Material Critique and Redesign
Alexa Armentano
For the instructional material critique and redesign with infographic assignment, I chose three books that help support English language learners/multilingual learners with oracy development. When choosing books for instruction, it is imperative that educators choose books that are appropriate for their students. Books should be the correct level, inclusive, culturally responsive, and academically rigorous. By providing books that are culturally relevant, it ensures students feel seen, safe, respected and comfortable within the classroom environment. I chose books that I know are engaging and effective during instruction and books that support oracy development. The three books that I chose to critique and redesign for this assignment are “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” Written by Eric Carle, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” written by Mo, Willems, and “The Light Within You” written by Namita Moolani Mehra. “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” are two books for early elementary aged students while “The Light Within You” is for older elementary aged students. These books are engaging and provide opportunities for students to develop oracy development because of repetition, interaction, and understanding important themes throughout the story, and are inclusive and culturally relevant. All three stories have illustrations throughout that help keep students engaged and creates an opportunity for visual storytelling. “Picture books are typically shorter in length, which is ideal for ELLs who can become easily overwhelmed by text. Their universal themes make them perfect for teaching students who come from various cultures and backgrounds. They offer benefits for ELLs in the area of literacy and beyond.” (Continental, 2022). Knowing this information is why I chose three different picture books. Two of the books are appropriate for elementary aged students, and one is appropriate for middle school aged students.
Book 1
Step 1:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr. and Illustrated by Eric Carle
Martin, B., Carle, E., & Mlawer, T. (2017). Brown Bear, brown bear, what do you see? Henry Holt and Company.
The first children’s book that I chose for this assignment is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. This book is typically used for early childhood education with early literacy skills but can be helpful at any age to support vocabulary development. This book consists of the narrator asking different animals and people in the book what they see. What they see is the next animal or person that will be asked the question. This book has a strong presence of repetition and patterns. The content of this book is not complex and is great for supporting oracy development. “Repetition and imitation is one of the oldest methods used to teach an L2. Since 1631, repetition has been seen as the most effective way to learn an L2 for functional use; ever since then, the most successful methodologies in L2 teaching and learning have included repetition and imitation of words and sentences to a greater or lesser extent. (Celce-Murcia, 2001)”. (Saidi, 2017). I chose this book because it is a great way to introduce colors, animals, and English sentences through repetition to ELLs/MLs. The repetition helps supports students’ oracy development because students start to pick up on the repetitive sentences throughout the story. Repetition and predictable texts are also highly beneficial for ELLs/MLs because it supports language acquisition through pattern recognition. The repetitiveness of this book aligns with the principles of language acquisition because it promotes key vocabulary and sentence structures through listening skills. It is also a great way to teach students vocabulary words for colors and animals in English and can lead to further conversations through questions and discussions. This book supports the NYS Next Generation ELA learning standards because it will encourage students to have an interest in learning new vocabulary, notice a relationship between the illustrations and text, and participate in conversation about the text. (NYSED).
Step 2:
“Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?” effectively meets some of the non-negotiable criteria for meeting the needs of ELLs. This book provides an appropriate level of complexity for early elementary grades because the content of the book is less challenging than other books may be. Since there is a lot of repetition, the book focuses more on language development. This is a more basic level children’s book, and it creates a great opportunity for ELLs/MLs to learn important vocabulary words such as different colors and different animals. Creating a word list or dictionary of the colors and animals in the book in English with these words translated to the students’ L1 is very helpful when incorporating this book into instruction. It creates a great resource for the students to refer to when reading the book and helps foster a deeper understanding of the words in the book. This book has scaffolding built right into it as repetition is used throughout. Students will start to realize and identity the similar text on each page and will be able to join in on reading it because of the repetition and the visuals on each page. This book does not effectively ensure cultural relevance as it mainly focuses on different colors and animals around us.
Step 3:
The rubric components of this book includes vocabulary, discussion, and comprehension. The strength of this book is the focus on vocabulary words, and it can be used as an introduction to colors and animals in English. Assessing how well the students are learning the vocabulary in this book will be helpful to gauge their proficiency level and if this text is supporting the acquisition process or not.
Step 4:
Using the WIDA PRIME tool to evaluate this book, I can further conduct a detailed analysis of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”. This book can be used to develop listening and speaking skills at the lower proficiency levels due to the simple and basic text within the story. It fosters oracy development due to the repetitiveness throughout the book by creating an opportunity for students to learn the words because the same sentences are used throughout with the exceptions of the colors and the animals used on each page. This book creates a great opportunity for students to learn academic language through discourse, sentence and word dimensions.
