ELD Weekly Bulletin
Title III/ELD Listserv - Week of April 20th, 2015
Increasing Collaboration between ESOL teachers and Content Teachers: A Principal’s Perspective (Part 1)
The topics of the changing role of the ESL teacher and reframing teacher collaboration during the implementation of the Common Core State Standards have been near and dear to us on our blog.
This new three-part series looks at the steps one diverse elementary school took to increase collaboration between ESOL teachers and grade level teachers in order to better meet the academic language needs of ELLs in their school. In Part 1, Jennifer Connors, principal of Rolling Terrace Elementary School, describes the impetus for the move towards greater collaboration and how they got started.
Click here to read more.
Webinar: Are you in Compliance?
USED/DOJ/OCR Webinar Series:
Are You In Compliance?
In this new series, presented by Dr. David Holbrook, the first webinar will provide a broad overview of the new EL guidance issued by the US Department of Education and Department of Justice, and will:
- Lay out the legal obligations States and Districts have to serve ELs.
- Identify and discuss the 10 most common civil rights issues associated with educating ELs and engaging their parents.
- Help identify the laws and court cases that shape what is considered a core English Learner program and what is supplemental.
Each remaining webinar in the series will focus specifically on one of the top 10 most common civil rights issues related to the new EL guidance.
Webinar #1: Tuesday, April 28th @ 2pm EDT
Webinar's #2-9 - Last Thursday of the Month @ 2pm EDT
Click here to register for the webinar series.
Multicultural Education: Teachers are the Heart of Diversity
by Elian Mendoza, Newcomers Program, Capitol Hill High School, OKCPS
A teacher, no matter what language you speak, tries to make contact with you in any way. He or she tries to teach both your language and the language of your new country and home. No matter how you talk, the way you write, the way you read or hear, for teachers there are no kinds of barriers.
A teacher never stops teaching a student a different way of seeing the world. He will not judge or discriminate because of believe differently how and when the world was created, what are not good things, where and where not to go. He will not stop supporting him for that reason. He would prefer to leave aside their beliefs so that your student has a bright future and tomorrow can lift his head and see a famous doctor, a brilliant scientist, or an excellent architect.
This Mexican proverb explains why teachers are the heart of diversity: The teacher who gives everything for his students no matter who they are, is the best teacher. It is for this reason that teachers are always supporting us because they always want us to have a better future.
Let's Celebrate!
Cara Lovell, Rogers College JH, ELD Teacher
Presented Word Rush! A Point-based Game that Makes Sentence Building Fun!
Recipient of 2014 MEI Teacher Incentive Grant
Kathleen Brulc & Laura Andrews, San Miguel School, TPS ELL Private School Partner
Presented Sharing Esperanza - A Bilingual Heritage Reading Project
Recipient of 2014 MEI Teacher Incentive Grant
Dr. Clydia Forehand, Eisenhower IES & Park ES, ELD Teacher
Recipient of 2015 MEI Teacher Incentive Grant
What's New in ELLevation
Run reports for any teacher by typing in the teacher's name while on the Dashboard or Reports pages, and student data will be filtered appropriately.
Generate any reports from a student record by clicking the small "Select Report" menu along the top of a student's page and pick the report or parent letter you'd like to create.
- District Student ID Number now available on Student Reports!
Reminder: Former ELL Monitoring Process
FELL Monitoring reports must be completed in ELLevation by May 15, 2015.
Click here for the How-To guide for Monitoring FELL 1/2 Students.
Tulsa Public Schools Implements InClass to Improve Collaboration and Better Support ELLs
As a fifth year ELD teacher at a high school where three out of four students come from households that speak a language other than English, I know first-hand how important teacher collaboration is. When instructing this diverse student population, the reality that “all teachers are language teachers” is evident in every classroom.
When I began teaching ELD it became clear to me very quickly that communication between departments was lacking to a point where it was affecting student achievement. As our student population had shifted in the previous years, the needs of our students had changed. It seemed as though the response to this demographic change was to “circle the wagons” around the way things had been done and continue to push the problems of language learners to the periphery. Since then, there has been a welcome shift in my building--and in my district--to the realization that until we address the underlying language hurdles that our students face, we will not see the achievement we are working towards.
To read more, click here.
WhatsApp for English Language Learners
Readers might, or might not, be familiar with the WhatsApp instant messaging app bought by Facebook. Alma suggested that, since many students already have the app on the phone, why not have all of them download it and use it for homework English practice?
Click here to find out how you can use WhatsApp to enhance learning with your English Language Learners.
ELD Newsletter, April 2015
- Co-Teaching
- Journal Writing
- Student Generated Alphabets
- And more!
The 20 Strangest Sentences in the English Language
All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcomes of his life.
The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.
Click here to read what is so oddly unique about these sentences and more.
Title III/ELD Upcoming Events & Reminders:
April 22nd, 4:00pm - Dual Language PLC
April 23rd, 3:30pm - ELD Teacher Talk: Cultural Resources (Elementary)
April 23rd, 4;30pm - ELD Teacher Talk: Cultural Resources (Secondary)
Click here to view the Title III/ELD Calendar.