The Collaboration Tool: Links Revealed!

Hello!
I have had a few questions regarding the next steps for the Collaboration Tool. Great to know that I have some readers! Thank you for helping me with this project.

So, we have the Collaboration Tool. We have thought about the direction we would like our unit to go in. We have chosen to write our language goal(s) for the unit. For example:

Recount (Macro Function) by naming, labeling, and/or identifying (micro function) historical events in a sequence using multiple medias (key academic practice).

Without all the jargon and gobble-de-gook reads like the following:
Recount by naming, labeling, and/or identifying historical events in a sequence using multiple medias.

You just wrote your first language goal! Great...now what?

Now is when we begin looking at HOW? How are you going to teach this explicitly? How are you going to know what the language is that goes into recounting? There must be a lot because it's a Macro function. How are you going to know how specific to get? What if the students already know what I choose to teach?

Deep Breath...you have the links! Let's use the example we have going. It might be helpful to open up that Collaboration Tool and take a peek with me. Each micro function is linked to another document that is meant to help you narrow down those questions. For example, if you click (on my computer I have to push and hold the ctrl button on the keyboard and then click on the link) on the micro function name/label/identify up will pop up a document.

On this document you will find the micro function along with some defining terms, tasks, and key words. This is a great check point to make sure that you have chosen the correct micro function for what you want to be doing linguistically with the students. If you look through the tasks and key terms and think, "huh, that's not what I was envisioning when I started this..." Then you simply go back and try again. You can look through the other micro function documents and they can give you ideas before you have finalized your goals. If you're anything like the rest of us who used this document, you will go back and change things at some point.

Then we can look at the multi-page grid. This has been divided by proficiency level based on the states guidelines for ESL students. Since 6 is proficient it is not included in the list. The document breaks down what should be taught at each level, beginning with 5 down to 1, based on what a student should be able to do at that particular level and therefore be able to accomplish the goals of learning because it is at an attainable level.

Teaching fluent speakers? Not a problem, there are generally gaps in their learning and understanding and this tool can show where those gaps are and make you better equipped to attend to those gaps.

The goal of this is to keep language in mind and help you better identify what the needs of your students are and how to address those needs.

Now, each level is broken down further: Discourse, sentence, and word level. Many who think of teaching language this vocabulary and while this is an integral part of language it is certainly not the end all be all. This document breaks down the different functions of language so that you can address each on separately or jointly depending on what you are teaching and how you want to teach it.

As an added bonus, if you look to the right of the document there are sentence frames and starters that can help students frame their thinking and get them writing in a way that is conducive to the genre that you are looking for! If you scroll down there are also questions that you can use with the students.

These documents are one of the most helpful tools I have used as a language teacher.

Feel free to comment below with further questions or comments.

The Collaboration Tool

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for...Post number 2! Okay, so maybe you haven't been waiting for it, but it's here.

This month I am featuring something that any classroom teacher can use in their daily lesson planning as well as full unit and curriculum production. Though it is geared toward  Language teachers, every teacher should really have the language of their domain in mind.  It's called the Collaboration Tool. This tool was created by people who have spent some time in the classroom (teachers!) and know what the language needs of the students are. That's right, finally we have something that was not just created by bureaucrats and politics, but by the people who bleed and sweat with us in their own classrooms everyday!

The Collaboration Tool is honestly one of the coolest (professional I know...) and most useful tools I have in my personal professional tool kit that I actually just used this past week while looking at the opinion writing lessons that I started today. If you are not a language teacher (you're lying to yourself because if you are a teacher you teach language to some degree--feel free to comment on that thought below!) you can still easily use this tool to help you think through the lessons or unit that you are working on.

When you click on the link below expect to feel a bit overwhelmed. There is a great deal of information on the one page tool. Never fear! I plan to break this baby down in at least 2 posts.

The first thing that you need to know is that the tool was created to make a formula. MACRO language functions cover ALL language in just 4 easy functions (hence macro-they cover everything), therefore they are included in unit planning no matter what. Now if you are writing lesson plans you will be using the micro functions far more often because you are using smaller steps to get to the bigger picture at the end or the macro functions. (i.e. you state an opinion or claim to begin to argue-see CT)

If you are just getting to know the tool look in the lower right of the screen and you should see some formulas that are color coded to match each column, you should also know that Macro + micro + key academic practice is the most commonly used because of its specificity.

Now, here's the really interesting thing in the tool; there are links right in the tool!  Go right on ahead and click around some of that and I will have another post that goes more in depth with what those are and how to use them.

Here is the link for the Collaboration Tool which can be found on the DESE website:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/ell/curriculum.html

The Collaboration Tool is about half way down the page. Feel free to explore that page as well, but I have a feeling the Collaboration Tool will be enough to blow your mind!

This is a hugely confusing document, if you have any questions please comment below and I will answer them the best that I can.