# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Using Picture Books to Nurture a Global Mindset - Picture books are powerful pathways to learn, understand and embrace the world around us.

# data[].attributes.body
Blog post on how newcomers embrace their struggles and stories and shared them with the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Literacy Daily is a space to connect educators, students, and leaders with the latest news, ideas, tools, strategies, and research in literacy instruction.

# data[].attributes.body
Great resources and activities to do with your newcomers from day 1

# data[].attributes.body
@emilyfranESL #WIDA2018

# data[].attributes.body
Six elements to establish a respectful environment for Diverse learners.
1. Self-Check
2. Your Classroom
3. Embrace Diversity
4. Treat students as Individuals
5. Adapt Teaching
6. Family Engagement

# data[].attributes.body
Inspiring English Language Learners: https://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/

# data[].attributes.body
Culturally Sensitive Communication

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Strong communication between school staff and families is important in any school and has special relevance for schools committed to anti-bias education.

Communication built on misinformation, assumptions or stereotypes can create distance between schools, families and students. If handled with respect and cultural sensitivity, however, school-family communication provides an opportunity to live out the values of inclusiveness and equity, which are at the heart of anti-bias education. The following guidelines can help schools avoid communication pitfalls and support teacher-family relationships built on respect:

Assume good intentions, and approach all families as partners who want the best for their children.

Invite parents or guardians to share knowledge about their students' lives, interests, hopes and struggles.

Invite parents or guardians to share information about family cultures and traditions.

Recognize and respect differences in family structures.

Recognize the role that identity and background may play in shaping relationships between teachers and families.

Bring a sense of self-reflectiveness and cultural humility to all conversations and interactions.

View linguistic, cultural and family diversity as strengths.

In addition to setting a tone of respect and inclusivity, strong communication with families also offers teachers an opportunity to invite family involvement and share curricular goals, materials and resources.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Attending to culturally sensitive communication supports two of the four anti-bias domains: Identity and Diversity. Culturally relevant family engagement strategies communicate to students that their family identities are understood and valued. It also demonstrates respect for families with a diverse range of backgrounds and structures.

Strategies

Inclusive Terminology and Materials

Positive communication can be as simple as using inclusive language when writing and speaking to families. For example, instead of sending home a note that opens, "Dear Parents," use a greeting such as "Dear Families." All communication should be checked for assumptions about household resources, family traditions, cultural practices, political affiliations or other life circumstances. For instance, instead of asking for "mother's name" and "father's name" on a form, have a space for "names of parents/guardians."

Recognition of Key Relationships

Teachers should make a point of learning the central figures in each student's life-including those who may not be legal parents or guardians-and involving them as appropriate. This may include welcoming stepparents, parental partners (regardless of gender) or extended family members.

Use of Home Languages

Because language plays a crucial role in families' lives, teachers should communicate with parents in their home languages as much as possible. Whenever possible, family materials should be provided in students' home languages. When translation is needed, a school-provided translator should be employed, as asking students to translate can put them in an awkward position.

Beginning-of-the-Year Questionnaires or Conversations

Teachers can gather valuable information about students by connecting with parents and guardians early in the school year. Asking family members about students' strengths, challenges and lives outside of school-as well as about their own hopes and fears- provides important background, sets a collaborative tone and allows classroom practice to reflect student identities.

Incorporating family and community knowledge enhances student learning. Students possess tremendous experiential wisdom on issues related to identity, culture, history and justice. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, cousins, neighbors and community leaders frequently have stories to share about their lives and perspectives.

Family and community wisdom can put a personal face on historical or sociological material and help demystify unfamiliar topics, such as LGBT identity or living with a disability. Hearing from real people who have lived through eras of change or participated in social justice movements can provide inspiration as well as information.

Students also carry knowledge of their families and communities inside themselves. Making room to share this knowledge supports the development of student identities.

