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Language-centered Teaching

Handbook

October 23, 2023

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Power check

February 25, 2012

Lately, statements like this are standing out to me: Allow students to respond. Model the activity before allowing students to try on their own. I'm pretty sure I was the first to use allow ... But, do I really want us to reinforce the idea that students must be given permission to participate/engage in their own learning? Would people notice if I snuck in statements like: Teach and model until students allow you to stop. Give examples until students assure you that you have taught them well enough. In very subtle ways, diction can reinforce messages about who is in charge in the classroom. This is where my mind goes when I'm trying to do a "quick" review...

Purpose of paragraphing

February 27, 2012

I was just thinking about how one of the most powerful learning experiences I had in my career as a teacher was being involved in K-12 writing reviews. We gathered writing samples from across schools and grades all written to the same topic and looked for trends. That's how I saw that ELs tended to write pages and pages of strings of sentences. They didn't know how to group like ideas together to avoid redundancy and develop an argument. And this is how I started to think I needed to come up with an analogy for organizing info into paragraphs. You have to organize details into paragraphs just like you organize your clothes into drawers. Ali is helping me think it through and get it right. Katja thinks it will work.