Improving ELLs’ Literacy Through Podcasts/Nonfiction Writing

Lynn Gallo

Introduction

I have always been interested in family connections, relationships, and feeling attached to roots, culture, and issues of identity. I am positive this is largely because I was adopted, and my adoptive family’s background was so different from mine. Not only did I not look like my immediate or extended family members, but my ethnicity and race were largely dissimilar so that I often felt—even though they loved and accepted me as one of them—that I did not belong. I yearned for a connection to what I did not know about myself, and also to the family I bore little resemblance to, but that I loved.

During my freshman year of college, my 20th Century American History professor assigned us a project in which we were to interview a family member of our choosing on one of two topics: The Great Depression, or the Vietnam War. I decided to select my paternal grandmother as my subject, and ask her about her experiences as a young woman, new wife, and mother who had endured the hardships and politics of The Great Depression. After thoroughly researching this historical event, I wrote a list of about twenty questions that I mailed to her. She was flattered that I was interested in her life and memories, and to be involved in this undertaking with me. When I finished the project, I copied and mailed it to my father and his brothers, who all related they had learned new and unexpected things about their parents. The one detail that really resonated with me was how my grandmother answered the question Did you consider postponing your marriage in 1936 until the economic situation improved? Her answer: No. We were in love and did not want to wait to start our life together.

For me, it was such a revelation; these old, wrinkly, grey-haired people had once been young, as full of dreams as I was. I did not think I could possibly have anything in common with my father’s elderly parents, but suddenly, I saw a connection between our generations when I had been quite certain none existed.

I also discovered how my grandparents’ extreme frugality even after the Great Depression had ended impacted my father’s ideas on finances and clipping coupons. My grandmother’s answers to my interview questions on how they had dealt with financial hardships led me to better understand why my father wanted to keep items long after they were useful or functional, and why our basement looked like a Goodwill store. These neuroses trickled down to me, and I felt like I finally comprehended my continual need to declutter and put order to my surroundings. So, in a way, it could be reasoned that my propensity for organizing items and buying Lysol took root over 80 years ago when my grandmother turned my father’s outgrown school shirts into dishtowels and insisted on keeping a soup pot with a hole in the bottom “because someone might need it.”

The goal of this unit is for students to understand their origins and those of their families, and their place and membership in their communities. Students will be recording their own interviews of family or cultural members and writing reflections about what they have learned about themselves. In doing so, it is my hope that they will learn a new literary genre, creative nonfiction, find their voices and learn to write about themselves and their backgrounds in thoughtful and perhaps humorous ways, and learn to actually enjoy the writing process and their own work.

Background

I am an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Calvin R. McCullough Middle School in New Castle, Delaware, which is in the Colonial School District. Students at McCullough come from diverse backgrounds and face many challenges in their school and home environments. McCullough is a Title 1 (Title 1, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) school—nearly 60% of its 725 students are identified as being low-income—and all students receive free breakfast and lunch. 1 Almost 8% of the student population are English Language Learners (ELLs), with Spanish being the first language of virtually all of them. In addition, over one-third of McCullough’s students are Hispanic, and a high percentage of those students are bilingual in Spanish and English.

There is a “Newcomer” ELL program for middle school students in the Colonial School District that is housed at McCullough and taught by my ESL colleagues. Students in grades 6-8 who are new immigrants or migrant students with limited English proficiency—as identified by the WIDA Screener for English proficiency2 and the HMH Reading Inventory3—are recommended to the Newcomer program at McCullough, regardless of their district feeder middle school. They are in a sheltered classroom all day for all content areas that are taught in English, and are not transitioned out into mainstream classes until their English test scores have risen, and they demonstrate the academic, social, and emotional skills that would indicate success in the general school population. I occasionally assist in the Newcomer program with one-on-one tutoring or testing students, and will work with these students regularly when they are moved into mainstream classes.

