Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core

1. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 Positioning ELLs/bilingual learners at the core of the Core Rebecca Field, Ph.D. Director, Language in Education Division Caslon Publishing and Consulting rdfield@casloninc.com

2. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 Big Ideas • English language learners are everyone’s responsibility. • Administrators, teachers, and leadership teams are powerful agents for change. • There is no one-size-fits-all approach to educating ELLs/bilingual learners. • Effective educational leaders use sound theory, core principles, flexible frameworks, guiding questions, and defensible evidence to inform their decisionmaking about equity for ELLs/bilingual learners in their schools. • Students first.

3. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 Learning Objectives Participants will be able to… • Describe student performance indicators for specific ELLs/bilingual learners at different levels of new (i.e., English) and home language development. • Identify additional scaffolds that teachers can use to build on what ELLs/bilingual learners can do with their new and home languages and support student engagement in ELA classes. • Explain how teachers can tier the task, not the text so that all students—particularly ELLs/bilingual learners—can participate and achieve in ELA classes. • Use the New and Home Language Arts Progressions that the New York Bilingual Common Core Initiative is developing. Note: Learning objectives are the same for all participants/students

4. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 Language Objectives Participants will be able to… • Use content-obligatory and content-compatible vocabulary orally and in writing • Conversational language, academic language • Additive bilingualism, subtractive bilingualism • ELL, emergent bilingual, bilingual learner • Sheltering instruction, differentiating instruction and assessment • New Language Arts Progressions • Home Language Arts Progressions • Student performance indicators • Use oral and written language to describe, identify, explain NOTE: Language objectives are differentiated according to level of new and home language development and other background factors

5. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 Essential Questions for Reflective Practitioners • Who are our students? • English language learners/bilingual learners/all students • Levels of new language progressions, home language progressions, literacy • Prior schooling, cultural considerations • What are our long-term and short-termlearning and language development targets andobjectives? • Content/literacy/new and home language development • What can our students do relative to our targets and objectives? • Content/literacy/new and home language development • What is likely to be challenging for our students relative to our targets and objectives? • Content/literacy/new and home language development • What strategies can we use to ensure that all of our students can engage with the activities we organize in our classes? • Differentiate according to new and home language and other background factors • How can we assess our students’ performance relative to our targets and objectives? • Content/literacy/new and home language development

6. All teachers make decisions about the ways they use languages in class. .. What kinds of language choices do teachers make every day? Which languages or varieties can I use in the classroom for what purposes?How can I structure opportunities for oral and written language use in the activities I organize in the classroom?How do I represent and evaluate the identities and perspectives of my students in the content and materials I use in the classroom? What principles can teachers use to guide their decision-making about additional scaffolds for the ELLs/bilingual learners in their classes?

7. Guiding principles Striving for equity: Create school environments where each individual feels valued and respected. Affirming identities: Validate diverse cultural experiences in school policies and classroom practices. Promoting additive bi/multilingualism:View language minority students’ home language or languages as resources for teaching and learning. Structuring for integration:Establish inclusive policies and practices that encourage equal-status relationships among and participation by different constituencies. It’s always a balancing act… Go to de Jong (2012, pp.144-146 for more). See also De Jong, Ester (2011). Foundations for Multilingualism in Education. Philadelphia: Caslon.

8. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 1. Who are the ELLs/bilingual learners in my class? • Marco is an Entering ELL from the Dominican Republic who speaks Spanish. Marco arrived in the United States earlier this year. The ESL teacher determined informally that Marco can read and write in Spanish, but probably below grade level. According to a common formative assessment conducted by the teacher, Marco is Entering in Listening, Entering in Speaking, Entering in Reading, and Entering in Writing in English. • Damaris is a Transitioning ELL who was born in the continental United States into a Puerto Rican family that speaks mostly Spanish at home and in the neighborhood. Damaris has attended school in the US since kindergarten, and she has been in pull-out ESL each year. There is no bilingual program at the school, and Damaris has not learned to read and write in Spanish. According to a common formative assessment conducted by the teacher, Damaris is Commanding in Listening, Expanding in Speaking, Transitioning in Reading, and Emerging in Writing in English. • Ko Than Nu is a Transitioning ELL from Burma who speaks Karen. Ko Than Nu is a refugee and has been in the United States for two years. He had no formal schooling before coming to the United States, nor had he learned to read or write. When Ko Than Nu arrived, he was placed in a newcomer/port of entry class that focused on literacy and numeracy development, with attention to the cultural norms of US schools and society. According to a common formative assessment conducted by the teacher, Ko Than Nu is Expanding in Listening and Speaking, and Emerging in Reading and Writing in English. • Tasfiah is a Transitioning ELL from Bangladesh who speaks Bengali. Tasfiah arrived in the United States in the middle of last year. She has a strong educational background which included English instruction every year in Bangladesh. However, Tasfiah’s English instruction gave her little opportunity to speak English at school, and she has had little exposure to American English prior to her arrival. According to a common formative assessment conducted by the teacher, Tasfiah is Emerging in Listening, Entering in Speaking, Commanding in Reading, and Expanding in Writing in English. Go to Funk, Alexander (2012). The Languages of New York: A CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators. New York: CUNY-NYSIEB. For more on Spanish, pp. 151-167; Karen, pp. 111-122; Bengali, pp. 25-36)

