtual Campus, www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/index.html).

Another very relevant aspect of culture is its dynamic nature. cultures exists in a
constant state of change; what is learned and what is taught are not absolute in the sense
that some of what is learned is lost and new discoveries are constantly made. Culture also
changes over time as people need to adapt to a changing world. Migratory movements
are important agents of cultural change. We can notice how the cultural semblance of the
U.S. has been changed and is being changed by immigration movements.

Ways to Learn about Students’ Cultures & Ways to use Cultural

knowledge

The students’ home culture is a major influence in the outcome and effectiveness of
instruction on any given classroom. The potential success for learning may be in direct
function of the congruence or the degree of compatibility of the home culture and the
classroom culture. Therefore, it is of great importance for the teacher to learn about his
students’ culture.

The teacher can gather information from the students themselves, the parents, and
various community members. Hence it is highly recommended, if the teacher is serious
about doing ethnographic research, to get involved and become an active member of the
community. This will help the teacher to overpass the stranger status needed for properly
conducting ethnographic interviews with parents and other members of the community.
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Traditionally teachers have been the objects of research by the academic

community rather than the researchers themselves. From an ethnographic perspective
teachers ought to be the direct facilitators of research. One way for better understanding
the ethnographic is through the concept of “participant observation.” Participant
observation is the method by which the researcher participates in the daily life of the
people under study. The researcher may either conceal his or her purpose or
communicate the purpose to the people to be studied. In the case of the teacher studying
members of a microculture, the research would be facilitated by overtly displaying the
purpose of the research. Regardless to the concealment or non-concealment of the
purpose and the role of the researcher, the objective of the ethnographic researcher is to
participate and observe the way of life and the activities of any given group of people
(“What is Ethnography?”
www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/VSOC/Handbook/What.html).

One of the basic principles of the ethnographic method is to avoid hypotheses and
theoretical preconceptions. That is, the idea is not to impose a framework on the social
setting but to discover the different properties of any given social organization. This is
rather difficult yet indispensable since things that are familiar are very difficult to
appreciate clearly due to their familiarity. The teacher will keep a journal of the
experiences of these students with various situations that arise on a daily basis. These
ongoing narratives will contain observations of the students over long periods of time in a
variety of academic and social situations. It is indispensable for the teacher to get
personal with his or her students. Displaying a picture of one’s family in the classroom
and talking about family and personal matters and issues is important because, in turn,
the students will open up to the teacher, Many teachers feel odd when getting personal
with the students and think of it as unprofessional, yet it is just the opposite. Having
students keep diaries is also advisable since on many occasions students will confide on
the teacher via the diary. It is also a good idea to have the students make personal history
books with pictures and photographs. It can perfectly be included as a ESL writing
project. When I carried out this project the parents were very excited and very well
disposed to contribute with stories about their ancestors. The children, on the other hand,
learned many things about their background, culture and place of origin. It is also a great
idea to post on a map their places of origin.

Well-designed interviews are of capital importance since it is mainly through

interview with parents and other community members that the researcher has access to
the pertinent information. Through interviews the teacher will gather information about
families’ histories, work related knowledge and skills, core values, ideas about education
and child-rearing, etc. The teacher will choose the families of a few students and will
alert the parents as to the purpose of the activity. To design an interview, a teacher with
no prior experience can contact one of the local universities and seek advice from the
Department of Anthropology. In Arizona, the University of Arizona, the Departments of
Anthropology and Education have been running a project composed by anthropologists,
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teacher educators, and teachers to learn about the funds for knowledge possessed by
students and families.

Teachers must also study the language of their linguistically diverse students. For
many adults learning a foreign language is very taxing yet it would be of great advantage
in establishing a strong rapport with the students. The teachers should also study the
history of the countries of origin of their students.

The ways to use the cultural knowledge acquired are of paramount importance for
successful classroom instruction. Part of the teacher’s responsibility is to help the
students acculturate to the American culture. Here it is important for the teacher, who is
aware of multicultural education, to understand that it is a process of acculturation to
which he or she must aim at and not one of assimilation.

When thinking of ways to apply cultural knowledge to enhance teaching practices

teachers can help themselves to a great wealth of instructional resources found in
multicultural education. It is not easy to give a precise definition of multicultural
education since it is a relatively new concept that is still in a state of evolution both in
theory and practice. Multicultural education is a philosophy rooted in the civil rights
movement of the 1960s. It started as a response to social inequality, discrimination, and
oppression in the American society as a whole and in the American school system. There
are many different perspectives and approaches to multicultural education. There are
three educational levels or areas approached by multicultural education: 1. The
curriculum 2. Classroom practices and teaching styles 3. Institutional issues, which
the teacher does not control, such as hiring, funding, tracking, standardized testing, and
the like.

The curriculum must be mediated by teachers in order to insure a non-biased

delivery of instruction. Teachers must analyze the curriculum materials and check for
exclusions and distortions of the portrayal of minorities. Content materials must be
historically authentic and non-stereotypical. Realistic images of ethnic and racial groups
help students develop more positive racial attitudes. Teachers must make the necessary
adaptations and amendments to curriculum materials to portray diverse ethnic and racial
groups realistically. To do so, teachers must first have a sound appreciation and
perception of a variety of minority groups.

Teachers who are sincerely committed to multicultural education should not be

satisfied with celebrations of ethnic heroes and holidays as the sole recognition of ethnic
and racial diversity. Culture must be explicitly taught. Issues of cultural conflict must be
explicitly and actively explored and students’ skills for intercultural communication, such
as respect, cross-cultural cultural understanding and conflict resolution, must be
developed. Cultural and ethnic studies will enhance students’ awareness, knowledge, and
pride in their own ethnic and cultural heritage. These studies should transcend domestic
diversity and encompass global diversity.
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There are many variables involved in daily instructional practice. The first and
foremost in importance is the human element. Teachers should first consider themselves
and start by analyzing their own cultural perspective, privileges, challenges, and biases
that affect their perceptions, knowledge and skills in teaching all students. Next, teachers
must adopt a cultural relativist stance and learn to suspend their own ethnocentric views
in order to judge and understand the behavior and beliefs of the students. How teachers
think about education and students makes a profound difference in the students’
performance and achievement. Negative attitudes of teachers towards students of a
different culture and socioeconomic status from their own lower their expectations for
achievement, which in turn lowers students’ achievement. Teachers must learn to place
value on the students’ languages and cultures and set high expectations equally for all
students. Also, emphasis should be laid on teaching critical and creative thinking and
social awareness in order to prepare students for social change and transformation.

Multicultural education represents a stance against traditional teacher-centered and

one-way exchange education. A student is not clean slate to write on, nor is education
the simple transmission of information and facts from teacher to students. Instruction
should be student-centered and encourage two-way interaction between students and
teacher. Highly interactive classroom activities such as cooperative learning and hands-
on activities should take precedence. Daily instruction should include teaching for
different inteligences and different learning modalities. There is not much an individual
teacher can do with respect to the emphasis laid by the system on standardized testing
except for striving to develop genuine and authentic assessment which will assist the
teacher lesson planning.

Issues and Concepts Related to Cultural Contact

The first cultural issue or condition which an immigrant has to face when
immigrating to the new country is culture shock (LAUSD, Master Plan Teacher Training
Program, ed., “Aspects of Culture.” CLAD/BCLAD Readings II: Study Guide Edition
III. Revised 11/01). Culture shock is the gradual process of acculturation and individual
goes through when first exposed to a new culture. The first stage in the process is called
the euphoric stage. This stage is characterized by a profound fascination with most
salient aspects of the new culture. As a Costa Rican immigrant to New York City I
experienced the euphoric stage for many months. It carried me through the fall and
winter stations. Everything was new: the enormous diversity of the people, people from
all different races and looks I had only seen in movies; the extravagant fashion with
which New Yorkers dress; signs written in English and English spoken almost
everywhere; the sheer immensity of the city with its awesome skyscrapers; the leaves on
the trees at Central Park were turning brown and red, and falling off as the temperatures
were dropping to a chilling factor I’ve never experienced ever before, which I found very
romantic; then came winter and the snow with its magic and a huge pine tree beautifully
decorated at the Rockefeller Center. With spring came the realization stage, novelty
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wore off and depression set in. I was in a new country and, “so what…big deal!” I felt
empty. Something was missing and I experienced loneliness like never before. By the
end of the summer frustration set in, I was in the hostility stage. I started seeing the other
side of the coin, the negative aspects of the U.S. and N.Y.C. I became very critical and
discontented with my new country, cold was cold and I didn’t find anything romantic in it
, and snow, snow became a nuisance. So did riding the subways and looking at people
who in great part seemed so foreign, strange, and distant. I wanted to leave the country
and head back to Costa Rica. By the spring my depressed and aggressive feelings
subsided, my head cleared up and in a more detached and objective way I started
analyzing my situation. I had arrived at the compare and contrast stage. I calmly and
rationally assessed my living conditions and compared them with those in Costa Rica. I
made the decision to stay and I was no longer desperate to return to Costa Rica. It
probably took me about a year to reach the acculturation stage. I began to feel at home
and felt much more comfortable functioning in the Anglo culture. Accepting and
incorporating the values, beliefs and customs of my new culture was not a conscious
process. In retrospect, I can say that after two years after my arrival I was sharing new
values and customs with the members of my new culture, yet my old values were intact.
As a matter of fact, I think my Hispanic identity was reinforced. I spoke English before I
moved to N.Y. I just try to imagine how tough it must be for those immigrants that do
not speak English at their arrival.

