ESA 3 – Title III February NewsLetter
February 2016 PO Box 228, Platte, SD 57369 605.337.2636
Dear Consortium Members,
*to raise the proficiency level of ELLs in South Dakota
Happy February 2016! As we begin February, I am sure all have the *to provide quality professional ACCESS testing on our minds. This important yearly assessment gives development to teachers excellent information about the progress of our identified English Learners. Many schools are now using the on-line format – that’s *to provide support as Districts great as we should get results sooner – and we can celebrate progress Core ESL Plans are developed with our students. This information will also be used to evaluate the programs we have created in our districts for our Language Learners. Do We Make Our Schools Welcoming to Is what we are doing working? Should we accept the status quo or do Families? we need to revise how we are delivering our ESL instruction? Do our content teachers have enough professional development in this area? TIP: Show that you value families’ native languages. How can we plan for professional development for next year? With the ACCESS data coming from this assessment – we can have real conversations, based on data, concerning our English Learners. Good 1. Encourage native language use at home. luck and have a great February. Student who have a strong foundation, and Gwyneth Dean-Witte continue learning in the first language, do
Professional Development Grants Management Training Training on how to access and complete the District and School level planning pieces in the Grants Management System. This training is for Superintendents, Federal Program Coordinators/Directors, Title I Directors, School Principals and anyone else who works with the Consolidated Application each year. Participants must bring a laptop or tablet as the training will be hands-on.
https://southdakota.gosignmeup.com
2.
Title I Conference – Save the Date – August 1-2 in Chamberlain Title III will be under the umbrella of Title I with the ESSA, so this is an excellent chance to find out what is new in supporting ELs (English learners) and district responsibility.
ND/SD Colony Teacher Conference, Watertown, June 1-2 SAVE THE DATE
More info will be coming from your friendly ESA 3 Title III Consortium. J Announcing: ENL Endorsement Cohort #2 Registration will begin in March for consortium members – be looking for information from me soon! April and May we will open up the registration to anyone interested.
MONITORING REMINDER Students who have exited the ESL program or exited the LEP status in Infinite Campus need to be monitored for two school years to make sure they are keeping up with studies and continuing to make progress. Are you in charge of Monitoring students? Try to gather three pieces of data (attendance, grade report, teacher input, formative assessments, etc) twice a year and staple it to the Monitoring Form. This stays in the Cumulative File.
3.
better progressing in English skills. Print out Spanish-language take-home books from Readinga-z. Using readinga-z.com for guided reading or research in the classroom? Print the Spanish version of the book, too, for you students to take home and share with families. Don’t forget about Uniteforliteracy.com for online books in nearly all languages. Respect Parents’ intentions. It is important to assure parents that you respect their values and goals for their children. Explain that strong native language skills will help their children learn English. This assures parents that you have their children’s best interest at heart. Professional development is important. Provide staff training on the importance of maintaining students’ native languages. There is often anxiety about not being able to understand what students are saying. The best way to address this is through good professional development. If that PD is not available – a quick article read at a staff meeting can go along way!
ESA 3 Title III Consortium – Supporting ELs and Schools in South Dakota
Load those Classroom and Library Shelves Here are some great multicultural books that appeal to all readers: Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say How to Make an Apple Pie by Allen Say Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan Fish by L S Matthews One Green Apple by Eve Bunting The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits Wonder by P J Palacio Consider creating a library shelf with books of languages other than English. Label it proudly to promote it and make people aware. Promote them getting checked out by simply adding them to a student’s stack at checkout. Search Scholastic book orders for inexpensive titles, garage sales, and used book stores. This is a great way to show families you care!
Do you like to see it in practice? View these videos to gain a greater understanding of how teachers using best practices in their classrooms can make content comprehensible for ELs and all learners. Watching a ten minute video can be a powerful PD activity you can do for yourself! Enjoy! WIDA Did you know that on the WIDA site, there are excellent videos of content teachers using strategies in their classrooms that help to make content comprehensible to language learners and all diverse students. Log into WIDA – your ELL coordinator at your school should have your log in. Hover over “Professional Learning” and choose Educator Resources in the drop-down menu. Choose “Featured Videos: https://www.wida.us/ProfessionalDev/educatorresources/videos.aspx View videos such as Academic Vocabulary Development, Fostering Active Comprehension, and ENL New Arrival High School Students The Teaching Channel The Teaching Channel offers 52 videos that include supporting ELs and Academic Language Development. Some are: Language Supports for Number Talks, Teacher Toolkit: ELLs, Supporting ELLs through Project-based Learning, and Participating Protocols for Academic Discussions, and more! https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos?page=1&categories=topics_english-language-learners&load=1
Social Studies and the Language Learner – and all learners… Remember, building background helps all students connect previous understanding and prior knowledge to new content. These sites lend themselves to building background as well as presenting new information. 1. Free American History Outlines, PowerPoints and Worksheets: http://www.studenthandouts.com/americanhistory/ 2. Interactive Educational Social Studies Sites: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/social-studies.html 3. Visible Thinking - http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/ 4. ELCivics.com – This site offers many power points that can be used in English Language Development and acculturation for newcomers.