9. Integrated into Expeditionary Learning Grades 6-8 2. What are our long-term and short-term learning targets? Step 1: What standards are addressed in this module? Example: Grade 7, Module 1: Unit 1 Lessons 10-12

10. Focus on the activity level How are students expected to use oral and written language to participate in these activities?

11. 3a. What can our students do with their new language (i.e., English) relative to the linguistic demands of the core standards?

12. 3b. What can our bilingual learners do with their home languages?

13. Think-pair-share • What are the grade-level academic demands of this activity sequence? • What are the linguistic demands of this activity sequence? • Look at page 5 of your handout: What can our ELLs do with their new language (i.e., English) relative to the linguistic demands of this activity? • Look at page 6 of your handout: What can our bilingual learners do with their home languages relative to the linguistic demands of this activity? • 4. What is likely to be challenging for our students in this activity sequence?

14. Use the differentiating instruction and assessment template to select additional scaffolds and supports. Flexible frameworks 5. What strategies can we use to ensure that all students engage with the activities we organize in our classes?

15. NY Bilingual Common Core Initiative: Sample Additional scaffolds to support listening during read alouds

16. NY Bilingual Common Core Initiative: Sample Common Core Grade 6 Standard (RI.6.3) continued Entering Emerging Transitioning Expanding Commanding Additional scaffolds to support speaking during turn and talk about texts

17. NY Bilingual Common Core Initiative: Sample New Language Arts Progressions Common Core Grade 6 Standard (RI.6.3) continued Academic language is about much more than vocabulary… Language objectives: Students will use oral and written language to explain cause and effect relationships.

18. Revisiting the essential questions for reflective practitioners Why? Cause and effect language 1. Who are our students? Each pair selects one of the four ELLs profiled on p. 2 as your focal student. 2. What are the targets (at the unit level) andobjectives (at the activity level)? Identify grade level academic and linguistic demands of the focal activity. 3. What can our students do relative to our targets and objectives? Go to pps. 5-6. Describe the kinds of student performance you can expect from your focal student relative to the academic and linguistic demands of the focal activity in English (their new language) and in their home language. 4. What is likely to be challenging for our students relative to our targets and objectives? Be as specific as you can. 5. What additional scaffolds can we use to ensure that all of our students can engage with the activities we organize in our classes? Go to the new language arts and home language arts progressions. See also p. 4. 6. How can we assess our students’ performance relative to our targets and objectives? Identify specific formative assessment strategies you can use to gather information about what students can do. Explain how you will use that information (evidence of student performance) to guide your decisions about instruction.

19. Pulling it all together… Additional Scaffolds and Supports To be selected according to student level of new and home language arts progressions. • Provide pre-identified key words, sentences, and phrases, word banks or glossaries. Provide sentence starters, cloze-type procedures, graphic organizers (modeled, partially completed), and notemaking guides. Use partnership and small-group discussions. Allow students to meet the standard in new or home language, especially in the early stages. • Home language as a resource • Go to www.nysieb.ws.gc.cuny.edu/files/2012/07/NYSLanguageProfiles.pdfto download The Languages of New York State: A CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators. This guide provides a description of the top ten languages spoken by emergent bilinguals in addition to English. These descriptions include a brief history of the language, the cultures of the people who speak the language, and their experiences in New York State. It also includes some basic structural features of the languages as well as cognates and basic phrases. • In Hamayan & Freeman Field (2012): Go to Cummins, pp. 140-144 for description of “identity texts”; Kerper Mora, pp. 182-183 for description of why and how to “teach for transfer”; Freeman and Freeman, pp. 212-213 for description of “preview-view-review”. • Go to http://www.thornwoodps.ca/dual/weblinks.htm for examples of dual language books.

20. Closing reflections • What stood out? • What did you learn? • What can you use? • What questions do you have?