WIDA Blog

“Off To Class” Book Review

2012-03-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

Recently a colleagueintroduced me to a beautiful book called Off toClass: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World written by SusanHughes. The book was written for childrenbetween the ages of 9-13. But because ofthe splendid layout, the intriguing scenarios and gorgeous photographs, thisbook 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 statingthat the United Nations considers education to be a basic human right.
The overall tone is matter-of-fact andupbeat. Early on, Hughes poses thequestion “What do we need to create so that kids, living in these conditions,can learn?” Then she spends the remainder of the book exploring how people haveresponded to that very question for the children in their communities. The book is divided into three chapters andeach school is described in a two-page spread. The majority of the schools include a brief narrative from either astudent or someone involved in the development of that school. Included in the book are classes held on train platforms in India, tent schools in Haiti, and anomadic school in Siberia. There are also schools next to garbage dumps,schools for AIDS orphans and portable schools for street children worldwide. In all, Hughes introduces her readers totwenty three schools on five continents. One of the most fascinating stories was of Dongzhong Primary Schoolin China. The entire village (including the school) washoused inside a cave!

As a teacher, I couldn’t help myself. I started a mental list of the ways you coulduse this book with students, especially ELLs. So now it is time to commit that mental list to paper (or at least to ablog post). Let’s start with the textfeatures. The table of contents is easyto use. You could certainly use this tableof contents to reinforce or teach your students how to locate a specific partof the book. The mix of narrative andexpository text begs for a beautiful and rich classroom discussion about howyou can write about the same topic in two very different styles. The fact “bubbles” break up the text andprovide additional information about the country or school. The maps provide an orientation for thereader. The resource list at the back ofthe book could easily be converted into an online activity or incorporated intoan interactive whiteboard lesson. Thenthere is the content of the book itself! You could use this book to developstudents’ oral language and tap into their prior knowledge. Either before or after reading the book, youcould facilitate a classroom discussion on any or all of the following topics:

· What school is like in other countries(including your students’ countries of origin)

· Social activism,

· Distinguishing between needs and wants,

· Comparing and contrasting life in rural, urbanand suburban settings around the world

· Geography (especially how geography, environmentand natural disasters affect how humans live)

· Human rights and civil rights

· Majority and minority cultures

Special thanks to my colleague, MargoGottlieb, for sharing this book!

Tips for Reaching Out to Parents of ELLs

2012-03-02T06:16:00.001-08:00

criminalatt/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many of you are struggling with howto best reach out to the parents of your ELLs. You pick the date, book a fabulous speaker, set up interpreters and sendhome flyers announcing the event. Butwhen the time rolls around for the meeting, it looks a lot like the photoabove. So what can you do differently? Today I’ll share six tips that Ihave learned over the years.
There is nomagic formula here, but we can learn from what has worked for others. Please share your own tips in the commentssection at the end of the post.

TIP #1: Providechildcare. Many of our parents need someone who can watch their children whilethey attend the meeting. Considercontracting with a teacher or teacher’s assistant in your district to providesupervision for the children during the meeting. Have coloring sheets, multilingual books and boardgames available for the children. Consider having a few adults present to help provide homework help forolder students.

TIP #2: Vary the time of day and/or day of the week. Maybe a school night isn’t the best time for yourfamilies. Ask a few parents what thebest time of the day is and the best day of the week. I know of a district that has had greatsuccess with ELL parent meetings on Sunday afternoons. Another district has found that they get thebest turnout when they hold the meeting during school hours. They make sure to end the meeting shortlybefore the students are dismissed so that parents have time to pick theirchildren up.

TIP#3 – Vary the location. This tip goesalong with Tip #2. Ask a fewparents. If a number of your familieslive in a particular apartment complex, check with the property manager to seeif there is a meeting space you can use for your parent meetings. The same holds true for local houses ofworship. This might be a great place tohold your meeting and make connections with leaders in the community that alsoserve the needs of your families. Anextra bonus - I have found that houses of worship are often willing to announceparent meetings before or after their services.

TIP #4 – Don’t just send home flyers!Think about the sheer number of flyers and information that go into a child’sbackpack each week. Often our carefullycrafted and meticulously translated flyers get lost in the shuffle of all ofthose papers. Call parents andpersonally invite them to the meeting. Tell them that a flyer will be coming home with the details. Tell them what color paper the flyer will be on so that it will be easier to spot. While you are at it, ask them to bring another parent with them. You’ll be surprised at how much of adifference a personal invitation will make.

TIP #5 – Have refreshments. Food is a universal sign of hospitality. Brew a pot of coffee and have some cookiesavailable. Approach local restaurants orethnic grocery stores and ask them to donate refreshments for the parentmeeting. Not only will parents feel morewelcome and relaxed, the local restaurants have a chance to connect with theschool in a new way.

TIP #6 – Recruit parents. At your first meeting, tell parents to cometo the next meeting with at least one friend. Ask for volunteers to help with the next meeting.

Click here to read a post on resources to share withparents of ELLs.

