ESL Tools - Newsela

If you haven't heard of or used Newsela in your classroom it's time you tried it out. This website has been a wonderful resource for my English Language Learners and beyond! I not only use this website in my ESL classrooms but also in my Academic Grade 9 Geography class.

What is it? It's a site that you can find articles on all different subjects and can adjust the difficulty level to meet the needs of your students. You can reduce the word count and have different levels for different students. This allows your students to be studying the same content but at a level that is right for them. For me, it gives each of my students an access point to our learning.

You can create a classroom or have your students register and access articles your publish. Often times, I provide a link on my Google Classroom and students can go and adjust the article to a level that suits them best. This is an easy to use tool and has helped me in all my classes but especially with my ELLs. If you haven't tried it - it's time you did. Click here and enjoy!

I'm Back!

So it's been a while. It's been about a year since my last post so it might just be time for an update. Life has been busy that's for sure. I graduated teacher's college in April 2017! The prospect of finally being able to apply to school boards was extremely exciting. I worked hard over the summer completing 3 AQ courses! I started with Special Education Part I and Senior Social Science. After that I immediately took my Primary ABQ. I had my sights set on the Halton District School board and in October 2017 I was hired as an occasional teacher on both the Elementary and Secondary lists. I was over the moon excited to have taken one step further towards my goal of becoming a permanent teacher. The interview process was intimidating but also an excellent learning process. It taught me so much about how to communicate my message clearly and to ensure I'm constantly being myself and giving the interviewers a chance to know who I really am and my goals for teaching. 

I was fortunate that I was able to get consistent supply work almost right away. I didn't do it without help! I reached out to all my former teachers and colleagues that I had worked with during my placements and they were all so helpful in giving me supply days, resources and support. This showed me two important things. 1. Relationships matter. You need to make them and maintain them because they can act as such an important support system. I was truly blown away by the immediate support by teachers that I had in high school. They were so encouraging, so happy for me and so willing to help in any way that they could. 2. Reach out and ask. You'll never know until you ask and this couldn't be more true for me. At first, I was almost embarrassed to send emails and let people know that I was available to supply. I didn't want to impose on people but just by reaching out and asking I received a positive response that has no doubt helped me on my teaching journey. 

I had applied for several LTO positions and at the end of January I got the call for an interview! It was for a 1 section LTO at Burlington Central High School. I felt the interview had went well but it was also my first LTO interview so my hopes were not overly high. While supplying at my old high school I got a voicemail offering me the position. Though I was so excited I was also hesitant. If I took the 1 section it would mean only being able to supply half days. Thank goodness I had been around excellent council because all of my form teachers and mentors told me to do it and get my foot in the door. They were absolutely correct. I accepted my first job and joined the team at BCH. 

I was fortunate that when I started there was another teacher also teaching a grade 9 geography section. She was so kind and so willing to collaborate. She also related to me and understood that started out could be tough. She shared all of her resources and made sure I was up and running in the first week. She was a huge blessing in that first semester. She really showed me what it meant to be a collaborator and it is my hope I can pass this kindness forward. I'll write in more detail about the first class in another post as I think it deserves that time and detail. 

Fast forward through the semester. Over the summer I took another two AQ courses once again trying to better myself as an educator. I took Teaching ELLs Part I and Int/Senior Health and Physical Education. I loved taking both of these courses and felt like I grew as a teacher by the end of summer. Once again, it was time to apply for LTO sections for the upcoming September. This time I had several interviews but ultimately, I was offered a full first semester back at Burlington Central and of course I had to accept. I was thrilled to be back in the halls that gave me my start and had a comfort level that I had not had the semester prior. I was also excited to get involved in more extra curricular activities as I would be at Central all day everyday. 

It has been a wild ride and one that requires a few more posts and a few more stories but the bottom line is this - I am happily moving along my path to permanent teaching. There have been some challenges along the way but each one making me a better teacher upon reflection. I love going to work everyday, I love working with my students and I love knowing that I picked a job I could be happy and have the impact I so desired. Life is good!

Reflection from a Teacher

So, I had to push my comfort zone and learn to teach drama and dance. Through taking this course at Brock I discovered I really enjoyed myself. I would have never voluntarily taken a drama or dance course. In high school I chose instrumental music. I didn’t know that in this course I would allow myself to take risks, not worry about being embarrassed and realize that I actually liked the subjects.

If I’m honest, I was dreading this class. I didn’t know what to expect but believed I would feel pretty embarrassed on a daily basis. I was wrong. I think the key to our safe space was the tribe building we did. We built a space where it was ok to make mistakes, it was ok to feel uncomfortable and most important - it was ok to try. 

