Increasing the Rigor in an ELL Classroom (Plus a Giveaway)
Increasing the Rigor
What is rigor in a classroom? Rigor is challenging your ELLs in their work and thinking. Even with our ELLs we want our work to be rigorous. There was once a time in my classroom when I had students rushing through assignments and not taking the time to give me their best work. I thought the problem could be solved with an early finishers assignment. I quickly realized that no matter how many early finisher assignments I put in place, my students were not being challenged enough with their assignments. Here is what I did to increase the rigor in my classroom.
Mindset Change
I realized my mindset had to change with my students. I was under the impression that since my students were learning English that I had to make the assignments easier for them. This is simply not the case, and I needed an immediate change in my mindset. I started to say to myself and the students they can do ANY assignment put in front of them. I encouraged them everyday, and always told them they were the smartest students in the building. The next question I had to ask myself was “What are the supports that I need to put in place so the students can succeed? I will explain a little more about this later.
Student Experiences
The experiences that the students were having in my class needed to be elevated. I started to incorporate more activities such as project based learning and high level speaking activities in my lessons. These simple tweaks increased the rigor in my classroom. My students started believing and became high-performing students. They consistently were growing leaps and bounds on their assessments. This can be attributed to the mindset and experiences in the classroom.
Always PLAN as If your students were in the 99% percentile!
This ties into having the mindset that your students can achieve any goal and assignment that is set in from of them. English Language Learners benefit greatly when they have access to a rigorous curriculum. This exposes them to academic language and background knowledge. So simply plan high and add scaffolds based on the varying needs of your students.
ALL lessons should use grade level tasks and standards.
As a middle school teacher, I learned very quickly that students are aware when lessons come from a kindergarten workbook. The reality is students are assessed on grade level content. You can still use grade level content to meet the needs of your ELLs. Remember to plan high and then add support. I know some of you might say, “My students don’t know the alphabet!” If you need to introduce the alphabet, then do so with a grade level text. You can also consider chunking (breaking the text into smaller parts) for your newcomer and beginners.
Remember rigor is intentional. As you are planning simply ask yourself, “Is this providing enough rigor for my students. “ Share in the comments how you are providing rigor for your students.
Join the GIVEAWAY!
This week I am giving away one of my favorite resources for an ELL classroom! This is……ANCHOR CHART paper! You might be thinking anchor chart paper?! Well don’t knock until you have tried it. Anchor charts have completely transformed my classroom, and I can promise you anchor chart paper is not cheap. I am going to share my favorite one below. So enter into raffle below!
