Touro University TESOL Candidate John Zurschmiede ‘s ‘Personal Experience Narrative Infographic’

EDPN 673 Methods and Materials for Teaching English as a Second Language

This course provides a historical overview of second language acquisition theories and teaching methods. Students learn how to apply current approaches, methods and techniques, with attention to the effective use of materials, in teaching English as a second language. Students will engage in the planning and implementation of standards-based ESL instruction which includes differentiated learning experiences geared to students’ needs. Emphasis is placed on creating culturally responsive learning environments. Includes 15 hours of field work.

Assignment Description:

For this assignment, you will create an infographic for a specific group of learners (your audience). It is highly recommended that you create your infographic for the learners that you are currently teaching, or typically teach. You will know more about this group than other groups of learners and are likely to have an easier time designing instruction for them. Integrating the infographic into one of the SIOP lessons is recommended.

Your project will be assessed on the following:

• Content: content is specifically tailored to ENL/ESL students for a specific grade level,
• Focus: All content (visual and textual) concisely complements the purpose of the infographic
• Visual Appeal: Fonts, colors, layouts, & visual elements meaningfully contribute to the infographic’s ability to convey the overall message
• Argument: The infographic effectively informs and convinces the reader of its intended purpose
• Organization: Information is systematically organized and supports readers’ comprehension of the main message
• Citation: Full bibliographic citations are included for all sources referenced
• Mechanics: The infographic is free of spelling or grammatical errors

Infographics Background:

An infographic is a highly visual representation of information, data, or content that is intended to quickly communicate information to a reader. Smaller than but similar to a poster, an Infographic often communicates a central argument, topic, or thesis focusing on the overall patterns, themes, or salient points. As a quick visual representation, Gillicano and colleagues (2014) suggest that an infographic is easily comprehended and read in less than a minute.

Choose the purpose

Decide on the purpose and teaching point of the infographic for your Multilingual Learners (ML’s) .

WHY are you designing this infographic?
HOW will this infographic serve MLs?
WHAT are you trying to point out, teach, focus on, or reinforce?
WHICH language production is this infographic focusing on?
WHERE in your lesson plan will YOU be able to use this infographic?

‘I started my teaching career working with children who had special needs. Then, I transitioned to ESL but soon ended up in managerial roles. Recently, I made the happy decision to return to the classroom as that is what I am truly passionate about.”

John Zurschmiede, Touro University, GSE
TESOL Candidate

I created this infographic using a flow diagram we use at the Board of Education. I noticed that some of the MultiLingual Learners in my class struggled with some of the concepts outlined in the flow diagram. I decided to modify the flow diagram to make multilingual friendly by doing the following.

1) Explicitly show sequence and directionality by including arrows and numbers for each step.

2) Providing a clear visual for Mind Mapping while explicitly highlighting the ‘wh’ questions that needed to be answered.

3) Explicitly outlining what needed to be included in an opening and closing statement.

4) Explicitly providing transition words that students needed to use in their narrative.

John Zurschmiede’s Personal Experience Narrative Infographic