Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students’
development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.

Artifact I for Standard Four: Multiple Instructional Strategies

Name of Artifact: Part A- Five Teaching Resources, Part B – Textbook Evaluation One, Part C

- Textbook Evaluation Two

Date: Fall 2009

Course: FL561 Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice

Rationale

Instructional strategies are tied to the needs and interests of students and are based on the

many types of learning styles (Ekwensi, Moranski & Townsend-Sweet, n.d.). In language

learning, a learning style is a general approach that a learner uses to learn, for example, an

analytic-global approach; sensory preferences, such as visual auditory or kinesthetic;

intuitive/random and sensory/sequential learning, an orientation to closure and competition-

cooperation approaches (Shrum & Glisan, 2005). The teacher must be familiar with these

different approaches and utilize materials which support them.

In support of Standard 4, Multiple Instructional Strategies, I offer this multi-part artifact

“Five Teaching Resources, Textbook Evaluation One and Textbook Evaluation Two,” that I

created for FL561 Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice. I am including this artifact

in Standard 4 because creating it required me research materials for the classroom that utilize a

variety of instructional strategies, including those that appeal to different sensory preferences

(audio, visual and kinesthetic) and evaluate textbooks for their ability to support development of

students’ critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills This artifact reflects a

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

starting point from which I can expand my knowledge of multiple instructional strategies for my

future ESL classroom.

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

References

Ekwensi, F. Moranski, & Townsend-Sweet, M. (n.d.). Chapter 5-Instructional strategies for E-

learning. Retrieved on November 4, 2010 from

http://iit.bloomu.edu/spring2006_ebook_files/chapter5.htm

Shrum, J.L. & Glisan, E.W. (2005). Teacher’s handbook: Contextualized language instruction

(3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle.

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

Artifact I: Part A- Five Teaching Resources

Joely Rogers
FL561 – Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice
October 12, 2009
Assignment: Five Teaching Resources

Instructions: Seek out 5 teaching resources (books, DVDs/videos, games or websites) in

language instruction on a topic or topics that you would like to explore further. Please make a
very brief statement about each resource stating why you think it would be important in your
teaching.

Website: English Story Reading Room on ESL Monkeys.com. You have to really dig on this
website, but it has good resources for teachers looking for English stories to use in the classroom.
There is an age guideline for each story. In addition, there is a section that discusses ways to use
newspaper or online news articles in the classroom. This section contains links to current (daily)
stories on politics, business, science, health and entertainment.
http://www.eslmonkeys.com/student/storyroom/storyroom.html

DVDs: English Language Teaching in Action – a 5-DVD set consisting of Disc 1 – Games &
Activities, Disc 2 – Productive Skills, Disc 3 – Receptive Skills, Disc 4 – Teaching Grammar &
Vocabulary and Disc 5 – Pronunciation & Teaching Techniques (even classroom management). I
think this DVD set would be very helpful to beginner teachers like me, or even experienced
teachers who want to improve a particular aspect of their teaching.
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/bridgetefl.html

Books: The Art of Teaching Speaking: Research and Pedagogy for the ESL/EFL Classroom by
Keith S. Folse. This book explains what teachers need to know about vocabulary, pronunciation,
and grammar and how they affect the teaching of speaking. I think the reproducible “Twenty
Successful Activities and Ten Unsuccessful Activities” featured in the book would be
particularly valuable.

Jazz Chants Old and New: Student Book by Carolyn Graham. I’m interested in the possibility of
incorporating music in my future ESL teaching. I met an ESL accent reduction teacher who said
she frequently used jazz chants in her class and they really worked well. Ms. Graham is the
creator of Jazz Chants and this is her latest book.

