Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners by Centro de Investigaciones Educativas

The Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication was sponsor by a grant from the Puerto Rico Council on Education, No Child Left Behind, Title II Funds (NCLB –13-01). The purpose of this Project is to offer a professional training program to teachers English to Secondary School of diverse learners, leading to the development of innovative strategies that will foster a better linguistic achievement and stimulate learning through an integrated curriculum. It responds to the urgent need of both public and private schools. It targeted teachers from the Humacao Public School Region and private schools located in Yabucoa, Rio Grandes, Caguas, Maunabo, and Juncos.

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E LO P M E N T F O R T E AC H E R S O F E N G L I S H TO S E CO N DA RY S C H O O L D I V E R S E L E A R N E R S : S T R AT E G I E S F O R I N T E G R AT I N G

ART AND TECHNOLOGY FOR E

C O M M U N I C AT I O N

Thus, the Project envisioned the following goals: 1.

Achieve a high degree competent educator who can implement problem based learning, concept development, cooperative learning, and other teaching strategies pertinent to the educational growth of diverse learners. Facilitate the professional development of 20 teachers in the integration of music, performance and visual arts, curriculum alignment, technology, and assessment to the teaching of English to diverse learners for a better academic achievement. Promote and disseminate participants’ strategic planning through the design of curricular matrix(es) and lessons based on standards of excellence.

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Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras Facultad de Educación Centro de Investigaciones Educativas

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E LO P M E N T F O R T E AC H E R S O F E N G L I S H TO S E CO N DA RY S C H O O L D I V E R S E L E A R N E R S : S T R AT E G I E S F O R I N T E G R AT I N G

ART AND TECHNOLOGY FOR E

C O M M U N I C AT I O N

Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de R铆o Piedras Facultad de Educaci贸n Centro de Investigaciones Educativas

Title: Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Eﬀective Communication Copyright © 2015 Centro de Investigaciones Educativas Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras Facultad de Educación P.O. Box 23304 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3304 Project Director: Annette López de Méndez, Ed.D. Telephone: 787-764-0000 ext. 4382, 4384 Graphic Designer: Nilsa Espasas Editor: Rosemary Morales Urbina, Ed.D.

The Project is funded (in part) by a federal Grant under the Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act. (P.L. 017-110) administered by the Puerto Rico Education Council. Opinions and findings expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and no official endorsement by either of these agencies should be inferred.

Resources Administrative Personnel Annette López de Méndez, Ed.D. – Director María Antonia Irizarry, Ed.D. – Co-Director Kristy Agosto - Administrative Secretary/Coordinator Diana Rivera, Ed.D. – External Evaluator

Professors María Antonia Irizarry, Ed.D. Aníbal Muñoz Claudio, Ed.D. Elsie Candelaria Sosa, Ed.D. Carmen M. Torres Rivera, Ed.D. Candidate Rosemary Morales Urbina, Ed.D. Jeannette Milland Vigio, MBA/TGMT

Project Participants

Aponte Aponte, Ana S. – Escuela S.U. Manuel Ortíz Santiago, Yabucoa Aponte Aponte, Sonia N. – Escuela Alfonso Casta Martínez, Maunabo Bonkosky Medina, Harry – Escuela Juan Ponce de León, Humacao Candelario Vaillant, Yolanda – Escuela S. U. José Toro Ríos, Humacao Cardona, Maritere – The Palmas Academy School, Humacao De Rosa Santiago, Anthony – Escuela Pedro Falú Orellano, Río Grande Díaz Beniquez, Sandra – Escuela Francisco Torres García, Yabucoa Eliza Cedeño, Daisy – Escuela S.U. Manuel Ortíz Santiago, Yabucoa García Morales, Jeannette – Escuela S.U. Asunción Lugo, Yabucoa Inostroza Medina, Diana – Escuela Rosa Sánchez Vargas, Yabucoa Jordán Gómez, María Edith – Colegio Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, Humacao Martínez Rodríguez, Jackeline – Escuela José Collazo Colón, Juncos Peña Ramírez, Rosymar – Escuela José Collazo Colón, Juncos Pérez Serrano, Emmanuel – Escuela Manuela Toro Morice, Caguas Rivera Rodríguez, Verónica – The Palmas Academy School, Humacao Rivera Sánchez, Migdalia - S.U. Manuel Ortíz Santiago, Yabucoa Rosario Ramos, Kanisha – Colegio Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro, Humacao Sanjurjo Rodríguez, Omaris – Escuela Vocacional Superior Eduardo García Carrillo, Canóvanas Troche, Sara – Escuela Juan Ponce de León, Humacao Viera Rodríguez, Annette – Escuela Pedro Falú Orellano, Río Grande

Content

Prologue Annette López de Méndez, Ed.D.

Factors that Aﬀect Foreign/Second Language Learning and Their Impact on Student Interest and Learning María A. Irizarry, Ed.D.

Is the Digital Divide Also a Linguistic divide? Elsie Candelaria Sosa, Ed.D.

Who Said 12 Years? It’s 90 Days of English Instruction!: Vindicating the English Teachers’ Commitment in the Public Schools of Puerto Rico Aníbal Muñoz Claudio, Ed..D

Hidden Masks upon the Canvas: The Vejigante in the ESL Classroom Carmen M. Torres Rivera, Ed.D. Candidate

Oh No! Graphic Novels in the Classroom? Oh Yes! Rosemary Morales Urbina, Ed.D.

Participants’ Contributions Lesson Plan 1: Movie Making - Migdalia Rivera Sánchez

• Outstanding Workshop

• A Digital Story

How I Implemented a Fusion of Diverse Strategies Learned in the Proposal - Omaris Sanjurjo

“Professional Development for Teachers of English of Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Eﬀective Communication” - Daisy Elisa Cedeño

Lesson Plan 2: Digital Stories - Diana Inostroza Medina

Lesson 3: Of UBD, Curricular Maps, Planning, Common Core, etc... - Yoli Candelario Vaillant

My Realization - Verónica Rivera

Lesson 4: The Fault is Our Stars by John Green: A Simple Lesson with a Big Impact - Maritere Cardona

• Impact of the Lesson: A Brief Reﬂection “The Perpetual Learner” • Implications for Teaching Listening Comprehension in the ESL Classroom

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Lesson Plan 5: The Bond Between Visual Arts and Classroom - Kanisha Rosario Ramos My Experience in the Proposal Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Eﬀective Communication

Lesson Plan 6: The Proposal: Using Social Media to Expand the English Class Beyond the 90 days - Jackeline Martínez Rodríguez

Lesson Plan 7: Writing a Narrative Essay - Harry Bankosky Medina

Lesson 8: My Journey So Far - Annette Viera Rodríguez

Flashback Flash-Forward Memoir: El Cuco Te Va a Comer - Annette Viera

Lesson 9: Stanley Flat Again by Jeﬀ Brown- Sara Troche

Reﬂection: “A good teacher is an excellent student.” - Emmanuel Pérez

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Lesson 10: An Adventure with Flat Stanley- Migdalia Rivera Sánchez

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A Teacher’s Reﬂection and Experiences: “Relevant Material, Who says?”- Jeannette García Morales 110 Be Strong and Don’t Faint- Anthony DeRosa

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Prologue

The Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication was sponsor by a grant from the Puerto Rico Council on Education, No Child Left Behind, Title II Funds (NCLB –13-01). The purpose of this Project is to offer a professional training program to teachers of English to Secondary School diverse learners, leading to the development of innovative strategies that will foster a better linguistic achievement and stimulate learning through an integrated curriculum. It responds to the urgent need of both public and private schools. It targeted teachers from the Humacao Public School Region and private schools located in Yabucoa, Rio Grandes, Caguas, Maunabo, and Juncos.

Thus, the Project envisioned the following goals:

In order to achieve these goals, the Project recruited 20 teachers, from the private and public school system in the Humacao Region. The project was envisioned as a collaboration among different stakeholders: (a) Department of Education English Program, (b) University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, Education Faculty (c) University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus, English Department Faculty, and (d) Puerto Rico Teachers Of English To Speakers Of Other Languages (PRTESOL.). All training sessions were offered at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus. Instructional Program Teachers attended 130 hours of professional development, distributed in a 2 weeks intensive summer workshop and Saturdays during the ﬁrst semester of the academic year. The following topics were explored in the workshops: deﬁning diverse learners; assessment strategies; the use of movies, documentaries, and videos as a source of idiomatic expresion to enhance language learning; the use of music, radio for listening and english comprehension; poetry to enhance language learning; the use of the virtual museum and real museum visits to promote effective communication; technological tools to enhance language learning; digital storytelling, the use of visual and performing arts, as well as interactive techniques (Flat Stanley) to enhace writing skills; and strategic planning and implementation of innovative lessons on how to integrate different topics to the development of the English language

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arts oral and written communication, and reading comprehension. In addition, the project wanted to increase teachers’ conﬁdence in planning for the integration of English to other disciplines, as well as increase students’ interest and academic background regarding the arts and technology. Guiding Principles

The Project was based on the premise that the development of linguistic and communicative competence benefits from the use of different approaches to prompt teachers’ and students’ awareness that language proficiency is required for effective communication. Researchers in the areas of linguistics, sociology, psychology, and education such as Brown (2001, 2007), Crystal (1997, 2004), Dodge (1998), Ginn (1999), Guerra and Shutz (1999), Rassias (1998), Taber (2008), Wesch (2010), Wiles and Bondi (2010), and Zapel (1999) advocate the use of visual and performing arts, technology, and recent assessment strategies in the development of communicative competence. This Project reaffirms the following postulates: •

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The use of different approaches and strategies contribute to better, gratifying, and faster acquisition and learning of a language. This is accomplished through the integration of poetry, drama, movies, music, and the radio to the teaching lessons. Observing and thinking about art and poetry triggers in the individual the interpretation of the messages artists and writers intend to convey. This, in turn, stimulates critical thinking, creativity, and the construction and interpretation of meaning. The use of problem based learning, concept development, comparative learning and technology for the creation of digital stories, blogs, and chatrooms contribute to the exploration and understanding of concepts, these strategies foster the multiplicity of modalities of learning, perceptions, and learning styles. The integration of different subject areas develops reasoning, the understanding of distinct perspectives, problem solution ability, and the use of ﬁgurative language, which are essential for thinking skills. The effective educator understands the importance of ongoing assessment and uses a variety of assessment strategies to guide the teaching of diverse learners.

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Workshops topics

In light of the Project guiding principles, the following strategies were used to foster the professional development of participating teachers: 1.

Workshops on curriculum integration and instructional alignment. The workshops on curriculum integration and instructional alignment got participating teachers acquainted with different strategies geared to foster the integration of standards of excellence, expectations, and the English language arts. The workshops also included models of integration, alignment of standards and expectations, curriculum and instructional matrixes where technology and assessment were incorporated, and teachers produced lessons illustrating this integration. Workshops on the assessment of diverse learners. The Project recognizes the relevance and importance of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of diverse learners before planning the teaching-learning process. Therefore, it establishes as a priority the need to make participating teachers conscious of innovative ways to determine the knowledge, skills, and dispositions students bring to school. Assessment is visualized as a process, which implies to observe in a detailed and careful manner the development and growth of students. In the workshops, the resources presented and implemented assessment strategies for the evaluation of oral communication, reading comprehension, and written communication.

Lectures and workshops regarding art, poetry, and drama. The Project offered participating teachers a series of lectures in the areas of the visual and performing of arts as cues for speaking and writing production; poetry for the enjoyment of literature through ﬁgurative language, in addition to drama for the enhancement of oral communication. Through these lectures and workshops, participating teachers had practical and real experiences directed towards the fostering of appreciation of creativity, development of sensitivity, and understanding of the relationship of the areas studied and the teaching of English. Likewise, participating teachers had the opportunity to reﬂect about values and culture. Furthermore, the Project is intended to develop the necessary competencies to implement a creative agenda to enable students to express themselves freely, thus enhancing their self-esteem, perseverance, and motivation. Visit to the museum. To complement the lectures and workshops, participating teachers had the opportunity to visit the Casa Roig Museum at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus. This experience enabled participants to be familiarized with artistic creativity, appreciate art, explore the value of art from the social and cultural dimensions, besides knowing how art is a means of expression that strengthens and enhances personal and collective self-esteem. Workshops on the production of digital stories and the creation of blogs and chatrooms. The workshops on the production of digital stories and the creation of blogs and chatrooms enabled participating teachers to explore technology as a means of expression (speaking and writing). These workshops allowed participants to understand technological science as an everyday instrument, which can be easily learned and utilized to express ideas, develop new visions, and explore new concepts. The digital art is an integrating experience, which enabled participating teachers and their students to develop the capacity to inquire, identify and solve problems, invent, and create. At the same time, digital stories, blogs, and chat-rooms were presented as means of expression that foster the speaking, reading, and writing competencies, enticing the student to connect reality to visual image, oral and written expression creatively. Participating teachers had the opportunity to create and develop digital stories and blogs and chat-rooms with the purpose of maximizing their students’ academic achievement. Workshops on the movies as a source of idiomatic expressions and using the radio for listening comprehension. These workshops were directed towards the recognition of individual differences among students. There are many approaches and techniques that can be used to attend to the learning styles of diverse students. These workshops provided participating teachers basic tools to adapt and differentiate the teaching –learning process. Movies and the radio were used to present learners simple strategies to identify and understand idiomatic expressions for listening comprehension. The goal was to develop phonemic awareness and communicative competence. Workshops on the use of music for language production through writing. In these workshops participants had the opportunity to explore creative writing, emphasizing the relation of music and the power of satisfaction and joy in the production of language. Workshops included models and strategies used in the fostering of creativity and the use of music to stimulate the writing expression in learners. The main goal was to arouse participating teachers’ thinking about alternate and holistic strategies to motivate and get learners interested in writing. The calendar of lectures and workshops included poetry, drama, music, movies, the radio, and technology to illustrate the integration of different disciplines in the development of the language arts for communicative competence. Workshops of strategic planning for oral communication, reading comprehension, and written communication. The effect of strategically planned instruction increases the probability of successful achievement of goals. Because of this reality, the concept of strategically planned instruction was introduced in order to consider a series of events that affect the learner. It is assumed that this planning can facilitate learning. The purpose of strategically planned instruction is to develop an organized system to promote learning, which will create change in the behavior of people. This way the teaching-learning process will not only propitiate the development of the affective level and human values but it will

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also reinforce diversity. Participants were given time to plan and write lessons plans, that were shared and commented by professors and colleagues. A selection of the plans written by participants have been included and published in this manual.

Follow-up visits were seen as a possibility to stimulate conversations with participating teachers to discuss the challenges schools present and how to facilitate the integration of teachers’ experiences in the Project to their daily classes. Besides, the professional resources of the Project served as mentors giving support, observing, and offering feedback to participating teachers in the process of implementation of the school curriculum. Also, they secured the teachers’ planning and adaptation of the program of study to stimulate students’ learning. The product: The teachers’ manual

During the project, participants spend many hours learning in teams and producing lesson plans. In order to celebrate the teachers’ enthusiasm, effort and creativity we have put together this publication, that is composed of a series of essays written by project faculty, short essays and sample lesson plans contributed by some of the project participants. The lesson plans were produced during the last project workshops and participants were able to contextualize and implement the learned teaching strategies to their classroom. The manual is a compilation of the technological and artistic interventions that inspired them to plan innovative lessons for the real ESL classroom scenario and to put into practice the 21st Century skills explored during the training sessions. The manual opens with Dr. María A. Irizarry essay, which analyzes the social and academic factors that play an important role in the academic learning of ESL learners, when they experience cultural differences with the educational system. In her essay, she makes a call to teachers to understand that in order to teach a second language, one must also address the cultural aspects in which the language is embedded. Most important, doctor Irizarry makes a call to understand that in order to teach and learn a second language one must embrace the concept of “diversity” and “create better learning environments for culturally different students” in order to help and inspire students to “develop an appreciation and love for the new language and culture that they have adopted.” Dr. Elsie Candelaria explores in her article the ways in which media literacy and the media divide has evolved in our generation. She emphasizes in the idea that the digital divide is also a linguistic divide. Thus, she poses interesting questions regarding the challenges faced by those who do not belong to the digital generation, how multiple divide exists in our contemporary society, and the existing differences between media literacy and information literacy. She analyzes, the perspective of society about social status, the level of morphology and syntax of English and places the digital divide as a central focus of Internet studies. She ends the article by challenging those over 30 years old, that is the current generation of school teachers, to understand that in order to address the existing “digital divide” and “linguistic divide” one must be open to “digital self-learning and self-improvement”. This is a must in order to survive in the current digital world. Dr. Aníbal Muñoz article calculates the amount of time students, in the public system of Puerto Rico, are able to explicitly use and engage in the active learning of English. With a step by step calculus he takes the reader into a “fact ﬁnding riddle” that establishes the parameters for a fair judgment of the work of English teachers and the answer to public criticism against the English program of the public system in Puerto Rico. He “unravels” the common belief of 12 years of formal instructions by suggesting that a closer view on the numbers leaves the system exposed as never before. His analysis challenges the reader to examine the facts on why students seem to be mostly receptive learners and not fully bilinguals at the end of the mystiﬁed 12 years of education.

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Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres-Rivera, provides examples on how the carnival and its folklore can be incorporated in the development of reading and writing activities in the ESL classroom. Writing about art activities that can be intertwined to music and community life can bring meaning and understanding to actual celebrations in our young society, as well as motivate students to learn English. The creation of masks based in the figure of “el vejigante” can bring colorful, musical rhythms and myths into the context of language learning and culture exaltation. The vivid description of her field research experiences, takes us into the festive environment that local culture offers us in order to address the cultural connection, so needed and sometimes disregarded. To have the chance to write and perform original poetry and musical pieces enables students to uncover their talents, abilities and words that are sometimes hidden under the mask of fear. She presents the readers with an authentic teaching strategy that not only help students strengthen their identity, but that also motivates them to explore the elements of their culture within learning of a second language. Dr. Rosemarie Morales presents an eloquent article on defense of the use of comics and graphic novels in the classroom. The essay is a must for all teachers, novice and experiences, since understanding the essence of combining images and text not only convinces one of literary value but also of the aesthetics of this genre. She provides literature to sustain how comics and graphic novels can motivate and contribute to learning a second language, and provides teachers with arguments to advocate for its use. She ends the essay providing us a window of her memories of those classical cartoons that became part of her life. This appears to be a reminder that in everyone’s life existed a cartoon character that motivated and strengthened our literacy learning process. Lesson Plan design is an innate part of a teacher’s life. The art of being a teacher relies in the art of lesson planning. Thus, participants were asked to contribute to this manual with lesson plans that they had put in practice in their classrooms. These lesson plans provided the project with evidence on how what was learned in the workshop was translated to the classroom. A selection of the teaching plans and short essays are included in the manual examples of how project participants adapted, contextualized and modified the strategies learned to their students’ needs and interests. We invite the reader to look beyond the classroom plan and to imagine how teachers, with limited resources and technological constraints dared to innovate and bring joy to their classroom. To me, these teachers are real heroes and I salute their intelligence and bravery. I would like to end this introduction by encouraging the reader to understand this Project as an example of a professional learning community approach. The workshops developed in all participants a sense of shared common goals. One of these goals was being open to learn new teaching strategies in order to bring the joy of learning into the classroom. The Project faculty constructed a safe and supportive environment, thus teachers were open to learn from each other and were inspired to innovate. This developed in participants a collective identity, characterized by a responsibility to promote change within their classroom. Participating teachers worked in collaboration, developed respect toward different ideas and with the help of their peers were able to enrich their own way of thinking. They saw each other as partners in learning, while faculty allow them time to take risks and innovate. Thus, the participants writings and lesson plans demonstrate how their ideas grew out of the workshop content and the professional learning community. There are no words to explain the effort this group of teachers made to understand and adopt the 21st Century Skills to their teaching and learning environment. For these reasons we are very grateful to the support given by the Council of Education of Puerto Rico. We understand these teachers will continue making their contributions to make the ESL teaching and learning process one full of joy. Annette López de Méndez, Ed.D., Project Director Valeria Del Valle, BA TESOL, English Teacher & Research Assistant

References

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Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2 nd. ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Brown, H.D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (4 th. ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman. Crystal, D. (1977). English as global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. (2004). The language revolution. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Dodge, D. (1998). Creative drama in the second language classroom: Action Research. Retrieved from http://educ.queensu.ca/~ar/ 11drama.htm Ginn, W.Y. (1999). Jean Piaget-Intellectural development. Retrieved from http://english.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html Guerra, C., & Shutz, R. (1999). Vygotsky. Retrieved from http://english.sk.com.br/sk-vygoy.html Rassias Foundation. (1998). Language in action: A proďŹ le of Professor Rassias. Retrieved from http://Dartmouth.edu/arsci/rassias/ JAR.html Taber, J. (2008). A brief history of ESC instruction: Theories, methodologies, upheavels [Web page] Retrieved from http:// papersbyjoantaber.blogspot.como/2005/05/brief-history-of-esl-instruction.html Wesch, M. (2010). Web 2.0 and new viral communities. Welcome to 21st Century Schools. [Web page]. Retrieved from http:// www.21stcenturyschools.com/index.htlm Wiles, J., & Bondi, J. (2010). Curriculum development: A guide to practice. White Plains, NY: Longman Pearson. Zapel, A.L. (Ed.). (1999). 1999-2000 Theater, drama, and speech resources. Catalog #144. Colorado, Springs, CO: Meriwether Publishing.

Factors that Aﬀect Foreign/Second Language Learning and Their Impact on Student Interest and Learning María A. Irizarry, Ed. D.

