Thursday, April 28, 2011

Synthesis Paper










Emilie Spencer
Professor Thompson-Dunn
English 102
13 April 2011


Literacy and the English-Language Learner


Modern-day teachers are affected by an ever increasing student body of English Language Learners (ELL). This trend has caused researchers to develop new ways to accommodate these extraordinary students. Literacy is one of the key elements in academic achievement; because this is a critical component, three articles addressing the issue of English Language Learners and Literacy have recently been published. In 2008, The Reading Teacher published an article titled “What does oral language have to do with it? Helping young English-Language Learners acquire a sight word vocabulary”, by Lori A. Helman and Matthew K. Burns. Helman and Burns address the skills that an ELL student needs to achieve in reading and writing proficiency with the use of sight words. The Reading Teacher addressed a similar issue in February 2011 in an article titled; “Promoting Literacy Development for beginning English Learners” by Eurydice Bouchereau Bauer in cooperation with Juliana Arazi, the article’s featured English as a Second Language teacher (ESL). In the article, Bauer focused on Arazi and her ELL student demonstrating teaching techniques to improve literacy development in English Language Learners. School Library Monthly also addressed this issue in March 2011, the panel of authors focused on the techniques librarians can use to facilitate reading proficiency in ELL students. In the article titled “School Librarians: Bridging the Gap for English Language Learners “by Catherine Blair, Amanda Brasfield, Karen Crenshaw and Amanda Mosedale.


What does oral language have to do with it? Helping young English-Language Learners acquire a sight word vocabulary is written directly to the elementary general education teacher (GE). The article describes the problem of ELL students losing interest in the reading lessons because they cannot follow along and keep the same pace as the rest of the students. The articles’ purpose is to show how certain reading skills, particularly sight word acquisition, are necessary for reading development; what research conveys about sight word acquisition and concludes by giving suggestions to GE teachers on how to practically apply reading skills to their ELL students. The article demonstrates that fluency in the English language directly correlates with the percentage of sight words a child can successfully acquisition. To reach this conclusion, Helman and Burns conducted a research study of forty three second graders in three elementary schools that had an average of fifty three percent of the population ELL. They further conclude that if the GE teacher will utilize three techniques, differentiating instructional activities, incorporating language development activities, and encourage repetition of high–frequency words in reading, he/she can support the acquisition of sight words with their ELL students, leading to academic achievement.


Promoting Literacy Development for beginning English Learners directs its comments to teachers who specialize in English as a Second Language (ESL), however, at the conclusion of the article, it does give a summary of techniques a GE teacher can incorporate in their classroom as well. The article presents the problem of teachers struggling to meet the needs of immigrant students, due to instructional methods and foreign curriculums. The article describes how reading comprehension is acquired by the use of rapid word recognition, semantic and syntactic clues and that ELL students must also have good vocabulary development to achieve reading comprehension. Bauer states that children who have oral and written skills in their native language are able to process reading and writing skills in English faster. In the article, Juliana Arazi, a ESL teacher, exhibits reading techniques that she used with a third grader who is a Chinese immigrant. These techniques included, picture walks- giving names to pictures in a book, personalizing connections, creating a bilingual dictionary and verb bank, creating a physical connection to the story-planting a bean seed, creating sentences, interactive writing, choral reading, question coaching, and story retelling. These techniques were applied over a two month period, teaching the student Jack in the Beanstalk, a fairy tale that most students have familiarity with in their native language. The article concludes that, by addressing linguistic and cultural resources ELL students bring to school, schools will be more apt to present a better education to students and their parents.


School Librarians: Bridging the Gap for English Language Learners was written in a collaborative effort by four student authors under the direction of Associate Professor of Library Science at UNC, Susan Hughes-Hassell, Ph D. They aim their thoughts at school librarians. The article reports that the ELL population as of 2008 has increased to 5.3 million throughout the United States. They further assert that ELL students rank significantly lower than native English speakers in basic reading proficiency assessments. The article provides three key points or strategies to effectively work with ELL students in their quest for reading proficiency. These include: “offering learning resources that are culturally familiar” (Blair, Brasfield and Crenshaw p.35), differentiating between academic and social language, and assessing frequently to gauge comprehension of learning material. School Librarians can make use of these techniques by modeling, pairing students with a peer, using graphic organizers, creating vocabulary/concept inventories, and teaching in small groups. The authors also give advice on the types of library collections schools should acquire to better meet the needs of ELL students, including: books in their native language, picture books, and multiple discipline books such as poetry, media such as DVDs, multicultural literature, and books written by students in their native tongue. The author contends that extracurricular activities also supplement literacy learning and because ELL students require different learning techniques, their assessments should also be specialized to meet the individual needs. The article concludes that school librarians are instrumental in supporting the ELL student and in collaboration with the GE teacher they can provide significant benefits to all of the students.