The students I consistently teach, however, are those with intermediate to high English skills who are placed in the same section of an ELA class in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Some of these students are from the Newcomer program, while others are still ELLs because they have not tested out of ESL services. This year, I am also helping some recently exited Newcomers in a section of seventh grade math, because they do not have the language proficiency to understand word problems. I usually have 10-12 ELLs in

each section of those classes, and I also service a few ELLs who are identified as Special Ed, and have been placed in a Special Ed ELA class. I typically service about 30-35 ELLs each year in grades 6-8. Because I am only at McCullough three days a week, from Monday to Wednesday, scheduling and figuring out which skills and assignments to help the students with can be tricky. It would be optimal if I had the students for the entire week and could maximize my time with them, but I am also placed at a Colonial School District elementary school on Thursday and Friday to work with ELLs in fourth and fifth grade.

The students in my classes represent many facets of the ELL population: first-generation English learners who have been in the United States for about two years; students who were born in the United States or another country speaking a language other than English and who are now bilingual; and those born in the United States into bilingual or multigenerational families. Students in the latter group may have the least exposure to their families’ native language(s) and countries, and may express that “I don’t speak a language other than English very well,” or that they have never met many of their extended family members.

Regardless of their language proficiencies or immigrant status, the majority of my students feel removed from their cultures and family histories. As Sumaryono and Ortiz note, this is often intentional because students want to integrate as much as possible into their new culture and school environments, and want to ignore what makes them different from their peers. 4 Additionally, ELLs often hear the message at home that they need to acclimate as quickly as possible to their new surroundings, and become adept at using English so they can help their family members translate and navigate many social and monetary situations

For the 2017 -’18 academic year, my ELL students in grades 6-8 come from China, Turkey, Haiti, France, and a range of native Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. About 50% of them were born in the United States, but a few have returned to their families’ home countries for a short period of time during summer vacation, or have attended school there for several months to an academic year before coming back to McCullough. I will be using this unit with my eleven 8th grade students, all of whom are recent immigrants and have only been in the United States for a few months to three years.

Though most of my students are conversationally bilingual, they grapple with the increasing rigor of written and verbal academic English and the demands of state and English proficiency tests. Many of them are struggling writers, and their writing and speaking scores are often what keeps them in the ELL program.

Rationale

Most students feel disconnected from their writing and speaking tasks and subject matter; they feel there is no significance in it for them. They do not get a chance to share, through writing or oral presentation, their rich life experiences with their teachers and fellow students.

I would like my students to be excited about a writing and literacy assignment, and to get the opportunity to see writing as a way not only to express themselves, but also to use writing as a tool to explore their communities and families. Many of my ELLs come from immigrant families who have become detached from their cultures and backgrounds in an effort to fully assimilate to life in their new country. I have found that the majority of my students are disconnected from their cultures and express neutral attitudes and feelings about their traditions and backgrounds.

Oral literacy and proficiency in English is a heavily stressed standard on the annual WIDA ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessment. However, only .3% of Delaware ELLs received a proficiency/passing score of 5.0 during the 2017 testing period. A score of 5.0 is considered to be “Bridging” by WIDA, in which a student “knows and uses social and academic language working with grade level material.” The astonishingly low scores are likely due to a combination of factors. The Speaking portion of ACCESS requires students to wear a headset with a microphone and verbally respond to a series of questions and prompts; students’ answers are recorded and digitally evaluated by national WIDA test experts. Students understandably find this process awkward and distressing; many of them do not like the physical process of wearing the headsets and are anxious about their peers and test administrators hearing their responses.

WIDA also changed the way it scored the Speaking rubric in the 2016 -’17 testing period, and made it much harder for students to receive higher scores. After analyzing my ELLs’ decreased Speaking scores on the yearly ACCESS test and speaking to Delaware ESL professionals who were also concerned about this, I recognized that I needed to tackle this problem and help my students better understand the Speaking rubric.

But higher test scores was not my primary motivation in trying to increase my students’ oral literacy. Students do not get a chance to learn or practice good speaking skills, and it is something they will need to master for success in life and their careers; they need to be comfortable using and speaking English on video and audio platforms. Skype and other telecommunication programs are often the first interview phase for employers; and I know firsthand that an awkward video call or interview can damage job prospects. Students must demonstrate an expanding verbal academic range in the quantity and quality of their oral exchanges—both in testing and everyday interactions—and I am hoping the oral part of this project will help them feel more comfortable during testing.

