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Reference: Breiseth, L. (2016). Getting to Know ELLs' FAMILIES. Educational Leadership, 73(5), 46-50.

The name of the article I found was, "Getting to Know ELLs' Families." I figured that this was a great link because you often see/hear teachers that did not take the time to get to know their ELL student's family. This link offers additional information that correlates to the information we learned in class.

The article stated some great ways that teachers can get to know their ELL student's family and ways that the family will feel involved in their child's education. First, the article stated that teachers have to get over the misconception that certain parents are not involved in their child's education just because they do not attend parent conferences. Often, parents of these children have had to take risks traveling to a new country so their children would have a better life and education. The article stated that teachers can start by being a "creative communicator." This can include, but is not limited to: asking for preferences in communication (phone, email, in person, etc), using bilingual interpreters, etc. Using this information can help teacher's adjust how they get the families to feel comfortable with them. For example, the article stated that one teacher found out that most of their student's families worked in a local food court and held parent-teacher conferences there to help accommodate for them. Finally, the article stated that teachers can use parent interests and talents in the classroom (do not just use family as ambassador) and to share successes with families (big or small). All of these strategies can be used to ensure that teachers are not being biased and are truly getting to know their student's parents and are making sure that parents feel involved.

After evaluating this article, I deemed that it is a great source for educators to use to find additional ways to get to know their student's families. This article can be used not only for ELL students, but the whole class. It listed different ways that teachers can make sure that everyone feels welcomed and comfortable in their classroom, which is the ultimate goal when it comes to families. I also liked that this article incorporated pictures and quotes throughout to help the reader fully grasp the importance of the subject. Overall, this resource had many options (more than I listed) to help teachers and the ELL families.

I would use and recommended this article to future educators for multiple reasons. First, this article had an abundance of options to make sure that teachers are making sure to get to know the ELL family. Some additional options that the article mentioned were ways to find clues about why the family moved (which is vital to know for the child's education) and ways to get a sense of the child's home life. These are critical for educators to know because if the ELL family feels that the teacher does not care to get to know them, the family may become angry, overwhelmed, or may not trust you. It is important that not only do your ELL families feel welcome, but your whole class.

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Hiatt-Michael, D. B. (2007). Promising Practices for Teachers to Engage Families of English Language Learners. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing
The authors of Promising Practices for Teachers to Engage Families of English Language Learners provided practical activities that can be done in the classroom to engage the families of the ELL population. It combines resources, policies, and communication skills that are effective for educators.

This resource explores the importance of parental involvement in the educational setting and how it directly relates to student success and achievement. Educators must recognize that each child that enters the classroom is a unique individual that comes from a different cultural background then their own. The first step is to build a caring and respectful relationship with the families. Create a warm environment, make personal contact, and use effective communication methods for the families. Develop an understanding of the families and communities by building connections and familiarizing yourself with the demographics of the area. Reach out to the families and bring them into the school setting through open houses and events. Make them aware that their efforts are critical to academic success of their student. Last but not least make the classroom parent-friendly and offer culturally sensitive parent education programs.

The book focuses on seven broad categories on how to engage the families of English Language Learners. Within the broad categories are specific examples of how to engage the families and provide support. The resource focuses on educators and families working together as a team to better benefit the academic success of the student. The resource views the families as leaders and the educators as advocates.

I chose this resource because it offered the best practices for working with ELL families. The book highlights effective ways to create an open door policy for the families of ELL students. It also suggested different ways that teachers can help families feel welcome, appreciated, and respected for their home culture. The book discusses how to build a personal relationship with the families and make them feel like leaders in their child’s education. It also discusses how to point different families in the community towards resources such as a parent educational program. It offers ways to engage parents and respect them as part of the decision making team.

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Southern Poverty Law, C. (2013). Best Practices: Engaging Limited English Proficient Students and Families. A Teaching Tolerance Guide.

This article was geared towards school administrators (although teacher can also use it as a guide) as to how schools can meet the needs of ELL students and families. The article provides best practices that covers three categories that usually are major concerns when working with ELL families. The article explains that if schools do not effectively communicate, provide an inclusive school climate, and properly inform families about student registration, then tension and worry can arise in ELL families in regards to being involved. The best practices that are provided include translated materials, hosting informational sessions for families about student registrations, and inviting families to share their cultures. The article even provides links to resources that schools can use to make communication with ELL families better (such as translated school forms or readings on how to enhance teachers’ cross-cultural communication skills.

This article did a fantastic job with highlighting major concerns in ELL families first. Typically, teachers may not focus on stressors that these families can face that causes them to be unable to engage in their child’s education. A major issues is lack of communication. This article explained that parents depend on communication from schools, wither its relying a message on busing and safety or on grades, but when the school does not provide the proper support for ELL families to communicate effectively, the line of communication is lost right away. The article suggested that teachers provide translated materials to ensure effective communication with parents, and to provide the proper resources that the school offers for language assistance for families. This article also talks about school climate and how creating a positive school community is crucial because ELL parents need to feel just as much a part of the school community as the English-speaking parents. Lastly, providing a smooth student registration process can help ELL families feel at ease and ensure them that school policies, practices, and procedures are equal for all parents. Focusing on these three areas can help ELL parents feel more comfortable about the school and more open to communicating if they know that there are supports in place.

I chose this article because of the practices that it provided. I believe that parents are essential in the learning process, and that schools should work accordingly to ensure that the parents feel they have support when they need it. ELL families may not speak much English or any English at all, and this article provides many opportunities to ensure that language does not stand in the way of communication. I love that this article mentioned that teachers should organize themselves by having a list of all the ELL parents, if they speak a language other than English, and if so what is that language and how much assistance do they require. This may be more work, however, once teachers know this, they can provide essential materials (such as change of address forms, reason for absences, early dismissal, or request for conferences forms) in the parents’ native language. I also chose this article because it stresses the importance of helping ELL families feel like they are a part of the school community. Providing services such as translators at informational session, or even inviting families in to share their cultures with students can help them feel welcome. It is our goal to help all of our parents feel as comfortable as possible to continue to create a positive learning and school environment for students and their families.

