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BAP 124 LEAP – Teaching Newcomers in This Climate

If you are feeling distraught right now, I have a process that might help you.  I’ve had a very hard time lately due to the results of the 2024 election. But I have taught newcomers during some very challenging times and learned some skills that are making a difference.  Perhaps they can support you too if you are having a difficult in your role as a teacher of new arrival students. You can listen to this show in your favorite podcast app or right here:
Listen to “BAP124 LEAP – Teaching Newcomers in This Climate” on Spreaker.

Here is the acronym and in this show, I explain what I mean by each of these steps:

L.E.A.P.  –  LISTEN, EDUCATE, ADVOCATE & ACCEPT, PREPARE

Listen

  • Listen to to People Who Need to be Heard
    • your students
    • your families
    • anyone who needs to talk or needs help
    • YOURSELF
  • Listen to People with Opposing Views

Educate

  • Pull back on your political views in your classroom – don’t raise anxiety. Be a source of information, not angst.
  • Model what it is to educate yourself on how our processes work.
  • Educate yourself on services that are available to your families in your area
    • Call 211 (United Way Help Line) with your class to explore what is in the area (or 211.org)
    • Ask school social workers and counselors to share what is available
    • Techfugees
  • Educate yourself on the law / Civil Rights
  • Educate your students on how to make Language Acquisition go faster
    • This tip is always important for the newcomer class
      • Students acquire language faster when they understand how to accelerate it
      • You never know, at any time, when you will see that student again (teach them to fish.. quit just handing them fish)
    • Check out other resources on this website like this one on NewsInLevels: Episode 83

Advocate & Accept

  • Double down on your advocacy.
    • There are organizations in your community that need you
    • Show all students that people are advocating for them.
    • Techfugees

Focus on what you CAN change and accept what you cannot

Prepare

Prepare yourself for the day. As simple as a sticky note on my dashboard or mirror

*2nd Edition* of Boosting Achievement will be available for purchase soon!

Sign up to be notified of the release!

Where we can connect in the near future (end of 2024/beginning of 2025):

Join me at the FREE @EllevationEd IMPACT Conference.

The Seidlitz Education #Newcomer Division will be representing!! I’m excited about ALL the speakers. Save your spot today! bit.ly/ellimpact2024 #ellevationimpact24

Join us at the Seidlitz Education What’s Working Conference in Houston, Texas Jan 30, 2025

Thank you as always for helping me with my learning journey.

Reach out if I can help you.  CarolSalva1@gmail.com

Take good care!

-C

BAP123 Newcomer Teacher Checklist for Beginning of the Year

Based on the last 12 months of working with newcomer teachers, here is a checklist to set ourselves up for success.  These ideas will make all the difference for the students and for the teacher.

You can listen to the podcast right here or in your favorite podcast app.  All the links are below.

I structured this show in 3 parts:

  1. Things to Be Sure You’re Doing – ALL Year.
  2. Review of my 5 Top Tips for Setting Up Your Classroom (May not be new to you at all)
  3. Reflection and thinking out loud a bit about supporting ELAR

Part 1: Things to Be Sure You’re Doing – ALL Year.

✅ Have the right mindset.  I share a few different mindsets that helped so much. When I was new to having so many newcomers and SLIFE, things did not go well initially.  Most of that was because of how I was thinking about things. Self-talking and keeping a few things in mind made me so much more effective and the job became so much easier.  For example, getting daily reminders about what a newcomer can do VS what it looks like they can do; reminding ourselves that each day it will get easier for them (patience), and also the effect of kindness.  If a newcomer teacher is getting overwhelmed (like I was at first) take deep breaths and remember that you are playing the long game.  The job exists to help these learners become confident and more fluent.  We should be focusing on a culture of conversation. See other shows on how to get them talking, TOP TIP on that is QSSSA.

Find someone who can help you with those mindsets daily.  Put things in your Environment

✅ Self Direct your own PD (3 minutes a day can do wonders!)

I covered many ideas for that:

I mentioned DIYpd, book but here is a link to free resources.

