Language & Cultural Services
LCS Bulletin - May 15, 2017
Refelction Questions for Teachers and Students: A School Year like No Other
As the 2016-17 school year draws to a close, it is an important time to stop and reflect on this past year, a year filled with a range of both expected and unexpected challenges and opportunities for many students, families, teachers, and administrators. It’s also an opportunity to take a deep breath and think about how to best direct your energies in the coming year, as well as to think about what teaching coach Elena Aguilar calls your “impact on systems,” particularly in your unique and important work with English language learners and immigrant students and their families.
To help in this effort, we’ve put together some reflection questions with the input of some trusted advisors, which are also available in a Word document or a PDF. We recommend exploring these questions through personal reflection (or perhaps some writing or artwork if you're so inclined) or conversation with others; they also may provide the basis for further in-depth conversation among colleagues or at the school level, which may be particularly helpful as you process this year and think about the next year.
In addition, we have included some questions for students that might be of interest as writing or discussion prompts.
Related Resources
For more on the importance of reflecting as well as some resources that will help you think about your role, take a look at the following:
- Questions to Ask Yourself as the School Year Winds Down by Justin Minkel (Education Week)
- Reflecting on a Year of Learning by Elena Aguilar (Education Week)
- You Are Already a Leader: Identifying Your Leadership Skills on Behalf of ELLs by Diane Staehr Fenner
Tulsa Area Bilingual Resources
Tulsa area community resources (Spanish) are making themselves available to those needing assistance. Community resources include healthcare, housing, parent advocacy network, immigration, adult English as a second language courses, citizenship courses, and other city and community resources. Please share this information with parents, guardians, and community members as needed.
Please email Leslie Sheets if you have any questions.
Memorial JH ELD teacher and EL students visit 6th grade EL students
Memorial Junior High ELD teacher, Sabine Bazhaw, took some of her ELs to visit the 6th grade ELs at Key, Grimes and Marshall on Thursday, May 4th. Together with the elementary ELD teachers, Mrs. Bazhaw organized and facilitated discussions between her 7th and 8th grade students with her potential incoming students. After introductions, Mrs. Bazhaw talked about expectations, schedules, discipline, uniforms, the Summit platform, and many of the other nuances of the junior high that might be different for elementary students. A former elementary teacher herself, Mrs. Bazhaw knows how big of a change the transition can be. She jokingly talked about how tall some of her students were, how kids liked to hug in the hallways, and how you did not have to walk in a line from class to class anymore.
She organized these visits so that some of her potential new EL students would have a familiar face when they come to the junior high in August. She also wanted to give her own ELs opportunities to share their experiences. “I want them to have a face they recognize and know that they can come to me for anything,” said Mrs. Bazhaw. The 7th and 8th graders enjoyed visiting as well. One 8th grader, Eddie, said, “It was good. The whole talking part – we explained what they were going to do at Memorial JH.” A few other junior high students commented that it was fun because they got to meet new people and see former teachers. When asked if anyone ever visited them when they were in 6th grade, three of the students said yes. Wendy said when she was in 6th grade that she knew it was going to be a good school after meeting Mrs. Bazhaw.
School tours are not uncommon, but Mrs. Bazhaw wanted to focus on easing any fears or anxiety for those 6th grade English learners. Holly Reid at Marshall said although her students seemed shy in front of Mrs. Bazhaw and their peers, they were listening attentively to all the information given. One 6th grader, Cassandra, said, “It was good to know about the computers and see the students from the school. They seemed happy. I’m glad I can work ahead on my own if I want to (talking about the Summit platform).” Mrs. Bazhaw said, “We made some good connections, and the ELD teachers and I are already talking about having the 6th graders come visit us next year at the junior high.”
** A special thanks to ELD teachers, Sabine Bazhaw, Gene Gullekson, Rosemary Vaughan, Sarah Elmore and Holly Reid.
We Want to Hear from You!
This brief survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete. We value our partnerships with you and look forward to receiving your feedback to inform our planning for the new year!
LCS Summit 2017 - Event Registration and Call for Proposals
The annual Language & Cultural Services (LCS) Summer Summit will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, August 2-3, 2017. The LCS Summer Summit celebrates the linguistic and cultural diversity that exists not only within our district, but also across the state of Oklahoma. Sessions will focus on cultural competence, language development, effectively engaging community resources, best classroom practices for English Learners, and a variety of topics that support the education and services of English Learners.