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Reference: Pratt-Johnson, Y. (2015). Stressors experienced by immigrant and other non-native English-speaking students in U.S. schools and their families. Journal Of Social Distress & The Homeless, 24(3), 140-150. doi:10.1179/1053078915Z.00000000018

The article I selected was about how school-aged immigrant children in the United States face stressors not typically experienced by their native-born peers and these certain stressors can obstruct their academic growth or hurt their chances for career success. Most people think English language learners only stressor is the language barrier but in fact they face a variety of complex stressors that are completely unrelated to language at all. All of which are just as real or significant as the obvious barrier. This article talks about how their definition of “family” is not always the same as ours. As teachers we need to get to know where this child came from and why. Many times English learners do not live with their immediate family and they have been sent to live with relatives or with family friends in the United States. These are situations that we do not understand because we have never experienced it ourselves.  “Many Americans, both inside and outside the field of education, make the mistake of assuming that the only stressor that new or recent immigrants typically experience originates from the need to learn English (Pratt).” This article discussed these stressors in four categories: (a) separation of families for extended periods, (b) changes in familial roles, (c) new and on-going social and legislative pressure that targets immigrant families, and (d) school bullying and harassment. The stress connected with any of these occurrences can be substantial. Yet many English language students experience stressors in all of these categories, as well as the stressors for every native student faces as well, in addition to the stress of learning a new language and adapting to a new culture.

After reading and evaluating this article I find that it is a great source for educators to use to find further information about their students lives outside of the classroom. While this article works great for English language learners it can work for the rest of the students as well. It takes the teacher out of her fairy tale of how their stories go. Throughout the article there was little stories or student’s perspectives on a specific subject. This lets us look through their eyes and see what they wanted to be able to tell us. Overall, I found this article helpful and I believe it has many variables that we need to think about.

I would definitely use and recommend this source to other educators. I chose their source because it offered many other stressors that we don’t think our students and their families face. It is our job as a teacher to create a warm and welcoming classroom but how do you do that if you don’t know who is walking in your room everyday. This article connected to me personally because I know my family means a lot to me, and I have often went to school with my family on my mind all day. It was hard for me a native speaker of English to focus on school, so how do we expect an ELL child that had to leave their family in another country to sit and focus. At the end of the day we as educators need to take the initial step in learning our student.

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Reference: George Theoharis. (2011). Leading Inclusive ELL:

Social Justice Leadership for English Language Learners

Retrieved From: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013161X11401616

The article I selected is about how the leadership roles can create better social just schools for ELL families. It addresses two main questions. They are as follows: "In what ways do principals create asset-based, collaborative, and inclusive learning opportunities and services for ELLs?" and "What do varying approaches of these services and the leadership necessary look like in practice?". The article reflects off of two important case studies. They were based on two urban elementary schools. This article is geared more towards higher up administration such as principals.

I feel that this article did a fantastic job going over what principles can do to help get their teachers involved with ELL families. It explained how the principal adopted a dual certification program. This made the staff engage in a sort of seminar based around professional development around ELL families. They combined federal, state, and local resources to eliminate ELL pull out and reduce the class sizes. So that the elementary teachers would start taking sole responsibility of both ELL and non-ELL students. This made them build a stronger community with both families and studies showed it turned out very well.

I chose this article because I one day plan to become a principal in a school district. So I took the responsibility to research the roles I would need to take to build a better community for my ELL families and students. I like the whole idea of not pulling out the ELL students as much. This stood out to me because if we are constantly taking them away form their pets how are they going to be able to get involved like the other students and their families. If they are being pulled out they may be missing the information they need to relay to their families to get involved in after school activities. I would recommend this to other fellow future principals because this is reliable source and idea we can use to keep our school a close knit family for everyone!

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Eric Fairman

Reference: https://youtu.be/eoKVYcNwg_8
colorincolorado. (2012, December 14). ELL parent engagement in Middle School. Retrieved December 1, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoKVYcNwg_8

This five minute video begins by talking about how difficult parent engagement can be at the middle level. The first thing that this teacher says is how they have over 100 languages represented school-wide and how they do not have enough translators to go around for each language. This presents a pretty obvious challenge. One thing this teacher said she likes to do is send emails/notifications/any form of communication out to these parents in their native language. She also explains to us how she likes to call home and leave messages on the answering machine. During these messages, she talks very slowly so that if a parent does not understand it, maybe an aunt or uncle who speaks some English can translate. Finally, she talks about how she encourages family members to read with their children at home.  She likes to talk about these experiences at parent-teacher conferences.
For me, I really broke this resource down into 2 main points.  One, how she likes to communicate with parents in their native language.  She believes this will ultimately help their English over time.  And two, the importance she puts on reading at home.  I really like the idea of having her ELL students read with their parents at home.  This is beneficial for both the student and the parents.  This is one of the first things discussed at conferences.
I think this is a good beginning resource for teachers to look at. You have to believe this teacher knows what she is talking about considering there are over 100 languages represented throughout her school. Her ideas are simple and she really takes the time to walk you through and explain her thought process. I would certainly recommend this resource to others, especially those in the Reading/Language Arts fields. Her backpack idea full of books is brilliant.

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Lydia Breiseth, Kristina Robertson, Susan Lafond. (2011).  A Guide for Engaging ELL Families: Twenty Strategies for School Leaders. Retrieved from: https://neusha.org/student/programs/attachments/GuideforengagingELLfamilies.pdf
The authors of this resources put together strategies in which the teacher can connect with ELL families and help them become involved in their child's education.

This article is split up into six main sections and they are connection with ELL families, communicating important information, parent participation, parents as leaders, community partnerships, and creating a plan. Educators need to make connections with not just the students but their families as well. They need to not only make the child feel welcomed and safe but the parents also. This will help build a relationship based on trust.  Educators have to take into consideration the culture from which the ELL student and family come from.  Their beliefs on topics such as school may be viewed differently than here in the U.S.  Communication is key between the family and teacher. It is important for the teacher to find out the best way to communicate important information to the parents. If that is phone calls instead of notes home, face to face, having a translator, or having the material being sent home be in the native language for the parents to read then that is what has to be done.  There are also many ways ELL parents can be involved and volunteer in the classroom/school.  First, teachers must encourage them to do so and welcome them into their rooms.

