Case Study 5

Project GLAD

Project

Building Academic Writing Through Project GLAD

Audience

Grade 4 dual-language learners | Mixed English proficiency

Format

Integrated Project GLAD instructional sequence

Focus

Nonfiction literacy, academic vocabulary, language structures, and sentence-level writing

Tools

Here-There Chant, Sentence Patterning Chart, sentence strips, visual language scaffolds

Design Challenge

Design an instructional sequence that would move fourth-grade students with widely varying levels of English proficiency from understanding nonfiction concepts and academic vocabulary to applying that knowledge in their own writing. The learning experience needed to integrate oral language, vocabulary development, grammatical structures, and sentence construction while providing enough scaffolding for emergent English speakers without limiting students with stronger English proficiency.

Solution

I designed an integrated Project GLAD sequence that used a teacher-authored Here-There Chant as the foundation for developing nonfiction knowledge, academic vocabulary, grammatical awareness, and sentence-level writing. Students interacted repeatedly with the language of nonfiction, analyzed how words functioned within sentences, co-constructed a Sentence Patterning Chart, and ultimately used the resulting language resources to compose original sentences.

The sequence moved students from supported interaction with academic language toward increasingly independent written production, allowing learners at different proficiency levels to enter the work with appropriate support while working toward a common academic writing goal.

Design Approach

I authored the Non-Fiction Here-There Chant using the Project GLAD Here-There Chant structure and introduced nonfiction concepts and academic vocabulary through repeated oral interaction and visual processing. As students became familiar with the content and language, instruction shifted from comprehension toward analysis and production.

Using the chant as a shared language source, I facilitated development of a Sentence Patterning Chart. Students identified nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases within the chant and contributed additional words and phrases that described nonfiction text. This student co-construction transformed the chart into a shared language bank rather than a teacher-created reference.

Students then selected and combined language from the chart to construct original sentences on sentence strips, applying vocabulary, parts of speech, and sentence structure in their own writing.

Instructional Design Strategy

The sequence intentionally moved learning through multiple levels of support and application:

Comprehensible input → oral interaction → vocabulary development → language analysis → student co-construction → sentence-level written production

Each stage reused and extended language introduced in the previous stage, giving students repeated encounters with academic vocabulary and sentence structures before asking them to produce language independently. The design supported a mixed-proficiency dual-language classroom by providing visual, oral, collaborative, and written entry points while maintaining a common grade-level learning objective.

This sequence also demonstrates the connection between instructional design and successful classroom implementation. I designed the learning progression, created the instructional materials, facilitated the strategy with students, monitored their language development, and guided them from scaffolded oral language practice to independent written production. The artifacts document not only the design of the instructional experience, but its implementation with learners in an authentic classroom setting.

SELECTED ARTIFACTS — Project GLAD

Teacher-Authored Here-There Chant

Original Non-Fiction Here-There Chant, written using the Project GLAD structure to introduce nonfiction concepts and academic vocabulary through patterned oral language.

Processing the Chant

Students interact with the chant through visual annotation and language processing, reinforcing meaning while making academic vocabulary and language structures visible.

Student-Co-Constructed Sentence Patterning Chart

Students identify language from the chant by part of speech and contribute additional nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and prepositional phrases related to nonfiction.

From Language Bank to Sentence Construction

The completed Sentence Patterning Chart provides a shared language resource students can draw upon as they move from analysis toward written production.

Student-Generated Academic Writing

Students apply the accumulated vocabulary and language structures to compose original sentences on sentence strips, demonstrating the progression from scaffolded language experience to independent written production.