Making tasks easier (or harder) with ‘access to input’

I often attempt to stem any ‘this activity or technique won’t work in my classroom’ talk by having teachers come up with ways to adjust activities so they can use them in their own classrooms. This week, during many of these discussion, the concept of access to input popped up on a regular basis. This is a concept, when talking the nuts and bolts of activity implementation in the classroom, that causes a bit of confusion for teachers while at the same time arousing interest. Perhaps teachers see the potential, but they are just not too familiar with how to make the best use of it.

Access to input has been labeled as a task parameter, a task feature, a main task option, and probably a myriad of other terms in training sessions, teacher offices, and conferences. However you choose to categorize access to input, it is certainly an effective tool when planning lessons as well as syllabus task progression.

Access to input (information)…

• supports task performance in a meaningful way- a focus on meaning over language.
• focuses on content that students can use. Language support is incidental.
• exists on a continuum.

I am sure you noticed the emphasis on meaning over language support. Access to input for the most part should really be about context clues or information that is pertinent to task success. That is the easy part to understand. The part that teachers often struggle with is finding ‘just the right amount’ of access that is appropriate for their students. Sadly, there is not a standardized answer to this question. Each classroom is a separate living organism. It is up to the teacher to play with the degree of access to input for specific tasks. The link below shows how access to input can be embedded into an information gap.

Access to input in an information gap

Some advice I give teachers is that when you introduce an activity (or task) for the first time, it is beneficial for everyone, teacher and students, to allow high access to input. And once students understand the task and how to complete it successfully, you can start to decrease the amount of access to input that the students have. This is a very useful tool for organizing a task-based syllabus as well. I have often recycle tasks with only small adjustments to the degree of access to input, and the students stay on task and don’t display any boredom with task repetition.

Carousel Brainstorming: Ideas from the first week of class

This week in one of my classes, we discussed engaging topical background knowledge and making the best use of that knowledge. We wanted to find ways to move beyond simple Q&A about the topic or discussions stemming from videos or picture prompts to something more creative or more active. We worked through a few activities, and they were most excited about carousel brainstorming. I thought I would share a few of their ideas about how to use all the great student-generated content from the carousel brainstorming activity.

But first, a quick description of the carousel brainstorming procedure.

Prep

Create 4 – 6 general questions that are easy to brainstorm. Write each question at the top of a piece of mill paper. Hang the mill paper on the walls around the wall. If you have a high number of students hang 2 or more sets of the mill paper on the walls.

 Procedure

1. Put the students in small groups and assign each group to one of the pieces of mill paper on the wall.
2. Give each group 30 seconds to 1 minute to brainstorm answers to the question.
3. When time is up, groups rotate to the next piece of paper.
4. Do this until each group brainstorms at each mill paper.

We used the general topic of Our School. Some of the subtopics we came up with to brainstorm about school were (but not limited to):

• What do you learn at school?
• Food at school
• What do you hear at school?
• What do you see at school?
• School activities

We came up with some really good ways to follow the carousel brainstorming activity and utilize all the great content

 Sorting the content

Students can use a t-chart or a Venn diagram to label items as either negative or positive. Then students present the results of their sorting and compare to other groups.

 Language Focus

Students simply write full sentences to answer the prompts at the top of each mill paper. They, of course, use the content they brainstormed to create full sentences.

Treasure Hunt

Students walk around the school during the next day or two and document the items they brainstormed. They use the cameras in their phones to take a picture of the item. In the next class period, students present their pictures to the class or to a small group.

Storytelling

Students choose 3 words from each mill paper and create a story in groups. They first plan their stories using a graphic organize. Then tell their story to another group.

Bingo

It’s an oldie, but great as a post-task following carousel brainstorming. Using student-generated words to fill in the bingo grids really does motivate the students.

Simple tasks using the content

Teachers thought the content from the brainstorming could be used in a variety of ways if we apply simpler types of tasks.

• Rank the five worst foods from the brainstorm.
• What three activities on the list would you never do?
• What are the five most annoying sounds at school?
• Which three things do you hear the most at school?