After evaluating the article, I find this article to be very helpful when trying to build a relationship with an ELL family.  You can use the strategies provided in the article to reach out to the ELL family or these strategies may help you brainstorm some of your own ideas.  Not only can these be used on ELLs but all your students in your class as well.  You want all your students and families to feel welcomed and apart of the classroom.  It provides many different aspects that we as educators need to take into consideration when we have an ELL in the class.

I would use and recommend this article because of all the different topics throughout the resource it provides strategies you can use in your own classroom to assist you on that topic. It talked about parents taking a leadership role. I think that is very important and parents are teachers too. Another thing I liked about the article is that it gave examples for each individual topic which I thought was helpful to read. I was able to see different ideas that were actually used and worked for a certain school. It also touched on topics or issues that I was unfamiliar with and it helped me learn more about it.

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Reference- How to Reach Out to Parents of ELLs. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2017, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/how-reach-out-parents-ells

The name of the article that I found best for this assignment was " How to reach out to the families of ELL'S"
This article talks about a few ways in which reaching out to the families of ELL's can be easy or better for both the instructor and the family. The article discusses communicating with them through their native language/ translation. Connecting them with any staff in the education building that may speak the same language and even taking it upon ones self to make an attempt to learn the language. This applies to both the instructor as well as the family.
I think that this resource can be very beneficial for future instructors. The reason why I chose this source over other sources that I found was because this one closely correlates to some of the strategies that we discussed in class regarding EL families and the best ways to approach them. The article even took it one step further to explain that because the families are not involved, doesn't mean that they do not care. They simply may not know how to get involved.
I would both use and recommend this article to others in the coming profession because it shines a light on the things we need to do. We cannot continue to make assumptions that get us no where and that do not benefit the students. As educators we must be prepared to take he extra mile to see our students succeed.

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Panferov, S. (2010). Increasing ELL Parental Involvement in Our Schools: Learning From the Parents. Theory Into Practice, 49(2), 106-112.
This article presents information about the parents of the ELL students being involved in their child’s school. It explains the challenges and struggles of the ELL student and their family. The educator needs to understand that the ELL student and their parent will have hard times, so they need to think of alternate outcomes to approach different scenarios.

This article shared many different ways in which a parent can become more involved in their child’s life. Any parent can face challenges when being involved in their child’s school. However, it is more challenging for the parents of the ELL. They may struggle more with someone who is fluent in English simply because they aren't English proficient or their culture states different rules in which they are not familiar with. There is a positive effect on the ELL child whenever their parents become involved. In turn, it may be very challenging and difficult at times to advise the parent to be more involved. Professionals have to constantly remember that we will never understand the person’s culture or realities completely. Their involvement should relate to their previous, learning experiences. Having background knowledge on the student and their family increases the likelihood of a parent becoming more involved in their child’s life.

After evaluating this article, I can confirm that it is a great source of information for educators to become more informed of increasing ELL parental involvement. It shares great advice as to how to work with an ELL and their family. For example, it says school communication strategies were beneficial to the parents. Home visits and personal interviews are also highly recommended. Home visits made the student and their family become more comfortable and the portrays respect towards each individual. Personal interviews are a great way to understand how the parents want to be communicated. Meeting and speaking with parents face to face is a great aspect to inform them on how to guide their child and what to do. Educators can also recommend the parents to volunteer at school events for their child, or participate in  bilingual parent workshops.

I would use this resource in a variety of ways. This article states many approaches as to what to do to help the parent become more involved. Also, it states relevant pieces of information that we learned in class. If I ever were to feel stuck on a situation and don't know how to go about it, I can use this article as a reference to help me come to my decision. Furthermore, I think that parents are very essential in their child’s learning process. Children progress more whenever their parens give then attention and guidance, rather than a parent who shuns their child and never provides assistance. This article states many times about the various, positive effects children have had whenever their parents became involved. It is our job to have a welcoming and comfortable classroom for our students. I would recommend this to others because it gives background information and guidelines about how to increase parental involvement in their child’s school. Overall, this piece is very informative and needs to be shared with other educators.

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Hardin, B. b., Scott-Little, C., & Mereoiu, M. (2013). Developing the BIO Questionnaire: A Bilingual Parent Report Tool for Prekindergarten English Learners of Latino Heritage. Journal Of Research In Childhood Education, 27(4), 485-509. doi:10.1080/02568543.2013.824940

This resource discusses how the screening process for ELL families needs to improve because the parents hold the most information about the child in the classroom. There is a new questionnaire now called bilingual information and observation that collects useful and important information. It is for the parents to fill out and cinludes information such as the child's development history, the usage of both languages, and the exposure. The article also discusses the need to improve inital screenings for ELL and to figure out useful information listed above before conducting one to decrease failing it. Parents know their child the best so the information answered in the BIO is very useful.

This article did a great job explaining the parts of the BIO questionnaire and how it was formed. There are three sections on the BIO that go into much detail.  It goes into great detail about how useful this tool is for teachers to know their ELL student before the school year begins and for the screening test. The BIO was created at first to help ELL not fail the screening and to help be more successful in the classroom.  The components that the BIO asks the parents helps to suggest information needed to understand the child's leaning and development in the class.

This resource would be extremely useful for all school districts to use with ELL children entering the district. The article mainly talks about preschool but any grade level can use the questionnaire to find out this valuable information to use in the classroom. Teachers wouldn't give this questionnaire to the parents but the information from it can be very useful in creating lesson plans and figuring out where they may be in the classroom. It can be used as a tool for learning for the teacher. The article had results on how much the parents liked the questionnaire and liked sharing the information with teachers. This resource helps give teachers a lot of background of the child first hand and not through just research.

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George Day
Breiseth, Lafond, Robertson.  (2011).  A Guide for Engaging ELL Families:  Twenty Strategies for School Leaders.  Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/guide/guide-engaging-ell-families-twenty-strategies-school-leaders.

This guide presents twenty ways in which school officials and teachers can create a welcoming culture for ELL students and their families.  The guide contains several sections of importance that are necessary to make ELL families feel welcome in their new school.  Each section describes the reasons why these changes are important, a reflection section for the reader to think about their own school setting, and strategies to make the necessary changes.  This guide is an important tool to assist in the transition into an ELL-friendly environment, and contain strategies that are easy to implement.

