1. Principals’ Meeting March 19, 2015 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE : THE KEY TO LEARNING

2. Our Brain is a Pattern Seeking Device

3. How much Academic language do our students bring with them to school?

5. http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/05_MeaningfulDifferences.pdf

10. What is Academic Language? For formal discourse between teacher- student and student-student interaction around standards/goals. For text comprehension. For formal writing. For success in tests. For academic and economic status. (Calderón, in press)

11. Dimensions of Academic Language Susan O’Hara, UC Davis, Jeff Zwiers, Stanford University, Robert Pritchard, Sacramento State University

12. Features of Academic Language Jeff Zwiers, Stanford University

14. Which word would you choose to teach? Jose avoided playing the ukulele?

15. Verbs are where the action is Teach avoid, avoided, avoids Likely to see it again in grade-level text Likely to see it on assessments We are going to start calling these useful words “Tier 2 words” Why not ukulele? Rarely seen in print Rarely used in stories or conversation or content-area information

16. The… LIST

17. Summary of Vocabulary Tiers 1, 2, 3 For ELLs TIER 1 -- Basic words students need to communicate, read, and write. For ELLs, these may need to be taught. TIER 2 -- Information processing words that nest Tier 3 words in long sentences, polysemous words, transition words, connectors; more sophisticated words for rich discussions and specificity in descriptions. TIER 3 -- Subject-specific words that label content discipline concepts, subjects, and topics. Infrequently used academic words.

19. Margarita Calderón & Associates, Inc. Some Examples of Transition Words & Connectors for: Cause & Effect -- because, due to, as a result, since, for this reason, therefore, in order to, so that, thus… Contrast -- or, but, although, however, in contrast, nevertheless, on the other hand, while … Addition or comparison -- and, also, as well as, in addition, likewise, moreover, by the way … Giving examples -- for example, for instance, in particular, such as … TIER 2 – WORDS THAT NEST CONTENT WORDS AND CONCEPTS

20. absence, accuracy, additive, effect, affect, allow, apparent, approach, arrange, assortment, assumption, basis, bases, behavior, belief, body, boundary, core, criteria, crucial, depict, deplete, device, display, distinct, generate, impact, illustrate… Tier 2 Words in State Exams- Information Processing Words name, state

21. Does the vocabulary we teach have any connection to how our students perform on assessments?

22. Tier 1Tier 2Tier 3 thinkcharacter solve problem

24. http://wiki.canby.k12.or.us/groups/studentachievement/weblog/5727a/Answering_Academic_Language_Challenges.html

25. Why Build Background?

26. The questions that p________ face as they raise ch________ from in________ to adult life are not easy to an________. Both fa________ and m________ can become concerned when health problems such as co________ arise any time after the e________ stage to later life. Experts recommend that young ch________ should have plenty of s________ and nutritious food for healthy growth. B________ and g________ should not share the same b________ or even sleep in the same ro________. They may be afraid of the d________. oultrymen ickenscubation swer rmers erchants ccidiosis gg icks unshine antieseese arnyard ostark ccsd.net/ellp/HQSI/2_Building.../HQSI_Building_Background.ppt

27. Building Background to Read for Meaning Most people think this is about parents. Is that what you thought? In order to come to this conclusion, did you relate this to any prior knowledge that you had? Did you fill in the gaps according to your experience on the topic to make sense of it? If you did, great. You just related it to the wrong schemata.

28. English Language There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two- letter word, and that word is … UP It’s easy to understand UP - meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list. 28

29. But in the morning, why do we wake UP and get UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, sit UP, and listen UP? Why are officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and brighten UP a room. We lock UP the house, fix UP the old car, and polish UP the silver. We work UP an appetite, warm UP the leftovers, eat them UP, and then clean UP the dishes. You line UP for tickets and drink UP your soda. But don’t stir UP trouble or think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is something special. But in the morning, why do we wake UP and get UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, sit UP, and listen UP? Why are officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and brighten UP a room. We lock UP the house, fix UP the old car, and polish UP the silver. We work UP an appetite, warm UP the leftovers, eat them UP, and then clean UP the dishes. You line UP for tickets and drink UP your soda. But don’t stir UP trouble or think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is something special. 29

30. And if that is not confusing enough… A drain must be opened UP if it is stopped UP. Stores open UP in the morning and close UP at night. When it threatens to rain, it clouds UP. When the sun comes out, it clears UP. When it rains, it wets UP everything and when it doesn’t rain, things dry UP. To wise UP on the many uses of UP, look it UP in the dictionary. It takes UP almost ¼ of a dictionary page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, make UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may end UP with a hundred or more. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP, but my time is UP so I’ll wrap it UP. I’ll just shut UP and leave the rest UP to you! And if that is not confusing enough… A drain must be opened UP if it is stopped UP. Stores open UP in the morning and close UP at night. When it threatens to rain, it clouds UP. When the sun comes out, it clears UP. When it rains, it wets UP everything and when it doesn’t rain, things dry UP. To wise UP on the many uses of UP, look it UP in the dictionary. It takes UP almost ¼ of a dictionary page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, make UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may end UP with a hundred or more. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP, but my time is UP so I’ll wrap it UP. I’ll just shut UP and leave the rest UP to you! 30

31. Implications for the Classroom Social vs. Academic – Is there room for both? – In what contexts? Background Knowledge – What are our assumptions? – What might we need to do differently?

32. Academic Language… What’s in Your Discourse?