Mod 14 Curriculum Selection Activity 1

Criteria for selecting an ELA Text (Non-textbook) for a Multi-Cultural Student Population

1. Alignment with FSS

a. Is the text aligned with Florida State Standards and objectives?

2. Cultural relevance: (text demonstrates cultural friendliness and embraces multi-cultural experiences)

a. Does the text incorporate diverse authors from various cultural backgrounds?

b. Does the text contain diverse authors that reflect the student population we serve? Or is the author of the text from the same (or similar) cultural background as the the students we serve? Or does the author of the text write about people from the same background as the students we serve? 

c. Does the text reflect multiple perspectives about experiences from different cultures?

d. Does the text treat the various cultures portrayed with respect by avoiding ethnic and gender stereotypes?

3. Text content support

a. Does the text provide modified content selections for students with different reading abilities?

b. Does the text provide sufficient supplemental background material to enable students to understand the depth of the text?

c. How much adaptation of the text is need to ensure that student understand the depth of the text? 

4. Readability and Accessibility

a. Is the text grade-level appropriate?

b. Is the text accessible to students with varied language proficiencies? 

c. Does the text progress at a comfortable pace?

d. Is there opportunity for open-ended conversation or unguided practice of language as student proceed through the text?

 

5. Content Objectives

a. Are the content objectives for the text clearly delineated? Or does the text need to be adapted to ensure that content objectives are clearly presented?

b. Does the text provide a supplemental section of questions and activities at the end of the text?

6. Visual support

a. Does the text contain graphs, charts, and other visual aids that support the selections?

7. Vocabulary

a. Does the text provide Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary to support vocabulary acquisition?

b. How much adaptation does the text require to ensure alignment with Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary acquisition?

 

8. Differentiation and scaffolding support for cultural relevance.

a. Does the text provide supplemental material with suggestions for adapting the teaching of the text to the needs of ELL students?

i. Do the activities supporting the exploration of the text help ELL student draw meaningful connections between the text and their own lives?  

ii. How much adaptation is needed to develop appropriate supporting activities to ensure that students draw meaningful connections to their own lives? 

iii. Does the text provide supplemental material with suggestions for scaffolding strategies (i.e. small group instruction; learning stations model; think-pair-share model, etc.) to facilitate comprehension among ELL students?

iv. How much adaptation is needed to create and implement appropriate  scaffolding activities (i.e. small group instruction; learning stations model; think-pair-share model, etc.)?

 

The process for selecting an appropriate ELA text (non-textbook) for ELL students from multiple ethnic backgrounds is not a one-size fits all approach, as the above criteria might suggest. Most texts are not written by multiple authors, though they might contain multiple ethnic cultures within. The guiding principle is the degree to which the texts are culturally sensitive. Most texts will require significant effort on the part of the teacher to develop scaffolding strategies to ensure that ELL students can have a meaningful experience when reading the text. In addition, most texts will require the teacher to develop supplemental material to help fill in any contextual or historical gaps that are necessary to get the full experience of the text.

 

 

Criteria for selecting an ELA Textbook for a Multi-Cultural Student Population

1. Alignment with FSS

a. Is the textbook aligned with Florida State Standards and objectives?

2. Cultural relevance: (textbook demonstrates cultural friendliness and embraces multi-cultural experiences)

a. Does the textbook incorporate diverse authors from various cultural backgrounds?

b. Does the textbook contain diverse authors that reflect the student population we serve?

c. Do the selections in the textbook reflect multiple perspectives about experiences from different cultures?

d. Does the textbook treat the various cultures portrayed with respect by avoiding ethnic and gender stereotypes?

3. Textbook content support

a. Does the textbook provide modified content selections for students with different reading abilities?

b. Does the textbook provide sufficient background material to enable students to understand the depth of each selection?

4. Readability and Accessibility

a. Are the selections in the textbook grade-level appropriate?

b. Are the selections in the textbook accessible to students with varied language proficiencies? 

c. Does the textbook progress at a comfortable pace?

d. Is there opportunity for open-ended conversation or unguided practice of language?

 

5. Content Objectives

a. Are the content objectives for each selection clearly delineated?

b. Do the questions and activities that accompany each selection align with the content objectives?

c. Does the textbook allow for learner self-evaluation of performance of objectives?

6. Visual support

a. Does the textbook contain graphs, charts, and other visual aids that support the selections?

7. Vocabulary

a. Does the textbook provide Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary to support vocabulary acquisition?

b. How much adaptation does the textbook require to ensure alignment with Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary acquisition?

 

8. Differentiation and scaffolding support for cultural relevance.

a. Does the textbook provide suggestions for adapting each selection to the needs of ELL students?

i. Do the activities supporting the text selections help ELL student draw meaningful connections between the text and their own lives?  

ii. How much adaptation does the textbook require to ensure that text selections help students draw meaningful connections to their own lives? 

iii. Does the textbook provide suggestions for scaffolding strategies (i.e. small group instruction; learning stations model; think-pair-share model, etc.) to facilitate comprehension among ELL students?

iv. How much adaptation does the textbook need to create and implement appropriate  scaffolding activities (i.e. small group instruction; learning stations model; think-pair-share model, etc.)?

 

The process for selecting an appropriate ELA text textbook) for ELL students from multiple ethnic backgrounds is more readily aligned with the criteria of the above selection process precisely because textbooks by their very nature (by design, if you will) contain multiple authors, multiple perspectives, supplemental background material, and suggested activities.  So too, they are often written so that are aligned with state standards. The guiding principle with textbooks is the degree to which the textbooks address all of the needs and goals for teaching ELLK students. This is more than answer the question ‘is the textbook culturally sensitive”? This means does the textbook provide strategies for helping ELL students comprehend the material; are there supplemental sections designed to fill in the gaps, for students, etc. Some textbooks will require  that the teacher to develop scaffolding strategies to ensure that ELL students can have a meaningful experience when reading the text. Some may require the teacher to develop supplemental material to help fill in any contextual or historical gaps that are necessary to get the full experience of the text. The more adaptation that is required, the less desirable the textbook.