Often the natural order of the process of acculturation that new immigrants must
undergo becomes distorted by the ethnocentric stance of the American educational
system (the view that mainstream American cultural traditions are correct and superior to
other cultures). Still many teachers hold fast to the melting pot, paradigm which purports
that cultural differences need to be wiped out and new immigrants must conform to the
dominating white middle class American values. Teachers sincerely committed to
multicultural education should strive to help to shift the educational system towards a
culturally pluralistic view. Cultural pluralism, (represented by the salad bowl image),
concept based on the premise that all immigrants have the right to maintain their
language and culture, and that by doing so they enrich the American culture.
Traditionally the goal of U.S. educational system has been that of trying to assimilate
students into the American culture. Assimilation is the absorption into the new culture by
de-emphasizing cultural differences. The resulting consequence is the deculturalization
of students, which is a negative subtractive process when contrasted with acculturation,
which is an additive process. In the former, new values, beliefs and customs are adapted
at expense of the native cultural traits (this phenomenon can be easily identified in
children, who are developing their personalities and identities). In the latter, when new
cultural traits are adopted the traits from the former culture remain intact. In this case the
individual will become bicultural, that is, the ability to successfully function in two
cultures. Multicultural education calls for a shift in attitude and approach towards new
comers. Instead of assimilation multicultural education recommends acculturation of
immigrant children. Enculturation, in the other hand, is the process of socializing
children to a specific culture. Enculturation is the most common form of cultural
reproduction. Cultural reproduction is the process by which aspects of culture are
passed on from person to person or from society to society. Another form of cultural
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reproduction is diffusion. Diffusion happens when certain traits of cultural behavior and
meaning are passed from one culture to another. For example, I remember that as a child
in Costa Rica during the 1950s, (since I was attending a bilingual school in which many
students and teachers were American) I would go trick-or-treating with some of my
classmates for the Halloween celebration (which by the way it’s an American cultural
icon) and some people would look at us with blank faces not understanding what
everything was all about. Nowadays Halloween is widely celebrated throughout the
Republic of Costa Rica.

Unfortunately many immigrant children become victims of racism and

discrimination in our school system. There is individual racism and cultural racism, as
well as institutional racism. Individual racism is the belief that persons of another group
are inferior due to physical traits. Cultural racism, on the other hand, is the belief in the
inferiority of other cultures. The U.S. has come a long way (as a result of the struggle of
the civil rights movement) in ridding itself of institutional racism such as the racial
segregation of students in schools and the apartheid system practiced in the South before
the triumph of the civil rights movement. Discrimination is the acting out of racist
beliefs and feelings by,rejecting and limiting the opportunities of minorities or favoring
members of the cultural majority.

Multicultural teachers must adopt a cultural relativist posture, which is

characterized by the suspension of ethnocentric views in order to understand the cultures
of their students . Teachers must also understand that the potential for learning may be in
direct function with the congruence or non-congruence between the classroom culture
and the home culture of the students. For example, Hispanic children tend to be much
more open with peers than with adults and normally shy away from asking for help from
the teacher, which is non-congruent with the traditional teacher-centered classroom. The
implementation of cooperative learning in the classroom increases the level of
congruency between the home culture and the classroom culture resulting in an increase
in student achievement.

Cultural Diversity in California, the U.S., Including Demographics &

Immigrations

California has had a tremendous population explosion which far surpasses the
national population growth. Over the past 40 years the population of California has
increased by 638%. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the population percent change
of California between April 1, 2001 and July 1, 2001 was of 1.9%, while the population
change in the nation as a whole was only 1.2%.

The recent population growth of the State of California is impressive, but far more
impressive is the diversity it is acquiring. Today in California no racial or ethnic group
forms a majority. That is, no single racial or ethnic group comprises 50% or more of the
total population of the state. It is paradoxical to think that the term minority in California
 86

is now outdated. According to the U.S. Census Bureau for the year 2000, 46.7% of
California’s population was reported as white, (69.1% in the U.S.), 32. 4% was reported
as Hispanic or of Latino origin (12.5% for the U.S.), 10.9% Asian (3.6% in the U.S.),
and 6.7 African American (12.3% in the U.S.). Over one quarter of the population of the
State of California is foreign born, which is approximately 2.5 times than that of the U.S.
According to the 2001 census 26.2% of California’s population is foreign born while that
of the whole country is a mere 11.1%. 39.5% of California’s population speak a
language other than English at home, which is a huge contrast with the nation as a whole
in which only 17.9% of the population speak another language other than English at
home. The 2000 Census estimates indicate that about 45% of young children (up to 4
years) had immigrant mothers, 43.3% of 5-17 year-olds also had immigrant mothers.
Figures for 18 year-old and older slightly decrease to 38.7%. “Immigrant stock” is a
concept that describes both immigrants and their children born in the U.S. after their
arrival. California counts with an immigrant stock of 46.9% of the total of the state’s
population.

Racial and ethnic diversity is far more pronounced in the schools of California.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, based on 1999-2000 enrollment, the Hispanic
student population in California’s schools comprised 42.2% of the total enrollment,
followed by white students with 36.9% of the total enrollment, 11% of Asians and Pacific
Islanders, 8.6% African-American, and 0.9% American Indian. According to
California’s 1999 Language Census 38% of approximately 6 million students enrolled in
the schools of California were reported as having a native language other than English.
Twenty five percent were identified as limited English proficient students (LEPs), which,
surprisingly, comprised 41% of the LEPs reported in all of U.S. in 1996, according to the
National Center for Education Statistics. Thirteen percent of the students enrolled were
identified as fluent English proficient students (FEPs) with a native language other than
English.

Projections on ethnic and racial diversification for the future mark a very clear
trend: The numbers of white students are expected to decline, while the numbers of other
groups are expected to dramatically increase. According to California’s Department of
Finance, between 1997 and 2007 the numbers of white students is expected to decrease
by 16% while Hispanics are expected to increase by 35%, Pacific Islanders by 30%, and
Asians by 15%.

Immigration throughout the U. S. history when graphed in a chart is depicted as a

wave-like curve with peaks and troughs. Naturally the peaks represent high levels of
immigration and the troughs the low levels of immigration. The classic push-pull theory
of immigration can help us understand the patterns of immigration throughout the U.S.
history. This immigration theory suggests that circumstances at the place of origin, such
as poverty and political turmoil, push people out of that place to other places that exert a
positive attraction or pull, such as job opportunities and better quality of living.

Before 1830 , immigration was a minor source of population increase. It is interesting to

point out that during the colonial period and up to the year 1808, (when importing slaves
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into the U.S. became illegal), 500,000 Africans were unwillingly brought to the U.S.
This figure accounts for 40% of the total number of immigrants to the U.S. during that
period (“One from Many: U.S. Immigration Patterns and Ethnic Composition,”
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0699/ijse/portrait.htm). In the 1840s, the failure of
the potato crop in Ireland created a famine that, together with severe economic
depression, unemployment, and political upheavals in Germany served as a push factor
creating the first huge wave of immigration to the U.S. It is, of course, obvious that the
American favorable economic and political conditions served as a pull factor for the
huge waves of immigrants (or they would have gone somewhere else). Another factor
that contributed as a pull factor was the open door policy (no restrictions whatsoever to
immigration) of the U.S. The Irish wave amounted to 1.5 million immigrants between
the 1840s and the 1850s, forced by the potato famine push factor. The immigration
curve kept peaking until the Civil War when immigration was first restricted. The war
and new immigration restrictions acted as a brake on the U.S. pull factor, creating a
trough in the immigration curve. After the Civil War the tide turned again and the curve
began peaking until the 1873 economic panic which again restrained the American pull
factor. That lasted for about four years and then the tides turned again. Nevertheless,
altogether from the 1840s to the 1880s, 4.5 million Germans immigrated to the U.S.
pushed by unfavorable socioeconomic factors.

