Vanessa Dexter, Certified Elementary ELD Presenter and teacher,
Southern Oregon Education Service District
Guest blogger 

As an Elementary Systematic ELD Presenter, I hear many teachers asking how they can get through the entire instructional sequence within a lesson.

To be effective, a lesson needs to include:

• An Open the Lesson section to set the purpose for learning.
• A Teach  section (often called a mini-lesson) for the teacher to take the lead in modeling and explaining the target.
• Guided practice – time for students to Practice  together and then Take the Language to Application on their own. 
• A Closing to recap and transfer the learning. 

If we're not organized, it's easy to fill the lesson with teacher talk or focused on the process and procedure of getting students into interaction routines. Then we end up having to shorten or, even worse, cut certain parts of the lesson. 

In this series, we discuss Student Interaction Routines, which are task-based strategies that help ensure each student has abundant strategic practice using new language for meaningful purposes. Developing a robust wheelhouse of interaction routines enhances student engagement and increases productive talk time.

Lines of Communication 

This a whole-class routine that provides multiple opportunities for language production with a variety of partner combinations. It can be structured to practice asking and answering questions, building on each other’s ideas, or reviewing tricky language patterns. Students of all ages enjoy the opportunity to talk to multiple classmates about interesting topics. It is perfect for the You Do Together portion of the lesson.