Native Language Resources for Parents

2012-02-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Image:Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I was recently asked by a district administrator forresources to share with parents of English language learners. In his email, he stated that some parents ofELLs in his district need reassurance that it is ok to use their nativelanguage with their children. In verypractical terms, it is critical that parents and children share a commonlanguage that they can use to discuss everyday occurrences and key familytopics and issues. Pedagogically, weknow that children do better in school when they are immersed in alanguage-rich environment in the home. During workshops I explain it like this: parents should

use theirstrongest language with their child, even if that language is not English. Parents should use their strongest languagebecause that is the language they can use daily to model rich oral and writtendiscourse.

Today I am sharing a few of my favorite “parent-friendly”resources that you can access for free online and use with your students’parents. These resources can help youto inform parents about the benefits of maintaining and developing students’native language(s) while they are learning English.I recommend that you share these resources with parents aspart of a face-to-face meeting. In myexperience, it is best to plan several parent meetings throughout theyear. These are meetings specificallyfor parents of ELLs. The goal of thesemeetings is to provide parents with a vehicle for learning about the Americanschool system, how to help their children succeed in school, to have theirquestions answered and their concerns addressed. These occasional (3-4 times a year) parentmeetings help to foster an atmosphere of open communication and strengthen theschool-family relationship. Over time,our families develop a deeper level of trust and come to us with theirquestions and concerns about their children’s education. It is within the context of thisrelationship-building that these resources can best be shared with parents andguardians.

A wonderful handout that lists a number of reasons to continue using your primary language in the home. It was written by Elizabeth Coehlo and can be found here.
Colorin Colorado (based in Washington DC) also has a number of resources for families of ELLs. Here is their website. I absolutely love their Reading Tip Sheets for Parents. They are divided by age (birth to third grade) and available in eleven languages. Click here for a direct link to the tip sheets.
Ryerson University created the "Hold On" website. On this site, you’ll find a professionally produced flyer and PowerPoint presentation that you can download and use for parent presentations. Click here to go to their site.

Keep in mind that parents often have questions that can bebest addressed in a face-to-face meeting, especially if the meeting isconducted in the primary language of the families or with the assistance ofinterpreters. Click here for somepractical tips for planning these parent meetings.

Special thanks goes out to my IRC colleague, CristinaSanchez-Lopez, for telling me about some of these wonderful resources!

What Do We Do With All of These Standards?

2012-02-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

It comes as no surprise to you that good instruction is grounded instandards. But when it comes toeducating ELLs, we are often talking about three or more sets ofstandards. There are state contentstandards, Common Core Standards, and English language developmentstandards. If you also provideinstruction in Spanish, you have the Spanish language development standards andSpanish language arts standards. Oftenwe are left wondering how these sets of standards relate to each other and howwe could best use them to guide our instruction and classroom assessments. For those of us living in states that haveadopted the Common Core Standards, we need to set aside some time to understandthese standards and begin to integrate them into our teaching practices.

Judy Sauri, principal of Edwards School in Chicago, recentlyexpressed
that she is very concerned about the roll-out of the Common CoreStandards at her school, especially when it comes to English Language Learners(ELLs). Edwards Elementary serves over 1,500 students, and approximately44% are ELLs. The Chicago Public Schools have been disseminating informationabout the Common Core via leadership meetings. However, from Ms. Sauri's perspective, there has not been muchopportunity to discuss how these new standards should be interpreted forELLs. When it comes to providing instruction in Spanish, Judy wants to besure that the standards are incorporated appropriately. She doesn’t want to return to the days ofbeing asked to write up kindergarten lesson plans that must incorporate MotherGoose. As she put it, "Why would Iuse Mother Goose when I am trying to teach language arts in Spanish? There aremany more appropriate ways to teach ELLs when you are using the native language." Judy is hoping to send a team of teachers to the Common Core and More SummerInstitute so that her team can begin to "unpack" the Common Core Standards for ELLs, and figure out the implications for teaching and learning.

Image: Tammy King, 2010

Our office has been buzzing about the Common Core and More (CoCoMo) Institute for thelast few months. It is a joint projectbetween the WIDA Consortium and the Illinois Resource Center. The CoCoMo Institute will be in Santa Fe, New Mexico from June 10-15, 2012. Districts from across the Consortium are invited to send a team ofteachers, school leaders and administrators to the training. Over the course of the week, yourProfessional Learning Team will be guided through a structured process thatwill “unpack” the standards and connect the academic language of the contentstandards to the appropriate language standards. Participants will design an articulated planfor standards referenced curriculum, instruction and assessment for theirlanguage education programs. The training will be differentiated for:

Teams interested in working exclusively with the Common Core and the English language development standards
Teams interested in working with the Common Core , English and Spanish standards (i.e. bilingual/dual language programs.)

If you would likemore information or have questions about the summer institute, click here or hereor email CoCoMo@cntrmail.org

Favorite Lessons

2012-02-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Image:farconville / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Since so many of the WIDA statesare in the midst of testing right now, I wanted to provide you with a littlebreak and share a lesson I was reminded of recently.