In his work Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, Brown (2007) discusses the Post-method era of language teaching history and suggests that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an accepted paradigm with many interpretations and manifestations. He further asserts that “no model will be sufficient to satisfy all the criteria for a comprehensive theory of instructed second language acquisition” (p. 45) and postulates that with communicative language teaching, “[w]e are trying to get our learners to develop linguistic fluency … and are equipping [them] with tools for generating unrehearsed language performance “out there” when they leave the womb of our classrooms” (p. 45). Further, he proposes seven characteristics of a communicative language approach positing that they “underscore some major departures from earlier methods and approaches [because] in CLT we pay considerably less attention to the overt presentation and discussion of grammatical rules” (p. 47). Each of these goals is briefly summarized in the following sentences. According to Brown, these characteristics are the overall goals, the relationship of form and function, fluency and accuracy, focus on real-world contexts, autonomy and strategic involvement, teacher roles, and student roles. The overall goals, he opines, suggest a focus on all of the components of communicative competence which include grammatical, discourse, functional, sociolinguistic, and strategic. Consequently, he is of the view that

goals must intertwine the organizational aspects of language with the pragmatic aspects. With respect to relationship of form and function, he states that language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. With fluency and accuracy, Brown states that “a focus on students’ “flow” of comprehension and production and a focus on the formal accuracy of production” (p. 46) are complementary principles that underlie communicative techniques. Conversely, he underscores that at times fluency or accuracy can take precedence depending on the desired goal of either keeping learners meaningfully engaged in language use or attending to correctness. In either case, he advises that “part of the teacher’s responsibility is to offer appropriate corrective feedback on learners’ errors” (p. 46) when the main focus is on accuracy. In terms of real-world contexts, he affirms that in a communicative class students will ultimately have to use the language productively and receptively in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom. As such, classroom tasks must equip students with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts. Brown warns however, that although the use of authentic language is implied in CLT in an effort to build fluency, “fluency should never be encouraged at the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct communication” (p. 47). According to Brown, much more spontaneity is present and students are encouraged to deal with unrehearsed situations“ under the guidance, but not control, of the teacher” (p. 47). With regard to autonomy and strategic involvement, Brown (2007) explains that students are provided with opportunities to focus on their own learning process through raising their awareness of their own styles of learning and through the development of appropriate strategies for production and comprehension. This awareness and action, he suggests, will help to develop autonomous learners capable of continuing to learn the language beyond the classroom and the course. The final two characteristics of the communicative language teaching approach relate to the roles of both the teacher and the student. The teacher becomes a facilitator and guide and is an empathetic coach who encourages students to construct meaning through genuine linguistic interaction with other students and the teacher. On the other hand, students are active participants in their own learning process through the teacher’s use of learner-centered, cooperative, collaborative learning although not to the detriment of appropriate teacher-centered activity. Critical thinking is a learning skill that has a great significance to student learning in the 21st century. Almost gone from the conversation are those inner concerns—wisdom, truth, character, imagination, creativity, and meaning—that once formed the core values of education. Outcomes have replaced insights as the yardstick of learning, while standardized tests are replacing human judgment as the means of assessment. (Monke, 2004, p. 13). When students are taught to think critically and analyze their thoughts and ideas to solve problems, they become better thinkers and decision-makers. Vieira, Tenreiro-Vieira, and Martins (2011) reference three phases in the development of critical thinking skills prior to and leading up to the 1990s. They posit that the latter period is characterized by a certain insistence on the creative use and transfer of these thinking abilities as a means for metacognitive reflection, in which students are expected to become more aware of their own thinking processes and better informed about thinking strategies of others (p. 43). Thus, as students develop their critical thinking skills, their ability to become global citizens is increase

as they will be better able to construct knowledge, use technology effectively, and collaborate globally. In his article entitled, Prospective English language teachers’ perceptions of the target language and culture in relation to their socioeconomic status, Arikan (2010) argues that prospective foreign language teachers need to have an accurate knowledge and positive perception of the target language and culture in order to help students gain a better insight of the culture. Therefore, he conducted this study to determine how these teachers’ socio-economic status impacted their perceptions of the target language and culture. To gather information he administered a questionnaire and a Likert-type scale. According to Arikan (2010), the results revealed that despite being well aware of the target language, prospective teachers have limited knowledge on the target culture and appreciate it less than the target language. Additionally, he reports that these teachers’ perceptions were largely based on their attitudes toward the target language, their knowledge of the target culture, parents’ use of the target language, family income, and their father’s job. In reviewing the literature, he underscores that there is research-based evidence that teachers’ perception of and their attitude toward the target culture are affected mainly by social, cultural, intercultural, educational, and socio-economic forces. Further, he postulates that although the effect of the socioeconomic status on prospective teachers’ perceptions of the target culture is not well-articulated in the literature, it has been shown that students with higher socio-economic status demonstrate higher academic skills. He also purports that the relationship between prospective teachers’ perceptions of the target language culture and their socio-economic status in English as a foreign language environments is still under-researched. The views expressed in this article are consistent because many foreign language teachers focus merely on the language aspect and pay very little attention to teaching culture. As a result of their own background, socialization, and view about the culture to be studied, they minimize its importance in language study. Language and culture are interwoven and should, therefore, go hand in hand in a language classroom to help students understand not only the language they are studying, but also the culture of the people. This lends itself to a greater appreciation and respect for cultural differences and if teachers’ perspectives are positive then this will resonate with students. In conducting a study to explore the level of apprehension of ESL students and their attitude towards academic writing, Ismail and Elias (2010) conducted a study in a Malaysian institution of higher learning. They indicate that their research suggests that many ESL students are apprehensive about writing in general and as a consequence develop a negative attitude toward academic writing. This, they suggest, spills over into the university level where students are required to perform most of their academic tasks in written form. In reviewing the literature, the researchers posit that these students’ apprehension and attitude worsen at the university level due to the fact that they are expected to write at a higher level with low level skills. They suggest that as a consequence of this, it is not surprising that many ESL students often get writer’s block and need extra encouragement. Additionally, they assert that if ESL teachers are cognizant of their students’ apprehension and negative attitude toward writing, they will be able to mitigate the problem because as a result of this problem the students procrastinate, rush through their work, and produce poor quality work. Finally, they argue that teachers should encourage and motivate these students to write by assigning interesting writing activities such as weblogs and on e-forums. These activities they suggest

would not only lower the students’ affective filter but would also give the students an opportunity to practice their writing outside of their time spent in writing classes. This study shows that sometimes teachers shape the attitude of students by the very tasks they assign. In this instance, students at the college level are still struggling because they have not developed the requisite skills to engage confidently in the writing process. Thus, allowing them to write online would help to build their confidence as there is less pressure to please a reader on the spot without the benefit of practice prior to publication online out of the reader’s view and critical eye. It is also quite true that students lose interest in writing for fear of making errors and over time can become complacent about the tasks and produce poor quality work. Therefore, they need encouragement from teachers which will motivate and boost their morale, thus improving their overall attitude to writing in the target language. In their article entitled, Cultural factors affecting Chinese ESL students’ academic learning, Jinyang and Brown (2009) highlight the challenges that students of English as a second language face in North American schools. They focus on Chinese graduate students and underscore the fact that these students, who completed their formative education and undergraduate degree in China, are coming out of an educational system that is quite different from the North American model based on the latter’s focus on competitiveness. According to them, the purpose of the information garnered is to make teachers aware of the academic difficulties of these students as well as to improve support services for ESL students on the campuses of North American universities. They further suggest that Chinese students are finding the cultural differences very stressful. To mitigate this problem, the authors suggest that American educators make a more conscious effort to create a better learning environment for culturally different students. At the same time they posit that they should also help these students understand the North American culture and encourage them to be active participants in the classroom. Finally, they present a few solutions to further assist students in the learning environment so that they may adjust better to the North American model. These include making content of lectures more accessible by providing a study guide, providing material in advance if not teaching directly from the text, and writing major points on the chalkboard while lecturing these students. It is true that many students entering the North American education system struggle to adjust to the education model. As a teacher, when I first taught in the United States, I also found it challenging because of the cultural difference with reference to behavior, teacher-pupil relationships, and work ethics, as well as differences in teaching style. What must be considered is that not every student who comes into the system will adjust quickly. Therefore, teachers must make every effort to assist them until they are comfortable in the system and can function independently, or they will become frustrated and lose interest in developing more than rudimentary language skills. However, they should not be judged for exhibiting traits from their own culture as it takes time to adjust from one’s own culture, which each person esteems to be better than the new culture. Thus, there is a need to teach cultural awareness and tolerance. In their case study titled, “Reflecting on ESL teacher beliefs and classroom practices: A case study,” Farrell and Bennis (2013) investigated and compared the beliefs and classroom practices with reference to language teaching of an experienced teacher and those of a novice teacher. They set out to show that teachers’ beliefs influence their instructional judgment and classroom decisions. They also suggest that teacher beliefs reflect personal values and reflect individual ideologies of teaching. In a review of the literature they postulate that research shows that teachers’ beliefs do not always converge with their practices and that practices can also influence beliefs. The findings show that the beliefs and principles of more experienced teachers are likely based on their experience. However, this is not always the case. In some instances the experienced teacher diverges from his/her beliefs and practices because of other factors such as time constraints.

On the other hand, they report that the results point to more divergence than convergence on the part of the novice teacher’s stated beliefs and classroom practices. They also assert that as a result of the number of times that the teacher experimented with and tested various approaches and techniques during teaching, it is possible that many of his/her beliefs were unstable. Another possibility could be that because he/she was a novice, the teacher was unsure of his/her own beliefs which were still in the process of being formed or had never before been asked to verbalize such beliefs. Farrell and Bennis (2013) also indicate that the results of the study reflect that the more experienced teacher makes most instructional decisions based on perceptions of students and focuses on needs relating to learning outcomes while the novice teacher makes instructional decisions based on keeping students happy with more focus on needs associated with general comfort levels of his/her students. In discussing their results, the authors indicate the purpose of examining language teacher beliefs and classroom practices is to make teachers more confident knowing that what they believe about language teaching and learning is being practiced in their classes. Experience and teacher beliefs do impact their teaching style and classroom practices. In this study, the novice would more likely fluctuate in his/her practice because of inexperience or a struggle to find the right fit for the students. New teachers tend to focus much more on being in good terms with students than do experienced teachers. This is due to the fact that the experienced teacher has amassed the practical know-how and experience in dealing with students and in manipulating course material and content to reach an educational goal while the novice tries to build on experience. However, these practices will be influenced by their beliefs about students, their own ability, and the goal that must be achieved. In another study, ESL theory-practice dynamics: The difficulty of integrating sociocultural perspectives into pedagogical practices, Ajayi (2008) references studies within the last decade which have reiterated the need for ESL teachers to recognize the knowledge, skills, cultural heritage, and preconceptions that their students bring to their classrooms. He implies that a socio-cultural approach to language learning suggests a need for studies that shed light on the dynamics of the language teaching-learning situations among other issues. Thus, he states that English as a second language entails social practices, the dialogical interconnection between the individual, the society and the contexts of learning. He also addresses second language learning from Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory perspective. To amass data, Ajayi conducted interviews with 73 ESL teachers to explore their sensitivity to the background experiences of their students and identify any challenges they face when implementing the sociocultural theory. He emphasized the fact that although most teachers indicated that they were sensitive to these aspects, their qualitative data indicated differently. According to him, despite being creative and resourceful in bridging cultural differences, the teachers faced significant challenges in the form of institutional barriers and other constraints. He suggests that an important finding is that ESL

teachers worked under constraints imposed by state and district policies which he believes tends to suggest that the English-only policy as a medium of instruction ignored the social realities of multilingual situations and language use of the students. From this, he suggests that policymakers might not have paid adequate attention to the social, cultural, and political contexts in which the English language is taught and learned. The results of this study show that at times teachers are restricted by the very policies that were implemented to assist in lesson delivery. Language learning not only encapsulates grammatical structures and vocabulary building, but also needs to include a consideration of social, cultural, and political contents in which English or any other language is taught and learned. If not, there will always be conﬂicts among learners or with reference to equity and equality. All these factors, including teacher and student beliefs and attitudes, will determine the extent to which a student learning a second or foreign language will develop an appreciation and love for the new language and culture that they have adopted. References

Ajayi, L. (2008). ESL theory-practice dynamics: The difficulty of integrating sociocultural perspectives into pedagogical practices. Foreign Language Annals, 41(4), 639-659. Arikan, A. (2010). Prospective English language teachers’ perceptions of the target language and culture in relation to their socioeconomic status. English Language Teaching, 4(3), 232. Brown, H. D. (3rd ed.). (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Farrell, T., & Bennis, K. (2013). Reflecting on ESL teacher beliefs and classroom practices: A case study. RELC Journal. 44(2), 163176. doi: 0.1177/0033688213488463 Ismail, N., Elias, S. et al. (2010). Exploring ESL students’ apprehension level and attitude towards academic writing. International Journal of Learning, 17(6), 475-483. Jinyang, H., & Brown, K. (2009). Cultural factors affecting Chinese ESL students’ academic learning. Education, 129(4), 643-653. Vieira, R. M., Tenreiro-Vieira, C., & Martins, I. P. (2011). Critical thinking: Conceptual clarification and its importance in science education. Science Education International, 22(1), 43-54.

Is the Digital Divide Also a Linguistic Divide? Elsie Candelaria, Ed.D.

As members of the 21st society we have come to accept the presence of technology in our lives as inevitable. Actually, to some adherents of this “digital” society, technical connection is absolutely essential. We have accepted cell phones, computers, tablets, laptops, and the Internet as sources of information, tools to solve everyday situations, and indispensable items that are needed in order to carry out a host of remarkable and unremarkable tasks and chores. Yet, it is important to take notice of the fact that entrance to the Internet is not distributed equally and that several factors determine who has access to this wonderful human invention. Among the factors that can be considered, we must include education and social status. Use of the Internet requires basic reading capabilities, but to fully take advantage of what it can offer, the Internet also requires a special set of skills that goes beyond basic reading. A working knowledge of English is also important since most computer languages and interfaces are based on the morphology and syntax of the English language and the majority of the available web pages are also written in English. Originally our social status determined the type of access available. Pearce and Rice (2013) state that the digital divide or digital inequality originally described the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged computer users and nonusers in the United States and often focuses on socioeconomic differences. The digital divide is amongst the central foci of Internet studies (Bonfadelli, 2002; Katz & Rice, 2002; Mossberger, Tolbert, & Stansbury, 2003; van Dijk, 2005; Warschauer, 2004; World Internet Project, 2012). Several theoretical arguments explain the potential divides, from more general claims and more macro theories to more speciﬁc models. (p. 722) Among the existing general claims, macro theories, and speciﬁc models research has developed to explain the digital divide Pearce and Rice (2013) mention the Matthew effect (Helsper, 2012; van Dijk, 2005, Chapter 6, pp. 96–130); the knowledge gap hypothesis (Rogers, 2003;Selwyn, 2004; Tichenor, Donohue, & Olien, 1970); and at the macrolevel, Witte and Mannon (2010) mention the combination of three different sociological perspectives. These research endeavors serve to sustain the fact that multiple divides exist. This multiplicity is also sustained by technological advances that have made Internet access available through many devices, forever altering the initial concept that responded solely to socioeconomic differences. Pearce and Rice (2013) explain that “these multiple divides occur as a sequence or hierarchy in various typologies (Bonfadelli,2002; Chen &Wellman, 2004; DiMaggio et al., 2004; van Dijk, 2005, Chapter6; van Dijk, 2012; Witte & Mannon, 2010)” (p. 723). Moreover, these multiple differences in access, duration, content, relevance, meaning, and application are in turn associated with short- and long-term actual and perceived outcomes and consequences. Differential outcomes from each of these gaps create feedback loops that may increase and institutionalize such differences (van Dijk,

2012). Existing social inequalities thus both affect and reinforce various digital divides (Bonfadelli, 2002). (p. 723) Cell phones and tablets are now readily available to members of low level social economic strata. Consequently, the digital divide is no longer exclusively related to access to computers, but more to the actual device used. More importantly, Pearce and Rice (2013) state that there is a “small but growing set of research comparing technology access aspects of the digital divide, or the device divide (e.g., Chigona et al., 2009; Donner et al., 2011). and how the access available is actually used” (p. 724). Van Deursen and van Dijk (2014) explain that several conceptualizations of the divide have been proposed; “most conceptualizations generally identify four areas of importance: attitudes, access, skills and types of usage” p. 2). Furthermore, they argue that Internet use “requires a broad range of skills enabling navigation through a vast amount of information rather than simply reading newspapers or watching television. Relative to print media and television, Internet usage requires not only enabling technologies but also users with sufﬁcient skills to use the Internet (Bonfadelli, 2002)” (p. 3). Thus, the question is no longer who has access and more about the skills required to fully enjoy its beneﬁts.

Internet Access Very interesting data surfaces when we compare statistics related to the use of the Internet. Candelaria (2008) shows the data appearing in Table 1 concerning Internet use and population throughout different regions of the world as of June 30, 2007. The last column shows a usage growth from 2000-2007 of 225.0%; a staggering amount of growth during the seven year period it refers to. The Usage Percentage of the World column shows Asia (37.2%) and Europe (27.4%) as the most avid users of the Internet, with North America close behind at 19.8%. With a worldwide penetration of the medium at 17.8%, it can be said that close to one-ﬁfth of the world was online at the time. Table 1. World Internet Usage and Population Statistics

World Regions

Population ( 2007 Est.)

Africa http://www. internetworldstats. 933,448,292 com/stats1.htm

Population % of World a

Internet Usage, Latest Data

% Population (Penetration)

Usage % of World

Usage Growth 2000-2007

14.2 %

33,545,600

3.6 %

2.9 %

643.1 %

AsiaAfrica Europe Middle East North America Latin America/ Caribbean Oceania / Australia

3,712,527,624 809,624,686 193,452,727 334,538,018 556,606,627

56.5 % 12.3 % 2.9 % 5.1 % 8.5 %

436,758,162 321,853,477 19,539,300 232,655,287 109,961,609

11.8 % 39.8 % 10.1 % 69.5 % 19.8 %

37.2 % 27.4% 1.7 % 19.8% 9.4 %

282.1 % 206.2 % 494.8 % 115.2 % 508.6 %

34,468,443

0.5 %

18,796,490

54.5 %

1.6 %

146.7 %

World Total

6,574,666,417

100.0 %

1,173,109,925

17.8 %

100.0 %

225.0 %

Note: Internet Usage and World Population Statistics were updated for June 30, 2007. a. Demographic (Population) numbers are based on data contained in the world-gazetteer website. b. Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen/NetRatings, by the International Telecommunications Union, by local NICs, and other reliable sources. c. Information from this site may be cited, giving due credit and establishing an active link back to www.internetworldstats. com. Copyright © 2007, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table 2 shows more or less the same data (slight differences in the names of the columns exist) as of June 30, 2014. In seven additional years, 2000-2014, usage growth has risen to an astounding 741.0%. Worldwide penetration of the medium is now at 42.3% and it can be said that close to one-half of the world is now online. This gives credence to the statement that access is no longer the problem since penetration has more than doubled. If we consider the fact that the world’s population increased by 607,740,145 during this seven year period, the rises mentioned are simply remarkable. Table 2. World Internet Usage and Population Statistics

World Regions

Population ( 2014 Est.)

Internet Users Dec. 31, 2000

Internet Users Latest Data

Internet Usage, Latest Data

Penetration (% Population)

Growth 20002014

Users % of Table

Africahttp://www. internetworldstats. com/stats1.htm

1,125,721,038

4,514,400

297,885,898

26.5 %

6,498.6 %

9.8 %

Asia

3,996,408,007

114,304,000

1,386,188,112

34.7 %

1,112.7 %

45.7 %

Europe

825,824,883

105,096,093

582,441,059

70.5 %

454.2 %

19.2 %

Middle East

231,588,580

3,284,800

111,809,510

48.3 %

3,303.8 %

3.7 %

North America

353,860,227

108,096,800

310,322,257

87.7 %

187.1 %

10.2 %

Latin America/ Caribbean

612,279,181

18,068,919

320,312,562

52.3 %

1,672.7 %

10.5 %

Oceania / Australia

36,724,649

7,620,480

26,789,942

72.9 %

251.6 %

0.9 %

World Total

7,182,406,565

360,985,492

3,035,749,340

42.3 %

741.0 %

100.0 %

NOTES: (1) Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for June 30, 2014. (2) CLICK on each world region name for detailed regional usage information. (3) Demographic (Population) numbers are based on data from the US Census Bureau and local census agencies. (4) Internet usage information comes from data published by Nielsen Online, by the International Telecommunications Union, by GfK, local ICT Regulators and other reliable sources. (5) For definitions, disclaimers, navigation help and methodology, please refer to the Site Surfing Guide. (6) Information in this site may be cited, giving the due credit to www.internetworldstats.com. Copyright © 2001 - 2014, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Literacy vs. Media Literacy The use of the Internet requires from the user a different, non-traditional set of literacy capabilities. A person that can read and write uses literacy skills to access and interpret traditional media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazine articles, and books. That same person needs to have what the literature defines as media literacy skills, new media literacy or information literacy in order to manage and use Internet based information. What is literacy? What is media literacy? Can the lack of media literacy skills be construed as a linguistic divide? Ahmed (2011) states that the definition of literacy has evolved over time and looking at the definitions accepted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

serves to exemplify this evolution. Additionally, the author provides three statements of UNESCO, spanning five decades, to prove his assertion: the evolution of the definition of literacy. (a) A person is literate who can, with understanding, both read and write a short simple statement on his or her everyday life (UNESCO 1958); (b) A person is functionally literate who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his or her group and community and also for enabling him or her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his or her own and the community’s development (UNESCO 1978); (c) Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve his or her goals, develop his or her knowledge and potential, and participate fully in community and wider society (UNESCO 2005). (p. 181) These definitions also serve to demonstrate the emphasis the concept (literacy) places on the interpretation of printed and written material. Lin, Li, Deng, and Lee (2013) explain that “with the advent of new media technologies, the landscape of media has been changed drastically and dramatically” (p. 160). Likewise, they state that the term ‘new media’ broadly refers to computer and communication technologies (Chen, Wu, & Wang, 2011; Rice, 1984), or ‘a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use’ (Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant, & Kelly, 2003, p. 13). A majority of researchers tend to define new media by highlighting its technical characteristics including digitality (i.e., numerical representation), hypertextuality, dispersal, virtuality, modularity, multimodality, hybridity, interactivity, automation, and variability (see Anderson & Balsamo, 2008; Lister et al., 2003; Manovich, 2001; Nichols, 2008; Pratt, 2000). (p. 160) For Lee and So (2014) “media literacy is considered to be a series of communication competencies, including the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of forms (Lee, 2010; NAMLE, 2010)” (p.138). Among the elements needed to successfully engage the knowledge society of the 21st Century UNESCO, as cited by Lee and So, (2014), in Towards Information Literacy Indicators by Catts and Lau (2008), concludes that information literacy is the ability of an individual to 1) recognize their information needs; 2) locate and evaluate the quality of information; 3) store and retrieve information; 4) make effective and ethical use of information; 5) apply information to create and communicate knowledge. (p. 138) A caveat is very important at this point…the existence of multiple divides is accepted and sustained by research. One of these divides is related lo media literacy. Nonetheless, the difference between media literacy and information literacy is still a debate. Lee and So (2014) conclude, after a study using the Web of Science database 22

that there are more differences than similarities between the ﬁelds of information

literacy and media literacy. Information literacy is a much larger ﬁeld than media literacy. It has a clear but narrow focus on library science and technology. On the other hand, media literacy has a broader scope and is more related to communication, health-related issues, leisure, effects, and culture. (p. 144) To complicate matters even more, we must now look at media literacy from the educational perspective.

21st Century Skills The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is an organization established in 2002 as a

coalition bringing together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers in order to start a national conversation on the importance of 21st century skills. They state in their P21 Framework Deﬁnitions (2009) that they advocate the “integration of skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication into the teaching of core academic subjects such as English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts, mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, government and civics” (p. 9). Figure 1 presents the framework that describes “the skills, knowledge, and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life; it is a blend of content knowledge, speciﬁc skills, expertise and literacies” (p. 1).

Figure 1. 21st Century students’ outcomes and support systems. This ﬁgure illustrates all the elements that must coalesce in 21st Century teaching and learning.

Information and media literacy are part of the Framework that they propose, as well as technology skills. Thus, if these skills are to be included as of this moment, it can be inferred that the generations that preceded this movement may lack these tools as part of their formal education.

