Homework: Beneficial for All?

An everlasting debate between educators is about the effectiveness of homework. Research has shown mixed effects of homework, but one idea that research has shown is that when homework is a practice (not a new concept), students have a greater benefit from it (Hill, 2013, p.118). In my own experience in a primary grade, my homework policy was mainly an issue of teaching students responsibility--can they take an assignment home, spend time on it at home, and then return it the following day.  I had mixed outcomes each year overall and I can say that generally students who did the homework (math practice from the day and choice reading 20 minutes per night) showed more academic success and greater involvement from parents from those who did not complete homework. From reading this ARTICLE I can see a benefit for ELLs who receive culturally responsive and language scaffolding homework. To constitute meaningful homework, I think homework must be accessible by families, limited , and tiered. In order to be accessible by families, we don't have to necessarily translate everything (think if you were working with multiple languages in your classroom). Homework can include a lot of picture cues. Also, it may be appropriate for you to send a link (or whichever way to communicate with families you prefer---class website, facebook, twitter, etc.) which has a recording of the sight words you are practicing that evening or the vocabulary words in the assignment. I also think homework should have a time limit. One of my biggest complaints through the years was that their children could not sit and do homework for a very long time (or the families were not home to help them for very long). In order to help (from which I received good feedback and a great homework completion rate) I told parents that homework should take no more than 40 minutes total--20 minutes math practice and 20 minutes reading. However, I used a monthly reading log with a goal... so if some nights they only had time for 10 minutes of reading that was OK if they read more another day. Students who met the goal or went above had a monthly readers lunch with me and the others who met the goal. Students who read every day on the reading log received recess time with me and readers lunch(yes, they loved it...I don't know why they would want to miss recess to help me in my room, but they were young so helping the teacher was still an honor). For the math practice (usually the only other content I sent home besides the reading log), I only gave students 20 minutes worth of homework. I explained to the parents at Back to School Night and also in my class brochure that if a students spends 20 minutes working on homework and does NOT finish, parents can sign their initials where they left off. Homework for me was not intended to be the parent's homework, as I found out that when homework is too hard for students their parents---and students!---end up getting frustrated. If a student only got to problem 3 of 10 equations but spent a good effort, that was enough for me. But remember, homework for my class was more about responsibility an structuring home time. 

Hill (2013) describes a homework structure which can benefit ELLs in particularly, as many times I have hesitated to give certain homework activities due to the fact that their parents did not speak English. When content area homework is tiered for students using the Thinking Language Matrix (Hill, 2013, p.123). I think this is a way to help me personally create homework in which I was hesitant to send home in the past. If we are able to send home a recording (through the above mentioned ways) of the reading students will have quick access to ways to practice their language through oral language homework. Requiring students to complete homework from that reading can be beneficial to them when giving them appropriate tasks according to their level:

Preproduction: nonverbal response

Early production: one word response

Speech emergence: short phrases/sentences

Intermediate fluency: longer and more complex sentences

Advanced fluency: near native 

Using the language matrix and technology tools can help us who are afraid to send home language based homework start giving meaningful home practice. 

Reference

Hill, J. D. (2013). Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners, 2nd Edition, 2nd Edition. [BryteWave]. Retrieved from https://shelf.brytewave.com/#/books/114004E4/ 

What's the Need?

When teaching ELL students and watching student progress data, it is sometimes confusing to know whether their  unsatisfactory progress is due to a language need or if they might have a reading disability. When teachers are working with the Special Education staff on initiating an IEP, there is a question that asks whether the student has a learning disability that is not determined by their second language learning. Students who have disabilities, "...have similar patterns of difficulty in their native language" (ColorinColorado). Teachers need to monitor both reading progress and also language progress. It is recommended that students who show a lack of progress are tested in both lagnuages to have a more complete picture of the student and to help determine the need of the student; whether the student needs both intensive language services and services from a special education provider. 

When determining needs for language learners, teachers have to closely examine a child's learning progress to determine the right interventions. For many students, they are lacking in language learning, so they need scaffolds for that. However, students who have identifiable disabilities will need even more scaffolding than other learners with disabilities (ColorinColorado). 

Planning for instruction for ELLs with identified disabilities is more comprehensive than planning for ELLs without disabilities. Teachers must: 

1. Determine difficulty of material: Assuming background knowledge in order to read, thinking of the cognitive demand places on a student who is an ELL with a learning disability, presuming upon what the student may/may not have retained from previous lessons.
2. Use materials and strategies which promote comprehensible input: Pre-teach vocabulary, preview concepts/genre, access and give background knowledge, make a connection to their native language and culture, use graphics and graphic organizers
3. Make sure all materials and activities are accessible: provide a checklist with pictures, offer listening instead of reading or oral presentation instead of written presentation, modify the process and product of the assignment
4. All for heterogeneous and homogeneous collaboration 
5. Use elements from their culture to encourage motivation: use reading materials about/from their culture, highlight cultural customs

References

ColorinColorado. (N.D.). English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities. Accessed through Regis University WorldClass.

Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota (http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/261). Citation: Liu, K., Watkins, E., Pompa, D., McLeod, P., Elliott, J. & Gaylord, V. (Eds). (Winter/Spring 2013). Impact: Feature Issue on Educating K-12 English Language Learners with Disabilities, 26(1). [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration].

 

Sheltering Instruction to Benefit ELLs and ALL Learners

Students who are language learners need more than just a guided time filling in a worksheet. For many classrooms without language learners, teachers do not have the necessity to implement structures like sheltered instruction (even though the SIOP model is sound teaching for all learners). Teachers who use this model are implementing these key strategies: preparation, building background knowledge, comprehensible output, explicitly teaching strategies, student interaction, practice and application, excellent pacing and lesson delivery, and assessment with feedback (Haynes, 2004). 

In the module (Grassi, 2005), the teacher fully implemented a SIOP lesson. The teacher specifically prepared a reading lesson for the book Esperanza Rising. The teacher carefully selected this book because of the cultural ties to the ELLs in her classroom. She could have picked a different text, but because she is instructing her students in a sheltered way to help their comprehension, this text can help students to access their background knowledge more easily because of a shared culture between students and the character. Also before reading, she selected several vocabulary words to help widen the base of knowledge before reading text. While reading, she solicited information (comprehensible output) from the students by having them think of connections. After reading, the teacher used sticky notes for hands on application. Students were engaged in the lesson because it was instructed at a good pace. Students had adequate time to discuss with each other without behaviors becoming an issue, which often happens when the activity is not engaging or the pacing is not too slow (or too quick that students feel hopelessly lost). It was obvious students felt comfortable with the teacher because they were asking questions and interacting with the text, even in their own language. 

References:

Grassi, E. (2015). EDRG 604 Video Module. 

Haynes, J. (2014). SIOP: Making content comprehensible for ells. Accessed through http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/using_siop_model_08621.php