Supporting K 12 English Language Learners In Science

The contribution of this book is to synthesize important common themes and highlight the unique features, findings, and lessons learned from three systematic, ongoing research and professional learning projects for supporting English learners in science. Each project, based in a different region of the U.S. and focused on different age ranges and target populations, actively grapples with the linguistic implications of the three-dimensional learning required by the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. Each chapter provides research-based recommendations for improving the teaching of science to English learners. Offering insights into teacher professional learning as well as strategies for measuring and monitoring how well English learners are learning science and language, this book tells a compelling and inclusive story of the challenges and the opportunities of teaching science to English learners.

This edited collection explores how science can be taught to English language learners (ELLs) in 21st century classrooms. The authors focus on the ways in which pre-service and in-service science teachers have developed—or may develop—instructional effectiveness for working with ELLs in the secondary classroom. Chapter topics are grounded in both research and practice, addressing a range of timely topics including the current state of ELL education in the secondary science classroom, approaches to leveraging the talents and strengths of bilingual students in heterogeneous classrooms, best practices in teaching science to multilingual students, and ways to infuse the secondary science teacher preparation curriculum with ELL pedagogy. This book will appeal to an audience beyond secondary content area teachers and teacher educators to all teachers of ELLs, teacher educators and researchers of language acquisition more broadly.

The best science teachers don't just get up in front of the class and start talking. They draw from a plan'a rationale'a purpose. This book helps you create and implement a detailed, research-based teaching rationale that works even with students of varied needs in less-than-ideal facilities. The key is a method that this book's authors and their colleagues have used to help more than 3,000 preservice and inservice science teachers achieve improved results in their classrooms. Teaching with Purpose provides a framework for coordinating your unique students and school with your desired educational outcomes and the education research literature. You can use this framework in several aspects of teaching: for planning lessons and units, selecting activities and curriculum, and analyzing your role as teacher. All this is explained within the book's easy-to-grasp structure. It covers the case for a research-based teaching rationale, the elements of such a rationale, how to develop and implement it, and then how to become a mentor to others. Throughout the text, more than a dozen elementary, middle, and high school science teachers comment on how developing a research-based rationale has made them better educators. The book's combination of theory and practice, instruction and inspiration, makes it ideal for planning personal development and for use at teacher workshops.

Books in the Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) across the Curriculum Series are written specifically for pre- and in- service teachers who may not have been trained in ELL techniques, but still find themselves facing the realities and challenges of today's diverse classrooms and learners. Each book provides simple and straightforward advice on how to teach ELLs through a given subject area, and how to teach content to ELLs who are at different levels of English language proficiency than the rest of their class. Authored by both language and content area specialists, each volume arms readers with practical, teacher-friendly strategies, and subject-specific techniques. Teaching Science to English Language Learners offers science teachers and teacher educators a straightforward approach for engaging ELLs learning science, offering examples of easy ways to adapt existing lesson plans to be more inclusive. The practical, teacher-friendly strategies and techniques included here are proven effective with ELLs, and many are also effective with all students. The book provides context-specific strategies for the full range of the secondary sciences curriculum, including physical science, life science, earth and space science, science as inquiry, and history and nature of science and more. A fully annotated list of web and print resources completes the book, making this a one volume reference to help science teachers meet the challenges of including all learners in effective instruction. Special features: practical examples of science exercises make applying theory to practice simple when teaching science to ELLs an overview of the National Science Education Standards offers useful guidelines for effective instructional and assessment practices for ELLs in secondary grades graphs, tables, and illustrations provide additional access points to the text in clear, meaningful ways.

Highlight the assets of English Learners in your classroom Students do better in school when their voices are heard. For English Learners, that means not only supporting their growing language proficiency, but also empowering them to share their linguistic and cultural identities. This practical guide, grounded in compelling research and organized around essential questions and answers, is designed to help all educators build on their current competencies to authentically harmonize home languages and cultures in the classroom. Inside you’ll find • The emotional, social, linguistic, cognitive, and academic rationale for incorporating cultural and linguistic assets • Creatively illustrated powerful practices with concrete examples of successful implementation • Myth-busting reflections to spark critical thinking about diversity, inclusive education, and family engagement • Curriculum connections tied to American and Canadian standards By recognizing and validating every student’s linguistic and cultural assets, you create a supportive environment for academic success.

Use this six-part strategy for measurable, cross-curricular EL achievement! Expert research, instructive tables and templates, essays, and real-life stories illuminate best practices for cross-curricular, standards-based instruction that gets results. Using the authors’ six-part ENGAGE Model, you’ll learn to: Establish a shared vision for serving ELs Name the expertise to utilize within collaborative teams Gather and analyze EL-specific data Align standards-based assessments and grading to ELs’ linguistic and content development Ground standards-based instruction in both content and language development Examine results to inform next steps Use this groundbreaking guide for measurable EL progress!

Though its primary goal is to serve as an introduction to the research on this important subject, Teaching Science to English Language Learners combines that research with classroom case studies and the perspectives of master teachers. Further, chapter authors strive to support your efforts to use diversity as a resource--rather than as an obstacle--in the science classroom.