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Blue Green Yellow Illustrated Global Warming Social Media Post (1)

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Tan is an incredible EL educator that shares so many free resources on his website and blog. Check it out!

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Welcome | ML Instruction | Empowering ELLs

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Sharing ELL strategies that work. Helping ELL teachers implement classroom-tested, research-backed ELL strategies that develop social and academic language

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Below is a link to an AMAZING podcast led by Carol Salva, a leading expert in teaching ELs. "Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders."

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Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

Very empowering!

I love listening to this playlist anytime I feel defeated. It gives me so many ideas to try and share with my colleagues.

Teacher

I love this podcast when you get those episodes that offer serious teaching tips and information. Unfortunately, it is sometimes just a looooong commercial for someone trying to sell a book, or a bunch of people fan-girling over one another.

I love this podcast

Brand new to the ELL world (as a literacy tutor) and I am learning SO much from Carol Salva.

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‎Boosting Achievement: The ESL Podcast on Apple Podcasts

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Carol Salva and her guests explore ways to empower language learners and the teachers who teach them. We're not just closing gaps, we're growing leaders.

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Yellow with Speech Bubble Job Vacancy Announcement

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Blue Brush Strokes Paint Cultural Diversity Day Poster

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Who's up for a challenge?!

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As teachers, we need to make it a priority that we pronounce our students' names correctly. I took the pledge, you should too!

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The My Name, My Identity Campaign promotes awareness of valuing students' cultures and languages by learning about their stories, unique names and proper pronunciations.

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Mandy Sage-4th grade teacher at John Mills!  Go to Hilton Head Island for vacation, and also spend lots of time with family!

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Mandy Sage-4th grade teacher at John Mills!  Go to Hilton Head Island for vacation, and also spend lots of time with family!

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Lisa Runge - Spanish Bilingual Resource - Elmwood
Summer is when I finally get to read what I want - I have a huge pile of books to dig into for the summer.

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Kelsey Horvath - Second Grade EW

Moving to Bucktown, brother getting married in July, traveling to Virginia end of July!

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Dominique Byrnes, Language Coach. My plans are...... no plans! I look forward to catching up on sleep!

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Lisa Loffredo, EL Teacher @ Elmwood. I am visiting Newport Beach, California this summer. I've never been to Cali and am excited.

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Lisa Loffredo, EL Teacher @ Elmwood. I am visiting Newport Beach, California this summer. I've never been to Cali and am excited.

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Here is a very short article by Valentina Gonzalez that could be shared with ALL teachers, as we are ALL language teachers because we ALL serve our EL students. It would be a great beginning of the year activity.

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Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages

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The other day, I posed a question to my Twitter PLN. I asked what their non-negotiables were for teaching English Learners. The responses were overwhelming. Just imagine if we set aside time as campus or district teams to develop non-negotiables and then live by them. This would be a great practice for ESL and bilingual teams. Here are some of the responses from Twitter followers:

Validate their identities

instill confidence and empowerment in our multilingual students so they see their language skills as assess and superpowers

all kids are our kids

being bilingual and multilingual is an asset

high expectation and compassion for all

students have access to grade level curriculum with language scaffolds as needed or not

every student engaged and accountable

teachers who want to teacher ELs , knowledgable, passionate, and learning too

value and affirm the home language

develop a culturally responsive classroom

create an environment of acceptance

use text that are culturally relevant

motivate students to tell their story

understand that ESL is not special education or a learning disability

build relationships with families

set and maintain high expectations for learning and believe they are capable

incorporate books and activities that represent ALL kids and all cultures

include visual and wait time

embrace a positive mindset! They can and they will

love and laugh often

kindness, smile and create a safe space

ensure active EL engagement in critical thinking tasks across the curriculum

critical thinking is a transferable skill across languages-invite translanguaging

every child brings something valuable to our learning community

bilingualism is a superpower

every child will rise to our expectations

they each come with a story and we need to acknowledge that their story is an important part of their identity

relationships matter-build safe and respected relationships the child and the family

acknowledge and support cultural backgrounds

provide the correct linguistic accommodations in order to meet their needs

review vocabulary and build background

use and pronounce their given name correctly

use their prior knowledge

don't allow failure

reduce the affective filter

praise success

be responsive

provide daily opportunities for speaking

zero tolerance for anyone seeing to police their language

These statements above may help you and your team develop your own non-negotiables. I suggest that you gather as a group and discuss these and talk about what the most important items are. What do you all feel are not open for discussion? Some of these can be grouped together. Others may feel more like beliefs to you. You could even go ahead and list your group's belief statements. It's best to keep your non-negiables down to a short list. Narrow them down as much as you can.
Non-negotiables: standards for our program that are NOT open for discussion

Beliefs: what you hold true

Once you have created your non-negiables and possibly your beliefs too, keep them at the forefront of your instruction and share them with all who need access. Administrators and mainstream teachers who also serve English learners need to know what is considered NOT open for discussion. If they are available to take part in the process of creating the non-negiables and beliefs, even better! Even if one representative from each grade level can participate, they can be the voice for their team.

