Blog #8: Video response Sheltered Instruction

Sheltered instruction includes methods drawn from the general education classroom and from second language settings (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008).  Techniques include cooperative learning, making a connection to students' experience and prior knowledge, vocabulary instruction, and use of visuals.  Many of these techniques were observed in the Sheltered Instruction video:

To begin, this teacher explicitly explained the lesson objectives of the day and then sheltered the instruction in 3 phases through pre-reading, during reading, and after-reading instruction.

In the prereading phase, she pretaught vocabulary and had students relate the words to their own experience.  She also incorporated illustrations, suggested that students talk to their parents about superstitions in their own cultures, and provided students with an opportunity to work together in groups, enabling them to clarify concepts and words in their home language.

There was some confusion on the video regarding "during reading" sheltering activities, but she did model visualizing and had students visualize in their own minds.  She had also done some front-loading of information the week before the video.

Finally, after reading, she reviewed vocabulary, strategies, content, and objectives.  She had provided a "diary board" of strategies, which would be helpful for a strategy review as needed.

Students in the class appeared to be very engaged and familiar with the instructional format.  The videos seemed to focus primarily on implementing strategies from the instructional perspective as opposed to focusing on student interaction.  They were well-done and it was also helpful to have the on-going commentary on each section.

References:
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Boston: Pearson.