Diverse Literary Resources

You can see more videos here: http://wordpress.oise.utoronto.ca/diversityinteaching/esl-infusion/websites-additional-resources/

To have an engaging and interesting learning environment for students, they must also have a variety of resources to choose from! Students come from every corner of the world and we need to not only represent their culture and background in our classroom library but also as many others' as possible.

Don't know where to start? Have a look through other teachers' classrooms and pick up ideas of what they do and use. Take a professional development course and have open dialogue with fellow professionals about diverse resources. Finally, there is always Google! Imagine teaching before it!

Have a Diversity Celebration! Have students dress up in their traditional culture's clothing, invite parents to give talks about their heritage and have a potluck to celebrate all the different cuisines of the classroom.

Diversity Resources for Classroom Teachers

This is a series of soft cover booklets that examine different countries here:

http://wordpress.oise.utoronto.ca/diversityinteaching/files/downloads/2012/12/Book-Rainbow-Project-Books.pdf

Aboriginal resources: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1302868012055/1302868605384

Using Your Memory!  Grades K – 3 (Can be adapted upon needs of the class)

Traditionally First Nations, Métis and Inuit stories were told orally (out loud), and passed from person to person - it was very important to remember them because there was no alphabet to write things down.

Listen to the following stories here:

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1302868012055/1302868605384

• The Granddaughter who was Eaten by a Big Fish, a Cree story
• The Lily Root, an Ojibway story
• Crow and Little Bear, a Coast Salish story

Let's test your memory: answer the following questions the best you can from what you remember. Answer the same questions for each story.

What was the story called? What culture was it from?

Who were the people and animals in the story?

Why is this story important? (Did it teach a lesson? Did it explain how something was made or born? Did it give helpful advice? Did it teach important spiritual beliefs?)

The above activity is excellent for oral language and getting students discussing the importance of Aboriginal stories. 

Other Choices (fit in differentiated instruction) Act out a story, write a poem or song, or create a poster that illustrates the story! 

Activities That Foster Critical Thinking About Diversity

Awareness Activities http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/activityarch.html With readings, quizzes, facts sheets, databases of relevant movies, and activities, this site provides educators with tools to foster dialogue among their students.

Lesson Plans for Teaching Tolerance http://www.ccsf.edu/Resources/Tolerance/ 

This website provides many resources for teaching about tolerance. 

Differentiated Instruction: All students can learn provided the tools and opportunities

There are so many great resources on differentiation just like the video above!

What is Differentiation?

 

• Provides a variety of ways for students to feel successful, challenged and self-affirmed
• Meets the needs of individual students as each student is not the same. Every student has a strength or something they bring to the table that we can build upon
• It provides times for students to consolidate their thinking
• Helps students reach their full potential
• Celebrates the uniqueness of each student
• Improved self-esteem and confidence leads to fewer classroom management problemsd
• Creates an inclusive learning environment

Source: http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/march29.shtml

Obviously the above cartoon is not a snap shot of differentiation and treating students equitably, but treating them equally, which does not set everyone up for success. See below!

 

Multiple Intelligences

Everyone learns in a different way. Howard Garner identified these multiple intelligences above and for teachers it means to have a variety of instructional methods in order to meet the needs of all students we serve.

How can teachers provide differentiated instruction in the classroom?

• Use technology, visuals, art and drama to support and enhance learning
• Offer a variety of choices to meet the learning styles, needs and interests of students
• Allow extra time and practice to ensure success
• Scaffold learning by providing necessary support/tiered assignments/chunking instructions
• Using graphic organizers to organize thoughts and ideas
• Explicit teaching through think alouds, modeling, practice
• Foster talking, sharing and discussion
• Provide manipulatives for our hands-on learners (and not just in math class!)
• Collaborate with parents and other professionals on your team to create the best plan of action for your students

Have a purpose for teaching literacy and ask the following questions:

Why? How? What?

Why do we want kids to know these things? (content)

How do we want them engaged or using strategies?  (process)

What ways can a student show what they have learned? (product)

English Language Learners

“Learning a new language is a lot like learning to play an unfamiliar sport or musical instrument. Time, practice, making and learning from one’s errors, and a keen desire to succeed, are all part of becoming proficient in an additional language.” Supporting English Language Learners pg. 49 
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/esleldprograms/guide.pdf

Three Ways to Help English Language Learners

1. The teacher’s role. Once again differentiation and adaption is very important here. Teachers need to modify some or all of the subject expectations, use a variety of strategies (I find visual cues, bilingual dictionaries, matching new words to pictures, songs, role play, rhymes, group work, having a stronger student sit next to a lower ability student, and use of the first language work well) and make assessment accommodations (granting of extra time, oral interviews, demonstrations or visual representations). I found especially in assessments or everyday tasks when the instructions were heavy in English, it was easier to have students show me what they could as opposed to have them muddle through, get frustrated and then give up.

2. The student’s role. Understanding that each student enters the classroom with a lot of experiences and knowledge is very important! They may be better traveled than you, have gone through war and displacement, or have been through a world disaster and lost their home or friends/family (tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.) It’s important to get to know your students and their families. Every year at the beginning I like to have a family morning, where I invite children and their families to have tea and bring in some food of their culture. Not only does it help me get to know them and make them feel included and safe, it allows parents to connect with other parents in the class and make a support group.

