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Teachers can select the topic and what they need, including: videos, images, interactive lessons, collections, audio, media gallery

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Social Studies Activities And Lessons | PBS LearningMedia

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Discover thousands of social studies activities, lessons, and interactive resources for all grades, all aligned to state and national standards.

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Examples of Sentence Frames for Newcomers

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Examples of Sentence Frames for Newcomers

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Using sentence starters and sentence frames is one strategy to support students in speaking, reading, and writing. A sentence starter is when you give students the beginning part of a sentence and they fill in the rest. A sentence frame is when there are blanks inside a sentence that students fill in. Here are some ways to use sentence stems and frames as a scaffold to support your multilingual learners (MLs).

Sentence stems are helpful for getting students started with speaking or writing about a topic. For intermediate and advanced language learners, encourage them to give longer responses. A beginner might only use one word to finish the sentence frame, and a newcomer might point to pictures instead of speaking.

Sentence frames are great for practicing parts of speech and modeling correct grammar.

***Scroll to the bottom of the post to get this information as a FREE handout to share with other teachers in your school.***

Support Newcomers & Emergent Readers

Simple sentence starters allow students to read or say a basic sentence and then fill in their own information. You can use them as a way for students to practice new vocabulary. They use the same sentence starter and fill in new information each time they read the sentence.
I like _______. Go to the ______.
Word banks and Pictures

Word banks, and word banks with pictures are additional scaffolds that support vocabulary development. A newcomer may point to the pictures to complete a sentence stem or sentence frame. A beginner might remember the English word for a picture but not yet be able to read it. An intermediate student might need support with spelling content vocabulary words.

Teach Grammatical Structure

Use sentence frames to model grammar structure and practice parts of speech. Include which part of speech a student should use as part of the sentence frame for intermediate students. For newcomers and beginners, show words and pictures that are the correct part of speech for them to choose from.

You can also set up sentence starters to model the correct grammatical structure that you want students to practice. The verb is an important part of the sentence starter.
(past) Yesterday I went ________. (present) Now I am ___________. (future) Tomorrow I will _________.
Teach Academic Language

Sentence starters or sentence frames can support all students in learning academic language. You can include academic language terms that you want students to practice in a sentence stem as a way for students to practice using the new term.

The main idea is ________.

The most important fact is ________.

The most important facts are ________.

A _______ is the same as _______.

A _______ is different than _______.

I can compare a ______ with a _____. They are both the same because _______.

Teach Content Information

Use sentence stems and frames to help students show their knowledge about content information. Include pictures and word banks to support MLs.

Can Have Are Charts

Use a can/have/are chart to help students organize important information about a topic. You can also have students fill out the chart as part of a unit assessment.

The grasslands are ______.

Beavers can _____.

Dinosaurs were ______.

Resources with Sentence Frames

Here are premade resources that have built in sentence frames or sentence stems and pictures.

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Sentence Starters and Frames for MLs - A World of Language Learners

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Learn about using sentence starters and sentence frames as a scaffold to support English Language Learners. You can use sentence...

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Colorin coloardo provides Differentiated Sentence Stem examples by Linguistic level

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Colorin coloardo provides Differentiated Sentence Stem examples by Linguistic level

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Sentence Frames and  Sentence Starters _ Colorín Colorado.pdf

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There are sentence stems provided for different types of language functions, ie: describe, explain, justify. These can be utilized across content area classrooms.

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Sample Student Discussion Supports (3).pdf

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Word Banks & Sentence Stems to support ELLs in Writing & Discussion from Achieve the Core

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Word Banks & Sentence Stems to support ELLs in Writing & Discussion from Achieve the Core

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ELL Supports for Writing and Discussion.pdf

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These are editable templates that allow you to create graphic organizers to use with students when building word banks and writing using word banks.

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This resource from the South Carolina Department of Education outlines the importance and benefits of word banks and what it could look & sound like for the teacher & student.

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A word bank provides core vocabulary to support writing, reading, and speaking. Providing students with a small group of core tier 2 and 3 words related to the learning task supports academic vocabulary growth and promotes expressive language. Frequent exposure of tier 2 and 3 words through word bank use also promotes reading fluency and comprehension.

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Strategic Structured Cooperative Group Learning Routine that embeds Increased Wait Time

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#29. Talk-Read-Talk-Write: Creating a Language-Rich Classroom - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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Applying Nancy Motley's Talk Read Talk Write (TRTW) strategy in the ELL classroom. Differentiating TRTW for Beginning to Bridging ELs.

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The Power of Wait Time by Valentina Gonzalez

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The Power of Wait Time by Valentina Gonzalez

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

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When students are learning a new language, they benefit from time to listen to the question and process what they've heard. Many students need additional time to take the words they heard and translate them in order to comprehend the message. Once they understand the question. They need time to formulate a response in English and build the courage to use their voice. Not all ELLs find this an easy task. For me personally as an ELL, this was the most difficult part of the equation and exactly where I got stuck. I couldn't find the courage with in the given wait time. So if a student has built up enough courage they will raise their hand and hopefully be called on to respond.

TIP: To lower the affective filter of ELLs and help them build courage to respond, embrace a growth mindset about language learning. Even if the response is not grammatically correct, it's the risk and the learning that are important. Never publicly correct an ELL's grammar. The best way to help students who make a grammatical error is to recast.

For example if a student says, "The water evaporate because of heat." You can simply respond by saying something like, "Yes, the water evaporated because of the heat."

If we don't give enough wait time for all of this to happen, we shut our ELLs down before they move past translating what we've said. At this point some will get frustrated. Others will tune us out. Many will start to think that the questions are not for them, so why should they listen.

Wait time is a clear message to all of our students that the learning is for them. They are important and we will not give up on them. Waiting an extra 3-5 seconds after asking a question seems like a small thing to do but it has large outcomes. Research by Mary Budd Rowe says that when we implement this extra wait time student responses increase.
Rowe defined wait time as the time between when the teacher asks a question and the student responds. This is also called Wait Time 1. She found that traditionally wait time was less that 1.5 seconds. However, by doubling wait time to 3 seconds, several positive effects were experienced:

the length of responses increased

the correctness of responses increased

more students volunteered answers

"I don't know" responses decreased

student confidence increased

Even teacher behaviors benefit from extended wait time. Teachers' questioning quality increases while the number of questions asked decreases. Quality over quantity!
Wait Time 2 is the time after the student responds and the teacher replies. Waiting an additional few seconds here can elicit an extended response from the student. In some cases, the teacher may nod or give a non verbal signal of thinking to allow the student an opportunity to continue responding. The student may not be able to add any additional information, but Wait Time 2 is just that opportunity for extra output and elaboration.

Scenario 1:
Teacher: Samantha, why did the water evaporate?
Samantha: Because of the heat.
The rest of the class: (Tuned out) They are all thinking...Why should we waste our energy on thinking about an answer or focusing on what the teacher is saying right now? She's talking to Samantha any way, not us. Check out.

Scenario 2 with wait time:
Teacher: Why did the water evaporate? (insert wait time here) When you can finish this sentence, stand up. "The water evaporated because..." (insert wait time here) Share with your elbow partners and then take your seat.
Students: (Think, stand, share, sit)
Teacher: Samantha, why did the water evaporate?
Samantha: The water evaporated because of the heat.
Teacher: (nods and looks up as if thinking-Wait Time 2)
Samantha: Heat from the hot plate evaporated the water just like the sun's heat evaporates water outside when there's a puddle.

In the new version, the teacher implemented wait time 1 and wait time 2. During wait time 1, all students had an opportunity to think about the answer to the question. Everyone was involved in the questioning and answering. By offering a sentence stem, students can more readily respond to the content in the question. The stem is not required, rather it is there to help students who need an extra push to get their thought going.

Asking students to stand when they are ready to share, gives everyone time to formulate a response. This way no one is caught off guard. I remember a teacher I had who loved to ask the student who was off task to answer a question. It seemed like that was her goal-to embarrass the kid who wasn't paying attention. We know now that that type of questioning does not support learning. It doesn't make students want to learn or make them feel safe.

Instead of just calling on one student to respond, allowing everyone to share with a partner gets 100% participation. All kids are talking and listening. I love this part also because if a student didn't have a great answer, then at least they heard from a partner and maybe learned something more from them. This partner share prepares students in case they are called on to share with the whole group too. In Scenario 2, Samantha had already shared with a partner, so she was warmed up and had a idea from her partner if she needed it.
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Since the teacher nodded and didn't cut Samantha off right after her initial response, she was given a second Wait Time. This allowed her to extend her response. Wait Time 2 leaves the door open for students to continue their thoughts.

