Teaching Writing in a Multilingual Mainstream Classroom

María Estela Brisk, Boston College Deborah Nelson, Cheryl O'Connor

Patrick Scialoia, Boston Public Schools

brisk@bc.edu

Theory of Language Halliday, M. A. K. (1994).

Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S., Spinks, S., & Yallop, C. (2000).

Derewianka, B. (1990). Martin, J. (1992) Schleppegrell, M. (2004).

Systemic Functional Linguistics

Meaning Making in Context for Bilinguals

Genre

Lexical & Grammatical

Phonology Gestures Graphology

TEXT

CULTURE Context of Situation Register: medium Field, tenor, mode

L

A A N F

G. F

E

C C

H T

O

I

C E

Context

Personal Recount

Context of Situation - High stakes test -  show off

- language knowledge - Ability to write a coherent text

Fictional Narrative

Context of Situation Produce book in school What do novelist do? Research a topic

REGISTER

Mode: Oral/ written Multimodal

Textual function

Tenor: audience - writer;

Voice,identity Interpersonal function

Field: Topic Ideational function Purpose:

Genre

Medium: Letter poem Book

Power point

REGISTER

Field: Topic Ideational function

Field /topic •  Knowledge of the topic •  Language to express knowledge:

– Vocabulary – Sentence structure – Noun groups – Verb groups – Adverbials/circumstances – Grammatical morphemes (L2 learners)

Vocabulary related to genre Procedure, action verbs. •  Put pork meat into boiling water until

well cooked. •  Put shrimp into boiling water until well

cooked. •  Put the bread in the toaster Fictional narrative, saying verbs. •  My mom said…. They said…. Hector

said

Sentence Structure Combine sentences •  Jaguars live in alot of places. They live in

wet lowlands areas, swampy grasslands. Break up and complete sentences After the penguins we saw, the sea turtles

which was something wrong with it, five employees came to see what happed, I was in atonishment!

Verbs Groups –  omitting the s in 3rd person singular Also it weigh[s]

100 pounds. –  past tense, either omitting -ed or irregular past: they

were not use[d] to. I brang a jug [brought] OR irregular + ed: we haded

–  auxiliary to do for negation and questions –  person – verb tense agreement There was [were] two

special clouds –  past participle: if you haven’t went[gone] to Santo

Domingo

Noun groups

•  Roar! [The loud cry /of a lion/ rubbing against trees.]

Head 2

apposition

adjective

Adjectival phrases

Head 1

article

Nouns Groups –  formation of plural childs or childrens –  omitting the subject pronoun If we have to go to

school [it]is better –  possessive: the teachers[teacher’s] foult I is

gonna be yours [your] falut –  under or overuse of the and a: we started to

cook the rice (the not needed, she hadn’t mention rice before)

–  prepositions: they have the most butiful beaches and[in] the world

Adverbials: He came. When?

How?

Where?

With whom?

Why?

He came yesterday.

Yesterday he came angry.

Yesterday he came home angry.

Yesterday he came home angry with his friend.

He came because he wanted to see you.

REGISTER

Tenor: audience - writer;

Voice,identity Interpersonal function

Field: Topic Ideational function

Tenor •  Audience

– Relative relationship between writer and audience

– Awareness of audience background knowledge

•  Voice – Appropriate for the genre – Person – identity

REGISTER

Mode: Oral/ written Multimodal

Textual function

Tenor: audience - writer;

Voice,identity Interpersonal function

Field: Topic Ideational function

Mode •  Oral, written, multimodal text •  Organization:

–  Text structure given the genre –  Text structure given the medium

•  Connecting devises: –  Theme –  Reference ties –  Lexical ties –  Rhetorical links

•  Requirements of written language: –  Spelling –  conventions

REGISTER

Mode: Oral/ written Multimodal

Textual function

Tenor: audience - writer;

Voice,identity Interpersonal function

Field: Topic Ideational function

Medium: Letter poem Book

Power point

Medium

•  Letters •  Books: Picture, content area; chapter •  Dioramas •  poems •  Magazines •  Power points

REGISTER

Mode: Oral/ written Multimodal

Textual function

Tenor: audience - writer;

Voice,identity Interpersonal function

Field: Topic Ideational function Purpose:

Genre

Medium: Letter poem Book

Power point

Purpose: Genres of School •  Story Telling

•  Recount (personal, factual, imaginative) •  Historical recount experiential •  Procedural recount (science, math) (chronological) •  Fictional Narrative

•  Giving Instructions •  Procedure (Scientific Procedure)

•  Organizing Information •  Report (scientific, social science, research report) •  Explanation (scientific, historical)

•  Persuading logical •  Exposition •  Discussion •  Historical, scientific argument

Genre: Personal Recount Purpose: to entertain Field: unexpected Tenor: - Audience: outside evaluator - Voice: expert writer Mode: should be written language like Medium: how to write to a prompt

Genre: Fictional Narrative Purpose: to entertain, to teach something Field: animal research for a central character Tenor: Audience: students in lower grades/peers Voice: entertaining Mode: written language like, avoid excessive dialogue Medium: a book

Genre “comparable texts which achieve the same general social purpose, and which therefore draw

on the same relatively stable structural pattern” (Butt et al p. 214)

Purpose

Structural organization of text

GENRE

Orientation Who, where, when, what

Sequence of Events

Ending Last event Evaluation, feelings

Orientation Who, where, when, what

Foregrounding

Sequence of Events (including complication,

crisis)

Resolution

Conclusion [optional or particular to a type of

narrative, e.g. moral]

Teaching Personal Recounts to Prepare for a High Stakes

Test

Minilessons

•  Introductions •  Sequence of events timeline (using

organizer) •  Topic related to former MCAS prompts

MCAS Writing Prompts •  Write a story about a special time that

you spent with your favorite person. •  Write a story about when you did

something for the first time. •  Write a story about a fun time that you

had doing your favorite thing. •  Write a story about a time you were

helpful.