Join NAELPA,( the National Assn of EL Program Administrators) or just watch the webinars for free!

NAELPAs 3rd Qtr Webinar on Goal setting just happened (create a free connect space account to watch this webinar)

MLSummit.net  (Thanks Dr. Katie Toppel and Tan K Huynh for putting this on with me every year)

Larry Ferlazzo’s Blog <—TOP TIP, He is a great filter

Valentina Gonzalez

Pam Broussard

Emily Francis

Diane Bennett

Molly Lange Shackelford

Seidlitz Newcomer Division: @DrCarolSalva @EliseWhiteDiaz @DrMarieHeath @dr_aquagirl

Podcasts I mention:  Tan Huyhn’s and Highest Aspirations

VoicEd.ca <- VoicEd Radio

Elise White Diaz and Andrea Honigsfeld’s Free Live Webinar Sept 10th (you can watch after Sep 10)!

Facebook – Advocating for MLs & Leading ELLs

    

 

Part 2: Review of my 5 Top Tips for Setting Up Your Classroom (May not be new to you at all)

I did not start with these because many subscribers have seen them so much.  But they are great reminders.  Some of the most effective newcomer teachers I know rewatch that video before every school year.  I mention each one in today’s podcast episode but the video is an hour and shows many examples of what these things look like:

✅  WATCH my 5 TOP TIPS for the First Days of School video

    1. Name Tents
      1. QSSSA
    2. Selfie Kahoot
    3. Class Selfie Kahoots
    4. Social Contract
    5. Instead of IDK

Part 3: Reflection and thinking out loud a bit about supporting ELAR

The Writing Process (credit to Abydos Learning International).  I am having great discussions with amazing content teachers on how to include pre-literate SLIFE in grade level work (like writing).  Kudos to these eduHeroes!

These content teachers have a desire to hold these students in high-regard (✅ ?)… they are understanding that the learners CAN do this work (✅ ?)… and they want to support them with high expectations for content WHILE they gain English and more literacy (✅ ?)

Thank you for your interest in this podcast.  You are helping me learn so much!

Wishing you the best school year ever! Please take good care.

HUGS, Carol

PS: Please reach out if we can help you.  We love working world-wide 🌎 with education communities to support newcomers and all the teachers who support them.

BAP122 Reflection and Evaluation for Newcomers and Their Teachers

I have a super important show for you today!  Some of the things I mention are KEY to receiving higher numbers of newcomers throughout the year in a way that makes sense for the teacher and the students.  This show also offers ideas for getting the most of our time with our newcomers.  You can listen to the show in your favorite podcast app or right here:

Listen to “BAP122 Reflection for Newcomers and their Teachers” on Spreaker.

I’m covering the strong effect of Reflection and Evaluation.  This show does a bit of a deep dive into how we can all take a moment to reflect and how we can help the students do the same.  There is strong evidence that Reflection and Evaluation have a significant impact on learning.  I quote researcher John Hattie for this.  Learn more about his research here.

Reflection and Evaluation  – This show covers:

  1. Research and Resources about Reflection
  2. The Newcomer Students
  3. US!  Educators who Teach Newcomers
  4. The Content Area Teacher

1) Research and Links for Resources on Reflection and Evaluation

  • DIYpd for Educators of MLs is a teacher resource I wrote with Dr. Katie Toppel and Tan Huynh.  The book and the training are powerful resources for helping teachers of language learners to personalize their learning.  Reflection is a big part of it.  Reach out if you have questions about the training!

2) Reflection activities for the Newcomer Students:

  • At the end of the school year, Newcomers record messages of encouragement for the following year’s newcomers.  Example video here:

  • Throughout the Year, your Newcomers can make videos on the classroom routines.  Things like the Social Contract would be great to have videos about.  Social Contract Episode
  • Use Co-constructed Text *about* how we learn so that students can re-read longer text with messages that remind them of what they can be doing to accelerate their language acquisition.
  • Newcomers should be reflecting on their progress daily.
  • Newcomers should be reflecting on how this all becomes easier every day and that they are becoming BILINGUAL.

