# data[].attributes.body
Valentina Gonzalez's timely blog post

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Valentina Gonzalez

Remote or distance learning can be described as learning environments where teachers and students are physically separated. Many educators in the United States and in the world no longer have to imagine what remote or distance learning is like, because they are living it. This situation is challenging, to say the least.

Remote teaching and learning won't look the same everywhere. It varies among states, districts, and classrooms. If this is your first experience with remote teaching and your students' first experiences with remote learning, you probably have some hurdles to face and bumps in the road to overcome.

Among many challenges, one of the biggest one that educators report with teaching remotely is holding students accountable for the learning. It can be described like herding cats. You might constantly be asking yourself questions like this:

One thing that is clear is that if we let students get by with not submitting assignments even during remote learning, they will begin to form the notion that we don't expect them to achieve. But holding kids accountable sends them the message that we believe they can do this work. Remote teaching will not look or feel the same as face-to-face teaching. In some ways it has to be even more engaging than what we do in the classroom. It has to be so compelling that students won't need us to be there to make sure they complete it. They will want to do it because it is so interesting.

In the classroom we teach students what to say instead of "I don't know" ( Seidlitz & Perryman, 2011). We teach them responses such like these:

May I please have some more information?

May I please have some time to think?

Would you please repeat the question?

Where could I find more information about that?

May I ask a friend for help?

When these responses become practices in the classroom, they will pay off during times when students and teachers are physically separated. Students who are equipped with the tools to find out how to solve problems and figure what to do when they are faced with an unanswered question become more independent outside of the classroom, too.

However, don't fret if your students have not learned these response stems. You can teach students this strategy remotely, and they will still benefit. Here's how.

Steps to Holding All Students Accountable to the Learning REMOTELY.

1. Set up a class meeting using a district-approved platform that allows students to see and hear you. Live video works best, allowing students to ask questions and interact, but you can also record yourself and share it with students to watch at their leisure.

2. Walk students through the WHY. Why is knowing what to say instead of "I don't know" important for them? Depending on the grade level, share with your students how they can use this information in real life. For example, I tell them that we are going to learn responses that will sound smarter than saying "I don't know" or shrugging our shoulders. And that they can use these responses when their grandmother, their doctor, a neighbor, a teacher, or really anyone, anywhere asks them a question! These are not just for school. With older students, I make them aware that this information is useful even during job interviews and college visits.

3. After discussing WHY, begin making an anchor chart in front of students. Yes, even online, remotely. There is power in letting students watch you create the chart. They need to see you write and explain each of the response choices. Discuss how to use each one. Model for students what it looks like to use the response.

4. Once you complete the anchor chart, take a picture of it and house it on your remote learning platform (Canvas, Google Classroom, SeeSaw, etc.). Let students know that it will be there for them.

Two Perspectives During Remote Learning

Let's imagine that you gave students an assignment on your remote learning platform, but Rafael didn't do it. We could assume that he just didn't want to do it. We could assume that he was off task. Or that he's being lazy. There's a lot of room for assumptions.

On the other hand, if we ask Rafael, he might tell us that he didn't understand the assignment or the expectations. He just didn't know what to do, so he avoided the assignment, and he's been worried about it ever since.

Remote is challenging, and remote can be just as challenging for many of our students. Often when students don't know what to do, are confused, or feel frustrated, this can manifest into avoidance. To us, it looks like they are just not completing work. The good news is that we can empower students with tools to handle situations like the one above. As Rafael's teacher, if I notice that he hasn't completed the assignment, during a discussion or an online conference, I can refer him to the anchor chart we created.

Teacher: Rafael, which of these responses would you like to use?

Rafael: May I please have some more information?

Teacher: Sure, Rafael. What I'm asking is that you take the book you are reading and you analyze the main character. Tell us about the character. Who are they? What are they like?

No matter what, all of our students need to know that we expect them to achieve, to participate, and to engage even when instruction is remote. Student success hinges on our expectations for them. Holding all students accountable to expectations demonstrates our belief in them.

Additional Tips and Considerations for Remotely Teaching English Learners:

1. Find out which families have access to technology and which do not. This information will help you to determine what remote learning will look like (paper or technology based).

2. Find out if you will be expected to create seperate ELD lessons or if you will be collaborating with content teachers to enhance and accommodate general education lessons.

3. "Meet" or make contact with families of English learners as quickly as you can to let them know what remote learning will look and feel like. This initial meeting can be a phone call or video conference.

4. Plan regular interactions with ELs and families to touch base regarding instruction and needs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Holding ALL Students Accountable to the Learning When You're Teaching and Learning Remotely

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Valentina Gonzalez Remote or distance learning can be described as learning environments where teachers and students are physically separated. Many educators in the United States and in the world no longer have to imagine what remote or distance learning is like, because they are living it.

# data[].attributes.body
Tan Huynh's excellent blog post.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Tan Huynh

This post was originally published on Tan Huynh's fantastic blog, Empowering ELLs. We've reposted here with his permission.

Due to the increase of schools and districts offering distance learning or virtual school in response to the COVID19 outbreak, I wanted to share how my school is structuring online learning for students. This is not an article directly related to working with language learners, but the suggestions can be applied to working language learners.

There are numerous ways to structure online learning, and I would like to share how we have structured it within our international, private school context. Readers of this article will find it helpful if they are also offering a one-to-one program. These structures work for us because all of our students have internet access at home. You will have to adapt it to your school context if students do not have internet access outside of school.

We have been offering virtual school since February 3rd, and we did not have time to prepare students or families on how to navigate virtual learning. We are entering our 7th week of virtual learning, and these structures have been the ones that have been the most successful for us.

