Sarah Peterson Amy von Barnes Making “I Can” Statements Easy Supporting Learners – Week 2

Sharing… In twos or threes discuss the highs and lows of your experience considering bullets below.  Recipe  Tools (handouts, resources, etc)  Planning  Impact on lesson  What would make it easier?

Bridging into WIDA World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment  WIDA standards are designed to be used by EL and classroom teachers to support language within the mainstream classroom.  These standards support language in five areas: social/instructional, language arts, math, science, and social studies.  The assessment part of WIDA is the ACCESS test.

CAN DO Descriptors  CAN DO descriptors show us what students are already able to do, and where they are going next. Levels 1-6  Students’ strengths vary so they may be higher in some domains than others (reading, writing, listening, speaking).

Guess Who  Think of a student you know who is learning English as another language and write down his/her name.  Look at the CAN DO descriptors for your student’s grade band and think about what your student can already do.  Then, circle where you feel the student is at in each language domain (reading, writing, listening, speaking).

Guess Who  Case Study: A 3 rd grader at JES received these scores on the ACCESS test: Listening: 5 Reading: 5 Writing: 2 Speaking: 3 He has strong receptive language – listening and reading (what he takes in and understands). He struggles with productive language – writing and speaking (what he can produce himself). How can his scores help inform our planning?

CAN DO’s ELL Student Chart  The ACCESS test informs us about which proficiency level students are at within each language domain (reading, writing, speaking, listening).  Look at the completed CAN DO descriptors for your grade level students. Use these to see where your students are at now and where they are going.  This chart can be used to personalize learning targets.  What do you notice about the CAN DO descriptors in relation to our recipe for stretching learning targets?  We will share thoughts in a few minutes..

Take a Stand - Interaction Strategy  Take a Stand Strategy: The teacher makes a content related statement to the class. Students stand if they agree, or remain seated if they disagree. Students should be prepared to explain their reasoning. This can be used individually, with pairs, or in small groups.  Our content statement: “CAN-DO descriptors can help me write learning targets.”  Take a stand within the small group where you are sitting. Stand up if you agree with this statement, or remain seated if you do not agree. Share your reasons with your group.  Another content statement : This is really just about EL kids.

Merging the recipe and CAN-DO Descriptors Let’s look at a grade level standard and vary our “I can” statement by language level. Standard 2: Economics rd Grade - Social Studies I can describe how money is earned and spent. Level 2: I can describe how money is earned and spent using a T chart and pictures. Level 3: I can describe similarities and differences about how money is earned and spent using a Venn Diagram. Level 5: I can describe how money is earned and spent by making an iMovie with a partner.

Food for Thought: Comprehensible Input What is comprehensible input? Pair share, then group share. Comprehensible input is making your message understandable to students when teaching. Comprehensible Input Features: 1. Appropriate Speech for Students Proficiency Levels 2. Clear Explanation of Academic Tasks 3. A Variety of Techniques Used

Appropriate Speech  Speak slowly and clearly  Pause between phrases  Appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure for students’ needs  Explain idioms (we use these often and ELs do not always understand)  Paraphrase and repeat words  Cognates are useful (ex: calculate in English and calcular in Spanish)

Clear Explanation of Academic Tasks  Step by step directions  Model and demonstrate  Show finished product  Oral directions accompany written directions  Use pictures/visuals

Variety of Techniques  Gestures, body language, pictures, and objects accompany speech  Provide a model of a process, task, or assignment  Sentence frames  Multi-media  Graphic organizers  Hands-on activities  Cooperative learning

Recipe for Stretched Learning Targets: 1.Take your learning target. 2.Pull out the skill needed to achieve target. 3.Select the language needed to complete skill. 4.Add the support required to perform skill. 5.Display in kid friendly language.

Work Time  Enter your learning target (content area other than LA) into Google docs if you have not already done so.  Apply recipe to the learning target you brought today. This time write learning targets for two different proficiency levels representative of learners in your lesson (you can use your CAN-DO descriptors chart).  Enter your revised learning targets into Google docs.  Now use these revised learning targets as you plan and teach your lesson in the next week.  We will share experiences next week.

Finally  Questions?  Next week please bring a learning target you may want to teach for a future McREL observation. This could be for any content area.  Thoughts/feedback? Amy von Barnes Sarah Peterson

Glossary:  WIDA (World Class Instructional Design and Assessment): language standards designed to be used by classroom and EL teachers, they support students within social/instructional language, language arts, math, science, and social studies.  CAN Do Descriptors: show us what students are able to do at their current language level and where they are going next, these vary by domain (reading, writing, listening, and speaking)  Comprehensible input: Making your message understandable when teaching by using appropriate speech, clearly explaining academic tasks, and using a variety of techniques.

Glossary Continued:  Stretched learning target: a learning target that is stretched to include a language component and what supports are needed to help students  Support: what you provide students to help them successfully achieve the stretched learning target (see chart)  Sentence frames: a support that provides students with a structure they can use to start sentences when writing or speaking.  Word bank: a support that provides students with key words that will help them meet their learning targets