Small change-Big rewards!

For additional information on Wait Time here are a couple resources:
Using Think Time
Wait Time: What's In It For Me?

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Variations & Elaboration Ideas for Think, Pair, Share by Center for Applied Linguistics

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Variations & Elaboration Ideas for Think, Pair, Share by Center for Applied Linguistics

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Wait Time Strategy Overview by Colorin colorado!

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Wait Time Strategy Overview by Colorin colorado!

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This resource includes examples of teacher script for providing wait time as well as differentiation by language proficiency levels.

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Students’ Language DevelopmentStudents who are learning a new language may need additional time to understand a question or task, process what is being asked of them, and then formulate a response in their new language. In addition, they may be going through a “silent period,” in which they are listening and absorbing language but not yet saying too much. Teachers may move on quickly because they think the student doesn’t know the answer, but providing just a few seconds of additional “wait time” can make a significant difference.

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QSSSA Padlet of Resources (Password: QSSSA)

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QSSSA Padlet of Resources (Password: QSSSA)

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Question, Signal, Stem, Share, Assess

This strategy is another structured cooperative learning model that embeds wait time and sentence stem scaffolds.

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5 Effective Modeling Strategies for ELs by Edutopia

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5 Effective Modeling Strategies for ELs by Edutopia

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English Language Learners

Providing English learners-and all students-with examples of how to do learning tasks is particularly useful during distance learning.

Despite the huge shifts in pedagogical practice caused by the move to online learning, some tried-and-true strategies, such as modeling for English learners, remain crucial. Since teachers often can't intervene in real time these days, effective modeling-in which the teacher's expectations for student performance are made explicit through an example-is a lifeline for English learners because of the clarity they provide.

In our experience observing K-12 classrooms-including classrooms with only English learners as well as classrooms that contain a mix of ELs and fluent English speakers-modeling is consistently underutilized despite being an easy, high-leverage strategy. It's helpful to remember that providing effective models saves time in the end, since it both provides clear examples of expectations for a given assignment and reduces the verbiage a teacher needs to explain a task.

5 Types of Effective Models

Effective modeling can take many different forms. In all cases, modeling should clarify the expectations of the task without giving away the answer, and should remain available for students to access throughout the task. The following are examples of effective models.

1. Completing the first one in a set as an example: This is the simplest form of modeling, yet we've found that it's not used enough. Click here to see an example. In any kind of exercise in which students are working through multiple examples of the same type of question or problem, it's helpful to model one or two examples so students see exactly what is expected of them.

2. Providing explicit guidance on the expectations of the assignment through visual models: Click here for a humanities example and here for a math one. These embedded models clearly show the teacher's expectations for performance with visuals instead of many words, without giving away the answers.

3. Using language frames as models for conversational moves: Providing sentence frames models the kinds of conversations students should be having. ELs can engage in conversations more fluidly when they can focus on what they want to express instead of how to express it. See a See Think Wonder activity with language frames and contrast it with a standard version of this same activity.

4. Demonstrating how to complete the steps of the task through video: This video example by Megan Berdugo at Brooklyn International High School models how to solve an equation by showing students each step with an analogous problem. Students can rewatch it as many times as they want and pause where necessary to catch words and ideas they missed.

5. Chunking the steps of a complex process and using a corresponding template for students to complete: ELs can easily get overwhelmed by models of a paragraph, essay, or solution when there is a lot of language to wade through and it's unclear which part of the model corresponds to which part of the assignment. Breaking the model into smaller chunks, and providing space next to each chunk, enables students to focus on one aspect at a time, reducing the cognitive and linguistic loads. Click here for a writing example and here for a math example.

We've heard concerns that providing a model reduces the rigor of an assignment. We would counter that while demystifying a teacher's expectations does make the task less difficult for a student, it in no way makes it less complex as long as the model cannot be copied. In fact, great models enable students to jump to the heart of the work instead of spending precious mental energy and time on figuring out what a teacher is asking them to do.

Effective modeling is arguably the most straightforward of scaffolds and requires the least amount of customization for individual students. And like many scaffolds, effective modeling helps all students-not just ELs. For any students who struggle, it provides crucial access that can make the difference between frustration and success.

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5 Effective Modeling Strategies for English Learners

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English Language Learners Providing English learners-and all students-with examples of how to do learning tasks is particularly useful during distance learning. Despite the huge shifts in pedagogical practice caused by the move to online learning, some tried-and-true strategies, such as modeling for English learners, remain crucial.

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Example from Edutopia of providing a model on an assignment.

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Example from Edutopia of providing a model on an assignment.

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1. Teacher needs to explicitly model before having students complete the activity.

2. Teacher can provide a visual model on the activity itself or have it posted on an anchor chart or board for reference.

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"In this humanities example, the model clearly show the teacher’s expectations for performance with visuals instead of many words, without giving away the answers."

Teachers would still model how to use this type of graphic organizer using an example topic before having students complete it based on the topic they are studying.

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"In this math example, the model clearly show the teacher’s expectations for performance with visuals instead of many words, without giving away the answers."

Teachers would still model how to use this type of graphic organizer using an example topic before having students complete it based on the topic they are studying.

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See-Think-Wonder Social Studies Example from Edutopia with Visual Model

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See-Think-Wonder Social Studies Example from Edutopia with Visual Model

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This example provides a visual model, as well as simplified language for instruction/assessment using sentence stems.

A word bank could also be added to this example for students with limited English proficiency to support completing the sentence stems. Example with word bank.

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Climate Change Writing Template Example with Visual Models & Simplified Language Scaffolds from Edutopia

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Climate Change Writing Template Example with Visual Models & Simplified Language Scaffolds from Edutopia

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"Breaking the model into smaller chunks, and providing space next to each chunk, enables students to focus on one aspect at a time, reducing the cognitive and linguistic loads."

Teachers will still model how to process the information within the graphic organizer and utilize a "think aloud" and demonstration with students before independent or group work on the assignment.

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Math Template Example with Visual Models & Simplified Language Scaffolds from Edutopia

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Math Template Example with Visual Models & Simplified Language Scaffolds from Edutopia

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"Breaking the model into smaller chunks, and providing space next to each chunk, enables students to focus on one aspect at a time, reducing the cognitive and linguistic loads."

Teachers will still model how to process the information within the graphic organizer and utilize a "think aloud" and demonstration with students before independent or group work on the assignment.

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Math Video Modeling Example for Students from Edutopia

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Math Video Modeling Example for Students from Edutopia

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"This video example by Megan Berdugo at Brooklyn International High School models how to solve an equation by showing students each step with an analogous problem."

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houses step-by-step process for planning and resources

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Flickr | The best place to be a photographer online.

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The nicest place on the internet is here for you: inspiration, community, creativity, art, passion, and a heaping scoop of weirdness await you. Join for free.

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EDUimages by All4Ed - Images of Teachers and Students in Action

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EDUimages is a free library of photos celebrating students-and the educators who teach them-in seven schools across the United States.

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Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

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Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.

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TEFL Tip #2 - How Can I Use Visual Aids in the Classroom?

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Visual & Contextual Aids across Content Area Classrooms

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Visual & Contextual Aids across Content Area Classrooms

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Visual aids are an item of illustration. Visual aids can be in the form of films, slides, modeling, poster, graphic organizers, etc. Visual aids are designed to supplement written or spoken information so it can be understood more easily.

"Using visual facilitation and pre-drawn flip charts not only helps draw in learners, but it makes it easier for students to remember the concepts they've just learned. The simple pictures and words about the topic offer an easy way for people to link the concept to the picture," (Stancampiano, 2013)
"Make lectures or presentations more compelling to the brain by using objects, photographs, slides, graphs, bulletin board displays, and color. Visuals are important for remembering information. Change things up: use vivid posters, drawings, videos, and other ways to grab attention," (Jensen, 2008, pg. 104).

Why visual aids are helpful to ELL students

Visual aids used in the classroom are essential for English language learners. Visual aids provide a different form of explanation, and provides the students with information that they may not have understood if it was presented to them in written or spoken form. If a student cannot read or understand spoken English, drawings, videos in their native language, graphs etc. help the students immensely in learning the content that is presented to them.

​"Providing a model as the students are taken through the task verbally eliminated ambiguity and gives the messaging in more than one way. Students are then able to complete the rest of the worksheet," (Eehevarria, Vogt, Short, 2010, pg. 102)
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"ELL's often have difficulty processing auditory information and so instruction that is supported with visual clues is more beneficial to them. Web sites, magazines, commercial photos, and hand drawing can provide visual support for a wide variety of content. Many teachers also use whiteboards, PowerPoint slides, or smart boards to help provide additional visuals," (Nieto & Bode, 2008, pg. 42).