Newcomer Teachers, Ideas for OUR OWN Reflection:

  • Are they making progress?  Likely yes.  First and foremost, pat yourself on the back.🙌  Do the students understand more than they did on their first day? They ARE making progress in your care.  🎉
  • Are you focusing on Kindess, Patience and holding students in high regard?  My doctoral research on SLIFE suggests that these are THE MOST important things we can do to support persistence in school with students who have missed education.
  • To improve, I always wanted to reflect on: How much are the students speaking in our ESL Time?  The ESL time exists for FLUENCY.  They should be speaking more than I am.
  • Reflection Video to help teachers see what Newcomers (at all different levels) can own their learning.  Some are SLIFE, others are highly educated.  But all are using English and re-reading the English text we have created together. They are talking, talking, talking and using the walls  different ways:

 

To make this happen, I had to be sure to use QSSSA for structured conversations.  The routine is from John Seidlitz and Bill Perryman of Seidlitz Education.  It is our TOP TIP as consultants.  Find more resources on QSSSA here or get the book here:

USE W.I.T: This is how we can help students extend their conversations.

Want examples to show your older students how the class can look?  Get them talking with Kagan Strategies and show them models from YouTube.  Search YouTube for”Kagan Strategies Middle School” or “Kagan Strategies High School.”

 

Content Teachers, Reflection for Their Students:

  • As stated earlier, ALL students benefit greatly from reflection and evaluation.  Ideas for content teachers include things like can a 90 second quick write, a Turn & Talk (with QSSSA) or an Exit Ticket as ways to support students’ reflection.
  • This blog post offers research and ideas for USING writing in content classrooms

  • In the show I describe how ONE SENTENCE STARTER in the content classroom can be powerful to pair with an Exit Ticket.  And there are powerful added benefits of sharing that with the students at the beginning of class.  Now you’ve framed the lesson with clear goals and set everyone up for a strong opportunity for a quick reflection on their learning.

I hope this show has been helpful for you.  It has been a great opportunity for me to reflect… so I thank you for that!  PLEASE, as always, reflect on the fact that YOU are amazing. If you are listening to an education podcast, it is evident that you care A LOT about students.  That speaks volumes to me about what kind of an educator you are.  I hold you in very high regard!

Also, please remember that I am part of the Seidlitz Education Newcomer Division.  We would LOVE to work with you if that makes sense.  Any one of us would be happy to schedule a call to talk about how you are serving newcomers in your school or district to see if we could be of service to you.  You can reach me at CarolSalva1@gmail.com

Thanks again and take good care!

-Carol

 

BAP 121 Keys to an Effective Language Assistance Program ft. Khalil El-Saghir

In this episode, Khalil El-Saghir shares insight about supporting the educators of Multilingual Learners.  His background is extensive! In the first half of this episode, we get to hear about where his passion comes from.  The second half of the show ended up being a blueprint for an effective Language Assistance Program as he shares specific, essential elements every program should have.

Profile photo of Khalil El-Saghir

You can listen to this show in your favorite podcast app or right here:

Listen to “BAP121 Keys to an Effective Language Assistance Program ft. Khalil El-Sagir” on Spreaker.

As promised in the show, here are links to some of the things we both mentioned:

Wayne RESA (A Regional Education Service Agency in Michigan)

NAELPA (The National Association of EL Program Administrators)

The SIOP Model (A proven instructional framework for making content comprehensible and developing academic language.  The framework was developed by Dr. Jana Echevarría, Dr. MaryEllen Vogt, and Dr. Deborah Short)

Boosting Achievement: Reaching Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (A book I co-authored with Anna Matis)

Khalil’s email: (He offers it if you have questions)

Here are some of my favorite Khalil quotes from this show:

“You can’t be a good teacher if you can’t be a good learner.”

“We need to break down the silos.  We don’t want walls.”

“Building a viable program is a journey, not a destination.”

“We want to make every classroom an EL classroom. It is enriching to everyone.”

