We just received our first reading assignment, required before the first day of class EED749. I read the first Chapter and it has a lot of general information introducing us to the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol.) The focus is English Learners - ELs. Here are a few highlights from Vogt/Short - Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners - the SIOP Model...The goal of the book is stated to "prepare teachers to teach content effectively to English learners while developing the students' language ability." English learners have some of the highest drop-out rates, and 89 percent of Hispanic students and 86 percent of African American middle and high school students read below grade level. (Page 4)
English Learners (ELs) are very diverse within themselves. The first group are those who have strong academic backgrounds before coming to the US. They primarily need English language development to solidify their content learning. The second group are those immigrants who have very limited formal schooling. They have weak literacy in their native language and are not socialized to the school environment. They are most at risk for failure. And finally the third group are students who have grown up in the US but speak a language other than English in their home-- usually 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants. On to the topic of academic literacy: there are 3 knowledge bases -- knowledge of English, knowledge of content topic and knowledge of how tasks are to be accomplished. (Page 11) What is an effective SIOP lesson? Students are engaged, interact with the teacher, with other students, with the text - which then ultimately leads to discourse and critical thinking. Student language learning is promoted through social interaction and understanding of complex concepts. More on the SIOP after our discussion in class.
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