STEPS IN A NUTSHELL:

THINK
1. Think about what's most important to you about the teaching of English learners
MEET
2. Meet as a team to curate a tight list of the essential standards by which every teacher on your campus will live by-this will be your list of NON-Negotiables
SHARE
3. Share it with all who serve English learners
ACT
4. Act on these non-negotiables in all that you do with students. Keep them at the core!

Happy creating!

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Non-Negotiables for Teaching English Learners

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The other day, I posed a question to my Twitter PLN. I asked what their non-negotiables were for teaching English Learners. The responses were overwhelming. Just imagine if we set aside time as campus or district teams to develop non-negotiables and then live by them.

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Paul Uhler, Instructional Technology Coach.  No "big travel plans" this summer.  I plan to spend a lot of time at the pool and even more time carpooling my kids back and forth between their activities. 

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Paul Uhler, Instructional Technology Coach.  No "big travel plans" this summer.  I plan to spend a lot of time at the pool and even more time carpooling my kids back and forth between their activities. 

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Larry has written a lot books and has a great blog/website that has a lot of great EL Resources that he is constantly updating.

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The latest news and resources in education since 2007

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Richelle Fiorito - El teacher @ Elm.  I am looking forward to road trips with the kids and catching up with my DVR! 

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Richelle Fiorito - El teacher @ Elm.  I am looking forward to road trips with the kids and catching up with my DVR! 

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Esther Park - great resources and ideas - for working with EL's

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Esther Park - great resources and ideas - for working with EL's

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Iwona Ciezkowska - EL/ Bilingual Teacher at JM

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Iwona Ciezkowska - EL/ Bilingual Teacher at JM

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Well, I am leaving to Poland this Saturday and staying there for 7 weeks. I am looking forward to seeing my mom, my siblings, and all my family and friends there. Please be patient with me posting/commenting since I will be in a different time zone :)

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With our Arabic population growing every year you may find this website helpful: 

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With our Arabic population growing every year you may find this website helpful: 

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"Noorart is dedicated to educating and inspiring our Muslim and Arab youth by producing and distributing quality educational products. Because we take the responsibility of being a leader in the community seriously, we choose to employ the best business practices available". http://www.noorart.com/:
Does contain religious materials.

. Lexilogos:

Systran: Free translation tool available online. "A rich and universal Arabic English dictionary". Suitable for older students. "a comprehensive set of resources for the study of languages of the world" Arabic/ English dictionary. Suitable for older students

Mantra Lingua: The world's largest publisher of Bilingual Books in English and 63 other languages. Ships from the US. Lots of options for picture books in English and Arabic.

World Stories: UK source for dual language books online. Created by a charity and ad free.

Unite for Literacy: Excellent source for Beginners and non-fiction. Books are in English, but can be narrated in Arabic and English. Good for building vocabulary and helping with pronunciation.

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"Noorart is dedicated to educating and inspiring our Muslim and Arab youth by producing and distributing quality educational products. Because we take the responsibility of being a leader in the community seriously, we choose to employ the best business practices available". http://www.noorart.com/: Does contain religious materials. .

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This summer we are going to Florida for a relaxing week at the beach. Looking forward to catching up on my reading and spending time with family and friends.

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I am the principal at Elmwood.  Small trips and laying around the pool.

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The guiding principle that resonated with me was Principle #2 "Els learn best when they are taught in a welcoming and supportive school climate." I know in working at Elmwood the staff and especially the EL teachers would go above and beyond to create a welcoming school culture to support ELs and their families. They would bring in clothes for students in need, bring families food, communicate in many different ways and support them in so many ways above and beyond! In working at the district level this year I've seen even more examples of EP401 teachers supporting ELs to make them feel connected to the EPCUSD401 community.

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Vanessa Woof- Instructional Coach for Math/Science. We are heading to Fort Lauderdale in July- can't wait!! Looking forward to doing fun activities with the girls and meeting up with friends and family. It's long overdue.

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Chapter 1: The guiding principle that resonated most with me is #4, ELs benefit when their teachers collaborate to share their expertise. When co-teachers work alongside each other, that's where "the magic happens." In a true co-teaching experience, teachers build on each other's strengths to best fit the needs of their students. EL teachers utilize tried and true methods that, when combined with the content area teachers expertise in their subject area, can be a true powerhouse of benefits for our students. I also would like to add that I strongly align with the authors' belief that all teachers are language teachers. "ELs are everyone's kids." (p. xvii)

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Agnes Bozek -  EL Teacher at Elmwood Elementary 

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Agnes Bozek -  EL Teacher at Elmwood Elementary 

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This summer is going to be awesome! We are traveling and staying in Florida for a couple of weeks. I look forward to having great family time and going for long and relaxing walks along the beach.

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I agree with Dom. The guiding principle that most resonated with me is that ELs benefit when their teachers collaborate to leverage their expertise. I had the magical gift of coteaching with Carol Durkin in third grade language arts this year (Mills, she's coming to you and I'm so jealous). We were truly a team, and our students reaped all the benefits. We were able to flexibly group the kids, really focus on writing, and incorporate tons of vocabulary. Roxanne Rickenbrode is another co-teaching rockstar. It makes a huge difference - for the kids, yes, but also for teacher job satisfaction.

