General Course Information Instructor: Camille T. Stegman Email: camille.stegman@ttu.

edu Office Hours: M, W, F 9:00-12:00 Online Office: Email for a time Skype Contact: dolphindivers7 Required Text: Science for English Language Learners: K-12 Classroom Strategies by Ann K. Fathman and David T. Crowther (Editors) Course Description: Because of todays rapid changes in technology and communications, it is imperative that all educators utilize the communications and media available to support student learning. Therefore, this course will aid participants in developing several Web 2.0 tools that will foster interest and student engagement. This course will utilize distance learning, but participants will learn how to use distributed learning within their classrooms. This course Science and the 21st Century English Language Learner will assist the participant in understanding past and current research in best practices for ELLs and science education. This course supports the participant in developing a foundational knowledge how language is acquired and how to use that knowledge to develop a science course for ELLs and other language challenged students. This course will help the participants develop an understanding of how an ELL student may require different supports than English speaking students and how hands-on learning of science allows for more connections to the vocabulary required not only for academic success and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALPs), but also for basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) Course Outcomes: 1. To examine the foundational knowledge of ELL theory. 2. To combine the foundational knowledge of Constructivist theory, ELL theory, and 21st Century Skills to create a product that can be used in ELL education. 3. To expand the participant pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in relation to science teaching and ELL. In particular, participants will utilize the Next Generation Science Standards in developing activities and focus for ELL students 4. To devise activities using Web 2.0 tools that will assist in developing a students BICS and CALPs

5. To use the knowledge and skills gained within this course in an active classroom environment. Course Outline: Week 1 Research and Theory of ELL Education and Constructivism Define terminology surrounding ELL Education and Constructivism including the 5 stages of 2nd language acquisition, cognitive academic language proficiency (CALPs), and basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) Synthesize historical literature and research surrounding ELL and Constructivism Theorize academic issues for ELL and Constructivism

Week 2 Teaching ELLs in the regular science classroom Analyze supports that Second Language Students need in a content environment Expand on why connecting with students is important in the classroom Appraise different ways that academic vocabulary can be integrated into the science classroom to assist ELLs in their development of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALPs) Consider the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and how they can assist ELLs in developing a more proficient understanding of the Nature of Science

Week 3 Teaching science in the ELL classroom environment Compare and contrast passive vs. active learning Evaluate instructional models for ELL and Constructivist teaching Compile vocabulary building strategies Distinguish between social vs. academic language acquisition

Week 4- Importance and use of 21st Century Skills Diagram Synchronous and Asynchronous communication skills Compare and contrast the benefits of these two communication skills for language development Theorize why integration of 21st Century skills is important to all students

Week 5- Integrating 21st Century Skills into the science classroom Redesign three activities that might have normally been in a science classroom (word search, report, poster, etc) and change them to have a technology skill involved in their completion.

Week 6 Assessment Design a project that will assist ELLs in demonstrating improved academic vocabulary, science content knowledge, and the nature of science encompassing a specific science topic Plan to institute the project in the ELL classroom or within the science classroom that contains ELL students Modify the project based on student outcomes Critique project

Course Details:

Week 1 This week you will focus on building your knowledge of English Language Learner theory and how constructivism philosophy (how individuals develop understanding) relates to improving language acquisition. You will analyze the historical perspective surrounding language development and the diversity you will encounter in the ELL population. This will be accomplished by reviewing the Linking Languages Policy to Practice presentation (http://easyesl.wikispaces.com/file/view/Laws%20and%20Legislation.pdf) You will study the five stages of second language development by reviewing three research articles from 2007 to today. Articles may be chosen by you, but must include ESL/ELL language acquisition, active and passive learning, constructivism, and/or theory development of ELL. During this section you will be answering several questions and discussing those asynchronously on the discussion board of this course. Remember you are synthesizing and theorizing about the current research as well as the historic perspective on ELL education and constructivist thinking.