Family assignments must be envisioned and explained in a culturally sensitive manner. A seemingly harmless activity, such as creating a family tree, can marginalize students whose biological relations are distant or unknown. Such assignments can be modified to recognize the key relationships in students' lives. Other ways to incorporate family and community wisdom into the curriculum include community surveys, student conversations with family members, interviews, guest speakers, video projects, art projects, memoir or other family-based writing, oral histories, learning from family members' professional experiences, and incorporating family or cultural perspectives into the analysis of texts.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Drawing on students' family and community wisdom supports two of the four anti-bias domains: Identity and Diversity. By listening to the stories of their own families and communities, students can deepen their sense of self and make personal connections with historical, literary and sociological material. Hearing about different classmates' families and communities can also foster new perspectives on their own experiences and expand their understanding of other groups, cultures and communities.

Strategies

Family Interviews

Students can interview family members on a variety of issues such as historical events or eras, family experiences of justice or injustice, evolving cultural norms, social movements and identity. Interview format, questions and reporting practices should be customized based on grade level and educational goals.

Guest Speakers

Family and community members can visit the class to speak about a range of topics. Their connections to these issues may be personal, professional or both.

Community Research

Conducting community-based research can deepen students' understanding of social justice issues. This research might include opinion surveys or needs assessments, community interviews, visits to local sites or Internet research about community history.

As students learn and grow together over the course of weeks, months and years, parents and guardians can learn along with them. Strong connections give families the opportunity to support one another in nurturing their children's identities and values, adding richness to the work of anti-bias and social justice education.

There are lots of ways to bring families together, including in-school or community-based events, group email lists and social media. Teachers, school administrators, students, or parents and guardians can coordinate appropriate family connections based on the students' age and the composition of the community. Elementary school students, for example, may be more likely than high school students to enjoy attending events with their families. A given activity may resonate with some cultural communities more than others (though it might be good to offer "stretch" events as well). And some communities will have access to the technology and skills needed to support online interaction, while others will not.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Building connections among families supports two of the four anti-bias domains: Identity and Diversity. This practice deepens students' awareness of the personal and cultural contexts that shape personal experience. It also provides a "learning lab" for introducing different family structures and traditions. Making the curriculum more visible to classroom families helps generate support for anti-bias education work and provides opportunities for families to work with their children on social justice issues. These connections can also foster diverse relationships that echo and strengthen key messages from the curriculum.

Strategies

Family Events

Events that bring students and families together include family potlucks or picnics; family affinity events (e.g., for families from a certain cultural or ethnic group, for LGBT families, for families of color, for adoptive families); showcases of student work; student or community performances; film nights; game nights; and cultural or multicultural events.

Parent/Guardian Education Programs

Educational programming supports community building and engages family members. Possible programs include films, speakers or discussions for parents and guardians on topics such as bullying prevention, identity development, racial experiences, gender expression, sexuality, learning differences and family diversity. Events may stand alone or be part of an ongoing series.

Family Service/Engagement Projects

Service projects can include family action days at the local food bank, working together on neighborhood political and social issues, attending community events such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations or LGBT Pride events, and fundraising projects for community causes.

Pooling Resources and Sharing Support

In addition to organizing or publicizing formal events, teachers can encourage families to connect informally to share information and resources and to support one another in times of need (e.g., the birth of a new baby or a death in the family). The school can foster this type of support by naming it as an explicit priority and creating a user-friendly contact list or online directory.

All local communities have valuable resources that can enhance teaching and learning on social justice topics, even if these resources are not always explicit or obvious. They include events, people, places and organizations.

Events. Cultural and community celebrations, commemorations, political actions, artistic events, performances, student conferences and community education events.

People. Elders, artists, musicians, researchers, community leaders, policymakers, journalists, advocates, local historians, cultural workers and everyday people who have experienced and worked on social justice issues.

Places. Museums, cultural centers, libraries, neighborhood landmarks, and sites of historical interest or struggle.

Organizations. Formal or informal groups engaged in relevant cultural, artistic, social or political projects.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Drawing on local resources supports all four anti-bias domains: Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action. Witnessing marginalization, power dynamics and activism in their own communities strengthens personal connections with these curricular concepts. At a broader level, schools benefit from community connections and partnerships, and communities benefit when citizens are educated in matters of equity and justice.