During your reading instruction visual aids can be a helpful tool to use for your ELLs. A visual aid such as an anchor chart can provide assistance to for ELLS if they are unsure of a specific word. Last year, I used an anchor chart during an interactive read aloud of the story "Mean Jean." The students each received a star and wrote one internal and one external personality trait of the character in the story. Using visual aids deepens the connection of learning.

Visual Aids In Mathamatics

The use of visual aids in a math classroom should capture the students attention, and get them interested in the concepts that will be taught. The best visual aid that could be used in math would be manipulatives. By using real objects the students can visually see, and be hands on with the concept that is being taught. The visual aids used in a math class should be appropriate for the lesson, and communicate the message that they teacher wants to convey.

"All students can benefit from using visual representations, although struggling students may require additional, focused support and practice. Visual representations are a powerful way for students to access abstract mathematical ideas," (Zorfass & Han, 2014)

References

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. J. (2010). Making Content Comprehensible for Elementary English Learners The SIOP Model. Pearson.​

Stancampiano, J. (2013, March 1). Benefits of Visual Facilitation in the classroom. Retrieved from
https://www.trainingindustry.com/content-development/articles/
the-benefits-of-visual-facilitation-in-the-classroom.aspx

Zorfass, J., & Han, A. (2014). Using Visual Representation in Mathematics. Retrieved from
http://www.ldonline.org/article/61885/

Visual Aids In social Studies

While teaching social studies to English Language Learners could produce special challenges for them. ELL's sometimes need additional support/materials to understand content. Visuals make excellent learning tools for all students, especially ELL's. Some examples of visual aids you can use in social studies would be; photographs, graphs, maps, globes, charts, timelines, and venn diagrams.

Visual Aids in Science

The use of visual aids in a science classroom should engage the students and capture their attention. The best visual aid that could be used in science would be visuals of animals, the periodic table, and visuals that would be related to the content being taught. Another form of visual aids that could be used in a science classroom would be manipulative, or hands on materials. This way students can see how the content is being taught, and can communicate the message in a different way so that all students can learn the content in a way that makes sense to them.

Watch this quick video below to learn why the use of visual aids in your classroom is a proficient strategy to teaching your ELLS.

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Visual aids are an item of illustration. Visual aids can be in the form of films, slides, modeling, poster, graphic organizers, etc. Visual aids are designed to supplement written or spoken...

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Think-Pair-Share & Numbered Heads Together Structured Cooperative Learning defined with Visual Supports & Student Resources for  Implementation

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Think-Pair-Share & Numbered Heads Together Structured Cooperative Learning defined with Visual Supports & Student Resources for  Implementation

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The Go To Strategies: Scaffolding Options for Teachers of ELs (reference pp. 31-38)

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The Go To Strategies: Scaffolding Options for Teachers of ELs (reference pp. 31-38)

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This is a great Blog that has concrete examples of different ways students can create visuals & teachers can use visuals across content areas to develop context and increase understanding.

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by Valentina Gonzalez

When you look at a piece of art or a photograph, what happens in your mind? Images like these often tell a story. There's a message, the main idea, and the details. How do we decipher one from the other? What do we infer? How do we interpret imagery? The truth is, our own personal lived experiences and background knowledge come together as we meet an image, forming an idea and creating an interpretation. It's at this intersection that we synthesize.

What Is Visual Literacy?

The term "visual literacy" was first coined in 1969 by Jack Debes, founder of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA). But is visual literacy itself a new concept? Think about cave paintings that date back over 30,000 years. They, too, communicate through visuals. The visual literacy definition continues to evolve as the world around it does. The IVLA currently uses this definition:

Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of materials. A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture. (Visual Literacy Standards Task Force, ACRL, 2011)

Why Is Visual Literacy Important?

We live in a visual world. It has become increasingly more visual with the invention of the internet, tablets, and smartphones. Being able to interpret visuals and use them as a way to communicate messages to viewers is critical. Pictorial representations are common in all content areas. Visuals surround us in daily life, making it essential for students to understand their uses and incorporate them into their work.

Even more importantly, visual literacy provides an accessible platform for critical thinking. Images carry meaningful messages that we can leverage to help students communicate their thoughts and ideas with one another. We can use images to guide powerful peer-to-peer conversations that push students' thinking, language development, and concept attainment.

Take a moment to reflect on your day-to-day routines. Think about the visuals that surround your daily life (advertising, infographics, texting, television, social media, street signs, communication, aesthetics, etc.). Ask yourself these questions:

Are visuals used?

How much are they used?

When and why are they used?

What message(s) does the creator want to convey?

How Does Visual Literacy Fit into EL Instruction?

Visuals enhance learning, memory, and comprehension. Studies on the impact of pictures on memory have shown that pictures are superior to words alone. The theory is called the pictorial superiority effect. Many teachers of English learners (ELs)already use images, pictures, and multimedia to help ELs comprehend challenging English curriculum. We can use the opportunity to increase student engagement and critical thinking, to probe and ask for evidence. In Mastering Vocabulary with Visuals, Dr. Fleenor describes how visuals can support vocabulary development.

Many state standards include students' abilities to read, analyze, and deconstruct visual images. For example, one of the Common Core third grade reading standards asks students to "explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)."

In this video for Edutopia, director and actor Martin Scorsese shares the importance of visual literacy and why we should teach it in our classrooms.

Here are three practical ideas for using visual literacy with ELs:

Word Clouds

Create Word Clouds as warmups to a lesson or at the end of a lesson or unit. After creating a Word Cloud as a class, analyze it using the questions and sentence stems below. Here's an example of how that might look and sound.

What do you see? The word ___ is larger/smaller than all of the other words.

What do you think? I think a lot of people agree that...

What makes you think that? I think the word ___is larger/smaller than all of the other words because...

What surprises you? I'm surprised that...because...

Maps

Post a distorted map or cartogram of your community, the world, or your state, and start a discussion.

Image from https://gisgeography.com/cartogram-maps/

What do you see? I see a map of ...

What do you think? I think the map is showing a representation of...

What makes you think that? I know that ____, ____, and ____ all...

What surprises you? It surprises me that ____ is...

Sketchnotes

Have students take visual notes/ sketchnotes while reading, viewing a video, or listening to a lecture. Then pair them up and have them talk with partners about the notes they made.

Skectchnote by Valentina taken at Adrian Mendoza's Sheltered Instruction in Math Training

What do you see? I see images of...

What do you think? I think the main idea is...

What makes you think that? The words ___ stick out big and are repeated in ...

What surprises you? I'm surprised by the quote...

Picture Books

Take a picture book with illustrations and one with actual photographs on the same topic that you've previously read as a class. Open each book to a page with an image. Use them to discuss the author's purpose and message.

Eg. Diary of Spider by Doreen Cronin and Spiders by Seymour Simon

What do you see? In the ___ book, I see...

What do you think? The drawn illustrations make me think...but the real photographs...

What makes you think that? I think the illustrator/photographer wants to make viewers believe that...

What surprises you? I'm surprised that...

It's easy to see that visual literacy promotes higher-order thinking skills and language development through a low-stress entry point. I remember first hearing about visual literacy as a teacher. It seemed like such a vague concept, and I really couldn't wrap my brain around how it fit into the curriculum in my classroom. As our team planned, we tried to understand why it was important. It took a while to see that visual literacy is more than taking pictures at face value. Visual literacy is about critical thinking and seeing the world through multiple perspectives.

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by Valentina Gonzalez When you look at a piece of art or a photograph, what happens in your mind? Images like these often tell a story. There's a message, the main idea, and the details. How do we decipher one from the other? What do we infer? How do we interpret imagery?

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EL Education: Classroom Protocols for Structured Cooperative Learning

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EL Education: Classroom Protocols for Structured Cooperative Learning

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Sentence Frames & Stems for differing types of language production needed.

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Setting Norms for Structured Cooperative Learning Activities 

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Setting Norms for Structured Cooperative Learning Activities 

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Engage students in determining what the activity should sound like, look like and feel like. Create an real or virtual anchor chart to review before starting the activity each time.

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Accountable Talk Stems for Structured Cooperative Learning Activities across Content Areas

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Accountable Talk Stems for Structured Cooperative Learning Activities across Content Areas

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for ELs across All Content Areas

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for ELs across All Content Areas

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by Valentina Gonzalez

"Learners who know the language can concentrate on the academic content. But learners who do not know the language, or do not know it well enough, must devote part of their attention to learning and understanding the very language in which the content is taught" ( Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010).