3
Imagine Learning Imagine Learning is an online literacy program for ELLs and Struggling readers. This program acts as a support for your ESL Core Plan. Students spend 30-40 minutes engaged in the program at least 3-days per week to see benefits. While this does not take the place of an ESL teacher, it acts as a differentiated and adaptive program so that needs of each specific student are met. Schools simply need to purchase one seat license for $150 per student per year. Our consortium pays for training and district license – A $2500 savings to your district per year. Please join our twelve consortium schools who are already involved in this program, as well as Huron, Sioux Falls, Milbank, Pierre, Todd County and many Minnesota school disricts. Round two training – Reports and Resources – is coming soon. Each school enrolled in our Imagine Learning Consortium program should plan to send at least one teacher to the training. Contact
[email protected] for details on adopting the program and attending the upcoming training. Using Photos with ELLs and building Language for ALL Students Using pictures within instruction helps students learn the thousands of words needed and how to use them. The Word Inductive Model is described in the this short article by Larry Ferlazzo, who wrote a new book! http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ell-engagment-using-photos This method can be used across the content areas, especially with historical photos for older kids. Also, pictures can be used with thought bubbles, picture dictation, and more.
Something to Think About… Have you considered incorporating a book study into your district’s PD plan? There are many great books that lend themselves to English learners, multiculturalism, academic language and increasing awareness around English Learners. Can we suggest: *How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You: Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies Second Edition by Bonnie M. Davis *Culturally Proficient Instruction: A Guide for People Who Teach 3rd Edition by Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Delores B. Lindsey, Randall B. Lindsey, Raymond D. (Dewey) Terrell *Developing Critical Cultural Competence: A Guide for 21st-Century Educators by Jewell E. Cooper, Ye He, Barbara B. Levin Grammar Gallery GrammarGallery.com subscription is fully paid for for each of our consortium districts. Each Colony teacher has the login information and starting in March, one teacher acting as the district ESL teacher will also have access to this amazing curriculum. The online resource of printables, lessons, and visuals acts as as your district’s ESL Curriculum. Three lessons per week focus on the grammar, form and function of learning English as well as building academic language skills. This resource is fully paid for by the ESA 3 Title III Consortium. Contact me,
[email protected] for the login if you don’t have it. This month check out the following bonus lessons: http://www.mygrammargallery.org/currency.pdf and http://www.mygrammargallery.org/assume.pdf (you will need to log in) These are just samples – if they are too advanced for your students, go to the Main Gallery for tons of grammar form and function lessons.
ESA 3 Title III Consortium – Supporting ELs and Schools in South Dakota
District – Consortium Contact List Jean Larson Groton Britton-Hecla Milbank Clark Willow Lake Tripp-Delmont Mitchell Miller Hitchcock-Tulare **Imagine Learning Contact **Learning difference vs learning disability Cindy Nagel Platte Kimball Wessington Springs Wolsey-Wessington Sanborn Central Menno Bon Homme **Regional Workshops Robin Fisher Parkston Lake Andes Mt Vernon McCook Central Parker Gwyneth Dean-Witte Iroquois Todd County Plankinton Freeman Deubrook Deuel Arlington Sioux Valley Elkton Pierre *Estelline *Woonsocket *Howard **Gramm Gallery contact person **ENL Endorsement Program **Newsletter
Joining the ESA 3 Title III Consortium:
Information will be coming soon about signing up again for the ESA 3 title III Consortium. We strive to create programs that help districts meet the needs of all learners at not cost to districts. Imagine Learning literacy online support program discounted subscription Grammar Gallery – English Language Development Curriculum FREE– no need to buy text books Regional PD for Classroom, content and Colony teachers On-site Professional development plans for K-12 teachers Instructional Coaching ENL Endorsement cohort program ($70 per credit) Technical Assistance in building ESL District plans
Great Resources: I hope you had a chance to check out last month’s resources. Here are a few more… ADMIN: **Do you need a resource for your guidance counselor to help make sense of foreign transcripts? The pdf resource can help you get started. http://www.uft.org/files/attachments/evaluating-foreign-transcripts.pdf **Want to know what your district’s responsibilities are: Check out the Dear Colleague letter from the Dept of Education. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-el-201501.pdf Accompanying Toolkit: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/english-learner-toolkit/index.html TEACHERS: **Making the first language important –uniteforliteracy.com- online books in tons of languages kids can listen to in English and then the first language. **Readinga-z.com – Excellent resource for leveled reading groups, small group instruction, research resources at various reading levels. Languages other than English are available, ELL support add on subscription available. Budget this for next year – its that good! **Join the Colony Teacher and ELP Teacher listeserve on the DOE email system. Don’t forget about SD DOE gosignmeup for DOE sponsored PD. **Meeting the Common Core - http://achievethecore.org Excellent Resources and videos! **Want to take a picture of a document and have it translated so students can hear in their first language? For Proficiency Levels 1 and 2, this can be a great support to learning English. http://donjohnston.com/snap-read. A great ipad app is Scanner and Translator by Data Com (it’s a red app) Great for short sections of texts.
**Have you heard of Newsinslowspanish.com? This is an excellent way to support first language continued development – if you students speak Spanish. J Great way to improve listening skills and support academic language development.
Contact Information Diane Olson, Director ESA 3
[email protected] Gwyneth Dean-Witte, Consortium Coordinator,
[email protected] Cindy Nagel, Instructional Specialist,
[email protected] Jean Larson, Instructional Specialist,
[email protected] Robin Fisher, Instructional Specialist,
[email protected] Education Service Agency, Region 3 PO Box 228, Platte, SD 57369 605.337.2636