As you know, last week wasGroundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so sixmore weeks of winter are on their way. What a strange and uniquely American day! As I heard the reports of ourfavorite national rodent seeing his shadow, I was reminded of my days as anESL/ bilingual teacher. I was teachingin a suburban district in a building where the overwhelming majority of thestudents spoke a language other than English at home. Collectively, our students spoke over fiftydifferent primary languages. Most of ourstudents were born and raised in the United States. But every year we had some students in fourth,fifth and sixth grade who were new to the country. Every
day I had the chance to work with thesestudents – my newcomer group. During ourtime together, we worked on academic language and concepts that my studentswould need for the mainstream classroom. Occasionally we would take a break from content material to learn abouta particular American figure, upcoming holiday or event. In the fall we would make a Jack-o-lanterntogether. Then I would have my studentssequence pictures about the steps in the process and write about the entire experience. In the winter we would spend a lesson or twotalking about appropriate winter dress. (This was critical knowledge for mystudents from the Middle East and Central America.) After the first snowfall, Iwould have my students write about what it was like to experience snow for thefirst time.

One year I decided to teach mystudents some tongue-twisters. GroundhogDay was near, and I had planned a lesson about the day. My students were fascinated. They wondered what a groundhog was and whypeople would look to a large rodent to predict the weather. Most importantly of all, they wanted to know how often the predictions have been right. We learned that groundhogs are also calledwoodchucks. So, I ended the lesson byteaching my students, “How much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuckcould chuck wood?” They left my roomrepeating the tongue twister on their way down the hall. Several of the students shared their tonguetwister with any teacher that they ran into that week. One of my colleagues then taught a few studentsthe response, “A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuckif a woodchuck could chuck wood.” Thenext day, they returned to my class and taught all of us. It still makes me smile just thinking abouttheir excitement. Some students evenwent home and taught their family and friends. Who would have guessed that such a “simple” thing would captivate mystudents?

What are some of your favorite lessons? How have your ELL students surprised you thisyear?

Become a Certified WIDA trainer

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

2011 CertificationInstitute Participants and WIDA Staff

It’s hard to believe that it has been almost two years sinceI became a certified trainer for WIDA. (Though, my family would be happy to tell you that I am also certifiable nuts!) For me, the journey

began with an emailinvitation followed by the application process.I was thrilled to have the chance to learn directly from the friendly folks atWIDA. So I packed my bags and off I wentto spend a week in Madison, WI. Ilearned a great deal that week, and continue to regularly use what I learned inmy training sessions at the IRC and in other Consortium states. I enjoyed the opportunities to network withother professional developers from across the Consortium. And, I have very fond memories of thedelectable food that WIDA provided. Since the institute, I continue to share ideas and network with myfellow trainers via the certified trainers support site. I have even had the pleasure of meeting manyof you in my travels around the Consortium.

This summer, WIDA will again host the week-longcertification training. If you providetraining on WIDA resources like the ELP Standards or the ACCESS for ELLsassessment in your region, district or school, consider the benefits of becominga certified WIDA trainer. Not only will you gain confidence andexpertise on WIDA resources, but you will have access (pardon the pun) toprofessional development tools, techniques and networking opportunities.

Two types of people typically attend the institute:independent consultants and those who are sponsored by their school, districtor state department of education. If youcomplete the training as an independent consultant, you will have your name andcontact information posted on the WIDA CertifiedTrainers page so that interested school districts and states can contactyou directly to book workshops. If youare sponsored by your district or state, then you will be able to officiallyprovide WIDA training for your sponsoring organization.

All institute participants become certified to providetraining on:

Words to the wise: apply early. You know what they say about the early birdgetting the worm. The application deadline is April 15, 2012. The institute will begin July 30, 2012 andend on August 2, 2012.

While you are in Madison, plan on walking around town whileyou are there. Be sure to check out the famous farmer’s market and StateStreet. I walked to and from the institute mostdays. Not only did I get a chance toknow the city better, I also didn’t feel guilty indulging in the afternoontreats during the institute. Oh – anddon’t forget the ice cream. Be sure tostop by the student union. They have dairy cows that they milk daily for theice cream. Really, they do! My favorite is the orange ice cream with darkchocolate chips – yum!

Tips for Scheduling the ACCESS

2012-01-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

Image:koratmember / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Preparing to administer the ACCESS for ELLs can be atime-consuming process for test administrators and district level testcoordinators alike. Recently I had thechance to interview Rosemarie Meyer, Assistant Superintendent for Bilingual/ESL Programs in Community ConsolidatedSchool District 21 in Wheeling, Illinois. Just over 37% of CCSD 21 students are English language learners. She shared some tips that have helped

hermaintain her sanity and increase inter-rater reliability among her testadministrators.

TIP #1: All handson deck! Review your state’s requirementsregarding who can and cannot be a test administrator for the ACCESS test. Then train everyone that you can to give theACCESS. Illinois allows any properly trained certified teacher to give theACCESS. In CCSD #21, a team ofexperienced ACCESS test administrators trains their colleagues, includingdistrict administrators, building principals, technology teachers, speechlanguage pathologists and general education teachers. The goal is to have students tested bysomeone they already know while making sure that the test administrator doesnot let what they already know about the student influence the score that thestudent receives.