Ash, Donald. (nd).  My First Elementary School Undokai.  The Japan Guy.  Retrieved from https://www.thejapanguy.com/my-first-elementary-school-undokai/.

This is an article describing a traditional Japanese event known as “Undokai”, or “Sports Day”.  It is a school-wide event held on a Saturday or Sunday in both Elementary and Junior High Schools in Japan.  This article describes an event that is inclusive for families in which students, teachers, and parents compete across all grades in two teams.  This event typically draws numerous family members, and is an all-day event around building camaraderie through the students and parents.

These two sources work to serve as a single example of how to develop an environment where all families can feel like they are a part of something, which allows easy involvement for ELL families.  The guide specifically outlines the importance of developing personal connections with ELL families, which Undokai could easily do.  While the original format of Undokai is very formal, it can be relaxed to make the event an all-day celebration of the school.  It encourages teamwork from the youngest to the oldest, and helps new students feel at home.  Since it is held on a Saturday or Sunday, it would provide a greater opportunity for all families to participate.  Having attended such an event when my daughter was in school, I can attest to the fact that it was an enjoyable day for all.  Despite my limited ability to speak Japanese, I did not feel like I was not a part of the school.

These types of events are a fun means to bring the school together in the form of a community.  Unlike the typical field days here in the US, this event focusses on the teams and not the individuals.  It encourages older children to help the younger children, and each student feels like they are contributing.  Since it is an informal event, it eliminates the perception of superiority of the school administrators over the students and families.  This could reduce anxiety that ELL families experience in dealing with the schools.  The Undokai event could be altered to include a community-style barbecue at the end, which would allow teachers to meet parents in an informal setting.  The key to this idea is to make families feel welcome.  Any kind of event that gives families and teachers an opportunity to talk in an informal and fun environment increases the feeling of belonging for the family.  By feeling a sense of belonging, families would feel more inclined to participate, or be involved, in school-wide activities.  This also allows teachers to find out more about families by talking with parents in an informal setting.

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Cruz, B., & Thornton, S. J. (2013). Teaching Social Studies to English Language Learners. New York: Routledge.

The resource I chose is all about teaching Social Studies to ELL’s. Not only does it just go over how one should teach social studies to an ELL, it also provides examples and explanations of what you can expect in your classroom. It provides principles and strategies such as suggesting allowing ELLs to have extra time and additional supports, as well as working with the ELL to discover patterns in the English language within social studies. The article is split into three parts. Part 1 is “Your English Language Learner” and provides details on different types of ELLs the teacher can expect. Part 2 is titled “Principles of Social Studies Teaching and Learning,” This area discusses the strategies that can be used. Last, part 3 is “Teaching Social Studies.” Here the strategies are used, and examples are given to the teacher. This article ultimately acts as a useful tool when teaching a social studies class that may have ELLs within it.
This article does a terrific job explaining what to expect from an ELL in a social studies classroom. It provides specific issues they may face with the vocabulary, history, and classroom assessments. However, within part 1 of the article it provides several ideas and strategies to get parents involved in their child’s education. The article makes 3 strong suggestions to teachers in terms of involving the parents of an ELL. First, a teacher must familiarize themselves with the parents to form a rapport with them. Learn about their background, language, and culture. This allows the teacher to avoid any missteps. Second, it states that the teacher should find a way to consistently communicate with the parents. This allows for the teacher to answer any questions the parents may have, while also providing them with a constant flow of information of their child’s progress. Last, we as the teachers should also focus on helping to teach the parents. This type of support can lead to us breaking down more barriers than anything else. The articles then provide a chart of common issues that arise between parents of ELLs and the teacher. On the next page of the article there is another chart that has how the teacher is expected to respond to these issues. This article ultimately does a fantastic job explaining how the teacher can work with the parents in order to get them involved.
All together this article does a fantastic job covering how to work with parents and get them involved. Moreover, it goes far beyond this. It provides a multitude of strategies to use on the ELLs and provides many examples for the teacher to work off. I would recommend this article to other people mainly because it goes above and beyond in terms of explaining how to work with the parents and their children. I would use this article myself mainly due to the fact that it has a focus on social studies and its examples of the strategies in use are very helpful.

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Taylor Kolesar

Shim, J. M. (2013). Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interactions. Rural Educator, 34(3), 18-26.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=0d1ec5ac-7489-4232-8a92-a8727c1b9f0f%40sessionmgr120

The article was about the rapid increase of racial and ethnic diversity in their student population. So, schools in rural areas are experiencing a educational challenge to meet the needs of all the students in the population. The article stated that parental involvement is the center of education success outside of the school. As many studies have found that when a parent is involved, the rate of success of their child increases. In most rural areas the impact of their parents serves as a factor to the students' decision to attend college after high school. So, a study was preformed through qualitative questioning to explore the dynamics of ELL parent-teacher interactions. After the study, the three most reoccurring themes in the ELL parent- teacher interaction was teachers' judgment towards ELL students and their parents; ELL parents' frustration about their inability to influence a teachers' decision making; and ELL parents' fear pf repercussions for speaking up.

The article was interesting to read because you got a first hand experience into what a ELL parent is thinking when they are engaging in parent-teacher interaction. The impact of parent involvement is everything, so us as teachers need to do our best to earn the trust and respect of every family in out classroom. The article suggested that we need to learn to become "listeners", and patiently, and respectfully listen to the parents perspectives on their children. As always, we should see the ELL parent as a essential partner, as they can contribute information that is only present at home, so it can enrich the ELL students' learning experience and success. The article ended with stating that, as a rural area with mostly whites that have little exposer to diversity, should remind themselves that a child's and parent's proficiently level in English and accent cannot be equated with their intelligence level.

In the future I would use this resource (article) to ensure myself that I am being respectful to all families. The article was based around my biggest component into a child's' success, which is the parent- teacher communication. Always remember that during the school year, the teacher spends more time with the child than their actually parents. So, making sure you have a trustful, strong relationship with the parents will make the school year a success for you and the families in your classroom. I will keep this article in mind in my future, of reference or if i feel the need to share it with another teacher that is new to ELL families. Always remember that a person's proficiently in English, does't measure their intelligence.