Step 5:
For the redesign of this text, I would make sure that the colors and animals listed in the story are also written in the student’s L1. If the student’s L1 is Spanish, I would translate the colors and animals in the book and have that written next to or on top of the English word. I think this would be important for students to have as a resource to be able to better understand the English words in the story. Using a students’ L1 as support during the acquisition process will make it easier for them and will help it be a shorter process.
Book 2
Step 1:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Written and Illustrated by Mo Willems
Willems, M. (2023). Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the bus! Hyperion Books for Children.
The second book I chose for this assignment is “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” written and illustrated by Mo Willems. This story is about a bus driver who has to leave the bus unattended and asks the reader of the story to make sure the Pigeon does not drive the bus. The Pigeon continually asks the reader to allow just one ride, but it is up to the reader to keep telling the Pigeon no. It is a great way to get the reader involved in the story, and to promote oracy development through encouraging the reader to communicate with the Pigeon. This book is a great book to read to elementary aged students, and is very engaging as students seemingly have to answer to the Pigeon.
This story has many illustrations that follow along with the text. The text is simple for the most part and is visually pleasing. Some pages have only illustrations that show how the Pigeon is feeling or what the Pigeon is thinking. It creates a great opportunity for the teacher to ask students questions and create a class discussion about the Pigeon’s thoughts and feelings. This text can be used to talk about emotion as the Pigeon shows times of frustration, anger, excitement, and more. Since this book encourages students to talk, it is an effective way to have ELLs/MLs focus on the book and provide appropriate responses. Looking at the Next Generation Learning Standards, students can answer questions about key ideas and details in a text, demonstrate understanding of spoken words, and use illustrations to decode the text (NYSED ELA Standards). This is an engaging book that will encourage students to use language when the book allows.
Step 2:
This book meets the non-negotiable criteria for meeting the needs of English Language Learners. The story maintains grade level rigor because it is simple text that students will be able to read or understand while being read to. For early elementary levels, this book provides appropriate linguistic complexity. It is less challenging in terms of content but promotes language use. This story also promotes knowledge building while developing academic language because it is an interactive book where the bus driver and the Pigeon are asking the reader questions that they should answer. Since it is an interactive book, this ensures students will be engaged and will create an effective learning experience. “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” introduces basic nouns and adjectives which also contributes to vocabulary expansion and supports the ELA Next Generation Standards. While this book is not a very culturally relevant book, it creates an opportunity for the teacher to create follow up activities that incorporates a culturally relevant activity.
Step 3:
The rubric factors for this book include language development, class discussions, appropriate responses to book, and comprehension. Using these factors of the rubric would be beneficial for the teacher to ensure students are comprehending the important aspects of this lesson. If students aren’t, it can be an opportunity for the teacher to understand why students aren’t succeeding and incorporate changes to better meet the needs of the students. As the teacher, I would focus on the class discussions before, during, and after reading to ensure students are understanding, and I would focus on students answering the requests and questions from the Bus Driver and the Pigeon in the story.
Step 4:
Using the WIDA PRIME tool to evaluate this book, I can conduct a further evaluation and detailed analysis of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.” This book successfully fosters language development because of the interactive nature of this book. Many times, throughout the story, the Bus Driver and the Pigeon asks questions to the reader of the story and the reader is encouraged to say “no” most of the time. The book is strong in supporting listening and speaking domains, as it encourages students to listen to the narrative and respond to the character’s actions and words. It encourages active participation and helps maintain students’ interest, which can improve ELLs/MLs’ motivation to learn and practice English. (Shulman, 2023). The word dimensions in this book are clear, basic, and within short sentences that ensures further understanding of what is being said. The book does not differentiate between language proficiency levels, but the teacher can make changes for students to match their needs.
Step 5:
For the redesign of this book, I would provide an infographic that has visuals on it from the book with words that are written in both English and the students’ L1. This allows an opportunity for the students to have a resource to refer to so they can better understand the story.
Book 3
Step 1:
The Light Within You Written by Namita Moolani Mehra and illustrated by Kamala Nair
Moolani Mehra, N., & Nair, K. M. (2023). The light within you. Two Lions, a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.
“The Light Within You” by Namita Moolani Mehra is a beautifully story about a young girl named Diya who is excited to return to India for Diwali and to visit her grandmother, Nani. As soon as Diya returns to India, she feels right at home and is so excited to be with Nani and to celebrate Diwali together. When Diya is sad to be leaving, Nani tells her about the light inside of her that helps brighten her days and helps darkness fade away. This book is especially suitable for ELLs/MLs because it explores themes of self-worth, cultural identity, and individuality, which can resonate across diverse cultural backgrounds. ELLs/MLs from India, or students who celebrate Diwali may benefit from this because they will see themselves represented and their cultural practices reflected in the story. This will ensure students feel seen, respected, and have a sense of inclusion. This book creates an opportunity for class discussions where other students can share about their cultural practices and allow students to learn about each other and their backgrounds.