3. The role of the class. Teach and discuss with your students how to respect students of different cultures and celebrate diversity. Remember: The students in your class can be a big help in aiding English Language Learners!

- Explain to all students at the beginning of the year that your classroom is a language classroom as well as a place for learning the curriculum.

- Suggest ways students can help English language learners, and model these forms of assistance in your own interactions with newcomers.

- Communicate positive attitudes about language learning. Point out students, teachers, other staff members, and graduates who have succeeded in learning English, and hold them up to students as role models. Reinforce the benefits of being able to speak more than one language.

- Communicate positive attitudes towards newcomers and their cultures. Help all students understand the benefits of diversity and of broadening their horizons through learning about other parts of the world.  

- Assign buddies, mentors, and peers to support and encourage class participation.

-Seat students where they can hear and see well, and near classmates who will provide support and   language modelling.

Many Roots, Many Voices. Pg. 21 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/

What else can teachers do?

• modify some or all of the subject expectations so that they are challenging but attainable 
• use a variety of instructional strategies (e.g., extensive use of visual cues, graphic organizers, scaffolding; previewing of textbooks, pre-teaching of key vocabulary; peer tutoring); 
• Use student's first language
• Use a variety of learning resources (e.g., visual material, simplified text, bilingual dictionaries, and materials that reflect cultural diversity); 
• Create assessment accommodations (e.g., granting of extra time, oral interviews, demonstrations or visual representations, tasks requiring completion of graphic organizers or cloze sentences instead of essay questions and other assessment tasks that depend heavily on proficiency in English).

Make your classroom inviting and welcoming!

-Provide key visuals to support themes, and to help bring language to life (e.g., from magazines, newspapers, posters, flyers, the Internet).

- Label the objects in the classroom environment in English and in the students’ first languages.

- Post timetables where students can refer to them.

-Create a word wall (with first language translations) with pictures to introduce and reinforce unit-specific vocabulary, and teach students how to use it as a tool to increase understanding

Finally...Positive Reinforcement goes a 

long way!

Boys' Literacy

Did you know?

• Boys typically score lower than girls on standardized tests in the language arts.
• Boys are more likely than girls to be placed in special education programs.
• Boys are less likely than girls to go to university.
• Dropout rates are higher for boys than for girls.

Source: Me Read? No Way! A practical guide to improving boys’ literacy skills. Ontario Education. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/brochure/meread/meread.pdf

Why? (Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p. 10)

• Boys take longer to learn to read than girls do.

• Boys read less than girls.

• Boys tend to be better at information retrieval and work-related literacy tasks than girls are.

Disclaimer: Of course this is not true for all boys!

Boys like to read:

• books that reflect their image of themselves – what they aspire to be and to do;

• books that make them laugh and that appeal to their sense of mischief;

• fiction, but preferably fiction that focuses on action more than on emotions;

• books in series, such as the Harry Potter series, which seem to provide boys with a sense of comfort and familiarity;

• science fiction or fantasy (many boys are passionate about these genres);

• newspapers, magazines, comic books, baseball cards, and instruction

manuals – materials that are often not available in the classroom.

Interestingly, when they read these materials, many boys do not consider themselves to be reading at all, precisely because these materials are not valued at school.

(Moloney, 2002)

Give them what they want!

A great classroom library that appeals to both boys and girls includes:
-Allow students choice in their reading

• both fiction and non-fiction

• non-print resources, such as CD-ROMs

• texts representing a wide range of formats and genres

• popular as well as “traditional” materials

• lots of easy-to-read books, graphic novels to build fluency and to provide enjoyment

Teach explicitly and model!

•Make sure students understand what they are reading, ask questions and re-read as required
• Activate prior knowledge and connect to the real world
• Have students ask questions about the text!
• Model strategies by thinking aloud as you read
• Draw inferences from a text and provide opportunities for students to talk about it!
• Create a mental picture of plot lines, main and supporting ideas in a text, or relationships between characters and events

Introduce Positive Male Role Models in Your Classroom

Boys are used to having female teachers for the most part, and it's usually mom who helps with homework and reading at home. So bring in some positive men in the classroom to show that reading is fun! Contact men in the community (local sports teams, firemen, policemen and even the dads of students in your class) and invite them into the classroom to participate in a read aloud!

Offer Choices and Make it Fun!

Role play: Students take on the roles of characters   in a text.

Dramatic play: Students use a  part from text for     creating their own story or drama. 

Newscast: Students produce a news broadcast based on characters and events 

in a text.

Don't forget technology! Boys loves iPads and can use iMovie to act out a favourite scene, use Bitstrips to make a comic strip or Garage Band to make a song or rap!

Guys Read

“Guys Read” is the name of an innovative website (http://guysread.com/) developed by

author Jon Scieszka (2003, p. 17) to put young male readers in touch with appropriate reading materials and a community of like-minded readers.

Scieszka asks, “So how do we start motivating our boys to read? One obvious solution is to

get more men involved in teaching, more fathers actively reading with their boys, and adult men generally showing boys that reading is a male activity.”






Don't Forget About Parents!
Foster the involvement of parents as partners at home and in school.
➔ Encourage members of the community to get involved
at the school.
➔ Provide resources for parents, such as parent–child reading kits and information sessions on how to
support their children’s literacy learning.
➔ Create opportunities for two-way communication with parents.

Source: Me Read and How? Ontario teachers report on how to improve boys’ literacy skills
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/meread_andhow.pdf

The inspiration behind the title of this blog