“I am a language learner… [looking back] as an adult, I wish I would have had those scaffolds”

Key Elements for an Effective Language Assistance Program:

Khalil is clear that this is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are definitely important principles for a solid foundation:

  • Establishing clear measurable objectives and goals
  • Hiring teachers and staff who are qualified.
  • Providing those teachers with ongoing professional learning on best practices PD
  • Implementing instructional strategies and materials that reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of students.
  • Considering students’ backgrounds as an asset and implementing differentiated instruction tailored to their unique needs.
  • Implementing differentiated instruction for all content areas.
  • Employing multiple assessment tools to monitor progress and inform instruction.
  • Fostering collaboration among educators, specialists, administrators, families, community organizations, and leaders.
  • Providing access to grade-level content while developing English proficiency using scaffolding strategies.
  • Ensuring adequate resources such as funding, materials, technology, and professional development opportunities.
  • Encouraging districts to apply for available state and federal funds allocated for multilingual education through partnerships and consortiums.
  • Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the program based on data and feedback from stakeholders.

My big takeaways were that collaboration, continuous improvement, support networks, and ongoing learning are key components in creating a successful Language Assistance Program that supports both the academic success and language proficiency of students.

🙏🏽BIG THANK YOU to Khalil for reinforcing these important principles. It was such a good conversation for my learning journey.

At the end of the show, I mentioned that the ML Summit is coming up this summer again!  Stay tuned for more on that! But you can go to the summit right now.  There are SEVEN YEARS of past sessions right there for you!

Thank you again for tuning in to this podcast.  I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

Find me on Facebook

Find me on X

Find me on LinkedIN

Or just reach out to me at Carol@SeidlitzEducation.com if you’d like to know more about how we work with districts to support their teachers who teach Multilingual Learners.

Take good care,

Carol

BAP 120 Newcomer Numbers Rising? Reboot Your ESL Classroom

Rising number of Newcomers? Happened to me too. Mid-year/Winter break was a great time to hit the reset button. This was always the time of year that behavoir and sheer number of students coming in regularly made me do a hard stop to reset things. But what worked for me can be implemented any time of year. You can listen to the show on the podcast app of your choice or right here:

Listen to “BAP120 ESL Classroom Reboot” on Spreaker.

If you are not at a holiday break, a great time is after a long weekend, or even a regular weekend.  Just come back to school ready to reset expectations, reinforce the reasons we do certain activities or maybe try new things.  I thought you might like to see my top tips for getting a class back on track. Some of it is about behavior expectations but some of it is just GOOD newcomer classroom activities that keep everyone engaged. I did this same show back in 2019 but I’ve added some stuff here as well.

For example, recent data from the UNHCR shows a drastic increase in the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide.

I also promised to share the free resources from the Boosting Achievement book.  You can find it here.   (note that it is called a ‘book study’ but you can do it without the book!)

Below is recycled from the 2019 show but it all holds true today.

  1. Routines. Have them and spend time training your students on the routines.  What should they do when they come in?  Where do they turn in homework? What should they do if we finish their work early? Spend some time explicitly teaching routines and then stick by them.
  2. Co-create Classroom Norms  It doesn’t have to be a social contract but get imput from your students. Revisit why the norms are important and allow students to help you create them so they feel ownership in the learning environment.  Here is a show that goes deeper into the steps and rationale for creating a social contract.
  3. Language Experience Approach as often as possible.  Co-creating text with your students will automatically increase engagement because you are honoring their ideas and allowing them to speak and contribute to the text you are scribing. You can write about a recent experience but you can also summarize a video or spark interest and preview grade level vocabulary or content that will be taught in their content classes.  Check out this blog post and video for a lot more on how to do LEA with your students.
  4. Use questioning strategies that boost achievement and set ALL students up for success.  All of your students will be engaged if you use QSSSA.  If you need to know more about this technique, check out this padlet by Christopher Hagy.  He used it to offer his teachers choice in their PD.   That strategy is critical for the ESL classroom.  Just practice it a lot and get your students comfortable talking a out engaging topics so you can establish the routine.   I also mentioned W.I.T.  That structure is to question with more rigor.  It is a great way to differentiate. You’ll find a WIT graphic on that padlet as well.