There was a trough in the immigration curve in the 1890s caused by the economic
panic of 1893, when the New York stock market tumbled. The country plunged into a
deep economic depression that lasted about 5 years. At the end of the 1890s the tide
turned again and a second major wave of immigrants came at around 1900. The
immigration curved skyrocketed and during the decade of the 1900s broke the record
with 8.8 million immigrants. Between the 1880s and the 1920s about 4.5 million Italians
immigrated pushed by poverty and overpopulation; about 4 million Austrians, Czechs,
Hungarians, and Slovaks immigrated also pushed by poverty and overpopulation; about
2.5 million Jews from Eastern Europe immigrated pushed by religious persecution; and
about one million poles immigrated pushed by poverty, political repression, and a
cholera epidemic. Also, I think it is interesting to point out that from the 1870s to the
1900s approximately 1.5 million Scandinavians were pushed by poverty and shortage of
farmland.

The First World War acted as a deterrent for immigration. Europeans were
committed to their national war efforts and leaving the country during that period would
have been interpreted as an act of treason or desertion. After the First World War
immigration increased until the Quota Act of 1921 had a negative effect on the U.S. pull
factor lowering the wave of immigrants. After a short period of accommodation the tide
turned again only to turn once more with the Great Depression an d Second World War
which obviously had a negative effect on the pull factor.

The U. S. pull factor was greatly increased in 1965 with a change in the U.S.
immigration laws which repealed the quota system. Favorable socioeconomic changes
in Western Europe greatly diminished the European push factor. From then on a new
wave of immigration coming from Asia and Latin America started and is still felt today.
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1. Cultural Diversity Curricula Objectives by James A. Banks

James Banks, a recognized leader in the field of multicultural education and author
of An Introduction to Multicultural Education proposes model for multicultural education
that aims at reaching way beyond curricula objectives. For James Banks multicultural
education means much more than adopting a multicultural curriculum. He proposes five
dimensions of multicultural education that can help educators implement and asses
programs that respond to student diversity. (Banks, James, An Introduction to
Multicultural Education. 2nd Ed., Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon,
1999.)

The first dimension, content integration, focuses directly on curriculum

development. Content integration deals with the extent to which teachers integrate into
the curriculum content that reflects cultural diversity. Teachers can integrate such
content into the curriculum in several ways. The contributions approach is based on the
recognition of contributions done by members of different ethnic and cultural groups.
Typically, teachers work into the curriculum isolated facts about heroes from diverse
groups during civic and historical celebrations such as the Chinese New Year, the
African-American History Month, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, St. Patrick's Day, 5 de
Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, and Columbus day, etc. This approach otherwise leaves the
curriculum unchanged. Another approach is the additive approach, teachers add special
units to the curriculum on topics dealing with diverse ethnic and cultural groups. This
second approach is an improvement over the recognition approach, yet still leaves the
curriculum unchanged and still relegates diverse groups to the periphery of the
curriculum. A more sophisticated approach is to incorporate multiple cultural voices and
perspectives within the curriculum. This approach is known as the transformation
approach, which aims at transforming the structure of the curriculum by changing
instructional materials, teaching techniques, and student learning in order that core
subjects may be viewed from the perspectives of a range of groups. Banks, furthermore,
proposes an ideal fourth level approach, the social action approach. This approach, as
described by Banks in An Introduction to Multicultural Education (1994), “Extends the
transformative curriculum by enabling students to pursue projects and activities that
allow them to take personal, social, and civic actions related to the concepts, problems,
and issues they have studied.” In order to accomplish this, a second dimension must be
taken into account, knowledge construction.

Banks distinguishes five types of knowledge: personal knowledge, popular

knowledge, mainstream academic knowledge, transformative academic knowledge, and
school knowledge.

Personal knowledge is the most basic of all knowledge. This knowledge is

composed of the concepts and perceptions brought to school by children from their home,
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family, and community. In many cases this knowledge may come into conflict with the
school knowledge structure, therefore, teachers must validate children’s personal
knowledge involving and honoring family contributions to the classroom.

Popular knowledge is constituted by a body of beliefs presented by the media.

Images of people that children have not personally met are a result of what they see on
television and the movies. An example of knowledge construction at this level would be
the raising of consciousness of students to the often biased representation of African
Americans and Hispanic Americans on television.

Mainstream academic knowledge is the establishment’s knowledge, that is,

concepts and explanations that are considered established knowledge by scientists and
historians. At this knowledge construction level teachers help students identify and
understand implicit cultural assumptions and values that underlie scientific and historical
knowledge. Banks explains how knowledge construction helps students understand the
assumptions and values that underlie terms such as, the “westward expansion.” Banks
questions this concept: for the Dakota Sioux it was the center of the universe, for
Mexicans it was north, and for the Japanese it was east. It was only west for the
European-Americans in their westward expansion. The idea is to guide the students to
become more critical thinkers and readers (Banks, James. “Dr. James A. Banks on
Multicultural education.” NEA Today Online, September 1998.
www.nea.org.neatoday/9809/banks.html).
Transformative academic knowledge is the knowledge that challenges the
accepted truths of mainstream academia, as for instance, all the theories and hypotheses
on learning and language acquisition. Teachers must be also critical thinkers and readers
and not go with the flow of any new fad fed by education academia.

School Knowledge is the knowledge that runs through popular knowledge,

mainstream academic knowledge, frameworks and curriculum guides, teacher’s guides,
textbooks, instructional materials, and teacher’s interpretation and utilization of these. It
is a deconstruction of American history and traditional heroes; it is the objective
understanding of history by incorporating different voices and perspectives and
recognizing that many heroes and heroines have gone unnoticed and unrecognized in the
past.

Equity pedagogy is the third dimension whose focus is not in the curriculum itself
but on its delivery. Teachers must expand and vary their teaching methods to enable all
students to succeed. Knowledge of learning styles is indispensable. It is recommended
that teachers take into account Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences model of
learning modalities. Teachers should also examine their own learning styles since
teachers tend to teach in their own preferred styles. Banks explicitly recommends the use
of cooperative learning techniques.

Prejudice reduction, the fourth dimension, is concerned with the shaping of the
students’ racial and ethnic attitudes. The teacher must recognize that students come to
school with preconceived notions about other children. Banks points to two conditions
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needed to help students’ positive attitudes: instructional materials with realistic portrayal
of different ethnic and racial groups and the consistent use of such materials.

The last dimension, empowering school cultural and social structure, aims at
transforming the school culture to ensure equality of opportunities for all students. “Some
of the variables considered are grouping practices, social climate, and assessment
practices, participation in extracurricular activities, and staff expectations and responses
to diversity.” (Transforming the Mainstream Curriculum by James A. Banks, 1994)

Idea Proficiency Test Level Summary

The IDEA (IPT) English Language Proficiency Tests were adopted by the California
State Board of Education (SBE) in order to comply with Title 1 regulations. IDEA IPT is
a language proficiency test that must be administered to all national origin minority
students.

The following IDEA Proficiency Test Level Summary is taken from, Exhibit A IPT I-
ORAL ENGLISH, FORMS C & D IDEA PROFICIENCY TEST LEVEL SUMMARY
(http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/people/grads/macswan/hakuta3A.htm)

At LEVEL A, a student can do fewer than half the skills listed in LEVEL B.

At LEVEL B, a student can:

1. Tell his or her name and age.
2. Identify family and common school personnel, classroom objects, basic body
parts, common pets, and fruits.
3. Use present tense verb "to be."
4. Use regular plurals.
5. Answer simple "yes/no" questions appropriately.
6. Follow simple directions involving basic positions in space.

At LEVEL C, a student can:

1. Identify common occupations, clothing, farm animals, and foods.
2. Express himself or herself using the present progressive tense (he or she is
working) of common verbs.
3. Use negatives and subject pronouns correctly.
4. Use mass nouns appropriately.
5. Follow the teacher's directions related to identifying positions on a page.
6. Repeat simple sentences correctly.
7. Comprehend and remember major facts of a simple story.

At LEVEL D, a student can:

1. Identify modes of transportation and household items.
 91

2. Name the days of the week.

3. Describe common weather conditions.
4. Use possessive pronouns correctly.
5. Ask simple future tense questions.
6. Understand and express comparative and quantitative concepts.
7. Follow the teacher's directions involving movement in space.
8. Repeat complex sentences correctly.
9. Understand and identify moods in a simple story.
10. Express himself or herself using the present and future tenses.
11. Express creative thoughts in complete sentences.

At LEVEL E, a student can:

1. Identify content area vocabulary.
2. Use superlatives and past tense correctly.
3. Understand and name opposites of key words.
4. Ask past tense questions.
5. Discriminate differences in closely paired words.
6. Describe and organize the main properties of common objects.
7. Identify the main idea and descriptive details of a story or TV show.

