WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?
WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?
Mary Palmer has a great idea. She took a course on how to teach to students who have English as a second language. In a nutshell (I talked to her in between classes) here is the idea. Have students not only use the written word, but the spoken word and pictures to explain a topic. After thinking about it, it made perfect sense. If they have trouble with English, ask them to explain concepts through several other "modalities" (sorry for the eduspeak...). She discovered a funny thing..it doesn't just help the ESL kids, it helps them ALL.
So she had them take notes on a whiteboard with a few rules. Take notes but use as few words as possible. Explain it to someone else. Four people put it on one whiteboard. Check out the photo below...
So if a teacher is walking around, they could easily see these boards and know if kids are on the right track AND they could hear the kids. I think she answered all three of the above questions...I might have to try this in chemistry...more later and KUDOS to Mary.
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