5. Teach Students What to Say Instead of “I Don’t Know”  Explain to your students that it is totally OKAY not to know the answer to a question.  But from now on, we won’t be saying “I don’t know” anymore.  From this point forward, they can use one of these questions to be able to find more information.  By teaching students what to say instead of I don’t know, you’re empowering all students to be successful and also giving kids a life skill they can use immediately in other areas of their lives.  It is incredibly important for newcomers to have phrases like these so they are not stressed out when they start being ready to participate and be called on.  They are also the type of questions /phrases that help as these students become the language brokers for their families (at the doctor’s office, at the grocery store, etc..)

https://x.com/DrCarolSalva/status/925171885008179203?s=20

BONUS:

Use Kahoot!   A lot!  Don’t just review with this awesome platform. You can do so much more! Here is a page with many ways to use the platform.  ESL teachers can use some of the Kahoot Studio quizzes to pre-teach vocabulary for content teachers.  You can let your students create Kahoot quizzes and more.  Did you know that there is now a single-player app?  Any of your Kahoot quizzes can be played by a student 3 questions at a time so they can review concepts on their own. If you’re the Newcomer teacher, you’ll love this video on Kahoot for Non-English Speakers:

You can even review those classroom norms by creating a Kahoot out of them!

The Boosting Achievement Classroom Management Reboot chat happened back in 2018 and here is a collection of input from so many people on what to do if behavior is getting out of hand mid year:

Something I ended the show with back in 2019 was a quote from Emily Francis. I had recently heard her say that tf your students FEEL valued and important they WILL  be successful.  I agree 100%.  Their timeline may be different as they grow in bilingualism or gain literacy.

But eventually,  if they don’t give up, and if they believe it’s possible, they will experience success.  Thank you for supporting that.

Hey, Newcomer Teacher: YOU ARE DOING GREAT WORK!! You are amazing and you ARE making a difference. I know things get so stressful when your caseload increases. Please remember that we know how to serve them. Kindness, patience, and holding them in high regard has the biggest effect on their long-term success.

So get yourself a reboot too. Please take care of yourself.

{{HUGS}}

Carol

PS:  Did you know that our Newcomer division is getting results when districts work with us to implement systemic change?  Please email me at Carol@SeidlitzEducation.com if you’d like to know more.

 

 

 

BAP119 When Perfect Ruins Your Good

Are you letting the perfect ruin the good?

Image credit: azquotes.com

You can listen to this show in your favorite podcast app or right here:

“Perfect is the Enemy of Good” – Voltaire

What does this quote mean to you?  To me, it has meant that I was not producing this show for a while because I have not had time to make the show notes as extensive as I normally do.

How unfortunate that is when I get SO MUCH good from putting out any show.  My learning is on overdrive every time I re-listen to a show to post it.  So expect more shows.  And expect them to be even MORE imperfect than ever before.  But for me, they will be good enough.  🙂

Links to What I Mention

In this show, I mention a great book by author and educational consultant (and my mentor), Nancy Motley.

Every educator should own Small Moves, Big Gains

Thanks for listening.  You are really helping me in my journey.

I hope you have a takeaway that helps you in your journey!

All the best!

Carol

BAP118 Making Americans ft Jessica Lander

I have some really great, free education for us in this show!  The wonderful Jessica Lander is here to share about her book (that I LOVE), Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education.  I’m thrilled to tell you that she shares so many ideas from the book in this interview.

You can find this show in your favorite podcast app or listen to it right here:

Listen to “BAP118 Making Americans ft J Lander” on Spreaker.

Jessica is not only the author of this great book, she currently teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students in an urban Massachusetts public high school.   Read about the many awards she has won and more about her impressive background right here.

I was honored when Jessica called me a few years ago to get ideas for her research.  I was even more excited to see my suggestions appear in her book!  In this show, we talk about this and several other innovative ideas that are happening right now.  She shares several!