Conclusion The existence of a linguistic divide is yet to be demonstrated and further research is necessary in order to provide empirical data on this possibility. This fact notwithstanding, it definitely places a huge burden on those of us that do not belong to the digital generation. These facts make digital selflearning and self-improvement unavoidable, especially if you wish to have the tools that are required in this brave, new world to survive. If you are over 30 years old, I hope that you are willing to rise to this challenge. References Ahmed, M. (2011). Defining and measuring literacy: Facing the reality. International review of education, 57(1-2), 179-195. Candelaria, E. (2008) Acronyms and icons used in blogs: Implications for the teaching of ESL. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Lee, A. Y. L., & So, C. Y. K. (2014). Media literacy and information literacy: Similarities and differences. Comunicar, 21(42), 1347-145. Lin, T.-B., Li, J.-Y., Deng, F., & Lee, L. (2013). Understanding New Media Literacy: An Explorative Theoretical Framework. Educational Technology & Society, 16 (4), 160–170. Pearce, K. E., & Rice, R. E. (2013). Digital divides from access to activities: Comparing mobile and personal computer Internet users. Journal of Communication (63), 721–744. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). P21 Framework Definitions. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/ documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdfVan Deursen, A. J., & van Dijk, J.A. (2013). The digital divide shifts to differences in usage New Media & Society May 2014 16: 507-526, first published on June 7, 2013. New Media Society (20), pp,1-18. DOI 10.1177/1461444813487959

Who Said 12 Years? It’s 90 Days of English Instruction!: Vindicating the English Teachers’ Commitment in the Public Schools of Puerto Rico Aníbal Muñoz Claudio, Ed.D. Who said 12 years? Who said that students receive 12 years of English instruction in the public school system of Puerto Rico? Who said it? Who would dare to keep saying it? I want to know the names of those who support this faulty misconception about the English program in the public school system of Puerto Rico. I would love to meet them personally, so I can debate, argue, and discuss some intriguing findings I have about their misinformed assertions and claims. The time has come to unravel the bare truth about this topic and stop this public propaganda. The myth of the “conceived” 12 years of English public instruction in Puerto Rico must be decomposed and clarified once and for all to vindicate our English teachers efforts, vocation, and commitment. However, even further, it must be done so to commend the Puerto Rican public school students’ bravery as well. In spite of their personal limited resources, the system’s jumbled language policies (Pousada, 1999, 1996), and the public’s constant reproach, these students, still survive, perform, and compete at all levels and stages of life. Now, let’s get right down to the 12-year English instruction fallacy by examining the facts in accurate numbers. First, when we carefully examine the 12 years of the teaching of English, we must subtract the 2 months of vacation time of June and July. That deduction means that public school service in Puerto Rico is only available for 10 months. In addition, in a very conservative formula, the combination of the Christmas break (usually 2 weeks, or more) plus all the weekends in a regular year can easily add to another month that can be deducted from the equation. That’s another month gone by leaving it at only 9 months per year. Having figured out the correct number of months at 9, not 12, then we can focus on the students’ English exposure in public schools as illustrated in Table 1. Assuming that students get 1 full hour (not 50 minutes) of English exposure at schools per day, that can add to 5 hours per week. Then, multiplied by 4 weeks in a month gives us 20 hours per month. The next step is to multiply 20 hours per month by 9 months (per year) and that leaves us with 180 hours per year. Thus, when we multiply 180 hours by 12 years, we get the ‘great’ number of 2,160 hours. Lastly, if you want to know what the 2,160 hour figure represents in more realistic numbers, we can divide it by 24 (hours per day) and that will give us the number of 90 days. Yes, we only have 90 days of English exposure in the public schools of Puerto Rico. 25

TABLE 1. Students’ Exposure of English in the Public Schools of Puerto Rico

English Exposure

Time Frame (rough approximation)

Comments

1 hour

per day

Most class periods only consist of 50 minutes

5 hours

per week

1 hour X 5 days

20 hours

per month

5 hours X 4 weeks

180 hours

per school year

20 hours X 9 months (estimated number of months per year)

2,160 hours

in 12 years

180 X 12 = 2,160

90 days

in 12 years

2,160 / 24 hours (1 day) = 90 days

It must be noted that this calculation of English exposure time for students in the public school system of Puerto Rico becomes a very rough approximation, since we are not even counting many other irregular days and particular school situations that may alter the equation less favorably. Here is an interesting list of “the other school days” most people tend to forget when referring to their 12 yearﬂawed assumption of English language teaching in Puerto Rico. •

12 Holidays - Even with the recent Government’s laws of merging some holidays, each year still brings a list of more than 10 holidays within regular calendar days such as Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Emancipation Day, Good Friday (and Holy Thursday too), Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Discovery of Puerto Rico Day, and the always cherished Thanksgiving Recess (2 days). Other holidays are not included on this list. • Extracurricular activities – Most public schools in Puerto Rico engage in a series of extracurricular activities that reduce instruction time considerably within a school year. Among others, the usual one-day events are: field trips, students’ or teachers’ day activities (or no-class days), festivals and/or other academic competitions, lunchroom facility employee’s day, St. Valentine’s Day activities, Pruebas Puertorriqueñas standardized tests, pre-Thanksgiving Day marathon, seniors’ activities, and last but certainly not the least of all, the idiosyncratic idle time that permeates among schools during the last weeks of May and December (usually a 2-week period). • Faculty meetings – On an average basis (within a regular school year) the faculty attends more than five (5) official faculty meetings, professional workshops, or other mandatory commitments as directed by school administrative officials. • Faculty-Parents Meeting Day (warning cards/grades –usually 3 days per year) • Graduation Ceremony (1 day) • Others (The College Board exam for seniors, university orientations, sports events, etc.) If we count all of these irregular days, the number of 90 days of teaching time is reduced significantly. It may even drop to 8 months. But, let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and pretend that within those 90 days an ideal world exists too. In this hypothetical scenario, English teachers would never be absent, students would attend all classes, the school’s infrastructure would not crumble down, and there would be no other major contingencies (weather complications, water shortages, violent or emergency incidents, electricity power failures, personnel or students’ boycotts / strikes, class interruptions, and others). Fantasizing on this perfect world, we will stick with the 90 days to continue with our case, and, of course,

counting on the fact that English teachers would comply with their diligent obligations of conducting the entire class in English during each regular hour class as expected. Now, as disquieting as the number of 90 days may sound to you, I am afraid to tell you that that is not the worst part of this entire predicament. Those 90 glorious days can only account for what is known as RECEPTIVE or passive learning, not ACTIVE learning. Those are the 90 days in which the great majority of public school students would sit down, listen to their teachers (hopefully in fluent English), read some English passages, and complete tailor-made-superficial exercises (fill in the blanks or select the best alternative) to fulfill the expected measurable class objectives. When considering these facts, we must note that in order for students to engage in active learning in a classroom, they must share their precious English hour with a minimum of 25 other students in the classroom as stipulated in Curriculum Letter PRDE CC-37-2013-2014. This detail reduces their active participation to a mere 2.4 minutes of active learning (on the average) as illustrated in Table 2. Further, as dramatic as it looks, the reality is that students in the public schools of Puerto Rico can only spend 3.6 hours out of 12 years in producing English or engaging in active learning activities. This unequivocal truth is the result of neither indifferent, negligent teachers nor of idle students who are reluctant to learn the language. It is rather the result of a flawed system that cannot guarantee a reasonable time of English language exposure for students at schools. TABLE 2. Students’ Active Participation of Active Learning in the English Classroom

Active Learning in English

Time Frame (rough approximation)

2.4 minutes

per hour (per day)

3.6 hours

in 12 years

Comments (based on 25 students)

60 minutes / 25 students =2.4 minutes per student If there are more students in a class, there is less time for individual active learning. 2.4 minutes X 90 days =216 minutes 216 minutes / 60 minutes = 3.6 hours

Where is the active (productive) learning in all of this? In those 90 days, students barely have time to engage in active learning opportunities that is needed to perform or produce work in English, such as developing writing skills that go from writing sentences to paragraphs to more elaborated compositions (letters, comic strips, journals, essays, dialogue scripts, creative writing, technical writing, reflections, nonfictional pieces, poetry, short stories, and others) and oral skills (performance), such as role-play dialogues, dramatizations, oral presentations, etc. As Pousada (2000) asserts in the article, The Competent Bilingual, this is the main reason why most Puerto Ricans remain in the second category of bilingualism, the receptive bilingual, that is, individuals who are very capable of understanding conversations and written language, but are unable to write or speak the language fluently. The combination of limited English exposure and abbreviated active learning opportunities hinder students’ chances of achieving the other two higher levels of bilingualism, the functional and competent bilinguals that Pousada describes in detail in her article. Students are mostly exposed to passive-receptive learning instances in a one-hour class in public schools. However, all along, the English Program of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico has explicitly stated in various past occasions in the Program’s Vision Statement (PRDE CC11-2011-2012) that the expectations were to develop fully bilingual citizens, equivalent to the “competent bilingual” level. Nevertheless, there are two possible consolations after unraveling this blunt reality. On the humanistic side, we must commend the valiant efforts provided by the English teachers in the ‘front 27

lines’ by means of their creativity and commitment to maximize class time and after-class time and multiply students’ English language exposure. Teachers who are very creative and who have a true vocation would realize how signiﬁcant it is to plan and design effective classroom and home activities to make up for the short time allowed by the System. Secondly, on the technological side, nowadays, teachers and students are blessed and empowered to have an array of technological and language assets at their disposal that can support and enhance class experiences exponentially. From simple video games and cell-phone applications to social network chatrooms to more elaborated website navigation tools, both educators and learners can optimize their limited school time of English exposure by engaging in projects and assignments that would surpass the 90 days equation in light-years. In conclusion, this article does not intend to judge the public school system of Puerto Rico or to scold the English teachers at the school forefronts. Much to the contrary, it is to vindicate their valuable efforts and commitment towards achieving expected standards of excellence amidst such challenging work conditions. Furthermore, it is to uphold their professional standing above the harshest of criticism coming from the media and public in general. Misleading comments are usually made towards English teachers as if they could actually spend 24 hours a day with their students in 12 consecutive years. How could they be blamed for the so called failure of students learning English when they are only given 90 days to operate? How could they be blamed for such academic circumstances that are way out of their control? This article, instead, questions the public’s criticism and its unfair arguments against the English program of the public school system in Puerto Rico and its English teachers. The facts presented here very straightforwardly use a very conservative formula. Puerto Rican public school students are not becoming fully bilinguals not because they have received 12 years of English instruction, it is because they have only received 90 days of English exposure and just 3.6 hours of active learning in the “supposed” 12 years. Do the math…after all, you have also had “12 years” of math instruction too! References Pousada, A. (2000). The competent bilingual in Puerto Rico. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 142, 103-118. Retrieved from http://aliciapousada.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/0/2/10020146/competent_bilingual.pdf Pousada, A. (1999). The singularity strange story of the English language in Puerto Rico. Milenio, 3, 33-60. Pousada, A. (1996, Autumn). Puerto Rico: On the horns of a language planning dilemma. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 499-510. Puerto Rico Department of Education. (2013). Circular 37-2013-2014. Política pública sobre la organización escolar y requisitos de graduación de las escuelas de la comunidad elementales y secundarias del Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico. San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Department of Education. (2012). Circular 11-2011-2012. Política sobre el contenido curricular del programa de inglés para todas las escuelas públicas elementales, intermedias y superiores. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Department of Education. (2003). Standards of excellence. Curriculum framework: English Program. San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Hidden Masks upon the Canvas: The Vejigante in the ESL Classroom Carmen Milagros Torres-Rivera, Ed.D. Candidate

In the year 2010, I had the opportunity to conduct field research in a course offered by Dr. Lowell Fiet at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras (Fiet, 2008). In that semester, many students conducted their research in Trinidad, but I decided to stay in Puerto Rico. I discovered the rich cultural heritage of the Ponce Carnival through the perspective of the work of plastic artists from this geographical region. Vejigantes have fascinated my imagination even before conducting the research. Years before, I had attended an art exposition in celebration of the Ponce carnival. There I met a group of vejigantes who joined the audience dancing to the rhythm of the celebration. The characters of the carnival are the soul of the festivity. Their masks are made of paper maché. These masks decorate many of the souvenir shops in the town of Ponce and the trollies carry the vejigante image reassuring all visitors that vejigantes are more than a character seen only at carnival time. Plastic artists have also been inspired by this colorful creature of festivities. In the field work conducted, I not only had the opportunity of interviewing the traditional mask makers, such as “los Alindatos” and Miguel Caraballo, but also discovered how plastic artists are inspired by the vejigante figure. This experience was the basis for the workshop I shared with educators that participated the summer of 2014 in the proposal Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication. The workshop titled as my field work paper, Hidden Masks upon the Canvas, was focused in sharing with English educators how the Puerto Rican carnival tradition can be integrated into the activities planned within an English ESL setting.

Puerto Rican Carnivals and the English Classroom Carnivals can be integrated in the English classroom with diverse and dynamic activities to enhance the learning experience in the ESL classroom. There are books written in English that deal with the theme of carnivals. One of the books of the Magic Tree House is titled Carnival at Candlelight. The story revolves around the carnival that is celebrated in Venice, Italy. In the local scenario, Lulu Delacre (1993) wrote and illustrated the bilingual book Vejigante Masquerader which deals with a young boy who wishes to participate as a vejigante in the upcoming Ponce carnival. Delacre also has a book from the I Can Read series that features the coquí siblings preparing for the Ponce Carnival Season titled Carnival! Puerto Rican author, Edwin Fontánez, the founder of Exit Studio, has also published books for children and young adults about the Ponce vejigantes. His book titled The Vejigante and the Folk Festivals of Puerto Rico provides activities for the young reader to discover the vejigante of the Ponce carnival and Loíza festival. Having books that deal with carnivals provides the opportunity for ESL learners to discover what carnivals around the world have in common. A lively discussion can develop when our students compare a carnival celebrated in Italy with a carnival or festival celebrated in Puerto Rico. Students can identify what these festivities share in common as well as what makes each carnival/festival unique.

This activity can be organized as an oral presentation providing the opportunity for students to develop not only their reading skills but also their oral skills as they discuss their ﬁndings. Students can conduct research related activities if the opportunity arises. Educators can contact the cultural centers of the towns where these carnivals are celebrated to invite guest speakers to the classroom. Mask makers could visit the classroom to talk about the characteristics of the masks that are used in the carnival/festival that is celebrated in their town. Vejigantes can also be invited so they can share what their roles are within the carnival/festival. These and many other activities can be developed using the books that deal with carnivals in the classroom. However, carnivals can also be the inspiration for students’ creative writing as well as art crafts inspired from this folkloric tradition.

Creative Writing and the Vejigante Puerto Rican carnivals are full of color and music. The chants are an integral part of these festivities. This musical dialogue can be used in the English classroom to strengthen students’ writing skills. Our students can create their own carnival chants in English! Years ago when I wrote a short nonﬁctional work titled “The Vejigantes Are Coming,” I faced the challenge of what was I going to do as a writer when presenting the carnival chants to an English speaking audience. I decided to do a very free translation trying to keep the essence of what each chant portrayed in Spanish. This is my version of these chants as they appeared in the work published in Anansesem E-Zine in the December, 2012 issue. Vejigantes: “Knock, knock, knock, knock!” Children:

“The vejigantes eat coconut!”

Vejigantes: “Pru-cu-tá, pru-cu-tá!” Children:

“How good is all that?”

Vejigantes: “That old woman is a witch!” Children:

“A witch she is!”

Vejigantes: “And her eyes are the color...” Children:

“of chocolate!”

Vejigantes: “Vejigante to the water!” Children:

“Bread and onion!”

Vejigantes: “Vejigante ate mango!” Children:

“And even licked his toes!”

Vejigantes: “Knock, knock, knock, knock!” 30

Children:

“The vejigantes eat coconut!”

Vejigantes: “La-ri-O, la-ri-O!” Children:

“La-O, la-ri-O!”

Vejigantes: “La-ri, la-ri, la-ri-O!” Children:

“La-ri, la-ri, la-ri-O!”

The vejigante can also become a poetic ﬁgure in students’ creative writing activities. Our ESL students can write poems inspired in the vejigante and the carnivals/festivals of Puerto Rico. Years ago two outstanding English educators professors Marina Ramos and Hilda Clemente shared with us a workshop on writing poetry within an ESL setting. In this workshop, the participants not only wrote poems, but also many of the different poems presented helped to develop and reinforce grammatical skills of the writer, such as the parts of speech, syllable counts, and literary devices, such as simile or metaphor, just to mention some examples. The most important aspect of using poetry in the English classroom is that it breaks away from the distorted notion that only a few can enjoy poetry and a more limited group can write poetry. Poetry is the expression of emotion and we all experience different emotions. All of us can enjoy the beauty of poetry. Writing poems destroys the myth of poetry being a cuco or boogeyman that comes to scare those who must endure reading poetry in a classroom. Poetry is fun and there is a poet in everyone, as our students discover, when they begin writing their poems.

Art and the Vejigante: Let’s Make Masks! A vejigante is not a vejigante without its mask. An activity that can be incorporated in the ESL classroom is making vejigante masks. This activity not only integrates art skills but also language skills, such as listening. The two most commonly seen masks in Puerto Rican carnivals/festivals is the one from the Ponce carnival which is made out of paper maché and the masks of Loíza which are made of coconuts. These two masks pose a challenge to create in our English classroom. The traditional Ponce mask undergoes a very complex process where the artisan has a base made of stone that is used to create the facial figure and the horn molds which are horns made from the horns of real bulls, in many cases. These materials are not easily available for the English teacher and the process would be too complex for a first-time experience. There are also online simplified versions based on paper maché techniques. Instead of a stone mold, balloons are used as the face mold. Still, this process requires many days of working on the mask, since each layer of newspaper needs to completely dry before placing another layer of newspaper. The masks must be dried outside with the sun’s heat. This would also make the project somewhat challenging when done in an English classroom. The Loíza mask also poses a challenge if the English teacher wishes to create an exact copy in the classroom. These masks are made of coconut, meaning that students must obtain a dry one. They must cut the coconut to fit the wearer’s face and cut out the eye slits and mouth of the vejigante. These are procedures that might pose a safety challenge causing this activity not to be appropriate in most ESL classrooms. 31

However, English educators can still create vejigante masks as the participants of this summer session demonstrated with their art and creativity. Students can enjoy their paper representation of these colorful masks. Everyday materials become the raw material to create unforgettable vejigante masks. For the Ponce vejigante mask, plastic artist Erick Ortiz Gelpí provided the template to create the mask. Participants traced the template to a poster board and cut out their masks. These masks were then decorated in colorful designs. Some participants followed the traditional decorations of these masks as in the case of Prof. Ana Aponte from S.U. Manuel Ortiz Santiago School of Yabucoa. Others added their unique style and colors to the masks. Prof. Sandra Díaz from Francisco Torres García School of Las Piedras surprised us with her adaptation of the vejigante mask. Her mask was transformed into a three-dimensional one that replicated the essence of those masks worn in carnival times in Ponce. The Loíza mask can be recreated with paper plates. Loíza masks are not only unique in the Puerto Rican festivals because of the use of coconuts, but also because they are decorated with colorful geometrical designs. The horns of these traditional masks are lineal and made of wood sticks, in some instances. The paper plate can substitute the coconut and can be painted brown to represent the coconut or painted in bright colors. The wooden horns can be replaced with colorful chenille. Participants of the summer workshop created beautiful, colorful, and very creative Loíza vejigante masks. Mask making in the classroom provides an excellent opportunity for the development of art activities in the ESL setting. Students will follow the teacher’s instructions in English providing an opportunity for the development of listening skills. After these masks are completed, students can present their masks to their classmates sharing how they decided to decorate their unique vejigante masks.

Summer Workshop Participants and Carnival Time

The summer workshop gave me the opportunity to share my experience conducting my ﬁeld research about the Ponce carnival. It also gave me the opportunity to integrate poetry in these activities, which has been one of my favorite activities when I have the opportunity to share with undergraduate students from the English BA program in the Children’s Literature course. The participants in the proposal made this workshop an unforgettable experience. After creating the masks and writing their poems, a carnival poetry slam was organized. Participants were divided into groups and chose a poem to share with the group. Wearing their masks, they would read or present a performance inspired from their poem. Each group of participants showed how much talent and dedication we have in the public and private school system. Prof. Emmanuel Pérez Serrano of Manuel Toro Morice School of Caguas even played the bomba drums to recreate the carnival feel as each poem was recited. The masks and poems were made within a limited time frame, but the worked produced went beyond our creative expectations. English teachers are talented professionals who transformed an impossible feat into a creative experience to be remembered. It is impossible to share all the beautiful creative writing produced in our carnival poetry slam. I would like to share at least one of these poems written and performed by Kanisha Rosario and María Enid Roldán, both from Colegio Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro of Humacao. Their poem is titled

“Soul of the Tradition.” Jibarito, dance with pride to the music of the drums. Humble as you can be, Make the ladies spin with glee. Jibarita, sway like a flower in the wind. Delicate yet fierce like a hurricane Let your hips guide the drum’s symphony. Vejigante, mischievous prankster Always scaring and filling the air with laughter. Colorful of tradition Let your mask follow the beats of submission. Honorable queen of the carnival, Wave to your people while passing by Cheer the carnival with your smile As the music guides you through the streets. Plenero, magical puppeteer With your rumba and cambumba Boost the rhythm out of your drums And with the toco, toco, toco Hypnotize la negra y el negro. Come, come all Let’s celebrate together the Puerto Rican culture This is the night to be free, But don’t let God see Because this is the night of the carnival.

References Benítez-Rojo, A. (1996). The repeating island: The Caribbean and the postmodern perspective. (2nd ed.). Durham and London: Duke University Press. Delacre, L. (1993). Vejigante masquerader. New York: Scholastic. Duerden, D. (2000). The “Discovery” of the African mask. Research in African Literatures, 31, 29-47. Fiet, L. (Ed.) (2008). Sargasso: RE/Visiones de Santiago Apóstol. Río Piedras: University of Puerto Rico. Haxaire, C. (2011). The power of ambiguity: The nature and efﬁcacy of the Zamble masks revealed by ‘Disease Masks’ among the Gouro people (Côte D’Ivoire). Africa, 79, 543- 569. Herskovits, Melvilla J. (1944). The dramatic expression among primitive people. The Yale Review, 683. Johnson, G. (2007). African and Caribbean celebrations. Gloucestershire: Hawthorn University Press. Nunley, J. W. and Bettelheim, J. (1988). Caribbean festival arts each and every bit of difference. Seattle and London: University of Washigton. Pope O. (2009). Magic treehouse #33: Carnival at candlelight. New York: Random House of Books for Young Readers. Puri, S. (2003). Beyond resistance: Notes toward a new Caribbean cultural studies. Small Axe, 14, 23-38. Vidal, T. (2003). El vejigante ponceño. San Juan: Ediciones Alba.

Oh No! Graphic Novels in the Classroom? OhYes! Rosemary Morales Urbina, Ed. D.