Imagine that for a moment. Let it soak in. If you didn't yet know a language well enough, you would need to spend energy understanding the very words and not just the reading. Maybe you've experienced this before. It's a literal struggle, trying to decode and put together sounds, then figure out and translate the words. This can take a toll on a person!

Now imagine a child doing this daily. Or for that matter, doing this all day long . Picture a newcomer in a high school biology class at the end of the day. If they are new to the language, they will most likely have to translate complicated text word by word after having spent every previous class that day translating each word. To help students, we can adapt and scaffold reading instruction to fit their unique needs.

The National Literacy Panel (2000) identified phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing as the five key components of literacy. With these components in mind, let's look at a few scaffolds (temporary supports meant to be gradually released) for reading that may work to enhance English learners' success with comprehension.

These reading scaffolds can be implemented in any grade level and content area through whole group, small group, or individual settings for differentiation:

Chunking

Chunking is a technique that breaks larger reading texts into smaller portions for students. When texts are dense or lengthy, they can seem overwhelming. By breaking them down into smaller pieces, we help to lower students' anxiety. Think of a large pizza. Would you eat the entire pizza in one bite? Probably not. It's sliced for us to hold a piece at a time. Then we take small bites from that one piece. It's manageable that way. Chunking texts is especially useful in areas like social studies and science, where text has the tendency to be vocabulary heavy.

Adding in opportunities to talk makes content even more comprehensive. For instance, a routine such as Nancy Motley's Talk, Read, Talk, Write offers students chances to access prior knowledge and build background before reading. Students discuss with a group or partner. Then students read a text with a purpose for reading that is given to them by the teacher. Once everyone has signaled that they are finished reading, they participate in structured discussion again. And finally students write about their reading while using the discussions they've had to support their thoughts. Teachers can chunk reading even more for students who are at beginner levels of English proficiency: talk, read, talk, read, talk, read, talk, write.

Shared Reading

Shared reading (Holdaway,1979) is the act of reading together in unison as a group. All students have access to the text. Shared reading is not just for elementary levels. In primary grades, teachers may read from big books, but in secondary classes, shared reading can be poetry, brochures, an excerpt from a chapter, a paragraph, song lyrics, etc. Teachers can provide each student with a copy of the text or can project the text on a screen for everyone to see. First the teacher models expectations by reading the text. Then the teacher invites the class to read together. This oral reading practice provides students with an opportunity to gain fluency in a risk-free setting. Everyone is reading aloud. Shy students can listen and read aloud as they feel brave enough, and more vocal students gain practice, too. Students benefit from practicing intonation and appropriate rate of speed.

Three ways to differentiate shared reading are Echo reading, Choral reading, and Reader's Theater.

Echo Reading is perfect when students need to hear the teacher model each sentence first while they are tracking print. Then students repeat the sentence. This technique is best for students at beginner proficiency levels or when a new language structure is being shared.

Choral Reading is a typical shared reading experience in which students and teacher read in unison, often with the teacher tracking print. English learners gain fluency and benefit from the low-risk environment. They have the ability to listen and join the reading at their comfort level.

Reader's Theater is an excellent method to use with students after they have had a chance to hear a text in its entirety. Reader's Theater can be done by dividing a text into parts and assigning students or groups to read certain lines or paragraphs. English learners benefit from rehearsal time with the lines or paragraphs they will read aloud to the whole group. Some teachers ask students to create props for their characters or parts. Acting out a story is both enjoyable and engaging for students as they participate in listening, speaking, and reading with expression.

Adapted Texts

Adapted texts are texts that have the same content but are at different reading levels. Using adapted texts helps English learners continue to learn content while they are learning English. Many teachers create their own adapted texts, which allows them to control the vocabulary that is embedded. However, creating adapted texts does take time. There are also many online platforms that offer adapted texts such as Newsela, Newsinlevels, and Wordify.

Partner Reading

Providing time and space for students to read together, or partner read, supports English learners with reading comprehension, listening, and speaking. Peer-to-peer interaction is important for English learners' language development. Partners usually read the same text and hold their own copies. In primary grades, and many times in secondary too, students are more successful when the teacher offers explicit modeling of expectations ahead of time. For example:

"During partner reading, I'm looking for partners who are sitting with their knees close to touching. You will take turns reading a page. After your partner reads, you will share what the main idea of their reading was. I'm listening for sentences like: 'The main idea was...' or 'I didn't understand...'"

Primary Language Support

When I was an ESL teacher, the students I taught spoke Korean, Urdu, Japanese, Russian, etc. I was not able to speak all of their languages, but I could still provide primary language supports. I provided my ELs with bilingual dictionaries and taught them how to use them. We also worked hard at valuing all languages. It was important for me to show my ELs that the literacy they had in their primary language was valuable and useful as they acquired English. We labeled the classroom in the students' home languages. I also made it known to them that continuing to read, write, and speak in their primary language was important, and so I encouraged them to read books in their primary language. Anytime we had extra funds, I asked to purchase books in our students' primary languages for the library.

Another way to include primary language support is through preview-review. This technique is sometimes referred to as preview-view-review and takes only a few extra minutes before and after a lesson ( Wright, 2015). It has been found to be effective in increasing comprehension, especially for students at beginning levels of English proficiency. Preview-review includes providing students with primary language support before and after a lesson or a read aloud. Let's look at a classroom example:

The second grade class is preparing to learn about living and nonliving things. The ESL teacher gathers English learners prior to the lesson to preview in their primary language. She asks them what they know about living and nonliving things. They discuss and make a chart in their primary language. The teacher reads a short passage and checks for comprehension, and then they return to the whole group.

The mainstream teacher conducts the whole-class lesson on living and nonliving things in English. The teacher shelters instruction to ensure that ELs comprehend the lesson. She uses repetition, visuals, and gestures. Then she sends them off to read and write with a partner in English.

Following the English lesson, the ESL teacher pulls the ELs back together once again to review what they learned in their primary language. This is an excellent opportunity to clear up misconceptions.
Note that, In this example, the ESL teacher is able to speak the students' primary language. But that is not always the case. It is suggested that if the teacher cannot speak the students' home languages, a same-language-speaking paraprofessional can provide the preview-review.
The bottom line of all this is that, when students enjoy what they are reading and they understand what they are reading, they will feel successful. The more often this feeling occurs, the more they will want to read, and the more their comprehension will increase.

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for English Learners

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by Valentina Gonzalez "Learners who know the language can concentrate on the academic content. But learners who do not know the language, or do not know it well enough, must devote part of their attention to learning and understanding the very language in which the content is taught" (Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010).

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by Carmen Nguyen

During this time of uncertainty, we are faced with many challenges that detrimentally affect and change how we are teaching. Whether we are teaching in a traditional face-to-face setting, completely virtually, or a hybrid of the two, it remains true that, as educators, we will continue to create, find, or purchase a variety of resources for the students we serve. Unfortunately, it is also true that the Lexile level of the grade level resources we have access to is not always appropriate for the various students in our classrooms. It is often difficult to find resources that are authentic and challenging and address grade-appropriate concepts, but are also at the students' reading level. As educators we find ourselves adapting, changing, or supplementing the resources we have in order to teach our state-mandated curriculum.

Now, let's simply consider how to adapt the text in the resources we use in our classroom to make them more accessible for students who are not yet able to read grade-level appropriate text. Too often when text is adapted, it is stripped of all of the features we initially selected it for. It is important to take note that exposing students to complex text as well as the meaningful language structures found within the text offers students avenues for literacy development as well as grade level readiness. So offering a balance is key to ensuring students are able to meaningfully interact with the text. ASCD offers a publication that provides an in depth resource to understanding and evaluating text complexity.

There are several online platforms that provide leveled text and websites that will adjust the level of the text, but many times the adjusted text is still not what you need, or the information you needed is now removed. The following steps will help guide you in adapting texts or resources yourself while maintaining the rich features in the original text.

Step 1: Determine the Goal for Using the Text

Before you begin adapting a specific text or resource, you must determine what the goal of reading or using the text is. Are you using the text for students to acquire knowledge about a specific concept or topic? Or are you reviewing the text features to analyze the text for a specific purpose? The goal is really driven by the standards you are teaching, and how you adapt the text will vary based on a variety of factors:

Different content areas

Types of text

Whether the students will be interacting with the text independently, in a partnership/group, or with guidance from the teacher

Whether the text you created is an electronic version or printed

Step 2: Read Text Using Different Lenses

This may sound obvious, but in order to adapt the text you will have to read the text thoroughly and possibly multiple times using different lenses. The chart below describes the lenses you may need to use:

Read the text simply to determine what the text is about.