In the show, Jessica explains that school communities must work to nurture a sense of belonging for immigrant-origin students.  I couldn’t agree more!  So then the eight chapters of the book are organized by the eight essential principles she details on the show.  Here is a peek at the chapters so you can see what she is talking about:

Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education

Introduction, Part 1 & 2 from the Table of Contents:

  • Introduction: Belonging
    • Present: Lowell High School, Massachusetts
    • Personal: Robert
  • Part 1
    • Chapter 1: New Beginnings
      • Past: Americanization Movement
      • Present: Las Americas, Texas
      • Personal: Srey Neth
    • Chapter 2: Community
      • Past: Settlement House Movement
      • Present: Aurora ACTION Zone, Colorado
      • Personal: Julian
    • Chapter 3: Security
      • Past: Meyer v. Nebraska
      • Present: Fargo South High, North Dakota
      • Personal: Choori
    • Chapter 4: Opportunities to Dream
      • Past: Mendez v. Westminster
      • Present: ENLACE, Massachusetts
      • Personal: Safiya
    • Chapter 5: Advocates
      • Past: LBJ and Education
      • Present: Guilford School District, North Carolina
      • Personal: Robert
  • Part 2
    • Chapter 6: Seeing Strengths
      • Past: Lau v. Nichols
      • Present: International School at Langley Park, Maryland
      • Personal: Carla
    • Chapter 7: Acceptance
      • Past: Plyler v. Doe
      • Present: Global Village Project, Georgia
      • Personal: Diane
    • Chapter 8: Voice
      •  Past: Bilingual Education
  • Possible: Reimagining Immigrant Education
  • Epilogue: Belonging
  • Personal: Robert

I loved listening to her share about the past, the present, and the personal examples from the book.  She has really captured what we need to focus on from those three angles.

I also mentioned Dr. Marie Moreno who was mentioned in the book and was the principal of a newcomer center here in Houston, Texas. I am super excited that I suggested Jessica connect with Dr. Moreno when she was doing her research on folks doing interesting, innovative work for recent immigrants.

In case it is helpful, here is a link to my dissertation that I talked about briefly.

And I often talk about Dr. Ilene Winokur when I talk about belonging.  She is a great person to follow as well!

Jessica suggests that we find more ways to connect and share.  She has given us seven schools/examples, that are so important to know about, but she tells us to go beyond reading this book.  The more connected we are, the more we will learn.  And the more we can share.

She poses the question:  How do we create more communities of practice so we can collaborate?  She tells us that this is the work of now.

So please connect with her and with me.  We are both passionate about learning and sharing with our online networks. That is at least a start!

Jessica encourages us to support local bookstores.  It is also available at bigger book stores and you can click here to see that Amazon has the hard copy and audio versions available.  I am listening to it AGAIN because it is just a fantastic education for me and it is such a lovely read. I really appreciate her writing and storytelling.

You can also find the book and more at Jessica’s website:  JessicaLander.com

.

You can follow her on Twitter here:  https://twitter.com/jessica_lander

and she also mentioned Instagram here:  https://www.instagram.com/jessicalander9

I appreciate Jessica and this book so much.  Big thanks to her again for all the work and everything she puts into the world.

How we can connect:

At the end of the show, I mention how you can register for the ML Summit if you are reading this real-time (Summer 2023).  That info is below.  HOWEVER, if you see this after July 15, 2023… the sessions should be streaming at the website for free so still go & check it out:  www.MLSummit.net

Larry Ferlazzo and I are excited to be Masters of Ceremonies.  We are all excited to learn together.  Just check out the lineup!

Hope to see you in the Zoom or on Twitter using the #MLSummit hashtag!  You can find me here:

THANK YOU again for being a passionate EduHero.  I appreciate you so much!

Hugs,

Carol

BAP117 Co-Creating Text to Support Grade-Level Content Learning

Want to support grade-level content learning for newcomers?  I’ve got you!  The school year may be winding down or over in many places but this is a great time to reflect on how you might use co-created text next year with your emergent bilingual students.  Or use it as part of an effective summer school routine.

This show follows Episode 115, where I explained how to use co-created text to teach literacy and accelerate language acquisition.  In that show, I promised to do a show about how to use it to support content area learning.  You can listen to this show in your favorite podcast app or right here:

Listen to “BAP117 CoCreating Text for Grade-Level Content Learning” on Spreaker.