Being verbally confident is a crucial skill in today’s job market, and I continuously stress to my students that they need to think about what they want to do once they graduate from high school. Whether they go on to post-secondary education, trade school, or the work force, they need to refine their speaking skills so they can communicate well in their careers. As Erik Palmer, author of Well Spoken states, “Speaking well enables us to communicate clearly with coworkers...it is crucial to professional promotion.” 5 The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that verbal communication is near the top of the list of desirable qualities that employers look for in college graduates.6 Furthermore, says Palmer, students are not taught how to speak well, and need implicit instruction to speak effectively.7 This is particularly true for ELLs, who have struggled to learn and speak English for several years.

The Colonial School District ELA Speaking and Listening standards also require that students gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking as well as through media and integrate skills related to media use (both critical analysis and production of media).8 Consequently, in my unit, I will require students to interview subjects with a mix of written and oral questions, and allow them to record their subjects with smartphones, tablets, or district-owned Flip Video Cameras.

While McCullough has a substantially diverse student population, many of my students rarely learn about their peers’ cultures. Even Spanish-speaking students from different countries seldom understand, or want to understand, their linguistically similar friends’ backgrounds. I would like to expose my students to a larger worldview that will enable them to draw parallels and see similarities between contemporaries who seem on the surface to be so disparate.

For these reasons, my curriculum unit will focus on blending personal essays with a type of literary journalism/nonfiction in which students tell their stories and those of their family members. My writing and speaking unit will combine students’ own thoughts, feelings, and experiences with someone else’s in their community or culture, in an effort for them to feel more interwoven into the worlds in which they exist—and also for them, as young teenagers, to begin to see themselves as integral parts of society. I am hoping that this type of project will not only help their writing and speaking skills progress (writing is the last linguistic skill ELLs master) but also interest them in writing.

Unit Objectives

This unit is designed for middle school students, but could be modified for upper elementary grades and high school students. Students will study the immigrant experience as it relates to themselves and their family, and research and develop interview questions for someone in their family or community who comes from the same

native country or geographic area. Their end goal is to present a slide show interview with their subject that uses writing, images, and audio.

Students will make both oral and written observations and interpretations about what they have learned about their families and themselves. In their projects, they may choose to follow these formats: they can present all their interview questions and subjects’ answers first, followed by their own nonfiction writing and speaking responses; or they can intersperse interview questions and answers with their nonfiction writing and speaking. Students will present their final projects to their classmates in a Google Slides format, which will incorporate their audio and video files and photos. I chose Google Slides because though there are many types of video platforms to choose from, students have all used Google Slides in many classes, and it is readily accessible through the Colonial School District’s abundance of Chromebooks throughout its K-12 schools.

Writing and Speaking standards will be taken from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards for Speaking and Writing and Listening and Reading (see Appendix A). We will also incorporate aspects of the Colonial School District’s mission for student learning, some of which were stated above.

Thoughtful and respectful class discussions are an integral part of eighth grade ELA classes, as students prepare to increasingly work on group projects and have partners in high school. They are expected to learn how to conduct discourse in a civil, considerate manner, even when they may disagree with a classmate. Students will be discussing and exchanging views on each others’ projects during the entire process, and will need to learn to do so thoughtfully and politely.

When they conduct oral and written interviews of family and community members, students will also draw conclusions and make inferences when making observations about their interviewees. How did some life events impact the interviewees, or their descendants? Do the students think those decisions have had repercussions for them?

In addition, students will learn how to organize and summarize the information (text) they write, and will be using technology to write and produce their interviews. They will have to interweave any audio or video they have of their interviewees with written material.

Content

To show the students the type of writing work I am expecting from them, I will have them read two types of creative nonfiction: one a more humorous and self-deprecating style, taken from excerpts of Me Talk Pretty One Day 9 by David Sedaris; and the other a

thoughtful, pensive style for self-reflection, represented by excerpts from The Distance Between Us 10 by Reyna Grande.

The first chapter of Sedaris’ book is especially relatable for middle school students, as it comically re-counts how Sedaris was awkwardly forced into speech therapy in the fifth grade, and his determination to thwart his teacher’s efforts to fix his lisp. Not only is it a very funny narrative students can connect with—they have all been pulled out of their mainstream classes for ELL services, and some do not want to go—it shows them how to imbue their writing with wit and charm.