If you have any other suggestions, please share it here.  

Now that is one observant language learner

A: So what do you think of Oklahoma?

B: (Pause) Go Thunder!

Aside from providing those present with a few chuckles, there is something to be learned from this short exchange between an English L2 speaker (B) and an English L1 speaker (A). It got me thinking about how observant good L2 users. Drawing on what is learned through observing (in all its forms) any environment is invaluable to the L2 learner, in and out of the classroom. The L2 user above had drawn a conclusion based on her observations. She used that conclusion to create a completely original statement about Oklahoma. And she did all this without really ever watching a Thunder game!

So how can we make use of these observations in the classroom?

We have to give students the chance to engage the topic and explore what they know about it. Simple discussions do this. And many teachers make use of these discussions.

But we want to make use of the content that is produced in these discussions. So rather than moving on to a more teacher-led activity, engage the students in a structured brainstorming activity. We want to get all that background knowledge out and organized and ready to use in the main task. Structured doesn’t mean language or grammar-based. It means after the activity is finished, the content is ready for use.

Many teachers do this. Many do not.

It sounds obvious, I know.

But many teachers take it for granted or think their students are not capable of doing it. I recently got a peek at some upcoming public school English books for Korea. They tried to incorporate some of this, but still way too much teacher-centered stuff going on at the beginning of lessons.

So to all you Korea public school teachers out there, your students are much, much more observant than given credit for. Embed pre-task activities that engage senses, experiences, and knowledge. They feel they are in control and actually adding something to the lesson. Participation (and long-term motivation) will soar!

Tip: Play around with carousel brainstorming. Tons of things you can do with this!

 

Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract (C-P-A) in vocab lessons

Primarily used in math lessons, I encourage teachers to adjust Bruner’s CPA (or CRA) for reading and vocab classes.

Features

• Put the students in groups or 3 or 4. 
• Assign the same word to three different groups. Essentially 3 groups will be working on the same word, but each group will have a different objective (see below). 
• Students can use a dictionary or thesaurus.
• This is the most important aspect of the activity to me, idea sharing. In their vocab journals, I have all the students write down ideas and explanations that the other groups come up with during the activity.  Teacher will of course reinforce and correct at the end of the activity. Students also write teacher input in their journals.

Group 1 (Concrete): Create a small skit to show the meaning of the word.

Group 2 (Pictorial): Draw an illustration that explains the meaning of the word.

Group 3 (Abstract): Write the definition, synonym, and antonym of the word.

There are obviously many ways to organize the students in this situation.

• You can have all the groups work on the same words at the same time to compare and share ideas of how to explain the word. 
• The use of dictionaries and other resources is optional.
  
• Teachers will probably need to use referential and/or display questions to get the students started.
• Allow students access to the reading passage where the word appears. This provides contextual clues. This is especially useful if the word has multiple meanings.
• If the word is a cognate, group 3 should include this.

Any other creative activities for the students to do in order to reach their group’s objective (C, P, or A)?

Other ways to implement CPA

Marzano’s vocabulary process in the classroom

Thanks to Kimberly Tyson (@tysonkimberly) for reminding me of something I had planned to do but forgot about along the way somewhere.

3 Top Literacy Tools

Marzano’s 6-Step Vocabulary Process

Many language programs and books make use of the 6-step vocab learning process formally designed by Robert Marzano. Teachers in all sorts of teaching environments use the process as the backbone of vocabulary acquisition. I just wanted to share a few tools that teachers can plug into the process to make vocabulary a bit more meaningful and a bit more interactive. My ideas are in the pdf below.

Using the 6-step process in the classroom (pdf)

Using the 6-step process in the classroom (Prezi)

I am purposely leaving out step 6 in the classroom sequences found in the above two links. I have found that teachers have more trouble coming up with how to apply steps 1-5 as opposed to step 6. Most teachers have a little treasure chest of games they use. Hence, the omission of step 6. Hope it helps!