Games: Word Up – a quiz game for ESL learners. I like games. We used them in my French
immersion class this summer and I found them very helpful. I think they also keep the students
‘awake’ and motivated to learn. Word Up has 5 levels of difficulty and is designed to help
students with many aspects of learning English including - listening, speaking, reading, idioms,
vocabulary & grammar, collocations and general subject knowledge.
http://www.teflgames.com/about.html

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

Artifact I: Part B -Textbook Evaluation One

Joely Rogers
FL561 – Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice
September 24, 2009
Assignment: Textbook Evaluation One

The textbook I reviewed was Master the Basics: English 2nd Edition by Jean Yates of George
Washington University. The textbook evaluation criteria from Shrum & Glisan p. 56 is
duplicated below and I have rated my textbook according to the criteria. My overall assessment
of the textbook follows the rating.

Rating of: Master the Basics: English 2nd Edition by Jean Yates
Rating Scale: 3 = Excellent, 2 = Satisfactory, 1 = Poor

Criterion Rating
Features an organization based on interesting topics and cultural contexts 1
Provides activities in which students talk to each other, share information and 1
opinions, as questions, and express feelings
Encourages students to negotiate meaning with one another 1
Provides authentic oral input (audio tapes, videotapes, CD-ROM programs) 1
that features engaging content and tasks
Provides authentic printed texts (newspaper/magazine articles, ads, poems, 1
short stories) that have engaging content and tasks
Suggests strategies for comprehending and interpreting oral and written texts 3
Includes pre-listening/pre-viewing/pre-reading tasks 1
Includes tasks in which students speak and write to an audience of 1
listeners/readers
Provides contextualized and meaningful activities 1
Presents clear, concise grammar explanations that are necessary for 3
communication
Presents vocabulary thematically, in context, and with the use of visuals and 1
authentic realia
Provides for integrated practice of the three modes of communication 1
Presents an accurate view of the cultures in which the target language is 1
spoken
Includes visuals for presenting vocabulary and illustrating cultural aspects 1
(overhead transparencies, pictures, slides, realia)
Provides opportunities for students to explore the products of the culture and 1
their relationship to cultural perspectives
Provides opportunities for students to explore the practices of the culture and 1
their relationship to cultural perspectives
Provides opportunities for students to use the target language to learn about 1
other subject areas
Engages students in using the target language to acquire new information on 1

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

topics of interest
Provides opportunities for students to compare key features of the native and 2
target languages in interesting ways
Criterion continued… Rating
Includes activities in which students use the target language with peers in other 1
communities and target language regions (e-mail, World Wide Web,
interactive video, field trips)
Provides opportunities for students to select authentic texts to explore for 1
enjoyment and learning
Provides contextualized, performance-based achievement tests with scoring 2
rubrics
Suggest strategies for assessing student progress in attaining standards 1
Integrates technology into instruction effectively (audiotapes, videotapes, 1
interactive video, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, email)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:

I chose this textbook by going to the Richardson Public library, which has a lot of
immigrant patrons, and asking for an ESL textbook for adults. This book calls itself as a
‘grammar reference guide’. As you can see by my ratings, it is NOT a communicative language
textbook. Aside from the pictures of clocks in the time-telling section, there are no pictures, no
audio and no recommended websites. What this book does provide is a very thorough review of
grammar, including what it calls the “Basics” – letters and word, capitalization, punctuation, and
sentences, along with the “Part of Speech” – nouns/pronouns, verbs/adverbs, adjectives,
prepositions, conjunctions and discourse markers. This book has a pre-test, post-test, and an
appendix with special topics like whole numbers, dates, telling time and talking about the
weather. I think it would be useful for intermediate to advanced ESL students who are trying to
improve their written language, or who want to focus on a particular concept. For example, many
of the ESL students I’ve tutored say they have problems with prepositions. This book has an
extensive chapter on prepositions and how to combine them with various nouns, adjectives and
verbs. *For my other textbook evaluation I’m going to the bookstore and asking specifically for a
communicative ESL textbook. We’ll see what happens.

