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Kim HarrisonLiteracy Project Rationale4/21/14

The Summer Program:

A Positive Outlet for English Language Learners to Enhance their Education

I. Overview of project

There is a growing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the public school

system, but not enough time or resources to give them all of the necessary assistance to ensure

academic success. This summer program will be an opportunity for ELLs transitioning from 8th

to 9th grade time to build on what they have previously learned, and provide them with a head

start on the material they will be covering in high school. The students will work individually

and in groups on a variety of activities that incorporate both reading and writing. This program

will aim to improve the literacy of the enrolled students by allowing them to find their voice

within their writing and by increasing their confidence as both individuals and students.

II. Why this population/ type of program (Rationale)

The number of ESL students in the United States is rapidly increasing, even here in

Roanoke, Virginia. “In September of 2013, Roanoke County Public Schools had 381 Second

Language Learners enroll for the school year” (Atkins). Based on the rising population of those

in the ELL community around the country, one can safely assume that this number will keep

rising here in this area too.

Legislation has ruled that in order to make education a more equal and enriching

experience for all, students who are not native speakers are to be included in mainstream classes

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as much as possible. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that “Almost

30 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with

disabilities can be made more effective by – having high expectations for such children and

ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the

maximum extent possible” (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). This differs from the

previous mindset that students who cannot communicate well in English would be placed in

special classes with teachers specially trained to educate them, reducing their interaction with

their English- speaking peers. Now, all students have been mainstreamed into the same

classrooms where they have not only the regular content teacher, but also the specially trained

teachers to lead instruction.

Unfortunately, most mainstream teachers have not been properly prepared for this

population, so many ELL students are not receiving the instruction they need. Even with the

addition of a teacher with a Teaching English as a Second Language certification, these

situations are not perfect and students still fall behind their native- English speaking peers. While

this inclusion has proved to have many benefits and positive results, this set-up can seem to be

rather unfair to any of the parties involved, for despite the language and cultural barrier,

educators are still expected to teach all of the students, and the students are expected to pass the

state mandated standardized tests. I am definitely a proponent of this system for the benefits that

it can provide the students, but I wish the instructors were better prepared to handle a diverse

classroom. Realizing the educational deficit ELLs can receive in a regular classroom, this

program will reach out to these students and not only provide them with an opportunity to catch

up to their peers, but also help make the transition to high school easier.

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Realizing that there are restrictions to utilizing classroom time, a summer program was

chosen for this project. By starting the program at the beginning of July and continuing through

the second week of August, the students will be able to have the first part of their summer to

enjoy before returning to work. We chose to end the program a week before school starts back up

as a way for the students have one last chance to enjoy their summer and also give their minds a

break before having to go back into the classroom. Despite the fact the instruction will still be

based on the Virginia Standards of Learning, the flexibility to design the curriculum and

structure was key. The students will not be assigned homework since they will have plenty of

time during the day to complete the activities. And instead of having to concentrate on a variety

of content areas, this program will focus on building their writing skills using English Literature-

based activities that incorporate reading and plenty of time to practice different types of writing.

By allowing the students a chance to bridge the gap between these two grades, they will be given

the opportunity to catch up to their peers, if necessary, and prepare themselves for what they will

be encountering next. We know how rough this transition can be for all students, and by creating

this relaxed educational environment, we are hoping the students will want to learn and be able

to experience and recognize their own growth by the end of the program.

Since we are just starting out, we will expect to have a group of 20-25 English Language

Learners moving into 9th grade enrolled in the program. Most, if not all, of these students will be

at a level 4 English proficiency, meaning that they are able to communicate in English in social

and academic settings, but are not yet fluent (English Language Proficiency Levels). We predict

this level because this is usually where students are after having been enrolled in an English-

speaking school for several years, which is usually the case at this age. This will be a

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manageable size for three teachers to be able to work with the students, allowing plenty of

opportunity for each student’s needs to be met.

Some believe, and I agree, that the high school English Literature classroom can be one

of the most difficult places for ELLs to thrive academically, for “the language demands are

commonly complex, figurative, and especially demanding of an appropriation of cultural norms”

(Early and Marshall 378). In this type of classroom, students are asked to read works written by

others, which can be challenging for even native- English speakers to understand, especially

when reading materials from time periods and cultures that we are not familiar with. They are

also required to write their own work, which involves using academic language that they might

not yet have mastery or understanding of. This can be daunting for students who are not

comfortable with their reading and writing skills, and can have a negative effect on their

educational and social success in and outside of the classroom. This is why we will allow

students to have an opportunity to expand their skills in this content area, which should also help

them gain confidence in their abilities for other subject areas. We have also designed the

curriculum to allow a multimodal approach to literature. Realizing that not every student learns

the same way as others, we want to provide opportunities for them to gain knowledge in ways

that are not only more obtainable, but also more fun than just reading long texts and writing

academic responses (Debevec). This will provide for “rich learning opportunities for deep

understandings of, and engagement in, literary analysis, to be realized in traditional academic

discourse” (Early and Marshall 380).

