Module 3: Processing with Contextual Support

So how is this all related to assessment? First, it’s important for teachers to know that teacher-generated assessments can and should be differentiated to meet individual needs. No two students are the same so the way we assess each one can vary as well. We want to know what they know. How we access this information can be varied and almost limitless. Our brains think in images, so by incorporating visual representations into learning, we are providing the contextual support that will help ELLs to access the content. Illustrated dictionaries, pictures, video clips, etc. that enhance the text with images will help us to make the content more comprehensible for ELLs. Graphic organizers that incorporate visuals are one way to access what our students know while providing the organization of thought and contextual support that a student acquiring English might need.

Making Connections

Graphic organizers like the Concept Map and KWL charts help students to access their brain’s natural ability to processes images. They also encourage connections to students’ prior knowledge, which is crucial for understanding new information. The brain understands new ideas in the context of its preexisting schema. “Learning involves information processing: interpreting sensory events, putting new information into familiar categories, and searching one’s memory for similar ideas and personal experiences.” (Cole & Schribner, p. 89). As professor and brain researcher, Rita Smilkstein illustrates, “Dendrites do not grow from nothing. They grow from what is already there. Thus, to teach or learn something new, we must always start with something familiar and progress from there” (Smilkstein, p. 92). When new data enters the mind, the brain searches through its existing schema, looking for something to relate it to.

In essence, the brain is asking itself, “What does this look like? Does this remind me of anything I’ve experienced before?” The implications are clear. In order to facilitate the seamless conceptualization of new information into something the brain can understand, it is imperative that we make explicit connections with what students already know and new learning. Our brains are meaning-making machines, searching for matches to previous experiences” (DePorter et. al., p. 102). By making these connections between new information and students’ prior knowledge and identifying examples and non-examples of the concept, the neural connections that sustain that new information become more viable and easily accessed –which translates into the increased chances of commitment to long-term memory. There are many graphic organizers that can be incorporated into lessons and used as assessment tools that do just this. There are many free graphic organizers that help students naturally process information and allow teachers to assess what students know available on the web. Google “free graphic organizers” and see what pops up!