What is LEA?

I often share about a practice called Language Experience Approach. I try to be clear that I don’t do it exactly as it was/is intended.  I am not an LEA purist because I adapt this technique based on the kids in front of me and the reason we are doing it.  But here is more on what LEA is:

Steps to Language Experience Approach (See photo for more detailed explanation)

  1. Students have a shared experience. (ex: we are looking at a poster with the water cycle)
  2. Students have a discussion about the experience. (ex: “I notice…”)
  3. Teacher writes key words and phrases on the board.
  4. Teacher writes sentences from the key words
  5. Teacher reads the constructed writing aloud.
  6. Students use the text in various ways.

The LEA [Language Experience Approach] is as diverse in practice as its practitioners. Nonetheless, some characteristics remain consistent (Hall, 1970): Materials are learner-generated. –All communication skills–reading, writing, listening, and speaking–are integrated. –Difficulty of vocabulary and grammar are determined by the learner’s own language use. –Learning and teaching are personalized, communicative, and creative.  – Can be found at https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED350887.pdf

I have written about this strategy in Ep 26 and Ep 115.  Again, I don’t carry out this technique exactly as it is explained by researchers and there are many folks who know more about it than I do.  But I DO know that some form of co-creating text *AFTER MY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN A CONVERSATION* has really helped accelerate language acquisition.

I am here today to tell you that it can also help you differentiate, it can help you be inclusive in content classrooms, and it can help all the students with grade-level learning.

Why Write?

I mention all the reasons we want writing in content areas for the average learner.  You can read about that at this post I wrote for Seidlitz Education’s blog:

Some of the research I mention on the show is from John Hattie’s Visible Learning work.  Writing can help us reflect and Hattie’s work suggests that Reflection and Evaluation have a strong effect on learning (.75 effect size).

I always mention Joseph Maurer when I talk about effective content teaching.  Joseph was a math teacher when I trained with him and he was also my own son’s Algebra teacher. We all marveled at what a skilled math teacher he was with newcomer and low socioeconomic students.  But he was also effective with gifted and grade-level learners.  In his trainings, Joseph explained that writing in Math (or any content area) is important for learners because it is basic to thinking, it promotes introspection and speculation, and it individualizes instruction (Fulwiler 1979, 1983).

I mention this math lesson where the teacher is using Seidlitz’s Seven Steps to a Language Rich, Interactive Classroom.  It shows what I mean by writing in Math being effective for thinking:

I also quote Tom Romano from his book Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers.  He explains that we are not asking Math teachers to teach writing.  We are asking them to USE writing to teach Math.  That is key for effective math instruction.

Co-Creating Text Before, During, or After Instruction

This show offers ideas about co-creating text with students prior to teaching, during a lesson or after instruction.  Here are a few examples of what co-created content writing can look like:

Don’t forget to follow the incredible HS educators, Kim Thyberg (@KimberlyThyberg) for more secondary examples!

I also mentioned the amazing Aly Averitt (@AlyAveritt) as someone to follow.  She is a great Elementary teacher sharing a lot on co-creating text.

Here is the video of Ali I mentioned as a great activity we do at the end of each school year.

Here is how Gisele Belyea (@GiseleBelyea follow her too!) and her students improved on this idea using heritage language:

Also gave Alan November a shout out!  He wrote, “Who Owns the Learning.”  That is a great book that shaped how I partner with students.

Thank you for tuning in or for checking out the show notes on Ep 117.  I appreciate you so much!

Hope to see you over on Twitter (@DrCarolSalva) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/SalvaBlog).  I’d love to be connected!

Take good care,

Carol

PS:  If you missed this workshop, check out Upcoming Events to see what else we might be offering through Seidlitz Education. 

And please email me (Carol@SeidlitzEducation.com) if we can come to your district to help you develop a plan for serving Newcomers!  One day of consulting is making a huge difference for our clients!  Reach out if you’d like to hear!

