A Sheltered Lesson...

I had the opportunity to watch Ms. Krauss deliver a sheltered lesson to what looked to be middle school students. The class was ranged from intermediate to advanced readers who read on a 5th to 6th grade level. This video was demonstrating how to make reading material "comprehensible" to ELL students so they were able understand the themes in a challenging text.

In watching the video and learning about what it means to construct a comprehensible lesson for ELL students, I was truly inspired and renewed. I had always been told that in order to help readers understand more difficult material, I needed to find lower level texts about the same topic so they could still understand and follow along with the rest of the class. Now that I teach middle school, I don't want to do that; students' self-esteem and self-worth is very fragile and they don't want to stand out academically from their peers too much. This video provided many concrete techniques that I am able to transfer to my classroom right away and gives me encouragement to teach ELL students in a strong way.

Classroom Environment:

Students sat in a "U" around the room. Everyone was able to see each other during discussion. The room was bright and inviting. Students had a lot of room to read and work alone or in a group if necessary.

Teacher Techniques:

Ms. Krauss was using the book Esperanza Rising to teach inferring to her students. The reading lesson was divided into 3 parts: Pre-reading, During-Reading, and Post-reading activities. Ms. Krauss began the lesson by setting a clear outline for what students were going to learn for the day. She read the objectives and expectations to students as well as had the information posted on the board for students to see. Students were focusing on inferring while reading a text. She had a list of materials and an agenda by which students would be able to follow the course of the lesson. She began by pre-viewing vocabulary, asking students about their background knowledge, and showed pictures to reinforce the words students would be encountering in the story. She even picked out the word "bouquet" and took time to discuss how it is a word that does not look the way it sounds.

During the reading, Ms. Krauss read to the students and reminded them of some reading strategies they needed as they were reading the story together. She read slowly, clearly, and loud enough for all students to hear. She stopped often and showed a page on the overhead to discuss parts of the book and reinforce the vocabulary discussed prior to the reading of the story.

After reading, Ms. Krauss gave students clear instructions about how they were to work independently. She again reminded them of their reading strategies and what she wanted students to find and record on their sticky notes as they read through the text. She set up clear expectations for students throughout the lesson.

Student Participation:

Students were engaged with Ms. Krauss during the entire lesson. They knew what was expected of them and knew what they needed to know and be able to do by the end of the lesson. When asked questions, students participated and were able to relate to the characters and the themes of the story. At one point, Ms. Krauss asked students about the "birthday song" in Spanish. Students said they were familiar with the song and one attempted to sing part of the song for the class. This was a great way for students to connect personally to the text. When asked about vocabulary, students were able to create synonyms for more complex terms used in the text. When students were confused about a saying in the book, 'put the harvest to bed", students spoke up. The teacher reminded them of strategies and they work to apply them as they were reading the text. At the end of the lesson, student knew they were to write connections, visualization, and background knowledge information on their sticky note so they could engage with Esperanza Rising. Students were using complex texts, but were also given the necessary tools with which to engage in it successfully.

I loved Ms. Krauss' class and how alive her students were in her lesson. I am excited to try some of the techniques in my class today!