Week 2 Identify the main components that teachers should strive to have in their science classroom using the Science for English Language Learner text and other sources ex: http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/language/teaching-ell.html http://homepages.gac.edu/~mkoomen/restored/Science%20Articles/inquiryandell.pdf Consider the article in the Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robertschwartz/want-to-raise-test-scores_b_814473.html or the article in the Dallas Times http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100811-Teachers-hope-science-

emphasis-will-help-5072.ece Many schools today are cutting back on science education in favor of a more math and ELA approach. The research suggests that science education not only improves math and ELA, but all aspects of a student s education. At your grade level review the Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-sciencestandards) what are your thoughts on improving student learning regardless of language status? You will take a stand on whether or not you believe your school/district is working towards the benefit of the student or just what is easiest for the school ex: passing standardized tests is the focus vs. educating the student. You will create a VoiceThread presentation and post it in the discussion board. You will view two other VoiceThreads and comment within those VoiceThreads. You may do this via text in the voicethread or give sound a try. Voicethread will require a microphone, a webcam is even better. http://voicethread.com/

Week 3 This week you will look at students who are at the lower stages of language development and how science class can assist them in learning BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills). The focus of this should be what sorts of social language can be built through using science as a medium. Reading the article http://iteslj.org/Techniques/BrownCBEC.html specifically focus on the Necessity for Content Based ESL Curriculum Your thoughts should focus on what types of programs are used in schools to assist ELLs, how ELL students are chosen for particular courses, are the schools being helpful to the students or are they making the school the priority; using the internet find resources to prove your theory about local school cultures and their relationship to local ELLs. You need to consider pull out, push in, self-contained, sheltered programs, Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) and Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE). How does each of these models assist the students? Many ELL students have academic struggles because no supports help their growth of English academic skills. Design a Prezi Presentation that shows the pros and cons of at least 4 types of instructional models for ELL students. Make sure that your Prezi is shared and posted in the discussion forum. You will Skype with two partners and present your Prezi as if you were doing a long distance presentation.

Week 4 You have already communicated in a Synchronous and Asynchronous manner throughout the first few weeks of this course. There is some evidence that electronic communications can assist in language acquisition. Using your personal experiences and four research articles correlate which Web 2.0 and 21st Century skills could assist in language

development. Consider Virtual Worlds, blogging, wikis, and other social media, how does it help/hinder language development? Please chose at least three to seriously review. Develop a podcast/videocast surrounding your considerations; which ones do you think will work and which ones will not. Give specific research based reasons for each item you reviewed. Your podcast should be delivered via your own YouTube channel, which you can acquire free. You will invite your classmates to review your podcast/videocast. You will view two of your classmates podcast/videocasts and review their ideas.

Week 5 With the assistance of the internet and other resources you have for teaching science in a constructivist manner, choose three activities of which you have limited content knowledge and redesign them for the 21st Century ELL student, ex: if you always hated Earth science, find three activities that are engaging, fun and about the Earth. You will use the Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations to transform your chosen activities to not only be 21st Century, but meet the needs of ELL students in developing the science skills required to succeed in today s world. (Ex: 5-ESS2-2 Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth your three activities would build content knowledge on water, how the water cycle works, how much water exists, etc the transformation might be that students will create a podcast showing the evidence they uncovered during the investigations) Post your ideas in the discussion forum and respond to two other participants ideas. Be specific in your BICS and CALPs areas. Make sure you list how the students are improving their language because of the activities and the Web 2.0 skill. Your activities could provide the bases for the next week s activities.

Week 6 Your culminating project will be to create a unit about a disciplinary core idea (science content). You will institute it in your classroom and journal about it using a Google Doc. Each participant will comment and add their own information about their unit. It will be a living document, very much like a blog. You will discuss what happened, what you d improve, what worked, what did not. Your culminating project must be based in NGSS performance expectations, use a Web 2.0 activity somewhere in the project, function to build student vocabulary, either academically or socially depending on level. You will critique your own project within the Google Doc.