Strategies

Classroom or School Presentations

Individuals or organizational representatives can be invited to speak about how their life or work experiences relate to social justice themes.

Neighborhood Explorations

Social-movement-based history and cultural knowledge often connect to specific cities and neighborhoods. For example, certain New York City neighborhoods offer windows into the lives of different immigrant groups during the 19th and 20th centuries. Montgomery, Ala., houses landmarks and monuments from the civil rights era. Visiting sites like these can add richness to students' curricular experiences. Neighborhood explorations can also be paired with classroom or school presentations.

Connecting with Community Organizations

Most cities and towns have local organizations that engage in cultural activities, community service efforts or social justice advocacy. Many of these organizations are happy to partner with schools, provide students with information and offer opportunities for students to participate in their projects.

A core component of anti-bias education is learning to take action against exclusion, prejudice and discrimination; it can be especially powerful for students to do this in their own schools and local communities.

Consider the following tips for ensuring that community engagement efforts reflect anti-bias values:

Create a community action project that addresses real needs. Community organizations can help articulate these needs and suggest ways to maximize students' time and talents.

Draw on students' knowledge of and personal connection to the issues involved. The more specific the project, the better.

Include a strong research component that ensures students' efforts to increase their knowledge and understanding are not simply based on what they already know.

Incorporate reflection about student attitudes to ensure the project doesn't reinforce assumptions or stereotypes about specific people or communities.

Provide writing prompts to help students consider personal changes they can make to challenge bias, exclusion and injustice.

Study the broader social context surrounding the community problem. Intervene if students "blame the victim" for challenges beyond individual control.

Use texts to spark student reflection about community challenges and issues.

Work "with," not "for," individuals or groups the class wants to support.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Expecting students to engage directly with community issues and problems supports two of the four anti-bias domains: Justice and Action.

Strategies

Personal Action Plan

After reading about prejudice or discrimination, the Personal Action Plan assignment asks students to reflect on these issues in their own surroundings and explore how they might help make their school and community more welcoming, inclusive and equitable. The Personal Action Plan can focus on one particular topic (e.g., name-calling and bullying, peer culture, diversity of gender expression or LGBT issues), or it can be more general. Plans should focus on acts of personal change, and students should share their plans with classmates to build accountability for implementation.

"Fighting for Fairness" Letters

The Fairness Letter Project (Live Oak School, San Francisco, Calif.) asks students to identify an instance of unfairness in their school or community, research the issue and write an advocacy letter to a person or organization with power to change the situation. In addition to developing issue-based analysis and critical writing skills, this project requires students to evaluate how change happens and where they can best channel their efforts for maximum impact.

Student-Designed Community Projects

Any social justice issue could inspire an individual or group project designed to support local people. Possible projects include designing a public service announcement, conducting a survey or opinion poll, providing direct service through a community agency, creating a workshop or event or hosting a justice-themed art show.

Ongoing Partnerships with Community Organizations

Semester- or year-long community partnerships offer students a chance to establish continuity and deeper connections with particular issues, populations or projects. A partnership spanning multiple years gives each class a chance to build on previous classes' work, multiplying the impact.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Strong communication between school staff and families is important in any school and has special relevance for schools committed to anti-bias education. Communication built on misinformation, assumptions or stereotypes can create distance between schools, families and students.

# data[].attributes.body
Adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs.

# data[].attributes.body
Critical Words Students Must Know

# data[].attributes.body
Using Graphic Novel to Engage ELs

# data[].attributes.body
Treat students as individuals.
Recognize/Acknowledge it
Collaborate/Provide
Effectively engage students

# data[].attributes.body
Getting to Know Your Students Deeply

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers can improve outcomes and build equity in the classroom by listening closely to their students. Here are six ways to do that.

