WEBVTT

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[Music] Welcome to "Pumpkin Pie

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for Halloween": Text Discussion

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With English Learners.

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Hello, my name is Jenny English.

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I work at Graham Road Elementary

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in Falls Church, Virginia,

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and I teach kindergarten.

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It's important for kindergarteners

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to acquire text discussion skills,

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because as they become good readers,

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they are going to need

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to be able tell what they have read

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about or to make connections

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to what they have read about.

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And if no one asks them any questions

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about what they are reading,

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or no one encourages them to think

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about what they are reading,

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they are not going to be able

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to comprehend what they are reading.

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The text was actually a library book

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that one of the students had picked,

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and it just looked interesting,

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so I asked to keep it for a read-aloud.

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And the kids were very interested in it,

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and they got really into the book.

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And I realized there was a sequence

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of events, and there was repetitive

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text, and there was a good ending.

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So it was a book that I wanted to use.

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When reading the books,

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I wanted to create questions,

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at this point in the year,

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that had a lot of one-word answers.

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Other questions I asked them were

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about the lifecycle of a pumpkin;

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we had been studying that in science.

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And at the end of the story,

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the witch plants a seed,

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which brings us back to the beginning

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of the story when she first planted the

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seed to make a pumpkin.

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So at the end of the story,

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when she planted the seed again,

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I asked the students, "Well,

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what do you think will happen?"

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And because we had been studying the

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lifecycle of the pumpkin,

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they understood that a new seed

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in the ground means a new pumpkin is

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going to happen.

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After we did the whole-group activity,

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and I knew the students felt comfortable

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retelling the story, I created groups.

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I gave them the same cards that we used

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as a whole group to work

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in small groups with,

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and they worked together

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to retell the story

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from the beginning to the end.

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In creating the groups,

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I worked with mostly my English

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language learners.

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There were one

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or two English language learners

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that do have a higher vocabulary

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than the others,

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so I put them in the group.

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But most of them are either

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non-English-speaking

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or limited-English-speaking.

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And Mrs. Furman was working with a group

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that has a high vocab

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but has trouble putting their vocabulary

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into sentences together

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or has trouble making sentences

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with their thoughts.

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So she was working

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in guiding their vocabulary

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to be specific sentences.

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And then the other groups were a mix

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of either children

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that didn't have the vocabulary

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or students that were a little shy mixed

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in with students

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that had a higher vocabulary

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and would take initiative and help form

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that group together to retell the story.

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In previous instructions,

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I had been focusing

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on having the children become good

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listeners by looking at the reader,

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making connections in their mind.

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Now, we are working

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on verbalizing those connections

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to the book.

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And then in the future,

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we're working on making connections

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that aren't so personal,

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but maybe making connections

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to other books

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or to other related materials.

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I think in kindergarten,

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text discussion is a lot

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of teacher asking, the child answering.

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And in working towards first grade,

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it's important

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to create a lot more group activities

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where they are able

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to have a discussion.

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It's not just the one question

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and one answer; it's "I am going

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to say an idea.

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You're going to say an idea.

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And then we are going to talk

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about those ideas together

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and maybe form new opinions."

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[Music] To learn more

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about text discussion,

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please explore the additional resources

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on the Doing What Works website.