As an ELA teacher, I've learned that pre-teaching vocabulary is a sound practice for all students. It is especially beneficial for language learners and students with special needs. Some of the vocabulary graphic organizers that help with vocabulary acquisition are the Frayer model, word map meaning organizers, picture dictionaries, and the vocabulary web wheel. Students will also benefit from using a dictionary to research definitions and being able to see the word in context. Before each lesson, vocabulary should be front loaded in the attempt to facilitate overall comprehension while activating schema. Another way to activate schema for our EL’s is by implementing the TPR (total physical response) strategy explained in the SIOP book. This strategy emphasizes using your body to act out or gesture the information you want to communicate. A lot of the content from these lessons could easily be acted out to facilitate understanding and communication with students who do not speak English. Activating schema is a way to achieve a baseline comprehension before embarking on a lesson that may not reach some.
In order to continue teaching my unit, activating schema is always important because I need a base to begin my teaching. This schema activation will be annotated in a journal. This journal will contain the rough draft information they need to complete the unit goal. The overall unit question will be “Who am I as an individual and within my community and where do I fit in moving into the future?” “How can I grow and flourish through my involvement in community gardens? “What was this city and my community like when my ancestors arrived?” Some students who are first generation residents can ask themselves, “When I moved here, what was this city like and how much has it changed since arriving?”
After addressing these questions concerning their anticipations, students will analyze characters from core novels like “Seedfolks,” drawing connections between seemingly disparate elements. Some essential questions I will include are:
- What is the history of farming in New Haven? When did New Haven move away from farming and industrialize?
- What is the difference between mass production and sustainability?
- Which New Haven areas are considered “food deserts” and which areas are not? Why do you think there is a difference or distinction?
- What role do politicians, community leaders and individual citizens play in decision making in regards to urban planning?
- Why are social aspects just as important as health benefits when we discuss community gardening?
- In the late 1960’s we saw a “guerrilla gardening” movement. In your opinion is that an effective way of starting and sustaining a community garden or are more organized efforts needed?
Following their journal entries, students will employ the Cornell note template. It is always beneficial when reading and annotating nonfiction texts. Students will formulate questions that they will answer after reading specific articles and literature. This method supports concise note-taking, efficient information storage, and helps in practicing summarization.
Emphasizing best practices, graphic organizers like KWL charts (What I Know, Want to Know, and Learned) and story maps are beneficial, especially for language learners and students with special needs. The graphic organizers are useful because they drive the students to really interact with the readings, thus helping them to recall important information for future use. These graphic organizers help students engage in meaningful dialogue surrounding the topic. Once completed the students can pair up based on what they want to learn and share amongst each other what they already know. This fosters focused classroom discussion, which students do not get enough of. The focus on what they want to learn helps guide their research and be specific to the topic. Story maps make it easier for students to read and keep track of what they are reading. They also serves as a good study guide because all the information is on one page and readily accessible. It also helps bolster confidence in students who do not participate much, because they are not being asked anything they do not know or something that is not on the organizer. Another useful graphic organizer is the Venn diagram. Students are always asked to find similarities and differences between topic and characters who may seem to have nothing in common. The Venn diagram is useful because it gives students the opportunity to compare and contrast, really looking deep into the concept and reasoning their answers to then be able to support them.
We can use technology that enhances learning to complete all the aforementioned work. There are many videos, both current and historical, that talk about community gardens and the history of New Haven. The documentaries will be viewed as group and reading response questions provided. Students will be allowed to view, reflect, respond, and share. Directing critical thinking into oral expression is important at this stage in their educational journey. For struggling students, it is always helpful to give them templates and sentence starters. Because of the use of technology, lessons can be differentiated to facilitate and accommodate different learning styles.
As a culminating activity, students will create a community garden plan. This plan will be based on actual community garden models, research, and group work. Students will work in a group with specific roles and a concrete plan. Along with the community garden plan, each student will be responsible for an essay describing their individual rational as well as the group rational.