Grande’s The Distance Between Us is a completely different type of narrative that tells of her impoverished childhood in Mexico and how she came to the United States as an illegal immigrant. It is poignant and at times painful to read; Grande’s grandparents treat Grande and her siblings cruelly when they are left in their care in Mexico. When the children finally rejoin their father in America, he flies into alcoholic rages and abuses them. She also struggles to learn English, and constantly fears deportation. I know my students will immediately relate to Grande and her family’s problems, as they directly reflect many of their own. At this writing, several students at both of my schools have parents who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are facing deportation.

By reading and discussing these selections, students will also learn to make connections between the environment, politics and culture that existed during those time periods, and how those factors may have impacted character’s actions. This type of analysis will further help them recognize how outside factors influenced their interviewees’ choices.

The students will listen to a segment on NPR’s podcast All Things Considered: 7 Kids, 1 Apartment: What Poverty Means To This Teen. 11 I think this audio file is a good example of a contemporary reflecting on his life, challenges, and his family’s choices, and how they have affected him. There is also an acceptable level of background noise in the recording that actually enhances the setting and helps the listener imagine the surroundings. Additionally, the podcast contains oral translation of the mother’s native language (Spanish) into English, which the students may have to do with their interview subjects.

To get a good idea of what types of questions the students can ask their subjects, we will use two primary resources: The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide, 12 and the resources on the StoryCorps.org 13 website. The Smithsonian guide gives excellent examples on types of questions to ask, how to find interview subjects, interviewing tips like testing audio equipment before the initial recording session, vocabulary words and definitions, and also incorporates pictures and captions of interviewees. Smithsonian also provides guidance on what to do with their physical

materials; once students are done with the project for our class, they can print and create scrapbooks or “heritage boxes/cultural treasure chests” as a memento for their families.

StoryCorps is an organization committed to recording and preserving individuals’ lives and stories that started in 2003 with a single recording booth in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. As technology progressed, StoryCorps created mobile storytelling booths, and several more stationary booths around the country. Since 2015, StoryCorps has had a smartphone app that users can utilize for asking and recording interviews. “The Great Thanksgiving Listen”14 is a project with an app that StoryCorps started for teachers and high school students to use in interviewing and recording their family members over the Thanksgiving holiday. Students must be at least 13 years old to use the app, and some of my 8th graders won’t be 13 when they are working on this project. However, StoryCorps still encourages younger students to use its interview questions15 as a guide for other recording platforms or projects.

Strategies

Oftentimes, ELL students’ first exposure to using computers upon arrival to the United States is to be forced to sit in front of them for most of the school day using various language-learning programs because their mainstream teachers do not know what to do with them. This is especially true if a school or district does not have a Newcomer ELL program. I have also witnessed overuse of translation programs, such as Google Translate, to extensively communicate with ELLs or modify their assignments. Not only are these lazy strategies in interacting with ELLs, it hinders their ability to increase English proficiency.

Students need varied exposure to their new language that incorporates visual and audio supports, which lasts long after students have become conversationally proficient. In designing this unit, I wanted to find a way to integrate technology with creative nonfiction writing. Using technology with ELL students increases their English proficiency, and also leads to increased motivation and confidence.16 To practice listening to their voices and seeing themselves on a screen, students will practice speaking with smartphone video, record themselves on Flip Video Cameras, or use a computer program like Vocaroo.17

The ELLs I work with have been exited from the Newcomer program at McCullough, and have the proficiency and test scores that indicate the potential for success in their regular classes. However, they still need reading strategies that will help them comprehend and access unfamiliar vocabulary words, context, and background knowledge. While we will not have enough time to read more than a couple of excerpts from the two books, presenting texts in partial “chunks” is a research-proven way to increase comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Students need to have reading

materials separated into smaller segments in order to increase their comprehension, particularly those who are continuously learning language and vocabulary. 18

I will also have students make connections between themselves and the protagonists; build background knowledge so they can understand the excerpts; and discuss and highlight new vocabulary words. Students will also answer some critical thinking questions to demonstrate comprehension, and to help them develop and apply the higher order thinking abilities they will need to make connections between their interviewees’ lives and choices.

For the interview questions, students will have ample examples from the Smithsonian and StoryCorps resources. They will be required to choose at least five, and not more than seven, interview questions from both or one of the resources.