Identify what you would like for the students to learn from reading the text (ties back to the goal for selecting the text). What are the key points? What must remain in the text? What information is necessary for students to accomplish the task?

Identify vocabulary, phrases, or possibly even sentences that may be potentially difficult for the reader, are central to understanding, are used frequently in the text, are cross-curricular, have multiple meanings, and contain affixes (include sections that had you reference another part of the text or sections you may have had to reread for understanding). It is always good practice to categorize the vocabulary you identify into three tiers.
- Tier 1: Commonly Used Words
- Tier 2: Cross-Curricular Words
- Tier 3: Content Specific Words

¡Colorín Colorado! offers a great article with a further explanation on the differences among the tiers.

If you have text in an electronic format or that is short and you do not mind typing in, this can be easily done using the Longman Dictionaries Vocabulary Checker.

Is the information necessary for the students to accomplish the task?
Simplify

Delete

Is the information written in a clear, concise manner?
Leave it alone or Enhance

Enhance,Simplify, Delete

Are there vocabulary words that a student must know to meet grade level expectations?
Enhance

Simplify or Delete

Does the text contain charts, tables, pictures, diagrams, photographs?
Leave it alone or Enhance

Enhance

You may also find it beneficial to review the scoring rubrics found on the ASCD publication referenced above.

Step 5: Select and Add Features to the Text to Enhance the Readability

When selecting features to add to the text or resources, make sure to reference the goal for using the text (step 1) and be mindful of who you are scaffolding for (step 3). When you are learning or just beginning to dabble with adding features to text or resources, it is common to over scaffold. As you gain practice and find what works best for your students, you can gradually remove scaffolds. The same concept applies when you model for or guide students: you provide substantial supports at the beginning, and as students become successful, you gradually remove the supports. The chart below provides possible features that may improve the readability of text/resources and can be done either on printed or online resources:

Simplify Text
- Use simpler language or language that mirrors student proficiency level
- Remove unnecessary or confusing words and nonessential information
- Add redundancy if appropriate (repeatedly name objects/people/concepts)

Chunk Text
- Create smaller, manageable sections within the text
- Add additional headings

Add Visual Supports
- Use consistent charts, tables, pictures, diagrams, and photographs to support text
- Add captions to pictures when appropriate
- Add clear labels to visuals

Vocabulary
- Identify, highlight, or bold key vocabulary
- Provide a word bank with visual supports
- Add student-friendly definitions to the text
- Use synonyms if not essential vocabulary

Text-to-Speech
- Add oral read aloud to the text (add QR codes for printed text)

Here are a few examples to help you visualize potential ways to adapt text/resources.

A last piece of advice is to not overwhelm yourself with too many supports. Begin with embedding features that will give students just enough access and move forward from there. Yes, adapting texts or resources does take time and practice. But all things worth doing take time.
References:
Close Look at Close Reading: Teaching Students to Analyze Complex Texts, Grades K-5
by Diane Lapp, Barbara Moss, Maria Grant and Kelly Johnson
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/114008/chapters/Understanding-and-Evaluating-Text-Complexity.aspx#:~:text=What%20exactly%20does%20the%20term,answers%20to%20Questions%205%E2%80%939.
Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners Mathematical Thinking and Communication Access for English Learners
By Dridcoll, Nikula, DePiper
From ¡Colorín Colorado!
https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/selecting-vocabulary-words-teach-english-language-learne

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Transforming the Resources You Have into Accessible Formats for All Students

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by Carmen Nguyen During this time of uncertainty, we are faced with many challenges that detrimentally affect and change how we are teaching. Whether we are teaching in a traditional face-to-face setting, completely virtually, or a hybrid of the two, it remains true that, as educators, we will continue to create, find, or purchase a...

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Adapting Reading Selections from the Center for Applied Linguistics

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Adapting Reading Selections from the Center for Applied Linguistics

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ChatGPT: 6 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts - and get the results you want faster

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ChatGPT: 6 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts - and get the results you want faster

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6 ways to write better ChatGPT prompts - and get the results you want faster

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There’s an art to making the most of AI. Optimizing your inputs can improve ChatGPT’s outputs. Here’s how.

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ChatGPT Tips for generating specific content

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ChatGPT Tips for generating specific content

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10 Clever Techniques to Get Unique Content from ChatGPT

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Struggling with repetitive or templated responses from ChatGPT? Apply these 10 expert prompting tips and tricks to get the AI generating…

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Video Model: Carousel Interaction Strategy 

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Video Model: Carousel Interaction Strategy 

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This video model could easily be replicated across Content Areas.

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Carousel Use in the Middle School ELA Classroom

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Video Model: Math Carousel Interaction Strategy

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Video Model: Math Carousel Interaction Strategy

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Straub Middle School Gradual Release of Responsibility

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An active group learning strategy that works great as a review activity.

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Science Sentence Frames & Stems from Weebly

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Science Sentence Frames & Stems from Weebly

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Social Studies/History Sentence Stems & Frames from Facing History

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Social Studies/History Sentence Stems & Frames from Facing History

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This resource provides specific examples of how this method could be used across Content Area classrooms to enhance student learning.

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How to Leverage the Jigsaw Teaching Strategy for Your Classroom | Resilient Educator

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Using innovative teaching techniques can help you promote active learning and engagement among your students. The jigsaw teaching strategy is a powerful

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Sentence Frames/Leveled by English Proficiency Level

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Sentence Frames/Leveled by English Proficiency Level

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Link to leveled sentence stems. Video above explains their use.

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Sentence Frames for ELL Students | Ep. 9

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Visual Scaffolding Tips for supporting ELs

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Visual Scaffolding Tips for supporting ELs

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Granite Schools: Math Visuals & Contextual Aids

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Granite Schools: Math Visuals & Contextual Aids

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This page contains math vocabulary cards for Kindergarten through 8th Grade and Secondary 1 Mathematics. These cards can also be found in Spanish, Chinese, and French under the Dual Immersion menu. Portuguese, German, and Russian vocabulary cards are located at the following website: USOE Dual Immersion Vocabulary Cards

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This page contains math vocabulary cards for Kindergarten through 8th Grade and Secondary 1 Mathematics. These cards can also be found in Spanish, Chinese, and French under the Dual Immersion menu...

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Science Visuals & Resources from The Visual Non-Glossary

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Science Visuals & Resources from The Visual Non-Glossary

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Science Visuals: The Visual Non-Glossary

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Anticipation Guide Overview with several examples across grade-levels/content areas

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This comprehension strategy activates students' prior knowledge, builds curiosity about a new topic before learning about it, and then checks for understanding after the topic is presented. Before beginning the lesson, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts within the new content and choose whether they agree or disagree.

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Adapting Classroom Assessments for ELs by: Mississippi Dept. of Educators

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Adapting Classroom Assessments for ELs by: Mississippi Dept. of Educators

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Suggestions, Guidance & Examples for different content areas

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Using Informal Assessments for English Learners by Colorin Colorado

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Using Informal Assessments for English Learners by Colorin Colorado

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Suggestions, Guidance, Tools, & Videos

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Using Informal Assessments for English Language Learners

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Informal assessments (also called authentic or alternative) allow teachers to track the ongoing progress of their students regularly and often. While standardized tests measure students at a particular point in the year, ongoing assessments provide continual snapshots of where students are throughout the school year.

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Assessment Strategies for English Learners by EdWeek

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Assessment Strategies for English Learners by EdWeek

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What is the purpose of assessment & recommendations to assess accordingly?

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This week's new question-of-the-week is:
What are effective assessment strategies for multilingual learners?
Assessment is a key element of teaching-we need to know where our students are in the learning process, how effective our instructional strategies have been, and if there are additional challenges we need to be aware of as we plan future lessons and student support.

Assessments, however, cannot be used in a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Today, Margo Gottlieb, Vivian Micolta Simmons, Cindy Garcia, and Karen Nemeth, Ed.M., share strategies educators can use to effectively assess English-language learners. Margo, Vivian, and Cindy were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

Maximizing 'Linguistic and Cultural Equity'

Margo Gottlieb, WIDA co-founder and lead developer, introduces assessment as, for, and of learning in her 2016 book, Assessing English Language Learners: Bridges to Equity, and expands on the approaches in subsequent books, chapters, and articles. Her most current publication is Classroom Assessment in Multiple Languages: A Handbook for Teachers (Corwin, 2021):

When thinking about effective assessment strategies for multilingual learners, what if we switched our attention away from school or district scores generated from testing that leave "gaps" in student performance and revisit data through the lens of stakeholders? Let's start with a series of questions about multilingual learners, our most important stakeholders, to help position their centrality in the assessment process and provide a context for interpreting assessment data.

What are the languages, cultures, and educational backgrounds of your multilingual learners?

To what extent does your language program leverage your multilingual learners' languages and cultures in curriculum and instruction?

To what extent do your multilingual learners connect their personal interests and their home/community life to school?

The first step in planning classroom assessment is to determine its purpose. How might you prioritize the primary reasons for assessing multilingual learners in one or more languages?

Do you want to get a pulse on multilingual learners' thinking, how they are feeling, and their self-reflection on learning? Being more inclusive of students' views and encouraging student agency are features of assessment as learning.

Do you want to provide feedback to multilingual learners to move their learning forward? Acting on insight from the interaction between students and teachers during instruction reflects assessment for learning.

Do you want to contribute to programmatic or schoolwide accountability? Using student projects, performances, and products, along with uniform criteria for success formulated by teachers with input from students, are representations of assessment of learning.

Now that you have a purpose and a corresponding approach to assessment in mind, let's explore their associated effective strategies.

Assessment as learning as a classroom practice is a student-driven activity that broadcasts multilingual learners' voice, empowerment, and identity. Assessment as learning can occur face to face or online when multilingual learners interact with their peers in the language(s) of their choice to:

explore topics or issues of mutual interest

contribute to crafting classroom activities or tasks

engage in self- and peer assessment

pursue learning from their own perspectives

select preferred mode(s) of communication (e.g., oral, written, graphic, visual) for processing information and expressing learning.

Assessment for learning might begin with teacher and student conversations leading to collaboration in making mutually agreed upon learning goals. Both are keenly aware of where multilingual learners are in their learning that is anchored to grade-level academic content and language proficiency/development standards. In assessment for learning, multilingual learners interact with their teachers in English or their shared language(s) to:

co-construct criteria for success and types of acceptable evidence for their work

apply criteria for success to give criterion-referenced feedback

plan differentiated instruction for content and language learning

give feedback in real time to student performance or needs.

Assessment of learning at a classroom level is shaped by teachers, individually or as a department or grade-level team, with input from students. It represents what students have accomplished at the culmination of a period of instruction, such as a unit of learning. Assessment of learning is geared to determining student growth over time and centers on collaboration among teachers with support of school or district leaders to:

match evidence for assessment with learning targets

document extent of meeting standards for units of learning

share of learning for products, performances, or projects

guide student production of capstone projects or portfolios

Together, assessment as, for, and of learning offers a comprehensive system that optimizes opportunities for multilingual learners to participate as educators strive to maximize linguistic and cultural equity for their students.

'Formal and Informal Assessments'
Vivian Micolta Simmons was born in Colombia and has been in the U.S. for seven years. She has been a teacher for 14 years and is currently working as a ESL/DLI lead teacher for the Iredell-Statesville schools in N.C:
When assessing my culturally and linguistically diverse students, I always like to think about my own experience as a language learner. We all function differently; we are all smart with certain dominant areas or language skills. For instance, I consider myself good at speaking and pronunciation, but writing is an area where I need extra help. That does not mean that I cannot produce in a second language. It only means that I need to polish specific language skills.

I like to rely on both formal and informal assessments and make my recommendations-to homeroom teachers and parents-based on the data I can gather from these instruments.

Listening and reading activities, writing prompts (that provide sentence starters), formal and informal conversations (my favorite), and role-plays are some of my preferred activities to assess my students.

Pop quizzes, games, note-sketching, prior knowledge questions, video recordings (like Flipgrid), and formal pretests and post-tests are all part of my assessment arsenal. You can pick and choose from a great selection of data-collection options. For sure, I loathe paper-pencil assessment as the only performance measurement (for children and adults). They do not show what we are all capable of in terms of language production.

Rubrics, Portfolios, & Conferences
Cindy Garcia has been a bilingual educator for 15 years and is currently a districtwide specialist for PK-6 bilingual/ESL mathematics. She is active on Twitter @CindyGarciaTX and on her blog:
When assessing multilingual learners, teachers have to keep in mind both content and language. Teachers also have to be focused about what they assess and academic-language development might not always be something they need to assess.

Rubrics can be an effective way to assess student understanding because there are multiple indicators that students are trying to meet. Rubrics are also a good tool for assessing multilingual learners because they provide a consistent criterion for grading when tasks or projects might be subjective. This criterion helps teachers ignore other factors and use only the criteria in the rubric to assess student learning. Instead of multiple-choice type of assessment where there is only one correct response, a rubric allows the teacher to pinpoint what the student is understanding and what the student has yet to master. A rubric has a rating scale that provides the teacher with a way to provide feedback for students that will help them think about their work, ask questions, seek clarification, and improve their work. Rubrics also help students take ownership of their learning, because they are able to use the rubric to evaluate their work before they submit it for grading.

Portfolios are another great way to assess multilingual learners because the teacher is able to see evidence of student work and learning for a longer period of time than an end-of-unit assessment. This allows the teacher to see if the students "got it" right away and have they been able to "keep it" for longer than the length of the unit of instruction. When compiling a student portfolio, there are usually multiple pieces of evidence or student work for each concept, standard, or topic. Student-work samples could be writing prompts, a project, multiple-choice test, etc. This means that student portfolios also show a clearer picture of how a student learns.

Another effective strategy to assess multilingual learners is student-teacher conferences. Conferring with students provides students the opportunity to explain and share what they have learned without the usual stress of completing a formal test. Conferring also allows the teacher to provide more authentic feedback because it's real-time feedback that addresses student questions, wonderings, or misconceptions. Conferring makes it easier for the teacher to focus the conversation just on content, academic-language development, or another area. The goal of each conference can be focused on the precise needs of each student and provide the specific data that teachers need to plan for instruction.

'Portfolio-Based Assessment'
Karen Nemeth, Ed.M., is an author, consultant, and advocate focusing on early-childhood education for ELLs/DLLs. She has leadership roles in NAEYC, NABE, and TESOL. She hosts a resource website, Language Castle:
Developmentally appropriate assessment strategies for young English-/dual-language learners do not focus on one-shot test scores. The truth is, 4- and 5-year-old children are just not that interested in displaying their knowledge on demand. Terms like portfolio, sampling, and multiple measures guide best practices for the early years.

Children who are developing multiple languages have separate language systems for each of their languages. They learn some content in one language and some content in the other language. Even if they seem very strong in English, they may not have English words for all of the knowledge they've developed in their other language(s).

It is important to provide all screening and assessment in both of their languages. Further, the bilingual brain does not function the same way as two monolingual brains. According to research, the best screening and assessment tools would be designed specifically for bilingual thinkers and would capture what they know and can do in both of their languages. These kinds of tools are not available with sufficient quality and in the variety of languages needed. Kindergarten-entry assessments and other district-mandated monolingual assessments are not very accurate for young children who are multilingual learners. The best approach is to gather data about a child's skills and knowledge through a variety of measures over time. I like to say that, in the early years, assessment is not a score, it's a folder. Scores might be in the folder along with lots of other information that teachers can use to chart a child's progress and determine their learning needs.

The solution recommended by most experts is to practice portfolio-based assessment. Instead of focusing on a snapshot or numeric score, portfolios allow teachers to gather authentic evidence about what each child understands and talks about. Portfolio-assessment software is available with some curriculum models or as independent products. They may include prompts, benchmarks, and a variety of ways to enter data on an ongoing basis.

It is very important that teachers should be allowed to use phones or tablets to record language and activity at any time during the day. This is critical for multilingual learners because it is the most accurate way to fully capture what the children actually say when they are talking in a language that is unfamiliar to the teacher. It is also critical that teacher assistants who are bilingual must be carefully prepared to participate in the assessment process as they may be the only adults who have home-language interactions with some of the bilingual children.

Information obtained from families can be another important component of the assessment process. A teacher might not ask the parents of a 7 th grader about how they are doing with algebra at home, but many preschool and kindergarten children show advances in language and learning at home that may not be evident in the classroom. For example, a shy English-learner may not participate in singing activities at school but the family might send a video of the child singing happily with sophisticated lyrics at home. Young children may not always perform on demand or in expected ways at school. Families can also provide cultural context and information about the young child's interests that help the teacher scaffold learning for each individual child. Multiple measures over an array of activities and times of day will make it possible for young children to show more accurately what they know and can do-and what they are ready to do next.

Thanks to Margo, Vivian, Cindy, and Karen for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign-new ones won't be available until February). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first nine years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.
You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

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Four educators share practical assessment strategies to support English-language learners.

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Consider the Purpose (proficiency, knowledge or achievement?), Design (students show what they know), Use (assessment implementation) and Application (next steps) of assessment.

Adapted examples included

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Design assessments and choice boards that align with the needs of your learners.

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Simplified Language Resources for Early Childhood Classrooms

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Simplified Language Resources for Early Childhood Classrooms

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Adapting Response Frames Orally & Written for ELs

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Adapting Response Frames Orally & Written for ELs

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Total Physical Response Method: Elementary

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Total Physical Response Method: Elementary

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Teacher Toolkit: Total Physical Response

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Total Physical Response: Upper Elementary & Secondary

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Total Physical Response: Upper Elementary & Secondary

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A Teaching Routine for Academic Vocabulary in Grades PreK-1 (REL West)

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Vocabulary Activities to do with Students from Center for Applied Linguistics

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Vocabulary Activities to do with Students from Center for Applied Linguistics

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Wordwall - Create better lessons quicker

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Spin the wheel - Spin the wheel to see which item comes up next.

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This resource, developed as part of the MDE's African American Young Men of Promise Initiative, provides a useful checklist for teachers to use when determining which tier two vocabulary words to select for classroom instruction.

This is a list developed by Averil Coxhead of the 570 high frequency academic vocabulary words that occur across content areas.

This is a list of 200 high utility academic vocabulary words developed by Kate Kinsella and published in her Academic Tool Kit books.

This is a tool that can be used to identify Tier 2 academic vocabulary words in classroom texts.

This is a great resource compiled by Ann Lewis and Aleta Thompson provides teachers with five pages of building background strategies and descriptions of how they can be used in the classroom.

This graphic organizer created by Freeology.com, requires students to predict meanings, record definitions, and draw a visual representation of new vocabulary words.

This blank vocabulary template, created by the Laredo Independent School District, requires students to provide a category, properties/characteristics, and examples of an assigned term.

This is the Spanish translation of the concept definition map above.

This is a great resource for identifying Tier 2 vocabulary that should be emphasized in the classroom. There is a list of 55 words and definitions that have been highlighted as essential academic vocabulary of the Common Core.

This list, created by Patti Reeder at Lee Middle School, has 30 common academic vocabulary words with student-friendly definitions.

This site provides 100's of free prepared flashcards for ELL students.

This blank vocabulary template, created by Busy Teacher's Cafe, requires students to provide a definition/picture, sentence, synonyms/antonyms, and prefixes/suffixes of an assigned term.

This blank vocabulary template, created by Reading Quest.Org, requires students to provide a definition, picture, sentence, and synonyms of an assigned term.

This blank vocabulary template, created by Worksheet Works.Com, requires students to provide a definition, characteristics, examples, and non-examples of an assigned term.

These cross-curricular Frayer Models, created by Patti Reeder at Lee Middle School, can be used in the classroom to teach common academic vocabulary words.

The site provides teachers with hundreds of printable flashcards that incorporate memorable photo images with vocabulary terms and definitions.

This is a tool you can use to identify the three tiers of vocabulary within a text. Texts entered in this tool will be sorted into four color-coded categories: 1000 most common vocabulary words, second 1000 most common vocabulary words, academic vocabulary, and infrequently used words.

This template, created by AdLit.org, can be used to guide students through the List-Group-Label academic vocabulary strategy that engages students in a three-step process to actively organize their understanding of content area vocabulary and concepts.

These are two additional templates, created by the University of Virginia, for the List-Group-Label activity.

This is great resource filled with academic vocabulary and sentence starters to encourage academic discourse in the classroom.

This site provides student-friendly definitions and visuals for many key math vocabulary terms.

These are CCSS math vocabulary word wall cards created by the Granite School District Math Department for grades K-6 that have been translated into Mandarin, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

This blank dictionary template, created by Madly Learning.Com, can be printed and given to students so that they can create their own dictionaries.

This is a handout that can be used with students to organize and record new vocabulary words.

This template, created as part of the MDE's African American Young Men of Promise Initiative, allows students to practice academic vocabulary through illustration.

This is a list of Spanish/English cognates developed by Colorin Colorado.

This is a resource you can use to identify Spanish words that start with each letter of the alphabet. Illustrations and English translations are provided for each term.

This is a template you can print off and give to your students that requires them to record new vocabulary words, definitions, and images related to them.

This is a great resource that provides videos, games, quizzes, and flashcards for middle school and high school level vocabulary words.

This is a great game that you can play with students to help them practice and review new vocabulary terms. The game requires players to make connections , illustrate , act out, define , identify synonyms and antonyms, and generate sentences for vocabulary terms.

Remember the old cootie catcher game you used to love as a child? Here is an example and blank template you can use to create a vocabulary review cootie catcher for the classroom.

This free resource creates word clouds of pasted text to aid teachers in identifying the most frequently used words in a selection. It would be a great tool to use identifying vocabulary to preview prior to a lesson.

This is a great collection of graphic organizers to help students practice new vocabulary terms.

This is a great collection of 34 different games and activities teachers can use in their classrooms to make their word walls more interactive.

This vocabulary log, created by Jessica Taylor, requires students to provide a definition, example, synonym, antonym, and picture for new vocabulary words.

This blank vocabulary template, created by Busy Teacher's Cafe, requires students to provide a definition, synonyms, antonyms, picture, and sentence for an assigned term.

This is the Spanish translation of the English Vocab Map above.

This is a English and Spanish version of Kate Kinsella's Vocab Word Map.

Here is a form I created that you can use to ensure that you are teaching vocabulary from all three tiers.

You can use this tool to create a glossary of words and definitions for your students.

This blank vocabulary template, created by Busy Teacher's Cafe, requires students to identify other terms related to a key vocabulary word. It could be utilized practice with synonyms, roots, prefixes, rhyming, or beginning or ending sounds.

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Building Background & Vocabulary Resources

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This resource, developed as part of the MDE's African American Young Men of Promise Initiative, provides a useful checklist for teachers to use when determining which tier two vocabulary words to select for classroom instruction. This is a list developed by Averil Coxhead of the 570 high frequency academic vocabulary words that occur across content areas.

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Teachers & Students can choose the complexity level of the definition for each word. (beginner, intermediate, advanced)

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Dictionaries and vocabulary tools for English language learners | Wordsmyth

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English dictionary and integrated thesaurus for learners, writers, teachers, and students with advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels.

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Immerse ESL students in the world of words with captivating visuals with our bilingual picture dictionaries. Shop picture dictionaries for ESL classrooms today.

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Family and Caregiver Activities

"I just want to enjoy being with my granddaughter at home. How can I make learning fun for her?" -Grandfather of a young English learner in California

Learning together can be fun! These family and caregiver activities ( FCAs) are designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with young English learner children at home to leverage cultural and linguistic assets and knowledge to strengthen language development in either the home language or English. The resources are based on the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide " Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School." They are available in multiple languages.

Educator Resources

These resources support educators in helping families and caregivers make the most of the activities:

TOOL: Educators' Guide
Read the Educators' Guide to learn more about the activities as well as tips to help families and caregivers make the most out of the them.

VIDEO: Introductory Webinar
Watch a webinar that introduces the research behind the activities and provides suggestions to maximize learning and fun while families, caregivers, and children engage with the FCAs.

VIDEO COLLECTION: Activities in Action
See educators and families in action! View three videos that connect classroom instruction with use of the family and caregiver activities at home.

Activities

Download all activities in:

Questions about Informational Text

Ask and answer questions about an informational text.

Video Collection

Video 1: Building Oral and Written Language Skills

This video shows how to extend elementary classroom learning to the home with two Family and Caregiver Activity sheets: Asking and Answering Questions About an Informational Text and Writing Notebooks. The simple and fun activities, using content from classroom lessons, encourage young English learners to strengthen oral and written language skills while interacting with family members or caregivers.

Video 2: Supporting Young English Learners to Develop Academic Vocabulary Across Content Areas

This video demonstrates how educators, families, and caregivers partnered to prepare transitional kindergarten children for classroom lessons on sequential language across content areas and then extend this learning using two fun and engaging activity sheets: Asking and Answering Questions About a Story and Making a Meal Together.

