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This was great to see and learn about the different stages of language acquisition and how it can vary between students. Reasons not to group by high and low and the challenges and opportunities ELL students face in each stage. Not to water-down the curriculum to meet them, but better ways to prompt questions to help match where the ELL students might be at the stage they are at to keep them engaged.

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There was a LOT I didn't know about English Language Learners. I learned about the stages of language acquisition and what I can do to help in the classroom. Some of the prompting questions and descriptions of where students are at with each stage was super helpful to learn. As I read I thought of two ELL students I currently have, and what I can do to better support them in the classroom. I think a few of these strategies are things I was already doing as a special education teacher, so I felt a sense of relief knowing I was at least on the right path.

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I feel that this course was extremely helpful in preparing me to better assist English Language Learners at ALL levels of acquisition. I think that many of the strategies presented are extensions of good teaching in general, but my major growth areas from this course will come in my awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented at each stage. This will impact my practice on a daily basis as I craft, hone, and deliver instruction. Maybe more importantly, it will guide me as I look to form relationships with these students to help them have a great social and emotional learning experience along with their language acquisition and general classroom experience.

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This course did a great job explaining the different stages of language acquisition and I really felt I learned a lot about ELL learners and how to better help them be successful. Being more cognizant of the different stages will better help me look at how I am presenting content to ELL students.

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This course was very helpful in deepening my understanding of the ELL learner. It also has provided me with new teaching techniques/strategies to help ELL students. One of my favorite takeaways was becoming aware of the learner's stage of language acquisition. Being aware of the different stages has helped me identify certain teaching strategies that will help each specific student. I look forward to using these helpful strategies taught throughout this course in the future.

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I am grateful that this course is being presented to staff! Previously I have had ELL students and did not even know where to begin in offering them assistance. Through this course, I understand that there are specific categories that these students fall into and that within each category there are specific, research based strategies that can be used to help students find greatest academic success. Further, the reminder to not water down the curriculum was a key insight that I want to bring with me.

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I wish I would have taken this course about 4 years ago when I had a student from Russia in my class that didn't speak any english.  I realized that I did somethings that were helpful like picture clues. But I learned there are more things I could do in the future.

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I think taking this course would have been helpful a few years ago when I had a student move here who did not know any English.  This course helped me realize some strategies I could have done during that time and what I did that was probably helpful for her.
I think it is helpful that I teach 1st grade and already use lots of picture clues since students are not strong readers yet.  I will think of this course often the next time I have an ELL student.

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I think by taking this course it has made me become more aware of how I need to speak with and interact with my ELL students. It makes me take a step back and think how they must feel very overwhelmed each day as they are trying to navigate and unclear world of words and make a connection between the words and the task being asked of them. I hope this will remind me to slow down with my content while working with ELL students and remember that they are learning an entire new language and to use visuals and vocabulary together to help create a better and deeper connection.

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Brad Olson.                                    There is a lot that I had no idea about ELL and kinda overlooked some of this stuff and relied on assistants I have had in the room or the students ELL teachers.  I need to start looking more closely what stage each student is at and make a plan how to help them progress not only in my class, but as a EL.    

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Brad Olson.                                    There is a lot that I had no idea about ELL and kinda overlooked some of this stuff and relied on assistants I have had in the room or the students ELL teachers.  I need to start looking more closely what stage each student is at and make a plan how to help them progress not only in my class, but as a EL.    

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I realized I have much more to learn to support my ELL students. I can't imagine being in a new place and not knowing the language. I relearned the 5 stages of language acquisition. This allowed me to think about this with my frame of reference like a baby. Learning a new language is like learning it for the first time. Patience is key!

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This course offered a good review of a variety of important instructional strategies for ELL students. I appreciated the emphasis on engaging students in various ways, and making connections. The main thing I need to focus on is identifying students' level of language acquisition. Once that is determined, figure out which strategies works best for the individual. Great reminder to provide more visuals, frontload vocabulary, make connections, and provide examples.