If you do not know the difference between Maus and Mickey Mouse, you are not the only one. A year ago I was in the same situation until I was fortunate to be invited by a colleague to the seminar on Graphic Storytelling sponsored by the English Department of the College of Humanities of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. Dr. Matthew Smith, from Case Western University, was the guest speaker. It was at this seminar where I was reminded of the impact comics and graphic novels can have on readers of all ages. Even though I grew up reading comic books in Junior High School, such as Archie, Justice League of America, Wonder Woman, Teenage Romance, Action Comics, among others, I had forgotten all about them. Now I remember sitting by the big window on the top floor of my grandmother’s apartment in The Bronx on Sunday afternoons reading a stack of comic books bought at the corner candy store for 10¢ apiece. However, visual parodies, satires, political cartoons, and candid cartoons have been around for centuries. Yet it was the ascent of the newspaper industry in the late 19th century that brought comics into everyday American households. From the funny pages in newspapers emerged magazines devoted singularly to comics and superhero stories until the first graphic novel was published (In “History and Basics,” para. 3). The term “graphic novel” was first coined as a marketing tactic by comics’ legend, Will Eisner, who published A Contract with God in 1978, the first modern graphic novel. Actually, prior to this publication, the first “picture novel,” It Rhymes with Lust, by Drake Waller came out in 1950 and Harvey Kurtzman, the creator of Mad Magazine, (Baby boomers, who grew up reading comic books, may remember Mad Magazine in the ‘50s and ‘60s), published his collection of four graphic short stories, titled Jungle Book nine years later in 1959 (Thompson, 2015). 35

But what is a graphic novel? Simply defined, it is a book-length comic telling a single, continuous narrative from first page to last. It could also be a collection of short stories or individual comic strips with sequential visual art, most of the time with text that are often told in a series of rectangular panels. Nevertheless, the term comics, does not necessarily mean that all comics and graphic novels are funny. They are concerned with drama, adventure, character development, striking visuals, politics, or romance (In “History and Basics,” para. 1). Scott McCloud (1993), the American cartoonist and comic theorist, affirms that the definition of the graphic novel is “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence intended to convey information and/or produce an aesthetic response in the reader” (In “Graphic Novels in Middle & High School Classrooms” para. 1). It is also an original book length story, either fiction or nonfiction in comic book style or a collection of stories that have been published previously as individual books, while Colón (2009) states that “…Sequential Art in the form of comics is a valid means of storytelling” (p. 4). Baird and Johnson (2007), as cited in Griffith (2014, p. 182), argue that “a successful graphic novel starts with a stellar story told with words and pictures that augment the story, providing insight that text alone cannot do, ” whereas Gallo and Weiner (2004), determine the following in Griffith (2014, p. 182): A well-done graphic novel offers the immediacy of the prose reading experience , with the pictures and the words working simultaneously, making a graphic novel not only something one reads but something one sees as well, like reading and watching a movie at the same time. Since most of our students are savvier than we are in terms of graphic novels, allow me to brief you about the importance of Japanese comics in their lives. Japan has an extensive and rich history of graphic arts, such as painting, printmaking, calligraphy, and more recently, serial art, including comic books and animated films. The last two are due to well-established comics publishing companies and drawing studios where Japanese readers of all ages can choose from a wide variety of high-quality comics, which contribute to the expansive collection of readers in Japan (In“Importance of Japanese Comics,” para. 1). Comics or manga, the Japanese word for comics, have developed in Japan as much as in the United States just more rapidly. While underground comix found a more extensive audience after the introduction of graphic novels in the 1980s, in Japan sophisticated, mature comics for adult readers have thrived since the 1950s. (By the way, comix is an alternate spelling of comics that deliberately differentiated artists from the United States from the prevailing Comics Code –obeying comic books). In the English-speaking world, manga can refer to Japanese comics or to any comics that follow the visual standards of Japanese comics, no matter where they are from. Manga and anime often share an impressive style that is almost apparent in the artistic handling of the human figure, such as “exaggerated facial expressions and proportions to convey emotion, focus on the eyes, and use of ‘speed lines’ to evoke swift movement” as stated by Lyga and Lyga (2004, p. 163). Another distinction of Japanese comics is that they read all the way from from the right of one page to the far left of the next page, ( èè) not left to right as we do, and start at the back of the book to the front cover just like normal Japanese books (In the “Importance of Japanese Comics, para. 4). As a matter of fact, if you open the first page on a manga book, a big stop sign reminds you to turn to the last page of the book to begin reading.

One of the Best Manga of All Time Full-Metal Alchemist Vol.1

Great Romance Manga Read Maid-sama Vol. 01

Best Manga Anime Author Black Butler Vol. 01

(http://www.goodreads.com/genres/manga)

We can all agree that reading is unquestionably critical to young adult readers’ success in school and life in general, but not all educators, librarians, and school ofﬁcials are aware that graphic novels offer appealing and engaging visuals that entice reluctant readers, visual learners, and readers who may back off from traditional, dense, and extensive books. Graphic novel reading can help overcome the statistics that reveal low reading competencies in students (In “Graphic Novel Resources for Educators,” para. 3). •

Nationally, 25% of eighth graders scored below the National Assessment of Educational Progress standard in reading proﬁciency.

•

Only 52% of high school graduates tested on the 2011 ACT met the reading readiness benchmark.

•

The average 15-24 year old American spends almost 2 hours each day watching TV, but only 7 minutes of their leisure time reading.

•

Country-wide, 20% of adults operate at minimal literacy.

Graphic novels have the advantage of teaching young adults the same objectives as regular books do, i.e., new vocabulary, “book language,” and stories and information about their world and at the same time spark their imagination. According to Weiner (2004), as cited in (In “Schools and Libraries” para. 1), “researchers concluded that the average graphic novel introduced readers to twice as many words as the average children’s book” (p. 61). The list of advantages of reading graphic novels is lengthy. (In“Graphic Novels in Middle and High School Classrooms,” para. 4), graphic novels: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Are great for engaging reluctant readers and ESL students Are great for increasing reading comprehension and vocabulary Can serve as a bridge between low and high levels of reading Provide an approach to reading that embraces the multimedia nature of today’s culture, as 2/3 of a story is conveyed visually Provide scaffolding for struggling readers Can serve as an intermediary step to more difﬁcult disciplines and concepts

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Present complex material in readable text Help students understand global affairs Help to develop analytical and critical thinking skills Offer another avenue through which students can experience art Can be as simple or complex as any other literature Are astoundingly popular with kids and young adults

In other subjects, graphic novels make it easier for readers to comprehend and become more involved in subject concepts. For example, the various subjects that graphic novels are an important part of educational reading are (In “Graphic Novels in Middle and High School Classrooms,” para. 5): • • •

English: Help students identify literary terms and literary techniques, develop dialogue writing skills, and serve as a bridge to classic literature History: Help students provide historical events in more accessible format and a visual historic record. Global Studies/Current Events: Help students to understand global issues and events easier, and help students identify a face on individuals from other cultures.

According to Alverson (2014), graphic novels are teaching tools that educators should be aware of as research in graphic novels reveal. Not only are they useful to teaching new vocabulary, visual literacy, and reading skills, they also “offer some solid advantages in reading education,” posits Jesse Karp, an early childhood and interdivisional librarian as cited in (Alverson, 2014). Karp also states that they “reinforce left to right sequence. The images scaffold word/sentence comprehension and a deeper interpretation of the story. The relative speed and immediate enjoyment build great conﬁdence in new readers” (para. 2). “For weak language learners and readers, graphic novels’ concise text paired with detailed images helps [them] decode and comprehend the text,” asserts Meryl Jaffe, an instructor at the John Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, Online Division and the author of several books on using comics in the classroom, as cited in (Alverson, 2014). Jaffe also adds, “Reading is less daunting, with less text to decode. While vocabulary is often advanced, the concise verbiage highlights effective language usage. In addition she states, “For skilled readers, graphic novels offer a different type of reading experience with modeling concise language usage.” Jaffe continues to say that, “Research shows that our brains process and store information faster and more efﬁciently than verbal information. Pairing [graphic novels] with traditional prose texts is an excellent means of promoting verbal skills and memory” (para. 5). Graphic Novel

Traditional Text

Ronell Whitaker, an English teacher in Dwight D. Eisenhower High School in Illinois, discovered that by teaching with a graphic novel, he was able to teach his students the concept of inference. He asserts that readers infer what happens between panels. “I had my kids write out the completed action of a page or two using descriptive prose. They demonstrated two things: One, their ideas about what actions connected the images we can see in each panel. Two, how effective comics can be at communicating information” as cited in (Alverson, 2014, para. 8). Conforming to Griffith (2010), graphic novels are also beneficial for book talks and sparking reading, which I feel could motivate teachers to establish graphic novel books clubs in their schools and have their students produce their own graphic short stories or perhaps design a course on graphic novels. Griffith (2010) also wants educators to note the results of other research conducted with this new graphic format. According to Griffith, the following researchers revealed their findings: Schneider (2005) found that high school special education students “self-reported” that graphic novels motivated them to read and helped them in reading comprehension and MacDonell (2004) established that pleasure reading is critical for English Learners and many chose graphic novels for pleasure reading. Poerschke (2005) asserted that students requested more manga comics for their library. Monnin (2008) affirmed that a teacher and a student read the images differently and that graphic novels provided new opportunities for developing in-school literacies, while Hammond (2009) concluded that high school seniors responded to graphic novels in many of the traditional ways, but adjusted their normal reading process to include image analysis. With the large number of results from studies with graphic novels, new literacy terms have emerged (Griffith, 2010, p. 185). • • • • • •

Image literacy: a complex understanding of image within a context (Messaris, 1994; Buckingham, 2003). Media literacy: graphic novel reading related to Internet and new technology literacies (Alvermann & Hagood, 2000). Semiotic modes: connecting graphic novels to the study of signs and symbols (Norton, 2003). New literacies studies: the opportunity to examine and understand the kinds of literacies created by new technologies and graphics (Schwartz & Rubenstein-Avila (2006). Multiple modalities: the process of comprehending a fused text/illustration format (McPherson, 2006). Kress (2008) fused multiple modalities into multimodality and multimodal reading: a comprehension process that becomes a type of reading and thinking.

If graphic novels have been around for decades and have so many positive features for student learning and developing literary and literacy skills, why haven’t they been vital part of the curriculum in the ESL classroom? There are several factors for this circumstance, according to Jefté Lacourt (2012, p. 19): 1. 2. 3. 4.

Insufficient support from education book publishers. Pseudo comics are seen, but not the comics in their full splendor. Personal prejudice from non-readers of comics. Parents and teachers may feel that education shouldn’t be enjoyed by students. Difficulty in incorporating comics to the main curriculum. Educators may not know the benefits of graphic novels and how to evaluate them. Educators and parents may object to foul language, drug use in characters, graphic details of war and pain, and images of violence (Alverson, 2014.)

Hartnett (2014) and Ehrlich (2013) recommend these strategies adopted from expert readers of graphic novels before selecting one for the classroom to avoid rejection from school officials and parents. First, skim the entire book to absorb the artwork, paying attention to the genre and style. Second, notice the background, setting, and time period. Then study the characters and determine the mood from the color palette, if any. Only then should you settle in to read it. Being accustomed to reading traditional books, you may find graphic novels less substantial, since they have fewer words and lots of images (Ehrlich, 2014). It is not surprising that graphic novels are not often included in the curriculum. To win the school administration and parents over to your side, there are a few steps that should be followed. Esther Keller, librarian at an intermediate school in Brooklyn and a contributor to SLJ’s Good Comics for Kids Blog, as cited by Alverson, 2014, states that the first thing she does to prevent opposition is to ensure she orders books that are appropriate for the age range of the students she serves. Another key consideration is to communicate openly with the principal, administrators, and parents of the school. Griffith (2010) recommends consulting professional review sources, such as the School Library Journal or The Horn Book. Teachers should also review the themes in graphic novels, since young adult readers usually prefer reading about characters two years older than they are (Nilsen & Donelson, 2009), as cited in Griffith (2010). Other educators should review the readability of graphic novels and use tools such as Accelerated Readers ATOS or Lexile measures. Readability methods are based on an analysis of words within sentences or paragraphs. Because the readability level for some students may have hindered understanding of novels in prose, children and adolescents prefer graphic novels that appeal to them in content. The Puffin Graphics from Penguin Group USA recreate classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Macbeth, and Dracula that are loyal to the original works and contain wonderful illustrations that help reading comprehension.

Other criteria teachers should evaluate in ﬁction graphic novels include the following: (Grifﬁth 2010, p. 184): • • • • • • • •

Does the graphic novel have three-dimensional characters similar to your readers? Does the graphic novel have themes relevant and important to your readers? Is the conﬂict relevant and appropriate to your readers? Are there age-appropriate moral, ethical, political themes that resonate through the story? Does the action keep your readers’ interest and motivate them to continue reading? Is the climax realistic and true to the rising action? Is the denouement satisfying as a culmination of narrative events? Does the resolution bring the conﬂict to a satisfying end?

Evaluation criteria differ for nonﬁction graphic novels, some of which are as follows (Grifﬁth, 2010 p. 184):

• • • •

•

Does the content have a clear organization that aids reading comprehension? Is the information interesting enough to keep readers actively engaged with the text? Are there appealing charts, graphs, and other visual aids to help the reader understand the concepts? Are there enough supporting details to explain or describe each main idea? If the information is sequential, such as how-to, are there enough steps so that the reader can replicate the process? Is the content relevant and age appropriate for the development level of your readers?

After attending the seminar on graphic novels a year ago and going through the evaluation processes above, I decided to add Maus by Art Spiegelman to the 10th grade English curriculum. Spiegelman won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1992. By interviewing his father Vladek, a polish Jew, he brilliantly portrays in this graphic novel through flashbacks and present events Vladek’s horrendous experience in the Holocaust. Spiegelman cleverly represents the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats. Intertwined is Art’s difficult relationship with his dad, which adds to the realism of the novel. Next academic year the professors at my school will add a graphic novel to all grades considering their students’ reading proficiencies and interests.

I trust that I have convinced you to begin to research and select graphic novels for your students and for your own personal reading. However, I cannot end this article without mentioning the impact comics have had on the lives of baby boomers like me and adolescents today. One of the most famous is Mafalda. In September 2014, Joaquin Salvador Lavado, the creator and cartoonist of Mafalda, joined the world to celebrate her 50th anniversary. She is the popular six-year old comic strip figure who expresses her concern over Argentina’s and the world’s social problems and world piece in an innocent manner (In “Malfalda,” para. 1). Another one of our preferred comics is Marvel Comics (In “Marvel comics timeline,” para. 1). Martin Goodman began his magazine publishing business in 1932, but not until 1939 was Marvel Comics #1 published. The outstanding script writer, Stan Lee and artist, Jack Kirby made their debut with the Fantastic Four #1, the first with a new wave of superheroes: Spiderman, The Hulk, Iron Man, The X-Men, and The Avengers. The rest is history. Even though Marvel Comics has had its ups and downs, in the film industry, no one can deny the influence it has had on young and old alike. It is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Last but not least, is our beloved comic strip favorite Peanuts, featuring the characters Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Charles Schultz (1922-2000) created Peanuts in 1952. He is highly esteemed as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time. He received many awards, one of which is the National Cartoonists Society’s Humor Comic Strip Award in 1962, among others. If you ever fly to California, you can visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, which opened in 2002. It is 41

located two blocks from his former studio that celebrates his life’s work and cartoon art (In “Charles M. Schulz,” p. 1, 8). Mafalda

Fantastic Four Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, and the Human Torch

Peanuts Characters Back row: Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Woodstock, Linus Front row: Franklin, Sally, Schroeder, Snoopy, Pig Pen

I leave you now with one of thousands of Peanuts comic strips, which pretty much shows Charlie Brown’s character, the lovable loser who never gives up, who is mistreated by his friends, but remains the resolute and sturdy hero of all time (In “List of Peanuts characters,” p. 1).

Appeared on: 12th Feb 2015 -This comic’s ﬁrst appearance: 15th Feb 1968 References Alvermann, D. E. & Hagood, M. C. (2000). Critical media literacy: Research theory and practice in “new times.” The Journal of Educational Research, 93(3), 193-205. Alverson, B. (2014, September 8). Teaching with graphic novels. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2014/09/books-media/graphic-novels/the-graphic-advantage-teaching-with-graphic-novels/#_ Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture. Malden, MA: Polity. Charles M. Schultz. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Schulz Colón, R. (2009, Summer). Comics in the classroom. PRTESOL-GRAM, 36(2), 4-5. Ehrlich, L. (2013, Fall/2014, Winter). Graphic novels 101 @SED: Boston University School of Education, 8-9. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/genres/manga Goodreads. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/genres/manga Graphic novels in middle and high school classrooms. Retrieved from http://www.getgraphic.org/Teachers/EducatorsWhatandWhy.pdf

Graphic novel resources for educators. Get Graphic!: The world in words and pictures. Retrieved from http://www.getgraphic.org/teachers.php Grifﬁth, P. E. (2010, November). Graphic novels in the secondary classroom and school libraries. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(3), 181-189. doi10.1598/JAAL.54.3.3 Hartnett, K. (2014, August 7). How experts read a graphic novel. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bostonglobe.com/ ideas/2014/08/07/graphic-novels-misundrstood-medium/vZXIQGfEWggPJD6fTidJaM/story.html History and basics. ipl2 For Teens. Retrieved from http://www.ipl.org/div/graphicnovels/gnsHistBasics.html Importance of Japanese comics. ipl2 For Teens. Retrieved from http://www.ipl.org/div/graphicnovels/gnsImpJapComs.html In school and libraries. ipl2 For Teens. Retrieved from http://www.ipl.org/div/graphicnovels/gnsSchoolsNLibs.html Jefté Lacourt, L. (2012, August). Using comics and graphic novels in the classroom. PRTESOL-GRAM, 36, 18-21. Kress, G. (2008). ‘Literacy’ in a multimodal environment of communication. In J. Flood, S. B. Heath, and D. Lapp (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts. (Vol. 2, pp 91-100). NY: Erhlbaum. List of Peanuts characters. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peanuts_characters Lyga, A. W. and Lyga, B. (2004). Graphic novels in your media center: A deﬁnitive guide. Wesport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, p. 163. Mafalda. (2015, March 1). Retrieved from http://www.themunicheye.com/news/Mafalda,-a-50-years-old-little-girl--2890. Manga. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/genres/manga Marvel comics timeline. Retrieved from http://www.comichron.com/comicstimeline/marveltimeline.html McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. NY: Harper Perennial. McPherson, K. (2006). Graphic literacy. Teacher Librarian, 33(4), 67-70. Messaris, P. (1994). Visual literacy: Image, mind, and reality. Boulder, CO: Westview. Nilsen , A. P. & Donelson, K. L. (2009). Literature for today’s young adults. (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Norton, B. (2003). The motivating power of comic books: Insights from Archie comic readers. The Reading Teacher, 57(2), 140-147. 100 best graphic novels. Retrieved from http://www.top100graphicnovels.com/search/label/100-91 Schwartz, A. & Rubenstein-Avila, E. (2006). Understanding the manga hype: Uncovering the multimodality of comic book literacies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(1), 40-49. Thompson, C. (2015, February). 50 essential graphic novels. Retrieved from http://www.abebooks.com/books/features/50essential-graphic-novels-b.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-CPrpt10-h00-comicsAM-121214TG-_-01cta&abersp=1 Weiner, S. (2004). Faster than a speeding bullet: The rise of the graphic novel. NY: NBM Publishing Company, p. 61.

PA RTICIPA NTS CONTRIBUTIONS

Lesson Plan 1

Lesson Pla n 1: Mov ie Ma k i ng Migdalia Rivera Sánchez (Elementary Level)

Theme: Challenges Facing Character Unit 6.1 Puerto Rico Common Core Standards and Expectations

Grade: 6th Lesson Time Frame:

8-11 days

Speaking 6.S.1 Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions by following turn-taking, asking relevant questions, affirming others, adding relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas. 6.S.2b Express self using correct, simple, compound, and complex sentences. 6.S.2d Expand and enrich sentences to provide details about a familiar or new activity, process, or academic concept. 6.S.5 Describe and explain experiences, ideas, and concepts using appropriate grammar and vocabulary, adjusting language choices according to purpose, task and audience. Writing 6.W.8 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a variety of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. 6.W.3 Write descriptive and narrative paragraphs to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, details, structure, and using transitional words and other cohesive devices to better organize writing. Connection with Social Studies, Art, and Health Transversal Themes: Civic and Ethic Education, Technology, and Education for Peace Taxonomy Level: Throughout the project, student will go through all four levels of depth of knowledge.

Levels: I. Knowledge/memory/comprehension II. Application III. Analysis/evaluation IV. Create

Movie Makers Grade: 6, School Year 2014-2015

Lesson Process Objectives: After a discussion of the concept, movie making and the social challenges Puerto Ricans are facing today, students will: 1. be exposed to a social challenge. 2. write a narrative about a social challenge before the movie making process. 3. produce a movie following the movie making process. Materials: Storyboard, digital cameras, computers, pencils, dictionaries, props as required, i Movie Rubric, notebooks, blank paper, pen drives, windows moviemaking program, narrative writing rubric, television, DVD player with USB drive Initial Activities: 1. Routines 2. Greetings 3. Date 4. Introduction of activity for the day (each day of the project) Developmental Activities: Students will: 1. brainstorm the concept, Movie Making. 2. learn vocabulary relating to movie making. 3. be exposed to the movie making process. 4. see and analyze a few short movies. 5. meet in small groups to discuss and decide challenges Puerto Ricans are facing. 6. complete a storyboard showing a planned process towards movie making. 7. decide tasks each student of the group will perform during the process of making the movie. 47

8. record and take pictures of setting, characters, and events. 9. revise and edit recorded events and pictures using movie making or i movie. 10. meet in small groups to write a narrative of the movie produced. 11. use dictionaries. Closing Activities: Students will: 1. publish and save the movie in a pen drive 2. present the movie in class 3. share their experience with this project 4. turn in the narrative Story boards

Outstanding Workshops Migdalia Rivera Sanchez

I am very thankful for the dedication each professor put into the workshops provided. I thank each and every one of them for sharing their knowledge, ideas, and materials. I learned many things that motivated me into taking some risks, risks like daring to integrate different strategies into my lessons and strategies that required technological skills. I didn’t know much about these particular skills, but I learned some, enough to get started. Because of these workshops, the professors awakened in me the curiosity to test them out with my students. I knew that implementing these techniques and strategies were going to be a big challenge, especially those that require technological skills. I decided to take the risk anyway, because I felt that the process was going to be a thrill for my students and the ﬁnal product an exciting and rewarding one. The strategies and skills that I learned in these workshops are very useful for my students to accomplish the grade level expectations in a fun and motivating way. Nevertheless, they were also going to learn technological skills that eventually could be applied to other courses or subjects throughout their school years and beyond. My sixth graders read the story, Merry Christmas in Cupey by Dr. Anibal Munoz. I liked the strategies presented during the workshop, so I parted from this idea. For this lesson, students used the character analysis graphic organizer provided in the curriculum maps from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. I had the students’ research a tradition celebrated in Puerto Rico. They were to share the good and bad habits Puerto Ricans have while celebrating the tradition. Students were to write a narrative about the research and their experience. These topics were pertinent to the students. I used a rubric to evaluate the students’ ﬁnal written work.

A Digital Story Migdalia Rivera Sánchez

After going through the experience of creating a digital story with a group of teachers, (Ana, Diana, Edna, and Sandra) in the workshop, I must say that it was a very challenging and rewarding experience. Before this workshop, I was not aware of the programs and technological tools available in the Internet that can help me create a movie. After the professors gave us the elements, strategies, and techniques of creating digital stories, our journey began. We worked as a team to accomplish our goal, a digital story, and for me, a really challenging experience. Each one of us cooperated with each of our unique talents and the digital story was done. I felt very proud of our ﬁnal results. This was a learning experience for me due to the fact that before this workshop, I had never integrated movie making in my classroom. Even though it is a project that requires a lot of work, I enjoyed it so much that I wanted my students to go through the experience, so I decided to take this strategy to my sixth graders. They were to make a movie with an educational value. The movie was to focus on a social challenge Puerto Ricans are facing. Students were divided into small groups to make decisions and solve the problem encountered. Each group decided a title for their movie. The titles were, No More Bribing, Group Pressure, Stop Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and Stop Elder Abuse. 49

I want to share the, Movie Making/Digital story project from which the students had a thrill doing. Among the things the students expressed, was that they had learned techniques in using technology and how the pieces were put together and edited to come up with a ﬁnal product, a movie. Other students found out about Windows Movie Making and how to use it. The movies were presented to the class; it was a joy to watch expressions of pride in the students’ faces. They were their own critics. In the middle of laughter and pride, they evaluated themselves by mentioning some things they would do differently. They identiﬁed the different shots taken, using the vocabulary learned. The strategies and activities integrating art and technology do not stop here. I want to implement more strategies with my students, strategies Dr. Elise Candelaria, Dr. Maria Irizarry, Dr. Rosemary Morales, Dr. Carmen M. Torres, Dr. Jeannette Milland exposed me to. I want all my students to go through the experience of these diverse and fun activities. Thank you for giving me the opportunity of participating in such valuable workshops.