When comparing these articles the reader sees many similarities. All the articles were published in education periodicals and are directed to members of the teaching profession, particularity those who are responsible for teaching literacy skills. They are quick to point out, in each essay, that their continues to be an influx of immigrant students in the United States which can create a problem for teachers who are not prepared with the specialized teaching skills required for a successful ELL student. Each article gives tips and techniques to the reader on how to provide for the best learning experience. The articles express how ELL students flourish when they have a background of literacy in their native tongue, teachers use culturally responsive teaching techniques, they take their time and don’t rush through reading exercises, and educators use supports such as librarians, ESL specialists, and outside resources to facilitate reading proficiency. All of the authors are objective and cite several resources to validate their points.


Differences in the articles include who the articles are specifically directed to, and where the teaching techniques are being applied such as in the classroom, one on one, or in the library. Two of the articles chose to use examples of particular student’s experiences, where one did not use such examples to uphold their theories. Both Promoting Literacy Development for beginning English Learners and What does oral language have to do with it? Helping young English-Language Learners acquire a sight word vocabulary, use their own research to back-up their conclusions; where School Librarians: Bridging the Gap for English Language Learners rely on gathered statistics.


Although the articles were fairly easy to comprehend, lay readers may have a difficult time following the education verbiage. For example, Helman and Burns description of their research techniques, especially the complex math equations, forces the reader to look back over the text for full comprehension. Acronym use proliferates the articles, and definitions of terms such as sight words, academic and social language, alphabetic principles, and transitional readers were readily available to the reader in text. However, each of the articles assumes that the reader is familiar with many of the terms used, such as in Bauer’s use of “semantic and syntactic” (Bouchereau Bauer and Arazi p.383), which are left, undefined.


By reviewing the articles together the reader gains a panoramic view of Literacy and the English-Language Learner, which is a critical issue faced by educators today. Emerging research is demonstrated and findings assure literacy teachers that techniques are available to support their diverse ELL students. Each of the authors expressed that it is their hope that teachers will implement the prescribed teaching techniques to further advance reading proficiency.


Works Cited




Blair, Catherine, et al. "School Librarians: Bridging the Language Gap for English Language Learners." School Library Monthly March 2011: 34-37.Print.


Bouchereau Bauer, Eurydice and Juliana Arazi. "Promoting Literacy Development for Beginning English Learners." The Reading Teacher Ferbuary 2011: 383-386.Print.


Helman, Lori A. and Matthew K. Burns. "What Does Oral Language Have to Do With It? Helping Young English-language Learners Acquire a Sight Word Vocabulary." The Reading Teacher September 2008: 14-19.Print.

History Channel Proposal








Emilie Spencer


History 101- Levesque


Paper 2-History Channel


The new fall season is just around the corner and I am so excited. My staff and I received your memo about getting back to you with an idea for kick off week in September. We have had our researchers working on a project for sometime now and think this is a perfect time to move into production. Ratings tell us that viewers enjoy shows about medicine and we’ve done a variety in this particular genre; but for fall we propose doing a show about American medicine at the turn of the nineteenth century. We feel that this should be presented as a three part series, starting with a show called Bad Joke: an end to Humorous Medicine, featuring the medical practices available to Americans in the late eighteenth century, Post-Revolutionary War. Then a show called Army Medicine and The War of 1812, featuring Mary Gillett’s book The Army Medical Department 1775-1818. Then we’d finish the series with Prophetic Healer, a show specifically highlighting the physician Nathan Smith M.D. the founder of Dartmouth Medical School. These three shows would cover the time frame we discussed, from approx. 1775-1840.


Our opening show Bad Joke: an end to Humorous Medicine will go over different prevailing theories on the diagnosis and treatment of disease at the end of the eighteenth century. At the start of the program we could show how medical diagnosis happens today, such as: you go into a doctors office have an examination, blood may possibly be drawn for tests and medicine maybe prescribed. We will then describe the typical diagnosis system for eighteenth century Americans. It will describe the theory of balancing the four “humors”. (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) Primitive methods of treatment will be demonstrated through reenactment, including bleeding. We may consider filming at Colonial Williamsburg, the living museum in Williamsburg, Virginia for reenactments. The show will reveal that although the theory of “humors”, or the practice of balancing “humors”, had been widely used by physicians for centuries it was now coming to an end. Other theories such as the Acid/Alkalinity theory by Hermann Boerhaave, a Dutch physician, and the balancing of the nervous system by Dr. William Cullen, a Scotsman became more prevalent. These theories should be highlighted. The show will then turn to the more practical practice of medicine in the home and discusses the use of herbs by the early American housewife. The Bernard Becker Medical Library at Washington University School of Medicine has an extensive collection of rare medical books and it would be great to show some of the pages of the book Medical Repository the first medical journal published in the United States. Interviews could pepper the program, including interviewing the Librarian at Bernard Becker Medical Library and the Curator of Colonial Williamsburg.