TIP #2: Provideface-to-face training in addition to the onlinetraining through the WIDA website. In Rosemarie’s district, they have created a multi-phase training processfor test administrators (TAs). It lookslike this:

Timeline	District-required Training in CCSD#21	New Test Administrators	Veteran Test Administrators
3 months before ACCESS	Two and a half hours of face-to-face training conducted by central office staff members from the ESL/bilingual department.	Must attend	Optional
2 months before ACCESS	Additional two and a half hours of face-to-face training conducted by central office staff members from the ESL/bilingual department. By this time, new TAs must have logged onto WIDA website and also completed the online training modules.	Must attend	Optional
1 month before ACCESS	Two hour training for all TAs on the same day district-wide. This includes a review of general test administration procedures through a game format (e.g. Jeopardy, etc). It also includes a detailed review of speaking procedures and additional practice with scoring student samples. It is scheduled in several locations simultaneously and is part of the regular district Professional Development calendar. This training is created by the Bilingual/ESL Instructional Specialists who train colleagues to present this PD across the district.	Required	Required
2 weeks before ACCESS	Log on to the WIDA website and review the speaking section.	Required	Required
ACCESS testing	Buddy system for the first few speaking tests: New TA observes a veteran give the test, then veteran observes the new TA giving the test.	Required	Optional

When testing time comes, the district makes arrangements for“an onslaught of substitute teachers.” These substitute teachers cover the kindergarten rooms, while thekindergarten teachers test their students. The same is true for students with IEPs. As a general rule of thumb, Rosemarie plans for one substitute teacherfor one day per classroom in grades 1-8 in order to complete the speaking tests,and one substitute for three days per classroom for the kindergartentests.

Rosemarie's district has successfully used this multi-phasetraining plan for several years. She hasnoticed three main benefits of this plan. First, CCSD#21 has high levels of inter-rater reliability among theirTAs. Also more people in the districtunderstand and are more interested in the ACCESS for ELLs scores because oftheir involvement with the administration of the test. Finally, testing is completed in a timelyfashion and the focus of the schools returns to teaching and learning!

Thank you, Rosemarie, for sharing your advice with theConsortium!

Video Contest for Educators of ELLs

2012-01-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Image:Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I am excited to let you know abouta video contest that WIDA is sponsoring for teachers of ELLs. Not only arethere some great prizes for participants, but you also have the chance toshowcase the wonderful activities and assessments that you use with yourELLs. The contest is open to all

elementary and secondary teachers of ELLs – whether you are an ESL teacher, abilingual/dual language teacher or a mainstream teacher with ELLs in yourclass.

Think for a moment about some of the engaging activitiesthat you have planned in the coming weeks. What are some of the activities you’ll be using to introduce that newunit? Or, maybe an assessment that youwill use to end your current unit of study? Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

Beginning of the unit/lesson activities that you will use to gauge your students’ background knowledge on the topic (e.g. KWL chart, concept attainment activities, math games, science demonstrations/experiments, interactive whiteboard activities)
Language Experience Approach (LEA) lesson in a content area lesson
Readers Theater or guided reading group activities/discussions that include ELLs
Songs you teach your students to learn key concepts (I’ve heard there is a great song for the water cycle)
Gestures you use to teach certain key concepts (e.g. hand and arm movements for acute and obtuse angles, etc.)
Vocabulary activities to preview, review or teach new content area words and phrases (e.g. picture or word sorts, role playing, using realia or manipulatives)
End-of -lesson or end –of- unit assessments (e.g. picture/word sorts, sequencing activities, student presentations, dramatizations)

As you ponder these ideas, youwill also want to read through the nine guiding questions for the videosubmissions. Your video submission should respond to one of these ninequestions. Here is an example. Let’s say you videotape an activity wherestudents work in pairs to sort pictures of various objects into three columns.The columns represent sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks and metamorphicrocks. As the students place thepictures in the appropriate column, they have to explain their reasoning usinga sentence frame “This rock goes in the ___________ column becauseit___________.” Because of the varioussupports (sensory, graphic and interactive) in this activity, you could addressthe fourth guiding question “How doesthis classroom event demonstrate the effective scaffolding of contentinstruction/assessment for ELLs? In other words, how does it make grade-levelcontent accessible to ELLs?” A list of all nine questions, technical tipsand suggestions can be found here.

In a nutshell, WIDA is looking for a short video (5-10minutes) that includes:

Classroom activities that showcase effective teaching, learning and/or assessment of content and language for ELLs in your class
Your reflection on the classroom events, including a brief explanation of what preceded this lesson and what will follow it, what went well and what you would change.
(Optional) Student and other participants’ reflections

In exchange for yourvideo submission, you will receive a free copy of the 2012 elementary orsecondary English Language Development Standards booklet. The top three videos will receive additionalprizes:

First place: $1,000 cashprize and a scholarship for the awardee and a colleague to attend a 2012 WIDA Professional Development Academy

Second prize: $500 cashprize and a scholarship for the awardee and a colleague to attend a 2012WIDA Professional Development Academy

Third prize: $250 cashprize and scholarship for the awardee and a colleague to attend a 2012 WIDA Professional Development Academy

Image:fotographic1980 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The video, one page applicationand signed release forms must be postmarked by March 31, 2012.