How I implemented a fusion of diverse strategies learned in the proposal, “Professional Development for Teachers of English of Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication” Omaris Sanjurjo

As an English Teacher in these changing and hectic times where media and technology inﬂuence our student population, I found very refreshing and pertinent the diverse strategies I learned in the proposal offered this year. It has been a very positive and professionally enriching experience. I felt really lucky to be able to participate in this workshop and had tons of fun while learning. It gave me a nice perspective of teaching techniques that made me feel comfortable and brave in the classroom. How did time manage to ﬂy so fast? I wish I could have more time with the proposal because I learned so much that in order to implement everything it might take years. I’m exaggerating, but the real content was enlivening and I felt inspired to achieve more in my classroom. I felt all that we learned was pertinent to our students. I am a second year rookie working in the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. Teachers like me need the means and the new ideas to achieve a balance between our social-techie oriented students and others who do not have access to any technology at all. I must confess that most of them have technology in their homes, such as smartphones and tablets, but there is a minority of students that has no way of having that kind of technology. We need to adapt the lessons and make them attractive for our students; that is a must. We have outdated books, scarce resources, like in my case, no computers, no projector, no TV—in fact “nada.” My new assigned classroom was bare. Not all of the schools are equipped with technology either; hence, transitory teachers like me are empty-handed upon arrival. We have no seniority at this level, so we must claw our way to get a decent chalkboard and a fan in the classroom. I was really glad that the proposal gave me books and strategies for extended teaching to use different platforms like Weebly and Edmodo, among others. First, let me tell you how excited I was when I used the short story “Los Prepas” in the book Boricuan Times by Anibal Muñoz, one of the best Puerto Rican authors of our time. His stories are so close 50

to what our students’ lives are accustomed to in the schools. The books were provided in the proposal and I was thrilled to have them. The reaction of my tenth graders when they saw the title of the story was shock. Their jaws dropped. Then they asked me, “En serio, teacher? Are we going to read about PREPAS?” I nodded with a broad smile because they made the immediate connection. They are prepas. They had the same fears and the same experiences the story narrates. They were so enraptured with the story. It was an easy connection. This year, I decided to use the powerful and hip strategy of Interactive Notebook and Independent Reading & Journals. Yes, powerful. I saw it was a great opportunity to use all of the strategies acquired in the proposal. I must say that I urged my students to be creative with their notebooks. I gave them the go and to be free, but of course, under specific evaluation and rubrics. I noticed that at the beginning there was some resistance with the structure of the notebooks. They couldn’t understand the purpose, but after a few weeks of daily classwork and the creative activities they did in class, all of them were really eager to use and appreciated them. For the Independent Reading & Journal, I implemented a rubric with a format for each log. Once a week, my class had an Independent Reading activity. The student picked a book from the class library, read, and chose five general questions to answer about the reading. At the end of the month, they had four logs of independent reading. The library has a variety of books and comics for all of the different level readers. I can say that it was a huge achievement. I am proud of using the strategy that I learned in the proposal. Reading aloud stories they can relate to and giving them options to read what they like, instead of forcing stories they cannot relate to, has lowered the bar of anxiety and students are more proactive. I observed that they helped each other before asking me anything. It gave them independence. Goal achieved. In the area of integrating technology, I brought an old TV I had from my house to my school and I used my personal laptop. “When there are means, there are ways.” I created during the workshops a webpage on Weebly called English in the Attic. It is a blog and forum I made for extended teaching and integration of technology. I had wonderful help from my friend, YouTube. I found videos to spark critical thinking and added the link into the forums. Students made a campaign in the school about, what would you do? Videos. Articles and prompts were posted in the blog. I gave them homework to comment and posted in the forum things relevant they find in the web. I can tell you that being in this proposal has inspired me to be the best I can be. I have seen wonders with all the strategies I have applied. I feel and I quote the motto of one of our professors “knowledgeable, responsible and happy citizens” is what I want my students to be, because I feel productive and their learning is being achieved. My satisfaction is that my purpose as a teacher is to touch and enlighten minds. I have found great ideas and felt inspired thanks to this proposal. My students have come forward expressing how they love my class and how different my class is. I feel proud and humbled at the same time by their words. I owe it to the proposal, their excellent team of professors, and their faith in giving me a chance to participate in this wonderful opportunity. I hope my lessons are of your liking and that I will be able to inspire you in your class. Blessings to everyone and like I tell my students “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

Reflection Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication Daisy Elisa Cedeño, MSED

I had the opportunity to participate in the program offered last year by professors at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Campus to elementary level teachers and this year to secondary level teachers. I really appreciate the effort of these professors who took their time to teach us new skills that helped us improve our lessons in the classroom, by filling us with different ways to make our learning environment more familiar and fun. This experience helped me in many ways by making new friends and feeling part of a group of professionals that really look forward to improving their English classrooms. Here we helped each other and if we had doubts, we talked it over and clarified them. We also shared ideas on how we could present a lesson. In a very special way, I thank Dr. Maria Irizarry, Dr. Anibal Muñoz, and Dr. Elsie Candelaria, for their friendship, respect, and kindness toward the teachers participating in this project. My respect to them for the time and effort they put into bringing new ideas and reflections to us in order to nurture not only our knowledge but also our souls, by making us understand that not everything is lost, that if we have faith in what we do, things could work. These kinds of projects are useful tools for an education system that is constantly changing, because it keeps the teachers updated with new strategies to teach our students. I want to thank the University of Puerto Rico, my colleagues, and the professors who gave me the opportunity of becoming part of this special project.

Lesson Pla n 2: Dig ita l Stories

Lesson Plan 2

Diana Inostroza Medina (3rd-6th grade)

Theme: Challenges Facing Character Unit 6.1

Grade: 3rd-6th

Lesson Time Frame: 5 days (one week of instruction)

Puerto Rico Common Core Standards and Expectations Speaking 6.S.2d Expand and enrich sentences to provide details about a familiar or new activity, process, or academic 6.S.5 Describe and explain experiences, ideas, and concepts using appropriate grammar and vocabulary ,concept adjusting language choices according to purpose, task and audience. 6.S.6.a Retell text and recount experiences using complete sentences, key words, and a growing number of general academic and content-speciďŹ c words in order to communicate with increasing precision. Depth of Knowledge: Strategic Thinking SpeciďŹ c Objectives: During the week, the students will: 1. read narrative texts about challenges that characters encounter in stories 2. identify different types of challenges faced while identifying the strategies to solve them. 3. develop a video to communicate the steps on facing their challenge. EQ1. How do challenges lead to new learning? EU1. Challenges are openings to new learning. Activities: Initial Routine Activities: Student and teacher review theme and vocabulary by presentation of open ended questions: What is a challenge? How can a challenge be a problem? What steps can you take to solve a problem? Developmental Activities 1. Individually, the student completes a brief prompt of possible challenges following the writing process. 2. A draft is turned in to discuss theme. 3. Materials and things needed are considered. 54

Closing Activity 1. Presentation of Video Strategy: Language Experience, Think Aloud Differentiated Education Strategy: Provide additional time and special equipment. Concept and Skills: Challenges, Problem, and Solution Connection: Art Transversal Theme: Civic and Ethic Education Materials: Curriculum Maps, Camera, Writing Prompt Assignments: Authorization Letter. ReďŹ&#x201A;ection: Negativity of parents, but students, who had parents that cooperated, had meaningful learning experiences.

Lesson Plan 3

Lesson Pla n 3: Of UBD, Cu rricu la r Maps, Pla n n i ng, Com mon Core, etc… Yoli Candelario Vaillant (7th, 8th & 9th Grade)

My daughter was off to summer camp in Miami, and thinking about what to do, I ended up enrolling in workshops given at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, specially designed for English teachers. The workshops began in June! My co-workers called me all kinds of names, asking me if I was nuts that I should take time for myself. I ended up having a great time, meeting new friends and colleagues and a lot of professors with great ideas that I was so eager to share with my students! Little did I know that everything learned during the summer and every other Saturday for the rest of the semester was going to be of such a great help! It was a new academic year with new strategies, new planning, new standards, and a new philosophy. Everything that could be changed from previous years was suddenly put into practice within a week of receiving our students back. We have always had changes every time an academic year begins, but this year was like never before. Lucky me, I was part of this incredible group of teachers and professionals that were up to date in most of the changes the Department of Education of Puerto Rico wanted to implement! Being a middle school English teacher from a small school in a very troubled “barrio” in Humacao has not been an easy task, especially when teaching a second language that most don’t care to learn or understand. My only hope is to make my students “fall in love” with the language and my class, and make them see the advantages of mastering a second language and how fun could it be at the same time! Many strategies were shown to me during the summer and many tools that I could use to amaze my students every time! I have been using several of those strategies since the semester began in August 2014. After getting to know my groups ( I teach 7th, 8th, and 9th grade), I decided I was going to work most of the activities with my homeroom group (7-1), and would use some other activities learned during the workshops with my 8th graders. I am not a “technology wizard”, but I am up to it. Every time that I use my digital camera or my video camera to film their activities, they love it! I realized then, that this was a great way for the students’ self-assessment. They can critique themselves. They can see what they have done wrong and how to improve. Lights, camera, action! My students are protagonists of the classroom and they are having so much fun! One of the activities my homeroom students enjoyed the most is the “Flat Stanley Project”. Even though they are 7th graders (I was kind of apprehensive about using it at first), they have had a blast! First, I introduced them to the character by reading aloud from the book; this way they learned why Stanley became flat and all the advantages that came with it. Then, we watched some videos downloaded from You Tube (“Stanley Goes to Hollywood” and “Flat Stanley Visits Puerto Rico”). You should have seen their faces, and how much they laughed and enjoyed it! Now, it was time for the “Hands On” activity with Flat Stanley. Using a template provided, the students created their own Stanleys. Their imaginations ran wild and free. They were extremely excited. They really enjoyed coloring their templates; such an easy task for all of them! Little did they know that this was just the beginning of a great adventure where reading, writing, and speaking were to be involved. They were so eager to take their newly

created Stanleys to different places, to do things together, to be able to share all their experiences with the rest of us! Watching my students having so much fun with this simple activity, writing, creating, moving about very confidently, and telling one another about his/her plans, reassured me what a great idea it was to work the Flat Stanley project with them, with some modifications to it. There was no mailing involved. Students took Flat Stanley to places, took photos, and showed and explained their experiences and travels. I used rubrics downloaded from the Internet to evaluate their oral presentations and written works. It was definitely a highlight during the first semester. When the day for the oral presentations arrived, and they saw me with my video camera and my digital camera ready, they became very nervous. I explained to them that there was nothing to worry about, that I just wanted to be able to show them afterwards what they did right or wrong and what could be improved. Oh boy, did we have fun! They enjoyed this activity so much that I decided that we would do more Flat Stanley at least once a month.

I have been a witness about how more conﬁdent my students have become speaking in front of the class and how their postures have improved I can acknowledge all this through the self-assessment sessions we have had following their oral reports. I would lie to you all if I tell you that there has been 100% improvement in the use of English. That would be an ESL teacher’s dream come true! What I have seen in my students is accepting that English can be fun, that they can work with it, learn, and enjoy it at the same time. I have realized that there are other ways to teach, that we as teachers have to think “out of the box,” and that we can reach and open our students’ minds to different and fun ways to learn. At the end of the day what matters is that students have a learning experience. It is our duty as teachers to lead our ESL learners to become better citizens and that by learning, by educating them, sometimes taking baby steps and other times making them take bigger steps, everything is possible. ESL educators like me must show that we can endure most obstacles by just changing our views a little bit and by changing attitudes. After all, it is about being knowledgeable, responsible, and happy, like one of our professors, Dr. Maria Irizarry, emphasized so many times in our workshops.

My Realization Veronica Rivera

There comes a time in a teacher’s life when she questions her job. Somehow she loses motivation and even thinks about doing something else for a living. How can this happen? Well, easy! The teacher is too overwhelmed. Her superiors demand that her groups rank high in the standardized test scores. She must cover X amount of skills by the end of the school year, so she gets to spend her nights and weekends grading papers. She gets to struggle with unmotivated students and completing extra duties assigned by the administration on a daily basis. What way of living is this? I was at a point in my job where I had lost the energy and the creativity to make my classes fun and entertaining for my students. I was focusing on teaching the old fashioned way (and by this I mean the sit, pay attention and learn style) because I thought it was the only way my kids would actually learn! It was the worst feeling. I had finished a master’s degree and it was unbearable to think that I didn’t know whether I wanted to keep teaching or not. The best way to describe what happened to me is that I simply fossilized. As the 2013-2014 academic year came to an end, I received two offers. The first one was getting paid a good amount of money to teach remedial courses during the month of June. The second offer was to attend professional development in a proposal from the University of Puerto Rico. For the latter, I would have to go to the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao (UPRH) every day from 8:00-2:00 and then from 8:00-12:00 alternate Saturdays until December 2014. Of course, forming part of this proposal would mean that I would have to commit to about six months of workshops. However, it didn’t take long for me to make a decision. I was to spend my summer teaching and you already know how I felt about that. The other option to receive tools that could help me become a better teacher. I knew these workshops would help me confirm whether or not teaching was in my future. I needed this. I needed to know that teaching was something that I loved and that I did now waste the last seven years of my professional life to wind up at a dead end. One of the first feelings I got the first day of the workshops was the fact that UPRH was my alma mater. Walking through the campus brought back so many wonderful memories of my college life. I remembered my professors, classmates, and even my first boyfriend! I felt younger and I loved it. As the first workshops started, I started feeling different. I was enthused, eager, and motivated to teach. Activities, such as “Take Me to the Concert” and “Using Radio for Listening Comprehension,” were just some of the activities that made me realize that I really just needed to refresh my mind and look at teaching again as an opportunity to take advantage of technology, applications, art, and music to achieve the goals and objectives I had for my students. These workshops made me realize that I do love the classroom and that teaching is my passion. I was transformed once again and I understood that every teacher should seek this kind of professional development because we owe it to ourselves, to our schools and, most of all, to our students. I read a quote somewhere that said, “If the child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns” - Rita Dunn. Times have changed and so has our generation of students. We must update our methods because we need to meet the needs of our students. We cannot prepare them for the future if we are stuck in the past. I’m going to miss the group and professors from the proposal. I am not in the classroom as much as before, due to a new administrative challenge. However, I learned so much and was able to grow as a person and a professional. I would like to thank all the people responsible for making this a reality and for giving me the opportunity to participate in such a proposal. I am forever grateful because they all helped me realize teaching is what I want to do for the rest of my life! 60

Lesson Plan 4

Lesson Pla n 4: The Fau lt i n ou r Sta rs by Joh n Green: A Si mple Lesson w ith a Big Impact Dr. Maritere Cardona (9th-12th Grade) The Palmas Academy

Theme/Topic: The Fault in our Stars- Thought Clouds General Strategy: ECA Phase: Conceptualization and Application Cross- Curricular Connection: Art Grade: 11th grade Lesson Time Frame: 2 days Puerto Rico Common Core Standards: Writing, Listening, Speaking Grade Level Expectations: 11. W.7- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reďŹ&#x201A;ection, or research. 11. S.2b- Synthesize, analyze, and debate information, justifying answers with details from texts, self, and the world. 11. L.1- Listen and interact with peers during class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining and building upon conversations on a variety of grade-appropriate academic, social, college, and career topics. 11. L.1b- Follow turn-taking, asking/answering relevant questions, afďŹ rming others, adding relevant information, relating the information to prior knowledge from experience, texts, or real-world connections, ad paraphrasing and analyzing key ideas. DOK: Level 4- Extended Thinking Skill: Synthesis Objectives: Students will: 1. Conceptual: a. Select a quote from the novel that can be analyzed in terms of its literal and metaphorical value. 62

Procedural: b.Create a personal thought cloud where each student writes the selected quote, explains its signiﬁcance in the literary text, and reﬂects on the personal connection it has to their lives.

Attitudinal: c. Make connections to personal life as a means to empathize and relate to others; gain a deeper understanding in the way we perceive and understand those experiences that cause a great impact our lives.

Materials: white cardboard, paint or colored pencils (white, black, different shades of blue), paint brushes, scissors, paperback novel The Fault in our Stars. Initial Activities: After having read and discussed the novel, The Fault in our Stars, tell students they will have the opportunity to select ONE quote that has had a personal impact on them. Show them the movie trailer of the novel, The Fault in our Stars, which highlights some of the most memorable quotes spoken by the main characters. Allow them to look up in their paperback novel the quote they want to share in their thought cloud. Developmental Activities: After having selected the quote, students will draw and cut out a cloud-like shape and paint it in shades of blue, white, or gray. After the paint has dried, the student will write their selected quote on the front side of the cloud. On the back side of the cloud, they will write the meaning of the quote in its literary context, reflect on the personal significance it has for them, and state how it impacts their perception on their self, others, and the world around them. Closing Activities: After having completed their though cloud, students sit in a circle. Each student presents the quote that they have selected, explains the meaning it had on the literary text, and reflects on why it has a personal connection to their lives. Students show the significance of the quote to gain a deeper insight into the perceptions of others, themselves, and the world around them. Teacher feedback to issues brought forth by the students is highly encouraged. Once the student has presented his/her thought cloud, he/she will hang it from the classroom ceiling or tape on a wall. Assessment: Informal group presentation of students’ thought clouds and their ability to synthesize the connection it has on their personal lives and experiences and the lives and experiences of others. The following holistic scoring rubric was used to assess students.

Students used different art materials, such as watercolor or acrylic paint, glitters, white cardboard, and black markers, to design and create their own thoght clouds. Once ďŹ nished, students openly share their personal thought clouds allowing peer and teacher feedback.

Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoght clouds on The fault in our star: asimple lesson with a Big Impact.

Students Name:

Holistic Scoring Rubric - The Fault in Our Stars Thought Clouds

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The students show a deep understanding of the literal and metaphorical meaning of the selected quote. The student was able to explain the meaning of the quote and reflect on the personal significance it has to him/her. Connection was made to show a deeper understanding of the self, others, and the world around them. Synthesis of the material presented was well-evidenced.

The students shows a good understanding of the literal and metaphorical meaning of the selected quote. The student was able to explain the meaning of the quote and reflect on the personal significance it has to him/her. Connection was made to show a superficial understanding of the self, others, and the world around them. Synthesis of the material presented was somewhat evidenced.

Comments:

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The students show a lack of understanding of the literal and metaphorical meaning of the selected quote. The student was able to explain the meaning of the quote and reflect on the personal significance it has to him/her. However, vague or no connection was made to show a deeper understanding of the self, others, and the world around them. Synthesis of the material presented was not evidenced. Total:

Prepared by Dr. M. Cardona- December 2014

Impact of the Lesson: A Brief Reflection “The Perpetual Learner” Maritere Cardona, Ed. D.

After a year of pulling all-nighters, suffering from muscle spasm and back pain, gaining pounds by the minute, and sacrificing my weekends away from my friends and family, I decided that once I obtained my doctoral degree, I would give myself time to breathe and take a well-deserved break! For me that meant, no more classes as a student, no more studying theories or reading research articles for a while, and definitely no more sitting at my computer for countless hours searching the Internet. Well, surely that didn’t last long! The very next day after graduating, I was sitting in a classroom at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, and like a child in a candy store, I was extremely excited to be taking on a new challenge in my life: one hundred and thirty hours of professional development aimed at the integration of art and technology for effective communication in the ESL classroom. Encouraged by my mentors, Dr. Anibal Muñoz, Dr. María Antonia Irizarry, and Dr. Elsie Candelaria, I took on the task to learn more about teaching diverse learners using innovative teaching strategies with music, art, and other forms of media, aligning the curriculum with the Puerto Rico Core Standards, and much, much more! It wasn’t long before I was reminded why I was sitting in a classroom chair once again. It came in the form of three little words uttered by Dr. Irizarry the first day we arrived, “Teachers NEED to 65

be responsible, knowledgeable, and happy citizens.” Yes, of course, a simple formula that reminded me that as an ESL educator, my commitment to the teaching of English was for life, and my invitation to be part of this professional development had not been a mere coincidence. I am a perpetual student, not by choice, but by the principles and ethical obligations I have as an English educator in Puerto Rico. To say the least, this has been the BEST professional development tailored for high school English teachers in the public and private sectors of the Island. Once again, I have to be grateful for the opportunity I was given to attend. I definitely acquired loads of knowledge that helped me understand my students’ needs and diverse ways of learning. I learned that as a teacher, I had been doing many right things, but I also discovered that in the midst of the 21st century, I was still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I was teaching the same way I was taught, without really taking into account the generational differences that existed between my students and myself. By the first week of the proposal, Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication, I had had the biggest wakeup call up-to-date. As all these ideas of incorporating art and technology were pouring out, in my head I was trying to think of when I had done something similar to really engage students in learning. Over and over, I thought of the strategies I had been using throughout the years and none stood out as the ones that were being shown to us. Yes, I was using power point presentations, crafts to decorate my classroom, music as background to sooth the nerves, and all sorts of online apps to aid my teaching. Yet, my students were receiving loads of lectures, writing assignments, and traditional testing. I had it all backwards, and I needed to make an immediate change…and so I did! For the most part, I have been able to review and put into practice many principles that make reference to diversity in the English classroom. This professional development taught me that teaching diverse learners is about bringing into the classroom socio-cultural experiences that are pertinent not only to the academic needs of the students, but to their emotional needs as well. It is this balance that creates truly engaged learners who can see the connection of what is being taught to what they make out of it within their own personal realities. Integrating art and technology for effective communication has allowed me to strengthen my teaching philosophy and incorporate those teaching strategies that are meaningful to this generation of students that live to keep up with the technological trends of the times. Among the many innovative and meaningful teaching strategies that were presented to us during the professional development, I was most excited about the use of authentic videos to explore character development, conflict, and problem solving, the use of music lyrics for personal reflections, and the use of radio podcasts to enhance listening skills. It blew my mind to see how such simple ideas could create a more diverse and dynamic classroom environment. If as teachers, we were engaged in learning and communicating the most when asked to work in collaborative groups and hands-on activities, then the experiences for our students shouldn’t be any different. In light of my own experiences, having taken Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication has given me a much needed boost of energy and enthusiasm to continue doing what I love the most. I feel blessed to have found myself in the path of Dr. Annette López de Méndez, Dr. María Antonia Irizarry, Dr. Anibal Muñoz, Dr. Elsie Candelaria, Dr. Rosemary Morales, Professor Jeannette Milland, and Professor Carmen Milagros Torres whose passion for teaching and making the difference in the teaching of ESL in Puerto Rico will be well-evidenced in educators who, like myself, are able to envision great changes.

Implications for Teaching Listening Comprehension in the ESL Classroom

Maritere Cardona, Ed. D. We are live speaking from WOSO 1030 A.M. Radio Station. This is your host, Enrique Kike Cruz and with me this morning is Fire Arm Trainer, Luis Bonnet speaking to us about Gun Control Laws. Our lines are now open to our callers for comments or questions on the topic at hand. A brief pause. Good morning, this is Kike Cruz speaking; You are on the air. On the other line, the class heard a distinct, familiar voice. Yes, good morning. This is Anthony De Rosa. I am calling from the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. I’m with a group of students taking a professional development workshop for teachers of English, and we’ve been listening to your live radio talk show “Speak out” as a means to incorporate listening comprehension in our ESL classroom. I would like to make a comment on the policies concerning Gun Control Laws in Puerto Rico…. And just like that, the twenty students enrolled in the proposal, Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication, grasped the principle of how to teach listening comprehension as an active learning process. Not only was the class captivated, participating and listening attentively to the discussion that was taking place live through a radio podcast forum, but most important, the students were engaged in authentic and meaningful second language communication. Listening, although one of the most important skills in learning and communication, has long been ignored as an area of formal instruction (Brown, 2007; Chou, 2013; Flowerdew & Miller, 2014; Goh, 2014). But, why? According to Flowerdew & Miller (2005) and Rost (2011), listening has been traditionally considered a passive skill that develops naturally with speaking and reading. As a result, teachers may have believed that there was little they could do to teach listening because the process that learners engaged in during listening could not be directly observed or controlled (Goh, 2014). Perhaps another reason for this omission was that teachers were not instructed in practices for teaching listening comprehension. In fact, the tendency during the 60’s and early 70’s when the Audio-Lingual Method was widely used, was to view speaking as the main marker of language proficiency (Brown, 2007; Goh, 2014). Students were drilled and given dialogues that did not prepare them to understand authentic, native-like speech patterns. By the late 80’s, listening had been given more systematic attention. As a result, instruction “focused on the understanding of spoken discourse for functional and interactional purposes” (Goh, 2014, p.74). Despite the new Communicative Language Teaching Approach, many still believed that listening developed naturally and was a passive process with little cognitive application (Hyslop & Tone, 1988). It has only been in the past two decades that researchers have considered the importance of the listening process and have begun to encourage the use of active listening strategies to the teaching of listening comprehension in the classroom. The latest curricular revisions made to the English program in Puerto Rico’s Public School System, Puerto Rico Core Standards 2014, delineate five distinct standards: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Language. For the first time, listening is seen as a distinct standard which requires planning, monitoring, elaborating, and assessing. Furthermore, the English curriculum contains both College and Career Readiness (CCR) expectations and Grade Level Indicators in each of the standards, including listening (See Table 1). Yet, the lack of understanding of what listening entails and how comprehension is achieved still proves to be a challenge for both the learner and the educator (Goh, 2014). Therefore, in assessing how listening comprehension skills affect the English as a Second Language student, it is important to first identify what listening comprehension is and how it influences the process L2 acquisition. 67

Table 1. College & Career Readiness Expectation, Grade-level Indicators, and Speciﬁc skills for the mastery of the Core Standard: Listening (Puerto Rico Department of Education, 2014).

