Resources and Reflections on Migrant Education Programs

 

 
"Our migrant children ...

they are our only hope ...
Like seedlings, they have been sown in your school.
It is our wish they blossom into harvests of hope."
-Author unknown

 
Source: Illinois Migrant Education Program brochure


This time of year most teachers are packing up their classrooms and beginning their summer vacations. But a number of educators around the country are unpacking boxes, setting up their summer programs, and welcoming new children into their classrooms right now. But these are no ordinary summer school programs. The teachers I am talking about are those working in migrant education programs. 

Each year thousands of children and their families move in order to work in the agricultural or fishing industries. Collectively, these families are considered migrant agricultural workers.  For many migrant children, their life experiences are impacted by substandard housing, poor nutrition, low wages and seasonal work. Repeatedly moving in order to find employment can impact students' academic achievement. Therefore, the goal of migrant education programs is to reduce the impact of these issues on the children's education. Illinois alone identified over 1,700 children through its Migrant Education Program during the 2011-2012 school year.

Running Records and ELLs: Comprehension Considerations

It is easy for a student to come to the erroneous conclusion that reading is about quickly and correctly pronouncing words out loud.  Running records can exacerbate this misconception if teachers are not emphasizing the importance of comprehending what is read. 

The comprehension component of running records is included to help us notice how a child is being thoughtful about his reading. Evaluating or measuring comprehension is difficult for many reasons for all learners (not just ELLs). As teachers, our goal is to uncover the process of comprehension. Consider these tips the next time you give a running record to an ELL.

Quick Summer Read on Young ELLs

If you are looking for a quick and easy summer read about young English language learners (ELLs), then you may want to take a look at this book.  Like many of you, summer is my chance to catch up on personal and professional reading.  Earlier this week, the book Basics of Supporting Dual Language Learners: An Introduction for Educators of Children from Birth through Age 8 found its way onto my desk.   It is written by Karen N. Nemeth and published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  

First let me briefly clarify that the term dual language learners (DLL) is used by some preschool and early childhood programs instead of ELL.  In fact, DLL is the official term used by NAEYC, the Office of Head Start and the Council for Exceptional Children Divison for Early Childhood.  In a nutshell, DLL is used to describe a young child who is growing up with exposure to, and simultaneously learning,

Welcome, Northern Mariana Islands!

Earlier this week, WIDA welcomed its 29^th Consortium member, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.  Similar to Massachusetts, which joined in June, the Northern Mariana Islands educators will be using the WIDA ELD Standards and will be administering the ACCESS for ELLs assessment.   

The Northern Mariana Islands are a chain of islands west of Hawaii and north of Australia.  Their public school system consists of twelve elementary schools, four junior high schools and five high schools.  During the 2011-2012 school year, a total of 11,011 students were enrolled in these schools.  Chamorro, English, Chinese and Philippine languages are commonly spoken among the residents of these beautiful islands.   

CoCoMo Institute

A few months ago, I told you about the Common Core and More (CoCoMo) Institute. Thank you for your overwhelming response from across the Consortium! 

 I am happy to report that the institute is taking place from June 11-15, 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. More than 85 educators from 14 Consortium states are hard at work learning about the Common Core State Standards and WIDA’s English Language Development (ELD) Standards. 

Tips on Creating Content Area Word Walls

Do you have a word wall in your classroom?  Is it dedicated to high frequency words?  What about content area words and phrases?  What challenges have you had with supporting your students’ language growth visually in your room? 

When I was teaching, I struggled with the best way to use the wall space in my classroom. I had a “traditional” word wall on the back wall which held many of the high frequency words in English in alphabetical order. Other walls were dedicated to various content areas or particular projects we were working on in class.  My bulletin boards held student work samples and information about upcoming events.  While the various content area posters and visual aids were helpful for students, I always felt like I was missing something.  It wasn’t until I started providing professional development full time that I stumbled across the idea of a content area word wall.  Today I’ll share with you some of my favorite tips, tricks and links for word walls dedicated to learning the language of the content areas.

Using the CAN DO Descriptors in PreK Classrooms

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The WIDA CAN DO Descriptors are a wonderful tool for understanding what our students can do and express in English.  This week Martha Weisman and Hertha Ramirez share their ideas on how to use the PreK-K CAN DO Descriptors to plan instruction for two of their preschoolers.

Using the CAN DO Descriptors in a High School Math Class

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WIDA’s CAN DO Descriptors are one of my all-time favorite documents to share – especially with mainstream teachers.   They are a wonderful resource for understanding the language acquisition process and brainstorming ideas for differentiating classroom instruction and assessment.  Some of you know that I teach a graduate course on assessment of ELLs.  Recently I asked my students (in-service teachers pursuing their ESL or bilingual endorsements in Illinois) to choose one ELL that they currently teach.  Then I asked them to list the CAN DO Descriptors that correlate to that student’s current English language proficiency (ELP) level.  Lastly, I asked them to list ways they could differentiate their instruction and classroom assessments to better align with that student’s level of ELP. 

Using Rubrics and Checklists for Language Proficiency Assessments

Teachers often tell me that one of the trickiest aspects of designing classroom-based assessments is to identify what we want to assess and then how to document it. 

Recently I blogged about common assessments and ELLs.  In that post, I mentioned that there are two main types of assessments for ELLs –assessments that measure academic content knowledge and assessments that document language proficiency.  So as we design our assessments we need to ask ourselves “Am I assessing my students’ knowledge of the content or their ability to speak/read/write about this topic?”  

Most school districts have multiple assessments for academic content knowledge.  Typically there is a district assessment plan or schedule that details when and how often to give various content assessments.  End of the unit assessments, quarterly or semester assessments and yearly assessments of content knowledge are set. 

But what about assessing our students’ language proficiency? 

Spanish teachers – check out the new Continuos del Desarrollo Lingüístico (SLD Standards)

Two years of hard work are paying off and everyone (consortium and non-consortium members) will be able to reap the benefits soon.   

So what is SALSA? It is a collaborative project between the Illinois State Board of Education, WIDA and the Center for Applied Linguistics.   It stands for Spanish Academic Language Standards and Assessment.  As the name implies, there are two parts to the project.  The first part has

“Off To Class” Book Review

Recently a colleague introduced me to a beautiful book called Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World written by Susan Hughes.  The book was written for children between the ages of 9-13.  But because of the splendid layout, the intriguing scenarios and gorgeous photographs, this book would be interesting to much older students (and adults).  It certainly kept my attention!

The content of the book is not light and fluffy.  The author, Susan Hughes, begins by stating that the United Nations considers education to be a basic human right.

Tips for Reaching Out to Parents of ELLs

criminalatt / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many of you are struggling with how to best reach out to the parents of your ELLs.  You pick the date, book a fabulous speaker, set up interpreters and send home flyers announcing the event.  But when the time rolls around for the meeting, it looks a lot like the photo above.  So what can you do differently?   Today I’ll share six tips that I have learned over the years. 

Native Language Resources for Parents

Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was recently asked by a district administrator for resources to share with parents of English language learners.   In his email, he stated that some parents of ELLs in his district need reassurance that it is ok to use their native language with their children.   In very practical terms, it is critical that parents and children share a common language that they can use to discuss everyday occurrences and key family topics and issues.  Pedagogically, we know that children do better in school when they are immersed in a language-rich environment in the home.  During workshops I explain it like this: parents should