We did a lot of laughing. We were silly at times. There were also moments when we were very serious and reflective. We had to work alone and we had to collaborate a lot. We had to be willing to give it a go. I learned to not really care what other people were doing around me and not worry how I looked. I had to because it was apart of the expectations!

I learned that you can bring drama and dance into just about anything. If I can use drama to portray a gallbladder I feel like there are no limits. This class challenged me as an educator to remember that the arts are important and an excellent tool for extending any learning. 

I have to go into my classroom and create an island where drama and dance are included, valued and taught. I have to be an advocate for this type of learning and I will because I became a better teacher for having taken this class and I want my students to have that same experience. 

I am thankful for the opportunity to have taken this class and very thankful to my professor who was passionate, energetic and understanding. 

Drama: Mock Trial of Louis Riel!

One of the most exciting assignments I gave my grade 8 class was a culminating task at the end of their history unit. They had been learning about confederation and settling the West. They had read about the Red River Rebellin and the North West Resistance. The name that continued to come up was Louis Riel. Of course, in history, his story is both exciting and historically relevant. I wanted students to be able to interact with this historical figure and be able to provide historical context to his life and impact on Canada. With this in mind I developed a mock retrial of Louis Riel. 

The class was divided into 4 groups: 2 prosecution teams and 2 defence teams. We would hold 2 trials. One prosecution team and one defence team would plead their case and the remainder of the class would act as jury to vote and provide a verdict. The next day the class would switch roles and the new groups would present their case. Defence groups did not have to use the same defence tactics and in fact, they were encouraged to try different strategies to see if the results of the case would be different. Each team would designate witness’s who would take the stand and have the answer questions from both the defence and the prosecution. Each defence team would also have something be Louis Riel. 

Here was their task:

Louis Riel has been granted a retrial! You have been hired to work on the case. You will be assigned to a team: the defence or the prosecution, and will work with your team of lawyers and witnesses to develop your case! It is your job to develop a strategy, find supporting evidence/witnesses and present your findings to a jury of 15 people who will then vote in whether Louis Riel remains guilty or will be acquitted of all charges (found innocent)! This case will be facilitated by the Honourable Judge Belanger and Judge Breakey. Use the guide below to build your case. Good luck!

Guidelines

The Rules:

• The trial will begin with an opening statement from each team (prosecution will go first)
• After the opening statements, the prosecution will present their case. They will be allowed to call their witnesses and question them
• Following the prosecution’s witnesses, it will be the defence’s turn to present their case and call witnesses
• Finally, each side will present their closing arguments. Prosecution will go first.
• The jury will deliberate and vote on whether Louis Riel and guilty or innocent.
• The judge will read the verdict and give sentencing.

Questioning a witness:

Team that called the witness = allowed to ask 5 questions

Other team = allowed to ask 3 follow up questions

Team that called the witness = allowed to ask 1 additional question

Objections:

• If something said is historically inaccurate
• If something is fabricated or made up
• If something is inappropriate
• If something is irreverent to the case

Script Sample

If Guilty:

Louis Riel, after a long consideration of your case, in which you have been defended with as great ability as I think counsel could have defended you with, you have been found by a jury guilty of high treason. You have been proved to have let loose the flood gates of repine and bloodshed, you have with such assistance as you had in the Saskatchewan country, managed to around the Indians and have brought ruin and misery to many families whom if you had simply left alone were in comfort, and many of them were on the road to affluence.

For what you did, the remarks you have made form no excuse whatever. For what you have done the law requires you to answer. For me, I have only one more duty to perform, that is, to tell you what the sentence of the law is upon you. All I can suggest or advise you is to prepare to meet your end, that is all the advice or suggestion I can offer. It is not my painful duty to pass the sentence of the court upon you, and that is, that you be taken now from here to the police guard-room at Regina, which is the goal and the place from whence you came, and that you be kept there till the 18th of September next, that on the 18th of September next you be taken to the place appointed for you execution, and there be hanged by the next till you are dead, and may God have mercy on your soul.

If Innocent: Louis Riel, you have been acquitted of all charges. The court thanks the members of the jury for their service. This court is adjourned.

Through this assignment I was able to evaluate language (for the writing of their individual part), history (based on accuracy and depth of knowledge), and drama (for their ability to role play). This assignment took about 2.5 weeks to prepare and students were provided with resources and primary sources to use for research. This was a great example of how drama was used to bring to life the learning of several subjects.

Drama: Monologues

One of the ways I was really able to explore drama was through monologues. Particularly at the intermediate age group as it was a way to incorporate several subjects.

Monologues have a student think, write and speak as a specific character or person. This can be accompanied by costumes, props, gestures and mannerisms. The idea is for students to think like someone else and be able to act it out. Monologues are unique because they can provide insight to the thoughts of a character. A monologue could be a character speaking to another person or group but it can also be a character talking to themselves almost like thinking out loud. Monologues can be serious, informative or comical. 

