Supporting our ELLs across contents

with the use of PICTURES

Brittany Thompson
Longwood University
Drag your dot to how you feel supporting your ELLs

I have some supports in

It’s going great! I don’t know what to do!
place but need more help.
 ● ELLs currently represent 10%
of public school students and
are the fastest growing
population. The ELL population
has grown 60% in last decade.
What do we know
about ELLs? ● 70% speak Spanish however,
ELLs speak over 150 languages

● 60% live in poverty and have

parents with limited education

(Breiseth 2020)
Let’s explore Picture Word
Inductive Model (PWIM)
What is PWIM?
● Instructional strategy that can be
used in any grade or content level
● Involves reading, writing,
speaking, and listening
● Helps students access prior
knowledge
● Builds background knowledge and
vocabulary
● Gets students engaged in their
learning
 ● Calhoun et al. found students who engaged with
PWIM on a daily basis showed significant gains in
vocabulary, reading skills, and reading
comprehension. In fact, they found that students
gains were twice the gain of average students for a
What does the research year.

say about PWIM?

● Ermita et al. found students who used PWIM
improved their writing structure, grammar, and
mechanics. They also noted students increased
positivity and engagement.

● Swartzendruber found there were no differences on

vocabulary post tests between ELLs and English
speaking students which suggests PWIM
scaffolding and explicit connections to concepts and
words appears to be beneficial to all students.
PWIM in action
A sample lesson plan can also be found here:

https://juliacohen.weebly.com/picture-word-
inductive-model-pwim.html

For this activity you will...
Step One
“Shake Out” the words for your picture
with your group. (draw lines and labels)
If you finish early, your
group can work on writing
sentences with cloze options
using the vocabulary from
your labels.

Step Two
Think of ways to categorize your words
and then write them in columns based on
your categories.

Step Three
Write a paragraph using some of the
vocabulary labels.
Stretch Break!
Let’s take 5 minutes to stretch
Now let’s explore
pictures with
Bloom’s Taxonomy
to reach ELLs
What is Bloom’s Taxonomy and why is important for ELLs?

● Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework that

classifies levels of cognition (McMillan)
● Jessica Loose states “We need to ‘teach
to the highest and scaffold the lowest’
students of all ages and levels of
English proficiency.”
● We often ask “Why” to have students
explain their thinking but “why” is the
trickiest for ELLs. Bloom’s can help
build student’s cognitive skills while
also improving their language.
How to use Bloom’s Taxonomy in the Classroom
❖ Display Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel and
model what each means in the context of a
lesson.
❖ While teaching get in the habit of
explaining which component of Bloom’s
they are doing.
❖ Use pictures and model asking questions
for each category.
❖ Once students have a deeper understanding
of Bloom’s. You can display a picture and
have the students work together to come up
with their own questions for each category.
 ❏ Remember: recognizing and recalling facts.

Bloom’s Taxonomy in action Simple statements such as “I say dog. You say
dog.” help students remember and recognize
the image.
❏ Understand: understanding what the facts
mean. They can answer questions that test
their ability to understand the dog, such as
describing the color and number of ears it has.
❏ Apply: applying the facts, rules, concepts, and
ideas. Apply what they know about the dog to
ask what sound it makes. This usually makes
them laugh as they bark like a dog!
❏ Analyze: breaking down information into parts.
You can have students analyze what they know
by asking which animal is bigger: a dog or a
bird.
❏ Evaluate: judging the value of information or
ideas. If you continue to evaluate and ask them
if they like dogs, they may answer that with
ease
❏ Create: combining parts to make a new whole.
If they would like to create, they could create a
new dog.
Your turn to practice
Summary
● Photographs/Pictures are a great way to support our ELLs.
● The Picture Inductive Model and Bloom’s Taxonomy can be
implemented across grade levels and content areas to provide
ELLs with visuals that support their language development
through listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
● PWIM allows ELLs to access prior knowledge and build
background knowledge which helps them strengthen reading
skills and cognitive skills.
● Bloom’s Taxonomy encourages critical thinking to improve
student’s cognition, while also learning English academic
language.
Connect to your own life:
What’s something interesting What is one topic, lesson, or unit
you learned today? where you can implement one of
these strategies?
Before you go please circle how you are feeling about
implementing the new strategies we practiced today:
Don’t forget your double-sided
handout!
 References
Breiseth, L. (2020, March 5). What You Need to Know About ELLs: Fast Facts. Colorín Colorado.
https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/what-you-need-know-about-ells-fast-fact s
Calhoun, E., Poirier, T., Simon, N., & Mueller, L. (2001, April 10-14). Teacher (and district) research: Three inquiries into the picture
word inductive model. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA.
Ermita, M., Emzir, E., & Lustyantie, N. (2019). Picture Word Inductive Model For Better Descriptive Text Writing. Indonesian EFL Journal.
5. 73.10.25134/ieflj.v5i2.1736.
Loose, J. (2021). Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. More Than English: Teaching Language & Content to ELLs.
https://morethanenglish.edublogs.org/for-teachers/blooms-revised-taxonomy/
McMillan, S. (2018, May 8). What is Bloom’s Taxonomy and How It Applies To Online ESL.AL07 Love To Learn.
https://blog.alo7.com/blooms-taxonomy-applies-online-esl/
Swartzendruber, K. (2007, May). The Picture Word Induction Model and Vocabulary Acquisition. Department of Curriculum and
Instruction at Wichita State University.
https://soar.wichita.edu/bitstream/handle/10057/1178/t07054.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y
(Breiseth 2020)(Breiseth 2020)