In this video, we see how reading is approached in the SISL curriculum. The curriculum views reading texts about science as an important opportunity to develop language, support reading skills, and to build science concepts. Reading is strategically placed in the instructional sequence after students have had ample hands-on experiences. Texts are intended to supplement that hands-on experience, not replace them. As children get older, the science they are learning becomes more abstract. Texts are a critical part of learning these abstract concepts. However, these abstract concepts have to be grounded in real experiences. We have designed a very specific protocol to engage with the texts that include before, during, and after reading experiences.
The before experiences ask students to begin by looking at the images in the text and the titles and the headings. They make predictions about the text based on their initial observations. Next, students read the text on their own and answer margin questions. We format the texts with margin questions to help students read actively and hone in on important information in the text. After reading the text and answering the questions, students come together in their triads and go over the questions together. Later on, students refer back to and continue using and making meaning of the ideas in the text as they formulate arguments and construct explanations.
The titles below correspond to segments of the video (the approximate segment start time is given in parentheses). Select each title for additional commentary.
In this short video segment, students are using the margin questions to guide their reading and annotating of the text. These annotations will support them as they share about the text in their triads. As you can see from this short segment, all of the students in the class are reading the text independently regardless of their English language proficiency and reading level.
In this video segment, we see how students use the text after reading it to answer the question, “Are falling stars actually stars?” In the first part of the segment, students go through the margin questions in their triads. This serves two purposes. One, it gives students an opportunity to check for understanding of the text that they read independently. Second, it gives students the opportunity to make connections between what they have read and they have learned through their hands-on experience. Next, we see Luz work with Omar as he uses the information that he learned from the text as evidence in his writing. After, we see another triad discussing the evidence from the text as well as their hands-on experiences as they work together to develop an argument about falling stars. Finally, Luz brings the class together to identify the evidence they have to answer the question and where they have gotten that evidence. Students are able to draw from their hands-on experience as well as from the text.