The second show Army Medicine and The War of 1812, will be an especially interesting show. We purpose that this be filmed on location in tour like fashion, with a commentator showing the historical sites such as: The Battle of Thames in Canada, the Battle of Plattsburg in New York, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama, and the battle for New Orleans after the official end to the war. The commentator should describe the hospitals of both the northern battle ground and southern, whether they are a hospital tents or mansions turned into hospitals. Treatment of the patients should also be described and reenacted. Ms. Gilletts book has a copious amount of graphics, including supply manifests, health records including photos of actual death lists with personal effects, vital statistics, and photos of physicians’ bags and descriptions of procedures to treat the wounded. These graphics are extremely informative, they could be used in combination with an interview of Ms Gillett, an expert of medical treatment of the time, which would be great. Using computer animation to show maps and hospital set-ups would be impressive as well. I also would like to touch on contagious diseases such as smallpox. Showing how recently inoculated but contagious soldiers were used to infiltrate the American strongholds by Great Britain, an example of germ warfare. A flash into the future of germ warfare would grab viewer interest at this point as well.


To conclude our series we’ll present an expose on Dr. Nathan Smith. He was a man whose skills were ahead of his time. Dr Smith was a rare bird, highly trained in a society of ordinary and poorly trained physicians. This Harvard trained master of medicine,(the fifth to graduate) wasn’t afraid to look outside the box. This is evident by his infamous surgery in 1813, on Joseph Smith the boy who would become the Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, who was afflicted with a bone infection in his leg after a wake of typhoid fever in the area. Described by Le Roy Worthlin, a vascular surgeon and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in 1978 “Nathan Smith was one of early America’s greatest medical men and had, on his own, devised an operation for osteomyelitis as early as 1798 that he would later publish in 1827 but that would lapse into disuse for two generations.” (Wirthlin, 2011) The LDS church currently has a film describing the life of the Prophet Joseph, and we are currently seeking permission to show the portion where his leg surgery is dramatized, this would add an interesting dynamic to the show. I also think an interview with a church historian would be called for. Dr. Smith single handedly founded Dartmouth Medical College as well as three other New England medical colleges, he was professor at Yale, and taught many other influential American physicians. At Yale today they have a historical club called the Nathan Smith Club, which has been around since 1924. Interviews with members and clips of the club in session would be a wonderful addition to this episode.


We have discussed and agree that the shows you’re looking for need to have lots of personal interest, reenactments, interviews, computer graphics including animation, well-known and not so well known historical figures and relevance to today’s society. By providing the History Channel with this series, we feel we meet this need. We also feel that although we have made medical shows previously, these particular scenarios have not been spotlighted. We look forward to presenting these shows in fall. Thank you for your consideration.


Works Cited




Blough, B., & Grossman, D. C. (2011). Two Hundred Years of Medicine. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from Dartmouth Medical School: http://dms.dartmouth.edu/about/history/history.shtml/


Brainerd, R. (2005). 18th Century Medicine. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from history1700s.com: http://www.history1700s.com/articles/article1016.shtml


Gillett, M. C. (2009, 05 21). The Army Medical Department 1775-1818. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from U.S. Army Medical Department:Office of Medical History: http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/rev/gillett1/default.html


Jackson M.D., B. (2007). Nathan Smith Club. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from Yale School of Medicine: http://medicine.yale.edu/histmed/events/smithclub.aspx


Library, B. B. (2009). Monuments of Medicine Collection. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from Washington University School of Medicine: http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/rare/rights.html


Pryor, S., Kipps, R., Cotner, S., & Dippre, K. (2011). Eighteenth Century Medical Myths. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from Colonial Williamsburg: http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/may04/medicalmyths.cfm


The History of Medicine:The Revolutionary War. (2003). Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from Wellness Directory of Minnesota: http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/history/history02.htm


Wirthlin, L. R. (2011). Jospeh Smiths Surgeon. Retrieved 04 07, 2011, from LDS.org: http://lds.org/ensign/1978/03/discovery/joseph-smiths-surgeon?lang=eng&query=joseph+smith+leg+surgery