Classroom Activities (designed for a daily 60-minute ELA class)

Day One: Family Background and Introduction

Warm-Up

Students will use their classroom Chromebooks to log on to Schoology, the Learning Management System (LMS) that Colonial School District extensively uses for its students. They will go to our class section and answer the following Warm-Up questions: From which country did you or your family emigrate (come from)? How long has your family been in the United States? Do you know why your family decided to come to the United States? What are some challenges facing your family in their new country?

Discussion

After students have finished typing their answers on Schoology, they will “turn and talk” with their shoulder partners about their experiences and families. Then, each student will come up to the front of the room and use the world map to show the class where their families came from, and explain why they left their native countries.

Extension

Students will get back on Schoology and answer Did you find any similarities (the same things) between why your family and other students’ families came to the U.S.? If so, what were they?

Unit Explanation

I will tell the students that they will be creating and producing their own interviews of family or cultural members, a project they will design on Google slides. I will explain to them that they will be recording interview questions and answers, which they will incorporate into their slide presentation, along with their thoughts—creative nonfiction writing—about what they have learned about themselves and their families.

Day Two: Podcasts

To get students thinking about how their native cultures have influenced their families’ experiences, beliefs, and philosophies—and how that has impacted them—I will have them listen to the NPR podcast about an immigrant teen “7 Kids, 1 Apartment, What Poverty Means to This Teen.” Since my students are low-intermediate level ELLs, we will listen to the Podcast twice; the first time, they will listen without having to answer any questions, and after the second time, they will log on to Schoology and answer some questions.

Discussion

After listening to the podcast for the second time, students will log on to Schoology and answer the questions How do you think your native language and culture have influenced your family’s beliefs and experiences in the United States? Are there any positive or negative things you have faced in your new country? They will also have to respond to two of their classmates’ observations.

Class Activity

To check for understanding, I will have the students fill out the below Venn diagram graphic organizer comparing Jairo, the teen in the podcast, with themselves. What is the same and different about Jairo’s and their experiences? Have their parents forced them to do things they didn’t want to?

Podcast Graphic Organizer

Name__________________ Date __________________

Day Three: Creative Nonfiction

Warm-Up

I will introduce the students to the concept of creative nonfiction writing; they will log on to Schoology and answer the question If nonfiction writing is writing that is based on true events, what do you think creative nonfiction is?

Class Activity

I will give students the following graphic organizer, which is an example of creative nonfiction that stemmed from my interview of my paternal grandmother, and which I described in the introduction to this unit. (I will give the students sentence starters, due to their English proficiency.)

Creative Nonfiction Writing

Name _____________________ Date ________________

Directions: Read the below example of nonfiction writing and answer the questions.

--Mrs. Gallo

One way that I have been affected by my family’s decision to move to the U.S. is

When my family came here,

Disussion

When students are done with the graphic organizers, I will have them share with their shoulder partners. After that, we will have a whole class discussion about how their parents’ or grandparents’ (or other family members’) past actions and attitudes could be shaping their opinions and behaviors now, without them even knowing it. If needed, I will further explain to them how and why I came to enjoy organizing things.

Wrap-Up

Students will get an Exit Ticket that asks the question After reading Mrs. Gallo’s creative nonfiction sample and talking about it in class, how has your understanding of creative nonfiction changed from the beginning of class?

Day Four: Reading, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

Students will read excerpts with their partner of the first chapter of David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day. Because of their ELL status, I know they will encounter unfamiliar vocabulary or words they cannot put into context. After logging on to Schoology, students will answer questions about vocabulary from chapter one, such as What does the word “remarkably” mean in the first sentence of paragraph two? They will also answer a couple comprehension questions that pertain to how it feels to be pulled out of class for special instruction, like Sedaris was.

Day Five: Reading, Vocabulary, and Comprehension

Students will read excerpts with their partner of the first chapter of Part Two of Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us, which describes Grande’s first days in a U.S. school. As before, students will log on to Schoology and answer vocabulary and comprehension

questions like What were your first few days like at your new school in the United States? How did you feel? Was your experience the same or different than Grande’s? What does the word “predominantly” mean on page 166?

Day Six: StoryCorps Website and Identify Possible Interviewees

I will display the StoryCorps website on the SMART Board and introduce students to its features, explaining that the interviews here are examples of the audio they should produce. After listening to a StoryCorps interview and showing the students how to access them, I will have students get their Chromebooks and listen to three self-selected StoryCorps interviews.