Wanted: Local ELL-related blogs

2012-01-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Does your state have a blog that WIDA should knowabout?

Maybe it is a blog run by a teacher (ESL, bilingual or mainstream),a district administrator or someone at your state department of education.

If it deals with ELLs, let me know about it by posting alink to the blog in a comment below. Thanks!

I’ve got a question about ACCESS for ELLs…

2012-01-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I have turned tothe WIDA Help Desk with various questions. Often they are able to give me an answer, and I am on my merry way. Once I even called them on the lunch breakduring a workshop to get an answer to one of my attendee’s questions. Every now and again, I have found out that myquestion would be answered better

by someone else outside of WIDA.

As you can imagine, the WIDA HelpDesk receives a lot of questions from all over the Consortium. Some of these questions can be answered byHelp Desk staff or other WIDA staff. Othersneed to be directed to another entity like a state department of education orMetritech. If it is a time-sensitivequestion, it helps to know who best to address our questions to from the getgo.

In this post, I’ll give you anoverview of the three broad categories of questions. Feel free to print this post and stick itnext to your phone and share it with your colleagues. While you are at it, consider officiallyfollowing our blog by clicking on the “Join this site” button on the right side of thepage.

Entity	Contact Info	Types of Questions
	E-mail: help@wida.us Toll-free: 1-866-276-7735 WIDA Consortium Wisconsin Center for Educational Research (WCER) University of Wisconsin-Madison 1025 W. Johnson Street, MD #23 Madison, WI 53706	ACCESS, MODEL or W-APT test administration questions Understanding and interpreting the scores from these assessments Online training course for test administrators, including log in, navigating the course, and completing the training quizzes
Metritech	E-mail: mtinfo@metritech.com Toll-free: 1-800-747-4868 MetriTech, Inc. Attn: Customer Service Representative 4106 Fieldstone Road P.O. Box 6479 Champaign, Illinois 61826-6479	Pre-ID labels for the ACCESS test Ordering ACCESS testing materials Return shipping of the ACCESS test
Your State's Department of Education	Click on the map of WIDA states on the left. Once the new page opens, click on your state for contact information.	Establishment of entry and exit criteria for ESL and/or bilingual services in your state Test administration dates Local professional development opportunities Test administrator certification requirements for your state

While this is not meant to be a comprehensive list of allpossible questions related to testing, it is designed to give you a better ideaof who to go to depending on the type of question that you have. But it you aren’t sure, feel free to contactthe WIDA Help Desk and they will be happy to point you in the rightdirection. Feel free to post your ownquestions and comments here – just don’t post any confidential information(no student names, etc).

In future posts, we will look more closely at specificquestions that are often asked by Consortium members.

What’s new with ACCESS for ELLs this year?

2011-12-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Image:dream designs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For many of our states, ACCESS for ELLs testing is just around the corner. In fact, Auld Lang Syne might stillbe ringing in your ears when you start testing next month. For other states, ACCESS testing is already underway. So I thought it would be a nice time to bring everyone up to speed onthe administration of the ACCESS for ELLs test. There are three main points and some tips tokeep in mind this year.

1. SpeakingTest T2 start: All speaking test administrators (TAs)for grades 1-12 must review the updated Speaking Module online beforeadministering the Speaking test this year. The new T2 start procedure affects students taking Tier B and Tier C inListening, Reading andWriting. This change allows thesestudents to skip the T1 Speaking tasks that are likely to be too easy for them.Be sure to watch the new T2 start tutorial that is part of the updated trainingmodule.

TIP: If you are a local trainer, use the free materials in the TrainingToolkit. Don’t reinvent the wheel! You may edit WIDA’s PowerPoint presentationsto suit your needs, but do not post them publicly. The presentations cover allaspects of administration, and have been updated this year to introduce the T2Start procedure. Click here to go to the DownloadLibrary. Look for the ACCESS forELLs section. Then click on the title“Training Toolkit.” (Note: you will need to log in with your personal trainingcourse login in order to access the training toolkit files.)

Image:Grant Cochrane/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. New soundfiles: Did you know that the folksat WIDA have heard your requests for more student speaking samples? Not only did they gather more sound clips,but they made sure to gather and post samples from students at all levels ofEnglish language proficiency from grades 1-12. In all, there are sixty-six newspeaking samples online. Remember, it isrecommended that all speaking test administrators review and practice scoringstudent responses each year.

TIP: Plan now and schedulesome time about one to two weeks before you begin testing to log in to the WIDA website and review thespeaking sample files.

3. Testadministrator quiz scores: If youare a district facilitator you can be given access to the training quiz scoresfor all of the teachers in your school district. Remember, it’s important to ensure thateveryone in your district has met all state requirements for training, and somestates require annual completion of one or all of the training course quizzes. Ifit is part of your duties to monitor your colleagues’ training, just contactthe WIDA Help Desk at help@wida.us or866-276-7735 to request this electronic access. It’s a lot easier thancollecting printouts in a file cabinet!

Please note: some states have this role set up on behalf of all districtfacilitators. To access the districtquiz results, please login to the training course and click on “My Quizzes”,then “District View”. If you don’t see a “District View” tab on this page,please call the WIDA Help Desk to request that the district facilitator role be added to youraccount.