# data[].attributes.body
A Can Do Approach using Can Do Descriptors to grade students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On May 23, Diana Delaney (a friend on Twitter) created a private direct message to Carol Salva, Emily Francis (two other Twitter friends) and me. Like many teachers, Diana was struggling with how to report on grades with newcomers. After a series of messages back and forth between the four of us, Emily provided an amazing perspective that I wanted to share with you.

I've asked Emily to guest post on this important topic. As teachers start to return to school from their summer vacations, this article can help guide their assessing and reporting year round.

Let's Go a Step Further with Can Do Descriptors!

As an English as Second Language (ESL) teacher, my job is to analyze my students' needs and develop their linguistic and communicative competence in English-speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. My goal is to help them achieve a proficient level of English that allows them to function independently in their classrooms, and in society in the future.

To help me accomplish my goal and perform my job as an ESL teacher I have the (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment). North Carolina is part of the WIDA consortium of states dedicated to the design and implementation of standards and equitable educational opportunities for English Learners (ELs). As an ESL teacher, I use WIDA standards along with Common Core State Standards to:

1. Meet the language needs of ELs who place in the program based on an initial placement assessment;

2. Assign ELs their appropriate accommodations and modifications based on their determined proficiency levels;

3. Ensure scaffolded instruction for ELs by supporting mainstream classroom teachers in building and differentiating instruction and assessments.

Undoubtedly, one immeasurable reward I find in being an ESL teacher is seeing my students reach a high proficiency level of English and to be able to function independently in core instruction. So, merging my personal experiences as an EL with my obligations as an educator, I see the critical need and responsibility to serve as an advocate for my students. Thus, I use the WIDA Can Do Descriptors !

The Can DO Descriptors provide a clear and basic overview of ELs' ability based on their initial or annual language proficiency test. This powerful document highlights what our ELs CAN do at various stages of the language development and for each language domain as they interact with core content.

I encourage you to take advantage of these valuable documents that by the way are free through the WIDA website. Even if your state is not a WIDA state, these documents can be a great tool not only for you as an ESL teacher, but also for mainstream classroom teachers, students, and parents!

Allow me to share with you a few ways I use the CAN Do Descriptors at my school, and perhaps you'll be inspired to go a step further with these documents.

TIP #1: Share the CAN Do Descriptors with Mainstream Classroom Teachers.

At the beginning of the each school year, I gather all the teachers at my school and we go over ACCESS, CAN DOs, accommodations, and modifications. For teacher buy in, I make sure my presentation is fun and engaging. I begin by giving them the acronym ' ' (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State) and they have to guess as a group what each letter stands for.

T he group who gets most letters correct gets a small price! Teachers learn how to read their students' language proficiency levels and use the CAN Do name charts to chart each student in his/her corresponding proficiency level for each language domain. These are the name charts we use: Kindergarten , First grade , Second-Third , Fourth-Fifth . Higher grades are also available on the WIDA website.

Teachers understand that even though students receive a proficiency composite score, it's imperative to see which domain is the student's strength and/or weakness to better support during instruction. Teachers also receive this document that provides linguistic accommodations teachers can use to support students access core without having to water down content. This other document is also helpful since it provides Bloom's Taxonomy questions differentiated by language proficiency level.

TIP #2: Share the CAN DO Descriptors with your Students.

This year I started sharing with my students not only their ACCESS scores but also the CAN DO Descriptors. I never thought how exciting this would be for all my students. They all loved looking at their scores and charting their name on the appropriate proficiency level for each language domain. You could hear students say: "Look, I am really high in speaking!" or "Look, I really need to work on my writing."

Students received two highlighters, one to highlight the current CAN DO statements, and another one to highlight the goal we set for next school year. Their CAN DO chart is glued in their daily notebook so when we used them they can see it and be encouraged. Next school year, I will be using this student-friendly CAN DO charts . Not only are they colorful, but they're much better for them to read and understand.