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EL's Bring Many Strengths to the Classroom 

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EL's Bring Many Strengths to the Classroom 

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The guiding principle that resonated with me most was that EL's bring many strengths to the classroom. So often, sadly, the focus is on what they don't know but this needs to change. Our EL's are filled with experiences and are rich in culture that should valued, as well as incorporated into instruction. This asset based approach will lead to EL's making metacognitive connections, building confidence, and allowing students to become more comfortable language learners. As teachers value the strengths that EL's bring to their classrooms, classmates or other students begin to see the value in diverse cultural perspectives and see the strength in bilingualism.

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The Name Jar
by Yangsook Choi
Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week.
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This book really speaks to me. We get so many students with very unique names and it is soooo important that we pronounce their names correctly. I grew up at a time that we "Americanized" names so now, as an EL teacher, it saddens me. It is truly important as teachers we learn to pronounce students names correctly, be an example for our students and honor their beautiful and culturally unique names.

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Monica Herrera-1st Grade Bilingual at Mills

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Monica Herrera-1st Grade Bilingual at Mills

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This summer I will be visiting my family in Texas. I'm also excited to reunite with my childhood friends of 28+ years. Lastly, having lots of fun with my furry babies.🐾

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It is important to build relationships not only with our students but with their families also. I liked: The Family Welcoming Checklist. As a district and especially at Mills who houses our dual/biligual programs, this would be a great place to start and reflect if we have these strategies in place or not and build from it. "Educators don't have to be bilingual or biliterate  to advocate for language learners."-Dr. Jose Medina. Every student EL or not should feel welcomed.

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Figure 1.6 really stood out to me as I was reading this chapter. For me, being in a new position this year- it became very evident that there isn’t much equity when it comes to our EL/bilingual students. This really stood out to me when we were doing PD for staff. “Is this available in Spanish?” “Is this going to be translated for our families?” The list of questions and concerns goes on and on but what is being done? As teachers, we TRY to do the best we can for students but there’s only so much we can do, sooner or later everyone will be tired of “making it work.” It’s frustrating to us, our students and their families.

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While I do agree with all of the principles, Guiding Principle #2 resonated with me the most as well.  ELs do learn best when they are in environments that are welcoming and supportive.  As educators we are quick to focus on academics and closing the gaps, but providing the students an environment that is comfortable and familiar allows them to access their learning.  In addition, it provides other students the opportunities to expand their learning of other cultures they may not be familiar with.  As others have stated, the checklist is a great resource, while we do many of these things, I think we could probably do a better job at more of them, especially the visible signs in multiple languages!  Can you imagine a welcome sign in our schools that include ALL of the languages spoken in our school?

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This summer I have no major plans, I am just looking forward to spending time with my family! I'm ready to enjoy pools, parks, zoos and many other long overdue activities we missed out on last summer!

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Book: My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada

Saying/trying to say a student's name properly can mean a lot to them. First impression is important,  especially if we don't know much about their background and experiences. I understand that there are staff members who don't speak another language but we ask so much from my our students. This is another example of making them feel welcomed...when WE also try.

Reading this book to students (or for all classroom libraries of 2-4th grade) will help them understand that their names have meaning. It also shows them that it is okay to correct us (educators) to pronounce their names correctly. 😊

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This summer, I don't really have anything super fun that has been planned. I am just excited to finish my last grad school class and receiving my Masters in Special Education.

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Agnes Bozek

One classroom, Many cultures
by Elizabeth Massie
illustrated by Jill Dubin
This is a great multicultural book that introduces different students within the classroom and their cultures. This book is a wonderful resource that shows what diversity within the same classroom may look like. It can spark a discussion about diversity or can get students excited about Multicultural Night.

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The importance of school climate and the classroom environment can't be overlooked. EL students and their families also hold an important place in our school community. I liked the figure 1.3 EL and Family Welcoming Checklist because of the practical ideas offered. One thing I am going to work on this summer is adding a few bilingual books to my classroom library.

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Chapter 2-  The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold 

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Chapter 2-  The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold 

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I want to add this book to my classroom library because middle school students can understand the feeling of being pulled in many directions. They are trying to find out who they are and can identify with a character who feels caught between the expectations of two cultures.

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Traci Krueger- 3rd Grade ELA Teacher

This summer I plan on growing two humans. :) AKA I’m pregnant with twin boys and due in September.

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Chapter 1- The guiding principal that resonated most with me was #2: ELs learn best when they are taught in a welcoming and supportive school climate. This I feel is the basis of any student succeeding in school. The checklist on page 16 is a great start for teachers and administrators taking a hard look at things we are doing well and areas that we can improve on.

Chapter 2- I thought about lots of titles that I would love to add to my classroom library but then I had a different idea. What if instead of the teacher always deciding what books are in the classroom we ask students and their families to suggest culturally diverse books... I think this would go a long way in adding books that students grew up reading and make them feel welcomed and accepted in the classroom.

