New Taipei City and Fairfax County Public School International Exchange Program

1. New Taipei City and Fairfax County Public School International Exchange Program Valerie Koch and Claudia DeBose

2. Agenda • Introduction • Fairfax County Public Schools • World Language Program • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) • Our Teaching Practices and Technology • Assessing Student Learning • Cooperative/Collaborative Learning • Content Based Instruction • Writing Strategy • Motivating Students • Questions and Answers

3. Introduction Claudia DeBose Valerie Koch

4. About Valerie (Helen) • Teacher at Sandburg MS • Teaches ESOL Science • Years teaching: 1 • From New Jersey • Speaks English and Spanish • College Degree: Sociology • Masters Degree: Secondary Education, with a English as a Second Language concentration • 39 credits, M.Ed. and license

5. About Claudia • Teacher and Department Chair at Liberty MS • Teaches Academic Language and Writing • Years teaching: 3 • From Michigan • Married with 2 sons • College degree: Business/Marketing • Masters degree: Education - Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Multicultural Multilingual Education • Worked at IBM for 15 years and business owner for 12 years

6. Liberty Middle School Our Principal – Dr. Catherine Cipperly Clifton, Virginia U.S.A.

7. Special Programs and Offerings • Algebra and Geometry classes • After-school activities program • College Partnership • Daily News Program – produced by students • Four foreign languages – French, German, Latin, and Spanish • Intervention Programs - Read 180, Action Lit, Power Math, and Algebra Readiness • National Junior Honor Society • Peer helping • Positive Behavior Support (PBS) Program • Professional Learning Communities

8. Liberty Middle School Data • Enrollment 1,113 • Total computers 1,058 • Advanced Academics 50.98% • English Learners 197 or 17.46% • Ethnicity: • African American/Black 9.04% • Asian 29.26% • Hispanic 16.05% • White 41.84% • Other 3.81% Danny Lim ( South Korea)

9. Fairfax County Public Schools Beliefs, Mission and Demographics

10. Fairfax County • Size: 395 square miles • Population: 1,015,302 • Approximately one of every six residents is a public school student.

11. Beliefs • We Believe in Our Children • We Believe in Our Teachers • We Believe in Our Public Education System • We Believe in Our Community

12. We Believe in Our Children and Teachers We Believe in Our Children • Each child is important and entitled to the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. • High expectations promote high achievement. We Believe in Our Teachers • Effective teachers are essential to student success. • Learning occurs best when instruction is tailored to individual needs.

13. We Believe in Our Public Education System • Adults and children thrive in a vibrant, safe, enriching, and respectful environment. • A well-rounded education enables students to lead fulfilling and culturally rich lives. • An educated citizenry is critical to sustaining our economy and our system of self-governance

14. We Believe in Our Community • A dynamic partnership among students, parents, teachers, staff members, and the community is critical to exceptional student achievement. • Our diversity creates resilient, open, and innovative citizens of the global community.

15. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) • Total number of schools: 194 • Elementary (preschool - 6): 138 • Middle/Jr. High (grades 7-8): 22 • Secondary (7 - 12): 4 • High (9 - 12): 21

16. FCPS Staff Positions • Total: 22,779 • School-based positions: 92.9% • Contract 37.5 hours per week • Nonschool-Based: 7.1%

17. FCPS Enrollment 2010-11 • Total 177,629 students • Largest school system in Virginia • VA students enrolled in FCPS: 13.7% • 11th largest in U.S. • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students 23,828 = 13.4%

18. FCPS Demographics • African American: 10.4% • American Indian .3% • Asian American: 18.8% • Hispanic: 18.1% • Multiracial: 5.9% • White: 45.3% • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) 23,828 (13.4%)

19. World Languages

20. World Languages • Offered at all Middle and High Schools (almost 50,000 enrolled; 60% ) • Middle School - All have Spanish, French & IFL • Some also have Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese or Latin • High Schools - All have Spanish and French • Plus one or more: American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin or Russian

21. World Languages (continued) • Kindergarten Two-Way Immersion • Elementary Partial Immersion Program • Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) Program (over 15,000 participants) • Credit Program for Students (7-12) • Students whose native language is not English • 19 Languages tested • 56% passed the exam- receive 2 high school credits

22. World Languages – Future Focus • Secondary Schools that do not offer Arabic, Chinese and Korean: • Online classes • Electronic classroom broadcasts • Elementary Program • Expand Two-way Immersion • Expand FLES

23. English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and WIDA Access Language Assessment

24. What is ESOL? English for Speakers of Other Languages

25. ESOL Program • Students who are not proficient in English and placed into the ESOL program • There are 6 levels of English proficiency • Schools offer different classes to help them learn English until they can reach a level 6 • Students take a “WIDA” test every year to determine English proficiency level

26. How is a student’s ESOL level determined? • WIDA Access for ELLs is the English Language Proficiency assessment given in Virginia • What are they tested on? • Reading 35% • Writing 35% • Speaking 15% • Listening 15% • Scores are used to determine appropriate level.

