Dr. SanrStudent Teaching Professional DevelopmentDr. Sandra Cimbricz

The College of Brockport: Fall 2013

Overview

• Academic Language, edTPA, & You • Language & Learning: Why Important?• What is Academic Language?• How To Embed Academic Language into

Planning, Instruction, & Assessment?

Note:

This PowerPoint is meant to accompany The College At Brockport’s Interactive Guide for Academic Language.

Academic Language: The Tie That Binds

Language, Learning & School Success: Guess Who Got the Higher Grade?

M: Like, to divide em, you turn one over and times it by the first one. But ya gotta see if any numbers fit into the top and bottom to cross em out and get em smaller so you don’t get big numbers at the end. At the end you see if you can make the top and bottom as small as possible.

L: In order to divide two fractions, take the reciprocal of the second one and multiply by the first. Before multiplying, though, see if any numerators and denominators have common facts that cancel out. For example, if a nine is above and three below, divide by three and you end up with three on top and one below. Multiply the numerators across the top and the denominators across the bottom. See if the answer can be further reduced.

(Zwiers, 2008, p. 9)

Given what you just heard…

what might all this talk about academic language be about?

Turn & Talk (in hopesof finding some “clarity”)

Assessment of Academic Language: edTPA Style

• Rubric 4: Identifying & Supporting Language Demands– Focus Question: How does the candidate identify

and support the language demands associated with a key and content-based learning task?

• Rubric 14: Analyzing Students’ Language – Focus Question: How does the candidate analyze

students’ use of language to develop content-based understanding?

Whoa! Check out this Chart!

See page 3 of Brockport’s Academic Language Interactive Guide.• First Impressions: – What do you notice? – What connections can you make to what you

already know?– What do you wonder about?

Language & Learning: Why Important?

Language is a “system” of social conventions about how to make meanings that can be expressed or delivered in different ways (e.g., speech, thought, signing, writing). (p.15)

Let’s see what you can do with language: Go to the bottom of page 4 of Brockport’s Academic Language Interactive Guide. What is this passage is about?

DO TELL(this is about language after all)

Think about what you just experienced (which may have included some degree of frustration, intrigue, and/or disinterest).

Given your experience and response, what might your students do, think, or experience when they encounter language like this (even if it is their first language)? Turn & Talk

Mathematics: A Foreign Language?

Go to the bulleted list of page 5 of Brockport’s Academic Language Interactive Guide.

Do you agree? Why or why not?

Return to page 5 and read the passage taken from the CCSS for Mathematics section on Functions for Grade 8. When you finish reading, ask yourself: What might it take for a student or any student (including an English Language Learner [ELL]) to achieve this task?

They Say/I Say…Van Lier & Walqui (2012) say....Cimbricz, S. , Smith, K., Wilkens, C., & Zdanowski, D. (2013) say: • All students benefit from instruction that purposefully:• builds more extensive background knowledge; • helps them acquire and use academic language that builds

and deepens students’ disciplinary knowledge and understanding; and

• develops students’ ability to make meanings that can be expressed or delivered in different ways (e.g., speech, thought, signing, writing).

What do YOU say?

What is Academic Language?

academic language (à la edTPA):Oral and written language used for academic purposes. Academic language is the means by which students develop and express content understandings. Academic language represents the language of the discipline that students need to learn and use to participate and engage in meaningful ways in the content area. There are language demands that teachers need to consider as they plan to support student learning and content. These language demands include vocabulary, language functions, syntax, and discourse.

Go to Page 7 of Brockport’s Academic Language Interactive Guide

Step 1:1. What information is provided?2. What’s familiar?3. What ideas seem to be the most important and how are they related?4. What are you now wondering? What connections are you making that you think are important to note (and perhaps share)?

Page 7 of Brockport’s Academic Language Interactive Guide

Step 2: How does what you’ve recorded compare to what’s listed in Figure 2. Academic Language Within & Across Certification Areas?

1. What information is provided?2. What’s familiar?3. What ideas seem to be the most important and how are they related?4. What are you now wondering? What connections are you making that you think are important to note (and perhaps share)?

How To Embed Academic Language into Planning, Instruction, & Assessment

• Page 9• Page 11• Additional

Handout (Zwiers, 2008, pp. 223-225)

Academic Language?

In my diaper bag and right next to my big-boy sippy cup.