Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluating CALLA instruction

CALLA teachers need to include and or integrate key curriculum concepts, development of language functions and vocabulary, and explicit instruction in the learning strategies that facilitate both language and content development in their lesson planning. CALLA teachers should engage in interactive teaching that includes the five phases as well as ongoing assessment of students’ understanding and performance.

There are steps require in planning CALLA instructions

1.      Selecting the content topic for a unit or lesson

2.      Setting objectives for student achievement in content, academic language, and learning strategies and deciding how each objective will be assessed

3.      Assembling materials that will assist the teacher in making the unit or lesson meaningful to student.

4.      Teacher outlines the sequence of instruction that will enable students to understand, remember, recall, and apply the concepts and processes taught.

To carry out the four steps in planning CALLA instruction, teachers need to assess students’ prior knowledge. Sometimes teacher has to plans how to activate the students’ prior knowledge. To do this, teachers need to have some information about and understanding of the cultural and experiential background of their students.

In my experience of teaching, it is very important and resourceful to know our students’ background. The more we understand them, the easiest it gets on both sides as teacher and student. Once the students know that the teacher and other students appreciate them for who they are the more they have the sense of belonging. They have the sense that they fit in and their learning and motivation increase.

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -- Goethe

The Cognitive Approach

The Cognitive Approach emphasizes to teach high-order thinking skills to students.  In the cognitive approach, teachers clearly teach learning strategies to CLD students to enable cognitive development. The four main learning strategies that apply to CLD students in cognitive approach are as follow: cognitive, metacognition, social affective strategies, and cross linguistic. These strategies may include students to do some classification, linking new information to prior knowledge, and ability to perceive the difficulty level of an assignment. The cognitive approach focuses on learning strategies that can help enable high-order thinking skills to students.

"The greatest sign of a success for a teacher...is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist." -- Maria Montessori

Cognitive approach as well as teachers are well looking for ways that can help the students learn the content in their own way of learning in using high-order thinking skills. 

The 5 phases:

All the five phases of CALLA are very important as a teacher’s view. The most important and interesting thing about the five phases is, it focus on the students’ learning or students’ center. A classroom is filled with learning if its students’ center instead of teacher’s center.

The five phases of CALLA: PPPEE (Preparation, Presentation, Practice, Evaluation, and Expansion)

First of all, every teachers need to prepare before presenting the lesson. We all need to prepare before we do something if we want it to go well. Preparation is the important part in CALLA. In preparation phase as phase one, it tells us that we need to know our students’ background. Teachers need to find out the students’ prior knowledge.

Presentation: Finding out the students’ prior knowledge will help the teacher well planned the lesson and do the presentation well. Teacher needs to know what to present to the students or else they repeat the same lesson that would make the students bored because they already know it. This may leads to misbehavior to start appear.

ESL teacher needs to present the lesson in different modes to make the students understand it well. Students need to practice what has been presented to them in order for them to experience and making sense of it. In doing so, they can do self-evaluation, the fourth phase. Questions may arise such as, what do I learn? How do I learn it? And the expansion phase may come straight in when they do the self-evaluation phase because they may also think about how is it relevant and important to their lives.

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own." -- Nikos Kazantzakis

Reflection 9/17

Cognitive Approach and The CALLA Approach

It seems like the cognitive approach emphasizes the need to teach students with a level of higher-order thinking skills, which involves more crucial ways teachers apply their lessons to the students.  In comparison to the CALLA approach, the cognitive approach has for main components of learning...cognitive, metacognitive, social affective strategies, and cross linguistic strategies.  




With the department's implementation of the Common Core State Standards and its expectations of ensuring that all students are taught with these standards, it may be challenging for many of our ELL learners grasp each standard.  Effective planning and execution of the lessons are crucial for the ELL learners to fully ensure that they are afforded the opportunity to academically and socially succeed.

QUOTE:


"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carol Buchner

There are times in which I feel like a broken recorder at school, most especially when instructing the students to be "quiet" during instructional time.  Some students will react immediately, while others will continue their merrily way.  It is those moments whereas I will quietly approach the student and whisper about proper behavior in class.  Teary eyes would occur and it is at this point, I will question myself, "Is it really necessary to hear a pin drop in class or a little buzzing in the air could be interpreted as learning?"

Reflection 9/10

Five Phases of Instruction

Listened attentatively to the young woman's voice which mesmerized my mind.  I found myself wandering into deep thoughts about my classroom that I needed to continually pause the audio recording and start all over.

First phase was the preparation phase, which consisted of getting the students ready to learn.  One's lesson must focus on the learner.  How can one make the learner's focus on the lesson at hand?  As noted, teachers will utilize prior knowledge and introduce vocabulary that is needed, but do not teach all vocabulary words.  Leave a few so the students can seek it out themselves.  The usage of an advance organizer is highly recommended, as well.  This will assist students with knowing where the lesson will be leading too.

        -  Must say that I find myself giving away too much information on vocabulary.  Since being trained with effectively utilizing graphic organizers, I have implemented this strategy daily.