Book recommendation: The Know My Name Campaign mentioned in Chapter 1 made me think of a book we read in class every year. It is called My Name is Maria Isabel. It is about a girl who moves to a new school and the teacher decides to call her Marie because they already had another girl named Maria. It is a beautiful book and it sparks conversations for how students in the classroom got their names.

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The Guiding Principle that resonated the most with me was #3: "EL's should be taught language and content simultaneously." As a Spanish Teacher, this principle could not prove to be more true in my classroom. Introducing new vocabulary and language structures in a communicative and authentic context has definitely increased my students' abilities to communicate effectively in the target language. For example, in our Spanish 1 curriculum, we teach students vocabulary words related to food/meals as we explore different breakfasts and meal times in Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Here, students are able to build connections to their lives rather than just memorize a list of vocabulary words.

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I have never used Socratic circles in the classroom, but after working with high school staff this year, I would love to try this. Paul Uhler gave a PD on digital circles this past school year, and high school staff reported in their feedback that they have used them frequently. The supports on page 105 highlight some very important scaffolds that would ensure a more successful circle for ELs. I'd especially like to highlight the idea of providing students with graphic organizers in order to help them frame their thinking. Graphic organizers, when used consistently, can certainly help ELs organize thoughts. I'd even include sentences frames in the organizer for students that would need this scaffold.

In my role, I think that Socratic circles would be great to use... maybe even for discussing the EL Advocacy Equity Audit from our previous chapters! I myself would even use a graphic organizer to arrange my thoughts. Let's do it!

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Another great books about students and names - I think we've got enough collected here for a whole week of read-alouds! This one's available in Spanish and English.

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alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (spanish edition)

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people & places - caribbean & latin america

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social themes - self-esteem & self-reliance

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children’s / teenage fiction: family and home stories

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children’s / teenage fiction: general fiction

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children’s / teenage general interest: places and peoples

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: families and family members

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: self-awareness and self-esteem

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juvenile fiction / family / multigenerational

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juvenile fiction / people & places / caribbean & latin america

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juvenile fiction / social themes / self-esteem & self-reliance

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juvenile fiction/people & places - caribbean & latin america

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juvenile fiction/social themes - self-esteem & self-reliance

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people & places - caribbean & latin america

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social themes - self-esteem & self-reliance

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teenage fiction: family and home stories

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teenage general interest: places and peoples

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teenage personal and social topics: families and family members

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teenage personal and social topics: self-awareness and self-esteem

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picture book; spanish language; family; family history; your name; tradition; love; heritage; spanish kids books; ancestors; origin story; grandparents; aunts; uncles; telling stories; childrens books by age 5-8; books for 5 year old girls; books for 5 year old boys; grandpa gifts; books for 4 year old boys; grandma; books for kids 5-7; kids books ages 6-8; grandma gifts; kids books ages 4 8; grandmother gifts; gifts for grandma; grandparents gifts; books for 7 year old boys; books for 7 year old girls; grandpa

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picture book;spanish language;family;family history;your name;tradition;love;heritage;spanish kids books;ancestors;origin story;grandparents;aunts;uncles;telling stories;books for kids 5-7;childrens books by age 5-8;books for 5 year old boys;books for 5 year old girls;books for 4 year old boys;kids books ages 4 8;grandma;grandma gifts;grandparents gifts;grandpa gifts;gifts for grandma;grandmother gifts;kids books ages 6-8;books for 7 year old boys;books for 7 year old girls;grandpa

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juvenile fiction / family / multigenerational

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juvenile fiction / people & places / caribbean & latin america

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juvenile fiction / social themes / self-esteem & self-reliance

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juvenile fiction/people & places - caribbean & latin america

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juvenile fiction/social themes - self-esteem & self-reliance

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children’s / teenage fiction: family and home stories

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children’s / teenage fiction: general fiction

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children’s / teenage general interest: places and peoples

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: families and family members

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: self-awareness and self-esteem

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Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Spanish Edition)

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Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Spanish Edition) [Martinez-Neal, Juana, Martinez-Neal, Juana] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre (Spanish Edition)

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I like this activity for the start of a science unit. In STEMscopes, for primary (not sure other grade levels), the APK activities start off with a group of students (who we don't know) having a discussion on a particular topic. In the past, I've printed out kid clipart and posted them around the room pretending that they were the students in the APK discussion. I read aloud each statement and students stood next to each "student" who they agreed with. In the beginning, students gave simple responses but as we continued the unit, and referred back to "our clipart friends", students began to use the academic language necessary to understand the content. I loved hearing them refer back to an imaginary person and giving reasons why they would agree/disagree with them.🙋🏽‍♀️

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Hey everyone! I'm Jamie Kanas, instructional coach - late to the party because I got my book late. :)

Planning on swimming, gardening, and doing a little fishing in the Northwoods this summer!