Core Standard: Listening (CCR Expectation): Comprehend and analyze information from a variety of listening activities to ask and answer questions on social, academic, college, and career topics. Kinder

1st grade

2nd Grade

K.L.1 Listen and interact with peers and teachers during read-alouds, social interactions, group activities, and informal oral presentations.

1.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during social interactions, read-alouds, and class, group, and partner discussions.

2.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during social interactions, read-alouds, and class, group, and partner discussions.

3rd grade

4th grade

3.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during social interactions, read-alouds, oral presentations, and class, group, and partner discussions.

4.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during social interactions, read-alouds, oral presentations, and class, group, and partner discussions.

5th Grade

6th grade

5.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during group participation and oral presentations. 7th grade 7.L.1 Listen and collaborate with peers during social and academic interactions in class, group, and partner discussions in read-alouds, oral presentations, and a variety of grade-appropriate topics. 9th Grade 9.L.1 Listen, support discussions, and interact with peers during read-alouds (of ﬁctional and informational text); oral presentation/performances; of class, group, and partner discussions on a variety of gradeappropriate academic and social topics.

6.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during group participation and oral presentations. 8th grade 8.L.1 Listen and collaborate with peers during social interactions, read-alouds (of ﬁctional and informational text); oral presentations; and class, group and partner discussions. 10th grade 10.L.1 Listen, support discussions, and interact with peers during read-alouds (of ﬁctional and informational text); oral presentations; and class, group, and partner discussions on a variety of grade-appropriate academic, social, college, and career topics.

11th grade

12th grade

11.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining and building upon conversations on a variety of grade-appropriate academic, social, college, and career topics.

12.L.1 Listen and interact with peers during class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining and building upon conversations on a variety of grade-appropriate academic, social, college, and career topics.

While listening was once considered a passive process, after re-examination most experts agree that listening is actually a very active and engaging process. According to Richards (1993) and Rubin (1995) as cited in Duzer (1997), “Listening is the active process of selecting and interpreting information from auditory and visual clues” (para. 8). Brown (2007) adds that listening is a two-way street where listeners are participants in an interaction where they alternate between the role of the listener and the speaker. Most importantly, Goh (2014) asserts that, “Like all language communication skills, listening is goal-directed and purposeful” (p.73). “It is this purpose that drives the understanding process” (Rost, 1990 as cited in Goh, 2014, p.73). Thus, for effective listening to take place, a listener must decide that there is a reason or purpose for listening. Then, he/she must attempt to identify and organize the information, predict what the information will be, recall and utilize background information, give meaning to the message, and make sure the message has been understood (Brown, 2007; Duzer, 1997; Goh, 2014; Rost 1990). Therefore, as an active process, it is one that can be taught and strengthened. Nevertheless, the current definition of active listening is often expanded by research studies to include critical listening skills which go beyond receptive skills. When listening, “meaning cannot be simply extracted from the sound signals, and understanding is the result of active construction occurring at all levels of text (sound, grammar, lexis, and discourse structure) and context (the topic, the participants, the communication purpose, and the place or setting for the interaction)” (Goh, 2014, p. 73). This is important to understand because educators must be aware that in order to teach effective listening skills, they must emphasize the relationship between listening and speaking in both direct (face-to-face) interactions and indirect interactions and consider everything from context to meaning to sound signals. Yet, “when there is no direct interaction, listeners must resort to other means of completing the gaps in their understanding” (p.73). A second insight into listening comprehension is that it is in fact a cognitive activity (Brown, 2007; Hoven, 1991). This is supported by researchers such as Anderson (1995), Goh (2014), Krashen (1989), and Noblitt (1993) who further add that speakers draw on vast amounts of shared knowledge to construct meaning when they are listening. Consequently, listening comprehension is a cognitive process that is interactive with the learner’s general intelligences. One aspect of speech in particular that is based on general knowledge is analysis by synthesis (Noblitt, 1993). This term refers to the listeners’ ability to fill in sections of information as they listen to the speaker. Predicting what people will say and finishing someone’s sentences are evidence of this phenomenon (Noblitt, 1993). Thus, English as a Second Language learners can become overwhelmed by input without the benefit of analysis by synthesis. Furthermore, elements that are recalled for speech are assimilated into previously learned and observed scenarios. A significant finding in listening research is that information will not be processed by the listener if it does not fit their cognitive schemata (Anderson, 1995; Goh, 2014; Hoven, 1991; Piaget 1963). Native English speakers during listening comprehension take words and fit them into a context that they create from their general knowledge of the world and the makeup of society (Ausubel, 1967; Krashen, 1989; Noblitt, 1993). On the other hand, non-native speakers miss out on the general meaning and syntax of speech. This decreases their ability to grasp the main ideas of conversation by filling in the voids. It is, therefore, imperative that second language learners perfect listening skills if they want to produce effective oral communication. Flowerdew and Miller (2014) agree that successful second language learners are individuals who have developed active listening skills and, as a result, can communicate effectively. Other elements may also affect the quality of listening. When a listener is interested in a topic and has enough background information to make sense of the information, comprehension improves. If there is little interest or a lack of knowledge, the listener will tune out the information and fail to comprehend (Brown, 2014; Duzer, 1997). While listening comprehension can appear very similar to reading comprehension (Brown, 2007), listening comprehension practices do not always correspond with current reading and writing

practices. For instance, in 1991, Hoven argued that vocabulary and grammar instruction produced little improvement in the way we listened. Likewise, listening labs which offered tape recordings of speech were considered ineffective because they provided little interaction and opportunities for the students to engage in meaningful conversations (Noblitt, 1993). Nonetheless, educators at the turn of the 21st century are still employing listening lab practices for reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar while deemphasizing the primordial purpose of what teaching listening comprehension truly entails and how to go about assessing listening as a skill. When assessing listening comprehension, it is most effective to focus on import concepts from the conversation and not small details. Picking out main ideas is not only a more important skill, but it shows more analytical thinking skills than memorization. Chou (2013), Flowerdew & Miller (2014), and Mead & Rubin (1985) suggest that performance assessments that require completion of tasks instead of question and answer tests will give a more accurate picture of listening comprehension proﬁciency. After all, the focus of listening comprehension instruction for learners of English as a Second Language should be its functional application in meaningful speech production. In addition, it is not desirable to try to eliminate all outside noise and simultaneous conversation from language samples. Reducing distinction in speech and using only model pronunciation in sterile environments reduces the transferability of skills when real life conversation, with its inherent background noises, takes place (Flowerdew & Miller, 2014; Goh, 2014). For this reason, oral presentation of written material is not the best medium for a listening task because the language is not authentic to speech in communication patterns. Direct instruction in social language cues such as expression, gestures, voice tone, and proximity are important to ensure the inference of these actions into listening. Brown (2007) also suggests instruction in predicting content and listening for redundancies. Drill and practice in rote memorization are not typically effective in improving listening comprehension skills either. Brown (2014) asserts that while children and adults might make good use of meaningless repetition and mimicking, practice and imitation needs to be contextualized and purposeful. “Rote learning based on excessive rote drills, pattern repetition, rule recitation, and other activities that are in not in the context of meaningful communication” are typically used for short termmemory (Brown 2014, p.63). It is the quality of practice that makes the difference. This supports the practice of chunking and limiting overloads of information in ESL instruction. Furthermore, the use of written text as a support for listening comprehension is limited in application as well. Written examples lack semantic clues such as intonation, which can be a very important part of the melodic structure of speech (Noblitt, 1993). Listening activities should serve a purpose for the listener. Relevant, interesting information will keep their attention and help them identify the key concepts within a speech. The listener will also be more likely to ask for clariﬁcation if he/she has a vested interest in the information. Variation, rephrasing, and pauses are inherent in conversation and general language. Therefore, practices in listening comprehension should be as authentic as possible (Duzer, 1997; Muñoz, 2014). According to Brown (2007), there are six basic principles that should be considered when designing classroom activities centered around listening comprehension. These principles can be applied to any technique that is brought forth to enhance listening for second language learners. 1. “Include a focus on listening in an integrated-skills course” - Teachers should keep in mind that in a second language course, reading, writing, language, speaking, and listening will be present and intertwined with one another. Nonetheless, it is important to allow students to experience language while paying attention to the uniqueness of each component skill. (Brown, 2007, p. 310)

2. “Use techniques that are intrinsically motivating” - Consideration needs to be given to listeners’ personal interest, goals, background information, experiences, abilities, and socio-cultural background.

Students should feel self-motivated to engage in second language communication that is meaningful and relevant to them. (Brown, 2007, p. 311) 3. “Utilize authentic language and contexts”- Listening activities should include real- world tasks and authentic language usage that has pertinence to the second language learner. Examples include: listening to recorded materials in textbooks, videos, radio programs, songs, films, television programs, speeches, interviews, videoconferencing, casual conversations, or one-on-one and group discussions. (Brown, 2007, p. 311) 4. “Carefully consider the form of listeners’ responses” -Design listening activities where comprehension can be assessed through students’ responses. These can include responding physically to commands, drawing pictures of what is heard, answeringquestions about the heard message or passage, or engaging in a conversation that indicates appropriate processing of information. (Brown, 2007, p. 311) 5. “Encourage the development of listening strategies”- Equip students with listening strategies that extend beyond the classroom. These could include: looking for key words, predicting by the context of the spoken discourse, guessing at meaning, or seeking clarification. (Brown, 2007, p. 312) 6. “Include both bottom-up and top-down listening techniques” - Utilize techniques which focus on sounds, words, intonation, grammatical structures, and other language components (Bottom-up) as well as techniques that focus on background knowledge, deriving meaning, global understanding, and interpretation of a text (Top-down). (Brown, 2007, p. 312) As can be seen, active instruction in the listening process is more effective than simply providing practice and expecting the listener to pick up the skills automatically (Duzer, 1997; Muñoz, 2014). A well developed lesson for listening comprehension would include a pre-listening activity followed by the listening project and finally culminating in a debriefing activity that includes self evaluation of skills. Brown (2007), Cross (2014), Flowerdew & Miller (2014), Goh (2014), and Hoven (1991) also suggested listening activities that relied on background knowledge, established a specific purpose for listening, and included a period to ask questions and reflect on the responses. Furthermore, Vandergift and Goh (2012) as cited in Goh (2014) proposed that in planning listening tasks, teachers should take into account the following six core skills that are integral to the listening processes: 1. Listen for details- “ Identify specific information that is relevant to the listening goal, such as key words, numbers, names, dates, and places.” (Goh, 2014, p. 78) 2. Listen selectively- “Pay attention to particular parts of the listening text and ignore others that are not relevant to listening goals or that contain too much information to attend to at the same time.” (Goh, 2014, p. 78) 3. Listen for global understanding- “Understand the overall general idea, such as the theme, topic, and purpose.” (Goh, 2014, p. 78) 4. Listen for main ideas- “ Understand the key points or propositions in a text, such as points in support of an argument, directions for doing something, and important events in a story.” (Goh, 2014, p. 78). 71

5. Listen and infer- “Make up for information that is missing, unclear, or ambiguous in the listening text by using different resources, such as background knowledge, visual clues, and speaker’s tone.” (Goh, 2014, p. 78). 6. Listen and predict- “Anticipate what is going to be said before or during listening by using clues from the context, from background knowledge, or knowledge about the speaker.” (Goh, 2014, p. 79). While techniques and strategies for teaching active listening skills vary across the second language classroom, Brown (2007) asserts that teaching learners how to learn (metacognitive instruction) will help them develop their own strategic competencies in listening comprehension which will increase their chances for successful learning. In the article, Promoting autonomous listening to podcasts: A case study, Cross (2013) utilizes metacognitive instruction as a means to “deepen learners’ knowledge of themselves as listeners in a second language context and their understanding of the inherent challenges of L2 listening” (p. 9). In particular, Cross (2013) points out the advantages of using technology to enable learners to independently access authentic listening materials such as music, videos, and podcasts, in a L2-mediated environment. Through this study, Cross (2013) was able to conclude that enhancing a learners’ metacognitive capacity on listening strategies outside the classroom, broadens a learners view of what listening comprehension in a L2 entails and enhances listening performance. While using metacognitive instruction for listening comprehension is still not widespread, the benefits of teaching in a highly technologically world, allows educators to step “outside the box” in providing listening instruction in a truly diverse learning environment. Without a doubt, listening is a complex process: one that is much more involved than first believed. Accepting an active listening model provides better understanding of the process, and accepting listening as a cognitive function offers the opportunity to teach and improve listening skills. This is particularly important for Non-native speakers learning English. By applying the practices that increase listening skills, teachers can ensure that ESL students comprehend. Once comprehension skills are proficient, there is little to impede the learning process, and all learners, even those who are learning English as a second language, can build the communication skills necessary to be successful in life. References Anderson, J.R. (1995). Cognitive psychology and its implications. New York, NY: Freeman. Ausubel, D. P. (1967). Learning theory and classroom practice. Ontario, CA: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Brown, S. (2000). Teaching listening comprehension at the turn of the century. Retrieved from http://jcs120.uq.edu.au/~dlh/ pubs/SGZV91.htm. Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching listening. Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (pp. 299-321). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education Inc. Brown, H.D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching: A course in second language acquisition. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Cross, J. (2013). Promoting autonomous listening to podcasts: A case study. Language teaching research, 18 (1), 8-32. Duzer, C.V. (1997). Improving ESL learners’ listening skills: At the workplace and beyond. Retrieved from http:// www.cal.org/ ncle/digests/LISTENQA.HTM. Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2005). Second language listening: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Flowerdew, J. & Miller, L. (2014). Dimensions of academic listening. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, & M.A. Snow (Eds). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. (pp. 90-103). Boston, MA: Heinle Cengage Learning. Goh, C.C.M. (2014). Second language listening comprehension: Process and pedagogy. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, & M.A.

Snow (Eds). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. (pp. 72-89). Boston, MA: Heinle Cengage Learning. Hoven, D. (1991). Toward a cognitive taxonomy of listening comprehension tasks. Retrieved from http:www.jcs.up.edu.au/~dlh/ pubs/SGAV91.htm. Hyslop, N. & Tone, B. (1988). Listening: Are we teaching it, and if so, how? Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov.databases/ ERICDigests/html. Krashen, S. (1989). Language acquisition and language education. Upper Saddler River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Mead, N. & Rubin, D. (1985). Why teach and assess listening and speaking skills. Retrieved from http:// ed.gov/databases/ ERICDigests/html. Mu-hsuan, C. (2013). A content-based approach to teaching and testing listening skills to grade 5 EFL learners. The International Journal of Listening, (27): 172-185. Mu単oz, A. (2014). Using radio stations for listening comprehension. Presented at Professional development for teachers of English to diverse learners: Strategies for integrating art and technology for effective communication, University of Puerto Rico, Humacao. Noblitt, James. (1993). Cognitive approaches to listening comprehension. Retrieved from htpp://www.unc.edu/cit/iatarchive/ publications/noblitt/noblitt3.html. Piaget, J. (1963). The language and thought of a child. New York, NY: W.W. Norton. Puerto Rico Department of Education. (2014). Puerto Rico core standards English program: A path towards the construction of a new educational paradigm. San Juan, PR: Publicaciones Puertorrique単as, Inc. Richards, J. (1983). Listening comprehension: Approach, design, procedure. TESOL Quarterly, 17 (2), 219-240. Rost, M. (1990). Listening in language learning. London, UK: Longman. Rost, M. (2011). Teaching and researching listening (2nd ed). Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited. Rubin, J. (1995). The contribution of video to the development of competence in listening. In D. Mendelsohn & J. Rubin (Eds.), A guide for the teaching of second language listening (pp. 151-165). San Diego: Dominie Press. Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: Metacognition in action. New York, NY: Routledge.

Lesson Plan 5

Lesson Plan 5: The Bond between Visual Arts and Classroom Management Kanisha Rosario Ramos (10th, 11th, & 12th Grade)

Every teacher’s dream is to have a classroom ﬁlled with no more than 15 students, perhaps with the same learning intelligence, and the same level of knowledge. Most certainly, it may never happen. A normal classroom contains at least 20 students, probably 35 with different levels of knowledge and different learning intelligences. One has to offer individualized instruction. On top of that, one has to be very creative, because in the world we live in today, students’ attention span is very short. Notwithstanding, students are exposed to a wide range of creative media, that makes cardboard strips look dull and not engaging at all. Also, many teachers tend to blame crowded classrooms to poor classroom management. Thank goodness, there are many learning theories, models, or approaches nowadays that were taught in the workshops in the Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication that help cope with these problems. For example, there is the Flipped Classroom, a modern pedagogical model that can help teachers change the routine of their instructions, Cooperative Learning, an approach that is student-centered, because the teacher only explains and monitors the work or development of the task while students work together to complete the assigned task in the classroom, and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, that states that people learn in different ways because each may have one or more speciﬁc types of intelligences. The thematic unit my students completed encompasses the focus on art, literacy, and verbal communication by using the

Divergent by Veronica Roth. Dystopian societies are a trend in the movie theatres these days, and this YA (Young Adult) novel is no exception, because the movie adaptation is quite entertaining for the students. The plot of Divergent is set on a dystopian Chicago divided into factions that are funded based on five human virtues: Dauntless, the brave, Candor, the honest, Abnegation, the selfless, Amity, the peaceful, and Erudite, the intelligent. Throughout the unit, the students complete daily quizzes that are guide questions of three different chapters each day. That may guarantee that most students are reading. They also complete different tasks by working in groups during the class period. The unit has proven to be successful in activating an interest or love for reading and a much more positive atmosphere in the classroom. It also provides a space to practice and enhance their reading, writing, and listening and speaking proficiencies, because the lessons are not based on one specific language art but on all four of them. novel

Puerto Rico Core Standards: L/S.12.1 Listens carefully during a read aloud, presentation, or performance from a variety of literature, periods, genres, and styles to interpret and analyze character development, dialogue, and setting; makes connections to text R.12.1 Evaluates context clues, reference sources, and vocabulary expansion strategies to assess word meaning; utilizes Greek and Latin root words to extend vocabulary; classiﬁes, applies, and analyzes vocabulary as academic, cultural, or contemporary based on current trends. 75

W.12.1 Analyzes and assesses word choice to convey meaning; incorporates transitions, correct grammar, syntax, and style. DOK Level 4: Connect, design, apply concept, create Objectives: As the student reads the novel Divergent, he or she will: 1. role-play being part of the dystopian society by taking the “Aptitude Test.” 2. participate in the “Choosing Ceremony.” 3. create his/her own faction. 4. improve writing proficiency by completing several reading comprehension quizzes and different writing prompts focused on the virtues presented in the novel. 5. expand language awareness while reading. 6. develop communication and leadership skills while working in groups. Materials: Board, Projector, Laptop, cardboard, paint, crayons or color pencils Gardner’s Intelligences: • Linguistic • Kinesthetic • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Visual/spatial • Musical Core Values: 1. Diversity: With the oral presentations and discussions, each student will be exposed to the different outcomes of other students. 2. Social Transformation: Through discussions and the reading they will have the opportunity to reflect on their virtues and what virtues are considered important to our society. 3. Creativity: The students will have the opportunity to use their motor skills by creating visual representations of different writing prompts and other activities. 4. Leadership: While working in groups they will have to show initiative, communication skills, and organizational skills to be able to complete different tasks. Background Information: I assigned the novel Divergent to a 12th grade intermediate English class. These are second language learners who dislike reading and although they understand English and are able to communicate in English through verbal and written language, they are not confident enough to use the English language in front of other people. They tend to monitor their mistakes and panic whenever they have an oral presentation. Therefore, I wanted to give them something to focus on other than the language itself. They are also a big group, and their attention span is short. Therefore, I wanted to plan a fun and interesting lesson, but also make sure they were reading. The Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners workshops that I took during the summer gave me a fresh start for integrating art and technology. 76

Procedure: Day 1: • I used EduSystem, a platform which allows teachers to upload documents and lessons. Students use their technological devices by reading or watching lessons at home. To upload quizzes and send students the link I used for quizzes online, I used Testmoz.com, a free online tool that allows you to create multiple choice quizzes that automatically grades them. I uploaded daily quizzes with questions for guided reading, assigning three chapters daily.

To activate students’ prior knowledge, who are probably exposed to information about the novel or have seen the movie, discuss several known fun facts about the book, Divergent, and the author, Veronica Roth—which serves also as an assessment for the teacher to measure how much they know. Then they read and talk about the list of fun facts displayed on the board.

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As the story goes, they take the “Aptitude Test” and become responsible at the “Choosing Ceremony” for choosing the faction in which they base their output and focus to work throughout the unit. I always tried to dress in royal blue like the Erudite, but for the choosing ceremony, I dressed up as an Abnegation member all in gray volunteering to host the event. When all the students enter the classroom, I start reciting Marcus’s introduction to the event explaining the factions and explaining the instructions of the ceremony. At the end, each faction reads the corresponding faction manifesto. 77

DAY 2-3:

Students are different from each other; they learn in different ways and like different things. That is why I always try to vary my style following different learning approaches like Constructivism, Cognition, and Behaviorism. This is why I also integrate dictation quizzes and grammar in every unit. Once ďŹ nished with the initial activities of the unit, the students start working in groups to prepare themselves for two oral presentations, writing activities, and solving a puzzle. All their creative works are exhibited in the classroom walls. They have the opportunity to watch the movie on Fridays, and at the end of the unit, they are asked to write a feedback about the lesson. The following are the slides of the presentations. Their daily activities:

Evidence of students’ work:

Students’ feedback:

References used: I used Testmoz.com to create the quizzes, google images, Pinterest.com, and Tumblr. com to ﬁnd enhancing pictures and backgrounds. I also used a blog named hungergameslessons.com for the Divergent worksheets and wbez.org for the fun facts. Other works assigned using materials or inspired by ideas from the Professional Development for Teachers of English to Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication include: • 10th grade Unit: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death” (Present the meaning of the colors of the mask).

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Advanced 12th grade Poetry Unit: (Recite three of your original poems). Dark Poem: (Make words stand out to make a poem with the essay or article).

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Advanced 12th Unit: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (Make visual representations of your favorite quotes). Advanced 12thUnit: British History (Make a poster about a historical period).