Looking for tips on scheduling ACCESS? Click here.

Happy holidays!

Enjoy your much-deserved time off, celebrate, relax andenjoy your time with family and friends.

An Evening With…Dr. Yong Zhao

2011-12-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

Every year I am eager to see the “Evening with…” dinner andspeaker at the Illinois bilingual conference. This year we were honored to have Dr. Yong Zhao as our guest speaker. Ifyou have not heard of Dr. Zhao, check out his websiteor one of his many publications.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Conroy

Not only was Dr. Zhao’s presentation insightful, he struckthe perfect balance between serious and funny. As someone who does professional development for a living, I know howdifficult that can be.

Dr. Zhao began his talk by askingthe audience – what kind of education do you want to buy for yourchildren? He provoked us to really thinkabout what is most important when educating our children. Do we want children who do well on tests orstudents who show creativity? In amoment of both humor and complete seriousness, Dr. Zhao mentioned

Lady Gaga andreminded us that she is a product of the American school system. While we chuckled, he mentioned how much sheearns and then explained his own father’s consternation at Lady Gaga’s lack ofnecessary life skills. Notably, Dr.Zhao’s father lives in a small village in China. If Lady Gaga moved there, her entertainmentskills would be quickly trumped by her inability to plow the fields with awater buffalo. By this point in his talk, I was intrigued. Where is Dr. Zhao going with this?

As he went on, he juxtaposednewspaper quotes from Chinese and American sources. He showed where the U.S. educational systemwas strong and where it was weak. We maybe weak in math and science scores, but we are strong in confidence andcreativity. So while we are trying tomodel our schools after countries like China and India, which have great mathand science scores, China and India are working to make their students morecreative and confident. A classicexample of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence! So let meend today’s post with one more observation from Dr. Zhao. America is unique in that our teachers can fostercreativity and confidence in their students because of the rich resourcesavailable to us in this country (e.g. public libraries, museums). Anyone anywhere can teach math with a pieceof paper and a pencil (for that matter, dirt and a stick would also work). Whatdo you think? What kind of education do you want for your children? Do you wantcreative thinkers, or great test takers?

Me Washa la Mano

2011-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

Thank you, readers for making this blog such a success. This weekend we hit a major milestone – onethousand page views!

Last week’s conference was a wonderful success. For those of us thatattended, it was a time of professional rejuvenation, reconnecting with oldfriends, and meeting new colleagues. Forthose of you outside of Illinois,I am referring to the 35^th AnnualStatewide Conference for Teachers Serving Linguistically and Culturally DiverseStudents (aka the bilingual conference) that is held annually in OakBrook, Illinois. It is a four day conference with local,national and international speakers. This year, more than 3,000 educators attended over the course of theweek.

This was the first year that I did four presentations. Needless to say, I was very busy and simplyran out of time to blog. But don’t fear,I have taken copious notes and am looking forward to sharing what I learnedwith you. First, let me share with you the highlights of the opening keynoteaddress from Else Hamayan, director emeritus of the Illinois Resource Center. Her talk was titled “Me washa la mano! Debunking some myths about early childhoodbilingualism.”

Photocourtesy of Josie Yanguas, IRC

Dr. Hamayan started by saying that many people believe that it isn’t beneficial,and may even be harmful, for children to grow up with two or three languages. She reminded the room of educators that whatwe believe is important because it impacts how we teach our students. In all, Dr. Hamayan debunked a number of common myths about youngbilingual children. I’ll share my twofavorites with you.

Myth #1 – The monolingual brain

Dr. Hamayan stated, “nearly half of the world’s population isfunctionally bilingual.” In other words,

it is normal for people to learn two, three or even four differentlanguages. She quoted a number ofexperts including Kuhl, Garcia-Sierra and Bialystok. Ultimately,she drew the conclusion that “a bilingual brain is not only possible, it isdesirable!”

Myth #2 - Code mixing is a signof something bad happening

“Me washa la mano!” This is an example of code mixing,also known as code-switching. In anutshell, code mixing is evidence of cross-linguistic transfer. When a bilingual person uses specificknowledge and skills from one language in their other language, it is cross-linguistictransfer. It is a very valuable skillthat bilinguals use to help figure out the meaning of new words or phrases. Dr.Hamayan reminded her audience that, “when students make a ‘mistake’ that is theresult of transfer, it is important to view it as an indication of students’resourcefulness.” As teachers, we can use our students’ ability to transferknowledge between their languages to help our students attack unknown words andlook for cognates. Read more on Dr. Jill Kerper-Mora’s website, and KathyEscamilla’s wonderful article “Bilingual MeansTwo: Assessment Issues, Early Literacy and Spanish-speaking Children.” Inshort, Dr. Hamayan stated "code mixing is not only normal, it shows the use of good learningbehaviors."

Dr. Hamayan ended her keynote by telling her audience that we cannot“washa la mano” of these myths. Rather,as educators of linguistically and culturally diverse children, we need to baseour pedagogical decisions on sound research and experience, collect classroom-baseddata to use as additional sources of information and tirelessly advocate forour students.