Immediately, you can tie oral language into a monologue presentation. Things like point of view and voice can easily be evaluated in the writing of the monologue. In my grade 7 class students wrote monologues as a picture book character. They could talk about something that happened in the book for develop their own story based on the character. For example, one student was the evil stepmother from Cinderella but wrote a monologue about how her reputation was all a misunderstanding. Another student wrote a monologue through the eyes of character we didn’t hear much about like the prince in The Paper Bag Princess. This student had the freedom to develop his monologue based on the character traits he knew about the prince. Using picture books was a way of keeping characters simple for students and providing the freedom to develop their monologues in any way they wanted. 

In my grade 8 class, students wrote and presented monologues as a Father of Confederation. They had to introduce themselves to the class, talk about their background and explain their contribution to Confederation. Many students dressed up and aged themselves in order to get into character. Some students presented with French Canadian accents and other brought props to share with the class. We were able to evaluate drama, language and history (based on the accuracy of their information) all in one assignment. 

I found the use of monologues to be very effective. We had to provide exemplars, work through the writing process, and give time for practice but in the end, students were allowed to explore their creative side while learning about several subject areas. In particular, monologues brought history to life for my grade 8’s and it is something I would use again. 

Examples for the classroom:

Dance/Drama in Langauge

One of the greatest take aways from my Drama/Dance classes at Brock is realizing that there are so many opportunities for cross curricular learning. Below are some of the ways that dance/drama were incorporated into Language.

One of the group presentations I most enjoyed was called the Drama of Voting where students used role play to host an election at different levels of government. Certain students were assigned a role (Prime Minter candidate, Premier candidate or Mayor candidate) and they had to write a campaign speech to rally for votes. Other students in the class had to develop questions that they would ask to each candidate regarding policy issues. At the end, students were allowed to actually vote for the winners. I liked this activity because it differentiated the roles. Students who felt more comfortable in drama could be a candidate while students who are not so comfortable could be in the audience asking questions. They connected this lesson to language in presenting and oral language but it could also be connected to social studies and the formation of governments. 

When my group presented our drama lesson we focused on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We divided the class into groups and gave each group a character to focus on. They had to complete character mapping to establish the character traits and defend a specific position using collective role. They then came together as a group and had a debate about if Goldilocks was guilty of breaking into their house. They took on the role of their character and spoke from a collective voice to defend their point of view. We focused on the writing component of language arts where students would have to complete a character map and write down their points using the voice of the character they were portraying considering how their character might talk, act, think and feel.


Finally we did an activity where the class was split into four quadrants and each space represent wind, fire, earth, and water. As we moved through the four quadrants we had to move based on the elements. When we were in the wind space many people used swaying and gentle motions as compared to the fire space where people were doing faster sharper motions to represent the crackle of the fire. This lesson was connected to FNMI learning and could be connected to the Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum. I liked this activity because it was clear to see how our movements changed as we moved from space to space.

 

Dance/Drama in Science

One of the greatest take aways from my Drama/Dance classes at Brock is realizing that there are so many opportunities for cross curricular learning. Below are some of the ways that dance/drama were incorporated into science.

One of the most memorable activities from class was when we were each given apart of the digestive system and asked to create a movement that would represent our part. I was the gallbladder and so I made a motion that includes swaying and collecting with my arms while making a gurgling sound to represent the bile. We all stood in a line and played out our digestive system. It was fun, funny but also extremely effective in getting us to think about how that body part would work and operate and consider what was it’s job and how could we portray that. This drama lesson not only focused on the science expectation of investigating the structure and function of the organs of the human body system but also embodies Dwyer’s (1996) Learner’s Theory about how information is absorbed, processed, and retained.

• 30% of what you see
• 50% of what you write/draw
• 70% of what you discuss
• 80% of what you do/experience
• 90% of what you teach

In another science activity we were given a poem that related to the particle theory. We had to come up with ways to illiterate our poem using different movements. We created an interceptive dance to tell the story of the state of matter. We used narrative form where our choreography followed a storyline. We were using our bodies and specific movements to explain and understand the partial theory of matter. We examined how particles would move differently if they were a solid, liquid or gas. 

In week 5, my group presented on structures and mechanisms and used dance to describe major weather events. We used call and response, mirroring and canons to demonstrate the learning. In our action we used the strategy of a canon to have students show how a major weather event such as a hurricane or tsunami could impact structures such as city buildings. We showed a video of how an earthquake impacts a city. 

We then had groups choose one weather condition or weather instance, and show, using dance, how the weather condition had changed the way the infrastructure looked before. Students would present and then have other groups guess which weather condition they were showing.