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I definitely realized after taking this course that I am not as "ready" as I thought I was to effectively teach ELL students. I learned a lot about the stages that these students go through and that will help me moving forward in my career to be able to identify exactly where a particular student is on their learning journey. The biggest takeaway for me was the language section, I use a lot of sarcasm and different body language in my teaching and I know realize that ELL learners might not take to that well. Along with that, using more visuals to help my ELL learners is more important than I first thought. This was a very helpful course to take for my future teaching.

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Much of what I read in this course about effective instructional strategies should be applied to an effective teacher for all students. I thought about having kids find their learning groups would give English Learners a chance to find a connection with others along with getting support with any reading that goes with the task at hand. I learned about the stages of English Learning and the question forms that should be applied in each stage. I have and will continue to seek support when needed with our English Learners.

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This course provided articles and resources that gave insight, tips, strategies, and teaching techniques to help teachers and ELL students grow. The Dos and Don'ts had me reflecting on ways that I can grow as a teacher working with ELL students and also non-ELL students. The biggest ah-ha I received from this course is the stages of engagement and how to go from low level to higher level thinking skills with still impacting students and showing their abilities and capabilities.

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This course highlighted the need to identify specifically what are the most appropriate technology resources that could be deployed to assist ell learners in the various acquisition stages. An action step would be to include specific strategies that integrate technology appropriate resources within each acquisition stage.

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This course shared so many helpful strategies for helping ELL students be successful in the classroom. It was so beneficial to learn about the 5 stages of language acquisition. What I really liked about that article was that it shared specific strategies to use at each level and also shared question starters that are appropriate at each level. My biggest takeaway from this course is to engage all students in the same level of thinking because a student's ability in a second language does not tell you the knowledge they have on a topic. It is important to give all students opportunities to learn and practice higher order thinking skills in a language that is appropriate to his or her language acquisition stage.

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This course had a lot of helpful information.  I appreciate the step by step support in the documents regarding each student's level of language acquisition. The guides will be extremely helpful when working with ELL students and knowing the best ways to ask questions and present new learning!  I also appreciate the information provided in the Do's and Don'ts Article.  Recognizing that one may unintentionally ask less of an ELL student (cognitively/Bloom's Taxonomy) than the other students, brings awareness to how we assess our ELL students and requires us to give the students opportunities to express their understanding in other ways without compromising their cognitive expectations.   Thanks for the clear and concise information in this course!

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The first article refreshed my memory on the stages of English language acquisition and how important that knowledge is in your teaching. I realized I need to be more prepared in identifying each student's level of language acquisition. I also need to identify the strategies that will work best with them in teaching new content. When teaching new content, I need to make sure not to "water down" expectations. As the SIOP modeled indicated, I will work harder to "prime" EL student's learning using connections to background knowledge, text to self connections, and text to text connections. There were so many great strategies to enhance learning at each level. However, more conscious preparation for each students' needs seems to be the "key" take-away.

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The information provided for the 5 stages of language Acquisition helped to understand the progression of learning for students that are English language learners. The strategies provided at all levels also reminded me that all students are able to demonstrate mastery of content if we use a variety of teaching tools-which includes visuals of content, manipulatives, awareness of how we use language, and are able to modify materials so the students have the same opportunity to learn content. I feel the information provided has given me a better understanding of the processes and how to better to support the student developing English Language.

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This has helped open my eyes to how little prepared I am to work with ELL students who are in the beginning stages of learning English as a second language. I've had experience with ELL students who are advanced, but not with the earlier stages. This has helped me realize how important it is to recognize that we need to teach ELL students not just with our words, but with visuals, objects, examples, manipulatives, body-language, etc. and not take for granted the language that we use to teach all of our other students whose first-language is English.

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The descriptions of the levels of language acquisition were very clear and made it easy for me to think of past and current students and place them at different levels in my mind. This course was a good reminder that no matter where a student is at in their language acquisition, this does not correlate to the level of critical thinking they can achieve. This course gave me many ideas for how I can modify projects (targeting the create and respond standards) for EL students while still holding them to the same standards. I also took away from this course the importance of highlighting important vocabulary through repetition, examples, and visuals.