At LEVEL F, a student can:

1. Identify the seasons and unusual occupations.
2. Use conditional tense of verbs.
3. Discriminate fine differences in closely paired words.
4. Express himself or herself using past tense correctly.
5. Comprehend and predict the outcome of a story.
6. Recall and retell the main facts of a story.
7. Explain positive and negative attributes of friendship.
8. Share meaningful personal experiences.

Note: The competencies noted above are sampled in the test levels. The Level
Summary is only an indicator of the oral language competencies the student
possesses.

A. Mainstreaming

Public Law 94-142 (Reproduced from section, Child Abuse Laws, Policies &
Procedures due to redundancy in Exit Exam Study Guide).

The purpose of this Act was to assure that all handicapped children have access to a
free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related
 92

services designed to meet their special needs. The most important provisions of PL 94-
142 are:

• All students with disabilities are guaranteed a free appropriate public education. The
term 'free appropriate public education' means special education and related services.

• An individualized education program (IEP) must be develop for each student with
disabilities. The IEP is a written statement for each handicapped student that
includes present levels of educational performance; annual goals, including short-
term instructional objectives; specific educational services to be provided and the
extent to which the student will be able to participate in regular educational programs;
the projected date for initiation and anticipated duration of such services; and
evaluation procedures and schedules for determining whether instructional objectives
are being met on at least an annual basis.

• Parents of the disable children have the right to participate in the planning of the IEP.

• Students with disabilities must be educated in the least restricted environment

(mainstream classrooms).

• Assessment of disable students must be non-biased, that is, students must not be
discriminated due to their race, culture, or disability.

• Due process procedures must protect the rights of students with disabilities and their
parents.

• The federal government will contribute with funding to cover costs involved in
educating disable students.

The Public Law 94-142 was amended first in 1990 and then in 1997 and it is known
by the acronym IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Public law 101-
476). These federal laws provide procedural guidelines for students with special needs.
The major provisions of IDEA are:

• A multidisciplinary team of appropriately trained professionals is to consider referral

information, assess the students, and determine if the student is eligible for special
education services. The final placement decisions are made by an IEP team.

• The IEP team is composed by the student’s teacher, a Special Resource teacher, the
school psychologist, one or both of the student’s parents, the student, when deemed
appropriate. This team writes the IEP and reviews and revises the IEP at least
annually.

• If the school or the parents are not satisfied with the service being rendered to the
student a due process hearing may be requested.
 93

• The related services offered to the student may include transportation, the services of
a speech pathologist and audiologist, psychological services, counseling, physical
therapy, and diagnostic medical services.

• Assessment should be nondiscriminatory and should not be forfeit students for native
language, race, culture, or disability.

• Autism and traumatic brain injury was added to the list of disabilities and called for
study of attention deficit disorder.

• Transition services will be provided for ages 16 and older, and younger students when
appropriate. These services will guarantee continuation of educational opportunities
or independent living and community participation. A statement of the transition
needed services must be included in the IEP.

Teaching Techniques that Facilitate Mainstreaming

(Reproduced from section, Techniques to Provide Access to the Core Curriculum to all
Students due to the redundancy of the Exit Exam Study Guide).

The students that require special provisions to gain access to the core curriculum are
students with special needs. The population of students with special needs is very
diverse: students with learning disabilities; students with behavioral disorders; students
with mental retardation; students with language and speech disorders; students with
physical, health, and sensory impairments; the gifted and talented; the cultural and
linguistic diverse population.

Learning disabilities among elementary students are a common-place. About half

of the students served by special education are learning disable children, yet about three
quarters of students identified as learning disabled receive academic instruction in regular
education classrooms. There are two basic characteristics that are indicative of learning
disabilities. First, students that appear to be a perfectly normal children but experience
great difficulty with one or more specific academic skills. They most often experience
difficulty first and foremost with reading; they also may experience difficulty in other
areas such as, writing in general, that is expressing themselves through writing; spelling
and/or handwriting; and Math. Second, there appears to be a great discrepancy in the
academic progress and achievement. For example, a student that excels in language arts
but just can’t do Math, or vice a versa, a student that excels in Math but is a poor reader.
Learning disabilities typically affect four general areas: 1. Language arts: difficulties with
reading, writing, and/or spelling (I presently have a student that is an excellent and
prolific writer, yet he is below grade level in reading) 2. Math: difficulty in performing
arithmetic operations or in understanding basic concepts. 3. Reasoning: difficulty in
organizing and integrating thoughts. 4. Memory: difficulty in remembering information
or instructions. (Lewi, Rena B., and Donald H. Doorlag, Teaching Special Students in the
Mainstream. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1995.)
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The regular education teacher has to make instructional adaptations to provide

students with learning disabilities access to the core curriculum. There are two
fundamental approaches to ensure this: remediation and compensation. In the
remediation approach the teacher employs a series of instructional techniques to instruct
the student in the skills with which he or she is having difficulties. In compensation
assistance is given to the student to help him compensate for his difficulties. For example
if a student is having difficulty in reading the teacher might have student listen to
recorded stories in a tape recorder.

In reading remediation phonics alone is ineffective. It is recommended that either

the meaning-based or the code–emphasis approaches be used. In meaning-based
programs comprehension is taught from the very start and students practice decoding in
context. The meaning-based approach is endorsed by whole language approach (which
might not be the best recommendation). Research shows that the code-emphasis method
is more effective at assisting children with learning disabilities. In code-emphasis
programs decoding is taught first, then comprehension. Code-emphasis provides students
with a systematic method of decoding unfamiliar words. Students first learn the sounds
of letters and letter combinations, and then they learn decoding strategies and practice
decoding words in context.

Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. Some teachers believe that
reading instruction should precede writing instruction and that children should not
explicitly and systematically be taught to write before they can read at grade level. In
fact what precedes writing is talking. Children start scribbling at a very early age, and
they start reading (interpreting, rather) their own writing. Therefore the code-emphasis
approach should be applied also to spelling. While learning the sound/spelling symbols
and learning to decode words, students should be taught the reverse process of encoding,
that is, phonetic spelling. Students should be supplied with lists and word walls of high-
frequency words for and practice recognizing them in a written text. Students can also
listen to instructional tapes with high frequency words and phonetically irregular spelling,
practice writing them and then listening to check for the correct spelling. The frequent
and varied use of different graphic organizers in mapping is another recommended
strategy for teaching remedial writing. Story boards are ideal and very appealing to
children, since they get to draw first. Dictation is a great springboard to writing and it
should be utilize the same way it is done in ELD lessons. In Math it is recommended to
use visual prompts that gradually fade to guide the students through arithmetic
operations. Intensive use of manipulatives is also a must.

In content area instruction the following recommendations are designed to aide

learning disabled students: reducing the amount of assigned reading tasks, substitute
grade level reading material with lower level materials, shorten writing tasks, and
accommodate different learning styles by the use of a tape recorder and illustrations.
 95

ADD/ADDHD are not recognized as disabilities under the IDEA (The Individual
with Disabilities Education Act of 1990). Students with ADD/ADDHD fall more into the
category of students with behavioral disorders.

Three of the most general indicators of behavioral disorders are hyperactivity,

distractibility, and impulsiveness. A child who is hyperactive is most likely to be
distractible and impulsive. When a child exhibits these traits he or she is then labeled as
having ADDHD. When a child is distractible yet not impulsive and hyperactive, in
which case the child would be labeled ADD. The big difference here lies in the fact that
a child who suffers from ADD suffers the consequences of his behavior (he or she fall
behind academically), while everyone suffers when a child with ADDHD is in the
classroom. It is usually not taken into account that every single child has the right to an
education and that children with severe behavioral problems interfere with this right.
Many students with ADHD benefit from psychotropic drugs such a Ritalin. Of course,
the parents are the ones that have the last word in such a decision.

The general recommendations for students with ADDHD are also applicable to
students with a wide range of learning disabilities (ADDH Task Force of the Anchorage
School District, “Attention Deficit Disorders: Suggested Classroom Accommodations for
Specific Behaviors.” CASP Today Ed. March/April Bulletin, 1991): The following are a
few of the main recommendations from the CASP (California Association of School
Psychologists) Bulletin:

• When a student exhibits difficulty sequencing and completing a learning task, it is

recommendable to break up the task into workable and obtainable steps.

• When a student is having difficulty sustaining effort over time, it is a

good idea to reduce the length of the task and increase the frequency of positive
reinforcements.

• In case of difficulty taking tests, the teacher should allow extra time for testing and
teach test taking skills and strategies.

• If the student is easily distracted and has difficulty staying on task, it is

recommendable to break up activity into small units, reward attention and timely
accomplishments.

