John Wilkinson

The SIOP Process

8 Steps of the SIOP Process
Lesson Preparation- Includes the incorporation of specific and measureable content
objectives, as well as specific and measureable language objectives.
Building Background- Access students prior knowledge, use school language, make
connections from prior experiences to present and future experiences.
Practice/Application- Allow for plenty of hands on practice, and for the opportunity
for language skills to be included and integrated across content areas (in new and
meaningful ways).
Comprehensible Input- Use appropriate speech or school language while speaking
with students. Cater to multiple learning types by using a variety of techniques to
teach the same content. Ensure understanding of directions, and give clear
explanations of all academic tasksDont make assumptions about student
comprehension!
Strategies- Applying teaching methods. One should choose strategies based on the
content being taught and the levels of students that are being taught. Encourage
scaffolding and critical thinking when preparing questions and activities.
Review/Assessment- Be sure to review all key content and vocabulary. Quick reviews
can be helpful such as thumbs up/down.
Interaction- The educator needs to allow for the opportunity for students to interact
with one another as well as with the educator on both a conversational, as well as
academic level. This can be done through grouping.

Lesson Delivery- Ensure the lesson supports both the content objectives as well as
the language objectives. Important to reduce teacher talk and allow students time
to finish tasks and construct knowledge at a paced rate as to not overwhelm the
students, and to encourage them to think for themselves.
While reviewing and researching the SIOP Process, I noticed many similarities
and a few differences that the process shares with traditional lesson planning. First,
I noticed that both methods include the need for measureable objectives. The
difference I noticed was that with the SIOP Process, the plans include both language
objectives, as well as content objectives whereas with traditional lesson planning,
only content objectives are included. I also noticed that the SIOP Process does not
include standards such as the Common Core that are essential ingredients to a
traditional lesson plan.
As the SIOP Process utilizes objectives for both content and language, I
believe that it could be particularly valuable to explore for use in an ELL classroom.
While the SIOP process addresses both content and language, it appears to be a
much more extensive preparation process than that of traditional lesson planning.
While it may be beneficial, the lack of state standards required and the extra time it
takes to prepare a SIOP lesson may cause problems with time management for
educators, especially those unfamiliar with the process. I believe both methods of
lesson planning are valuable and similar in many ways, but that there are
compromises or changes that could be made to both make either process more
efficient, as well as more situational to the educators realities.