3 States of Matter English Language Acquisition Support

This year I've been working to support secondary students with their English language acquisition. In addition to teaching MYP Language Acquisition content/course to my EAL students (Gr. 6, 8, 9), another part of the role is to co-teach and push into content courses (math, science) helping to modify and/or differentiate work for students with high English-language needs.

In my EAL 6th graders science classes, they have been learning about the 3 states of matter, for many of my students with EAL needs the science vocabulary and content can be quite difficult for them to grasp. The science teacher had created this Google Doc and this Google Doc work for 6th graders to learn about the 3 states of matter:

This would have been too difficult for some of my students with EAL needs so a week before their science class, I worked on supporting their overall background knowledge on the topic.

6 groups of 2 students were sorted/jig-sawed into three topics: solid, liquid, gas:

Solids had 2 groups of 2 students
Liquids had 2 groups of 2 students
Gases had 2 groups of 2 students

SORTING WORK

I try and create as much tactile, sorting work as I can. From my Montessori training, I have really learned the importance of kinesthetic/tactile learning enabling students to be more active in their learning. Rather than lecturing or having students passively read by themselves and regurgitate it in the form of notes, I find the group collaboration, having to move and sort has helped my learners with EAL needs understand the work more deeply.

Each group was given an envelope of cut up sentences for them to sort and put in order. These were the sentences that were used for the Solids group:

As you can see, the different background colors were used to separate the different paragraphs - 3 paragraphs in total.

So every group was given 1 envelope containing a paragraph of cut up sentences for either solids, gases, or liquids. By giving my students 1 envelope at a time, it kind of gamified the activity where they had to work together to sort the sentences correctly, then when they were done they had to call me over to check if it was correct; if it wasn't correct they continued sorting. When they passed my checking, only then did I given them the 2nd envelope containing the next paragraph of cut up sentences. This continued with every group sorting, having to read the sentences and determine the order of the sentences until it made sense.

When all 3 paragraphs were sorted correctly, each group member received the handout with all the sentences/paragraphs on it:

Each student was then tasked with:

1. Sketch noting/mind mapping for 10 minutes
2. Write 3-5 bullet points of "important" notes to them about the topic; keep it short. 

JIGSAW

Students were jigsaw sorted so that each group had a member from the solids, liquids, and gases.

I gave students time to share their mind mapping/sketch notes and their 3-5 important bullet points of notes.

Then we IRON CHEFed the learning.

EDUPROTOCOL - IRON CHEF

I have been reading the book, The Eduprotocol Field Guide: 16 Student-Centered Lesson Frames for Infinite Learning Possibilities, which is available on Kindle and tasked my students with an "Iron Chef" protocol.

Here's an excerpt from the book explaining what the Iron Chef protocol is:
"As in the TV show, The Iron Chef, this activity is structured to allow students to complete a task using limited resources and limited time. The teacher prepares a slide deck, to be shared among a group of four students, with links to content resources. The students research the content using the provided links and use the newly gained information to complete building out the slides...Time is of the essence in this activity. The time limit is what presents a challenge to the students and adds to the game structure of this activity."

As suggested by the book, students should be limited to a 10-minute build time, however with my EAL students I gave them 20-minutes to allow for extended time to read/process the information.

Here's the IRON CHEF slide presentation that each group worked on. Instead, of having the "solid" assigned student work on the "solid" slide I had each choose another state of matter to do additional research on another state of matter, rather than regurgitating what they had already noted/sketched/shared.




After 20 minutes, each group presented their learning.

I then had each student fill in the following question sheet to additionally assess their understanding of the information:

Representing Math Thinking

Our Statement of Inquiry:
There are many relationships and shared characteristics between systems in the world.

Groups have been tasked to work on several challenging open ended investigations with their team. The main purpose was to introduce some of the big concepts of this math course, such as organizing data and using mathematical reasoning to make predictions.

We are continuing to investigate multiple ways to represent (or show) mathematical ideas.

I love seeing the different ways that students have been representing their ideas using numbers, symbols, diagrams, words, and various kinds of tables.