• In case of frequent and excessive talking the teacher must teach the student hand
signals and their use to tell the student when and when not to talk.

• If a student is confused with nonverbal cues, the teacher must directly teach
(demonstrate and model) what non-verbal cues mean and have student practice in a
safe setting.
 96

• If a student has difficulty remaining seated when required, the teacher should allow
the student frequent opportunities to get up and move around.

• With students that have difficulty participating in class without interrupting, the
teacher should seat the student in close proximity and reward appropriate behavior.

• For children having difficulty making transitions, it is recommendable to give

advance warning when a transition is going to take place and list steps needed for the
transition.

The CASP Today’s Bulletin is quite extensive and very comprehensive; I

summarized and pointed out just the most relevant tips that address ADD/ADHD. Other
behavior modifications than can be done to help the ADD/ ADHD student are: always
provide immediate feedback, ignore minor disruptions, recognize their strengths in front
of other students, and establish a reward/consequence system. There also a few things
than can be done in the classroom for them: establish clear, concise classroom rules; seat
student at or near the front of the classroom; increase distance between desks; give
instructions one at a time; minimize visual and auditory distractions; give them a short
brake between assuagements. Another instructional modification is the use of multi-
sensory techniques (overhead projectors; color chalk/markers; video or audio tapes).

Other behavioral disorders range from the more moderate disobedient, defiant and
attention seeker, (and its opposite: timid, withdrawn, preoccupied and passive), to the
severe cases of deceitfulness or theft, destruction to property, and aggression to peers. In
most cases adaptations in academic instruction, teaching of social skills, and class
management are sufficient enough to curtail behavioral problems. In most severe cases,
especially in case of a student who engages in physical aggression, the teacher must use
outside resources such as support from the parents. the principal, the psychologist, and
the social worker.

When education specialist talks about providing universal access to the core
curriculum they are talking about mainstreaming students with special needs.
Mainstreaming is the inclusion of students with special needs in general education
classrooms. There are talks about the ideal environment is the least restrictive
environment, that would be general education classroom. Full inclusion of students with
mental retardation can be very over-taxing for the general education teacher. The
instructional adaptations to be made to serve this population of students are quite radical.
Here we are not talking of remediation or compensation but of habilitation. Habilitation
consists of instruction directed towards the development the most crucial and functional
skills to assist students for daily living, citizenship and adulthood. In these cases partial
inclusion is more reasonable; the Special Resource teacher will assist and guide the
general education teacher.

In the case of students with language and speech impairments, the speech-language
pathologist serves the students in need and makes the needed recommendations for
instructional adaptations to the regular education teacher. There are some simple and
 97

sensible guidelines to follow with these students: peers must never be allowed to ridicule
or make fun of the student with speech disorders; the teacher should be mindful that he or
she serves as a role model and articulate as clearly as possible (similar precautions as
when using sheltered English); when these students speak the teacher must listen with
full attention and ensure the peers do likewise; speech errors should never be criticize nor
corrections made by the teacher or classmates (the teacher should paraphrase as if it were
an ELD technique);

Likewise, in the case of student with physical and health impairment the school nurse
usually recommends to the regular education teacher the necessary adaptations and
precautions to be taken. Only in severe cases do drastic adaptations have to be made.
One of the most important things a teacher must consider is ensuring the social
acceptance of the severe physical and health impaired student by rest of classmates.

The gifted and talented is a student population that deserves special consideration. If
instructional adaptations are not made these students will become bored and unmotivated,
and will usually start exhibiting behavior problems. The gifted student is of above
intellectual ability and creativity, and may or may not have superior academic
achievement. Talented students usually excel in one or more content areas. A student
may be either gifted or talented or both. Behavior checklists are very helpful at assisting
the teacher in the identification of the gifted and talented. The rule of thumb is that when
in doubt, the teacher should refer the student for testing; since it is ultimately the
psychologist, through a series of psychometric tests, who determines if a student qualifies
as gifted and talented. Enrichment and acceleration are two of the most common
practices that a general education teacher may apply to serve the gifted and talented.
Enrichment are additions to the general instructional program. This can be accomplished
by having the students study the same content as their peers but in more depth. More
common is to broaden the curriculum for these students. Since these students usually
finish up the assignments faster than their peers, they have extra time for learning new
and challenging tasks. One of the strategies I have used throughout the years is the
teaching chess. Mastery of the game usually opens a whole new outlook on life for these
children.

The cultural and linguistic diverse student population must be addressed with the
same consideration as students with disabilities contemplated by the IDEA. These
students may be perceived by their peers as different and strange, and have problems
gaining social acceptance. As a matter of fact, the term LEP is often used pejoratively.

Traditionally, students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds were

expected to assimilate to mainstream America. The trend towards assimilation was
endorsed by the myth of the “melting pot.” Traditional mainstream America, the white,
Anglo-Saxon, protestant middle class, is slowly fading away. According to the latest
population census, there are approximately 36 million Hispanics and 35 million African-
Americans living presently in this country; that, plus other minorities represent a huge
chunk of the total population of the U.S.
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Multicultural education is the current approach to serving the culturally diverse

student populations of our schools. Multicultural education strives to help students in the
understanding and acceptance of differences and similarities by increasing the students’
understanding and appreciation of other cultures and their contribution to the American
society. Teachers must become cultural proficient and help students acquire cultural
proficiency. Basically this may be accomplished by learning and explicitly teaching
cultural knowledge; learning and teaching how one’s culture affects others; learning,
teaching and accepting that each culture finds some values more important than others;
learning and teaching the origins of stereotypes and prejudices; and learning and teaching
skills in identifying bias, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination.

B. Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, & Nutrition. Symptoms of

Substance Abuse & Actions to be Taken by Teachers

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs

Alcohol is the number one drug of choice of American youth. According to the
data tables of 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey, a University of Michigan News and
Information Services (www.monitoringthefuture.org/), 47% of all 8th graders, 66.9 % of 10th
graders, and 78.4% of 12th graders reported having used alcohol; 21.3% of 8th graders,
44% of 10th graders, and 61.6% of 12th graders reported having been drunk. These
figures are definitely alarming, yet the fact that alcohol consumption has been
institutionalized in our society plays down the seriousness of the situation. Children are
constantly bombarded by television commercials aimed at making them believe that
alcohol helps people have more fun an be better athletes. Alcohol use among students
has a detrimental effect on academic achievement. According to statistics from the
Leadership to keep Children Alcohol Free, a coalition of Federal agencies and public
and private organizations (www.alchoholfreechildren.org/), higher truancy rates are
associated with greater rates of alcohol use and students who use alcohol may remember
up to 10% less of what was taught than students who do not drink. This same source
reports that more than 40% of students who begin drinking before age 13 will develop
alcohol dependency and abuse, that is, alcoholism.

There is great controversy on the possible causes of alcoholism. According to

modern medicine there are social, family, psychological, and genetic causes. Modern
medicine also now regards alcoholism as a disease. There are many health consequences
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to the long term abuse of alcohol. The most known to the general public is the damage to
the liver that called cirrhosis, which can lead to liver failure and death. Heavy alcohol
abuse may also lead to pancreatitis, which is an inflammation to of the pancreas that
increases the risks of diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Long term use of alcohol may also
damage the heart tissue, destroy the nerves and lead to an overall intellectual decline.

The second drug of choice of the American youth is tobacco. According to the 2002
monitoring the future study, 31.4 % of 8th graders, 47.4% of 10th graders, and 57.2 % of
12th graders reported having smoked cigarettes. Nicotine, which is the psychoactive agent
found in tobacco, is highly addictive. It is both a stimulant and a sedative and has a
severe withdrawal syndrome. The effects of smoking tobacco are well known to the
public: smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, heart disease and strokes. It is the third
cause of death in the U.S.

The most commonly used illegal drug by young people is marijuana. Marijuana
contains THC which severely impairs short term memory. Moods swings can oscillate
between uncontrolled laughter to acute paranoia. The eyes of the smoker tend to get
bloodshot, mouth and throat tend to dry up, and perception is altered, sometimes to the
point of producing hallucinations. After prolonged use students tend to loose interest in
academic matters and loose ambition in general, this is called amotivational syndrome.
According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future survey, 19.2% of 8th graders, 38.7 % of
10th graders, and 47.8 % 12th graders reported having smoked marijuana.

Cocaine is also very popular illegal drug. Cocaine stimulates the central nervous
system and is highly addictive. Cocaine use also leads to the development of
amotivational syndrome. It is a very strong stimulant and users may experience delusions,
hallucinations, anxiety, insomnia, and acute paranoia. It may also lead to an increased
involvement with crime in order to maintain the addiction. The 2002 Monitoring the
Future survey reports that 3.6 % of 8th graders, 6.1 % of 10th graders, and 7.8 % of 12th
graders have used cocaine.