Computer Activity

When students are done watching the StoryCorps videos, they will log on to Schoology and answer the following questions: Think of three people in your family or community that you think would be a good interviewee (person to interview). List them separately, and then give reasons why each person would make a good choice.

Discussion

When students are done with their Schoology entries, they will talk with their shoulder partners about their choices. They will then share with the whole class their potential interviewees. (After class, I will log on to Schoology and make comments on each students’ choices, helping narrow them down). Students should contact their interviewees and set up a day in the next five days for the interview.

Day Seven: Interview Questions

I will pass out the copies of the Great Thanksgiving Listen Lesson Plan interview questions and the Smithsonian Interviewing Guide. Students will look at both resources and initially choose 5-7 questions from either or both resouces they would like to ask their interviewee. If they are struggling to identify questions, they should keep in mind that they should pick questions they would like to be asked.

They will log on to Schoology and in a discussion post, list the questions they think they would like to ask. After class, I will respond to their questions on Schoology, asking them if they think the questions they chose apply to their interviewees.

Day Eight: Interview Questions

Students will revise their question choices, if needed, based upon the Schoology feedback I gave them. They will have a chance to individually conference with me on their

questions and interviewees as we prepare to begin the acutal interviews. Interviewees should be provided with a sample of the questions, so they are prepared for the interview.

Day Nine: Practice Recording Questions

Students will use their own smartphones, Flip Video Cameras, or the Vocaroo website to record themselves asking their interview questions. I will circulate around the classroom, giving feedback and suggestions on their recordings.

Day Ten: Partner Practice

I will assign students partners and they will take turns asking each other interview questions; each partner will get 7-10 minutes. Once they are done, we will have a class discussion and I will ask them questions such as What is something that you think you did well during the interview? What did your partner do well? What could you each improve on? Did anything happen during the interview that you didn’t expect—good or bad? How will this help you when you sit down for your real interview?

Days Eleven and Twelve: Google Slides setup

Students will use their classroom Chromebooks and their school Google accounts to log on to Google and begin to set up their Google Slide documents. They will choose their format and design, including Internet resources like pictures and graphics. They can begin to type their interview questions on their slides.

Days Thirteen and Fourteen

Students will download their audio files of their interviews on their Chromebooks and incorporate their interviews into their Google Slides. They will continue to edit their slides’ layouts.

Days Fifteen and Sixteen

Now that the design and audio file sections of their presentations are done, students will begin to write about their experiences, responses, and thoughts—the creative nonfiction part of their projects. They will do their writing in the body of their Google Slides, which will be shared with me for critiques and editing suggestions. If students are having trouble relating their thoughts and feelings, I can prompt them with questions such as How did you feel while interviewing your subject? Did you find out anything new about yourself or your family? Do you see yourself differently now? Did talking to your interviewee give you a new perspective on your culture or home country?

Days Seventeen and Eighteen

Students will make final edits, additions, and revisions to their projects.

Days Nineteen and Twenty

Time to share their projects with the entire class! Students will present their projects to their classmates on the Smart Board.

Resources

“About HMH Reading Inventory.” Reading Assessment – About Reading Inventory –

HMH. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.hmhco.com/products/assessment-solutions/literacy/sri-index.htm . Description of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Reading Inventory assessment.

“ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Summative Assessment.” WIDA: ACCESS for ELLs 2.0.

Accessed December 17, 2017. https://www.wida.us/assessment/ACCESS20.aspx .

Explanation of the ACCESS for ELLS 2.0 test.

Casteel, Clifton A. “Effects of Chunked Reading among Learning Disabled Students: An

Experimental Comparison of Computer and Traditional Chunked Passages." Journal of Educational Technology Systems 17, no. 2 (1988): 115-21. doi:10.2190/ebnp-6q4w-1bjw-g5hm. Study that relates how chunking sentences improves comprehension.

“Colonial School District English Language Arts (ELA).” Accessed October 23, 2017.

http://www.colonialschooldistrict.org/academics/english-language-arts-curriculum/ . The Colonial School District’s ELA curriculum.