Student-Created Inquiry Questions:

• What does this tell me? 
• How is this changing?

Notice and Wonderings as a First Day of School Activity

Mindfulness

I like to start class with mindfulness because my sixth graders are transitioning into class at different times.

The classroom lights are turned off, music is playing, there is either the agenda on the board, or a "See, Think, Wonder". Once I notice most of my students have arrived to class, I will start them off doing breathing exercises, or guide them through a positive meditation.

Luckily I'm at a school that has implemented mindfulness from kindergarten to high-school so most of my students have already had experience with mindfulness.

Mindfulness will usually last 5-10 minutes depending on what's on for the day.

Notice and Wonderings

I will often have a math-related image as a "See, Think, Wonder" or "Notice and Wonder" allowing students to use the initial mindfulness time to make observations.

After mindfulness, I posed the following questions to the group:

What did we notice and wonder about this image?"

Here were some of the students' responses:

• I noticed that the numbers are increasing clockwise.
• I noticed that there are multiples of 3 happening.
• I noticed that there are prime numbers.
• I noticed that some numbers have the digit of 3.

As a first day of school activity, I had the following images printed on A3 paper with the following questions:

• What do we notice and wonder about these pictures?
• Which picture best represents how you are feeling right now?
• How you feel about math?

I placed one image on each group's table and had students rotate through writing their thoughts underneath the picture.

Some of their thoughts included:

• Math is complicated like the school of fish.
• Math is tiring.
• Math is an endless journey.
• I am like the young plant. My math knowledge is growing.
• Math is something we need to strive towards and practice.
• Math is like a tornado. It is very confusing.

Get Ready, Get Set, Go Create

Central Idea: We all have a story to tell and can choose how to share it.

What happens when you give second graders the following provocation:

• 5 minutes to think of:
  
  • A favorite moment or important event that has happened in their life
  • A memory you’ll never forget 
  • A story that had strong feelings and emotions
• 5 minutes to think of how you will choose to tell it
• 20 minutes to create a story
• 5 minutes to reflect

You get...

Students Engaged in the Creative Process

Here students are preparing their stories:

Students then shared their stories with each other. We filmed each story so that students could reflect on the process and review it later. 

Students reflected on their own stories.

The next day students rotated through and viewed each other's videos. They gave feedback on one thing they liked and one thing that they thought needed improving. 

We then looked at each others reflections before we discussed the next steps that needed to be taken when we share our next story.

Investigating, "Do Taller People Jump Further Than Shorter People?"

My Grade 2 students investigated and responded to an open-ended problem: "Do Taller People Jump Further Than Shorter People?" 

This activity gave students the opportunity to use mathematics through the lens of the scientific process. 

Question
Students were posed the following question:

Hypothesis

Using a visible thinking routine, students were asked to think of "tugs", or reasons why they support a certain side of the question. 

Hypothesis ranged from a strong yes, to a no, and even yes and no:

• Yes, taller people jump further I think because they have longer legs. -Izzy
• Yes, taller people are probably a bit stronger so they can probably jump further. - William
• It is a no and yes, because I think it depends on how strong you are and how heavy you are. I'll need to find out more before I can say yes or no. - Tony
• No, because the taller people are heavier so they drop faster so they can't jump as far. - TJ
• No, because taller people are heavier than shorter people so they won't be able to jump as far. - Aqif

Learner Profiles

As a class we discussed what Learner Profiles we should all be mindful of for a successful investigation:

• Principled - We need to be principled because if we make a jump of 120 cm, we can't say we jumped 150 cm even though no one is looking. - Dan
• Caring - We shouldn't get mad if we don't get the best jump. We should be caring to others and tell them they did a good job because they tried their best. - Kris
• Thinker - We will need to be thinkers to know how to use the measuring tape and rulers. - Ben
• Inquirer - We will need to ask questions and think for ourselves. - Theresa
• Risk-Taker - You can't be worried about making the best jump and just try your best to jump. - Antonina

Is it Fair? Experiment

Students were asked, "What would we need to follow to make sure our investigation is fair?"