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Vera, E. M., Israel, M. S., Coyle, L., Cross, J., Knight-Lynn, L., Moallem, I., & ... Goldberger, N. (2012). Exploring the educational involvement of parents of English learners. The School Community Journal, 22(2), 183-202.

This article was a great article that discussed how parental
involvement is very important in a child's life, especially an english language learner. All children need to have support from their families.The population of children from immigrant families is growing faster than any other group of children in the United States. In some cultures, parents believe that the teachers know it all and that they parents have no say in a child's academic life. It is very important for the ELL teacher to push families to be involved.

There were many different examples for how to involve parents of ELL's. This article also showed different scenarios and charts further explaining more depth details. The parents can also try to learn english so they can help their children and understand what the teacher is saying. Parents can help their students with their homework as best as they can.

I will reflect back on this article for when I become a teacher incase there is a ELL in my classroom. I think that all teachers need to become familiar with ELL students and their cultures. When they are familiar with their students, they will understand how each and every one of them learn. I recommend all of my classmates to read this article. It is a great article to do a review on.

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Smith, Jay; Stern, Kenneth; Shatrova, Zhanna. (2008). Factors Inhibiting Hispanic PArents' School Involvement.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ869288.pdf

I chose this article because it focuses one one area of ELL parental involvement and practices for the Hispanic population in American towns and cities. Though this research was conducted in 2008, as of 2015 a large amount of immigrants in the U.S. were from Hispanic countries (such as Mexico, Cuba, Spain, etc.). At the time of release for this study, Hispanic youth were the most under-educated group  and had the highest rate of drop out in the U.S. population.  It is proven hat parent involvement improves the chances of a student graduating high school and pursuing post secondary education. This study also provided recommendations for schools for further actions to provide help for parents of ELL students.

This article made the point that Hispanic parents usually take on the mindset of schools having the hands on duties for their children. This leads to them having their low levels of participation in their children's education. American teachers define parental involvement as active engagement in meetings and activities with the school and students. However, Hispanic parents define parental involvement as an indirect participation in activities such as home work checks and reading with their children. Through this study, the inability of the parents to effectively communicate with and understand English was the biggest obstacle for them. The study was conducted on local Hispanic families who agreed to work with the researchers. Their findings were that all the participants viewed their responsibilities and their roles were to supervise their children doing homework. All other roles were for the teachers and the school. The findings at the end were helpful recommendations for schools to take into consideration. Recommendations included offering English classes at schools after hours for parents who want to learn. This way parents would be able to communicate back and forth with the teachers with less hindrance than before.

I would use this and recommend it to others because every little bit of help can be effective in the long run. Parents of all cultures usually are quoted saying that a language barrier is a common problem. Not being able to understand what the teacher is saying to you can be a real problem, not just for the Hispanic culture. Offering classes for the parents can help break that barrier and connect the parents with the teachers, leading to the higher chance of success for the students. I don;t believe that using it right away would help much, though. It takes time to set up a program like this. If a school wanted to use this, then they would need someone to teach and a response from the community if they want to learn.

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Shim, J. M. (2013). Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interactions. Rural Educator, 34(3), 18-26.

The article I found to be very beneficial is called Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interactions , by Jenna M. Shim. The article basically discusses and suggest that the current ELL parental involvement model often overlooks that structural aspects and power asymmetry of parent-teacher relationships that can hinder productive collaboration. The article also touches base on different types of challenges that educators face when teaching English Language Learners. The article gives information on three broad themes that emerged as obstacles that inhibit productive ELL parent-teacher interactions. These themes are (1) teachers judgments toward ELL students and their parents, (2) ELL parents frustration about their inability to influence a teachers decision making and (3) ELL parents fear of repercussions for speaking up. The article is targeted towards readers  in other English-speaking environments, educators, parents of ELL students, as well as those concerned with second-language speakers. The article addresses a variety of different types of challenges and methods that can be used by the teacher and parents to help distinguish the difficulties that are faced each day by the teacher as well as the ELL's and their families.

In the article, Shim elaborates on how ELL's are the fastest growing population among the school-age group in the nation and that it will continue to grow. ELL's and their families tend to settle in geographical locations that are rural, therefore schools in rural states are facing unique educational challenges in meeting the needs of diverse student populations, including ELL's. Shim then goes on to say that research in the field of education is constantly striving to improve student learning, and the importance of parental involvement in student success at school now seems obvious. Unfortunately, educators face different challenges when it comes to getting the ELL's parents and families involved in their learning. Barriers that may prevent involvement of parents of ELL's have been identified as 'language, cultural differences, work schedules, and transportation'. Shim also includes that 'parental involvement in school activities alone will not increase student achievement; rather it is the quality of interactions and communication between teachers and parents that has s significant impact on student achievement.

Overall, I enjoyed this article and found it to be very informative on ELL's and family/parent interaction. I would use this resource because it gives valuable information on why ELL families and parents may not want to be as involved as well as gives information on how educators can attempt to get the families and parents actively participating in their child's education. Shim includes techniques and scenarios that describe different ways to get families and parents involved. She includes things such as an ELL parent night that allows the parents to come in twice a year to spend time with the student and the teacher. After, the parent night, the parents get a chance to speak out on how they feel about their child's teacher as well as how they felt about the parent night itself. I would highly recommend this article to others because it teaches one how to better interact with ELL families and ways that they can better interact as well.

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Emad Hakim
Sato, E. (2015 , July 24). Six Insights for Parents/Caregivers with English Language Learners . Retrieved from pearsoned: https://www.pearsoned.com/six-tips-for-parentscaregivers-with-english-language-learners/

This resource discusses the challenges that ELLs and their families face in the education system. It starts with providing the reader with some facts about the increasing number of English language learners in public schools. It comes to the conclusion that 1 in 10 students in public schools is an English language learner. It also suggests six insights for parents to assist their children with learning the new language and the content. They are strategies that parents can use easily with their children and they seem to have fantastic results in enhancing their language literacy.