Registration for the LCS Summer Summit is FREE and open to all educational stakeholders. We welcome teachers, administrators, counselors, parent facilitators/liaisons, and other stakeholders who are interested. If you are a TPS certified employee and would like to receive professional learning credit for your attendance, please pre-register in MLP in addition to online event registration. The 2-day LCS Summit will feature a variety of sessions each day in which to participate. The LCS Summit session schedule and descriptions will be available on the Eventbrite registration page closer to the date of the summit.
If you are interested in facilitating a learning session during the LCS Summit, we invite you to submit your session proposal. For details regarding proposal guidelines and more information, please see the LCS Summit Call for Proposals.
Please email eldsummersummit@gmail.com with any additional event-related questions.
OSU Study Needs ELD Teacher Input
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to help researchers better understand the experience of teaching student who are developing English language skills.
Activity: We are looking for teachers who work with students developing English language skills. This project entails an interview. It is expected that the entire process will take approximately one hour. Your responses to the interview will be kept in strictest confidentiality - your personal information will be coded so that it will not be remotely possible for employers, peers or others to identify you.
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact Emily Finney.
Immigration Information for Parents at Disney ES
Thursday evening May 4th, Walt Disney Elementary School sponsored their first meeting on immigration issues for their immigrant/refugee population. The event was coordinated with the assistance of many entities including the Disney parent facilitator, Nilsa Hill and East Central Junior High ELD teacher Mr. Luis Chavez. The response was a small but enthusiastic group compared to a community entrusting over 450 of their children to Disney for public education. This turn-out may be contributed to the understandable hesitation in attending meetings of this nature and the number of activities occurring in the evenings as the academic year is wrapping-up.
Speakers for the event focused on the rights of immigrants and helpful information in dealing with the anxiety and instability of our current immigration policies. Representatives from the Tulsa County Bar Association along with faith-based and community organizations provided information on resources and answered attendees’ questions. Listed below are those who were represented.
Tulsa County Bar Association
Tulsa Police
New Sanctuary Network
YWCA
Tulsa Public Schools
Clergy and Community Organizers
Attendees were given an opportunity to provide feedback on this event and confirmed they not only felt the evening was helpful, but committed to encouraging others to attend future meetings.
None of this would have been as successful without the support of Rachel Pogue and Laura Grisso who provided assistance and advice as we were organizing the details.
If you would like to discuss this topic further or have any questions you may contact me.
Terry Watts
ELD Teacher
Walt Disney Elementary
918.925.1380
918.808.4031 (cell)
Coalition of Hispanic Organizations FREE Health Fair
- Blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol
- Asthma testing
- Optometry
- Ear,nose, and throat
- Pregnancy tests
- Mental health
- Haircuts
- Community resources
- Children's activities
Saturday, May 20, 2017, 09:00 AM
10100 East 61st Street, Tulsa, OK, United States
Tulsa Public Schools Immigration Frequently Asked Questions
Missed a Department Meeting?
Elementary ELD Department Meetings
Language & Cultural Services Events
Week of May 15:
May 17, 4:00pm - Spanish for Educators (Edivate)
Upcoming summer learning events:
May 30 - June 1 - SIOP Summer Institute
June 12 - 16 - #SummerEdTPS - 5 ELD Sessions Featured
July 26 - 28 - Dual Language Training Institute
August 2 - 3 - LCS Summit 2017
All events are listed in MyLearningPlan unless otherwise noted. Please pre-register and verify session location in MLP.
Check out the Language & Cultural Services events calendar for future events.
LCS Bulletins for SY 2016-2017
May 8, 2017 May 1, 2017 April 24, 2017 April 17, 2017 April 10, 2017 April 3, 2017 March 27, 2017 March 20, 2017 March 6, 2017 February 27, 2017 February 13, 2017 February 6, 2017 January 30, 2017 January 23, 2017 January 16, 2017 January 9, 2017 December 12, 2016 November 28, 2016 November 21, 2016 November 14, 2016 November 7, 2016 October 31, 2016 October 24, 2016 October 17, 2016 October 10, 2016 October 3, 2016 September 27, 2016 September 19, 2016 September 12, 2016 September 4, 2016