Second phase presents new information...using a variety of modes.  For example, it was stated that ESL teachers engage students by using pictures, images, video clips, maps, quotes, and artifacts.  ESL teachers also engage all levels of intelligence.  From audio to visual.

        -  Oh, how I love the multi-media projector that was made possible by Superintendent Fernandez ($500 per teacher).  Utilizing YouTube has made learning more meaningful then ever.

The third and fourth phase is the presentation phase which in-disperses with the practice phase.  Opportunities for the students to practice the many learning strategies.  As learning is ongoing, students must also reflect on their learning (self evaluation).  Questions may arise, such as, "What did I learn?"

          -  As students self evaluate themselves with their learning, educator's must self evaluate their teaching.  

The final phase is the expansion phase.  Students display what they have learned and how a teacher can  integrate one's cultural background into their daily lessons.

          -  Integrating one's cultural background brings ownership and a commitment to continued student learning.


Must say that this was a very interesting eye opening concept of learning about CALLA.


QUOTE:
"Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers."--Josef Albers

Not a day goes by whereas I will let the students know that errors are all part of learning.  We take the errors, make it right and if it still seems wrong, then we move forward to finding the right answer.  

Language Learning – CALLA

One of the main objective and goal of CALLA for the student is to be more effective in the learning process, is choosing an appropriate strategy of learning that also can enhance both their study skills and academic knowledge.

Again, I am going for the “Poem for Two Voices”. I am thinking that this strategy will help both the student's study skill and academic knowledge. As we first started out with the activity, we kind of slow and made mistakes. However, in the process of repetition, we become to like and feel comfortable doing it. We started to put more efforts and expressions in doing it until we reached the point where we don’t want to stop and feel happy doing it. And that's what learning should be. Learning should be fun and not frustrating. 

 "I consider a day's teaching wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh."

Gilbert Highet

September 3, 2014

Thank you all for a warm welcome. I am looking forward to working with all of you.

When Dr. Rivera opened tonight's class by asking us to list the different ways we say hello in the languages of our fellow Micronesians, my mind went completely blank, and I was shocked. It was not until then that I learned that I have not connected with my students on such a level. I thought to myself, "Am I not a culturally sensitive teacher?" I think it is time for me to break down the barriers for these students who are Second Language Learners and help them to learn to trust me and to build a stronger relationship with them. I learned that by integrating the primary language into the classroom, even if it's just one word, or saying please and thank you, will build a deeper meaning of respect from student to teacher. Needless to say that students who are ELL act out of frustration, we, as teachers, need to make this transition as smooth as possible.

The CALLA handbook has multiple strategies that not only can be used with ELL students but with all students in general.

One strategy that I would like to point out that we did in class was the "Poem for two voices" it was an interesting strategy and it was a lot more fun to actually do. As we discussed the ways in which this particular strategy could be used, I was amazed at how many different ways we can meet the objective of the lesson and make learning fun all at the same time. We can integrate vocabulary and the students' first language in this type of poem and allow them to be expressive, there is nothing wrong with expression. And the good thing about it is, we are also meeting the newly and fully implemented Common Core State Standards.

This evening's class was full of insight and I am glad that we are able to share our experiences in this profession.

Si Jerome

Reflection - September 3, 2014

September 3, 2014

First and foremost, welcome to ED668, Mr. Manibusan.

Today's session began with an activity to which Dr. Rivera invited the class to write "hello" in another language. The first word I wrote was Si Yu'os Ma'ase (Chamorro) followed by Kinisou (Chuuk).  Realizing that the directions were to write the word "hello" in another language, I immediately wrote Hafa Adai/Buenas (Chamorro). Despite being encouraged to think of other words, it was a bit difficult to list any.  After a few minutes, words were shared between group members and also few words were introduced by Dr. Rivera. To my amazement, after hearing the words she stated, it sounded familiar.  What I learned from this activity is how we as educators could integrate one's cultural language to a lesson while not taking away the concept of our educational system.

Discussion of implementing various strategies to enhance the ELL academic were shared with the group. Such strategies include, but not limited to, meta cognitive strategies, which include ways to plan/organize, monitor/identify problems, evaluate and manage your own learning. Another strategy involved task-based strategies, which is the use of background knowledge, making inferences and predictions, and personalization.

With the various strategies available, one must adjust to the needs of the ELL student. What might work one school year, might not work for the next. Educator's must allow themselves to flexible to the needs of the ELL student.


QUOTE:

Discover wildlife: be a teacher!  - Author Unknown

August...the first month of the school year. It is a time in which I began to wonder who will be placed in my classroom. Will it be a child who I saw facing the wall, sitting out during recess or simply waiting in the office to see the principal for some sort of behavior? Oh my, who shall I be of service to come August 18. As the day neared, I got my list and smiled. A bit curious to know who's who, I anxiously awaited to meet the little learners. School days continued and to one's amazement, the discovery of the wildlife lived in our little learners who bring such moments of color and joy. Each day is a new discovery which only a "teacher" will understand.

Reflection - Sept. 3

Discuss your thoughts regarding today's activities. Post your inspirational teaching reflection. Review CALLA Resource #2 - Language Learning - http://blog.innovativelanguage.com/tag/cognitive-academic-language-learning-approach-calla/