INSIGHT by NOHEMI Arroyo-Magana https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39 Shadow the student assigned to you. Get curious. Make notes, observations. What scaffolds or supports are in place? How can we support the student best? How can we support our teachers? How can we support our administrators? What professional development opportunities are needed? How can we support our paraprofessionals? en-us 2021-09-22 18:46:29 UTC 2021-10-13 17:05:58 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1761314757 Jeremiah's parents were killed in a murder/suicide when he was about 3 years old. He lives with Spanish speaking grandparents. They understand English, but are not confident speaking it. He is the youngest of four kids. The second eldest is Special Needs and is the one who found the parents dead, as it occurred in the home while the children were sleeping. Jeremiah is currently in the classroom of our former EL specialist--she is still involved in our ELAC meetings and provides a lot of scaffolds and supports in her daily instruction. Jeremiah needs counseling and constant contact with adults who value education and can build a relationship with him. His teacher has great background knowledge. The only para he comes into contact with is during the WIN portion of the day four days a week. Our paras have all been on site for at least five years and work well with the teachers, aren't afraid to ask questions. The best way to support our site is to get us substitutes so that support staff and admin can actually do their jobs rather than work on covering absences.]]> 2021-09-22 23:13:39 UTC https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1761314757 https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1761999463 Fermin is new to our school and is a really great student. His English is very limited, but he understands more than he can produce for teachers. When his anxiety is low, he communicates better, so we are focusing on communication and the environment. He is confident and brave and wants to participate. He joined a lunch volleyball game and played hard, scoring more ace serves than any other player. I do not think most of his classmates realize he doesn't speak English. He is eager to communicate and is patient when people attempt to work with him. Fermin should have an instructional assistant working with him in several classes, but our aides have been pulled to sub, so he is does not have consistent support. It would also be helpful to train paras with some ELD strategies. Currently, teachers are so overwhelmed, they feel like they are not meeting his needs, but don't know what to do. Teachers have told me they cannot do more training or PD right now with all that we have going on. Our staff has secured some Spanish curriculum and would like to give him options for more work to be in Spanish. It is clear that he is capable, but he doesn't have adequate opportunity to demonstrate what he knows. Fermin needs more than just immersion in English and support. He is missing out on content. ]]> 2021-09-23 04:59:43 UTC https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1761999463 https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1762032625 Eva is an easy student who likes school and has many friends.  She might be missed or overlooked at times because she does not need a lot and isn't demanding of her teacher's attention.  She is growing but would benefit from a classroom rich with ELD strategies and small group direct instruction. She had a very difficult time during distance learning.  Her family did not have internet, the hotspot didn't work, and they ended up working from a flash drive.  Parents have been unable to work with her at home and have been reluctant to testing.  Eva is in a 4/5 combo that is full with 32 students.   Her teacher is out on maternity leave and we have not had a sub.  The sub scheduled to begin next week is not strong, but it is our only option.  We are short two paras and cannot find anyone to fill the vacancies.  This is the reality at this time.  
I will commit to supporting her by ensuring our resource teacher pulls her in small groups and she will be included for writing intervention groups.  In our scenario, educating staff of her needs will be key.  I will include our sub and paras in a conversation to discuss her current levels and best practices for teaching her.  Making the adults aware of her needs will provide her with some additional supports. ]]> 2021-09-23 05:19:05 UTC https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1762032625 Ignacio is an 11th grader (16 years old) who is new to South Lindhurst High School. He is an LTEL who scored 1435 a level 1 as a 10th grader. He had scored 1529, level 2 as an 8th grader. When interviewing Ignacio he shared with me that he attended Arboga Elementary up to 3rd grade. He moved to Ella Elementary his 4th grade year but was transferred the same school year to Olivehurst Elementary because there were too many students at Ella. He eventually attended Yuba Gardens, Lindhurst High School and now South Lindhurst because he is credit deficient. His two older brothers both attended South Lindhurst High School for similar reasons. He stated that he really gave up on the English Language support classes and annual testing (CELDT / ELPAC) during middle school. I found that to be interested because the research shows that students should be reclassified within elementary or there is a high risk of becoming an LTEL. His skills are higher than a Level 1 but because he did not try his best that is the level he is provided in support. My shadowed observations within classes were valuable. It provided valuable feedback to me as well as my staff to make corrections to our instructional practice and systemic processes. We were able to recognize some of the positive strategies and supports that were provided within each classroom. Each teacher was provided feedback and suggestions for integrated bilingual supports and strategies. For our site, the focus will be on visuals, word maps & graphic organizers to prioritize thoughts, additional time, available supports such as sentence starters, printed scaffolding resources and models of expected work, vocabulary supports in advance, and repetition. Our staff need to constantly chunk their lessons into smaller parts and be all up in our students business. Meaning, check for understanding and not allow them to blend in and opt out. Our teachers need ongoing professional development and a weekly or monthly focus strategy or strategies to implement within the classroom. PLC time can be used to collaborate and discuss with colleagues the effectiveness of what is and is not working. https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1782645252 2021-09-30 22:34:21 UTC https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1782645252 https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1814635092 My target student has been enrolled at our school since Kinder. His scores are low in written language. From April 2020 to Feb. 2021 this student was on distance learning and did very little writing as he was primarily working on a computer. While on distance learning, this student slept through most of the synchronous time with her teacher. It was a challenge that teacher and admin. supported throughout the year. In second grade, this student also had attendance challenges, missing 28 days of school. This particular student has wonderful citizenship and is off to a great start in his 3rd grade year. He has a good relationship with his classroom teacher and is well liked by his peers. He has excellent social English, but needs support with academic English. Right now, our site has 2/5 para positions open. The paras who are on site are often pulled to sub in classrooms. We are unable to provide consistent support to teachers for intervention and small groups. I will work closely with or EL Facilitator to support our students who are not progressing as we would anticipate. This position is new to our site and will be a wonderful support for our EL students to help teachers with progress monitoring. I think PD for our support staff (paras) with specific EL strategies to use when working with our students would be very helpful. ]]> 2021-10-13 17:05:58 UTC https://padlet.com/nmagana1/f69xs1dkajbqjg39/wish/1814635092