Amphetamines are stimulants that speed up the central nervous system. Students use
amphetamines to stay awake and study for exams. According to the 2002 Monitoring the
Future survey, 8.7% of 8th graders, 14.9 % of 10th graders, and 16.8 % of 12th graders
reported having used amphetamines. Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug of the
amphetamine family. The use of methamphetamine produces behavioral and
psychological effects similar to cocaine. According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future
survey, 3.5 of 8th graders, 6.1 % of 10th graders, and 6.7 % of 12th graders reported having
uses methamphetamine.

LSD is the most typical among hallucinogenic drugs. The effects of LSD on the
individual are hard to predict and depends on the amount taken, the personality of the
user, and the surrounding environment. The physical effects include dilated pupils, high
body temperature, increased heart rate, sweating, dry mouth, and tremors. The mental
and emotional effects include delusions and visual hallucinations, and the user may
experience beatific or terrifying thoughts and visions, and a frenzy of joy or fear. LSD is
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not considered to be addictive. The 2002 Monitoring the Future study reports that 2.5 %
of 8th graders, 5 % of 10th graders, and 8.4 % of 12th graders have used LSD.

MDMA, popularly known as ecstasy, is a rather new psychoactive drug with

stimulant and hallucinogen properties. The use of ecstasy causes brain damage, and
sharply increases the body temperature which may lead to kidney and cardiovascular
system failure. Users risk confusion, severe anxiety and paranoia, even weeks after
taking the drug. Physical symptoms are said to include muscle tension, involuntary teeth
clenching, and nausea. According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future study, 4.3 % of the
8th graders, 6.6 % of the 10th graders, and 10.5% of the 12th graders have used ecstasy.

The use of inhalants by our youth has a different trend that the rest of drugs. As it
my be observed from the data tables of the 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey, the rate
of drug use increases with age, yet in the case of abuse of inhalants the pattern is
reversed, the use of inhalants decreases with age: 15.2% of 8 th graders, 13.5 % of 10 %
graders, and 11.7 % of 12th graders reported using inhalants. The explanation to this may
lie on the fact that they are cheap and readily accessible, which makes them a substitute
for more expensive drugs and alcohol. As students grow older their access to money
increases and so does their choice for more expensive and sophisticated drugs. Inhalants
can be found in most solvents such as paint thinners or solvents, dry cleaning fluids,
gasoline, and glues, art or office supply solvents. Another source of inhalants are
household gases such as propane tanks, whipping cream aerosols; household aerosol
propellants such as hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays and spray paints;
anesthetic gases such as ether and laughing gas; nitrites, known as poppers, became
popular as a street drug in the 1960s and were originally sold as a street drug. Although
the makeup of inhalants is varied the effect seems to be similar to anesthetics. The health
hazards are many; they range from brain damage and damage to the central nervous
system, hearing loss, limb spasms, bone marrow damage to liver and kidney damage.

Steroids are substances related to male sex hormones. Athletes tend to abuse
steroids to enhance performance and build muscles . Side effects from abusing steroids
include liver tumors an cancer jaundice, fluid retention, high blood pressure, increase in
bad cholesterol and decrease in good cholesterol. In adolescents it may prematurely halt
growth and accelerate puberty changes. The 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey reports
that 2.5% of 8th graders, 3.5 % of 10th graders, and 4 % of 12th graders have used steroids.

Heroin is the least abused of the major illegal drugs by adolescents. According to
the 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey 1.6 % of 8th graders, 1.8 % of 10th graders, and
1.7 % of 12th graders reported having used heroin. Still those modest figures are too high
since heroin is one of the most addicting illicit drugs. Heroin is processed from morphine
and is associated with death from overdose, collapsed veins, and infectious diseases such
as AIDS and hepatitis.

There is an excellent drug and violence prevention program for elementary schools
called DARE. The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is the product of
the collaborative effort between your police department, the school, parents, and
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community leaders. DARE teaches kids how to recognize and resist the pressures that
influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs. This
program is usually introduced to children in the 5th or 6th grade. A specially trained
officer comes into the school one day a week for seventeen weeks and teaches the
children.. Student participation in the DARE program may be incorporated as an integral
part of the school's curriculum in health, science, social studies. It is up to each
individual teacher to incorporate the DARE program in their curricula, which would
make the program much more effective. Yet, statistics prove that this program alone is
not sufficient to prevent drug use and abuse by our students. The teacher must be alert to
the warning signs of childhood drug use and abuse.

There are certain behaviors or signs that might be indicative drug problems among
our students. The most obvious are bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, lack of coordination,
memory lapses and poor concentration, sloppy appearance, general low energy, lack of
involvement in former activities and interests, flare-ups of temper, irritability,
defensiveness, poor attendance, low grades, and rule braking. In case a teacher suspects a
that a student might be having a drug problem he or she should bring the issue to the
attention of the principal, the nurse, and the social worker. They are more indicated than
the teacher to deal directly with the problem. Naturally, the principal or social worker
will contact the student’s parents and work towards finding the proper intervention.

Nutrition
As part of the health curriculum in elementary schools we all have had to teach the
famous Food Guide Pyramid. This guide provides daily guidelines to ensure a balanced
diet. The Food Guide Pyramid was designed as an easy way to show the groups of foods
that make up a good diet. It also indicates that a person needs to eat a variety of foods
from all five groups and how much of the foods from the different groups a person must
eat to stay healthy. Its pyramid shape helps explain which foods a person must eat more
or less of. The foods that make up the pyramid's base should provide the bulk of the diet.
As a person goes up the pyramid, the amounts of different foods that person needs gets
smaller.(Meeks, Linda, Philip Heit, and Randy Page, Comprehensive School Health
Education. 2nd ed., Blacklick, Ohio: Meeks Heit Publishing Company, 1996.)

At the base of the pyramid lies the Breads, Cereals, Rice and Pasta Group. This
food group supplies carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber to the diet. Complex
carbohydrates are the major source of energy for the body and fiber helps the digestive
system. It is suggested that people eat six to eleven servings from this group each day.
An example of what constitutes one serving would be: 1 slice of bread, 1/2 a cup of
cooked cereal, and 1/2 a cup of rice or pasta.

Fats, Oils,
& Sweets
Use
Sparingly
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Milk, Yogurt Meat,

& Cheese Poultry,
Group Fish, Dry
2-3 Servings Beans, Eggs
& Nuts
Group
2-3 Servings
Vegetable Fruit
Group Group
3-5 Servings 2-4 Servings

Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta Group

6 – 11 Servings

On top of the Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta group lie, side by side, the Vegetable
Group and the Fruit Group. The Vegetable Group provides vitamins, minerals and fiber.
This group is also low in fat. It is recommended that a person eat 3 to 5 servings of
vegetables per day. Examples of a serving are: one cup of raw leafy vegetables, half a cup
of cooked or raw vegetables, and three quarters of a cup of vegetable juice. The fruit
group foods are low in fat and rich in fiber; provide vitamins A and C and potassium.
Vitamin A counteracts weak eyesight and aids in the treatment of many eye disorders;
promotes growth, strong bones, healthy skin, hair, teeth, and gums. Vitamin C helps
wounds and burns heal faster, and aids in preventing many types of viral and bacterial
infections, aids in treatment and prevention of the common cold. Potassium aids in clear
thinking by sending oxygen to the brain, helps dispose of body wastes, assists in reducing
blood pressure, and aids in allergy treatment. It is recommended that a person eat 2 to 4
servings per day. Examples of a serving are: 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 orange, and ¾ of a cup
of fruit juice.

Scaling up the pyramid we find, side by side, the Milk, Yogurt, & Cheese Group
and the Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts Group. Their position higher up
in the pyramid indicates that a person doesn’t need to eat as much of them in one day as
the foods lower down the pyramid. Milk products provide proteins, specially important
for children since it helps them grow and build their bodies; calcium, which helps build
strong bones and strong healthy teeth. It is recommended that a person eat 2 to 3 servings
per day. Adolescents, young adults and pregnant women should have 3 servings.
Examples of one serving are: 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of yogurt, and 1 ounce of cheese.

The Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts Group provide protein, B
vitamins, iron, and zinc. Protein builds up, keeps up, and replaces the tissues of the body.
The B vitamins are important in the metabolic activity, which is, setting energy free and
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making it available for the use by the body. Iron is part of hemoglobin, which is the part
of the red blood cells that carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Zinc acts
as a traffic policeman, directing and overseeing the efficient flow of by processes. It is
recommended that a person eat 2 to 3 servings of this group each day. Examples of one
serving are: 1 egg, ½ a cup of cooked dry beans, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, and 2 to 3
ounces of cooked meat.

