Supporting MLLs - Project Based Learning with Mentor Texts

Project Based Learning (PBL) prepares students for academic, personal, and career success, and readies young people to rise to the challenge of their lives and the world they will inherit. It is used to provide MLLs (multilingual learners) opportunities to listen, talk, read, write, make notes, reflect on language use, clarify content, and use academic language for themselves.

Mentor texts - Using great writing as a model doesn’t come naturally to students. It is a skill that needs to be taught.

Goal:

To determine an area of need in NYC, develop a written proposal with guidance from mentor texts in order to begin to make a change

Steps we took:

Step 1 - determine areas of need in NYC: NYC animals, NYC environment, NYC parks & recreation, NYC homeless

Step 2 - in groups, explore mentor texts (formal proposals)

Step 3 - in groups, write a written proposal addressing ONE area of need

Step 4 - proposals are presented, 7th and 8th grade ENL students and the deciding committee (teachers and administration) vote!

Step 5 - elected group become managers, all other students create resumes

Step 6 - elected group conducts interviews and assigns roles to all other students

Step 7 - Proposal put into action! (bake sale, clothing/supply drive, visit Bowery Mission)

Step 8 - Reflect

PLO Goals:

My goals for attending the Session II Workshop for ELL/MLL Leads PLO were as follows:

• Have all of my students, who at the time were long-term MLLs test commanding on the NYSESLAT
• Build confidence in my students at the entering and emerging levels of English proficiency
• Develop expertise that will facilitate the selection, implementation, and/or adaptation of high-quality instructional plans to support MLLs
• Inform the design of professional learning communities

PLO Learnings:

Our ENL PLOs for this year had a focus in Advanced Literacies - Hallmark Three. Nonie K. Lesaux and Emily Phillips Galloway, in collaboration with the New York City Division of English Language Learners and Student Support, preach “to be academically and personally successful in today’s literacy-and knowledge-based society and economy, all students need to develop what we call ‘advanced literacy skills.’ These skills and competencies support each student to:

• communicate (orally and in writing) in increasingly diverse ways and with increasingly diverse audiences;
• understand and use print for a variety of purposes;
• Access and participate in academic, civic, and professional communities, where knowledge is shared and generated

The goal of session II was to improve the writing abilities of our ELL students and strengthen the instructional core through the use of mentor texts.

Implementation of Techniques and Practices:

Upon completion of the PLO, I devised a plan to share my learning with the full-staff at MS 258, Community Action School. Being the ENL teacher, I provide the staff with professional development meetings four times per year that focus on strategies that could be easily implemented in the content classrooms. Following my meetings, where I hope to create an experiential learning experience, I send out a Google Form survey in order to collect feedback from my peers. Based on this feedback, I may choose to alter the focus of my next session. I also make myself quite available for anyone that may wish to carry out the strategies I present. And, of course, all materials are shared with the staff via an online folder.

Aside from teaching my peers how they can utilize these strategies in their own classrooms, I have implemented mentor texts within my classroom several times this year.

Impact:

As a result of implementing both PBL and mentor texts in my classrooms, my students have shown changes in their writing samples. While working in groups, students analyzed the structure of the mentor proposals in order to begin to develop their own. Students were not working alone. The structure of our PBL unit allowed for student collaboration. My entering and emerging students could utilize the skills of their peers at expanding or commanding English proficiency levels. All students were incredibly motivated and excited to make a change in their city. This is highly useful for MLLs as they grow their English language skills.

Conclusion:

I have seen nothing but positive outcomes as a result of implementing the PBL unit. Since the beginning of this, what turned into a year-long project, I have seen nothing but excitement from my students. They were eager to work together in order to begin to better their city. It has even been suggested, by one of my 8th graders, that we should get the city involved in our work or perhaps attempt to find media coverage.

Within my own classes, I have seen student writing improve. And, I have heard, through written and verbal reflections of the process that it was beneficial to their understanding of the issues at hand. Students could fully grasp a difficult concept, homelessness, through collaboration and learning with their peers, and begin to aid in the efforts to help those in need.

Next Steps:

This was my first time implementing a PBL unit in my ENL classroom. Based on the reaction of my students and the growth they’ve shown in all modalities of English, I plan to reintroduce the both mentor texts and PBL into my classes next year. I am thinking we might focus on bettering our classroom or our school. Or, maybe we’ll think bigger than NYC.