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This article was very informative. It taught me that there are many ways to work with students as an English Learner. We often take for granted what we already know with English as our primary language. I am excited to use some of the tools taught here.

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I found the 5 stages interesting and while useful it gave me a better understanding of the complexity in dealing with EL students. Maintaining rigor is very important. All too often I would be watering down my lessons and that is not what I should have been doing...

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I found the 5 Stages of Language Acquisition and the strategies they gave for helping EL and all students very helpful. Some of the strategies I already had in place, but found a few that I plan to utilize more. I found the section talking about asking low level questions of second language speakers very thought provoking. Their ability to speak the second language has nothing to do with their ability to think abstractly. I plan to start asking those next level questions as they are transitioning into their next stage to help encourage that transition.

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There are 5 stages of acquisition that will be very useful. As an Assistant I can take away from this the different ways to be better at relating and assisting them to move forward.

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I knew there were varying levels of English knowledge in my students, but it was really interesting to learn the official names for the stages and various ways of teaching for each stage. I sometimes think back on interactions and wonder if I should have slowed down a bit or explained things a little differently, this information was very interesting. I will work closer with the classroom teachers to determine appropriate modifications to assignments for my students depending on their needs.

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Reflecting on what I learned today, Molly

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Reflecting on what I learned today, Molly

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I didn't realize that the amount of ELL learners had grown so much in the past few years. It shows the need for more ways to help these learners so they can succeed in their futures. I learned many strategies to help the students that I am working with daily. I will slow down my speech, work with the classroom teacher to modify their lessons if needed, ask the students more questions and give them time to answer, use more visual aids when needed.

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I am struck by how the strategies presented are all-around good strategies for teaching vocabulary development in math classes, especially geometry. For example, using the 4-part cards for vocab with the vocab word, the definition, a picture, and the word used in a sentence. For this last part, I would substitute including a property that applies to this word (ie: midsegment, line segment connecting the midpoint of the legs of a trapezoid, a picture, then the formula Midsegment = (base 1 + base 2)÷2. This benefits all students.

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I learned about the 5 stages of acquisition which is incredibly important when teacher student who are english language learners. Although I do not have much experience teaching EL students I feel that I am better prepared and have some great resources to reference. I enjoyed learning instructional strategies that are useful for all students.

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Reflecting  On This Timely Review... O'Davis

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Reflecting  On This Timely Review... O'Davis

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I'm reminded of the number of great ideas I can use with students whose English is just emerging. In truth, we don't see a lot of older students at this level in our schools. But we work with a lot of Kindergarteners who are engaging daily with English for the first time. So it's fun to "dial in" the strategies for teaching and assessing these young ones as they assimilate the language and become more adept at producing it. Using sentence starters, strong visual supports, modeling, increasing "wait time", and giving ELs opportunities to do more academic work with their native English speaking peers: these strategies open the space for our youngest learners to grow their use of the English language.

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I learned there are 5 stages of learning acquisition, and that it is important for me, as a teacher of EL students, to find out at what level my students are. I also learned some good vocabulary strategies , including when it's a good time to dedicate extra time to vocabulary practice. Another interesting takeaway was to make sure different questioning strategies or modified work completion expectations doesn't mean the level of thinking required is lower.

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Sherri G Reflections Learning the 5 stages of learning language has helped me understand the learning process.  I really enjoyed the do and don'ts.  I do not have any EL students on my caseload but when I do, this would be and excellent resource to come back and review.  I have a better understand and appreciation of my early learners learning how to communicate to the people around them.  We as a team focus on vocabulary of even simple things and use a lot of visual cues including the core board and simple pictures.

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Sherri G Reflections Learning the 5 stages of learning language has helped me understand the learning process.  I really enjoyed the do and don'ts.  I do not have any EL students on my caseload but when I do, this would be and excellent resource to come back and review.  I have a better understand and appreciation of my early learners learning how to communicate to the people around them.  We as a team focus on vocabulary of even simple things and use a lot of visual cues including the core board and simple pictures.

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I have several takeaways that will impact my teaching...
1. The 5 stages  will help me be aware of where a student is at and what to do.
2. The dos and don'ts make me aware of best practice regarding EL students.
3. The instruction strategies and ideas helped me remember how important building background knowledge is as well as using varied strategies to help students learn new vocabulary.

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Taking this course has given me more ideas for how to support EL students in the classroom.  It helped to see the different stages so clearly defined with specific strategies listed for each, this was new to me.  I now have access to a great resource of strategies to use for any EL students I may have in the future.

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From what I have read...I will be more aware of the 5 stages, what they look like, as well as strategies for the teacher to use in each of the stages. This will help me to know that what I am doing is best for the student at that stage. As well, within the instruction strategies I was given several ideas and resources to utilize that will be helpful to insure the instruction I provide will be well rounded and provide the tools needed for success.

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I think the bigger take-aways for me had to do with intentionally using a mix of strategies for learning, and the specific do s and don'ts of overall EL learning teaching and learning. The idea of mixed methods like nonverbal accompaniment, strategies including a lot of opportunities for collaboration, and the idea of using symbols, text, verbals, drawing, etc simultaneously rather than as a series hit home for me. I see that these multiple methods can give support and perhaps more importantly, reassurance of understanding without watering down content. Since my course is vocabulary heavy, I'm going to design some lessons and reinforcement activities that implement multiple methods at once, like the 4-square method that was mentioned.

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It was very interesting to me to read about the different stages of language acquisition and I had a lot of ah ha moments when I thought about the students I work with daily.  I am definitely going into my small groups more aware of my language and how I approach teaching ESL students.

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It was very interesting to me to read about the different stages of language acquisition and I had a lot of ah ha moments when I thought about the students I work with daily.  I am definitely going into my small groups more aware of my language and how I approach teaching ESL students.

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There was so much information here!  5 stages of language acquisition, the Do and Don't article as well as all the strategies that are useful when teaching students that are ELL.  In EC, we are seeing more and more of these students and while our content can be viewed as different than that of a elem/sec teacher, the basics are the same.

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There was so much information here!  5 stages of language acquisition, the Do and Don't article as well as all the strategies that are useful when teaching students that are ELL.  In EC, we are seeing more and more of these students and while our content can be viewed as different than that of a elem/sec teacher, the basics are the same.

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The articles and resources from this course contained many strategies and reminders that will impact my teaching in regards to EL students. The Do's and Don'ts list gave several items to consider, such as language use and speed of talking. The focus on vocabulary is something that I need to be better at after examining these resources. A student dictionary could be extremely helpful for students in all content areas. Finally, not assuming that I know the level of a student. Their speaking ability might not match their academic level.

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I felt the information that I learned about the stages of second language acquisition will help me identify strategies to help my students.  Knowing which stage the student will help me use the resources to find appropriate strategies to teach the EL student.  The DO's & DON'TS list especially the tiered questions are helpful with instruction and understanding their unique learning levels.

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I certainly enjoyed learning about the stages of language acquisition. Having this in my tool belt will certainly be useful with EL students, beginning with identifying the stage for each EL student.The resources were great and can easily be added to my drive to implement. It was also helpful to read some tips on dealing with parents of EL students, such as speaking slower.

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Reflection, Peggy K. Since I teach Kindergarten, I am doing many of the activities  suggested.  In kindergarten we start at the very basics, so that the children are getting what most of the students would be getting.   I have found that the EL children still need some intensive help at times, especially with Rhyming, and that I am going to fast for them at times.  I am happy to have the resources provided, and I will use them in the future, (I like the cards to be printed in Spanish/English), also the Trasact resource for translations. (I didn't know about that resource.)  I also liked the reminder to watch what I say and how I say things.  The other takeaway is to not make the children talk if they are not comfortable to do so.  Most children like to talk, but I need to be mindful if an EL student does not feel comfortable doing so.   

