Coralis Mollitor
Enriching Second Language Acquisition for Emergent Bilinguals
Applied Digital Learning 2024-25
Understanding by Design
This page is a guide to incorporate digital technology in an emergent bilingual classroom. It uses backward designs and other strategies in creating a lesson.
To create an efficient lesson for students is seeing this process as a craft. We must design how students will learn. This section follows the strategy by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the authors of Understanding by Design. Keep in mind, when developing lessons for others we need to use backward design. What is the end goal? How do we get there? There are three stages that use strategies to create lessons. Those strategies are:
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G-U-Q-K-S-T-OE-L (Goal, Understandings, Questions, Knowledge, Skill, Tasks, Other Evidence and Learning)
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GRASPS
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WHERETO
A more detailed review on these strategies can be seen in the implementation of a Texas Standard Skill. See how each apply to the three stages.
Stage 1 - Identify the Desired Results
Established Goals are usually those preset by an organization. For example, State of Texas has assigned the standard 6.8 as the comparison across genres. The 6 determines the grade level, the 8 corresponds to the skill.
Established Goals:
Students recognize and analyze literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. (State of Texas, TEKS 6.8)
(D) Analyze characteristics and structural elements of informational text; including:
(ii) features such as introduction, foreword, preface, references, or acknowledgements to gain background information
Essential Questions are student focused. They are meant to promote inquiry of the skill to develop a deeper understanding of the knowledge.
Essential Questions:
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What characteristics make an informational text unique?
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What purpose do authors have for using informational text?
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How do structures and characteristics compliment each other when crafting an informational text?
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How can I develop my own craft while writing an informational text?
What understandings are desired?
Students will understand that...
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informational texts are used to convey information on a topic in a purposeful way.
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the different organizational patterns (e.g. compare, problem/solution, cause/effect...) that are used and how they support delivering a message
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the characteristic such as headings, sidebars, bold words, captions, and more, support the text by clarifying and providing extra information on the topic.
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learn cognate words relate to the academic vocabulary of this genre
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learn grade appropriate vocabulary.
Understanding is the section dealing with student investment and engagement of the skill. It is the time to unite learning with the desired result.
Innovation Plan: This section ties in with translanguaging because it is important to spend time having students react and invest time learning academic vocabulary and new words.
Knowledge is covers the concepts that are to be gained.
Innovation Plan: It is important to keep in mind the importance of providing and teaching in the students native language to create a strong foundation of knowledge.
Students will be able to...
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Read and determine the author's purpose for writing the text.
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Analyze the use of print and graphic features.
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Identify and understand the structure of an informational text
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Write an informational text
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Know and use cognants related to the genre; for example: evidence/evidencia, map/mapa, cause/causa
Students will know...
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Key terms- controlling idea, evidence, and reasoning.
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The overall structure of an informational text; introduction, body, conclusion.
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They will know the different organizational pattern; cause/effect, problem/solution, chronological order, compare/contrast
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Print features- headings, captions, sidebars, bold words
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Graphic features- map, images, charts, diagrams
What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
Skills are the techniques used to learn the lessons.
Innovation Plan: Provide opportunities to use language of preference and to connect with purpose the native language with second language acquisition.
Stage 2 - Determine Acceptable Evidence
Performance Tasks is the overall assignment that students will demonstrate mastery of the skill.
Innovation Plan: Students need to demonstrate understanding of vocabulary.
The strategy GRASPS was used in the creation of this performance task. Click on the link for a breakdown of the strategy with this performance task
What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Task:
Informative Essay- Students will be researchers to write an informative essay on a grade appropriate topic that is organized coherent and fluid. They will include characteristics of informational texts; such as, headings, graphic and print features, and bold words. Students will determine the most appropriate organizational pattern to support the topic and genre structure. To incorporate translanguaging skills, students will include a glossary that incorporates both native and second language.
What other evidence needs to be collected in light of Stage 1 Desired Results?
Other Evidence:
Quiz- Structure and genre characteristics
Sorting - Vocabulary sorting game for cognants
Exit Tickets- Identify controlling ideas, and organizational patterns of a text.
Summative Assessment- Test in which students show understanding of genre characteristics, purpose, controlling idea, and more with a district provided resource.
Performance Tasks is the overall assignment that students will demonstrate mastery of the skill.
Innovation Plan: Students need to demonstrate understanding of vocabulary.
Other Evidence pertains to checking points along the way on the skill. It also covers the overall evaluation of the skill.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:
Other Evidence:
Daily Journaling- Students reflect on new or the expansion of information.
Revising and Editing- Students use the pre-established guidelines to revise their essays.
Self Assessment and Reflection is crucial for students. It is their opportunity to evaluate their own ownership of the material.
Stage 3- Plan Learning Experiences
What is WHERETO? How to use it?
This is a strategy that allows for successful lesson planning . It is the daily classroom learning moments.
Where and Why. This is the understanding of what is being taught. What are the goals? What do learners need?
Hook and Hold. Engage students, build passion and investment.
Explore and Experience, Enable and Equip. The activities: modeling, guided practice, translanguaging, vocabulary usage, and more.
Reflect, Rethink and Revise. Learners need time to self-assess. They need to take time to stop and think to sustain information.
Evaluate (E-2). How do you know students learned? What informal, formal, or summative evaluations that will help you confirm student's acquisition of knowledge?
Tailor and personalize. What resources can you supply students that are at different levels and needs?
Organize for effectiveness. Even though this part may appear indirectly, it is important to scaffold and plan it accordingly.
Tailor and personalize. The resources I use are:
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Graphic organizers
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Tier sentence stems
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Pre-teach vocabulary
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Extra time
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Text-to-Speech
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Online programs for spelling assistance
What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will equip students to engage with, develop, and demonstrate the desired understandings?
Introduce the objective, essential questions, and review performance task. Remind students the goal is to be writers that can incorporate literary elements. W
Engage students with a video about the topic. Have students discuss in groups about the topic. What do they know? What do they want to learn about? What makes the topic interesting? H
Present vocabulary related to the topic. E
Teacher will model how to interpret a text. The teacher will demonstrate how to identify literary elements and structure. Teacher will model annotating purpose and relation between the elements and structure with the topic. Students will work with partners and do the same with their own text. E
Students will answer an exit ticket on the literary elements for informational text. This is a check for understanding. E-2
Students will reflect on the symbiotic relationship between structure and elements when addressing a topic. R
Students will begin research on the topic for their own essay. T
Students will engage in a translanguaging activity where they match native and second language cognants to the academic vocabulary in the lesson. H, E
Pre-teach organizational patterns and how transition words correlate with the delivery of information and its purpose. E
Teacher will model how to identify the pattern in a text. Teacher will review its purpose. E
Students will identify the pattern in their student text. They will underline transition words if available. E-2
Students will organize their information and select a organizational pattern. They will begin to write their drafts. T
Students will write in their daily reflection journal about the decisions they made for their paper. R
Students will finish their drafts. E
Students will peer review following pre-established routines. E-2, T
Students will check their peer's notes and fix accordingly. R
Students will finalize their essays. They will include a bilingual glossary. E-2
Students will take a summative assessment. E-2
References:
lead4ward. (2025). Snapshot-Grade 6 English language arts and reading. lead4ward.
https://lead4ward.com/docs/resources/snapshots/elar/teks_snapshot_elar_gr_06.pdf
Wiggins, G and McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2 ed). Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.