Incorporating technology in the classroom is not only a great way to reach out to the

different learning types in the classroom, but will also make learning more applicable and

enjoyable for students (Debevec). Researchers Lambert and McCombs have found that utilizing

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technology can help “students process information and better comprehend the content […and]

foster deeper learning” than when just using traditional educational practices (qtd. in Debevec

294). According to a study by Mayer, another aspect of technology is that it makes material

“more inclusive rather than exclusive”, meaning that more material can be covered, and more

students can benefit from instruction since it will be provided in a more applicable way (qtd. in

Debevec 294). For these reasons, we knew that technology had to be integrated in this program,

so we could not only present the information in a fun new way, but also so we can appeal to the

students, since they all have been raised in a society in which technology is hard to escape, even

if they do not personally own any. Knowing that possibly not all students will have access to

technology at home, computers will be provided in the classroom for their use.

The article, “Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options” by Muriel Harris and Tony

Silva, provides proof that a summer program like this one can be more beneficial than the regular

classroom is able to be. They acknowledge that “the writing classroom cannot provide all the

instructional assistance that is needed to become proficient writers” but that instead these

learners require “individualized attention” (Harris and Silva 503), which we can provide. The

authors commented on the fact that ELLs, like most all students, want to focus on the small

issues in a paper. Students view English teachers as “an editor, someone who will mark and

correct their errors and help them fix their paper [, yet] it doesn’t make sense to focus initially on

grammatical or mechanical problems which may disappear as a result of rhetorically based

revisions” (Harris and Silva 509). This can be difficult for teachers who view the editing process

as a time to correct all of the small details and focus on the rules of grammatically correct

writing, but it is more beneficial in the long run to remove the importance from these details and

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focus on the whole picture of the students’ writing, for like these scholars have said, the small

problems might disappear on their own when the content is improved (Harris and Silva).

These authors later introduce the concept of a student’s “written accent”, which refers to

“small but persistent problems like articles and prepositions [that are similar to] a foreign accent

in pronunciation” (Harris and Silva 510). Knowledge of the cultural differences of each students’

language is important for educators of ELLs to keep in mind, for correcting these menial details

can draw the student’s attention from what really matters in a paper—the content. This can also

be rather confusing and off-putting for students who have grown up speaking one way, and are

now being graded on another. So when teachers evaluate the writing of ELLs, they should focus

on finding one or two problematic patterns – prominent issues that keep showing up in the

student’s writing sample – that will probably be most difficult for the students to improve. By

starting with these bigger issues first and then working towards smaller ones, it is more likely

that long-term learning and writing improvements will be achieved, since teachers are showing

the students how to write clearly and effectively, not just to proofread (Harris and Silva).

Scholar Lisa Delpit also makes a few points that are essential for educators to keep in

mind when interacting with and teaching minority students. She emphasizes that everyone is

capable of learning when they are supported and encouraged by those around them. As teachers,

our role is to build up our students, and place them in situations where they can prove to not only

us, but also themselves, that they can survive in the educational system. Delpit also makes it

clear that educators should never try to repress a student’s home language, for that is “vital to

their perception of self and sense of community connectedness” (Delpit 499). Our program will

not only provide a place where students will be encouraged to do their best at all times, but also

will allow them to be themselves and let their cultural heritage show instead of making them

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repress it. Activities that will encourage the students to incorporate aspects of their culture, such

as music and literature, will be included as a way to make them feel more comfortable in the

classroom, and also as a learning tool for the students to teach their peers about who they are and

what makes them unique (Delpit).

Another important part of our program includes how the teachers view the students. In

many regular classrooms, the teachers approach diverse classrooms with negative opinions

concerning the ELL population, which can have a damaging effect on all of the students in the

classroom (Ford). This type of situation affects the classroom environment as a whole, for

instead of providing a place where all of the students can feel comfortable to express themselves,

they tend to suppress the varying cultural identities in the class (Ford). These types of teacher are

also more likely to expect low grades and classroom performance from ELL students than the

native- English speaking part of the population (Ford). The phrase, “the less we know about each

other, the more we make up” (Ford 29) both highlights the problem, but also provides a solution.