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Reflection, Peggy K. Since I teach Kindergarten, I am doing many of the activities  suggested.  In kindergarten we start at the very basics, so that the children are getting what most of the students would be getting.   I have found that the EL children still need some intensive help at times, especially with Rhyming, and that I am going to fast for them at times.  I am happy to have the resources provided, and I will use them in the future, (I like the cards to be printed in Spanish/English), also the Trasact resource for translations. (I didn't know about that resource.)  I also liked the reminder to watch what I say and how I say things.  The other takeaway is to not make the children talk if they are not comfortable to do so.  Most children like to talk, but I need to be mindful if an EL student does not feel comfortable doing so.   

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Although I don’t work directly with students in the classroom, I enjoyed reading and learning about the stages of language acquisition as well as learning various strategies to use for each level. I also liked all of the resources and strategies, specially the vocabulary strategies. Some of the links didn’t work.   I found the information about slowing my rate of speech, using nouns, speaking in complete sentences, etc. to be a helpful reminder for when I am interacting with the parents of an English Learner. 

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Although I don’t work directly with students in the classroom, I enjoyed reading and learning about the stages of language acquisition as well as learning various strategies to use for each level. I also liked all of the resources and strategies, specially the vocabulary strategies. Some of the links didn’t work.   I found the information about slowing my rate of speech, using nouns, speaking in complete sentences, etc. to be a helpful reminder for when I am interacting with the parents of an English Learner. 

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Learning about the 5 stages of language acquisition helped set a framework of how to support EL students in my room. The SIOP model provided strategies that I can implement immediately. Reminders such as slowing my rate of speech and using visuals and manipulatives are great ways for me to be present and in touch with my students each and every day.

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I appreciated learning about the 5 stages of language acquisition for EL students. I was not aware of them, and I found it interesting the emphasis to not equate them with Bloom's Taxonomy. I liked the idea of recording oneself to watch for rate of speech, the use of nouns and idioms, and the complexity of the language one is using with these students. One observation from the myriad of resources shared and posted was that those methods would be beneficial for all students to use. Because of this, they would be easy to implement into the daily routine should you have the EL cluster in your classroom. Another statement that caught my attention is that the methods used to teach EL students are different, not simplified. Teachers need to be aware of the level of language acquisition to know what materials to use and how to use them effectively.

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This course was full of resources (which I could easily save and add to my drive for future reference). One of my biggest takeaways was the breakdown of language acquisition. I thought the information was helpful and cleared up previous questions I had. The SIOP model and the other strategies are some things that I would like to implement in my class and use with all students. The information from this course will also help me collaborate and discuss ideas with EL teachers I work with in the future.

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I believe my biggest takeaway was what I mentioned in my Flipgrid. I feel that knowing and understanding the different stages of language acquisition and being able to maintain my teaching rigor are big ah-ha moments for me. Also, the knowledge and the resources provided through this course will also be beneficial as I continue my teaching journey. I found the SIOP model very useful as well as the other strategies provided.

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Reflection on learning and growth - Sharon S.

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Reflection on learning and growth - Sharon S.

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1.  I can use the information that I learned about the stages of second language acquisition to help me identify strategies to aid my students.  Once I have determined which stage the student is in, I can use the resources from the articles to find appropriate strategies to teach the student.
2.  I liked the link that was shared for interpreters.  I also liked the link to translator programs.  Those may come in useful, especially during conferences.
3.  The strategies discussed in the SIOP model do not fall far from what we expect from a teacher's lesson plan on any given day.  It does, however, remind me that each step of the lesson is very important when their is an ESL student in the classroom.  This was a very good reminder to use best practices.
4.  As always, this was a great reminder right before the school year starts, of all the techniques we teachers must have to help our students learn. We must know our students, their state of language acquisition, and use appropriate strategies to give them the best education possible.