The key is to remember that a virtual school is built on the same blocks that support a physical school . The how of virtual school looks different, but the why must remain the same. For us, that means:

prioritizing curriculum planning

investing in relationships with students, colleagues, and families

intentionally integrating technology when appropriate

You will see these three foundational blocks in the five structures I share in this article.

Create a Week-at-a-Glance document

I suggest creating a document that houses all the work students are supposed to do for the entire week. We did not do this initially as we thought virtual schooling was going to be just a two-week experience. Both students, teachers, and families were drowning in the flood of links and documents.

We then created a Week-at-a-Glance document to house all of the assignments for the week. Where applicable, we embedded links to videos, assignments, and other documents. Both students and families appreciated this document as it provided a big picture of the week. Students and families could design their day and week by anchoring to this document.

Host office hours

In my grade, we have blocked off 9 AM to 11 AM as teacher office hours. We scheduled our online conferences with students with Google Meet. The teachers in my grade used this time to:

Model instruction

Teach content

Gauge student wellness

Host book clubs

Provide small group or individual tutoring

Because the office hours are at a consistent time, students became used to this time and families appreciated it structured the day for students. They could plan for activities with their children after 11 AM.

I encourage you to have small-group meetings of five to eight students for 20 to 30 minutes. Larger groups mean less engagement by students. Just like how they hide from participating during in-person school, a whole-class virtual meeting provides an enticing opportunity to disappear. The short duration keeps the meetings engaging.

Most of the time, these meetings are scheduled and assigned. At other times, we give students a time frame, and they can self-select appointment times.

The key to virtual learning is not losing the personal element of an in-person classroom. With frequent and weekly online conferences, students retain some semblance of a learning community that makes school so special.

Collaborate with colleagues

No other time in my teaching career has collaborating with colleagues been so essential to students, families, and our collective well-being. We have made it a point to block 1 PM to 2 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays to collaborate. We use this time to divide the work, share strategies, and support each other. One of the key deliverables from these meetings is a completed Week-at-a-Glance document for the following week.

At these meetings, the language specialist can provide strategies that would work for language learners or team with another colleague to make virtual learning more accessible for language learners.

For the past six weeks, we have been coming to school and have been maintaining regular school working hours. As of March 17, we have been directed to facilitate virtual learning off-site. We will continue to collaborate but now virtually on Zoom. As we go to virtual teacher collaboration, the Week-at-a-Glance document will structure our online collaboration.

Leverage Technology

We could offer instruction without technology as it has provided means to teach content and facilitate student engagement. These are my most used programs to facilitate virtual learning:

Screencastify: Create a slide deck or a document used to teach a lesson. Record yourself narrating the slides or document. Send the video to students.

Edpuzzle: Embed comprehension questions or audio notes in a video recording. As students watch the video, the embedded question or audio note will appear and either play your message or ask them to answer a question. On the dashboard, you can check students' responses if you have embedded a question.

Google Suite: We are using many of the products such as Google Docs, Slides, Google Drawing, and From to demonstrate their understanding and for us to share content.

Non-Google Suite creation apps:

Book Creator - users can publish their writing electronically

Flipgrid - users can record video responses

Buncee - users can create a presentation and infographics

Adobe Spark - users can create animated videos, graphics, web pages

Because I work in Vietnam, we cannot use Talking Points, but if I was in the U.S. or Canada and my school moved to distance learning, I would then use Talking Points to communicate with families. Talking Points allows teachers to

send free SMS messages to families in English.

Families receive these messages in their home language.

Families respond to the teacher by texting in their home language.

The teacher receives the translated SMS message in English.

Their program allows you to communicate in 100+ languages! THAT'S AMAZING!

Send physical work home

Every two weeks, we send physical packets of work home. Families come to school and pick up the packets for their children. This might be an option for schools where teachers are still allowed to come to school to work. Additionally, this method might help families who do not have internet access at home. The contents of the packet can also align with the assignments on the Week-at-a-Glance document.

We are creating the plane as we're flying, but I hope the lessons we have gleaned from our seven weeks of virtual learning can be of service to you and your district. If you have suggestions or ideas, please share them with me on Twitter @TanELLClassroom.

May you, your family, and your school family stay safe and healthy in these demanding times. You're not alone! I'm right there with you!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Guest Post: 5 Structures for Virtual School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Tan Huynh This post was originally published on Tan Huynh's fantastic blog, Empowering ELLs. We've reposted here with his permission. Due to the increase of schools and districts offering distance learning or virtual school in response to the COVID19 outbreak, I wanted to share how my school is structuring online learning for students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser. Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using twitter.com. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center.
Help Center

# data[].attributes.body
Complete list of all our resources and training offerings for you and your school.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Seidlitz Education we recognize that we have a lot of work to do to reform systems that perpetuate racism in this country. As educators, in particular, we have a great responsibility to equip young people with the knowledge, values, and courage they need to be social justice leaders.

# data[].attributes.headline
Nancy Motley's TRTW Keynote for #VirtuEL17

# data[].attributes.subject
Nancy Motley's TRTW Keynote for #VirtuEL17

# data[].attributes.body
My friend and colleague, Carol Salva's blog is FULL of supports for teachers, especially those who work with Newcomers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I'm working in districts where we have been in school for 5-8 weeks. This show is in response to some challenges and reflections on what I want to emphasize more. You can listen to this show right here or on your favorite podcast app.
Listen to "BAP111 Instead of IDK for SLIFE and Newcomers" on Spreaker.
An edited transcript follows with links to what I talked about:

This episode is going to be about lessons learned. I think there's value no matter what you do if you're a teacher, instructional coach, or administrator.

This is that time of the year when the honeymoon is over! LOL. Things are playing out in a certain way depending on what routines you put in place or did not put in place. What I've learned is that in many places where we're not getting things off the ground with students, it's because this strategy is not in place. We are realizing that we did not emphasize the teaching of this skill enough.

So let me offer you the strategy, and then I'm going to tell you why it's so critical for new arrival students. And this one is important for even your highest flyer in your classroom no matter what you teach. And I'm also going to tell you about a fail, so look forward to that. People always say they love hearing about what didn't go right or a non-example when I'm trying things.

So this fail is kind of funny too. All right, so here's the strategy.

The sheltered strategy is to Teach Kids What to Say When They Don't Know What to Say.

Let me say that again. We're going to teach kids what to say when they don't know what to say. Some teachers know this as an "Instead of 'I don't know' poster." We are working to remove "IDK" from our classrooms.

So let's think about it a little bit differently. We're not talking about a poster. Idk is what the students use. Many students text, I don't know Idk. All right?

Teach Ss Day 1 what to say instead of IDK. Opting out is not an option for Learners. @MsSalvac #supportingSIFE #BoostingAchievement @LearnTexas pic.twitter.com/djeBCMzs6p

- Trish Hinze (@TrishHinze) July 17, 2019

Often you will see a poster that says IDK, and it has an X through it in a classroom. The idea is that we are not going to say, 'I don't know' anymore. Instead, we want to encourage other things such as: May I ask a friend for help? Would you please repeat the question? Where can I find more information? May I have some time to think? etc. That's a fantastic poster to have. T he company I work for, Seidlitz Education, sells these great posters of things that say, they're beautiful.

WHY is this Important? Can the Students Tell Us?

If you ask the kids, why is it important to say other things instead of I Don't Know, could they tell us? Have we talked with them about this and let them come up with answers. This offers relevancy.

If I asked you to come up with three reasons why it is important for young people to say something instead of I don't know, I bet you could. As adults, we have built a skill where we might pause and say something like "Could you give me a minute?" Or "Can I ask someone to help me with this?"

Just Google It!

You know, the reality is that we don't use the skill so much anymore. Now we just ask Alexa. Or we ask Google. We google it. That's kind of dangerous for the world, don't you think? In the Boosting Achievement book that I wrote with Anna Mattis, we cite researchers that talk about how a part of our brain is starting to atrophy because of technology. We don't have to think deeply anymore. So then it is more important than ever that our classrooms are places where we can practice thinking, be more curious. Be more curious. Don't just default to I don't know.

It's a teenage culture kind of thing, right? I'm sure you can appreciate, even for your own child, do you want them to be okay with not knowing? So the first one that I always teach is, May I ask a friend for help? Because I'm trying to create a culture of conversation. And as soon as the student says that, we say, yes. And I'm going to hover around that student, and I'm going to make eye contact, and I'm going to ask them, Are you ok to answer before we come back. I might have to give them the answer. We need them to have a win in that moment in front of everybody. And if they didn't know the answer, they may not be the only one. They're likely not the only one that doesn't know.

Why is QSSSA not Working?

I'm going to talk about the Newcomer classroom. I am always talking about the newcomer student. This week, I was in a newcomer classroom where the majority of the students have missed large amounts of formal education, and we are at high school. The issue is that the students are not turning and talking when we want them to. And we have a really good structure, QSSSA, for students to turn and talk. But they're still not talking to each other as much as we would like for them to, even when we encourage the use of native language. We just don't have it off the ground.

Modeling for Teachers

A part of my job is modeling for teachers. So I decided I would model how to get this strategy off the ground with a class where most of the students are new to the target language of English. I never promise that I can pull off a spur of the moment lesson well. It is a challenge to model because I don't know the kids and I don't know the content. But I'm willing. I feel that it is important to be vulnerable enough to do these things to support the teachers. Even if the lesson doesn't go as planned, we get a chance to debrief and so we are both going to come out better.

Using Native Language

So remember that most of the kids in the classroom don't understand what I'm saying. Now, a lot of these kids speak Spanish, so I'm going to just be honest, my first instinct would be to just say it in Spanish. I speak Spanish. And this is not the moment to worry about language acquisition. This is the moment to worry about teaching a skill so that we can acquire more English! Routines, directions, telling a student how amazing they are...Those kinds of messages we need to get across, however we can get them across. Use your entire language repertoire to communicate these things. We have Google Translate and I will use it or whatever I need to use to help me , might use whatever I need to make sure they understand.

#SeidlitzEdChat
If anyone needs an "Instead of IDK" poster for thier #virtualclassroom here you go! #KeepItSimple #ells pic.twitter.com/BoEbq8SaQY

- Dr. Carol Salva (@DrCarolSalva) May 20, 2020

A key word or phrase is always okay. - Said by Nancy Motley in one of my first ESL trainings.)
But as the instructor, I want to stay in English as much as possible. I'm the model. I would only just pop out of English for a moment and come right back in. I don't want them to think that I will be translating everything. I want them to get comprehensible input (understandable messages) with me staying in English as much as possible. But again, this is so important that I would use my Spanish. Absolutely. Not a problem for me. It always has worked out just fine.

Translation Can't be our Go-To Strategy for Comprehensible Input

I have no problem using Spanish from time to time but the teacher I was working with does not speak Spanish! And another thing is that several kids in there don't speak Spanish! I could use Google Translate and I would still use some Spanish translation, though. I would still do it because the majority were Spanish speaking kids and they just communicate kid-to-kid better than they can with me often. They're friends. So I would do it, but I would be thinking "What about my student that speaks Farsi? What about the child that speaks Arabic? Are they getting it?" And so translation cannot be our comprehensible input default. And as the year goes on, I want to make sure it's not because more kids have more comprehension and I should not need to translate at all anything pretty soon. So anyway, the teacher I was working with didn't speak Spanish, and I want to make sure that I'm trying to model something that they can do easily.