 

 

BAP116 The Student Motivation Handbook with Author Larry Ferlazzo

Guess What!  I have a ton of free resources on supporting intrinsic motivation for you in this post.
Our guest for this episode is world-renowned educator, Larry Ferlazzo.  He graciously joined me to talk about his new book, The Student Motivation Handbook: 50 Ways to Boost an Intrinsic Desire to Learn.  You can listen to the show right here or in your favorite podcast app:

Listen to “Ep 116 The Student Motivation Handbook ft Larry Ferlazzo” on Spreaker.

Here are some links I promised in this show:

The book is out NOW.  Get yours here.
The publisher’s webpage for this book has TONS of free resources.
For my own learning, I wrote out notes and reflections on my conversation with Larry.  Those notes are right here if you’d like to read them.
Thanks for tuning in!
Thanks again to Larry and thank YOU for being such a passionate educator.  If you are looking for PD in podcasts, there is no doubt about that!
My best,
Carol

BAP115 – Beyond Language Experience Approach – 5 Ideas!

Welcome Back!  This episode is full of ideas for what we can do to support language acquisition through the re-purposing of co-created text.

You can listen to this episode right here or in your favorite podcast app:

Listen to “BAP115 Five Ideas to Go Beyond Language Experience Approach” on Spreaker.

Re-using the text we created in class was foundational to accelerating language acquisition in my Newcomer classroom.  We saw our biggest gains when our routines supported a culture of conversation and students were willingly reading, discussing, and writing without my prompting.  Here are five ideas for how to re-use text you have created with your students.

After a while, the Newcomer class could look like this:

Quick Reminder of HOW we co-create Text

If you want more specifics on HOW to create text with your newcomers, please refer to episode 114 or go back and revisit episode 26. I offer a great deal of information on the Language Experience Approach to co-creating text and how I adapted it for my class of older newcomers. Here is a snap of p. 83 of the Boostin Achievement of SLIFE book to refresh your memory on how Anna Matis and I recommend doing this:

A Few Ideas of What to do with Your Co-Created Text

In the show go over just five ideas (of MANY) that are being done for newcomers in language-rich, interactive newcomer classrooms.  I talk about each one in depth:

  1. Re-read these texts for fluency.
  2. Annotate the text WITH students to make it more comprehensible or more complex.  You can do both at the same time.
  3. Re-enter the text and work with the class to change the writing. (Example: Use our imagination to come up with a different beginning or ending to a retelling,…write an opposing view…offer more ideas on a subject, etc…)
  4. Use the texts to teach the foundational skills that some of the students need.  (They don’t all need the same foundational skills)
  5. After students are familiar with the above routines, have them choose activities where they are working with partners to “read the room” for one of the activities above.  Reading the room can be facilitated with scripts that lead to authentic conversations.

Creating a culture of conversation is KEY

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

Here are my students comparing and contrasting different things we wrote about Emily:
I mentioned the research of Stephen Krashen’s with respect to Reading and ML’s language acquisition.
Here is a slide on that:
POST-IT Sticky Chart paper is the ONE thing I ask for in terms of supplies.
If anyone ever wanted to buy things for my room, my next ask would be Saddleback Hi Lo Readers
We used A LOT of News In Levels to propel kids’ reading after they read with us often enough to have more background for the language.
Don’t think that this is too babyish for our secondary students:

Remember, so much is possible because we are creating a culture of conversation.  For that, I recommend:

  • WIT (for elaboration)

  • Quick Writes to get our ideas down on a regular basis before talking.  Here is a post on that by Joan Sedita.  But don’t over think this.  Your newcomers can just free-write for 2 minutes and then start talking

I hope this episode was helpful.  Please comment or tag me on Twitter (@DrCarolSalva) or Facebook (@SalvaBlog) with more ideas!  There are so many. I know that I and other teachers would benefit from all the sharing.

Thanks for all you do!
Carol

PS:  If you’re interested in training, coaching or modeling.  We have some great results in districts that work with our Newcomer Division.

And this is coming up on Zoom March 22, 2023 for principals and other program leaders!

  Register right here: