Sheltered Instruction and SIOP
Summary and Resources
In the spring of 2010, I completed a series of professional development workshops for SIOP. I had started to read up on Sheltered Instruction as a way to help my co-workers adapt and improve their instruction for their ESL students but I was having difficulty imagining how to implement the method. So, when I noticed this professional development was being offered by the state for FREE, I signed up immediately.
At first, SIOP can be somewhat daunting even for ESL teachers (30 components divided into 8 categories). But as you begin to learn more about the components and the rationale behind them, SIOP proves to be an extremely valuable system. It has changed the way that I think about planning and instruction more so than anything I studied in graduate school or have learned since then.
What is Sheltered Instruction?
Sheltered Instruction is a teaching method in which the instructor adapts lessons and activities to ensure that all students, regardless of English language proficiency can understand, use, and actively engage in learning the content. SI is not only for ESOL teachers, it is meant for classroom teachers at any grade level. Here is a link to an article from Brown University about SI.
What is SIOP?
SIOP stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. It is simply, SI at a further stage of evolution. Sheltered Instruction exists in various forms but SIOP entails 30 components compiled and formalized into a system. The developers of SIOP are Jana Echevarria, MaryEllen Vogt and Deborah J. Short. The foundational text for SIOP is Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.
The "observation protocol" part of SIOP concerns regular and consistent evaluation of the components to determine how effectively you are implementing them. The text has a simply designed observation template in its appendix. The authors have published a number of useful texts on the subject, including books for administrators, elementary teachers, and teachers of various subject areas.
SIOP is becoming one of the most widely utilized methods for teaching ELL in the U.S. It is scientifically supported with research and SIOP is endorsed by the Center for Applied Linguistics.
If you don’t know much about SIOP, here is a great link to start your reading.
And for those of you with more experience this page contains a well-organized outline of the SIOP model. It includes sample activities in most of the sections. This is a great resource for giving your colleagues a snapshot view of the most important aspects of SIOP.
At first, SIOP can be somewhat daunting even for ESL teachers (30 components divided into 8 categories). But as you begin to learn more about the components and the rationale behind them, SIOP proves to be an extremely valuable system. It has changed the way that I think about planning and instruction more so than anything I studied in graduate school or have learned since then.
What is Sheltered Instruction?
Sheltered Instruction is a teaching method in which the instructor adapts lessons and activities to ensure that all students, regardless of English language proficiency can understand, use, and actively engage in learning the content. SI is not only for ESOL teachers, it is meant for classroom teachers at any grade level. Here is a link to an article from Brown University about SI.
What is SIOP?
SIOP stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. It is simply, SI at a further stage of evolution. Sheltered Instruction exists in various forms but SIOP entails 30 components compiled and formalized into a system. The developers of SIOP are Jana Echevarria, MaryEllen Vogt and Deborah J. Short. The foundational text for SIOP is Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.
The "observation protocol" part of SIOP concerns regular and consistent evaluation of the components to determine how effectively you are implementing them. The text has a simply designed observation template in its appendix. The authors have published a number of useful texts on the subject, including books for administrators, elementary teachers, and teachers of various subject areas.
SIOP is becoming one of the most widely utilized methods for teaching ELL in the U.S. It is scientifically supported with research and SIOP is endorsed by the Center for Applied Linguistics.
If you don’t know much about SIOP, here is a great link to start your reading.
And for those of you with more experience this page contains a well-organized outline of the SIOP model. It includes sample activities in most of the sections. This is a great resource for giving your colleagues a snapshot view of the most important aspects of SIOP.
Here are my SIOP files:
The content of the cheat sheet is gathered from multiple sources. The template is from Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners.
| Cheat Sheet for SIOP Language Objectives Doc |
| SIOP Lesson Plan Template 2 Doc |