I believe this resource is useful for many reasons. First, it provides simply explained techniques for improving the parents’ participation in their children’s academic life. Consequently, the resource can be handy for both educators and parents as it doesn’t need special major to understand. Second, Teachers can use this resource to find useful ideas and advice to tell the parents of their students. In addition, the author uses a very convincing way to illustrate the problem of ELLs before providing the solution which creates the need for the solution. The author also refers the reader for other “related to the topic” articles for more in-depth research.

I’d recommend the resource to educators and parents who are looking for strategies to assist ELLs. The reasons behind this is that I feel the complicatedness of many resources dealing with this problem which makes them impossible for parents to use without educational knowledge. However, this resource skims the research about language development at home and academic literacy into six specific strategies. It provides clear instructions to implement these ideas. It can be very useful for somebody who seeks for information about the ELL parent involvement problem without the need for reading through unnecessary statistics , experiential procedures and complicated language.

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Waterman, R.A. (2006). Breaking Down Barriers, Creating Space: A guidebook for increasing collaboration between schools and the parents of English Language Learners.
Waterman, a graduate from Harvard's School of Education, compiles different aspects to consider when engaging ELL families. Research, policy recommendations, and NCLB requirements preface the guidelines. Effective family involvement is first discussed which is followed by existing programs and resources. Effective family involvement is broken down into effective translations, the keys to successful first parent meetings and follow-up meetings, and also resources that can be developed for the parents of the ELLs. Existing programs and resources include those for both educators and families.

Not only is this article clear and easy to understand, the strategies discussed are also research based. Waterman addresses the positive effects that family engagement has on the success of ELLs which he has researched and seen first hand while working in public schools. The different areas that are addressed in the handbook are connected to the requirements of No Child Left Behind. This makes the requirements clear and also serves as a great starting point to develop strategies to effectively engage ELL families. Each aspect of the guide is broken down by a short description of the topic and also of the research. The article is very descriptive but also straightforward which makes it easy to understand for those who are just beginning to collaborate with families of ELLs.

I will use this article and recommend it to my future colleagues because of it uses research-based strategies and because of how easy it is to understand. Waterman states that this is a guidebook and not, "a recipe". Because this is a framework, it can be customized based on the needs of ELL families that I will be collaborating with, specifically. I learned about how and why to consider multiple aspects when considering effective engagement of ELL families. Overall, this article was informative and an excellent resource for all future educators to utilize.

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Ferlazzo, L. (2016, January 30). Response: Building Relationships With Families of ELLs.

The website I selected is called “Building Relationships With Families of ELL’s.” This source focuses on sharing student progress with parents, connecting ELL’s to the American culture to build a strong relationship with the student’s school. It is suggested in this source that having open-houses, face-to-face meetings, and sending home monthly newsletters will help with communication for ELL’s parents. This way the ELL’s parents can be engage in their child’s learning. There four factors to keep in mind when engaging with ELL families. These four factors are; engaging families in their child’s learning, “ “ as active participants in the school community, “ “ improve two-way communication, “ “ to make sure they receive the support they need to ensure their child’s school success.

This website I selected has some very helpful tips and tricks to use when coming in contact with an ELL’s families. The website is up to date, easy to read, and visually pleasing to the eye. The website is set-up with questions and answers from teachers in regards to ELL students and their families. After the questions on the website, there are articles and tips that teachers can use. There are a few tools that teachers can use when communicating to ELL parents; Google Translate if it used to simple words and sentences, Remind a free and simple way to send texts to parts, and Class Dojo which sents texts to parts when their child is having a behavior problem in the class.

I would definitely recommend this site to my friends that are going to be teachers and current classroom teachers. All of the information on this site is beneficial and be used in a future classroom. I will use the information on this site in my future classroom, because the information on the website is everything that we talked about in class plus more information. Before I was on this website, I would have never thought to use a tool like Class Dojo or Remind. I did not know these tools were available to use for teachers. There is a quote on this site that I felt was very true and accurate about ELL families, “To successfully connect with parents of English learners, school make a whole-school effort to establish a welcoming environment and built bridges that go both ways.”- Judie Haynes in Education Week Teacher

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Maura O'Brien

Lasky, B., & Karge, B. D. (2011). Involvement of Language Minority Parents of Children with Disabilities in Their Child's School Achievement. Multicultural Education, 18(3), 29-34.

This article compares the difficulties families who are not native to the english language have with school involvement to families who have children disabilities as well has families who are not native to english and have children with special needs. They talk about time inconvenient for families, lack of transportation for parents and or the child, and communication and language barriers. They discuss how in so cultures families don't get involved simply because they don't understand what is being asked of them. These parents are usually unaware of educational program that are available to there children.  Parents who do not speak english are normally intimidated when schools offer english learning programs for the parents themselves.  Families of these students often find it hard to understand certain types of documents that are sent home with there children. Most of these parents do not want to over step their boundaries or step on the teachers toes, they believe and respect the teacher (almost too much) where they don't what to put in their two cents.  Over all they are noticing that all three types of families have the same reason as to why they are not getting involved.

This article did an amazing job at explaining why families are not getting involved. They talk about effective ways that the school personals can welcome these families and have them be more involved. They talk about student and teacher meeting as well parent/teacher meeting.  They talk about how they can all set goals together for, and see what is best for the child.  I mostly enjoyed the comparisons between the three different types of families. I feel it is important for school to notice that three very different types of families are having similar problems.

I used this resource because it explains in details multiple thing the school personal can do to help ELL students, there families and even ELL students with disabilities. I would recommend this article to others because it helps you understand the feeling of not one but three different types of families. These types of families are going to be in every school setting and it is best to start to get them involved as soon as that child enter the school. That way there are giving their child the most support they can receive. Lastly I would recommend it because it talks about how they can explain IEP's to parents which is a great idea considering a lot of families who are native to english don't understand IEP's themselves. Overall this article helped me understand that very different families are struggling with school involvement.