How do I Get Buy-In for This Norm?

Okay, so here's how it looks if everybody speaks English in my classroom. I would write "I Don't Know." on the board and talk about how it is OK not to know answers. I'd give them a scenario in life like if I'm at the bank and they ask me, "What is your husband's mother's maiden name?" I might just need a minute. I might know it, but I might just say, "Can you hang on just a moment? Can you give me a minute to think?" My husband might be in the car, and so I might instead ask them if I could go ask him for help.

Most importantly, I want them to talk to each other. I'd like the students to talk and to tell me why is this important. I want their buy-in. This is a lesson. It is not just, 'Hey, we're going to start doing this today.'

We can just write one thing on the anchor chart and add to it throughout the year. But they need to buy-in. They need to understand why it's important. So I would have that "I Don't Know" written on the anchor chart and at that point, I would cross it out. Then I would add "Instead of..." and we can start writing other things we could say onto that poster.

Poster vs. Anchor Chart

Instead of 'poster,' let's call it an anchor chart. It needs to be big enough for the kids on the other side of the room to be able to read it. Any environmental print needs to be big enough, written in big enough print, that it's usable no matter where you're sitting in the class. And it needs to be referenced. Otherwise, it is just decoration.

On a mission to increase engagement for early ELs, @PantherNation_1 Ms. Carter begins virtual classes with a purpose statement (doubles as fluency practice), images to support growth mindset and @MsSalvac IDK chart 🙌🙌. @MNPS_EL pic.twitter.com/BfUzlt7lb3

- Heather W. Goodridge (@h_woodroof) September 3, 2020

NO FORCED OUTPUT

That's how it goes when everybody speaks English. So now I will explain what I do when they don't comprehend much English.

I want to say, before I start to tell you about the simulation, No Forced Output. That's a mantra in my mind that I'm saying to myself as I walk in front of a class of new arrival students or any students, no forced output. I am not going to force anyone. I'm never going to force a kid to speak in English. When they're acquiring English, it's just so cringy. And it is doing the opposite, the exact opposite of what I want, which is a low-stress environment where they can acquire, consume, and comprehend as much English as possible.

I want that to go as fast as possible. And there's a researcher named Steven Krashen who will tell you it's really all about reading. And he's right, in my experience. I want to get them reading with support, high interest, compelling things, acquiring and understanding these words as they start to understand how they sound and as they start to use them, we get it off the ground, and it starts going so fast.

They have to be comfortable for that. They have to be really comfortable. Not freaked out. So whatever I'm doing in front of the class, they can attend to it, they can see it, they can get it. They can start getting little things. They can be comfortable enough to talk to their partner in a low-stress way.

QSSSA

One-to-one is low stress, so use whatever language, but I want them to talk to each other. Some of them won't even talk to each other in their native language.

Think about that. A turn-and-talk. What could go wrong with a turn and talk in a regular math class? I'm sure you're thinking a lot of things.

They're not talking about what I want them to talk about....

One of them is doing all the talking...

They weren't paying attention, so they don't know.

And on and on...

QSSSA is a routine that helps solve for so many of the challenges we face when we want students to Turn and Talk. It's a top tip. It is our top tip. I work for a company called Sidelitz Education, and QSSSA is always a Top Tip! Chris Hagy of Charleston, SC has a padlet on the technique here. And this script by Michelle Gill is popular:

That routine is one of John Seidlitz' Seven Steps to a Language-rich, Interactive Classroom. It is a fantastic routine. But guess what step one is? Step one is teach kids what to say when they don't know what to say.

Teaching Students what to Say instead of IDK is STEP ONE.

That is step one for a reason. We need low-stress environments where everybody is willing to take risks. See, I don't want to force them to speak in English, but I do want to arm them with something they can take anywhere they go in the building and also not be so worried that they're going to be called on. So this "Instead of "I don't know" poster that we're creating, I have a little one for you.

They're about six to a page and you can just print them out and cut them up and tape them to the desk. Tape them to their agenda. Have a big one on the wall and also tape these on their Chromebook and everywhere so they can take it with them because it's a skill. It is what they might need at the doctor's office. To use in math class. To use everywhere.

The Fail

Okay, so I'm walking to the front of a classroom where kids do not speak English. The class is for that. And these are new arrival students. And it's at the beginning of the school year and it's specifically for students who have missed education. So imagine there's not much comprehension across the board. So I went up there and I wrote, I don't know on the board. And you see kids, they're looking at it quizzically. So I think, "I'm going to explain this like I always do, but I'll just use gestures."

So for whatever reason, I pointed to my eye in my face. Ha! I'm going to try not to laugh because it was so ridiculous. So I pointed to my eye, but then immediately I was like, no, not that kind of eye .. I. And I pointed to my chest and I saw a kid mouth "me" as soon as I pointed to my chest. He mouthed me and I was like, yes, like me... I. And another student pointed at me, like at the teacher, and said, I? No, no, no... now my mind is racing. I'm thinking, God! Because you know what? I did this for a living, for years. But every time I go in front of a class, I get slapped back into reality of how hard it really is. It is not easy to teach, period. But you forget how intentional you need to be to teach newcomers effectively. But I need this vulnerability. I need to be up there so that I can help. I don't have to have a magic wand and do anything perfectly. Or say "just do this!" I was up there so we can figure out things together. And I know there's a way to do this with newcomers. I'm just thinking, "Why didn't I think about this before I walked up here??"

