success breeds success eld, leveling up & going for an easy win john wolfe multilingual...

“Success Breeds Success” ELD,

“Leveling Up” & Going for an Easy Win

John WolfeMultilingual Department Sept. 14, 2012

Winning isn’t everything; it’s the

only thing.~Vince Lombardi

The Two Challenges to ELs… and at the same time accomplish grade-level content learning through

their (Limited) English

They have to learn English …

Two Measures of Success

English Language Development

Academic Achievement

English Language Development

“Leveling Up on the WIDA ACCESS test.”

How much growth?

On average, alittle above

average …

A Cl

oser

Loo

k

About 60% of the way up …

or a 1.1 gain for level 1-2

… and 0.9 levels for Levels 2-3 and 0.8 for Levels 3-4

Maybe about 0.6 levels for Levels 4-5

Easy Win 1: Discrepant in One Area

• If they tanked one area, it’s probably an artifact of nerves or confusion/lack of familiarity with the demands of the test.

• You can probably pop that score up by just supporting the task a few times over the year.

Easy Win 2: Writing as a Lever

Since this is the only writing test they do …

(1) give them practice … and …We know what the

prompt looks like … a 15-20 one-page writing task on a bizarre academic

challenge.

How often do students have a

chance to practice this over the course

of the year?

Would it be useful to them to do

similar, content-related tasks?

Download all the W-APT stuff at the ELL2 Google Apps Site https://sites.google.com/a/mpls.k12.mn.us/ell2/w-apt

(2) Show them what they’re shooting for

If sample responses clarify expectations for

us, isn’t it reasonable to provide similar guidance to the

students?

Download all the W-APT stuff at the ELL2 Google Apps Site https://sites.google.com/a/mpls.k12.mn.us/ell2/w-apt

(3) Easy Win 3? Go WHOLE HOG for ELD Support …http://mplsesl.wikispaces.com/MDE-WIDA-ProgressMonitor

Feb-March:

The WIDA

ACCESS

Academic Achievement

Standards/ Learning

Targets-based

Academic standards as an intellectual James Bond (elegant and daring)

Language Intensive

4x (?) to get the strategy 4x (?) to get the Language 4x (?) to get the point

WIDA-Informed

WIDA core: Modify the language demands of instruction to meet the language abilities of the students.

HOW? Modify & support.Formatively

AssessedAvoid confounding learning & language

Collaborative Too much to do alone

Harder … but not ImpossibleSupporting ELs’ language-related learning needs….

• What you’re aiming for

• What language the students can handle

• How to use the right language

• How to know if the students are learning

• How to get all this done

• Standards-Based / Learning Target Focused

• WIDA-Informed

• Language Intensive

• Formative Assessment

• Collaborative

The PD Options(a) Saturday and after-school Learn-Work-and-Share sessions,

where teachers will develop supports for these five features related to the specific topics, units, learning targets, and state standards they're currently working with,

Everyone

(b) a Collaboration Institute targeted to ESL teachers and collaborating classroom teachers, to explore collaboration more in-depth

Some

(c) a NeXT teacher cohort to provide monthly and interim support to first-year ESL teachers and others (ESL teachers and collaborating partners) who have committed to the PD experience,

New teachers and some others

(d) a cohort of teachers pursuing National Board Certification, who will develop these five key features through carefully focused efforts to document best practices in their classrooms,

“Master Teachers” (cohort already formed)

(e) a "PD-in-a-box" presentation in which ESL teachers present the five key features to all other teachers in their buildings (twice -- once first quarter, once second quarter)

All Staff

(f) on-line Moodle Courses that support each of these five features at three varying levels of depth,

Open to all (online)

(g) an on-line, public sharing site of just-in-time resources, where teachers across the district will publish the strategies and supports they're developing (creating, locating) for curriculum-related student learning (and access and use materials developed by their peers)

More and more teachers use this …