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10th, 11th, 12th: Writing prompt for the bulletin board. (Write a paragraph about autumn answering one of several questions displayed on the board). 11th grade: Punctuation Marks Unit- Grammar worksheets

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My Ex perience i n the Proposa l Professiona l Development for Teachers of Engl ish to Diverse Lea rners: Strateg ies for Integ rati ng A r t a nd Tech nolog y for Ef fective Com mu n ication

Kanisha Rosario Ramos November 9, 2014

When the workshops of Professional Development for Teachers of English started, I unfortunately could not attend, since the school where I work for starts vacation after two weeks of summer classes are offered to the high school graduate candidates with low average scores. Therefore, I missed two weeks of the workshops that, from what I have heard, were very enriching. However, once I started going to the workshops, I experienced the exhilarating sensation of going back to the university. I met great new people, reviewed knowledge, and learned new things. As a new teacher, I am just becoming aware of the struggles teachers have to face. I am learning more every day about the many obstacles that we, as educators, have to compete against and that exhaust the most dedicated teacher. We not only deal with parents, the administration, the changes in the Department of Education, and personal problems, but also with the fact that English in itself is not as well accepted by students and parents as other class subjects for historical and cultural reasons. Participating in proposals like this help teachers vent with people that actually understand what our endeavors are and how they affect us emotionally and professionally. On the other hand, proposals like this also help teachers to number the reasons why we chose to be a teacher and motivate many of us to keep going and work harder. I also believe that the Professional Development for Teachers of English workshops were exceptional for creative teachers. We develop a certain teaching style depending on what has worked for us in the past. Nevertheless, having a style or following lessons that have worked before might limit our creativity and, as artists, we might face a creative block once in a while. Moreover, creative lessons also take time to plan, develop, and need many materials. The professors giving the workshops not only spoke about theoretical terms or spilled information, but also gave ideas on how to apply the topics discussed in the classroom. Also, the materials needed for new lessons were actually provided, so there was no excuse for not doing the activities. This is refreshing for teachers who hate routines and are going through the so-called creative block or have a lack of materials. English teachers do not have opportunities like this one very often. The majority of the time workshops or seminars for English teachers have speakers that do not dominate the English language. Most presenters also use boring presentations from where they read without explaining, or are focused only on elementary level education and fail to adapt the material to secondary level education. They dare to say things like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You as teachers must use your creativity.â&#x20AC;? In addition, I have not heard of many or any other seminar or workshop given to English teachers in the East, so it was very pleasing to hear that the workshops were going to be offered at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao. I would have liked to participate in the workshops from the beginning to enhance my teaching experience. Of course nobody, especially teachers, will mind receiving the number of materials or the stipends we were given, but it was good for me in a professional sense because it helped me improve and modify activities that I have done before and add activities to lessons in order to make them more stimulating and fun. I also reviewed knowledge, which will help me get ready for my Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree. It made me realize that all the teachers go through the same things, even if they are teaching in another town, and I also learned new concepts about technology and art. I encourage proposals such as the Professional Development for Teachers of English in the East to be offered more often.

Lesson Plan 6

Lesson Pla n 6: The Proposa l: Usi ng Socia l Med ia to Expa nd the English Class beyond the 90 Days Jackeline Martínez Rodríguez, Ed. D.

Learning English as a second language (ESL) has not been an easy feat for Puerto Ricans living in the Island. Although Puerto Ricans have been exposed to a formal bilingual environment since 1898 and English has been a mandatory subject from kindergarten to twelfth grade since 1948, studies reveal that less than 25% of Puerto Ricans are able to effectively communicate in English outside the school scenario (Maxwell, 2012; Ostolaza, 2001; Vélez, 2000). Many may ask themselves, why after a century of English exposure, Puerto Ricans are still unable to communicate effectively in the English language. In his article English in 90 Days! Who Said 12 Years? Vindicating the English Teacher’s Commitment in the Public Schools of Puerto Rico, Muñoz (2014) afﬁrms that Puerto Rican students are only exposed to ninety days of English instruction in the Department of Education of Puerto Ricoh (DEPR), not twelve years. He further elaborates his arguments by subtracting two months of summer vacations, Christmas break, holidays, extracurricular days, faculty meetings, faculty-parent meetings, graduation ceremony, among other days from the misconceived twelve years of English exposure. Taking only these reductions into consideration, Muñoz claims that Puerto Rican students take around 90 days of English classes in the DEPR. After this jaw-dropping analysis, it is vital that ESL teachers search for innovative ways to expand their lessons outside the conﬁnes of their classroom walls. The use of social media should be taken into consideration as an additional tool used by ESL teachers to expose second language (L2) learners to the English language. Perifanou (2009) indicates that teachers need to incorporate technology to the language learning process to ensure that 21st century learners graduate with the competencies necessaries to be successful in any global job market while providing them with a fun atmosphere to learn (Perifanou, 2009). Given the attractiveness of social media, it can be used to promote motivation in L2 learners (Rodríguez, Irizarry, & Candelaria, 2014) while providing them with a virtual, relaxing environment to practice the English language outside the school scenario. The use of Edmodo [visit website Edmodo.com] is a perfect tool used by ESL teachers to expand their lessons and provide their students with additional exposure to the English language. Edmodo is an educational, social network website that resembles the popular website Facebook. Gamze Turkmen (2012) describes Edmodo as: a user friendly platform to connect, collaborate, share content, give and assess assignments, access homework, grades and teacher notices. Edmodo.com allows teachers to post messages, start polls, discuss classroom topics, assign and grade classwork, share content and materials,

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and network and exchange ideas with their peers. Students are allowed to build their own profiles, upload their photos and send messages to their teacher (p. 352). � Turkmen (2012) also studied the use of Edmodo with around thirty Turkish university students who had difficulties learning ESL. Edmodo was used by students to perform assignments and receive feedback from the ESL teacher in addition to the regular English classroom. In his study, Turkmen concluded that more than half of his students were motivated to use the website Edmodo as part of their English class and “97% of the students reported Edmodo.com provided them a perfect environment to do assignments and further study” (Turkmen, 2012, p. 353).Given the success of the implementation of Edmodo with students with similar difficulties learning ESL, I selected this same website to use with my tenth grade Puerto Rican students. I selected Edmodo because I found it to be a secure platform that students could use outside the classroom to enhance their English skills in both reading and writing. I activated a teacher account during the month of June 2014 and prepared five groups with an estimated amount of students who were expected to form part of my classes during the school year which began in August 2014. As a requirement of my English class, I provided students with a password that would enable them to activate their student account in Edmodo. First, I sent letters to parents notifying them the purpose of using Edmodo with their children and provided them with passwords so that they could activate their account as parents to monitor their child. During the month of August, I made sure that students activated their accounts in Edmodo. During the first school semester (August-December), Edmodo enabled me to expand my lessons outside the school scenario. Students were exposed to additional activities tailored to enhance both reading and writing skills in the English language. Using recommendations from the video Using Edmodo with Students: 20 Ideas (Menezes, 2014), students were encouraged to use the website during their leisure time, never during the regular classroom time. The reason I did not allow students to use Edmodo inside the classroom was to ensure students were exposed to additional time in the English language. The various activities performed by students and the teacher via Edmodo included: 1- Sending public messages: Both students and teachers used Edmodo to send public messages. I posted messages for all my students to read (even during holidays) and students posted messages for classmates and/or the teacher to read as well. Figure 1: Message from the teacher

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Sending/submitting assignments: I also used Edmodo to post assignments for students to perform. After a brief introduction about myths and mythological creatures, I posted the

assignment below where students were asked to look for a mythological creature from around the world. I found that this type of assignment motivated my students to perform research on the Internet and complete and submit their assignment. I also found that I had a large number of participation and assignments submitted than I ever had in previous years through traditional pen and paper method. Many of my students were also eager to know if I received their assignment via Edmodo and what their ﬁnal score in this assessment was. Figure 2: Mythological creature assignment

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Uploading books: What better way to promote pleasure reading than to provide students with a virtual library? In Edmodo, I uploaded various books for my students to read during their spare time. In order to spark interest, I uploaded both young adult novels and classic literature novels. This way, my ESL students had a variety of books to choose from and read by themselves.

Figure 3: PDF of Books

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Posting important dates: Edmodo allowed me to remind students of important dates I didn’t want them to forget test dates. Using the ALERT feature, the teacher sent out the date of a test student would take at a later date. Edmodo posted this message ALERT under public message and via instant email to students.

Figure 4: Teacher sending test ALERT

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Sharing videos: My students and I also used Edmodo to share interesting videos. The videos were either embedded directly into Edmodo or by inserting a hyperlink that forwarded the viewer to the video’s location.

Figure 5: Teacher sharing video with students

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Private communication: My students and I were also able to send private messages. This is very useful for students who are afraid of communicating doubts or questions that they may have about classwork or assignments in a regular classroom setting. This alternative offers students with high anxiety levels a personal and private conversation with the teacher without fear of mockery from other classmates.

Figure 6: Private message from student

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Publishing material: There are many students who are skillful in the English language and other areas of life. I have a student who is really into anime drawing, music and video production, and ﬁctional writing. He used Edmodo to publish several of his works for others to read, listen, and view. As a teacher, I felt it was very important to always provide this particular student with immediate and motivating feedback to anything he posted. I even awarded him a “Participation Badge” I created and sent to all the students who are actively participating in Edmodo.

Figure 7. Publication of book chapter written by student

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Taking polls: Edmodo also allowed me to create and distribute small surveys for my students to answer about a particular classroom activity that was performed in the classroom. Student feedback is a great way for me to know if my students were interested in the activity performed in class or if they were able to learn what was being taught.

Figure 8. Survey of origami activity

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Uploading and sharing documents: Many times, teachers are faced with a shortage of photocopy machine, paper, or toner. Other times, student do not have the money necessary to make photocopies in the school library. Edmodo allowed me to upload and share important documents for my students to access them from home and print them out. Also, students who are absent can have access to material given by the teacher in class. This way, there is no excuse for not having the material.

Figure 9: Documents uploaded

� 10Snapshot: with this new tool, I was able to quiz my students knowledge on questions aligned to the Common Core Standards. This assessment demonstrated students’ mastery of areas that included: a) reading, b) writing, and c) language. Once the students answered the quiz, it was tabulated and instantaneously shared with the teacher. This was a useful tool to explore students’ prior knowledge or growth in particular skills taught in class. Figure 10: Letter of Snapshot

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In summation, there are various activities that can be performed using Edmodo to expose Puerto Rican ESL students to additional time in the English language. Edmodo is a safe environment for students to perform activities that enhance both reading and writing skills in an enjoyable way. When asked to write a reflection regarding the use of Edmodo to supplement the classroom, my student wrote: I use Edmodo for two things, to share my work and to see what we are going to do in classroom. I use it to (1) upload my music, share with the class what new beats and melodies I’ve come up with and (2) I use it for my book. I want to see if people enjoy what I do and so, I am writing my book there, The Chronicles of a God. I enjoy Edmodo because I show my class and teacher what I do from time to time (Erixmill Pérez Marcano, October 17, 2014). As evidenced above, our students are attracted to using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Edmodo. My proposal for English teachers is to incorporate them to the subject they are teaching to promote motivation in the ESL learning process of students. This way, ESL teachers in Puerto Rico not only enhance their lessons by breaking down traditional classroom walls, but also expand their English class beyond the 90 day limit (Muñoz, 2014) established by the academic calendar in public schools of the DEPR. References Gamze Turkmen, H. (April 26-27, 2012). Using social networking in the EFL classroom in higher education. The 8th International Scientific Conference eLearning and software for Education Bucharest. 10.5682/2066-026X-12-056, 350-354. Maxwell, L. (2012, May). Puerto Rico Governor Proposes English Plan. Education Week. Retrieved form www.edweek.org Menezes, A. M. (2014, November 25). Using Edmodo with Students: 20 Ideas. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAzKwC-Jz9Q Muñoz, A. (2014, October). English in 90 Days! Who Said 12 Years?: Vindicating the English teacher’s commitment in the public schools of Puerto Rico. Paper presented at the meeting of Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication., Humacao, Puerto Rico. Ostolaza, M. (2001). Informe final sobre el idioma en Puerto Rico. Report prepared for Comisión de Educación, Ciencia y Cultura, Senado de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico. Perifanou, M. (2009). Language micro-gaming: Fun and informal microblogging activities for language learning. M.D. Lytras et al. (Eds.): WSKS 2009, CCIS 49, 1–14 Department of Italian and Spanish Language and Literature, University of Athens, Ilisia, 15784 Greece Rodríguez, M., Irizarry, M., & Candelaria, E. (2014). Using the theater in the ESL classroom. Professional Development for Teachers of English to Secondary School Diverse Learners: Strategies for Integrating Art and Technology for Effective Communication. Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: Centro de Investigaciones Educativas, 15-19. Vélez, J. (2000). Understanding Spanish-language maintenance in Puerto Rico. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 142, 5-24.

Lesson Plan 7

Lesson Pla n 7: Writi ng a Na rrative Essay Prof. Harry Bankosky Medina

I. Title of Lesson: Writing a Narrative Essay II. Topic(s): Narrative Essay, Writing Process, and Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown III. Objective: After overviewing the essay structure, the writing process, and the book character, Flat Stanley, students will be able to: 1. construct a meaningful narrative essay. 2. present an oral presentation on “A Weekend with Stanley.” IV. Puerto Rico Core Standards 9.W.3 Write types of paragraphs and literary texts using transitional words and other cohesive devices to better organize writing that develop real or imagined experiences or events, using literary elements (like narrative structure, theme, mood, plot, setting, moral) and techniques (alliteration, hyperbole, allegory, and others). 9.W.4 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, drafting, revising, editing (editing marks), rewriting, and publishing, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. 9.W.5 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others. 9.W.8 Write routinely to develop various types of paragraphs, formal and informal letters, and essays over for a variety of discipline- speciﬁc tasks, purposes, and audiences, using technology. 9.LA.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. 9.S.3 Use a variety of grade-appropriate social, academic, and content-speciﬁc academic words accurately and appropriately when giving speeches, presentations/performances and to tell, retell, explain, and analyze stories and personal experiences and current/world events. 9.S.5 Demonstrate how to adjust language choices according to the context, purpose, task, and audience. 9.S.6 Plan and deliver a variety of oral presentations and reports to enhance appropriate topics that present evidence and facts to support ideas with grade levels of formal and informal styles.

V. Activities A. Initial Activities: Students will review with the teacher parts of an essay and the writing process with the “Hot Potato” game. The teacher will provide students with a ball that they will pass around the classroom. One student with his/her eyes shut says out loud, “ Hot potato, hot potato, hot potato,” until he/she says STOP! Then the student will uncover his/her eyes and the person who has the ball has to answer a question related to the topics. Such questions could be: 1. Where is the main idea of the essay presented? How is it called? 2. What is the “hook” in an essay? 3. What do you do in the conclusion? 4. What is drafting? 5. Mention a prewriting technique? B. Developmental Activities: 1. Having discussed the previous topics, students will continue discussing the topic on writing a narrative essay and the qualities of a narrative essay. They will be provided with a sample of a narrative essay, so they understand the structure and the content. 2. Students will meet the character Flat Stanley. Students will learn his story and the purpose of this fictional character. They will watch some short videos of his stories and on famous people with him. 3. Each student will select a template of Flat Stanley, so they can create his or her own Flat Stanley. They can even change his name to customize and personalize it. 4. Students will be assigned the task of “A Weekend with Flat Stanley”. They will take their “Stanley” to each place they go on the weekend and take notes in a journal on the things they do, people and places they meet, and their feelings about that day. They will also take pictures (“Selfies”) with their Stanley to construct a “Flipagram” (a video with music) with their cellphones that they will present in their oral report explaining briefly their experience that weekend. Also, these videos will be sent to a pen pal friend in another country, so they can meet the Island, town or everyday life of the student. 5. In the classroom, students will go through the writing process constructing a narrative essay of how they spent the weekend with Flat Stanley. The teacher will guide them each day with checklists, peer help, and evaluation, among others, to ensure that each student follows the task. They will have the opportunity to type their essays in the classroom. 6. Students will be handed rubrics of both the oral and written task beforehand. C. Closing Activities: 1. Students will hand in their essay the day they present their Flipagram providing an overview of their essay through the captions added to the video. 2. The students and the teacher will evaluate the presentations. The teacher will evaluate the essay using an assigned and pre-discussed rubric. VI. Materials:

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown book, Computer, Cellphone, Flipagram app, Rubric (oral report and written report), Checklists, Projector, Laptop

Ta k i ng Engl ish Teach i ng Back to the Futu re Harry Bonkosky Medina

Why go back into the future with our students? How do we go back into the future? Easy! In today’s world, students grow surrounded by all kinds of technologies. Computers, tablets, video games, music, among many others shape the way they work, the way they do things, and even the way they think and learn. Nevertheless, as an educator for ten years, I have noticed how students have lost basic skills of the target language, English. They have lost the correct spelling of words, of sentence structures, and vocabulary, among others that have been lost because of the incorrect use of technology. By incorrect, I mean that they have not used it for educational purposes; they have only used it for mere entertainment. So the question that still remains is, how can we make our students achieve the mastery of those skills that should have been mastered in the past when they were younger in this growing technology? First of all, we MUST be updated with the latest technology and with the latest technology available in our classrooms and in our students’ homes. Second, we should be aware that all our students have differences. They learn in different ways, as in Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Third, those basic skills that need to be the target of this instruction should be identified. Last but not least, all the technology available in your hands should be used and planned accordingly to achieve those goals. What are some activities that can be done? A Weekend with Flat Stanley: Writing different sentence structures and developing oral skills. Students will build a Flat Stanley. With their cellphones, they will take “selfies” with their Flat Stanley based on the things they do on the weekend, such as chores, traveling, homework, and many others. Afterwards, they will use the cellphone application Flipagram and select ten photos that better depict their weekend. They will add text to the photos using a variety of sentence structures and explain each photo. Later they will present their short videos to the class expanding the subject. They can post them online; send them to the teacher’s email or to their classmates via text message, so they can enjoy their presentation. My Icon, My Role Model: Research skills, summary skills, handwriting skills, writing process Students will research on computer or with their cellphones their favorite person in the world based on the achievements and accomplishments made by that person. They will present the original information and a handwritten copy of the summary. Tweet, Tweet, Like, and Comment: Subject-verb agreement, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Ask parents to allow students to have a Facebook or Tweeter account. Post comments, quotes, questions, and make your students use the target language to reply. Provide them with an evaluation rubric of their writing and the use of specific skills. Discuss those skills with your students beforehand. It is a good way to keep in touch with your students and with their parents (You can use other social networks; there are some educational ones). I Heard a Verb: Listening and speaking Skill Teacher can play a song or a short clip. Students have to listen to it twice and identify as many verbs as possible from the dialogue or song presented. Students will discuss with the teacher the song or the audio clip and talk about the actions and verbs that they could identify. Also, students can present sentences orally using those verbs in context while the teacher writes them on the board. Episodes: Listening, speaking, and writing skills Provide an age appropriate TV show episode and have students recreate the scenes by writing the dialogue or a new dialogue. Have them perform the scene. These activities will not only help to polish their skills, but also have fun with them. Remember that the learning process should be dynamic and meaningful in order to achieve its purpose. 92

Lesson Plan 8

Lesson Plan 8: My Journey So Far Annette Viera Rodríguez Pedro Falú Orellano School

Subject: English 12

Grade: 12th

Unit: 12.1 My Journey So Far

Duration: one week

Transversal Theme: Narrative, memoir, flashback, biography Integration Ideas: Technology Puerto Rico Core Standards: 12.L.1a, 12.L.1c, 12. W.8, 12.LA.2, 12.LA.6, 12.S.3, 12.R.10 Objectives: Students will: 1. create a digital memoir using the program Windows Movie Maker. 2. write a memoir using the techniques of flash back, flash forward, and the elements of the memoir. Depth of Knowledge: Strategic thinking, Extended thinking Learning Activities: 1. Theme Introduction a) Define narrative memoir, flashback, biography 2. Demonstration of the video “My Little Angel” done with Windows Movie Maker 3. Mini–lesson on how to use Windows Live Moviemaker 4. Project’s explanation a) Making of a video: My Life b) Writing a Flash-back-flash-forward memoir Assessment: Project A: Get together pictures of yourself, since birth to nowadays. You can add photos of your parents, siblings, pets, and best friends. Organize them in chronological order. Download your favorite song. Begin doing your video using Windows Live Movie Maker. Save it in a pen drive. Be ready to present it to the class. Video length must be 2-4 minutes long. Check the Edmodo page for more details about this project.

Project B: Using the organizational techniques of flashback/flash-forward, write a memoir visualizing yourself 10 years from now. Describe where you live, what your profession is, your marital status, how many children you have, and what you are doing at that moment. Connect that event with a flashback to the past. That would be today’s present. Academic Strategy: Language experience, Direct instruction Concepts and Skills: 1. How to use chronological order as an organizational technique 2. Types of narratives (biography, memoirs, personal narratives; how to use flashback/flash forward as an organizational technique 3. The organizational structure of a narrative. Materials and resources: Computer, laptop, tablets, electronic screen, or TV. Integration with transversal Theme: Cultural Identity, Technology, and Education

Flashback Flash-For wa rd Memoi r: El Cuco Te Va a Comer Annette Viera Rodríguez October 23, 2014

My little son, Carlos, has just turned three. He is a beautiful, intelligent, healthy child. The only problem is that he is a picky eater. When he was a baby, I used to feed him homemade purees, instead of the commercial brands of baby food. That first year I traded my job and my studies in psychology for a full time job as a mother. Now that he is older, he has developed distaste for everything that is healthy and nutritious for his age. He can live on fish sticks, pizza, hot dogs without the bread, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I have tried many tricks to coax him to eat a decent meal without success. I have tried everything, from games to threats. As I am here at the dining room table, trying to put a spoonful of rice and beans into his mouth, I remember when I was four or five years old. I was four or five years old. I was raised by a nanny, because my mom, a nurse and a single parent, had to work different shifts at the municipal hospital, so, I lived in Mami Carmen’s house with her husband Papi Lorenzo, and their five children, who were already young adults. I was the baby in that household, their little princess. Living among adults, I was very spoiled. Whatever I wanted, I got it. I became a really spoiled little brat. I did not want to eat what a kid my age was supposed to eat either. My diet consisted of cakes, cookies, ice cream, candies, and sticky, greasy, and salty little balls of white rice or “pegao.” I would sit in front of the TV and watch cartoons while eating the little “pegao” balls with my fingers. No beans, no vegetables, no meat, only the sticky balls of “pegao.” My mother, who was a nurse, wanted her first born child to have a healthy diet. Even though I was not living with her, she insisted that I should be fed properly, and that is how my nightmares began. I met face to face with “El Cuco”, the “boogey man.” He was the imaginary man that every child was scared of. If I did not want to eat, my foster parents would tell me, “El Cuco te va a comer” (The boogey man is going to eat you). If I did not want to sleep, “El Cuco te va a comer.” If I had a tantrum, “El Cuco 95

te va a comer.” For every misbehavior, el “Cuco” was going to eat me. Eventually, the image of el Cuco got imprinted into my brain. For me it was not a figment of my imagination, he was flesh and blood. El Cuco was so real that one night I woke up in the middle of the night. I was lying in my crib when I heard this raspy guttural noise. I opened my eyes and I saw this ugly creature with sharp teeth and long fingernails watching me through the mosquito net and trying to reach me. I screamed and screamed so loud that I woke up the whole household. Even the dogs started to bark with my screams. I spent the rest of the night next to Mami Carmen. From that night on, I would not sleep with the lights out. I was scared of the dark. One day, I went with Mami Carmen and her daughter Carmen Delia to visit my mother at her new house. She wanted me to be acquainted with her new husband. My mother served us dinner and, as always, I refused to eat. My mother scolded me. Because that did not work, they started to scare me with the “Cuco.” “Cuco, ven! Cuco ven y cómetela!, Cuco, ven y llévatela que no quiere comer.” (Come Cuco! Come Cuco and eat her up! Cuco, come and take her away because she does not want to eat.) I started to feel scared. Then I heard a scratchy noise outside the windows. All of a sudden there it was; the black greenish figure of El Cuco. Its face was whitish with black round eyes, red lips, and sharp teeth. Its head, arms and torso were covered with dark green, almost black skin. Its arms had a thick fold of skin that seemed like bat wings, ending in bony hands with long dirty nails. It was trying to reach me by getting its arms through the window panes. At that moment, I started to scream and wail worse than ever. The adults did not know what was wrong with me. I was pointing to the window because I could not talk. “What is it? What’s wrong with you? What scared you?” My screams escalated louder and louder. It was right there, how come they couldn’t see it? It was trying to reach me! My mom’s new husband went outside, but there was nothing out there. My screams continued until Mami Carmen picked me up, sat me in her lap, embraced me, and soothed me until I calmed down. They made me drink a small glass of water with something else in it. Slowly the fear receded, leaving me with shuddering sobs and a phobia to the darkness. Twenty five years later, here I am with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and a mind full of knowledge, dealing with my son’s bad eating habits, but I know better. I do not allow anybody to even mention the word “Cuco” to my son. I do not want those nightmares in my little boy’s dreams. El Cuco stayed in the limits of my sub-consciousness.