I was like, no, I (pointing at my chest). Of course some kids got it. "I" is a very common high-frequency word. I like, I am here. Okay, let me just go on to "Don't"... the word "Don't." So I pointed to the word don't, and I said, Say "don't", and everybody repeated it.

I wagged my finger like, no... like you're shaming somebody.

Don't... don't... Don't

And one of them said, "no." And I said, yeah like "no." But he was saying, "I no?"

No. So when I was shaking my finger back and forth, they were getting "no" like yes or no. So I was like yeah, it's no...but it's don't. And I'm trying to think, how do you say don't? How do you convey don't without saying no? Because the next word is know!

I don't know.

So then I was like, okay, don't. Just say don't, and then no. And then point into my temple....know.

I know they're thinking, "I no no? And that no is with a K??"

Okay, right there. Let's just stop. This all happened in just a few seconds, right? To me, it is so funny.

Making Things Harder Than They Need to Be

It is so funny because I'm just making it so much harder than it needs to be. As always. As always, I'm making it way harder than it needs to be. Let's back up. I could have said it in Spanish because one kid finally did say "No Se?" That's beautiful. Yes! Throughout the school year, if they say it in Spanish, I'm going to say, yeah, exactly. Or if they get it, yeah. I don't care if they translate to each other all year long. I just don't want that to be their go-to either. But anyway, as soon as he said , I wrote And they're like, yeah, okay. But there were still kids in the class that don't speak Spanish. But I did see that they can help each other understand this. I saw a kid turn to another kid and make the gesture like shoulders up, palms up. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yes. That kids should be teaching. LOL!

That kid should be teaching. Because here's how I'm going to always do it from this point forward. They all got it when I made this noise, when I shrugged my shoulders, when I put my palms up, and when I made the "I Don't Know" sound... it isn't even a word. It is a sound. So that gesture with your shoulders up and your palms up, that resulted in 100% of them getting it. And they started laughing, and they're like, okay, we get it.

I can also invite our kids who do have literacy in Arabic or something else to come and write that over here on this anchor chart. There's nothing wrong with the native language. In fact, it's powerful. But I want the English words big as that is our target language in this class.

So they understand this is what we're talking about. But they needed to understand, just like any class, what does it look like in a class? So let me circle back that little moment that I had in front of that class. That little fail, I call it, was such a fantastic learning opportunity for me and for the teacher. At least I know it was for me and I hope for him because we debriefed afterward that we're just making it harder than it needs to be.

Collaborate with Like Minded Educators

This is the kind of thing I get better at because I reflect on it. I am reflecting on it right now in this podcast. But I want to talk with or communicate with other educators to remind me of the basic things that are most powerful. And things like 'When is native language okay?' Again, A keyword or phrase is always okay for the teacher. I mean, when is native language okay for the students in an ESL classroom?

Always, always allow and honor their native language.

Students can use your entire language repertoire in this class because I have a language target. I have a language objective today. Our language objective is "We will use language such as "May I ask a friend for help?" and "Would you please repeat the question?"

That's our language target today. And we all repeated it at the beginning of class in unison because that is low-stress. I'm not forcing anybody, but if we say it all together, you know, and we used it several times in the class, and I'm constantly bringing them back into English. The ones who can speak English, the ones who are able to repeat, the ones who are we're constantly coaching for that through the entire 39 minutes. But you have to use your native language.

It's a source of comfort. Your funds of knowledge live there... everything that you're able to express.

I have a kid who speaks Spanish and a kid who speaks Arabic sitting together. And they do great, but they do use some of their native language. Their common language is English, but they can communicate with each other using everything they have.

We want to create a culture of conversation. And that conversation, we cannot force it all to be in English. But there's more and more English as we are going through the year. I promise this is the answer. Low-stress environments, low-stress opportunities for output.

Opportunities for output. No forced output. And tons of comprehensible input. Tons of messages that you start to understand, what does that person mean? What are they trying to get across to me in this language?

Comprehensible input would be in the target language of English in that classroom. But comprehensible. So me making that gesture really exaggerated...it's comprehensible. It was more comprehensible than anything else I was doing up there. So we just played around with it. We're just playing around with it.

Partner with Students. Be Transparent

And you know, what is great about what happened is the kids don't forget it. The kids won't forget it if it's a fail like that. I'm just transparent with them. I was always telling my students that I'm learning how to be a better teacher every day. That's what other people say, too.

I have heard Instructional Coaches say they don't model because they don't want to take the power away from the teacher. NO. You won't take the power away from that teacher. I don't believe that for a minute. Let's hold students to a higher regard. Partner with the students. I'm trying to get better about that. Right when I walk in, if they let me introduce myself, I want to say "Hi, I'm Dr. Salva. Your teacher and I are both learning. We're always learning. I hope for you that your whole life you will be learning. So today we're going to try some things together because I want to learn, and he wants to learn. And we're always working together to get better at things, to get better at teaching you. And so what I learned from you, too. And you guys learn from us. So we're going to try some things in here and see how they go."

I mean, that's just transparent because we're all still just on this journey, all of us, me, the teacher, the principal, the kids, all of us. Hold them in high regard. We are all learning together, okay?

So Instead of, 'I Don't Know.'

Here are some things for my journey of learning lately on supporting teachers:

It's not a poster. The strategy is not a poster because a poster is just decoration. If the kids aren't using it, if we haven't implemented it. And so if you look around your room and it is a small thing where kids can't access it, or if we only talked about it one time, that's where we learned, okay? We haven't emphasized it enough.

We haven't made it a norm. We haven't made it our default. We haven't spent time making sure our highest kid in the class uses it, because we ask them questions that they would need to use it like, "Can you tell me more about that?" Or "Can you say it another way?" Or "Why? Why do you think that?"