Q&A on Transformations

2011-11-29T13:00:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving last week. Today I thought I would share with you a question I received from Renee Sartore. She is the Director of ELL Programs in Yorkville, IL.

QUESTION: Regardingmaking transformations to the MPIs, I wonder how to keep the same content ortopic goal, and adjust the MPI appropriately for Language Proficiency levels.Would it just be changing the type of support, or changing the languagefunction, or both? Would you say the progression of language functions reflectsthe progression of the level of higher order thinking skills?

My questioncomes from wanting to make the common district learning goals and outcomes fora given subject area accessible and adaptable for ELLs.

Image: PaulGooddy/Free Digital Photos.net

ANSWER: Part 2 of the transformations blog will give youmore details and examples of how to transform the MPIs. But let me see if I can provide someadditional clarification beyond what is in the previous posts.

In a nutshell, you will want to change thelanguage function and/or the supports to meet the needs of your students.Students at levels 1-4 of ELP need sensory, graphic and interactive supportsduring instruction. This should be evidentin your transformed MPIs. Also thelanguage functions that you choose should reflect the appropriate level oflanguage proficiency. That is, we shouldchoose language functions that will prompt students to understand/use theamount and complexity of English that they are currently capable of. If you use the same language function, thenthe supports will be different. Forexample: A student at ELP level 1 maysequence pictures representing the stages of the water cycle while working witha partner. A student at a level 3 may also be expected to sequence pictureswhile working with a partner, but her pictures would also have 1-2 sentencecaptions. A student at a level 5 couldalso complete a sequencing activity, but he would have to work by himself andwork only with the captions (no pictures.) While the language function might stay the same, the supports would varyand the amount and quality of English the teacher would expect from the studentwould also vary. The performancedefinitions outline the amount and complexity of English that students canunderstand, produce and use at different levels of ELP.

You want to keep in mind that all students at alllevels of language proficiency need to be expected to do higher orderthinking. This is really the art ofteaching ELLs. We need to help all ofour students learn grade level content and higher order thinking skills, evenwhen they are new to the English language. The 2012draft of the ELD standards shows this in a unique way. The "cognitive function" box showsthe type of higher order thinking that all students are expected to do -regardless of their ELP level. Then eachMPI uses a different language function and supports that align with the "cognitivefunction" but are appropriate for a student at that level of English.

Next week – highlights from the upcomingbilingual conference in Oak Brook, IL.

Transformations - Part 2

2011-11-21T07:09:00.001-08:00

Now that you have had a chance toidentify the three parts (language function, the topic, and the support) ofeach Model Performance Indicator (MPI), we are ready for the next step. Today I will share with you how to changethe components so that they align with your state standards and classroominstruction.

As you might imagine, the Resource Guide has several pages that will beuseful as we work on the transformations. Here are the pages I recommend. Grab your nearest stack of sticky notes andtab these pages:

· RG-14-20 – explains the three parts of each MPIand gives examples

· RG-21 – lists of sensory, graphic andinteractive supports (I also like RG-23 and RG-24)

· RG 34-38 – these pages walk you through the transformationprocess

· RG-39 is the WIDA Checklist for ReviewingStrands of MPIs – a handy sheet that we used in the workshops to double-check the newly transformedstandards

Now that you have those pages tabbed, let’s take a look atan example.

Each one of these MPI componentscan be changed. For example,we canchange the topic from “weather conditions”to “body parts.” Then, the newly transformed MPI would be: Name familiar objects in photographs orillustrations associated with body parts (e.g. face, leg). This type of transformation
allows you tochange the topic so that it aligns with your classroom instruction and statestandards.

Or we could change the languagefunction from “Name familiar objects ”to “Copy the names of familiar objects”. Now the MPI would read: Copy the names of familiar objects in photographsor illustrations associated with weather conditions (e.g. cloud). This type of transformation allows you tomatch the MPI to your classroom activities. It can also change the language domain. In our example, we changed from speaking (name familiar objects) to writing (copy the names). If you’dlike some ideas for alternative language functions, you can take a look at thelanguage functions used in other MPIs.

Or we could change the type ofsupport from “photographs orillustrations” to “video clips”. Now the MPI reads: Name familiar objects in video clips associated with weather conditions(e.g. lightning). By varying thetype and amount of support, you can differentiate a classroom activity forstudents at different English language proficiency(ELP) levels. Students at levels 5-6 do not need visual,graphic or interactive supports to understand grade level materials. More supports are listed on pages RG21-24.

Once you feel comfortabletransforming each of the parts, try working on transforming an entire strand. You can change one, two or three parts of eachMPI in order to suit your needs. Don’tforget that students at all levels of ELP need to be provided with grade levelcontent and higher order thinking skills. Double check your newly transformed strands with the checklist onRG-39. Before you know it, you’ll bemodifying supports and changing language functions like a pro!

If you would like a review of thetransformation process or see additional examples, check out part 19 ofthe ELP StandardsTutorial.

