The ELL Writer: Moving Beyond Basics in the Secondary Classroom

Description

This resource for secondary school ELA and ELL teachers brings together compelling insights into student experiences, current research, and strategies for building an inclusive writing curriculum. The ELL Writer expands the current conversation on the literacy needs of adolescent English learners by focusing on their writing approaches, their texts, and their needs as student writers. Vivid portraits look at tangible moments within these students’ lives that depict not only the difficulties but also the possibilities that they bring with them into the classroom. The case studies are complemented by findings from current research studies by second-language writing specialists that will inform today’s classroom teachers. Front Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 9 Foreword......Page 13 Preface: Breaking the Ice......Page 15 Starting Points......Page 19 Why This Book? Ells in the English Language Arts Classroom......Page 20 Unpacking the Labels: Learning More About Our Students......Page 22 Complicating Labels and Issues of Adolescent Identity......Page 28 Meet the Students......Page 29 Note......Page 31 Common Terms and Acronyms......Page 32 Why Writing Matters......Page 34 The Challenge of Writing in a Second Language......Page 35 BICS, CALPS, and Academic English......Page 37 "The Knowns"......Page 39 Contemporary Research on L2 Writers in Secondary Schools......Page 42 The Study of Contrastive Rhetoric......Page 43 Conclusion......Page 47 Additional Resources......Page 48 Meet Ken-zhi......Page 50 Meet Therese......Page 52 Stumbling Blocks—What We See: Identity, Confidence, and Writing Practice......Page 54 What We See: Erasers and Insecurities......Page 55 What We Miss: Beneath the Eraser......Page 56 Therese: Losing Her Voice in English Writing......Page 58 Conquering Students' Waves of Doubt......Page 64 Conclusion......Page 68 Additional Resources......Page 69 Meet Miguel......Page 70 The Writing Process......Page 72 Miguel and the Four-step Writing Process......Page 73 Helping Writers Move Beyond the Sisyphus Moment......Page 79 Revisiting Revision: Opportunities to Teach Ells to Engage as Writers......Page 82 Conclusion......Page 87 Additional Resources......Page 88 Meet Paul......Page 89 Meet Wisdom......Page 91 Meet Vildana......Page 94 5. Survival, Writing, and Cycles of lnopportunity......Page 96 Survival Genres......Page 98 At Odds: Concerns About Over-Scaffolding and Lowering Writing Expectations......Page 100 "I Used to Be an Honors Student"......Page 101 Cycles of lnopportunity......Page 103 From High School to College: More Ramifications......Page 104 What are Advanced and High-Status Genres?......Page 105 Moving Beyond Survival: Some Ideas......Page 109 Additional Resources......Page 111 A Multicultural View in the ELA Classroom......Page 112 Identifying the Rhetorical and Literacy Strengths of ELL Writers......Page 114 Learning from Wisdom......Page 116 Learning from Ken-zhi......Page 120 Learning from Therese......Page 125 Bringing ELL Writers' Competencies into the Classroom......Page 129 Additional Resources......Page 132 Toward an Inclusive Writing Classroom: Three Important Qualities......Page 133 Designing Inclusive Writing Assignments......Page 135 Learning Objectives for Rhetorically Savvy Writing Instruction......Page 136 Teaching Writing Explicitly: Functional and Sequenced Approaches......Page 141 Additional Resources......Page 151 8. Responding to ELL Writers and Their Texts: Issues of Response, Error Correction, and Grading......Page 153 Voices From the Classroom......Page 154 Distinguishing Between Teacher Response, Error Correction, and Evaluation......Page 155 Establishing Approaches to Teacher Response......Page 157 So What Do We Do About Error Correction?......Page 161 Summarizing Suggestions for Response and Correction......Page 162 ELL Writers and Peer Response......Page 164 Evaluating ELL Writers and Their Texts......Page 167 Additional Resources......Page 174 9. Conclusion: Looking Beyond the ELA Classroom......Page 176 School-wide Programs for Students and Faculty......Page 177 Transforming Extracurricular Activities and Initiatives......Page 179 Final Thoughts......Page 181 Additional Resources......Page 182 Appendix A: Activity-Play, Write, Revise......Page 183 Appendix B: Activity-Who Are My Readers?......Page 187 Appendix C: Activity-Mapping Our Literacies and Resources......Page 189 Appendix D: Sample Genre Tags for Genre Awareness Activity......Page 191 Appendix E: Building Rhetorical Fingerholds Into Our Assignments: Sample Questions......Page 193 Appendix F: A Discussion of L2 Writing, Assessment, and Computer Scoring......Page 195 References......Page 197 Ahout the Author......Page 207 Back Page......Page 220