Instead of trying to hide what makes all of our students unique, we want to reach out to them

using these differences as learning opportunities. We want to get to know our students, and allow

them to get to know us and each other to ensure a positive and inclusive educational

environment.

III. Analysis of components

While there are students who are able to flourish in traditional classroom environments,

there are many who do not respond well to this type of curriculum. By refusing, or possibly

feeling too restrained, to veer away from standardized instruction and assessment, teachers are

not allowing their students to achieve their full potential, which in turn leads to lower test scores

and results. Instead of punishing these students, instructors should consider introducing new

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activities and mindsets, ones that can still teach them the same required information, but in a way

that can possibly make learning more interesting, worthwhile, and relevant to their lives.

In the beginning of the program, activities that will assess the students’ current

knowledge and English skills will be the main focus, such as activities where they will utilize

Twitter to ensure understanding of class material, and read and complete an open-ended story.

The two main long-term activities of journal writing and being divided into reading groups will

be introduced at this point, and the students will also be informed of the final poetry portfolio

they will have to complete, which will give them something to aim for at the end of the semester.

From there we will move to a variety of projects such as composing persuasive letters, making

videos to creatively present information, and creating graphic novels, all of which require more

mastery of English. These activities will also allow students to write in different types of

language (academic and informal) and will necessitate research. Towards the end, activities such

as the literary and poetry analysis will be a great way for the students to show what they have

learned throughout the program and have the opportunity to teach the information to other

students.

The main assessment style for this program will follow Peter Elbow’s system of

evaluating and liking. For evaluating, we will use a rubric to emphasize the highs and lows

within the students’ work (Elbow). The lessons that will be assessed in this way are: letter

writing, the literary and poetry analysis, the vocabulary video, and the final portfolio. These are

all projects that the students will do towards the middle and end of the program, allowing them to

improve their English speaking and writing skills, and also get more comfortable with the

program, their peers, and the instructors. All of these projects also include a variety of audiences,

making it more important for the students to be able to show mastery of the topics. For liking we

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want to focus on finding positive aspects in all students’ work (Elbow). The activities under this

include the journal, Twitter activity, the open-ended story, and the graphic novel project. Since

the journal is personal work that we want to use to develop the students’ writing skills, we don’t

want to hinder the students’ creativity by putting a grade on their thoughts, but will instead check

to see if they have completed the journal entries for the day, and will look over them to see if

they are making any improvements with their writing. The Twitter activity will allow the

students to combine aspects of formal and informal language to summarize their thoughts about

certain aspects of the classroom instruction, and will be focused more on participation than

content. The open-ended story and the graphic novel project will also be liking, for we want to

encourage the students’ creativity. By allowing them opportunities to write creatively, the

students can have more fun with their work, and we can see where they are with their writing,

and what we should cover in class to help them gain mastery of different skills, such as

punctuation and spelling.

Guy Allen’s article about the experimentation he performed and the resulting product

stuck with me as I considered various activities, and played a vital role in my portion of

developing this program. Reading about classrooms such as his that break away from the typical

class routine and curriculum is heartening because it shows that there are situations where non-

traditional programs work. It is so easy to be skeptical of radical methods, but when these

methods prove to have better results than typical educational practices, I think more people

should start to pay attention. Even Allen was initially surprised by what he found, and even

hesitant to share his ideas with other educators. But after numerous semesters of changing

around the coursework, he came to realize how much of a difference these new practices were

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having on his students’ writing. After reading about his results, I knew that I had to find a way to

incorporate them into this program.

Journal

Students will be provided with situations to reflect on, sometimes including prompts to point them into a specific direction, and at times even just given the opportunities to write about whatever they want. They will have time to journal every day, and some days will

be given several opportunities to record their thoughts.

Like Allen has seen, I believe that the best papers are written about things the authors

know, for it is easier to get the necessary depth and insight into a topic that they are familiar with

and interested in than those that they do not know much or care about. And what do people know

better than what they feel and have experienced? By having the students create daily journal

entries where they can reflect on something that they have lived through or write their thoughts

about something they are seeing and experiencing at that moment, then they should be able to

provide the details and insights that make written work so much more interesting to read. And

since these entries will not be graded, just checked for completion and used as a way to see if

they are making any progress, the students will not have to worry about being marked down for

their content or writing style, which should help them gain confidence in themselves as writers

and find their voice in their writing. According to Allen, an added bonus of this type of activity is

that by helping them gain mastery over reflective writing, then they should be able to transfer

this assurance to academic writing, for “when students learn to take responsibility for meaning,

they become better writers of standard- form writing” (Allen 91).