Are we using this to help with rigor? Those kinds of higher-order questions would have your highest kids going, hhhmmmmmmm.... So you can offer them, "Okay, do you want a moment? Do you want to use something from the poster?" We want all the kids to see that it's for all the kids. So your highest kids have to buy into it. And if we want our students to buy into this technique, we need to give them the relevancy. We need to explain all of this and make sure they all understand why it's important.

Motivation - Helping Them Find It

We had kids speaking in their native language to each other and coming up with ideas of why it's important because that was the thing. We need buy in from students. We need them to buy into this.

Larry Ferlazzo has written a lot on how to help kids be intrinsically motivated. I'll link to one of his articles. Here are the four things.

I say them all the time. (I'm a Larry Ferlazzo groupie.) The researchers agree. If you want kids to be motivated, if you want people to find their motivation, intrinsic motivation, put these four things in the environment.

Relevancy like I just said, why is it relevant? How is it relevant? Why is it relevant to you? Why should you care.

Relatedness that's relationships. Teachers have relationships with students, and students have relationships with each other, and we want to work on those because it really helps motivation. So relevancy, relatedness another one is:

Autonomy or choice. So I give them that anchor chart, and you can choose whatever one you want to say. But how much choice you have in anything helps you be more motivated about doing it. And then the fourth thing that Larry writes about is:

Competence. A sense of competence. That doesn't mean I've mastered it. It means I feel myself getting better at it. I've had a little win.

So that whole technique instead of I don't know, it's not a poster, it's a skill. What do you do when you don't know what to say? What can you say? So that's what I was saying.

Recap on Some Things That Can Go Wrong

What can go wrong is that we can have it to where it's just a poster. It may even be a poster that they can't read. So to offset that, to mitigate those challenges, we would use it more often. Explain it. Explain the relevancy.

Have kids talking to each other, your relationship with them, hold them in high regard that you want their opinion about why it's important and even using it, explain to them, we're doing it in here, not because I'm the teacher and I want you to answer it's because your voice is important. Your voice is important. And you may just need a moment. You may just need your friend to remind you of something. You may not know the answer, but that's okay. You know a lot of other things, and together we know a lot.

Don't Force Output but Expect Them to Use These Phrases?

So it may sound counterintuitive. Like what I'm saying is make sure they know what to say, but don't force output. Okay...I don't care if they say it in Spanish. I don't care. I mean, once they're comfortable. If I get a brand new student that come this week, I'm going back to relatedness. I'm going to have a conversation with them one on one, and I'm going to use Google Translate to make sure they know that they are in a safe place. That I'm not going to randomly call on them. They're new. I'm going to respect their need for support, but I'm going to have a lot of conversations with them. They're going to be pretty comfortable sooner versus later. They will be ready because they're in a classroom where we do these things and they're going to see this is how we roll in here. This is a very safe place. So when I do finally call on them, it's okay for them to answer in whatever language. It's okay for them to use their entire language repertoire to answer.

Or they can even give me a signal.! They can even point to it in the book when they are new or nervous. And I'll say, "Yeah, right! The answer landforms. You see this? Landforms. What he's saying is 'This week we are studying landforms'. That is the right answer! Let's all say that..."

If I'm trying to get complete sentences out of everyone's mouth, we can do them in unison. And I can honor this child, whatever their language.

So think about your language learners. If you're teaching language learners, they have different proficiency levels, and so a brand new student is not the time to force output, but they can be included. Inclusion! They can understand way more than they can say usually. So let's make them comfortable. They can attend, they can repeat, and in low-stress environments it all works better. Remember, low stress opportunities for output.

Low-stress output could be one-to-one. That would be a whisper read to my teacher. That would be with the students getting comfortable talking to the person next to them one-to-one.

A Culture of Conversation

And I can walk around and listen. I can get a formative assessment. That's better than me calling on one student that doesn't know the answer or only calling on the professional answer. Always, if I call on somebody and they don't know the answer, they can ask me something from the poster, or they can even point to the one on the poster and I can say "Yeah, this one says, May I ask a friend? Let's all say that. May I ask a friend? Yes. Okay... everybody. Ask your friend what do they think? And we'll come right back to this person."

But again, I'm going to make sure they have a WIN. See, with QSSSA, and Teaching kids what to say instead of IDK, you're well on your way to a very language rich, interactive classroom. I'm just asking you to respect the need for support of a brand new student, but in a way that allows them to acquire the language as quickly as possible.

I'm going to wrap up the show now and thank you for helping me reflect that's, what I just did. This is my journey of learning. And thank you to everybody that's allowing me to work with them and support them in their classrooms, in their districts, with training, with modeling, with coaching. Reach out. If you have any questions about that, you can find me on Twitter. I'm @DrCarolSalva or Come over to Facebook with us. I'm also on Instagram but I don't check that regularly. Sorry.

Last Thought

One more thing on "Instead of I don't know." Think about the cumulative effect of that over a person's life. Think about a student, what effect you're having if you help someone build that skill right now over the course of their lives. A person who doesn't just go, "I don't know," especially in this age of technology. What does that do for them in their working groups, in their lives, as they walk through their day, as they get their first job, as they get their next job? Look at the long game, always. Let's look at the long game and realize the effect. That's what I'm asking you to do is realize YOUR effect. Little things add up and they have major effects over a person's life. So that relatedness that relationship you're building with that student, it makes a difference. Hold them in high regard. Hold every one of them in high esteem. Their voice is important, and you want them to have that skill so that as they go through life, they can show what they know and they can get the answers they don't know, and they can add to their knowledge because the sky's the limit.