Video 3: Applying Academic Vocabulary and Language to Multiple Contexts

This video focuses on how the Family and Caregiver Activity sheets Word Detective and Interviewing a Special Person can extend classroom lessons on academic vocabulary and language to help elementary-age English learner students use new words across multiple contexts by listening, speaking, writing, and drawing with their family members and caregivers.

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educational improvement; excellence in education; educational research; statistics; statistical data; statistical surveys; regional educational laboratory program; rel; rigorous studies; fast response projects; no child left behind

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REL Resource | Supporting Young English Learners at Home

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Learning together can be fun! These family and caregiver activities (FCAs) are designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with young English learner children at home to leverage cultural and linguistic assets and knowledge...

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Comprehension Checks for ELs: Colorin colorado!

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Comprehension Checks for ELs: Colorin colorado!

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Students’ Language DevelopmentIt’s helpful to keep track of how well students understand new content along the way, rather than waiting to get that feedback through more formal assignments or assessments further down the road. Comprehension checks are an informal, timely way to help educators identify areas that need further explanation, including instructions, routines, or expectations for the classroom.It’s also important to keep in mind that English language learners (ELLs) may not wish to draw attention to themselves.

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Using Graphic Organizers to Check for Understanding from Colorin colorado!

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Using Graphic Organizers to Check for Understanding from Colorin colorado!

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Graphic organizers are a great tool to use when teaching English language learners (ELLs). Visual illustrations allow ELLs to better understand the material while learning important vocabulary.

Graphic organizers are most useful to ELLs when presented in small group activities. During the activities ELLs benefit from opportunities to work cooperatively - students are able to discuss and share their thoughts as they begin to contribute to the group effort. When ELLs use graphic organizers, they show achievement benefits across a variety of content areas, in all grade levels.

Ideas for Graphic Organizers

When teachers begin to use graphic organizers they need to follow some simple steps to make sure ELLs gain knowledge from such a simple yet reliable tool (Merkley & Jefferies, 2001). For example as a teacher begins to present a new topic, such as the solar system, an organizer can assist introducing the new idea.

Teachers should also begin to verbalize the relationship between the ideas, and the information that will be taught. Students or adults can write/draw the information provided by other students using a K-W-L chart. Graphic organizers should be tailored to reinforce the relationships between concepts, reminding students that this is just a quick preview of the material that will be taught next.

Secondly, teachers need to provide the opportunity for students to participate in discussions. ELLs need to have numerous pauses to process language in order to participate. For instance, classroom activities can be tailored to let students create graphs such as a concept definition map. Students can create a list of familiar terms to these maps.

Once students had the opportunity to share their thoughts and understand the topic that it is to follow, teachers can start to connect new material to their prior knowledge. Lessons need to guide ELLs to activate prior knowledge as they recollect earlier taught content to be able to retain new material (Merkley & Jefferies, 2001). In other words, graphic organizers provide a visual summary as they describe information - introducing ELLs to new technical vocabulary as they reinforce decoding skills of key words for an upcoming lesson.

Graphic organizers facilitate ELLs' comprehension through visual illustrations of key terms, vocabulary, ideas, and the relationship among them. Improving student's reading comprehension can be challenging, but such progress is necessary when focusing on students who are learning English (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, & Wei, 2004).

Note: When using graphic organizers with ELLs, be sure to explain how to use them and check back to ensure their understanding.

Strategy: K-W-L Chart

K-W-L charts are graphic organizers where students can share:

Here are some examples:

Video: Using a K-W-L Chart for background knowledge

ELL high school teacher Christine Rowland explains how to use a KWL chart to identify students' existing background knowledge.

Recommended Resources

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Graphic organizers are a great tool to use when teaching English language learners (ELLs). Visual illustrations allow ELLs to better understand the material while learning important vocabulary. Graphic organizers are most useful to ELLs when presented in small group activities.

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QSSSA Padlet: Question, Signal, Stem, Share, Assess

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QSSSA Padlet: Question, Signal, Stem, Share, Assess

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Password: QSSSA

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Quick Writes/Drawing across Content Areas

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Quick Writes/Drawing across Content Areas

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I recently read an Edutopia blog post by Benjamin Barbour titled "The Power of Short Writing Assignments" just after delivering a professional development workshop about Quick Writes from my Keys to Content Writing teacher training program. I knew I had to make this the topic of my next blog post!

Barbour makes this point, "Some educators avoid assigning writing, believing that they don't have the time to either incorporate such a project or grade it. Thankfully, writing assignments need not be long in order to be effective. If you don't wish to assign a potentially time-consuming project, try these short assignments to help students become better writers and thinkers." He goes on to suggest several types of quick write tasks.

In Keys to Content Writing, Grades 3-6 and Grades 6-12, we note that there are three kinds of subject-area writing tasks that can be assigned to support the learning of content:

1. Quick Writes: completed in less than ten minutes; objective is to process, reflect on, or assess content learning; typically is not revised; informally evaluated and not graded

2. Content Learning Tasks: take 1 or more sessions to complete; objective is to deepen understanding and reflection or assess content learning; may be revised; may be informally evaluated; typically graded

3. Longer, Formal Writing Tasks: take multiple session to complete; objective is to deeply learn content, develop authentic writing skills, prepare for on-demand writing; revised; formally evaluated and graded.

All three kinds of tasks can be used to have students write to learn content. But Quick Writes are so powerful because they do not require a significant amount of planning and do not cause student anxiety the way the other two tasks often do.

The prolific writer Stephen King says, "If you want to be a good writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." The Common Core Writing Standard #10 also emphasizes writing a lot, requiring students to "write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences."

Quick Writes are short, informal writing tasks that can be assigned during class or as brief, out-of-class assignments. Quick Writes help students remember, organize, and manage information, and they can be used at any point in a classroom lesson to help them communicate their thoughts, experiences, and reactions to what they are reading and learning. They can also be used as formative assessment to determine how well students have learned content.

Here are some examples of Quick Write tasks:

admit and exit tickets

informal notes/scribbles

margin notes while reading

list of facts, steps, ideas

set of instructions or directions

filling in a graphic organizer or completing a set of notes

free -writing: write on a topic for a short specified amount of time (also called a "brain dump")

one-paragraph summary

generate a few questions

KWL Chart (What I know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned)

write a definition in your own words

draw, label, or explain pictures/diagrams

short-answers to questions

sentence combining

short communication wit someone else (email, tweet, note, text message)

Using Questions for Quick Writes
When students respond to questions in writing, their ability to process and remember content information improves. Here are some suggestions for general questions that can be used in all content areas:

At the start of class:

What was the most important thing you learned from your homework assignment or reading?

What questions do you have about your homework assignment or reading?

What are you most interested in discussing or learning in today's class?

At the end of class:

What was the most important thing you learned today?

What do you want to learn more about?

What was confusing, or is there something you would like explained better?

Click here to download a template for admit and exit tickets.

Visit the Keys to Literacy website "free resources" section under writing for more writing templates and support materials.

Joan Sedita

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy and author of the Keys to Literacy professional development programs. She is an experienced educator, nationally recognized speaker and teacher trainer. She has worked for over 35 years in the literacy education field and has presented to thousands of teachers and related professionals at schools, colleges, clinics, and professional conferences.

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The Power of Quick Writes - Keys to Literacy

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I recently read an Edutopia blog post by Benjamin Barbour titled "The Power of Short Writing Assignments" just after delivering a professional development workshop about Quick Writes from my Keys to Content Writing teacher training program. I knew I had to make this the topic of my next blog post!

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Checks for Understanding Video: Colorin colorado!

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Checks for Understanding Video: Colorin colorado!

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Using Cloze passages is an effective strategy to highlight key vocabulary, create guided notes and highlight text.

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Cloze Passages as a strategy for Guided Notes 

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Cloze Passages as a strategy for Guided Notes 

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This resource provides a checklist of strategies teachers can use to enhance key vocabulary and make text more accessible.

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Strategy OverviewHow This Strategy Supports Language DevelopmentEngineering or amplifying texts provides in-text support so that students can read grade-level text that would otherwise be beyond their reading comprehension level.

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Here is a link to question or task cards.

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This example is for newcomer/beginners

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List Group Label -Newcomer Scaffold Example.pdf

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This example is for Intermediate proficiency level

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List Group Label-Intermediate EL Scaffold Example.pdf

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This resource has suggestions for adaptations across content areas and language proficiency levels.

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KWL

Frayer Model

Circle Map

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Graphic Organizers - Guided Notes in a Modern Classroom.pptx

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World War I and World War II Sorting Activity for 6th-8th Grade.pdf