Transformations - Part 1

2011-11-15T07:59:00.001-08:00

Hello blogosphere,

I amthrilled to be the lead blogger for WIDA. I am a former bilingual/ESL teacher and program coordinator. In June 2005, I left my school district andjoined the Illinois Resource Center (IRC) toprovide training and support to educators. Now I am eager to join the onlineconversations impacting ELLs – I hope you’ll share your thoughts andperspectives with me.

Teachersask me what to do when the MPI strands (see the picture above) don’t match theinstruction they are providing in their classroom. Sometimes the supports need to bechanged. Sometimes the example topics don’tmatch what they are currently teaching, or they want to see what a particulartopic would look like if it were written for a different language domain (e.g. speakinginstead of writing). My answer – let meshow you how to transform the standards! So, today is part one of a twopart blog about how to make the English language proficiency (ELP) standardsmore relevant and useful.

This month I havefacilitated two workshops on “Transformations”– the process for adapting the ELP Standards to your curriculum and instruction.The first workshop was in Minnesota – practically in the shadow of Mall ofAmerica. (Thank you, Minnesota, forproviding me with the chance to spend 12 hours at the mall and ride an indoorFerris wheel – what a trip!). The otherwas at the IRC. I had two very differentgroups of teachers. In Minnesota, Ispent the day with a wonderful group of teachers from one district. They were new to the WIDA Consortium and theELP Standards but experts at curriculum design and UbD (Understanding by Design). The Illinois group consisted of teachers andadministrators from various districts- many who had been working with the ELPstandards for years but who had varying levels of curriculum design expertise. By the end of each workshop, teachers fromboth groups were quick to share how much the day had impacted theirunderstanding of the ELP Standards. Oneteacher wrote on her evaluation form that “This is the first time in years thatthe standards have been so clearly explained to me.” Another mentioned that she was surprised tolearn that “higher level thinking can be addressed at level 1 and level 2” ofEnglish language proficiency. A third teacher“was happy to see how WIDA spells out the need for sensory, graphic andinteractive support all the way up through level 4.” Many commented about the need to spend timewith their colleagues actually doing transformations – not just reading about howto do them. So let’s try a little experiment– professional development through a blog.

If you are new to transformations,there are two main ideas you need to know: 1) how to identify the threecomponents of every model performance indicator (MPI), and 2) how to changethose components to align with your state standards and district curriculum. Today,let’s work on the identifying the three components of the MPI. There are three parts to every MPI: Thelanguage function, the topic, and the support. Here is an example:

Now it’s your turn. Pull out your copy of the Resource Guide. Open it up to the ELP Standards for the grade level cluster that you teach:

· Pre-K-K - pages 2-11

· 1^st – 2^nd grades - pages 14-25

· 3^rd-5^th grades - pages 28-39

· 6^th-8^th grades – pages 42-53

· 9^th-12^th grades – pages 56-67

Grab a colleague or two, pick out one MPI and try identifying each of the three parts. Share with each other. Try a few more. How did you do?

Next time…transforming the MPIs.

Decisions, decisions....about tier placement

2011-11-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

“It’s time to make the donuts!” Recently I was reminded of that classic TV commercial. The diligent baker wakes up in the early morning hours to make fresh donuts. He is hard at work carefully making various types of donuts and motivating his fellow bakers. Right now in several WIDA states, including Illinois and Minnesota, educators are being called “to make the donuts.” For them, it is time to order pre-identification labels for ACCESS for ELLs and determine what tier of the test their students will be taking in a few months. In my role as a professional developer, I am often asked about this topic. Just last week, a gentleman told me that if he hadn’t been attending my workshop on understanding and using ACCESS score reports, he would have been stuck at his desk all day determining tier placements for dozens and dozens of students. So let me share with you a few of the tips, tricks and helpful links that I shared with him.

As you may know, all kindergarten English language learners (ELLs) take the same ACCESS for ELLs® test. In fact, kindergartners take the test one on one with a test administrator. That test administrator decides at what point to stop testing the student, based on the student’s responses. Similarly, all students in grades 1-12 are individually administered the speaking portion of the exam. If you are new to administering the ACCESS or are looking to refresh your memory, click here for information on the online ACCESS for ELLs test administrator training.

But the Listening, Reading and Writing portions of the ACCESS for ELLs test for students in grades 1-12 is tiered. In other words, there are three different tiers (versions) of the test. WIDA created this tier system so that you can use your testing time with students as efficiently as possible. The basic idea is that students new to the English language will be challenged sufficiently with questions from the first few levels of English language proficiency (ELP). Similarly, students with higher levels of ELP don’t need to sit for test questions from the first few levels of English language proficiency.

Several months before the test is given, educators need to decide which tier each student will take. So how do we know which tier to choose? Thankfully WIDA has provided us with a few general rules of thumb, a lovely chart (Criteria for Tier Selection Chart ), and a seven minute online Tier Placement for ACCESS for ELLs Tutorial – complete with several sample student scenarios.

So you may be wondering, what about my state? When do we have to determine tier placements? Every state has its own set of dates. Here in Illinois we give the ACCESS for ELLs in mid-January, so tier placement decisions are being made now in late October and early November. In other states, that timeline is different. Just click on your state on the WIDA Member States page for your state’s testing dates and ordering deadlines.