I believe without a doubt that students need to be explicitly taught the expectation we have of them from the very beginning. My students understand that their teacher, their parents, and I know exactly what they can and cannot do.They have a clear understanding and a visual of where they are linguistically and where my goal is for them to be by the end of the school year. They know that I will be reporting quarterly to teachers and parents how they are progressing toward their language proficiency goals.

Karen's CAN Do chart

TIP #3: Share the CAN DO Descriptors with Parents:

Yes, you read this right...share it with your student's parents! The CAN DO Descriptors are such a powerful tool for teachers and students that this year I decided to start sharing it with parents through a progress report format.

Let me elaborate. When I get my students' ACCESS scores, I analyze each and every student's data to determine their school year language goal. It's really all about getting to know your students to better support them in the language domains they need it most.

For example: If Emily's ACCESS report states that she made a 3 in speaking, then her goal for the year would be to master the 3 and make it to a 4. If she made a 2 in reading, her goal for the year would be a 3...so on and so forth. If a student makes a 5 or 6, then there is no goal assigned for that domain since the student had shown mastery on the domain. A student could have 1 - 4 goals depending on his/her language proficiency.

In order to have parent support in helping their child grow linguistically and academically, I provide them with a quarterly progress report that lets them know how they are doing throughout the year. Teachers may also get this report if they wish to see how their student is doing in ESL. I make the effort to honor my students' family language by translating their progress reports.

WIDA has the descriptors available in Spanish if you wish to use them! I know for a fact that our parents would appreciate receiving such valuable document in their native language. Take a look at this example !

Our county is fortunate to use ELLevation , an online platform that houses our ELs' data information and provides language strategies. It is through this platform that we can assign students' language goals and note their progress . The ELLevation goal bank offers goals for newcomers as well! This allows me to provide a report for students who are just entering the language proficiency levels spectrum. It also gives me an idea of what I should be focusing on students who are new to the English language.

These are the progress reports I use. Feel free to access, edit, and use as you like. I won't lie to you...it takes some work to put them together but in the end, it is all worth it because you're providing accurate and helpful information to your students, teachers, and parents.
Some of these are VIEW ONLY documents, but please feel free to MAKE A COPY by going to File -> Make a copy. Kindergarten ESL Progress Reports First Grade ESL Progress Reports Second -Third Grade Progress Reports Fourth - Fifth Grade Progress Reports Newcomers - ESL Progress Reports Middle school (6-8) - ELD Progress Reports High school (9-12) - ELD Progress Reports
As you can see, there is so much we can get out of such a valuable document such as the Can Do Descriptors! Now you know that not only is a tool that we can use as ESL teachers to support the students we serve, but it CAN be so much more!

Our students CAN DO...Let's show that they can! If you are on Twitter, join us by posting ELLs' success stories using #ELs_CAN so we can celebrate with you!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Grading Newcomers: A Can Do Approach | Empowering ELLs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On May 23, Diana Delaney (a friend on Twitter) created a private direct message to Carol Salva, Emily Francis (two other Twitter friends) and me. Like many teachers, Diana was struggling with how to report on grades with newcomers.

# data[].attributes.body
Embrace diversity in the school community and in the world.
Acknowledge
Demonstrate: Use literature "mirrors"
Display: http://www.independenttribune.com/news/spanglish-irvin-students-learning-language-and-culture/article_dd27cc68-7e27-51b9-b701-2ecd25f5d159.html

# data[].attributes.body
Is your bookshelf diversified?

# data[].attributes.body
Strategies for Building a Cultural Competency

# data[].attributes.body
Critical Practices for anti-bias education

# data[].attributes.headline
Understanding them by Understanding Ourselves

# data[].attributes.subject
Understanding them by Understanding Ourselves

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The principal considered the new student in front of her. She was concerned about Carlos' disrespectful behavior. "You look at me while I'm talking to you!" Mrs. Harris admonished.

What Mrs. Harris didn't realize is that Carlos was being respectful. While the principal had been taught to look people in the eye when they are speaking to you, Carlos had been taught to be deferential to an authority figure by looking down. This wasn't about who was right or wrong at that moment, this was about the assumption of what is right by each person.