“English Language Arts Standards. Anchor Standards. College and Career Readiness

Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening.” Common Core State Standards Initiative. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/SL/ . The Common Core State Standards for ELA.

“English Language Arts Standards. Reading: Informational Text. Grade 8.” Common

Core State Standards Initiative. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/8/ . Grade 8 Common Core State Standards for ELA.

“English Language Arts Standards. Speaking & Listening. Grade 8.”

Common Core State Standards Initiative. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/8/ . Grade 8 Common Core State Standards for ELA.

“English Language Development (ELD) Standards.” WIDA English Development (ELD)

Standards. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://www.wida.us/standards/eld.aspx .

WIDA’s English Development Standards.

Gomez, Jairo. “7 Kids, 1 Apartment: What Poverty Means To This Teen.” NPR.

November 18, 2014. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.npr.org/2014/11/18/364062673/new-york-city-teen-balances-school-and-life-in-poverty . An All Things Considered podcast about an NYC teen who lives in poverty.

Grande, Reyna. The distance between us. New York: Atria Books, 2013. Grande’s

memoir of her impoverished childhood in Mexico and the United States.

“Job Outlook 2016: The Attributes Employers Want to See on New College Graduates'

Resumes.” Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.naceweb.org/career-

development/trends-and-predictions/job-outlook-2016-attributes-employers-want-to-see-on-new-college-graduates-resumes/ . The National Association of College and Employers 2016 job outlook report.

Lacina, J. “Promoting Language Acquisitions: Technology and English Language

Learners.” Childhood Education, 81, no. 2 (2004): 113-115. Second-language

learning and the use of technology.

“Lesson Plan.” StoryCorps. Accessed December 17, 2017.

https://storycorps.org/participate/the-great-thanksgiving-listen/lesson-plan/ .

StoryCorps lesson plan for interviewing a friend or family member.

McCullough (Calvin R.) Middle School - School Profiles. Accessed December 17, 2017.

http://profiles.doe.k12.de.us/SchoolProfiles/School/Default.aspx?checkSchool=476&districtCode=34 . The state of Delaware’s informational website on McCullough Middle School.

Ortiz, W., & Sumaryono, K. “Preserving the Cultural Identity of the English Language

Learner.” Voices from the Middle. 11, no. 4 (2004): 16-19. Helping ELLs retain

their cultural identity in mainstream classrooms.

Palmer, Erik. Well spoken: teaching speaking to all students. Portland, ME: Stenhouse

Publishers, 2011. Palmer’s book on increasing speaking confidence and

proficiency.

“Preparing America's students for success.” Common Core State Standards

Initiative. Accessed December 17, 2017. http://www.corestandards.org/ . The

Common Core State Standards.

Sedaris, David. Me talk pretty one day. London: Abacus, 2013. A collection of essays by

humorist Sedaris.

“StoryCorps.” StoryCorps. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://storycorps.org/ . The

StoryCorps website.

“The Great Thanksgiving Listen Great Questions List.” StoryCorps. Accessed October

27, 2017. https://storycorpsorg-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/TGTL_2017_H4-Great-Questions-List.pdf . A list of questions for The Great Thanksgiving Listen interview.

“The Smithsonian Folk Life and Oral History Interviewing Guide.” Smithsonian Center

for Folk Life & Cultural Heritage. Accessed October 22, 2017

https://folklife-media.si.edu/docs/folklife/interviewing_guide/Interviewing

Guide.pdf

"Vocaroo Online voice recorder." Vocaroo - The premier voice recorder. Accessed

December 17, 2017. https://vocaroo.com/ . Record and playback short audio recordings on Vocaroo.

Appendix A

Implementing District Standards, Common Core State Standards, and WIDA English Language Development Standards

Colonial School District ELA Speaking and Listening standards:

Students will gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking as well as through media and integrate skills related to media use (both critical analysis and production of media).

Common Core State Standards

RI.8.3: Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories). Make inferences and draw conclusions about information in the text.

SL.8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

RA.SL.2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

WIDA English Language Development Standards

The WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards for Listening and Reading and Speaking and Writing that I will utilize include compound, complex grammatical constructions (e.g., multiple phrases and clauses); a broad range of sentence patterns characteristic of particular content areas; rich descriptive discourse with complex sentences; and organized, cohesive and coherent expression of ideas.

Notes