Please stop and reflect on the huge impact you're having on students. Thank you for everything you're doing.

Bye.

PS: Check Out Upcoming Events! We have a lot of places we can meet IRL!!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I'm working in districts where we have been in school for 5-8 weeks. This show is in response to some challenges and reflections on what I want to emphasize more. You can listen to this show right here or on your favorite podcast app. Listen to "BAP111 Instead of IDK for SLIFE and Newcomers" on Spreaker.

# data[].attributes.body
This article is a "deeper" dive into how to ask effective questions. I love the idea of a question asking "toolkit."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Brandon Cline, Divinity School and Teaching Consultant at the Chicago Center for Teaching

The Power of Questions

While asking questions may seem a simple task, it is perhaps the most powerful tool we possess as teachers. If we ask the right question of the right student at the right moment we may inspire her to new heights of vision and insight. A good question can excite, disturb, or comfort, and eventually yield an unexpected bounty of understanding and critical awareness. But even apart from such serendipitous moments, question-asking serves many functions that make it the stock in trade of the skillful teacher.

Good questions can:

Motivate student learning and fuel curiosity

Foster intellectual development and stimulate critical thinking

Guide discussion and shape a positive learning environment

While mastering the art of asking good questions is a lifelong pursuit, the following are four steps you can take to begin improving your question-asking practices.

Step One: Perform a Question-Asking Audit

Multiple observational studies have found that as many as ninety percent of teachers' questions focus on low-level cognitive skills such as memorization and recall. Moreover, we may be unaware of our overreliance on this level of questioning. Therefore, the first step to asking better questions is to perform a question-asking audit to assess the kinds of questions you tend to ask in class. For instance, ask a colleague to observe your class and document your questions. Or record a class session and write down the questions you asked. Afterwards, categorize the questions according to Bloom's taxonomy, using the results to evaluate the diversity and balance of your questioning practices. By periodically performing such audits, you can measure the development of your technique.

Step Two: Build a Question-Asking Tool Kit

By considering the different kinds of questions you might have asked in your audit, in addition to those you did, you begin to build a question-asking tool kit. A question-asking tool kit is a list of the kinds of questions you might ask your students in any situation, categorized in a useful form. Taxonomies of question-types abound, but developing your own inventory will furnish you with a useful repertoire from which to draw. Below is a sample inventory based on Bloom's taxonomy; you can find others among the resources at the end of this guide.

Sample Question Tool Kit Based on Bloom's Taxonomy

Lowest to Highest

Cognitive Skills

Example Questions

Requires students to recognize or recall information.

How far is Rome from the Mediterranean Sea?

What are the species of ancient rhetoric?

Comprehension

Requires students to restate without verbatim repetition or to cite examples, thereby demonstrating deeper understanding.

Explain the process of mitosis in your own words.

Can you give some examples of deliberative rhetoric?

Application

Requires students to solve a problem by applying their learning to a new situation.

Look at the following paragraph. As described in your reading from Quintillian, what rhetorical features of prooemia (introductions) can you identify?

Select a series of chords and play them in a chromatic sequence.

Analysis

Requires students to break down a concept or diagnose a situation into constituent parts, and to explain their interrelationships. Questions of comparison or analogy ("How is X like Z?") may also be classified here.

What factors led to the persecution of early Christians?

Break down the arguments that the author uses to support his hypothesis.

How does the artist use shapes and color to emphasize melancholy in this painting?

Compare Philippians 2:6-11 with Mark 10:42-45. How do these authors use the figure of Jesus as a model of humility?

Synthesis

Requires students to use original thought to creatively solve a new problem. Requires students to put together material for themselves into a new whole or in a new form.

How would you design an experiment to show the effect of education on income?

How would you arrange Bloom's taxonomy in light of new research in cognitive science?

How would you compare Augustine's and Luther's understandings of the relationship between church and state (analysis)? Based on the strengths and weaknesses of their ideas, what understanding of that relationship would you propose (synthesis)?

Evaluation

Requires students to make judgments, according to appropriate criteria, about the value of a given work, idea, method, proposal, etc.

How well did the composition exhibit the principle of harmony?

How internally consistent is Augustine in making his case?

What is the value of Wikipedia as a knowledge resource?

If drugs were legalized, what would be the implications for public health?

You will find that other tool-kits use different terminology or add categories that either supplement Bloom's-such as hypothetical questions (What if Constantine had been defeated at the Milvian bridge?), challenge questions (Why do you think that? What counter-evidence might you cite?), and affective questions (Was there anything that made you uncomfortable? Why?)-or relate to class process (How does that comment connect to what was previously said? What themes have emerged from today's discussion?). When you study such typologies, make them your own by coming up with categories that make sense to you and listing example questions from your own discipline.

Tips for Using Your Tool Kit:

1. Always keep your tool kit handy. If you make your typology simple and easy to remember, it can remain in the back of your mind as class progresses, allowing you to mentally match possible questions to the needs of the moment.

2. Use a lot of different tools. Aim to vary the types and levels of the questions you ask. This will deepen discussion and improve critical thinking. As Mark Twain put it, "If your only tool is a hammer, pretty soon all the world appears to be a nail."

3. Use the right tool for the right job. Choose the right kind of question at the right moment for your learning goals. Just as one naturally considers the order in which each class segment falls within one's teaching plan, so one should consider how each segment might be best explored.

Step Three: Cultivate Your Question-Asking Style

Masterful question-asking attends not only to what questions one is asking, but also to how one is asking them. Question-asking style encompasses such elements as the phrasing and word choice of questions, non-verbal communication, and reaction time to student responses. These can have an enormous impact on engagement and student learning, and the skillful teacher will use them mindfully to regulate classroom dynamics.