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Grapeseed (2017). 8 Ways to engage English language learners’ families in their child’s education.  Retrieved from: https:// grapeseedUS.com/8-ways-to-engage-english-language-learner-families-in-their-child’s-education

The name of the article I selected for this Padlet is “8 Ways to Engage English Language Learner Families in Their Child’s Education.”  The article states that English Language Learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing population in public schools.  Studies have shown that students with parents who are involved in their child’s education earn higher grades and test scores, demonstrate better social skills, and graduate high school.  The article provides tips for teachers to use to help ELL parents feel comfortable participating in school events and activities. The eight tips the article suggests are: do the research on students and families history, learn about the student’s culture, ask the school to host a family event, invite parents and caregivers into the school and classroom, send home updates and materials, communicate directly with parents, encourage families to support the student in the home setting, and get help if there is a language barrier.

I feel like this resource would be beneficial for teachers to use when trying to include ELL parents in the school setting. The resource provides the teacher with solid tips to help make ELL parents feel more comfortable volunteering and participating in school activities.  This article not only helps teachers with ELL parent inclusion in school, but it also helps teachers form better relationships with parents. This resource provides suggestions to improve communication between school and parents of the ELL student.  For example, the resource suggests using an interpreter if there is one available to the school.

I could definitely see myself in the future using the tips provided in this resource to help get ELL parental involvement in school.  The one tip that sticks out the most to me is to let ELL parents know about volunteer opportunities and how they can help with parties, field trips, and other school or classroom events.  Another reason I would use this resource is that the suggested tips are not too complicated for the teacher to implement.  I would recommend this resource to others who are struggling getting parental involvement in school, because it provides multiple tips that are not difficult to implement.  I would also recommend this resource because I truly believe that the information could be beneficial for educators and school personnel.

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Sibley, E., & Brabeck, K. (2017). Latino Immigrant Students’ School Experiences in the United States: The Importance of Family– School–Community Collaborations. School Community Journal,27(1), 137-157. Retrieved March 1, 2017, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-calu.klnpa.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=673bfb4a-a407-4e9c-9769-b7b9784a392b%40sessionmgr4010

This article is about Latino immigrant students' and how they experience school in the United States. It discusses the large amount of immigrants living in the U.S. These students face different educational experiences than other students. They must face adaptation to a new lifestyle, language barriers, and unfamiliarity.  They also face risk factors, such as living in poverty because their families are starting out in a new place. Because of all these factors, these students have social and emotional pressures added onto them.

This resource is important and useful because it shows you all that an immigrant family is going through. The obvious factor is that they do not speak the English language, but other things such as the cultural background and starting a new life, need to be taken into consideration. These things can really effect a student's lives. In order to fully understand one's students, they need to know the circumstances they are going through. This article can help give insight into that.

This resource is helpful in understanding the lives of immigrants. It also shows how the community can impact these immigrants. We can make a difference in the lives of our students and their families by knowing where they come from and being respectful of that. By knowing more about them and what they are facing, we can relate to them and make them feel more welcomed. I believe this will boost the students' confidence, the families will feel more comfortable which could increase involvement, leading to their students being more successful in their education.

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Kaylie Rusek
Kim, Y. K., Curby, T. W., & Winsler, A. (2014). Child, family, and school characteristics related to English proficiency development among low-income, dual language learners. Developmental Psychology, 50(12), 2600-2613. doi:10.1037/a0038050
This article breaks up how different people are effected by immigration and becoming an English Language learner. It shows how income, language barriers, and the environment they are in effect the family and student. This article explain that each situation involving and ELL and their family is different. For example if a mother is well educated the student will have a better chance with english and in an American classroom due to the mothers adaptation skills. Also, it stresses how important home life is to a successful ELL student.

This resource is very informational and brings up many good points. I think it would be a great source to use when trying to gain perspective of different people involved in the ELL process. There is a section of perspective or out looks for the family, child, and school that is educating the ELL. It would be a great resources for a person just learning about ELL students because it gives many facts and situations in how you should go about helping or relating to an ELL student. Specifically early childhood education majors should use this article when starting out because it stresses the importance of the early years.

I am a early childhood education major myself. I would use this article or recommend it to peers and future colleges so they can gain perspective. This article debates between the bilingual approach versus other approach used in foreign countries. Since there are facts in this article the person reading can form their opinion and figure out which is the best way for them to help their ELL students. Most importantly this article gives different sides of what is successful and how to emphasized as well as enforce best practices in all aspects of the ELLs life.

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Marie Gruber

Epstein, J. L. (n.d.). Epstein's Framework of Six Types of Involvement (Including: Sample
Practices, Challenges, Redefinitions, and Expected Results) . Retrieved December 6, 2017, from https://www.sps186.org/downloads/table/13040/6TypesJ.Epstien.pdf

This article explains the types of parental involvement, examples of them, challenges with them,definititions, and expected results. The six types of parental involvement are parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with community. For each type of involvement, Epstein explains sample practices, or situations where that involvement would take place. She then addresses challenges that arise in each type of involvement. For example, in communicating, the challenges may lie in the readability, clarity, form, and frequency of communication with the parents. The author also clarifies the meaning of words and phrases related to the types of parent involvement. Moreover, the article lists the results of each type of involvement for students, parents, and teachers.

This resource is organized, clear, concise, and seemingly comprehensive. It provides practical examples of different types of involvement, their challenges, and the results one would expect from them. The author is a renowned, well published professor at Johns Hopkins University, who researches leadership in schools and family and community involvement’s effect’s on students. Authors have frequently cited this framework and researchers have used it in many peer reviewed publications. Therefore, due to the authority of its author and the quality of its content, the article is a worthy resource for increasing family involvement.

For families and teachers of English language learners(ELLs), this resource would be useful in identifying the types, challenges, and results of increasing parent involvement. Some types and levels of involvement may be better than others for ELL students. This determination between types to increase could be made with the use of this resource and knowledge of the ELL student and their family. Furthermore, this framework would be helpful in identifying and addressing the common challenges in parent involvement. The challenges it lists may often be greater for the teachers and families working with an ELL student, and thus even more important to recognize and address. Likewise, the results of parent involvement are significant for the students, families, and teachers of ELL students. The listed outcomes in this resource could serve as a motivator for all parties to become more engaged in the ELL students’ education.