A specific aspect of journaling that will be incorporated is freewriting, where the students

will write nonstop for a given amount of time about a topic, either original or provided. This

activity is not only a great way to get students writing, but is also a way to unlock their true

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potential. When we are instructed to continually write without stopping for a certain amount of

time, we are put in a situation that will “contradict or interrupt our pervasive habit of always

evaluating our writing” (Elbow 398). This is essential for ELLs, for it requires them to stop

thinking about the rules of grammatical writing, and forces them to just put their thoughts on the

page. This can be hard for students to get into at first, but can be beneficial if they manage to

completely grasp the concept, for it provides practice with focusing on what truly matters in a

piece of writing. And like journaling, freewriting is not graded, which reduces the pressure to

produce perfect work.

Reading group

Based on their reading level, students will be broken into reading groups, which will remain the same throughout the semester. Each group will be given a variety of poetry, short- stories and novels throughout the duration of the program, which will differ from group to group. The students will be held accountable for reading and understanding

their group’s reading, and will also be required to present what they learned to the other groups.

Something to keep in mind in every classroom is that not all of the students are on the

same level academically. Despite teachers’ best efforts, not every student will master every goal

and objective with which they are presented. This is why practices such as differentiation are so

beneficial. Differentiation refers to the “wide variety of teaching techniques and lesson

adaptations that educators use to instruct a diverse group of students, with diverse learning needs,

in the same course” (The Glossary of Education Reform). It involves changing aspects of the

activity; the instructor can choose to change the lesson content, process, or product (the “what”)

based on the students’ readiness level, interest, or learning profile (the “how”). At least one part

from each section – “what” and “how” – must change in order for the activity to be truly

differentiated (Roanoke College Education Department). For example, the different reading

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groups will be assigned books (“what”) based on their readiness level (“how”), meaning that

each group will receive a book that is appropriate for their reading and comprehension level.

After an initial assessment is done, the students will be broken into groups based on their

reading and writing level. The stronger students will be grouped together, while the weaker

students will be together. Each group will be then presented with the same genre of literature at a

time, so at first, each group will get poetry, then short stories, then a novel towards the end. As a

way to make the readings more interesting, we will incorporate texts and authors from different

countries and cultures, especially ones represented by the students in the classroom. This

differentiation ensures that all students will be doing the same type of work, but at appropriate

levels that will enable them to benefit from the activities.

A way to ensure that all of the students do the work that is required of them while in

these groups is to have them present the information to the other groups who have not read the

same material. Each group member will play a different role in the reading and presenting of the

material. For example, a student who enjoys visual representations of knowledge can be in

charge of taking notes of important information while the group reads the text together, while

another could create a handout or PowerPoint for the presentation. The other students in the

group could be the main ones to read the text aloud to the others, or could be the main presenter

of the information to the rest of the class. There is a variety of roles each group member can

play, but by ensuring each student has a role to play, it is easier for the instructors to see who has

upheld their portion of the work, and be able to assign participation points appropriately.

Twitter Activity

Students will create a Twitter account that will be used in explaining daily topics to ensure comprehension of discussed classroom material in a concise manner. Students will respond to

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classroom material by tweeting their thoughts for other students to see. They will be encouraged to ask questions and make observations about the material, and will also be able to answer other

students’ questions.

Even if they have not previously used it, most, if not all, of the students will probably be

at least familiar with the social media site Twitter. In an academic setting, this can be a great

tool, for it requires users to limit themselves to a certain number of characters (letters, spaces,

punctuation marks), causing them to have to think about how to best articulate their comments.

At least once a day, they will be able to use this site to reflect on or question what we learned in

class that day. The students will also be able to see and answer each other’s questions. This is a

great way for the instructors to see who does or does not understand the material, which can lead

to setting aside more time during the day to address this information. Incorporating this popular

social media site will also get the students more interested in participating in the activity, and can

be a fun alternative to writing reflective journal entries for everything done in the classroom

(Debevec).

A way to make this activity even more applicable to the students’ education is to give

them the opportunity to “translate” the informal language of their tweets into formal, academic

language. Since the students will be encouraged to use informal “text speech” when posting their

tweets, this can be a fun way to have them think about what makes formal and informal speech

so different, and how one can easily be changed into the other.