Fats, oils and sweets sit at the very top of the pyramid, which means that the body
does not have much need for them. Fat is the body’s major form of energy storage. Fat
insulates the body from the cold and provides cushioning for the organs; some fats help
to make up important hormones that keep the body at the right temperature and the blood
pressure at the right level. Sweets are simple carbohydrates that give quick energy to the
body but are loaded with calories that do not offer much in the way of nutrients. It is
recommended that a person eat these foods sparingly.

C. Computer Technology in the Classroom.

Criteria for Evaluating Software

The 21st Century is demanding that students be computer literate. The complex skills
students need to become proficient computer users need not be taught in isolation.
Separate computer classes might not significantly advance students in their computer
literacy since they will tend to be boring and non-engaging. Computer literacy training
takes a new meaning when integrated to the curriculum. Our computer proficiency tends
to be mostly advanced when we start working with different applications to reach real life
goals. By the same token, using educational software to teach content concepts and skills
will advance the students faster since multimedia software has the quality of being highly
interactive and engaging. Therefore, teachers must learn about and keep current with the
different types of educational software on the market.

Knowledge of Types of Educational Software Needed for Software Evaluation

Basic familiarization with the different types of instructional software is a

requirement for proper evaluation of instructional software. The general consensus is
that there are five basic types of instructional software: tutorials, drill and practice,
simulations, educational games, and problem solving. Mark and Cindy Grabe in their
book, Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning (2nd ed. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1998.) identify the five types of educational software as: tutorials, drill and
practice, simulations, educational games, and exploratory environments. These
categories may overlap, for example, educational games and exploratory environments
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can be also categorized as problem solving software (as long as they present problem
solving situations); simulations and exploratory environments have many features in
common which makes it difficult to classify apart. These different categories of
instructional software play a different role in the four general stages of instruction: “ (1)
presentation of information or learning experiences; (2) initial guidance as the student
struggles to understand the information or execute the skill to be learned; (extended
practice to provide fluency or speed or to ensure retention; and (4) assessment of student
learning.” (Mark and Cindy Grabe, pg. 83). Therefore, the instructor must keep in mind
the role the instructional software plays in the instructional process when choosing the
software.

Tutorial instructional software mimics the role of the human tutor. It normally
starts by presenting information or demonstrating a specific skill, then by requiring the
student to perform some specific activity. Tutorials perform the two initial phases of the
instructional process: the presentation of information or modeling of skills and the initial
guided practice. Tutorials are categorized as linear and branching tutorials. Linear
tutorials give the same instructional sequence and feedback to all learners. Branching
tutorials are much more sophisticated and are able to interpret wrong answers and
provide feedback on the misunderstood information before continuing with new
information. Examples of tutorial software are: DaisyQuest and Daisy’s Castle by Great
Wave software (Conway, Judith, “Educational Technology's Effect on Models of
Instruction.” http://udel.edu/~jconway/EDST666.htm, 1997.)

Drill and practice programs are instructional software which provide independent
practice to students, and therefore, should not be used to introduce new material. Drill
and practice, although some teachers consider it to be outmoded, is an inevitable part of
learning. The great advantage of these types of software programs is that they supplant
work-sheets and make independent practice much more interesting for students. This
type of software are normally used to enhance math skills or factual material. An
advantage of these programs is that they offer immediate feedback. These programs can
also free the teacher to assist other students. Examples of this type of software are:
Jurassic Spelling by Dare Ware and Motes Educational and Super Solvers: Outnumbered
by The Learning Company (Conway, Judith. 1997.). Jurassic Spelling offers immediate
verbal rewards to the student when they spell words correctly and after students
accumulate a certain number of points they are rewarded with information and a picture
of a dinosaur. Super Solvers: Outnumbered is a program in the form of a game in which
students try to capture a villain by going into different rooms where they have to solve a
math word problem in an attempt to capture the villain. The students are rewarded both
along the way by immediate feedback, and at the end of the game by scoring a certain
number of points.

Simulation software offer the opportunity to present to the students settings that
may not be possible through other means, or may be very expensive, or even very
dangerous. They are used to teach procedural knowledge, such as learning to fly an
airplane or drive a car. According to Mark and Cindy Grabe simulations can be used in
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all four stages of the instructional process. Simulations are used in teaching in place of,
or as a supplement to, lab experiments, role playing, excursions, introducing new topics,
and fostering discovery. The benefits of simulations are: slowing down processes,
making experimentation safe, saving money, making possible the impossible, repetition
with variations, and control over situations. The criticisms of simulations are: the degree
of accuracy of simulations; the fact that first experience should involve the five senses
and not a computer; it’s a complicated way to teach simple concepts; and the learning
experience can become a trial and error rather than systematic analysis (Gronn, Donna.
“Using Instructional Software in Teaching and Learning”. EDEST 431 Lecture 10,:
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/EDST431/lecture10.ppt.. slides 16-18). A classic
example of a simulation is Operation Frog from Scholastic Software. Operation Frog is
a simulation of the dissection of a frog. It offers several advantages over the real
dissection, the operation can be performed again and again, rendering it more flexible and
cost effective, less offensive, and much less messy.

Instructional and educational games are designed to develop skills in the game
environment. The game is provided as a motivational tool, usually employing action and
fantasy. These games usually have winners and losers. Students go through elaborate
game procedures in order to master academic skills. The positive thing about these
games is that students do no compete among themselves but compete with the computer.
Classic examples of these games are, the very well known games of, The Oregon Trail
and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Instructional games can enhance
motivation in the more traditional academic areas.

Traditionally the Logo programming software has been considered as problem

solving software par excellence. This programming software have been around for
several decades, yet it seems not to become outdated. . Logo may be used even by K
students as well as older advanced students. Logo is a programming language and can be
used to teach the process of learning and thinking. Logo’s most known feature is the
turtle, a triangular cursor used to create graphics. Logo is not limited to any particular
subject area. However, it is most useful for exploring mathematics since the turtle moves
in distances and turns in degrees and is ideal for exploring and constructing geometrical
figures.

Logo can be taught new commands and other commands can be built thereon. For
example, by typing forward 50 the turtle is made to move a distance of 50 pixels. By
typing right 90 the turtle turns right 90 degrees. Therefore, by combining these simple
commands it is easy to draw a square (the commands forward and right can be
abbreviated to fd and rt): fd 50 rt 90, fd 50 rt 90, fd 50 rt 90, fd 50 rt 90. Furthermore,
using the repeat command a square can be drawn by typing the command repeat 4[fd 50
rt 90]. New commands can be built on by creating new instructions called procedures.
For example, to build a procedure one types: to square repeat 4 [fd. 50 rt. 90], then to
draw a square one has to simply type the command square. A triangle can be built in the
same manner. Then, the square and the triangle can be combined to build a house, once
the house is built, a new procedure can be programmed by simply typing house. In such
a manner, one can progress from drawing simple shapes with easy to learn commands to
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creating complex figures. Logo easily fits mathematics, but it can also be adapted to
other content areas. For example in language arts it can be used to write poetry by
writing programs that rhyme words and in social studies by making maps using Logo
graphics.

With Logo software students, through experimenting with logo commands, learn to
understand them. Students learn to break the knowledge into small and understandable
chunks. They must plan their tasks and organize them into different components by
writing a set of instructions to perform each small task. They learn to build on
established new knowledge by constructing a program to perform all the task in the right
order. They practice at evaluating their program to assess whether the task is performed
correctly. And finally they learn to debug their program by locating and correcting errors
or restructuring their approach. This is easily accomplished since Logo offers immediate
feedback through helpful and informative messages. Logo also helps by providing more
powerful and flexible Math manipulatives.

Most software environments for exploratory learning offered can be classified as

problem-solving software. Multimedia exploratory environments are not static with fixed
roles for the users, they are dynamic with changes in the nature of information depending
on the students’ needs and therefore posing problems to be solved by the students. In
general, any software that presents problems for students to be solved based on
previously acquired skills can be classified as problem-solving software.

Evaluation of Educational Software

Identifying the curriculum needs for technology should be the first step to be
considered in the process of software evaluation. Assessment of students’ academic
performance will guide the teacher in determining which specific academic needs are not
being met through traditional instructional means. The teacher should search for
educational software that meets his or her student’s needs as well as support and expand
on the curriculum concepts and themes.

The second step is searching for and identifying the products that the curriculum
and the students’ needs require. The most resourceful search can be done through CD-
ROM directories. CD-ROM directories offer a vast quantity of CD-ROM titles with
extremely valuable information such as, minimum hardware requirements, type of
curriculum, grade level, and a full description of the CD-ROM’s content and special
features. Some of these directories are very voluminous, for example, the AddALL CD-
ROM Directory contains 1,197 pages (AddALL.com,
www.addall.com/Browse/Detail/1870889460.html, 1996). Lists of CD-ROM directories
can easily be found in the Internet (I recommend using a WebFerret program, the most
sophisticated software utility for searching the Web).