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I like that this course has many resources that will be very helpful in teaching to ELL students and helping them gain knowledge and confidence while in the classroom. I think it is so important to build on their background knowledge by using many different strategies. One of the resources listed out; word walls, KWL charts, 4 corners, word webs, and word prompts to be helpful in guiding ELL's. I would like to implement more of these resources in my classroom this year as I will have more students who are ELL's. Another big piece I took away from this course is the SWRL and I will try and make sure to implement this more into my classroom this year!

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Takeaways from this course- Kelly Gorder

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Takeaways from this course- Kelly Gorder

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This course made reference to many great resources however when I clicked the links I received numerous error messages. I love the articles that were posted about helping ELLs Excel and specific strategies for students and teachers to try regarding language acquisition. We need to be more aware of our impact we have on our students and taking time to learn from them about their culture. Building the relationships come first and the learning of the language will come next.

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Takeaways from this course - Sarah Simonton

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Takeaways from this course - Sarah Simonton

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Immediately, the statistic on the 300% increase in ELL students in the state of Minnesota was astonishing, and I think that we don't need any more proof that we need to continue to educate teachers and other staff on how to most effectively and efficiently work with these students. I feel as though I got more out of our face-to-face session than I did from the online learning component. From that session, I felt the importance of simply taking the time to connect and learn more about these students and families. There are so many things that can be misinterpreted through language that we may not realize if we don't stop to think about what we are saying and how we are saying it. Also, taking the time to understand the culture these students and families are coming from. I know for instance, we had a new kindergarten student from Ukraine one year. Her family was so thrilled to be in the U.S. and to have her be going to school that they took it very seriously. The teacher saw early on that this student was very bright and was catching on quickly, so she sent home a bunch of resources for the family to be working on together. Well, through miscommunication/misunderstanding, the parent thought this was all required and the student was doing hours upon hours of review/homework at home! The mom finally reached out through the translator and said they couldn't keep up, and the teacher felt so bad, because that was never their intention. So I guess my biggest take away is to step back and observe first, and then meet the student and the family where they are at.

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Top Take-Aways From This Course- Sarah Montplaisir

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Top Take-Aways From This Course- Sarah Montplaisir

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1. I loved all the teaching strategies we learned in our face-to-face part of this course. The Go To Strategies for ELL students PDF, is something each teacher should have. I think the community building activities like: 3-Truths and 1 Lie, Team Names and Things in Common will help the entire class to connect. I also loved the Interactive learning activities to help kids process information like: 4 Corners and Give 1, Get 1. Not only will these strategies help ELL students, but they would be great for all students. I am excited to give them a try.
2. Another big idea I left with is SWRL. Students need to be speaking, writing, reading and listening in their daily classroom activities to help them with their language acquisition. I am going to try and incorporate this into my teaching.
3. The stages of Language Acquisition were also new to me, and the strategies that teachers can use to help students in each stage- was helpful. I am going to be referencing this when I am working with my ELL students.
4. Lastly, I really thought the Iceberg Concept of Culture was an eye opener for me. Once again, I think this is something all teachers should be shown. It will remind me to consider a student's culture, before I assume a behavior is intended to be disruptive or negative.

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Knowing the stages of linguistic acquisition for EL learners is important for classroom teachers to understand. We are more commonly finding students from around the world sitting in our classrooms and needing methods and strategies to optimize their learning of English. Remember that words alone don’t convey meaning. As teachers, we must slow our rate of speech, speak in complete sentences, use manipulatives and miniature objects, visuals, gestures, body movement, & pantomime and facial expressions. I will strive to use these and many of the strategies provided in Second Language Acquisition Stages and the Helping ELLs Excel articles. What’s wonderful is that they benefit ALL students.