Lesson Plan 9

Lesson Pla n 9: Sta n ley Flat Aga i n by Jef f Brow n Sara Troche

The Flat Stanley Project began in 1994, when Dale Hubert from Ontario, Canada had the idea of “having children create their own Flat Stanley paper cutouts and mailing them to friends and family around the globe, in order to foster authentic literacy activities for kids and get them excited to write about Stanley’s adventure” (Flat Stanley blog). Hubert, like many teachers, wanted to share this exciting project with other educators for two reasons: to encourage students to write in a journal about their experience with Flat Stanley and to have them host Flat Stanley visitors in their schools and classrooms as they arrived by mail. To the surprise of many, including Jeff Brown the author of the original book Flat Stanley, teachers and children became highly interested in this traveling character. This revival motivated Jeff Brown to produce a new sequel of books. Today the Flat Stanley Project “encompasses more than 6,000 schools registered in 88 countries around the globe, and is included in the curriculum for more than 15% of elementary schools in the US” (Flat Stanley, blog). In addition, Flat Stanley has a web page, a blog, a mobile application for IPhone, and a US Geography with Flat Stanley HD App for Kids. FEMA has also created a Hurricane Preparedness with a Flat Stanley App to teach children about emergency preparedness, hurricane awareness, and how they can plan and be prepared for a natural disaster. The purpose of The Flat Stanley Project is to have students connect with other school children by sending out a “ﬂat” visitor, by mail, e-mail or by carrying Flat Stanley in their pockets, purses, or backpacks. Children can create a Flat Stanley character by simply tracing one of the paper doll models or by creating their own. Children then either send Flat Stanley to a friend or carry him on a trip, and then talk, track, and write about their ﬂat character’s journey and adventure. Sara Troche’s Flat Stanley Project was coordinated with the Spanish and the Social Studies teachers, in order to provide an extracurricular activity that would enhance their knowledge about Puerto Rico’s geography and culture. They engaged the students in creating their Flat Stanley characters, designed an island tour to visit different towns in Puerto Rico, visited with their parents the towns, took their photos with the Flat Stanley doll in the different places visited, and produced a short PowerPoint presentation to relate and share their stories in the classroom. As an outsider, I had the opportunity to see and examine the students’ Flat Stanley Project, and was able to listen to the excitement of Ms. Troche’s achievement in terms of motivating students to speak, write, and read in English. I must say, “BRAVO,” to this teacher, who inspired her students, parents, and colleagues to instill fun and love for English language learning!!! Annette López de Méndez, Project Director

Reference

Flat Stanley. Retrieved from https://www.ﬂatstanley.com/about?subpage=project

Grade: 7th

Theme/Skills: Plot, Character Traits, True or False, Vocabulary in Context Duration: one week (8/25/2014 to 9/4/2014) Puerto Rico Core Standards: 7.L.1.c, 7.S.3, 7.L.1 Specific Objectives and learning activities: Monday 7.R.6 After reading the Author’s Biography (Jeff Brown) the students will be able to point out and mention the author’s ideas and reasons when he wrote the Flat Stanley Book Series. According to the title of the book the students will complete the first and 2nd columns of the KWL chart. Level of thinking: Memory Tuesday 7.R.4, 7.L.A.4 Students will be able to apply the vocabulary words in context, write sentences using the vocabulary words according to the meaning of each word. Level of thinking: Procedural Wednesday (2 days) 7.S.1, 7.R.3, 7.R.5 During reading, students will answer a set of reading comprehension questions recalling specific information from the read chapters. Students will complete an exercise of True and False (explain the false), accoriding to what they read in the story. Level of thinking: 1,2 Thursday (2 days) 7.R.3, 7.R.5, 7.R.6 After reading the story the students will complete the 3rd column of the KWL Chart; Fill in the Plot Diagram (Title, author, setting, characters, Plot, climax) and the ending of the story. After discribing the characters of the story the students will complete a characterization chart. Level of thinking: 2,3 Friday (2-3 days) 7.R.5, 7.W.2, 7.W.3, 7.S.2.b, 7.S.6 The teacher will divide the group into small groups in order to construct and oral presentation. Students will write a summary of a chapter applying some concepts usign a graphic organizaer to present their work. Level of thinking: Extended Academic Strategy: Balanced Literacy / Cooperative Learning Day 1 ECA: Exploration / Reading-Writing: Before Initial Activities: Routine activities: Date/Greeting. Attendance. -Recitation of a tongue twister to motivate students: “She sell seashells by the seashore.” Developmental Activities: The teacher guides the students to read aloud the biography of the author and points out the most important details from the information. The teacher lets the students ask questions about Jeff Brown. She emphasizes that this series of books became very famous since 1964.

Closing Activity: Write Jeff Brown’s biography in their notebooks and ﬁll in the ﬁrst and 2nd columns of the KWL chart. Differentiated instruction strategy: • Fragmented work • Provided more time • Provided Copies Concepts and skills: Group discussions, ask relevant questions, paraphrasing key ideas from the biography. Integration with transversal themes: Cultural Identity Materials/Resources: Projector, computer Day 2: ECA: Conceptualization / Reading-Writing: During Initial Activities: Routine activities: Date/Greeting. Attendance. -Practice recitation of tongue twister. Developmental Activity: The teacher writes the vocabulary words on the board and discusses the meaning of each word. After the discussion of the meaning, the students will select 5 words from the list and write a sentence with each one. Students complete a Fill in the Blanks Exercise using the correct vocabulary word. Closing Activity: Vocabulary Activity: Work in the notebook Differentiated instruction strategy: • Explained instructions several times • Provided Copies Concepts and skills: Words in context Integration with transversal themes: Cultural Identity Materials/Resources: Worksheet Day 3: ECA: Application / Reading-Writing: During, After Initial Activities: Routine activities: Date/Greeting. Attendance. Review previous class work. Developmental Activities: The teacher uses guided reading to read the story. During the reading, the teacher asks questions to be sure that the students are paying attention. After reading, students will answer a set of questions and answer a True or False exercise.

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Closing Activity: Answer Exercises and work in the notebook

Differentiated instruction strategy: • Adapted teaching • Provided more time Concepts and skills: Guided reading, True or False Integration with transversal themes: Cultural Identity Materials/Resources: Textbook, Worksheet Day 4: ECA: Application / Reading-Writing: During, After Initial Activities: Routine activities: Date/Greeting. Attendance. Review previous class work. Developmental activities: The teacher asks questions about the story and guides the students to complete the 3rd column of the KWL Chart. Students compare the first columns of the chart with the 3rd one and draw conclusions about what happened at the end of the story. Students use the book in order to fill in the Plot Diagram. The teacher gives information to the students to complete their chart. Closing activity: Handout Exercises, Cooperative Learning Differentiated instruction strategy: • Provided more time • Provided examples to do the exercises Concepts and skills: KWL chart, character traits, plot diagram Integration with transversal themes: Cultural Identity Materials/Resources: Textbook, Worksheet Day 5: ECA: Application / Reading-Writing: During, After Initial Activities: Routine activities: Date/Greeting. Attendance. Homework Discussion. Developmental activities: The Teacher gives specific instructions for the oral presentation, the graphic organizers to be used, and help them prepare their chapter summaries to present their work. Closing activity: Cooperative Learning, Handout Exercises Differentiated instruction strategy: • Explained instructions several times • Provided examples to do the exercises • Provided Copies Concepts and skills: Integration with transversal themes: Cultural Identity 101

Materials/Resources: Worksheet Reform strategy: Reading Comprehension Supplementary Strategies: English Comprehension Integration: Social Studies, Spanish Values: Responsibility, friendship, respect, self-esteem, courage

Teacher’s Motivational Quotes “Teach the children so it will not be necessary to teach adults” Abraham Lincoln “The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.” Jean Piaget “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein “The hardest thing to teach is how to care.” Unknown

LESSON PLAN SUPPORT B. Moreno, C. Payton, M. Rivera. M. Zayas Revised And Edited by Minerva Rivera Montañez, Carmen L. Zayas & Mildred Zayas

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Ref lection: “A Good Teacher is a n Excel lent Student.” Emmanuel Pérez I have always considered that I am a really skillful educator in the use of technology. When they told me about the opportunity of spending one of my precious months of vacation and some Saturdays participating in workshops about technology and art and their implementation in the classroom, the idea did not convince me at all. However, by reference from a friend, who had the opportunity of being part of the workshops, I decided to participate in them. I have to say that I am really satisfied and thankful for the experience. During the workshops’ course, I learned about many tools that I did not know existed and that I think are excellent to use in the classroom. Among them I emphasize the workshops about the use of the web page, Weebly in which students can create a customized web page about a specific theme from which they would like to talk about or one that the teacher assigns. By the way, I started to use this tool with my students and I have to say that the experience fascinated them. The chance of presenting the required information in an interactive way, and in which they were able to organize the content, the pictures, the sounds, the colors and a wide variety of options, converted a work (such as writing an essay), that can be tedious, and not so motivating, into an attractive and motivating activity for them. It surprised me a lot, because with the limited resources of our school, (there is only one classroom with internet, and some computers with internet connection) the students were so motivated that they did the work from their homes, from tablets and phones, and out of school hours, because they did not want to wait to use the computers at school. In fact, some students, by the accessibility that technology offers to which they are used to, said that they shared their work on their personal social networks, places that are not related to academic topics. Obviously, it was not a requirement of the class. This filled me with satisfaction because when a student takes something from his/her academic life and uses it in their everyday life, we achieve significant and authentic learning that will remain with them, farther away than a simple grade or rating. The use of authentic videos for the teaching and practice of listening and the understanding of language has been very effective. I provided students with different options of series from sit-coms to work with. They chose to watch the show Every Body Loves Raymond. This helped students, not only to reinforce listening skills, but as they followed a sequence, they were able to analyze characters and their changes, the importance of the setting, where the action happens, the identification of conflicts, and many skills related to reading comprehension. The need that this generation has of visual stimuli has contributed to their involvement and immersion in this type of activity. I also take with me the opportunity of sharing with excellent partner teachers from our Island, both from the public and private sector. Even by sharing our frustrations and victories, our varied methodologies and strategies, it was a learning process itself. To see, that like me, there are teachers that still want to give an extra mile by sacrificing and a bit more to get more knowledge and eventually achieve a better professional performance, is something that fills one with desire and passion to continue working and continue looking for academic excellence. As the provincial saying says: “A good teacher is an excellent student.” To the workshops’ professors, a thousand thanks. Thank you for your teachings and for you human warmth and motivation. You must know that if to teach is a task for eternity, in me you have perpetuated your knowledge.

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Lesson Plan 10

A n Adventu re w ith Flat Sta n ley Migdalia Rivera Sanchez

Narrative Writing

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When the idea of the Flat Stanley project was presented during the workshops, Flat Stanley in Puerto Rico by Professor Carmen M. Torres Rivera, I was motivated in putting it into practice. It was very interesting to know that this is basically a worldwide project. I was very curious about the project, so I went into You Tube and it was fascinating to see all the adventures the character, Flat Stanley, has been taken through. Once I presented this lesson to my ﬁfth grade students, some of them got in the internet and also did a research on Flat Stanley’s adventures. A Student told me that even the president has his Flat Stanley. With this project I was able to captivate my students, get them involved and comply with the Puerto Rico Common Core Standards, (PRCCS), and the expectations, in an interesting and fun way. It is a project that can be adapted to any unit. A student mentioned that at ﬁrst he was shy about taking Flat Stanley out into the public and taking pictures. He said that after a while he began to feel comfortable and even proud with the attention he was getting. Other students told me that some people would laugh. One said people would laugh because the student was treating Flat Stanley like a realistic small child. A girl mentioned that her mother had to run after the trolley in Ponce. They got off the trolley and when they realized Flat Stanley was still on board, the driver was taking off. Another student said that his Flat Stanley got in the river and swam away. Students were very excited with their adventures with Flat Stanley. Nevertheless I must mention that some parents also shared some anecdotes. It was an activity where parents got involved, especially in taking Flat Stanley and their child to different places in Puerto Rico. Based on the excitement projected by the students, while sharing their experiences with their classmates, I must say that it turned out to be

an exciting and enjoyable activity. Because of all the challenges and thrills my students had I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pass by without sharing this lesson. Grade: 5 Lesson Time Frame: 5-6 days Unit: 5.1 Puerto Rico Common Core Standards and Expectations Listening: 5.L.1d Listen and respond during read-aloud to a narrative, Identify characters and setting of a ďŹ ction Speaking: 5.S.3 Use appropriate vocabulary and grammatically correct language to discuss text Writing:

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5.W.4 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, editing and applying appropriate sentence structure and word order.

Integration with: art, technology, social studies, and culture identity, Objective: After watching the read- aloud of the Flat Stanley story, students will create their own Flat Stanley Adventure. (short narrative ) DOK: Throughout this project students will go through all four levels of knowledge. Memory, Procedural, Strategic, and Extended Initial Activities: - daily routines (greeting, date, attendance, weather and class news) -Developmental Activities: Students will: - listen and watch Flat Stanley story on T.V. - answer listening comprehension questions - color and decorate Flat Stanley template - discuss and use the writing process - discuss and use elements of a narrative writing - discuss meaning and use of transitional words - take Flat Stanley to different settings according to the student choice and characters that he/she may want to include in his or her narrative - use a camera to takes pictures of the settings and characters in order to create the events - write a draft using pictures taken to create a short narrative - revise and edit their draft using the dictionary and an editing checklist 107

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Closing project activities: Students will publish their Flat Stanley Adventure, (short narrative) Students will share their narrative and experience with their classmates. Publishing alternatives: Students may write the narrative either in an essay or book format Project Evaluation: Use a narrative writing rubric for a ďŹ fth grade level. Materials: DVD player Flat Stanley Story Flat Stanley template computer editing check lists construction paper 108

coloring pencils markers or paint cameras television dictionaries paragraph checklist blank paper

writing process poster narrative writing poster scissors glue transitional word list narrative writing rubric other arts and craft materials

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A Teacher’s Reﬂection and Experiences: “Relevant Material, Who Says?” Jeannette García Morales

Have you ever stopped to think about the term “relevant” and all that it entails? As teachers we often come across this dilemma, at one point or another, as to what “relevant” truly implies, its signiﬁcance and the repercussions or effects it may have in our students. What we may or may not believe “relevant” implies, is of concern while we are teaching. However, what the Department of Education of Puerto Rico believes as “relevant material” it might not precisely be what our students need or is of their interest. This is considered to be, in my opinion, a mislead assumption. The Department of Education of Puerto Rico established, a few years back, in two of their major documents “The Curriculum Framework” and “The Grade Level and Expectations” document, what was and still remains as their goals, vision, and mission. But, although the truth, as we all know goes way beyond what is written or printed on a document. Well, that’s my opinion at least and I can’t take this as an assumption either. It is incorrect to assume something as true, without seeing the real hard facts or evidence of the situation at hand. Through out the years we have seen the many changes that have been occurring in the Department of Education of Puerto Rico (DE), but more speciﬁcally in our (the English Curriculum) area. Though, we all know that the political factor has a lot to do with this matter and I can literally say we are like a game of ping-pong, in the sense that we are constantly going back and forth, since we tend to take two steps forward to try and advance in certain areas but then we end up taking two steps backwards. We have seen that “The Curriculum Framework” has not come across any or major changes through out the years, yet in “The Grade Level and Expectations” document, we have seen that the only change is the name. For example, as of this year it is now called “Puerto Rico Core Standards”, and the document appears to be more explicit and/or detailed as to what certain areas or criteria we, as English Teachers, must target. Also, since 2012 the “Curricular Maps” were designed to be implemented in every school as an experimental instrument, in order to determine if the DE could achieve the goal of having all teacher’s teach the same unit, at the same time, in different municipalities. Although, the “Curricular 110

Maps” were designed with this purpose, the DE recognized that the goal could not be a straight jacket and needed some modifications. So during the year of 2013 changes were made to the “Curricular Maps” and until this present time of 2014 the DE is still making modifications to these documents. I believe they will probably continue to make changes, as generations pass and become more and more advanced, or may even eliminate the documents, at some point if the proposed “Curriculum Maps” do not obtain the results desired. As a teacher, in my most humble opinion, I believe we as teachers and our students are being “used” literally as “guinea pigs” of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. According to the online definition of the “Merriam-Webster Dictionary” this term “relevant” means the following and I quote: “Having a significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand” and “affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion…” (http://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/relevant) When we stop to think about this issue, each one of us as teachers may have a different understanding and/or meaning. As a teacher of English, I believe that I can say on behalf of most teachers, that this school year 2014-2015 has been quite a challenge so far with all the changes that the Department of Education of Puerto Rico has implemented. Many of us as teachers, and maybe even our students have felt the same way, that at one point or another this school year has began literally with a “sour taste” in our mouths. Some of us as teachers may have also felt the desire to make a difference, try to impact our student’s lives somehow and accept to face such challenges. Another feeling some teachers might have at this point of the school year is that of deception. This feeling is due to many factors such as: the change from one school to another, the amount of student enrollment in each group, the lack of respect from parents, students and colleagues and even from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico itself towards our profession and our sacrifices in benefit of our students and obtain little or no appreciation what so ever. Although throughout these few paragraphs I have been literally criticizing the “Department of Education of Puerto Rico” I want to make it clear that it’s just my opinion and experiences from what I personally have been observing. However, the Department of Education of Puerto Rico has had its good moments at some instances. Some moments have even been rewarding. This current school year 20142015 for me has been such a challenge starting from working in one school for two years straight in the same position and grade level, to another school and teaching three different grades and skills (7th, 8th, and 9th grade) and also the amount of student’s enrollment in each group. It is something, which takes time of getting adapted to. Changes are not always bad but are not always good either. During the summer of June 2014, I participated and continue to participate in a proposal for English teachers. When I enrolled to participate in this proposal some asked me if I was crazy, since summer is usually to take a vacation and take your mind of work or anything related to work in that sense and it is time to share with family and friends. All I answered was, that as a teacher, there is anything wrong with wanting to maintain myself informed of the changes constantly occurring in the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. We live in a globalized world where everything is constantly changing, revolutionizing and becoming more technological. If as teachers we take the time to keep ourselves informed and updated, we will be better and more prepared to teach our students and not feel professionally behind. By doing this we demonstrate our capability and knowledge of different topics, so that when a student asks specific things we will be able to answer. Although, we may not always know the answer to our students’ questions, at least they will see how we make an effort to provide answers and direction to the students’ needs, curiosity, desire to acquire more knowledge, and learn. To me “relevant material” is defined as that material which is pertinent and targets our student’s needs and interests. As part of this Summer Institute the experts in our area (English) have helped each and every one of us (English teacher participants) to see teaching from a completely different angle and have empowered us with a variety of teaching tools, which for some of us were unknown. I personally have used two of these tools or activities with two of my groups. The first activity or tool I used was 111

with my 7th grade students, entitled “Take Me To A Concert”, which I believe was relevant since the group of students had recently read a story called “Dreaming of You”, based on the singer Selena Quintanilla’s life. The students had a great time building their � model of a coliseum and concert ticket, as well as their posters based on the concert of their favorite artist. They also enjoyed giving a brief description of their artist’s life, which they brieﬂy presented. It was a surprise to see their reactions since some of them have never even gone to a concert. After having used this activity with this group in particular, the other group of 7th graders wanted to do the same activity. The second activity I recently used with the 7th graders group was Professor Aníbal Muñoz story, entitled “El Diablo en El Yunque”. I decided to use it since the students were in the unit, which was based on Puerto Rico: Travel Brochure, and one of the aspects, which needed to be targeted was Puerto Rico’s National Rainforest (El Yunque). Since the story suggested to be used by the DE could not be found in the school, I thought Prof. Muñoz was appropriate and relevant in helping me stay focused on the curriculum topic of El Yunque. The student’s enjoyed very much the story, since it had a simple vocabulary and was easy to understand; but most important the story kept them intrigued to continue reading and even motivated them to read aloud the story. I also enjoyed their reactions.

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Another of the tools or activities used was the making of the masks, which I used with one of my 9th grade groups. I used this activity because I found it relevant, since the students had recently read the “The Masquerade” from the Short Story Collection. The group of students enjoyed doing this activity so much, that they wanted me to continue using this and other new teaching ideas. Even the other 9th grade group wanted to do the activity, since they heard form their classmates how much fun they had doing the masks. I also was surprised by their reactions and felt happy and delighted. Some parents even congratulated me with the activities used since they noticed a change in the attitude toward learning English in their children. Overall, I believe that this proposal has opened in me that desire and interest to overcome barriers, obstacles I had towards a professional development program, or continue studies in my teaching area (English). This proposal has demonstrated, in my humble opinion, that there are many tools and activities, which were unknown to many of us, and that can be used with our students, in our classrooms, and even outside the classrooms. These activities can help us in some instances to integrate our school community. The activities and tools suggested in this proposal help empower the teachers to become more prepared, updated and in tune to target the students needs and interests. I also emphasize that proposals such as this, should be available by all teachers in all areas and subjects. This proposal has helped me very much in refining and revamping my teaching techniques, tools and strategies. I have enjoyed each and every one of the workshops. It was a great pleasure to have an opportunity to share with all of my fellow colleagues in this proposal. I exhort all of you to continue doing the work you do for the benefit of our students. Also, I would like to thank the professors who took the liberty and time to fit in their heavy agenda the time to work with us and empower us with all this knowledge, tools and activities.

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BE STRONG A ND DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T FA INT Anthony DeRosa

In times of despair and disheartenment Where can we hide to avoid the hurt? When we are all alone

And everyone walks us by

That is the moment not to cry

Through the heavy nebulosity shines the light One who guides us all through the night This is why we ask ourselves

How is it all good and moral?

That, in the juncture of darkness, we see the light Is it true? One must descend before he can rise And if we walks on a pedestal to high Watch out! Then he will fall

Let us say, that underneath the disarray Is the answer

Amidst the scorns are the spaces where we can walk That; in the trials of life

Is when we see the light. 114

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E LO P M E N T F O R T E AC H E R S O F E N G L I S H TO S E CO N DA RY S C H O O L D I V E R S E L E A R N E R S : S T R AT E G I E S F O R I N T E G R AT I N G

ART AND TECHNOLOGY FOR E

C O M M U N I C AT I O N

Thus, the Project envisioned the following goals: 1.

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Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras Facultad de Educación Centro de Investigaciones Educativas