Samples for steps 1-4

How innovative are your lesson plans?

Recently I read a short article titled 7 Essential Principles of Innovative Learning written by Katrina Schwartz summarizing the research into innovative learning undertaken by the OECD. It got me thinking about ways for teachers to assess each lesson plan prior to and following classroom implementation. The 7 principles can be used to do just this for ELT lesson plans.

1. Learners-centeredness

• Is there a goal-setting activity at the beginning of the week or each day?
• Are students given the freedom to make decisions about how content will be used in tasks?
• Do students use their own linguistic resources (verbal and non-verbal) to complete tasks rather than following a prescribed dialog or substitution activity?

2. Social practices

• Are students required to work together at different points in the task?
• Does the lesson plan include a variety of interaction formats?
• Does the lesson plan include a variety of roles for the students?

3. Learner motivation

• Do task content and outcome directly relate to the students’ lives?
• Is learner progress tangible via charts, portfolios, or displays of work?
• Is time set aside to celebrate successes?

4. Background knowledge and learning preferences

• Are there activities that elicit and build on background knowledge of the topic (Using Mind Maps)?
• Are the various intelligences attended to?
• Does the lesson plan include peer-teaching and information sharing?

5. Challenging the students

• Do easier activities occur at the beginning of the lesson plan to prepare students for  more demanding tasks later?
• Are a variety of task types used in your lesson plans?
• Are the students sufficiently prepared for the task demands?

6. Assessment for learning

• Does the task sequence end with a review of the language that was produced in the main task?
• Are grammar exercises, reading activities, and listening activities assigned for homework to review and prepare for the next lesson?
• Do the students keep a journal about one new thing they learned, one new word they learned, and one question they asked during the task?

7. Cross-curricular tasks

• Are task topics taken from topics the students are learning in their math, science, and other content areas?
• Are thinking skills and 21st century skills incorporated in the task?
• Are task outcomes related to content areas and not language features?

Professional Learning Community (PLC), as easy as 1-2-3.

While Peer Assistance and Review are attracting much attention as of late in the States, ELL teachers around the world are not fortunate enough to have such luxuries. Some schools invite speakers to conduct short workshops, but these are very far and few in between. And there are a handful of teachers that attend seminars and training sessions on their own time. The majority of professional development in ELL programs happens via informal conversations with co-workers. These informal conversations can sometimes be very enlightening, but the shared information often does not make it past the two or three people involved.

Tell us about an enlightening conversation you have had with a colleague about classroom ideas.

So where does this leave us?

Advice I usually give schools that I visit or teachers I talk with is to start with the basics. Put together a very informal PLC program. Form an SIG composed of teachers that are interested in professional development. Once this is done, I have them do their first project.

Step 1

Peruse your lesson-plan database for an activity that worked really well with your students. Print out the procedure and enlarge it via the copy machine. Hang it in the ELL teachers’ office. Provide each teacher with a copy of the lesson plan as well.

* In order to meet all the different interests and lifestyles of the faculty, I would do all this on paper as well as online via emails and blogs.

Step 2

Explain to the teachers that the activity procedure will remain posted for one week. Each teacher needss to find a way to incorporate it into one of their lessons. They can adjust features of the activity in order to help it fit their own learners’ needs. After using the activity, the teachers should reflect on how it went in their classroom. You can even provide them simple prompts.

• What worked well?
• What would you change next time?
• How can you tweak it to fit other learner needs?

Step 3

Teachers share their reflections. Options include:

• Taping their reflections on the wall next to the lesson plan.
• Hang a piece of mill paper next to the lesson plan. Teachers write their thoughts on the mill paper.
• Adding to the blog.
• Simply ‘turning in’ their reflections to the Professional Learning Community SIG.
• Informal ELL teacher meeting to discuss their thoughts.

There are tons of ways to change this up to fit your own school needs as well. What do you think?

Any good PLC advice for ELL/ESL/EFL teachers? Share it here and help us all.

Same article, but done on Jux.