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Reference: All About Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved December 06, 2017, from http://www.adlit.org/article/42781/

The article I selected was Engaging ELL Families: 20 Strategies for School Leaders. The article went over how a teacher can get involved more with ELLs and their families. The article as 6 sections.They are, getting started, communication important information, parent participation, parent leadership, community partnerships, and creating a plane. Of those sections has the 20 strategies broken down into other information of the topic.

The article was on the based on how a teacher can make ELL and their family feel better about their child being their. The article provides information on in depth topics like making enrollment process manageable for ELL parents. Then it breaks it down into three different sections of the topic. Mostly it is also about how to really make them involved with the community and how to try and bring everyone together.

The reason why I chose and will recommend this article because it has so much information for a new teacher. Or a teacher that is trying hard and may have run out of ideas to think of. This is also looking at how to make everything positive situation. The one part I loved was how to still include their native language in their classroom environment and with learning. You don't want to make them feel that their native language is bad. Also says how to "encourage the families to still talk and tell stories in their native language".

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Arias, B. (2008, January). Promoting ELL Parental Involvement: Challenges in Contested Time. Retrieved from https://greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Arias_ELL.pdf

This resource talks analyzes effective practices of ELL family involvement in the classroom. It affirms that the population of English language learners is growing rapidly. Parents of these students struggle to find ways to get involved in their child’s learning. Some challenges consist of not being able to speak English and being unfamiliar with the school system. The article also discusses that parental involvement leads to higher attendance rates and higher graduation rates. Through this study, they found that if teachers implement certain practices of parental involvement into their policies, their students are more likely to succeed. These policies include things like supporting community-based education programs that inform parents about school values and expectations and work with parents to help them become advocates for their children.

I found the information in this resource to be extremely helpful in my building knowledge about English language learners and their families. A lot of what the article was analyzing was things that we have already gone over in class. However, it was extra helpful to have the most effective practices in writing. It was filled with ways to continuously get families involved in their child’s education. I found the article to be filled with information. It was also very easy to read and understand.

I would absolutely use pieces of this article in my future classroom. It supported what we have been talking about this semester. It would help someone who isn’t familiar with this topic understand what specific barriers that families face when it comes to being involved in their child’s education. I would recommend teachers use this resource to understand the specific practices that could be implemented to make it easier to involve families. I thought it was a valuable tool, and I would like to take this information and implement it into my future classroom.

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Shelby Smail

Dr. Rutledge

EDU 350 001

December 6, 2017

Connecting with ELL Families. (n.d.) Retrieved December 05, 2017, from

http://colorincolorado.org/article/connecting-ell-families

This resource is about ELL families and how to create better communication and interaction with them. One of the main points of the article is that creating a basis of knowledge about your ELL student and their family will help you to further provide services and programs for them. It’s important to understand their culture, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, and situations from which the students come from. Additionally, the article discusses the importance of finding out which resources are available for the ELL student within the district. Each student has unique circumstances in which they have various educational backgrounds and needs. Also, the teacher should integrate their culture into the classroom in order to make a more welcoming environment for the ELL students and their families. Coming to a new country is difficult enough, so the teacher should do everything they can to create a positive learning environment for the student. Having a personal connection with the families and showing that you are willing to learn more about the ELL student and their native language, culture, and customs will cause the ELL student and family to have better communication with the teacher.

I think the article did a great job explaining small things the teacher can do to create a positive learning experience for the ELL student. It is so easy for teachers to simply “pass them off” for other personnel and staff to deal with, but that shouldn’t be the case. This article shows strategies teachers can use to foster communication with the ELL student and his/her parents. Also, it explains how to make the ELL student feel welcome, and it demonstrates the importance of learning the background and culture of each individual student. Overall, this is a wonderful article with great tips on how to connect with ELL students and their families, no matter what their situation is.

I would use this resource because it not only tells what the teacher should do, but it explains why each of these strategies is important, how to use and implement it in the classroom, and what the effects are of each strategy. For example, the article explains the significance of having familiarity with the cultural traditions of the ELL students. The benefits of this are so that you are able to schedule school events without certain students having to miss class, you will be able to create educational opportunities for the other students, and you will have improved communication and a good relationship with the parents of the ELL student. I recommend the use of this article to others because it is full of information, as well as real life/real world examples that also contain citations. Overall, this article is factual, relevant, and extremely beneficial for any teacher who may potentially have ELL students in their classrooms.

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Tarasawa, B., & Waggoner, J. (2015). Increasing parental involvement of English Language Learner families: What the research says. Journal Of Children & Poverty, 21(2), 129. doi:10.1080/10796126.2015.1058243

This article takes a look at the amount of ELL students and parents that are present in the USA. It looks at how ELL parents seem to have a very different relationship, parent-school, than native English speaking parents. The article comes to conclusion that the lack of linguistic background is much of the issue in American schools. There is a "barrier" between the school and the parent. They also concluded that many ELL parents and children may not be familiar with formal schooling and may have no background in communication from parent to school.

The resource did very good at addressing the issues of the ELL and school relationship. When these students come here, it is assumed that they have an educational background, but that is often not the case. They may have very bad experiences in education as well, or no formal education whatsoever. Due to these issues, it is important to create appropriate family engagements that are culturally and linguistically appropriately.

I chose this resource and would recommend it because it really addresses the issues that most teachers have when trying to have ELL parents involved in their students education. I love that it brings up appropriate engagement. We have to address these families in a way that is culturally and linguistically appropriate if we want them to understand and want to be involved. It is also important to be sensitive to their situations and know culturally how to approach them without offending them.

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Shim, J. M. (2013). Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interaction. Retrieved 2017, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1014135.pdf

The name of the article is Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interaction. This article is focusing on the interaction between the parents and the families of an ELL. The main purpose of this article is to shine a light of the rapid growth of ELL and the teacher's who are unprepared for the rapid growth.

The article believes that trying to get ELL parents to be involved in their students school lives tend to be a difficult thing to do. There might be a lack of communication and there might be a cultural difference. Although this may be an obstacle, the benefits can make the students experience a better place.

The setting and the procedure of the classroom make it a better place for a welcoming community. Although the setting is not a thing that most people can change, making the classroom welcoming is a start. The procedures of the school can benefit. A school hosts two parent teacher nights for the ELL and this gives the parents an opportunity to speak to the teachers.