27. WIDA Level 5 – Bridging • Use specialized or technical content language • Use a variety of extended complexity in speaking and writing • Oral and written language approaching English proficient peers ESOL Progress • WIDA Level 4 - Expanding • Understand specific or some technical content language • Use a variety of complexity in speaking and writing • Minimal oral or written errors and meaning not impacted • WIDA Level 3 - Developing • Understand general and some specific content language • Expanded oral sentences or written paragraphs • Some oral and written errors but retain its meaning • WIDA Level 2 - Beginning • Understand general content language • Speak in phrases or short sentences • Make frequent spelling, grammar, and vocabulary errors • WIDA Level 1 -Entering • Understand and use words or phrases of language • Understand pictorial or graphic representations • Answer yes/no questions or statements

28. TeacherReport WIDA Consortium / CAL / MetriTech

30. Classes • Level 1-2 students • Low English • Small classes: 5 - 12 students • One teacher • Only ESOL students • Level 3-4 students • Medium to high English • Some classes are small: 15 students maximum • Only ESOL students • Some classes are big: 30 students • Mix ESOL and general education students • One or two teachers • Two teachers is called “Team Teaching”, one is content and one is ESOL

31. 7th grade Student Schedule Level 5 students are monitored for 2 years. They do not take ESOL classes but they still take the WIDA English test

32. Students • Solomon (Eritrea) Danial (Pakistan) • Jeffry (El Salvador) Nataly (Bolivia)

33. Activities • Student of the Quarter Mentor/Mentee Basketball Game

34. Labs • Surf and Turf Water Cycle Investigate difference in heat Observe evaporation, on land and water condensation, and precipitation

35. Our Teaching Practices and Technology

36. Teacher Schedule • Teach 5 classes and have 2 periods for meetings and planning • Teach 25 classes a week

37. Teacher Materials • Teachers receive a curriculum with a pacing guide • Curriculum suggests ideas for tests and projects • Curriculum includes lesson plans, lab experiments, and ideas for activities • Textbooks and references are available but only used as needed • Teachers create activities and assessments • Students take annual state exams

38. Curriculum • Teachers access curriculum and materials on 24/7 Blackboard website • http://fcps.blackboard.com

39. Technology • Daily use of projector • Some teachers use a document camera • Some teachers have and use a SMART board • You Tube and other videos are decided on by individual teachers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7f-AHp23e8) • Some curriculums are connected to videos. The school district has a membership to different video companies. (ex. Discovery Education).

40. Technology Document Camera SMART Board

41. Example • Focus Science, Unit 4, Lab 4 Diffusion and Osmosis Teacher copy of activity will say: Text Reference • ScienceSaurus (blue), Great Source, pages 98 – 125 • ScienceSaurus (green), Great Source, pages 74 – 102 • Access Science, Great Source • Lesson 11 pages 136 – 142 • Lesson 12 pages 148 – 159 Cells: The Smallest Units of Life (blue), Millmark Education Concept Links Cells: Animal Cells and Plant Cells (green), Millmark Education Concept Links • www.discoveryeducation.com – Diffusion and Osmosis

42. Collaborative Learning Teams • Middle schools have Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) • Teachers share teaching strategies and assessments. • Meet once or twice a week • ESOL teachers belong to content area (Science, Math, etc.) and ESOL teams

43. Assessing Student Learning Strategies and Using Standards Based Assessments

44. Strategies for Assessment • Maintain high expectations • Teach test taking skills • Allow students more time to complete an assignment • Simplify directions • Allow students to ask questions about directions

45. Use alternative assessments • Skits or plays • Graphs, charts, diagrams, timelines • Art projects, posters or brochures • Oral reports • Song or poem

46. Keys to Assessment Quality Stiggins, R. (2007) Assessment for Learning

47. Total Instructional Alignment • Making sure what we teach, how we teach and what we assess are congruent (match) • Alignment of standards, curriculum and assessments • Alignment of instructional practices in the classroom

48. How Do We Achieve It? • Develop clear learning goals in the form of specific and measurable objectives • Establish what students are expected to learn and then determine the best activity to teach it. • Design authentic learning experiences that infuse thinking skills • Understand and utilize multiple formats to assess what students are learning

49. Determining What to Assess • Ensure that our instruction and assessment is aligned to the standard • Clarify understanding of the standard • Identify the level of thinking level & language function of the standard • Create meaningful activities that target and support the standard • Select resources that meet the requirements of the standard • Develop accurate assessments that measure students against the standard

50. Sentence Frames: Discourse and Grammar