Phrasing and word choice

Want to create a break or mark a transition? Ask a factual or summative question to mark where discussion has gone.

Want to invite more participation? Use your word choice to increase student involvement. For instance, "Charles, give us your conclusion, please," offers little leeway to decline an invitation to speak, thus putting students on the defensive; on the other hand, "Charles, would you be willing to offer your conclusion?" is much less agonistic. Inserting "wriggle room" clauses ("That's a tough one, Fred-at least for me-but can you get us started?") can also reduce anxiety and encourage participation.

Want to encourage interactivity? Design questions that relate a comment to previous contributions or build on what others have said. ("Mark, would you agree with Lucy on this point?" "How does that comment relate to what Jack said?") Phrased this way, your questions encourage students to listen to each others' responses and to begin making their own connections.

Want to heighten student engagement? Use more challenge questions ("Why do you think that? What evidence supports your hypothesis?") or deploy a series of short, quickly answered informational questions to speed up the tempo or prepare for more involved questions.

Want to regulate the mood? Make the discussion cool down or heat up by changing the level of abstraction and personalization in your questions. "Do you believe in abortion in cases of rape or incest?" is far more emotive than "What political, economic, and ethical factors affect the national debate on abortion?" In some cases you may wish to heighten the personal involvement of participants; in other cases you may wish to encourage detachment.

Want to give closure to a segment or session? Ask students a generalizing or summative question. ("If you had to pick out three themes that surfaced most often in our discussion today, what would they be?")

Emotional tone and non-verbals

Factors such as voice level, facial expressions, bodily posture, and eye contact can profoundly affect the interpretation of one's questions. A simple question like "What do you think?" can communicate hostility or geniality depending on the questioner's emphasis and demeanor. A loud question delivered with sweeping gestures can stir the pot, while one deliberately and softly spoken can calm the room and invite self-reflection. While the needs of the moment may dictate which you choose, your question-asking will be most successful if you strive to use your tone, facial expressions, and gestures to communicate a sense of spirited inquiry rather than of student interrogation.

Think Time (aka Wait Time)

Think time is the amount of time a teacher waits for a response to a question. While the interval may feel like an eternity to the teacher, studies have documented that the average teacher's wait-time is-remarkably-less than one second. Instead, get in the habit of pausing at least five seconds (and sometimes more) after both a question and the student response. According to research conducted by Columbia University, when teachers waited at least five seconds after asking a question, students lengthened their responses, backed up their claims with evidence, and became less teacher-directed and more peer-directed.

Step Four: Further Refine Your Technique

Refine your technique with these quick tips:

Prepare questions in advance. Remember, it takes time to design effective questions. As you prepare for class, brainstorm questions and questioning strategies. As you come up with a list, think through the range of possible outcomes and responses to your questions. This will help you feel more prepared to let discussion flow while maintaining a sense of overall control. A good list will also ensure that you ask many different kinds of questions over the course of the class.

Think about the sequence of your questions. No matter which sequence you choose (simple to complex, general to specific), it is helpful to have a game plan in mind. For instance, you may want to ask informational questions at the beginning of a unit to "prime the discussion pump" and to uncover material from which later synthetic questions will draw.

Come up with alternatives to "Are there any questions?" Students may feel discouraged from responding to "Are there any questions" for a host of reasons: peer pressure, not wanting to appear inadequate, fearing to seemingly criticize the teacher, etc. To overcome such resistance, consider rephrasing: "Now, I'm sure you have some questions", or "That was complicated. What did I leave out?" Moreover, such moments are prime opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding as a check of their learning. Instead of "Are there any questions?", try a more proactive "Why did I substitute this value in this equation?" or "How would you summarize the argument I just advanced?"

Debrief yourself after each class. Make notes on the more or less successful questioning tactics of the day's session. Which questions generated the liveliest engagement? Which interactions did not go well, and why?

Ask questions you don't know the answers to. Students often enter college with the notion that asking questions somehow reveals a failure of understanding. Asking questions you don't know the answers to is one way of communicating to your students that you value risk-taking and good questions just as much as "right" answers. Modeling the process of inquiry for your students sometimes involves venturing into uncharted territory and thinking through solutions with your students that may lead to dead ends!

Keep billy club questioning to a minimum. As C. Roland Christensen notes, questions can be shepherd's staffs or a billy-clubs. While question-asking may be used to check who has completed the reading or to compel student attention, overreliance on questions as an enforcement mechanism can sour classroom ecology and communicate the wrong message about the value and purpose of questions.

Selected Resources

1. C. Roland Christensen, "The Discussion Leader in Action: Questioning, Listening, and Response", Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership (Boston: Harvard Business School, 1991), 99-122. A sensitive and quite helpful approach to the "triptych" of discussion leading: questioning, listening, and responding.

2. Thomas Kasulis, "Questioning", The Art and Craft of Teaching (Edited by Margaret Morganroth Gullette; Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1984), 38-48. Especially good on the procedural and personal dimensions of question-asking.

3. Barbara Gross Davis, "Asking Questions", Tools for Teaching (2nd ed; Jossey-Bass, 2009), 82-90. Helpful quick summation of research with further references.

4. "Questions and Questioning Techniques", Teaching Pedagogy to Graduate Student Instructors (Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment, University of Texas at Austin), 109-26. A thorough presentation loaded with tips; especially strong on Bloom's taxonomy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Brandon Cline, Divinity School and Teaching Consultant at the Chicago Center for Teaching While asking questions may seem a simple task, it is perhaps the most powerful tool we possess as teachers. If we ask the right question of the right student at the right moment we may inspire her to new heights of vision and insight.