• When you jump, you should measure where the top of your toe lands, not where your hand falls, or the back of your foot. - Paula
• You need to measure from zero when you use the measuring tape. - Jung Seo
• You need to stand behind the black line, not on the black line or on top of it. - James
• You shouldn't run and jump. You need to just stand and jump. - Minh Anh
• We need to take turns so we don't jump into people's area and ruin their jumps. - An Dan

Conducted an Experiment

Our mathematical focus was:

• Compare, order, and describe objects by various measurable attributes for length
• Select and use appropriate tools and units to measure length

Students carried out tests by jumping and measured the length of their jump using centimeter/meter rulers.

Analyzed the Results & Made a Conclusion

Students shared their results and some changed their position on the "Yes" and "No" continuum of our original hypothesis.

• No, Dong Jae is shorter than Nhat Anh, but he jumped further. Paula is very tall, but she made the smallest jump.
• Yes and no because Dong Jae is shorter than Nhat Anh, but if Dong Jae was gone then you can see Nhat Anh jumped further than Aqif and Dan jumped further than Minh Anh and they are both taller. There is a pattern that answers yes, but there are also patterns that answer no.

As a class we brainstormed other questions we could investigate. Students then worked in groups to come up with their own mathematical experiment. 

Math is Everywhere...Even in Stories

My students were posed the following statement:

Math is Everywhere...Even in Stories. Do you agree or disagree? Find Evidence.

See, Think, and Wonder

We watched the story, "Moira's Birthday" by Robert Munsch and students were asked to "see, think, and wonder" if math was present in the story. 

Investigate

Through the use of a story, students were provided a context to solve an open-ended question.

In groups, they worked together to investigate and show evidence of their thinking.

Marketplace Cooperative Sharing Strategy

Taking turns, half of the group "Marketplaced" their knowledge by presenting the strategies they used to solve the problem, while the other half reflected and provided comments on the groups' use of their strategies. 

What's the Big Idea?

Our Big Idea in Math

"Decimals, fractions, and percentages can be represented in a number of ways that have the same value."

Investigate

Second graders investigated this question:

Prove It & Show Evidence

The Pursuit of Curiosity

With Einstein's advice in mind, we thought about how we could use our students' interests and curiosities to initiate learning.

It all started with getting our students to ask questions and to get used to the idea of catching and jotting down any thoughts they had in their mini notebooks or on a Post-it:

We began the conversation with our students by showing curiosity-boosting videos, such as Caine's Arcade and asking:

• What do you want to learn more about?
• What makes you curious?

Students had to think about things they were really into and start a "Heart Map" of passions to explore. 

Then they made a plan on how to gather more information based around their curiosities and passions. A structure was provided to help guide them in their inquiries, but they ultimately decided what questions or passions to explore, and will eventually determine how to share what they have learned.

During this process, students:

• Worked on their research skills
• Browsed the library shelves and learned to use the Dewey Decimal system to gather books about their passion
• Read nonfiction text and used web resources and videos to further their knowledge
• Developed more questions as their inquiry progressed
• Worked on "cave boy/girl" note taking skills by writing down notes in their notebooks

Here's a sampling of student curiosities: 

• Izzy and Theresa have hooked onto the topic of salons and hair dressing, specifically exploring a variety of hairstyles and how to recreate them. 
• Paula's interested in learning more about why people start wars. She's inquiring into World War II. 
• Dan was really motivated after watching, "Caine's Arcade," he's decided to look into the many uses of cardboard and is researching ideas on what to make with cardboard. 
• Amanda's into art and crafts, so she's checked out books about crafting and is now working on a project to do with photo frames and flowers.
• From our last unit, we looked at how the Egyptians used obelisk to measure time. Minh Thu was really excited to further her curiosity of Egypt. With Ms. Sophie, the librarian's help, she was able to find a second-grade friendly book on Egypt. 

Our next steps will probably include:

• Having students share through a curiosity gallery. 
• Improve self-motivation for learning by incorporating curiosity-driven learning into their homework