Open-Ended Story

As a class, we will read open-ended short stories, which were written without a definite ending, allowing the reader the freedom to guess what happened next. The students will

then individually write their own ending and then share them with a partner. Afterwards, they will reflect in their journals about why they ended the story as they did.

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Reading in a classroom is a great way to increase a student’s vocabulary and expose them

to a variety of writing styles. By reading stories that either have no ending or were designed

open- ended, students can practice their creative writing by completing the story. This

assignment is different from the students just creating their own story because they have to work

within the parameters the author has already provided, forcing them to adopt a different mindset

(Hanstedt). The characters, setting, and plot have all already been created, so the student has to

stick with what they have been given in order to make the ending fit seamlessly with the rest of

the story.

When they share with a partner, they can receive feedback from someone other than

teacher, which will be beneficial for the students to hear what their peers think. This will allow

the students practice interacting with different people and providing helpful criticism to their

classmates. By closing the activity with providing time for the students to reflect on why they

ended the story as they did, they can defend their creative choices and also have a place to

rationalize their choices. This is a great way to not only tie up the lesson, but also encourage

them to analyze their writing and choices, which are skills that can be applied to other types of

academic writing.

Graphic Novels

The students will choose a graphic novel from a provided selection, read it, and then create their own with a partner. The partners will then make a video about a scene from it.

Graphic novels are a fun instructional tool for ELLs. Since their English reading level

might not be very high, this provides the opportunity to enjoy a story without having to worry

about understanding a large amount of words in order to do so. The pictures in this type of

literature provide illustrations of the action that the students can use as reference points for

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understanding the story line. These novels also allow the students freedom to interpret the

picture, which is beneficial for not only building imagination, but also enhances the visual

connections between seeing, analyzing, and creating art and reading, analyzing and writing

words (Alejandro).

By reading the graphic novel, it should be easier for the students to create their own since

they have that example to refer to. And since this type of literature is more dependent on images

than text, the students will be able to have fun creating images to represent the story, but will

also have to be able to summarize the action into a word or phrase at a time. This can be

beneficial for it requires them to only include the important information and then rely on the

images to get across the rest of the information the reader needs to understand the story line.

Allowing the students to work with a partner should not only make the creative process easier,

but should also reinforce their social speaking and interaction skills. Having them create a video

where they enact one of the scenes from their book can be a fun way to incorporate technology

and again allow them to practice their speaking skills (Debevec).

Videos: Literary Analysis and Vocabulary

The students will create their own videos where they explain the process of literary analysis. They will be required to include and define 6 literary elements for this process,

providing examples from materials we have covered in class.

The students will create a 45-60 second video where they define, use, and provide (creative) examples of how to remember a vocabulary word (music, analogy, relate to

other words they already know, etc). These words will be a mixture of ones they encountered in 8th grade and will be seeing in 9th grade.

Activities such as these are great for classrooms, for instead of just asking the students in

a class discussion explain how to analyze a piece of literature or define a word on a worksheet,

they are given a more creative way to present the information (Debevec). These are especially

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beneficial for ELLs, for they allow students to listen to themselves speak, which enables them to

hear their mistakes with pronunciation. Instead of being told by a teacher what they need to

improve, the students are given the authority to hear it for themselves and then know what they

should work on.

In order to explain information to others, the students need to be able to understand it

themselves. This is a great way to ensure the students really think about what they need to do to

analyze literature and why this is an important skill to have. This also allows them to not only

define these important vocabulary words and literary terms in a more interesting way, but also

encourages them to really consider connections between words. The audience for both activities

will be other ELLs, so they will need to incorporate various techniques that will ensure that the

intended audience will not only be able to understand the information, but also be able to

remember it. This will be beneficial for both the audience and the student presenting the

information, for by creating a fun way to remember the information, they will make it more

accessible for everyone.

For example, if a student was given the word “pseudonym” (Flocabulary.com), in their

video they would introduce the word, define it, give an example of how to use it in a sentence,

and then provide a creative way to remember it. For this they could make the connection that

Mark Twain was a pseudonym for Samuel Langhorne Clemens and give an example of one of

his books, or they could break down the word and point out the prefix “pseudo”, meaning false

and the root word “nym”, which sounds similar to name. If they choose, they could put music in

the background, present the information in a rap or poem, or include a type of visual

representation of the word to make their video unique, fun, and easy to remember.

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Poetry Analysis

Choose a song or poem and do a class presentation on the poetic elements and culturally relevant information using only pictures and topic headings.