Before purchasing software it is advisable to locate reviews in educational journals

that review software such as, Electronic Learning, MultiMedia Schools, and Technology
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& Learning. Popular computer technology publications, such as, PC World, Macworld,
and BYTE also offer reviews of software. It is also a good idea to order software for
review. The second best choice is purchasing software with a 30 days return policy. This
gives the teacher time to test the products. It is also advisable not to underestimate the
students (even the lower elementary children) and have them test the software and
contribute to the software evaluation with their feedback. This can be done by having
them fill out a simple evaluation form.

P. Burger and S. Kinnell in their book, CD-ROM for Schools (Burger, Pam, and
Susan Kinnel, CD-ROM for Schools: A Directory and Practical Handbook for Media
Specialists. Wilton (CT: Eight Bit Books, 1994.) provides a CD-ROM evaluation form
which is excellent (Copyright does not allow for its reproduction without written
permission). All educational software evaluation forms tend to overlap. The three major
broad evaluative categories that are contemplated in most software evaluation forms are:
1. Presentation format, the technical aspects of navigation such as the consistency of
commands and prompts, searching capabilities, saving and record-keeping features,
quality of audio and visuals, and networking capabilities. 2. Content, depth and scope of
information, provision of bias-free, accurate and current information, age
appropriateness, and degree to which it supports the curriculum. 3. Documentation,
technical instructions and technical support, as well as teachers’ supporting material such
as instructional objectives and lesson plans.

In general, and with regard to the technical aspects of the software, the higher the
quality of the software product the easier it should be to install and function at par with
other software in the computer. Also the higher the quality of the product the more user-
friendly it should be. Saving and record keeping capabilities are of the utmost
importance. At home students can spend as much time in the computers as their parents
allow them, on the other hand, at school individual students can only use a computer for
short periods at a time and must, therefore, save or print progress of research or writing.
Also, software programs should have the capability of keeping track of individual
students’ performance scores.

The networking capability of the software is a very important technical aspect (and
much more complicated). If the teacher is thinking of acquiring a software program for
just one or a small number of computers in the classroom he or she must not need to be
concerned with networking. If the teacher is blessed with a considerable number of
computers in the classroom, networking is an issue that might be worth considering. A
network consists of more than two computers connected together through wiring with the
hardware and software capabilities that makes it possible to share files, programs, and
other peripheral devices such as, printers, scanners, digital cameras, camcorders, and TV
monitors. To consider networking, the teacher should first know if he or she counts with
the proper hardware. The software issue should not be a limitation. Some software
provides manuals with instructions for networking installation, which is another issue to
consider when acquiring software. In the long run, since networking demands a
considerable initial investment, it is a money saver since it is less expensive to purchase
one disk versus having to buy multiple discs for each computer.
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Content information should be accurate and current. View points and imagery
should provide balanced representations of cultural, ethnic, and racial groups. Concepts
and vocabulary should be developmentally appropriate and support various learning
styles. Above all, software programs should be highly interactive and engaging. It is
hard to predict whether students will loose enthusiasm for a particular software program,
which is one of the reasons it is so important to involve students in the evaluation of
software.

With regard to documentation, teachers must give utmost preference to software

programs which supply supporting instructional materials. For example, The Oregon
Trail program comes with a teacher’s binder containing lesson plans, activities, and
suggestions.

Computers in the Classroom

Traditionally computers have been installed in the back of the classroom and
students have been moving to the computers once they have finished classroom
assignments. The great flaw of this approach to computer assisted instruction is that the
most advanced and skilled students are the first, and sometimes the only ones, to use
them. The computer assisted instructional model the teacher is going to implement will
depend on the number of computers he or she counts with in the classroom.

Having only one computer in the classroom forces the teacher make an important
decision (as with all decisions there is always an opportunity cost). The two most basic
options are, either using the computer as a presentation tool or using it as learning center
or station. Therefore, the teacher will pick a spot in the classroom to set up the computer
station depending on how he or she expects to use it.

By connecting the computer to a TV monitor through a scan converter (device

which can be purchased for couple of hundred dollars) images and sound from the
computer can be transmitted to a TV monitor. This can also be accomplished using an
LCD device which is connected to the computer and projects the images in the computer
onto a screen. These devices are quite expensive (ranging somewhere between $1,000 to
$5,000) and they require an excellent quality of overhead and a partially darkened room
(they are usually reserved for computer Labs.). Chances are that the teacher will have to
resort to the scan converter. With the aid of the scan converter the teacher can do Power
Point presentations and illustrate core content using Website pages or software programs
that support classroom activities. Another advantage of this option is that the station can
be shared by the students for class presentations. The ideal place to set up the computer
in this case would be in front of the room so that the teacher or student making the
presentation is facing the audience. This situation presents a couple of disadvantages.
First, setting up the computer in the front of the classroom will limit the possibility of
using the computer as a learning center or station since very few teachers would be
willing forfeit their desk area to students, besides using the computer as a learning center
when located at the from of the room might be distracting to students engaged in other
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classroom activities. Second, if the teacher also decides to use the computer as a
presentation tool, chances are he or she would use it as a teacher work station. The
height of the computer station must be set up appropriately to the physical size of the
user, the monitor should be at eye level and the keyboard at elbow height. If the teacher
sets up the computer station for his or her personal use, students (especially very small
children) would find themselves at a disadvantage. It is sad to watch a child trying to use
a computer when the keyboard is at eye level. The use of the one computer in the
classroom by the teacher as a teacher work station is rather selfish. The computer as a
teacher station is an ideal tool for keeping student records, designing worksheets, graphic
organizers, and newsletters, etc. I much rather do those kind of chores in the comfort of
my home. Besides, during instructional time teachers are expected to be either engaged
in directed lessons or in individual or small group instruction.

The second choice, with the one computer situation in the classroom, is using it as a
learning station. The range of uses of a computer as a learning station depends on the
hardware (older computers cannot support multimedia software programs), and the
repertoire of software available to the students. Computers nowaadays come with a tool
software that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, a data base, presentation programs,
and a drawing tools. With these basic tools students can research the Internet (it is
advisable to install a Web filter for obvious reasons), write reports on the word processor,
do Power Point presentations, various kinds of graphs using the spreadsheet graphing
tools, and send e-mail to pen pals living in other states or countries, elected officials, and
authors of books. The only limitation to the acquisition of a varied collection of software
titles is the monetary limitation. Disregarding this limitation, the variety of software
programs available appears to be almost limitless and so that the learning situations to
which students can be exposed. Access to one computer in the classroom requires careful
scheduling in order ensure equity of use.

Many teachers are blessed with several computers (especially in the upper grades in
elementary schools). With several computers in the classroom the teacher does not have
to make a choice between the presentation station and the learning stations, since he or
she may decide for both. With several computers the teacher has the option of creating a
mini-Lab or several learning centers. That is, he or she has the option of clustering all the
computers in one area or distribute them to various areas around the classroom. Some
teachers line up the computers tightly along one wall (usually because lack of space), if
possible this should be avoided since they can become a source distraction for students
not engaged in computer work (since the monitors would be facing towards the middle of
the classroom); it also does not allow for small group use of the computers. If possible, it
is a better idea to cluster the computers in one area of the classroom. The ideal set up is
positioning the stations back to back with the sides of the monitors facing towards the
center of the classroom in order to avoid distractions. With the min-Lab situation
students can either all be using the same software (especially if the computers are
networked together) or each student can be working with a different software.
Distributing the stations at different spots of the classroom limits, to a certain degree, the
possibility of networking them since it would involve excessive wiring. On the other
hand, the different computer stations may coincide with the specialized learning centers,
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which to some may seem to be an advantage (especially if there is enough room). One
computer may be positioned the reading center, in which case reading software would be
used by the students; another computer at the writing center, in which case students
would use writing software tools; another at the science and Math center for the use of
science and math software, and another at the social sciences and art center with the
respective software. One thing to always have in mind is to keep the computers away
from the sunlight as well as water sources like the classroom sink, and away from chalk
dust.

Another very important issue is setting up rules for the use of the computers.
Ideally the rules should be posted near the computer. There should never be more than
seven rules, I suggest the following:

• Do not drink or eat near the computers.

• Read all the instructions on the computer screen before asking for help.
• Stay out of other people’s files.
• Spell check before printing.
• When printing from the internet do not print whole articles unless necessary, select by
highlighting the important information and then print.
• When finished working, close all windows and push chair into the station.
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