A Lesson Plan for a Middle/High School Level Language Arts Class Differentiated for the ELL Student in a General Education Classroom
by Tobey Cho Bassoff

How it works

Students are arranged into groups of three.  They are each given the same article to read, and a different purpose for reading.  Students read for different meanings and then discuss the article from their perspective.

What you need

• The article “ BVSD parent access infinite” (Or a current article from your local newspaper)
• Three different colored worksheets (yellow, pink, green) with a learning objective and a different purpose for reading.

Benefits of I.C. for STUDENTS (pdf)

Benefits of I.C. for TEACHERS (pdf)

Benefits of I.C. for PARENTS (pdf)

The benefits from an ELL perspective

• Promotes analysis
• Manageable size to read
• Takes the reading burden off of any one person
• Collaborative
• Supports research-based instructional strategy of compare and contrast (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2006, Instructional Strategies That Work for English Language Learners)
• Clear purpose for reading
• Offers different perspectives of one issue
• Students use, model, and practice English

This lesson was designed by Melanie Caron, a reading specialist at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, CO, and analyzed by Tobey Cho Bassoff.

Good luck and please e-mail me me your thoughts, successes, and challenges.