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I love the idea of using the 1-3-6 activity for math time. What I really appreciate about this activity is that it starts with each student working on their own. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, asking students to start a task independently (instead of jumping right into group or partner work) gives both the student and teacher a chance to walk around and observe who is confidently starting, and who still needs support/just doesn’t get it yet. I see this being especially great for open ended youcubed activities that stretch students’ thinking because the problem has many answers. It can also be useful to tackle challenging multi-step word problems that we see in 3rd grade. Even if students aren’t confident in what they’re doing during the “1” part of the activity, they get to then work with two others to discuss ideas. I’ve had ELs in the past who have the math correct but lack the language to correctly share what they did. Those students can feel proud when they meet with two others and see “yes, I have the right numbers/ideas!” while having the chance in a low-stress small group to practice how to verbalize how they solved. Finally, the group of 6 is big enough that students should be able to complete the problem and dispel any misconceptions while still remaining in a pretty low risk situation when it comes to sharing. I’ve found with problems that require very high levels of thinking that student collaboration is the best tool, and this slow addition of support in 1-3-6 can be a great way for students to build understanding. I’m excited to try this next year!

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An activity I'd like to try is the Each One Teach One!  Students love to take on the role as a teacher and often they explain things in better ways than we can.  I've done this where I'm the student and the whole class gets to be the teacher, but I think trying this out with pairs will be even more beneficial.  To support all learners, I think this strategy requires some heavy modeling, the students will need practice in both roles.  To support those students that may be struggling with either the concepts, or those that may need extra support with language, instead of having two different concepts to teach, I may start with just one.  If one student plays the part of the teacher to teach, for example the life cycle of a plant, the second student would learn from the teacher, but when it was time to switch, that student would have 'learned' about the life cycle from a peer and then also be able to practice teaching the concept to the same student.  This adds another level of easy differentiation to the activity too.

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This strategy is something that would lend itself to the middle school ELA classroom. I could use this when discussing any of our anchor texts. I think it would be best implemented later on in the year after a strong classroom culture has been built. Students would need to be comfortable in order to speak and question their classmates as well as have a deep understanding of the topic/text. Much scaffolding would need to be in place not only for my EL students, but for students who are reluctant to speak in class or those who struggle with comprehension. The chart on page 105 lists many scaffolds that would support this strategy. I really like the idea of modeling a Socratic seminar so that student will become comfortable in the process and expectations. I also like the idea of using sentence stems for practice not only in the Socratic Seminar, but in daily class discussion. By practicing asking and answering questions about text, students would develop the independent internal dialogue they need to analyze text for deeper meaning.

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I love the idea of implementing the Socratic Circle in my ELA class. The ability to have an inner circle that discusses the content while the outer circle observes is a valuable took for all students to be able to have a model for how they can participate.

In order to implement this I think it would be a fun idea to get a group of teachers who can be the inner circle for the first run. Getting myself, co-teachers and specialist to come in for one day and do this would show students how it can be done. Additionally I think explicitly teaching the different roles and having cards explaining it with sentences starters would be a good way to help EL students be successful with participating in this strategy.

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I have noticed a lot of you have chosen Guiding Principle #2 and I am in total agreement about creating a welcoming and supportive classroom for EL students. Guiding Principle #1 also resonated with me. Whenever possible, I try and allow students to share their experiences whether it is related to science or another topic we may be discussing. I enjoy learning from students from different cultures their experiences with topics being discussed. When possible, I like for them to share their knowledge with their classmates, however this only happens every so often because the EL student, needs to feel comfortable speaking n front of others.

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We ended the school year with an egg-drop challenge and this story would combine what students did in class with ideas on how to cope and help someone suffering from depression. Depression seems to be on the rise this book may help students realize there are friends, family, teachers, etc. out there who want to help.

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Two of the guiding principles really stuck out to me. Guiding Principle 2: ELs learn best when they are taught in a welcoming and supportive school climate. So much of student learning comes from the environment that they are in, and feeling supportive from their teachers and classmates. Especially for our younger students, they need an environment that makes them feel safe, supported, and confident in taking risks. There needs to be strong relationships between the school, teachers, and families.

The other guiding principle was #5: ELs excel when their teachers leverage advocacy and leadership skills. I definitely want to improve upon my leadership skills and become a better advocate for my ELs and their families.

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I Love Saturdays and y Domingos

p. 31 "There is great variability of cultures within social groups (Erickson, 2007)" - Many of our EL families are from second generation immigrant families and are being raised simultaneously with their home culture and the culture they are experiencing everyday at school.

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I love this idea because it reminds me a lot of a gallery walk. Anchor charts are always a great resource for student to refer back to and this activity gives students the opportunity to add their ideas/answers to share with the class.

In my opinion, when students have a hand in creating and being a part of things in the classroom- they take more ownership of their own learning! The carousel activity could ideally be used in any subject area. Students could help solve math problems, provide evidence/observation for a science experiment, draw/define vocabulary words and so much more.

Another way this could be used is to post “I can” statements or the standard that is being worked on and students can use the anchor chart as their exit tickets. They are able to demonstrate that they have mastered that specific standard.

Tons of possibilities with this activity!! 🙌🏽

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I really liked learning about this activity because it allows students to get up and off their feet and move around the room. This activity also promotes student collaboration and discussion, with built in scaffolding as the students learn from their peers who were in previous groups.
In order to support ELs and the class as a whole, it may be benificial to provide students with sentence starters or questions prompts to help start their conversations. Depending on the topics being discussed, a word bank and/or visuals at each poster could also help students think about academic vocabulary they could use within their group discussion and responses.