When I lead professional development on strengthening school culture, we explore the issue of respect because it's such a vital part of a student's self-concept - and the success that flows from feeling valued. We tend to think there is a common understanding of respectful behavior. But the assumption of what is respect - what is "right" - comes from our own personal culture, a complex web of race, ethnicity, family background, and experiences. This is the prism through which we see and evaluate the actions of others.

Looking someone in the eye is just one piece. Many teachers will say they expect students to calmly listen without interrupting. Yet I was raised in a boisterous house where you showed you were really listening by interrupting and finishing the other person's sentence. Deborah Tannen, noted expert on interpersonal communications, even has a name for this - she calls it "overlapping conversations." There are many other issues that come up as teachers reflect on their own assumptions, such as what is "too close" to stand next to someone and what is considered being "on time."

The bottom line is that every educator brings assumptions based on her or his personal culture into the school. The tough, and critical part, is reflecting on our own culture, how this created our assumptions, and how that affects interactions with students and their families.

This doesn't mean we can't help students understand what's appropriate in school. But we must do it in a way that respects who they are without a value judgment based on our own prism.

We also have to consider our own behavior. We can learn from others only when we don't assume our ways are always right. A teacher told me she realized that she expected her 3rd graders to be very organized at all times because she learned that value from her parents. But she came to see that this was an unreasonable expectation for her entire class; and, in fact, she might be making herself too anxious about organization at times.

And there are many areas of gray. For example, what some teachers consider a noisy and raucous classroom may sound like a room of engaged learners to others.

Introspection reveals how elements of our personal culture - our prisms - color our expectations every day. Did your immigrant grandparents believe it was essential to learn English and leave behind the language of their home country? Did your father teach you to always be 10 minutes early or you were late? Did your mother feel it was her duty to know all your teachers personally, no matter how busy she was? Did you grow up in a large family where teasing what just a part of daily life? Were you taught that girls who took charge are bossy? Each of these affect how you view the behavior of your students, their families, and yes, your colleagues.

Introspection enables us to understand ourselves better and thereby understand our students better. Without introspection, we assume our way is the right way, although it may just be a different way. With introspection, we learn to respect student's ways of doing things and are open to learning from them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding our diverse students by understanding ourselves first - PDK International

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Eileen Gale Kugler The principal considered the new student in front of her. She was concerned about Carlos' disrespectful behavior. "You look at me while I'm talking to you!" Mrs. Harris admonished. What Mrs. Harris didn't realize is that Carlos was being respectful. While the principal had been taught...

# data[].attributes.body
Becoming Aware of Your Own Worldview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Continuing education in cultural competency

# data[].attributes.body
Provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults.
Appreciate/understand
Establish
Maintain
Encourage others

# data[].attributes.body
Great article

# data[].attributes.body
My blog Post: https://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/blog/ellchat_snaps

# data[].attributes.body
Read my blog post with details about my journey to America as an unaccompanied minor:
http://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/blog/new-land-new-opportunity

# data[].attributes.body
Read my experience as a high school newcomer student:
http://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/blog/a-newcomers-journey

# data[].attributes.headline
Failures - Detour to Great Accomplishments

# data[].attributes.subject
Failures - Detour to Great Accomplishments

# data[].attributes.body
Read how I made it through college and made it to Cabarrus County Teacher of the Year:
http://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/blog/failure-my-detour-to-great-accomplishments

# data[].attributes.body
Here's a link to a K-5 version of my story. This format it's perfect to encourage students to also share their own story. https://app.writereader.com/library/book/b19bc0df-24be-4705-86e7-1a99309d774e

# data[].attributes.body
Our annual 5 de mayo party
Parents bring homemade meals to share with staff. Students, Parents, and Teachers are all together to celebrate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uploaded by Emily Francis on 2017-05-10.

# data[].attributes.body
Work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students
Respond/Communicate/Recognize
Promote

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
esl; ell; math; parent egagement; family night

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Basic Math computation games for ESL students and family