Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms: Mathematics, Grades 6–8
Promoting Content and Language Learning
- Margo Gottlieb
- Gisela Ernst-Slavit - Washington State University, Vancouver, USA
Foreword by Judit Moschkovich
Help your students unlock important mathematical concepts!
If you’ve ever watched a student struggle with learning math concepts, you know that academic English can sometimes create stumbling blocks to understanding. To grasp complicated concepts, build skills, and demonstrate achievement, students need to master academic language in math.
The Common Core and ELD standards provide pathways to academic success through academic language. Using an integrated Curricular Framework, districts, schools and professional learning communities can:
- Design and implement thematic units for learning
- Draw from content and language standards to set targets for all students
- Examine standards-centered materials for academic language
- Collaborate in planning instruction and assessment within and across lessons
- Consider linguistic and cultural resources of the students
- Create differentiated content and language objectives
- Delve deeply into instructional strategies involving academic language
- Reflect on teaching and learning
Each grade-specific chapter models the types of interactions and learning experiences that help students master both math content and academic language. This essential book shows you why mastery of academic language is the key to students’ academic success.
“With growing numbers of English Language Learners in our classrooms, teachers need to be able to help students as they learn academic vocabulary and concepts. This series offers teachers a practical support, complete with abundant rubrics and detailed plans for teaching math vocabulary!”
—Renee Peoples, Teacher
Swain County Schools, Bryson City, NC
“The importance of academic vocabulary is often overlooked, or educators assume that students have a solid understanding of it. This series neatly explains why it is vital and demonstrates how it is possible to focus on vocabulary instruction doesn’t take away from the conceptual lesson but actually enhances it.”
“In a time of growing English Language Learners in our classrooms, teachers need to be able to apply appropriate help for students as they learn the vocabulary necessary to increase academic vocabulary and concepts. This series offers teachers a practical support, complete with abundant rubrics and detailed plans for teaching math vocabulary that can only help teachers and their students!”
“With the many visuals, charts, activity suggestions, and examples of student-teacher conversations this series is a real-world resource for teachers.”
“Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms is an invaluable resource for all K through 8th grade teachers, especially those working with diverse students. This book gives teachers both a clear explanation of academic language and specific strategies they can apply in their own classrooms. Throughout the book, contributors provide specific connections between the Common Core State Standards and Language Development Standards. Each chapter helps educators understand students’ academic language needs and, through a variety of classroom examples from each grade level, shows teachers how to teach academic language through content.“
“These volumes are packed with practical ideas that will help all teachers attend to language within their classrooms from the discourse level to word/phrase levels. This is a road map for teaching Common Core content in language rich classrooms, and hence a resource every teacher needs within arms reach! It’s all here and clearly presented; this is pure gold for everyone who teaches students to speak, listen, read and write in school, with special attention to English language learners. “