This poetry analysis activity combines classroom topics and the students’ cultures, which

is a great way to make connections between the students’ personal and academic lives. For this,

they will have to choose a song or poem from their culture and then find the poetic elements,

such as simile, alliteration, rhyming words, etc. within their selection. Something that makes this

activity different from the others however is how they will present the information. Instead of

creating a video where they will tell the audience all of the important aspects of literary analysis

and how to remember vocabulary words and definitions, they have to rely on pictures and topic

headings to relay various poetic elements. This can be beneficial for ELLs since pictures are the

easiest way to communicate with people who do not speak the same language, but by limiting

them to just a few words to accompany this picture can be difficult. This activity will be a great

way to assess the students to see how well they are able to summarize the key information and

then relate it to the rest of the class.

This type of lesson goes along well with Delpit’s article, for the students will be

encouraged to choose a song or poem from their culture as a way to teach others about their

heritage. They will have to include pictures and topic headings that also communicate

information about why their selection is important in their culture or the country their family

came from. This will be a great way to not only incorporate what makes each student unique, but

also add to the open class environment where the students can feel safe to be themselves. This is

just one example of how their voices will be heard and not suppressed.

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Letter Writing

The students will write a letter to a government official about how and why ELL programs should be supported.

Writing letters is a great way to practice writing, especially when the letters will be sent

to the intended audience. For this activity, the students will be asked to compose persuasive

letters that will be addressed and sent to a local government official. These letters should include

research about this type of program, how it has or hasn’t been beneficial for them, and suggest

ways to ensure it remains or becomes more beneficial. After reviewing the necessary aspects of

letter writing, the students will be able to create and edit their letter before it is sent.

By changing the intended audience of a piece of writing, the students have to consider

their language, how to address the recipient, and ways to introduce and explain the information

in a way that the addressee will understand (Hanstedt). Since this is a persuasive piece, the

students should also be sure to defend their point by providing examples of why it is important.

This activity is a great opportunity to evaluate whether the students are comfortable writing

persuasive pieces, and see whether more instruction should be conducted in this area. This also

gives the students an opportunity to make a difference in their community, which can give the

students confidence in themselves and the role they can play despite their age or circumstance.

Final Portfolio

At the end of the program, have the students choose the 5 journal entries they think are the best examples of their writing skills. The students will be given the opportunity to edit these pieces before presenting them on a poster to the class. The students will be asked to

include a picture with each entry to illustrate an image or concept they wrote about.

One way to track assessment is to have the students turn in a portfolio where they include

pieces that have written throughout the program. Peter Elbow points out how beneficial this type

of approach can be because it gives the students the authority to choose the pieces they think are

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best. Since the teacher has not graded these entries, the students are able to make their selection

based on whether they like it or not without having to worry about the reaction the teacher gave

it. This also allows the teacher to justify not reading and grading every single thing a student

writes, which is beneficial for both the teacher and the student. The teacher can move away from

grading every assignment the students complete, and the students can avoid becoming “addicted

to oversimple numerical rankings [… and] in short, to mistake ranking for evaluation” (Elbow

393). Elbow also points out that portfolios provide a fairer grade for the students, for instead of

seeing every piece, the grade is based on the overall picture that the student is able to provide on

their own (Elbow).

This activity will be fun for the students because they will be given the opportunity to

show off their work to their peers, the instructors, and even their families. The students will be

able to take ownership and pride in their work and prove to others how far they have come

throughout the program. In short, they can show others how they have had the opportunity to

find their voice in their writing and gain confidence in their abilities.

IV. Conclusion

Based on the increasing population of English Language Learners in Roanoke, Virginia,

this summer program was created in order to reach out to that population and allow those making

the transition into high school an opportunity to improve their writing skills. Since this transition

can be difficult for all students, we especially wanted to reach out to this population as a way to

help them move from one academic level to another since ELLs are typically behind their native-

English speaking peers in understanding and producing academic material. Various scholarly

pieces were consulted to ensure that the program’s success in creating a safe environment where

students are able to learn and build their confidence as skilled writers, and also provide

Harrison 20

inspiration for creating an inclusive curriculum. Different types of assessment were also included

to ensure a more fair approach to looking over the work the students turn in, for instead of

focusing on grades, the students will now be able to focus on achieving their personal goals,

taking pressure off of them to only do what they expect the teacher wants to see. By

incorporating a variety of activities that incorporate writing, reading, and speaking, the students

will be given a chance to improve their English in a safe, fun, and creative environment where all

will have opportunities to learn the material in ways that work best for them.

Harrison 21

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