Setting 'Em Up for Success

I can remember the feeling well; the feeling of embarrassment, shame, and stupidity as I sat in my chemistry class as a high school junior. I knew nothing. It felt like my teacher was speaking a foreign language, but the problem with that is I did take a foreign language class, Spanish, and I was really good at it. It felt like there was really something wrong withe me because the content simply made no sense at all. All of my peers grasped it; nit quickly, but eventually. I was left to ask multiple questions that ultimately went unanswered and left me feeling even more inadequate. I stayed for tutoring at lunch and after school, I stole notes from my older brother in hopes that they might be more logical than what was in my textbook, and I asked my teacher for help. Nothing worked and I felt hopeless. Now as I reflect on my experience I realize that I was getting so caught up in the new vocabulary of jules, colloid, and isotopes that I never even had a chance to focus on the rest of the content and the major concepts. I now teach students with learning disabilities and I can only imagine that my experience was similar to their's. I see the same thing happening to my ninth grade students with, and in all truth, without learning disabilities, as they take biology. The language is so new to them that in fact it is foreign. As I watched this situation unfold before my very eyes in my co-teaching biology class I had an "Ah-ha" moment. The students need graphics, they need something to organize the content for them; they need Content Enhancement Routines, (CER). 

For those of you that are new to the world of education, special education, and acronyms, CERs are guidelines that help students connect and access to the content. Rather than changing the way a student learns it is adapting the curriculum to them. Now, I am well aware that what I am describing is not a new theory; it is essentially what teachers do everyday. However, CERs delve a little deeper and allow teachers to really focus on how to change the content so that it is easily understandable. As described by Bulgren and Lenz, "CERs are based on instructional principles designed to (a) teach academically diverse groups in ways that meet both group and individual needs; (b) carry out instruction in active partnership with students; (c) focus on the teacher as content expert and mediator of learning who selects critical features of the content and transforms them in a manner that promotes learning; and (d) maintain the integrity of the content"(Bulgren & Lenz, 1996; Lenz, Bulgren, & Hudson, 1990; Schumaker et al., 2002).  This sounds like a promising practice that touches on many points of education that seem to need more support. I can see how my current students are yearning for something that reaches each of them and also points out the most relevant of information; which is something students with disabilities tend to have difficulty doing on their own as is. 

In a recent biology unit of genetics students were required to complete punnett squares based on homogenous and heterogenous genotypes. They were then asked to describe the possible phenotypes for each genotypes. It was a great practice exercise, but the glaring problem was that they didn't know what the words meant! In this instance I would have used a Clarifying Routine, which does exactly as it says. It clarifies the meaning of pertinent words and phrases within the content. This was the missing link for my kids, and for me when I was in chemistry. 

I think that as teachers it is our responsibility to make the content accessible; which starts with good planning. As you are planning you can identify the concepts, words, and phrases that might hang up our students. You can then put those vocabulary words into a Clarifying Table that will then help students to understand the question and task at hand. 

For example, there are two tables below that demonstrate a Clarifying Table in which students take characteristics from the Frayer model for vocabulary and dig a little deeper to help aid in recalling the meaning of the unknown words. One table is a blank example, while the other is an example of potential student work. 

What these tables highlight is that connecting to prior knowledge is extremely beneficial. As a student if I have to identify connections, clarifiers, and examples and non-examples then I have more to connect to. I have prior knowledge to build on, but I also have connections that I have to make. As teachers we tend to assign students words from the book and have them find the definition in the back and define them, however, this is one of the least effective methods. You should really focus on, "Less is more — depth is more. Teach fewer vocabulary terms, but teach them in a manner that results in deep understandings of each term." (Ellis, 2015). What Ellis is saying is that we should focus on main concepts only, but we should focus our efforts on demanding mastery of those few vocabulary words rather than a brief understanding of many. As teachers it is our professional responsibility to be versed in our content areas and identify the probable difficulties within our content. We can do this by using CERs when we are planning and then implementing graphics like the Clarifying table. We would be remiss if we did not offer these things to our students because if a student has a learning disability, or not, knew vocabulary adds a new level of learning and understanding. We have to accommodate for that. If we do not then our students are going to mimic my junior year of high school chemistry and check out. They won't participate and they will blame themselves. This is no way to set our students up for success. 

Works Cited

Bulgren, J. A.; & Lenz, B. K. (1996). Strategic instruction in the content areas. In D. D. Deshler, E. S. Ellis, & B. K. Lenz (Eds.), Teaching adolescents with learning disabilities: Strategies and methods (2nd ed., pp. 409-473). Denver: Love.

Ellis, E. S. (n.d.). The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction. Retrieved July 03, 2016, from http://www.ldonline.org/article/5759