• Seven Steps to Building a Language Rich Interactive Classroom

    1. Teach students language strategies to use when they don't know what to say.

    2. Encourage students to speak in complete sentences.

    3. Randomize and rotate who is called on so all students can participate.

    4. Use response signals for students to monitor their own comprehension.

    5. Use visuals and a focus on vocabulary to build background.

    6. Have students participate in structured reading activities.

    **7. Have students participate in structured conversations and writing activities.**
     
     
    Dialogue Journal: A journal that is exchanged between teacher and student or pairs of students.
    Language used in journals should be content-focused and academic.        

    Letters/Editorials: Students write letters from different points-of-view (sun, atom, frog, etc.)
     
    Read, Write, Pair, Share: Students read and write using a sentence stem, pair with another student,
    and then share their writing.
     
    Draw and Write: Students express knowledge of academic content by drawing and writing (science
    notebooks, journals, etc.)