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I found this task particularly useful because I had only heard of WIDA and didn't know much about them. I found the ELP particularly useful because my school uses CCSS and this will support not just the language teachers but also the content teachers to support our English language learners. The process of using graphic organizers to give feedback on readings using the jigsaw model helped us gain a wide area of awareness as well as allowed us to reach consensus. The experience was very different in the different groups and it was interesting to observe the impact of dynamics on group decision making.

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Natasha Boukaram Formative CAELL Task One ELP Standards

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This task allowed me to go from unit level to lesson level. The lesson level was of particular importance because it allowed me to have laser focus and identify ELL needs in a single lesson. This made me realize how incredibly important time for collaboration at a grade level is.  This task took a lot of thought and time and it also struck home the importance of immediate and descriptive feedback from someone experienced in support ELL and staff who teach ELL. As a learner it gave me the confidence to continue instead of feeling like I was feeling my way in the dark. I feel this mental support is extremely important to have as a team. I had to read a lot in order to complete this task because it took me a while for things to click which also made me realize the important of professional learning communities who immerse themselves in professional reading, discussions, implementation and reflecting.

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Before this course I had never heard of these lenses. I had never looked through strategies from either of those perspectives but having looked at the tasks I did notice the common pattern where the promise lens focuses on the partnership of teachers setting the stage and students showing what they can do through performance based tasks rather than the declarative (knowledge based) tasks. Student choice, student readiness and student interests are key; being culturally aware is key. Giving students the tools with which they can be successful is not "spoon feeding". Scaffolding done correctly is best practice.

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My main takeaway from this session was empowering students to take ownership of their learning by giving them the strategies to reflect on their learning, giving them the language to communicate their learning and setting SMART goals. Students engage if they feel empowered and able to make decisions on what they want to focus on. The power of immediate, descriptive, actionable feedback is incredible and the impact is increased when given from peers who can give quality feedback in language they understand.

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Formative Task #4 Cornell Note Taking System Close Reading CAELL Natasha Boukaram

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I tried to challenge myself by trying both a new note-taking technique as well as a new app. The below was the result. It was extremely unconformable to try and juggle both new readings, new technique and new app. On reflection I found that the app was impacting my ability to process the information through sketch-noting so I switched to an app I was already familiar with. I believe this is similar to what students experience when they are in an environment where everything is unfamiliar; it put blocks on their learning and if they don't have resilience or if they can't identify what is causing the block they will just give up. I found sketchnoting to be useful in that it has visuals and I liked that we had options of trying different note-taking techniques because not every student is the same. Sketch noting might work for some while others prefer mind-mapping and others prefer Cornell notes. That said each is a strategy that should be explicitly taught (perhaps through I do - We do you do). because I've heard colleagues call spider diagrams mindmaps when they are different.

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This was my second attempt. I found myself making connections not with lines but with color. It reminded me how when I used to train my students on how to answer questions properly using the RACE strategy I would let them choose four colors for each part of the RACE sentence and they could see the parts.They responded very positively to this until they no longed needed the visual and could answer in full sentences with textual evidence and explanations without the use of color.

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During this session we were able to share from across the world how we used technology and digital resources in classroom to support communication and foster language learning. We found some technology tools that were used commonly across the world.

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Technology Integration and Digital Resources Compilation

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The first thing I did was look into the definitions of the instructional approaches because many seemed to overlap. My main focus was on scaffolding and differentiation because those are the main areas of need for my colleagues and I especially pertaining to our ELL. Based on this I developed the checklist attached since one of my tasks will be to align this to our current walkthrough tool and see where they fit in. I want to make explicit links.

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We developed this playbook as a group using the 6 key principles for ELL instruction provided by Stanford University, As it is just a start I intend to work on this with my team to flesh it out further. I feel this would be a powerful document indeed because it would developed as a team by colleagues working within a specific context and it would give new colleagues joining the school a strong foundation especially if they don't have a strong ELL teaching background.

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When working on this task a strong reminder popped up. We are here for the students; that's the whole premise of student centered teaching and learning - it's about the students - their readiness, interests, culture, language background etc. It's not about us and what we know. It's using what we know and improving our practices to better serve the students' learning needs. Ego out the window.

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This "Observable Behaviors Chart" and the KWHLAQ on GroupMAP were eye-openers. The Behaviors Chart collaboration between teachers and ELL and SEN specialists gives us the opportunity to empower ourselves to identify and help students further. I will be using this sample to further develop with my colleagues so that we have a map to follow. Using GroupMAP allowed us to get a deep understanding of a single topic from different perspectives from a wide variety of readings which I would like to incorporate when I next lead a professional development opportunity at my school.

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What I enjoyed about this online learning opportunity is that it modeled learner centered instructional approaches through technology integration. It was aligned to standards which we always had to refer to as well as rubrics so that expectations were transparent. We gained multiple perspectives through the discussions and actionable feedback so we could adjust our ideas if we were on the wrong track or if they could do with some extending. I felt stretched as a learner but not so stretched that it was overwhelming. I felt reasonably safe to express my opinions and my thoughts so it was a safe learning environment. All qualities I wish to aspire to as a learning leader with an ELL environment with people from diverse cultural and language backgrounds.

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I will also be looking into this because I think I need to be better at communicating.
What the speaker intends?

What the receiver interprets?

What the impact of the interpretation is?

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Today a mathematics teacher asked me "Because this is an English school; should I allow students to help each other in their home language?"

Synopsis of Conversation: I think it is important that students communicate in English especially since they need to be able to recognize and use academic vocabulary to express ideas however you can also do some reading into https://ealjournal.org/2016/07/26/what-is-translanguaging/ as there is a place and time for the home language as best practice. We will follow up the conversation after the reading as to when and where translanguaging is okay. Balance and purpose is key.

If you want to further develop yourself when it comes to supporting the English Language Learners in your mathematics classes it would be advisable to read http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Classroom-Instruction-That-Works-with-English-Language-Learners-2nd-Edition.aspx It takes the 9 high yield strategies from Marzano and applies them to our context. Unpacking your mathematics standards and creating both content and language targets is a highly effective way of reaching the students. Perhaps as a mathematics department?

I also shared with her the model I created in the course and we looked at how that would work with her mathematics standards.