SIOP Strategies

Abigail Knobler, Kelly Bierals, Skyler Pozo, Nicole Kokoszka

Objectives
Students will be able to:
● identify the different SIOP strategies for teaching ELL students
● assess their knowledge through different activities
● identify techniques for scaffolding, verbal, procedural, and instructional
understanding
BEFORE WE BEGIN:

Talk to your table about different teaching and learning strategies

you have seen during your observations and field experience.
Three Components of SIOP

SIOP strategies address three components that focus on teaching strategies from the
learner’s perspective as well as the teacher’s perspective

The three components are:

1. Student Learning Strategies
2. Teacher Scaffolding Instruction
3. Higher Order Thinking Skills
 Strategies

Learning Strategies Scaffolding Higher-Order

Techniques Thinking

● Metacognitive ● Bloom’s
● Cognitive ● Verbal Taxonomy
● Social/ ● Instructional ● Depth of
Affective Knowledge
 Learning Strategies
Teaching explicit learning strategies improves reading and learning and helps ELLs acquire the tools they need to
approach learning tasks and solve problems with assistance, as part of a team or independently.
Metacognitive Strategies

Strategies that help students monitor their thinking and processing

- making good predictions
- understanding the difference in predicting different texts
- knowing when self questioning will be able to help you understand challenging texts
- the ability to clarify and monitor your comprehension
- determining importance
- Improves reading comprehension
Cognitive Strategies

Strategies that help students organize and classify information they are presented with.
They are what good learners do to help themselves learn.
- underline important information
- structure information
- fill out graphic organizers
- knowing when you have to go back and re-read
- toning in on important key vocabulary
Visual learning

Visual learners learn best by sight.

Maps, diagrams, graphs and other visual aids help these learners understand and retain
ideas and concepts. Here are a few study strategies for visual learners:
● Take thorough notes in class or while reading. Review your notes when preparing for
a quiz or exam and use a highlighter to help you focus on important information.
● Create outlines for each textbook chapter you cover in class.
● Make color-coded flashcards.
● Develop your own diagrams, flowcharts, maps or timelines when appropriate.
Auditory Learners

Process information best by listening

These learners find it easiest to remember information they've heard on a recording or in

class.
● Record your instructor's lectures so you can replay the recording when you're
studying.
● Make flashcards to review aloud.
● Find a study partner or group so you can recite information you need to remember.
● Repeat information you've memorized aloud with your eyes closed.
Tactile or Kinesthetic Learning

Tactile learners learn by doing.

● Copy important notes repeatedly. The act of writing information repetitively can help
you remember it.
● When memorizing material, pace or walk around the room as you recite the material
aloud.
● Study in short intervals. Take breaks, get up and move around.
● List examples in your notes of how you can apply what you're learning to your life.
● Physically practice concepts, if you can. For example, if you are studying
communications, practice the verbal techniques you are studying with a partner.
● Listen to music while studying.
*IMPORTANT*
➢ These strategies must be explicitly taught to ELL students.
➢ It is common for ELLs to be so overwhelmed by the language that they do not think
about useful strategies for acquiring knowledge.
➢ It is the job of the effective ESL teacher to teach, model, refer to and provide
opportunities for students to use these strategies in the classroom.
SIOP recommends these strategies:
- Mnemonic devices for memorizing spelling,
vocabulary, etc.
- Rehearsal Strategies that help students memorize
information that should be recalled verbatim
- Graphic Organizers to help students organize
information
- Comprehension Strategies to promote reading
comprehension
Activity:

1. Take out a piece of paper.

2. Write down the order of the planets in our solar system. (try
your best!)
Let’s create a mnemonic device!

My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Noodles

Now, try again.
1. Turn your piece of paper over.
2. Write down the order of the planets in the solar system.
(remember the mnemonic device!)
Scaffolding
method in which teachers offer a particular kind of support to students as they learn and
develop a new concept or skill.
 Scaffolding (Verbal)
Teachers should be constantly assisting and supporting students as they acquire new knowledge, and then should
release them to more independent work as repeated exposure to this knowledge occurs.

Ways to effectively scaffold instruction for ELLs

1. Paraphrase Student Responses - Teachers should constantly be paraphrasing student responses to model correct
pronunciation, grammar, word choice, vocabulary, etc.
2. Think Alouds- Teachers should model how to think through information. Teachers should ask questions, and
model their own thinking for students.
3. Reinforcing Contextual Definitions- Teachers should learn to phrase sentences a way that defines new words
within the sentence.
4. Slowing Speech, Increasing Pauses, and Speaking in Shorter Phrases- This enables ELLs to better understand
what the teacher is saying.
Think Aloud Strategy
Think Alouds help students learn to monitor their thinking as they read an assigned passage. Students are directed
by a series of questions which they think about and answer aloud while reading. This process reveals how much they
understand a text. As students become more adept at this technique they learn to generate their own questions to
guide comprehension.

Begin by modeling this strategy. Model your thinking as you read. Do this at points in the text that may be
confusing for students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence construction). Then introduce the assigned text and
discuss the purpose of the Think Aloud strategy. Then develop the set of questions to support thinking aloud.

1. What do I know about this topic?

2. What do I think I will learn about this topic?
3. Do I understand what I just read?
4. Do I have a clear picture in my head about this information?
5. What more can I do to understand this?
6. What were the most important points in this reading?
7. What new information did I learn?
8. How does it fit in with what I already know?
GIVE TIME TO TALK
All learners need time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to
verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who
are engaged in the same experience and journey. As we all know, structured discussions
really work best with children regardless of their level of maturation.

If you aren’t weaving in think-pair-share, turn-and-talk, triad teams, or some other

structured talking time throughout the lesson, you should begin including this crucial
strategy on a regular basis.
Scaffolding (Procedural)

In addition to verbal scaffolding, effective teachers incorporate instructional approaches.

1. Using an instructional framework that includes explicit teaching, modeling, and

practice opportunities with others, and expectations for independent application.
2. One-on-one teaching, coaching, and modeling
3. Small group instruction with children practicing a newly learned strategy with
another more experienced student.
4. Partnering or grouping students for reading activities, with more experienced readers
assisting those with less experience.
What not to do!

● “Read this nine-page science article, write

a detailed essay on the topic it explores,
and turn it in by Wednesday.”
● Lack of direction.
Write on your whiteboard what you
already know about higher-order
thinking.
Talk to your shoulder partner about one strategy you can use
in the classroom to ensure higher order thinking.
Write it on one of your Whiteboards and hold it up.
Higher Order Thinking

- Teachers need to ask questions that promote critical thinking. This can be a problem
for ELL students.
- As these children are learning English it is tempting to rely on simple questions that
result yes/no or one word responses.
- It is important that teachers think about the types of questions they are asking. They
should be carefully planned before beginning a lesson as it is too hard to come up
with these on the spot.
- Use Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives.
Asking Questions

SIOP teachers also ask English learners a range of questions, many of which require
higher levels of thinking, thus going beyond questions that can be answered with a one- or
two-word response.

We are going to read the short story called Saving the Birds.

Write on your Whiteboard two questions you can ask a student during the story that
requires higher-order thinking.

When you are finished with writing down two questions, share with your shoulder partner.
Exit Slip

Write down on a piece of paper one strategy used in a

classroom that you find effective.
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