Math for ELLs

1. Math for ELLs Sonia Dominguez District Mathematics Coordinator November 4, 2010

2. Objectives • Explore the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) and apply them to teaching mathematics • Examine mathematics teaching and learning • Analyze the role of language in teaching mathematics

3. What can we do to teach MATHEMATICS to ALL students?

4. Access Prior Knowledge • One major challenge facing English learners is… • One major challenge we face as teachers of English learners is…

5. English Language Learners • English language learners (ELL) face the daunting task of being responsible for making progress in content area classes while simultaneously learning academic English, an abstract, complex form of English specific to content area subjects.

6. English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) Statutory Requirement 19 Texas Administrative Code §74.4 Chapter 74. Curriculum Requirements Subchapter A. Required Curriculum §74.4English Language Proficiency Standards Approved November 16, 2007 These take the place of the ESL TEKS.

7. ELPS

8. ELPS Components

9. A. Introduction • ELPS part of required curriculum • ELL need to know social and academic language • Integrate second language acquisition with content area instruction for all language skills • ELL must read, write, listen and speak with increasing complexity • ELPS SEs apply K-12 • Level descriptors serve as a road map

10. B. School Districts Shall • Identify students language proficiency levels • Provide linguistically accommodated instruction in the content areas • Provide content-based instruction based on ELPS standards • Provide targeted (intensive and ongoing) language instruction for beginning and intermediate ELLs (3-12)

11. C. Cross-curricular Second Language Acquisition Essential Knowledge and Skills

12. D. Proficiency Level Descriptors

13. Designing Math Instruction Instruction that supports academic language acquisition in mathematics…

14. 3 Critical Instructional Dimensions

15. Tasks • Are complex and problematic for the learner • Involve meaningful problem solving as opposed to simple skill practice • Are linked to the students’ backgrounds and experiences • Have multiple entry points and more than one solution • Rich in opportunities for math content and language development

16. Tools • Students use tools to represent mathematical ideas and meaningful problem situations • Include concrete manipulatives, pictorial or graphical representations, graphing calculators, etc. • Students are provided with opportunities to use any tool to explain their thinking to others • Opportunity to bridge students representations with symbolic notation and vocabulary

17. Mathematics Classroom Norms • Students are making and justifying math conjectures • Students negotiate mathematical meaning by listening to one another’s thinking • Respectful, low-risk atmosphere • Student collaboration • Communication of ideas • Lesson includes language and math objectives

18. Mathematics Teaching and Learning • Classrooms must promote teaching and learning mathematics with understanding • Students must collaboratively engage in making sense of mathematics tasks in their own ways • Focus is on conceptual understanding • Students use multiple representations to make connections to symbolic notation

19. Instructional Planning with the ELPS

20. Essential Components of Instruction for ELL Success • Know students’ language proficiency levels • Plan linguistically accommodated instruction • Set language objectives • Access/build background knowledge • Use visuals and adapted materials • Explicitly teach vocabulary • Interaction strategies (so kids talk) • Assessment aligned to language proficiency levels