Bilingual Learners

Knowledge of Topic •  MCAS prompt: write a story about what

you did when you had a snow day •  Yay! It,s snowing and it,s Christmas day

that means there is no school.

Minilessons (cont.)

•  Making up/embellishing when stuck on a question

•  Showing not telling •  Transitional phrases •  Conclusions •  Scoring rubrics (looking at their own work

as well as others) – understanding scoring system, trying to improve their own score

Mentor Texts •  Big Mama’s by Donald Crews •  The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant •  When I Was Young in the Mountains by

Cynthia Rylant •  What You Knew First by Patricia MacLachlan •  Mint Snowbell by Naomi Shihab Nye •  Grandmama’s Kitchen Table by Cynthia Rylant

•  Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe

Teaching Fictional Narratives

Minilessons

•  Phase I: – Researching an animal (character)from a

scientific standpoint (graphic organizer for notetaking in packet)

animal

What does it eat? Habitat

Continent where the are found

Predators Behaviors (nocturnal)

Other questions I have researched _Q:__________________________ _A:___________________________

Minilessons Phase II: •  Planning using graphic organizers (in

packet) •  Audience •  Point of view/perspective •  Setting (how it affects character

development) •  Character development (character

traits, character change, how do authors reveal character personalities?)

Character Traits

–  Adventurous –  Afraid –  Angry –  Bored –  Bossy –  Brave –  Busy –  Cheerful –  Dishonest –  Eager –  Energetic

–  Friendly –  Funny –  Generous –  Honest –  Jealous –  Joyful –  Loyal –  Mature –  Messy –  Patient –  Responsible

–  Rude –  Shy –  Smart –  Successful –  Talented –  Time –  Trustworthy –  Unfriendly –  Wild –  Worried

Minilessons (cont.)

•  Tone/mood •  Theme/moral •  Conflict and resolution •  Dialogue (quotations, saying verbs) •  Transitional phrases

Transitional Phrases •  To trigger addition:

–  Additionally –  Besides –  Furthermore –  In addition

•  To trigger example: –  For example –  For instance –  Thus –  In other words

•  To trigger emphasis: –  Above all –  Certainly –  Of course –  Surely

•  To trigger sequence: –  Afterward

–  Finally –  First –  In the meantime

•  To trigger summary: –  As a result –  In conclusion –  In summary –  To sum up

•  To trigger granting a point: –  At any rate –  Even so –  In any case –  Nonetheless

•  To trigger a relationship –  Because –  Consequently –  Likewise –  Nonetheless –  Similarly

•  To trigger a generalization: –  All in all –  In general –  Typically –  Usually

Mentor Texts •  Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon •  Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco •  The Old Woman who Named Things by Cynthia

Rylant •  In My Own Backyard by Judy Curijan •  Hurricane by David Weisner •  The Mitten by Jan Brett •  Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett •  Buffalo Hunt by Russell Freedman •  The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon

Scieszka •  Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Structural Elements •  Orientation

– Who, where, when, what – Foregrounding

•  Sequence of Events (including complication crisis)

•  Resolution •  Conclusion

– Optional or particular to a type of narrative (e.g. moral)

Orientation

Henry the Hyena was a mean, rude, bullying and picky hyena. Every morning he wakes up at 8:30 in the morning fresh as a daisy and goes to a banana tree to hang out with his friends. While their [there] at the banana tree miguel the monkey comes to the tree to get a banana.

Sequence of Events •  Once Henry the Hyena sees miguel getting a banana

Henry just starts hurting miguel just to see him hurt, after all seeing people in pain is what he likes to see

•  The next morning Henry and the rest of his hyena friends went to a different banana tree because today was the big banana contest and in this contest the first monkey to find the biggest banana wins the lake for a week…

•  Henry snatched the big banana and broke it in half. “That’s it!” shouted miguel angrily. “I wish that you were a monkey so you will know how it feels to be picked on.”

•  The next morning Henry woke up and saw that he had brown fur and saw that he was shorter so he went to the mirror. “Ahhh”!, shouted Henry. “It must’ve been when miguel the monkey said he wished I was a monkey which made in one.”

……

Resolution •  He walked to miguel’s house and started

talking “Look miguel, I’m sorry for the way I was treating you , and you had to be mad at me and yes I now know it feels to be picked on. Look if you can forgive me and we can be friends that would be great.” “Apollogy accepted” replied miguel. “Great” said Henry.

•  The next day Henry saw that he was back to normal . So was miguel. They both got to the banana tree at the same time. There was no teazing which meant everyone was friends.

Why is SFL good to inform instruction for bilingual learners?

•  It helps uncover explicitly how English works

•  It takes into account language and cultural context

•  It is good for bilingual learners and for all students

•  Bilingual learners “can no longer be thought of as a group apart form the mainstream- in today’s culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, they are the mainstream” (Gibbons, 2002, p. 13)