Scaffolding for success- Guided Inquiry, storyboarding and ICT

TESOL Seminar - Information Technology: strategies for supporting ESL students, 2012

Ian McLean, Teacher-librarian, Penrith PS

Why me?

Enthusiasm!

A practitioner in Web 2.0 (BBS, blogging, Wikipedia in areas of interest) - ICT

“Learning together”

Circle Time

Tracking and sharing the students’ learning journey – “Guided Inquiry”.

Penrith Public School

Outskirts of western Sydney

Two to three classes per grade

Two hearing support classes: K-3, 1-4

0.63 Reading Recovery (6 students/day)

Full time STLA (2 teachers job share).

ESL learners at Penrith PS

128 students out of 403 are LBOTE

36 home languages (including Persian/Farsi/Dari/Arabic, Tokelauan, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Filipino, Shona, Malay, Thai)

0.8 ESL teacher supports 54 ESL students (and 3 ESL students have hearing support)

19 are Phase 1; 30 are Phase 2; 5 are Phase 3

Saturday language school (Farsi & Dari).

Other support

Rainbow Cottage

Reading tutor program with trained volunteers and paid teachers aides (PSP funding - till 2013)

Buddy reading and community reading picnics

Tutor buddies - sight word flashcards; shared reading

“Racing to Read” - fluency.

Circle Time

Provides a nurturing environment, models oral responses, opportunities for vocabulary building, retelling events

Three rules: only one person speaks at a time (eg. wand); you can pass if you need to; we don’t put anyone down.

Supporting our ESL students

Cultural experiences & behaviours

Creating a stress free environment

Comprehensible input - visual aids

Language development - in context.

Travel buddies

• Cranky the crocodile• (Stage 1 students).

• Cyclic K-2 literacy program:• nursery rhymes

• fairy tales

• Dreaming stories

• fables

Travel buddies

.

Second Law of Prediction

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” - Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008)

Travelling Fearless - ICT

• Kindergarten's Photo Peach slideshow

Introducing Guided Inquiry

Cyclic K-2 literacy program: factual writing

Four core values: learning, cooperation, respect, environment

Extended brainstorming

Scaffolds (eg. PMI – “Plus, minus, interesting” matrix)

Storyboarding

Photo Peach digital slideshows (Web 2.0).

Guided Inquiry

• Endangered animals: beyond the rainforest

• Collaborating with the ESL teacher• Group work• Collaborating with the teacher librarian• Tools to measure student learning.

Scaffolds

• Flickr Creative Commons

• Thanks jeffk42

Leading learning

a clear vision for the future of learning we wish to see in our schools

build from our own experience, and learn by doing

chart the learning - ie. demonstrate excellence through evidence-based practice - Dr Ross J Todd, 2008.

Web 2.0

The challenge: “What will you do differently on Monday to incorporate Web 2.0 into your teaching?”

“If I wait till I’m ready, I’ll never be ready” - Me

penrithpslibrary.pbworks.com

Using Web 2.0

Gold quest blog

Newspaper clipping generator

ESL students using Web 2.0

• Talking tomatoes• Talking owls• Wizard text generator

• A cigarette packet (anti-smoking – Secondary).

Other Web 2.0

Booked Inn: ianmclean.edublogs.org

Penrith PS rappers & bloggers

QR codes!