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

Artifact I: Part C -Textbook Evaluation Two

Joely Rogers
FL561 – Teaching Second Languages: Theory into Practice
October 12, 2009
Assignment: Textbook Evaluation Two

The textbook I reviewed was Discussion Starters: Speaking Fluency Activities for Advanced
ESL/EFL Students by Keith S. Folse. The textbook evaluation criteria from Shrum & Glisan p.
56 is duplicated below and I have rated my textbook according to the criteria. My overall
assessment of the textbook follows the rating.

Rating of: Discussion Starters: Speaking Fluency Activities for Advanced ESL/EFL Students by
Keith S. Folse

Rating Scale: 3 = Excellent, 2 = Satisfactory, 1 = Poor

Criterion Rating
Features an organization based on interesting topics and cultural contexts 3
Provides activities in which students talk to each other, share information and 3
opinions, as questions, and express feelings
Encourages students to negotiate meaning with one another 3
Provides authentic oral input (audio tapes, videotapes, CD-ROM programs) 1
that features engaging content and tasks
Provides authentic printed texts (newspaper/magazine articles, ads, poems, 3
short stories) that have engaging content and tasks
Suggests strategies for comprehending and interpreting oral and written texts 1
Includes pre-listening/pre-viewing/pre-reading tasks 1
Includes tasks in which students speak and write to an audience of 3
listeners/readers
Provides contextualized and meaningful activities 3
Presents clear, concise grammar explanations that are necessary for 1
communication
Presents vocabulary thematically, in context, and with the use of visuals and 3
authentic realia
Provides for integrated practice of the three modes of communication 3
Presents an accurate view of the cultures in which the target language is 3
spoken
Includes visuals for presenting vocabulary and illustrating cultural aspects 2
(overhead transparencies, pictures, slides, realia)
Provides opportunities for students to explore the products of the culture and 3
their relationship to cultural perspectives
Provides opportunities for students to explore the practices of the culture and 3
their relationship to cultural perspectives
Provides opportunities for students to use the target language to learn about 2
other subject areas

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 Standard 4 – Multiple Instructional Strategies Artifact 1 Joely Rogers

Engages students in using the target language to acquire new information on 3

topics of interest
Provides opportunities for students to compare key features of the native and 3
target languages in interesting ways
Criterion continued… Rating
Includes activities in which students use the target language with peers in other 1
communities and target language regions (e-mail, World Wide Web,
interactive video, field trips)
Provides opportunities for students to select authentic texts to explore for 3
enjoyment and learning
Provides contextualized, performance-based achievement tests with scoring 1
rubrics
Suggest strategies for assessing student progress in attaining standards 1
Integrates technology into instruction effectively (audiotapes, videotapes, 1
interactive video, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, email)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:

This is not a ESL textbook per se. There are no specific sections on grammar. It is meant
to be used in an advanced ESL/EFL discussion class (secondary to post-secondary) for the
purpose of facilitating discussion. I selected this book because this is the type of class I’m
interested in eventually teaching. Also, it was written by Keith Folse, who work I’m familiar
with from other MATL courses at USM. The contains 32 units which cover a wide range of
topics including drug use, homosexuality, AIDS, humor, fairy tales, movies, parenting, etc… I
found the topics fascinating and actually read the whole thing. Realia is in the form of court
cases, newspaper articles, statistics, maps and receipts. The exercises are designed as small group
projects and everyone member must participate in the discussions and presentations.
Each unit begins with a topic, for example – Gun Control. The students are asked to
answer questions in groups about the topic and a piece of realia that is included in the unit.
Depending on the topic, the students may present their answer to the class. There is a language
review at the end of each unit which asks students to complete questions using vocabulary words
from the unit. At first I was confused by this section because the questions were unrelated to the
topic. However, after thinking about it for a minute I realized he’s trying to reinforce the
vocabulary.
Folse uses interesting, relevant and often controversial topics that would easily instigate
discussion in the classroom. With this book teachers don’t have to spend hours researching for
classroom topics; although they could use the book as a framework for creating activities using
other topics. I like this book a lot and will keep it for my future teaching career.