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Chapter 1: Guiding Principle 1: ELs bring many strenghts to the classroom.
While all the principles are really important and loaded with meaning, principle #1 resonates with me the most. Teachers have to find time and ways to learn about students as much as possible in order to draw upon that knowledge during the teaching/ learning process. In my opinion, teachers need to provide students with opportunities to get to know their teachers as well. Seeing their teacher as a human being helps students feel more comfortable at school and that may lead to more open and meaningful communication. Guiding Principle 1 is closely related to Guideline 1 mentioned in Chapter 2 which states that „culturally responsive teaching is assets based”.

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I love how this book is written in English and Spanish! It gives equal importance to both and follows the idea of translanguaging in the communication process.

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Product Description: The author has focused her research on 18 countries that contribute a majority of refugees and immigrants to the United States. Each country profile features statistics about the country, a historical synopsis, an overview of the county's official education policy, cultural perspectives, and a problem-solution section containing classroom strategies. The linguistic systems of the languages featured are also included for teacher reference.

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Understanding Your Refugee and Immigrant Students: An Educational, Cultural, and Linguistic Guide

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Product Description: The author has focused her research on 18 countries that contribute a majority of refugees and immigrants to the United States. Each country profile features statistics about the country, a historical synopsis, an overview of the county's official education policy, cultural perspectives, and a problem-solution section containing classroom strategies.

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Debrief Circles
I would like to try the Debrief Circle activity . The activity starts with the independent work that provides sufficient time to answer two questions ( sufficient time being something that teachers have to make sure to include in the lesson). During this first step students are given the opportunity to use any supporting materials ( word walls, anchor charts, glossaries, sentence stems etc.) to answer the questions. They can also practice presenting their answers orally before     sharing their responses with others. During sharing time students are able to use their index cards and eventually may put them away when they gain enough confidance. In my opinion, the activity can be used with all language proficiency levels throughout the grade levels.

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The lineup for this year's summit looks amazing! This is a free event that includes wonderful offerings for all teachers of language. Most sessions are prerecorded. There's also links to ALL of the previous years' sessions. I've watched and rewatched many throughout the years!

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PRE-CONFERENCE LIVE CHAT MLSummit hosts Tan Huynh, Dr. Carol Salva, and Katie Toppel offer DIYpd ideas for USING the MLSummit! ML Summit founders and facilitators ( and #DIYpd4MLs authors) talking about innovative ways to make the most of the summit! Many ideas were shared including some from

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All of the guiding principles are valuable, but the one that resonated the most with me is #2, ELs learn the best when they are taught in a a welcoming and supportive school climate.  All students need to feel comfortable in the classroom to reach their full learning potential.

Going along with the guiding principle of #2, I would recommend the book All Are Welcome.  It is a book that celebrates diversity and makes all students feel welcome!

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Sorry, I am also late to the party, but this summer I am looking forward to movement, movement, movement of any kind...hahaha....and looking forward to catching up with my own four kids, grandson, 9 siblings, and friends while also doing some of my own interesting reading!

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Chapter 1: All four Guiding Principals really spoke to me since this was my first "official" co-taught EL/ELA class at Elm, and I am incredibly grateful that I co-taught with someone as knowledgeable as Jacek Witkos (Guiding Principal#4) as I learned so much in our numerous collaborations together on the phone or before school (only way to work together with no common planning time as you all discussed above here), and he really taught me all the stats that were presented in this section last August.
CHAPTER 2: One book I just added to my classroom library this past May was Jacqueline Woodson's Each Kindness which totally fits the theme of Guiding Principle #1: ELs and all students learn best in a welcoming & supportive school climate.

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Amazingly poignant for all children and adults actually :). . .

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Jacek & I could totally use the Socratic Method (we talked about it after we saw Paul's shared Google Slides from his EPHS work) with our 6th graders for the exact reasons that our colleagues, Traci Dean and Sarah Rippe mentioned above in their padlets with the scaffolding from page 105 (especially the writing organizer to frame their thoughts AND then time to  practice, practice, practice time with support), but I really do also want to try the Role Play Activity (middle school kids can relate to drama...haha!) with a difficult text, such as, our Unit 1 "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson where the ELs can assume the role of Jacqueline & her mom to explore and put themselves into this mother & daughter's incredibly complicated relationship.  The best way we could support our ELs/all kids in this endeavor though would be to make sure that we have meticulously read, annotated and discussed those sections of her memoir in verse with our kids.  Then Jacek & I can role play another section of the poem between Jacqueline and her sister or Uncle Robert so the students see it in action first. 