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Knowing the stages of linguistic acquisition for EL learners is important for classroom teachers to understand. We are more commonly finding students from around the world sitting in our classrooms and needing methods and strategies to optimize their learning of English. Remember that words alone don’t convey meaning. As teachers, we must slow our rate of speech, speak in complete sentences, use manipulatives and miniature objects, visuals, gestures, body movement, & pantomime and facial expressions. I will strive to use these and many of the strategies provided in Second Language Acquisition Stages and the Helping ELLs Excel articles. What’s wonderful is that they benefit ALL students.

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It's good to have this PD available to teachers, often times the EL teachers are not available when questions arise or when you need help with a particular student or subject matter in helping students access the content areas. Tiered questioning & not expecting the same product from all students to show their understanding is very important. I also like that it highlighted the best vocabulary strategies to use for teachers of EL students. High utility words and words that cross academic genres are more valuable for EL students. 

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It's good to have this PD available to teachers, often times the EL teachers are not available when questions arise or when you need help with a particular student or subject matter in helping students access the content areas. Tiered questioning & not expecting the same product from all students to show their understanding is very important. I also like that it highlighted the best vocabulary strategies to use for teachers of EL students. High utility words and words that cross academic genres are more valuable for EL students. 

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I was familiar with the Second Language Acquisition Stages, but it was so good to review them.  The strategies that teachers can use at the various stages to support the learners and the types of appropriate questions to ask the students were especially helpful.   I was reminded of the language line for interpreting and learned about Transact for translating written materials.  I learned that I can access equity teachers, English Language teachers, and social workers for help supporting students who are learning English (I'm not sure if all of them are available for the early childhood population?).  I was introduced to so many new ways to support English Language Learners.  For example, I liked the suggestion to do Four Square Vocabulary (1. Illustration; 2.  Write a sentence; 3.  Definition; 4.  Vocab word).  I also liked the pizza pieces strategy (individuals or small groups summarize part of a story or event and then put them together).   Using visuals, videos, acting things out, diagrams, experiences, 3-7 seconds of wait time after asking a question, group work, group consensus, finding someone who knows the answer to various questions on a sheet, and pre-reading/marking the text were other strategies I would like to use more to support English Language Learners (and many other learners, especially those with language disabilities).

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One interesting statistic I was able to take away from this class is that "For the past 20 years, the number of students who are English Learners (ELs) in Minnesota has increased by 300 percent, making them Minnesota’s fastest growing student population." Due to the fact that this student population is continuing to grow, teachers need to find ways to connect with these students and enable their success.

As a teacher who frequently has the EL cluster in my classroom (with a para), I have realized I can do more to support my students and collaborate with their EL teacher in order to help their success. Each student is unique and that is especially true with EL students. I can start by identifying which stage of language acquisition my students are at. Then find strategies that will help them within the classroom. I am wondering if previous teachers (middle school teachers) have a way to share strategies with high school teachers! That could help the transition from middle to high school.

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To engage ELL students, it is important to know their stage of linguistic acquisition.  This knowledge will help you know if and how to modify the work/assignments. Checking with the ELL teacher in order to know what level they are at is vital to student success. Open and consistent communication is key. ELL students would also benefit from more cooperative grouping. This would help their understanding of material and vocabulary through interactions with other students by asking questions in an informal atmosphere.  Finally, being aware of my own language use is critical.  Using full sentences, slowing the rate of my talking along with using different combinations of manipulatives, visuals, gestures and facial expressions will help the ELL students comprehend the material being presented.

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I have found that vocabulary is often the biggest barrier to English Learners. For example, on multiple choice assessments, there may be vocabulary used in the answer choices that are confusing to the student, making it difficult to assess his/her knowledge accurately. I loved all of the different vocabulary strategies and games that were noted in the last section. Although I've used some of them, there were some new ones that I will add to my repertoire, because changing things up helps to keep the learning fun for everyone.

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I appreciated learning the different stages of language acquisition, particularly that there is a first, silent stage, where the student is likely learning a lot even though they aren't speaking at all. The importance of not confusing these levels with Bloom's Taxonomy of HOTS is something I will focus on in my teaching. Keeping the rigor while supporting the learner.