All the themes listed above align with the New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards. This book is suited for older elementary aged students because of the longer text on each page and requires the reader to understand the important content of the book. The standards that this book aligns with on a fifth-grade level is to determine a theme or central idea and explain how it is supported by key details, locate a refer to relevant details and evidence when explaining what a text says, and determine the meaning of words, phrases, etc. to analyze their effect on meaning. (NYSED ELA Standards). This book can also be linked to standards focusing on social-emotional learning, comprehension, and vocabulary development.
Step 2:
“The Light Within You” meets the non-negotiable criteria that are essential for meeting the needs of ELLs. This book has grade-level rigor because it shows age-appropriate challenges and provides a balanced level of difficult for ELLs/MLs with simple text that is supported by visual illustrations. This book is more appropriate for older elementary students because of the longer text on each page, and the content of the story. This book is knowledge building while supporting the development of academic language because it introduces vocabulary related to emotions, cultural identity, and self-awareness. It creates an opportunity for discussions about the terms “inner light” and “strength” that enriches students’ academic language. This book is also culturally inclusive, because it features diverse characters experiencing their cultural practices. It reflects multicultural perspectives and can be a great tool to use for class discussions about cultural identity and diversity. This book can be scaffolded by introducing vocabulary from the book beforehand. There are words throughout the story, such as Diwali, bazaar, ghee, sweet jalebi, coconut laddoos, and Diya’s, that can be pre-taught for better understanding of the story. “The Light Within You” aligns with the NYS ELA Standards because it provides a good balance of academic language, and themes.
Step 3:
Rubric factors for this text would include language development, class discussion, comprehension, cultural relevance and text-self connections. Using the factors of this rubric, I can assess students to ensure they understand the story, important vocabulary, and see if students are able to learn from this book and relate their personal experiences to the experiences the characters had in the book. Assessing students through class discussions and asking questions will be beneficial to understand if students are comprehending the story or not.
Step 4:
Using the WIDE PRIME tool to evaluate this book, I can conduct a further detailed analysis for “The Light Within You”. This book fosters an asset-based philosophy because it incorporates a culture that ensures an inclusive learning experience. Incorporating culture into instruction ensures better understanding of content. This books also supports language development in all three dimensions of discourse, sentence and word/phrase. This book can support students in making text-self connections by relating to the main character, Diya, in the story and using language to make those connections. Listening and speaking activities can revolve around discussing themes and sharing personal connections and support representation of language domains. This book is suitable for students with various proficiency levels. It can be used with beginners as a read aloud to focus on comprehension, or with more advanced students to understand themes.
Step 5:
For the redesign of this book, I created an infographic that incorporates important aspects of the holiday Diwali with vocabulary terms as well as themes within this story such as inner light, strength, and self-worth. There are also visuals on the infographic with the vocabulary words, as well as translations for the themes. Incorporating this infographic into instruction with this book will help students foster a deeper understanding of the important aspects of “The Light Within You”.
References:
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A. (2014). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. National Geographic Learning, Heinle Cengage Learning.
Continental. (2023, August 3). Importance of picture books for Ells. Continental Educational Publisher. https://www.continentalpress.com/blog/importance-picture-books-for-ell-students/
Ghazi-Saidi, L., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2017, September 28). Second language word learning through repetition and imitation: Functional networks as a function of learning phase and language distance. Frontiers in human neuroscience. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5625023/
HMHCO. (n.d.-f). https://www.hmhco.com/fl-intervention/pdf/intensive_reading_g7.pdf
NYS-next-Generation-ela-standards.pdf. (n.d.-f). https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/nys-next-generation-ela-standards.pdf
Shulman, R. D. (2023, October 11). 5 benefits of using EBooks in an ell classroom. MarketScale. https://marketscale.com/industries/education-technology/5-benefits-of-using-ebooks-in-an-ell-classroom/#:~:text=These%20features%20make%20the%20learning,to%20learn%20and%20practice%20English.
Book References:
Martin, B., Carle, E., & Mlawer, T. (2017). Brown Bear, brown bear, what do you see? Henry Holt and Company.
Moolani Mehra, N., & Nair, K. M. (2023). The light within you. Two Lions, a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.
Willems, M. (2023). Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the bus! Hyperion Books for Children.