Modeling

When to use it

Use modeling whenever a task introduces a new procedure, genre, academic-language function, or cognitively demanding routine that students have not yet performed in English, and especially when directions alone would create a language barrier rather than a content barrier. It fits the start of any new unit, lab, writing genre, math problem type, discussion protocol, or graphic-organizer routine; the moment a quick formative check shows students understand the concept but not the expected response format; and any time you want EB students to apply what they already know how to do in their home language by seeing it demonstrated in English. Consistent with the Texas ELPS, the amount of modeling is calibrated to each student's English proficiency level and faded as students show they can reproduce the task with peers and then on their own.

How to implement it

1. 1Identify the single task, language function, or product you will demonstrate (for example, justify a claim, write a hypothesis, solve a two-step equation) so the model targets one clear expectation rather than many at once.
2. 2Make your thinking audible with a think-aloud: narrate each decision in short, predictable sentences and pair every step with a visual, gesture, manipulative, or annotation so meaning is carried by more than words alone.
3. 3Provide a concrete exemplar of the finished product (a labeled diagram, a strong paragraph, a completed graphic organizer) and annotate the features that make it meet the standard, naming the academic language as you go.
4. 4Invite students to use their full linguistic repertoire while they watch and respond, restating the model in the home language, in a partner conversation, or in notes, so home-language and content knowledge support the new English.
5. 5Move through gradual release: I do (you demonstrate), we do (the class produces one together with you), you do together (pairs or small groups try with the exemplar still visible), you do alone (independent practice as the model is withdrawn).
6. 6Leave the model accessible as a reference (anchor chart, posted exemplar, recorded think-aloud) and remove it as students demonstrate independence, so the scaffold is faded, not permanent.
7. 7Check after the model with a quick formative task; if students can replicate the process, fade further; if not, re-model a specific step rather than the whole task.

Examples

• •Science: Before a lab, the teacher performs the first trial aloud, narrating each step ('First I measure 10 milliliters, then I record what I observe'), pointing to each tool, then posts the completed lab-notebook entry as an exemplar students reference while running their own trials.
• •Writing: The teacher composes a model hypothesis or argument paragraph on the board using a think-aloud, annotates the claim, evidence, and reasoning, and leaves it as an anchor chart; students then draft their own with the model visible before it is removed for independent writing.
• •Math: The teacher solves one two-step word problem aloud, marking each move with color-coded annotations and gestures, completes a second problem together with the class (we do), then has pairs solve the next with the worked example still posted.
• •Discussion: To launch an accountable-talk protocol, the teacher and a student demonstrate the conversation using posted sentence stems ('I agree because...', 'I want to add...'), so EB students see and hear the expected academic interaction before joining their own groups.
• •Reading: The teacher models annotating a short text with a think-aloud, showing how to mark the main idea and unknown words, and invites students to restate the strategy in their home language with a partner before annotating a new passage themselves.