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Jacek & I could totally use the Socratic Method (we talked about it after we saw Paul's shared Google Slides from his EPHS work) with our 6th graders for the exact reasons that our colleagues, Traci Dean and Sarah Rippe mentioned above in their padlets with the scaffolding from page 105 (especially the writing organizer to frame their thoughts AND then time to  practice, practice, practice time with support), but I really do also want to try the Role Play Activity (middle school kids can relate to drama...haha!) with a difficult text, such as, our Unit 1 "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson where the ELs can assume the role of Jacqueline & her mom to explore and put themselves into this mother & daughter's incredibly complicated relationship.  The best way we could support our ELs/all kids in this endeavor though would be to make sure that we have meticulously read, annotated and discussed those sections of her memoir in verse with our kids.  Then Jacek & I can role play another section of the poem between Jacqueline and her sister or Uncle Robert so the students see it in action first. 

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Loved, loved, loved the book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, a Guide for Kids and Teens by Susan Cain (she wrote an adult version first, & it was due to her popular TED Talk over the same topic), and much of what I learned from her research and numerous anecdotes involving kids/teens is not only beneficial to me as a teacher, but can also be used with our ELs and any students really. . . at any level... by any teacher.  Also, great for SEL or small group work in your classroom with your Extroverts, Ambiverts & Introverts, too, as they learn how to identify which one they are and how to respect each others' strengths/differences in the classroom/small group work/family/world while stretching and growing :).  

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Loved, loved, loved the book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts, a Guide for Kids and Teens by Susan Cain (she wrote an adult version first, & it was due to her popular TED Talk over the same topic), and much of what I learned from her research and numerous anecdotes involving kids/teens is not only beneficial to me as a teacher, but can also be used with our ELs and any students really. . . at any level... by any teacher.  Also, great for SEL or small group work in your classroom with your Extroverts, Ambiverts & Introverts, too, as they learn how to identify which one they are and how to respect each others' strengths/differences in the classroom/small group work/family/world while stretching and growing :).  

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How does the location of a reservoir like the one in the picture below help it to collect water during a rainstorm?

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Which picture might show a father and son walking together on the banks? Based on the text, explain...

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Guiding Principal: I liked #1 about how EL's bring many strengths to the classroom. I was struck with a quote they authors mentioned earlier about how there was no only an achievement gap with EL but an opportunity gap as well. I think carving out time to connect and find their strengths is important.

Ch 2: A culturally diverse book I am curious about is called Clap Where you Land. I have read it yet, but just heard about it recently. Basically it is about 2 sisters, one who lives in the US and another who lives in the Dominican Republic. They have the same father, but their lives are very different. Another one by the same author is The Poet X.

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I like the idea of having students take on the persona of another character and interact. I did Socratic Seminars and Role Playing "Panels" this year and the students were more creative and engaged in the panel. They created personas of smaller characters and then discussed things like the main characters, conversations, etc. using and weaving in details (evidence) from the text.

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I loved the Action Thermometer activity that was listed on page 106. This would be a great activity for both my High School Spanish students [as well as EL students in any content area classroom at the high school level] as it provides a lot of input for students to process before they have to produce the language. While doing the activity, the teacher can put sentence starters or helpful words for EL students to guide them in the discussion phase.

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What is in the canal? Is there a canal in your town? Where may we see a canal?

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I spend a lot of time teaching students how to visualize difficult world problems and draw pictures to support understanding. Some of the questions students get are confusing to visualize or they just don't understand the meaning. This makes it very difficult to solve even if they know the math. Below are two examples from our 3rd grade Go Math chapter tests:

"Elian is making 36 ounces of punch. He pours the same
amount into each of 6 cups. How many ounces of punch
does he pour into each cup?"
(What is punch? Like I "punch" someone in the face? What are ounces?)

"Beth saves all her dimes. Today she is getting them out of her coin jar and wrapping them to take to the bank. She finds she has 400 dimes. It takes 50 dimes to fill each paper wrapper and make a roll. How many wrappers does she need?"
(Who even gets their coins wrapped these days?! And what 3rd grader knows about that??)

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I have done a similar activity in science, however, I never included the final group.  This would be a great way to complete conclusion questions in science.  Students would be responsible for answering the questions on their own (they'd have to show that it has actually been completed as some students tend to be sneaky).  Answering the questions allows the student to process their current knowledge of the content. Through small group discussion (all  must share), students will reinforce or correct their understanding of the content.  Once the group of three agrees on a response, two groups of three will come together, share and reach a final answer as a whole.  The final answers will hopefully be a combination of the two groups' original response unless they are awesome and have similar response. :)

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In our very first novel they talk about helping frogs get to their habitats by building a culvert. This is something we need to spend time helping students understand what it is because it is such an important word in the chapter.

Questions to ask:
Can you find an image of a culvert?
Do we have any culverts nearby?
How would this help frogs cross the street?

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I have used so many cooperative learning activities in the past but never this one. This year I will be working with 3rd and 5th grades and think this will be something to implement in 5th ELA. Of course, modeling for all students would be necessary and the class would need to build a level of trust and camaraderie before finding success in this type of activity. Scaffolds are a must, not just for EL's but for all students that may find this new, difficult and uncomfortable.

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As Vanessa mentioned above, Peardeck, Google Form, Oral re-telling & Graphic Organizers are my go-to formatives at the middle school level due to the add-ons that can assist our ELs and all students really :).

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As Vanessa mentioned above, Peardeck, Google Form, Oral re-telling & Graphic Organizers are my go-to formatives at the middle school level due to the add-ons that can assist our ELs and all students really :).

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This is very basic, but I formatively assess students with white boards almost daily. They bring white boards to the rug during the mini-lesson. Students can write, draw, etc during the lesson. I am also informed by students NOT putting anything on their whiteboard and know to check in with them in a small group or even privately later for confusion and misconceptions. It's an easy and fast quick-check that doesn't put kids on the spot.

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I’m very late to the party! We left for Hawaii a couple days after school let out, came home to dance rehearsals/recitals while still adjusting to the time difference. I’m finally catching up! Chapter 1 is done and I’m moving on to Chapter 2. Hope to catch up over the course of the next few days. My apologies I am so behind! -Lisa Berkery

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Seesaw!  I know last year we used Seesaw as our only platform, but during a typical year, Seesaw is a perfect tool to check in with students.  There are many different tools that allow for differentiation and support our EL learners.  The speaker buttons, as well as the video/audio tools are by far the best! Students can capture any learning whether it's through pencil and paper and they snap a picture, or if they draw and record at the same time.  Being able to listen and see the students' thinking at the same is extremely powerful in seeing where the students are with a specific task.

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In science this word is used with every scope.  The definition: facts or situations that are observed to exist or happen, especially ones whose cause or explanation is in question.  At the beginning of the year, providing the definition along with some examples in nature will be helpful for students to better understand the term.  https://www.bookallsafaris.com/news/natural-phenomena-explained.

Ask the students how these examples are natural phenomena and have them brainstorm what phenomena they have learned about in science already.

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Things I have used in addition to Pear Deck, Google Forms, and graphic organizers include: thumbs up, down, in the middle. I then ask students why they chose their thumb position. I like to get a variety of responses and this is an excellent time to call on EL learners to see how they are thinking since I make it as fun as can be and it is an awesome tool to see who's getting it and who is not. Additionally, I use BrainPOP to provide additional ways to discuss tough science topics in basic ways. The score on the quiz provides information as to understanding of the content. Same is true for Edpuzzles. Middle school students enjoy BrainPOP videos and Edpuzzles as supplemental resources in science.

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I think that  this activity might be very beneficial not only for  EL but also for  most of the  non-EL students due to the first step, which is the independent work time. Giving students an opportunity to think on their own about what they want to say,  before they share their responses within a larger group can eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress, especially for the shy ones. The second step when students work in the group of three allows for sharing their responses. The  group is still small enough for every student to have a chance to participate in the discussion while the teacher can easily observe and facilitate as needed. The last step of combing two groups together , provides excellent opportunity for language reinforcement almost through repetition of their responses but is a lager group. EL students can definitely benefit from hearing/ sharing the same information several times in different forms especially in the initial phase of language acquisition.

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Chapter 1: The guiding principle that resonated with me the most was #2. Although I feel I try my best to make my classroom a welcoming and supportive school environment, this got me thinking of how can I make this more welcoming to ELs. I feel this is an area that I need to grow. Even something as simple as displaying the word "Engineering" in different languages could be a start.

Chapter 2: A book I would like to add to my classroom library would be All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall. This book tells the story of middle school students that come together to build the world's largest tetrahedron and how their personal lives and backgrounds play an important role in the success of their group and their community. Each one has a story to tell and the connections these students make because of their differences is very moving.

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This one really stood out to me. In Engineering, we always begin with a problem statement presented to us and discuss ways to solve this problem. I like this activity because it gets students up and moving, talking/discussing and making more meaningful connections with their peers and to the content.

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After teaching this for the first time this past year, I learned a lot about what this word actually meant. I learned that engineering is not just electrically items. Even though I knew in the back of my mind that it wasn't, I always just lumped engineering in with anything electrical. Instead, I learned to explore the different areas of engineering further with my students. I would start this year by uploading this picture and asking these questions.
1. What is happening in this photo?
2. How do you think this community got clean water?
3. Who was responsible for helping them?
4. What type of engineer might have helped?

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I definitely use Peardeck and EdPuzzles a lot. I also use the Read Aloud features on Quizizz and Factile to help with study guides on vocabulary. I have been been making vocabulary Pixel Art assignments in Google Sheets and I would like to work on making that friendlier for my Els come this school year so I will be reaching out to Paul for some tech help on that. :)

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Crops
One of the words that students might need some clarification on is crops. Students who come from urban areas might not be familiar with the meaning of this word. A definiton could be provided along with a visual to help them better undestand the word meaning.
Dictionary definition: a cultivated plant that is grown as food especially a grain, fruit or vegetable.
One of the questions might ask;
What type of crops do you see in this photograph? Do you know any other crops that people grow for food?

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I second Kathy's post about using it with EL's and all students. I think it really has all the tools to check in on speaking, listening, reading and writing. I feel lucky to be in 3rd grade after all of the primary teachers do so much work to get students comfortable with the Seesaw platform so we can really utilize it to see where students skills are and things we can work on.